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The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has undertaken a review of the captioning obligations in Part 9D of the Broadcasting Services Act (1992) as prescribed in the legislation. ACCAN participated in the consultation in a written submission. Our response to the review reiterates ACCAN’s long-held view that accurate and comprehensible captions on broadcast television are essential for full and equitable access to our foremost medium for news, information and entertainment for all those Australians who rely on captions when viewing television.

The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) came in five years ago to help protect consumers. It is now being reviewed to make sure it is up to date.

ACCAN made 11 recommendations to the ACL Review. We want to make sure the ACL keeps pace with a number of new issues affecting communications consumers. Technology is ever changing and can lead to many benefits for consumers, sometimes laws struggle to keep up with these changes. ACCAN’s submission calls for a closer look at some of these gaps in the law, especially around digital marketplaces and new hybrid goods and services provided as part of the Internet of Things (IoT).

In March 2016 the Department of Communications and the Arts released an options paper: ‘Communications Accessibility: 2016 and Beyond’. The paper proposed a number of options related to the ongoing sustainability of the National Relay Service. The use of the National Relay Service over the past couple of years has increased due to the significant improvements to the service through the introduction of a number of new relay services.

Industry lobby, Communications Alliance, has proposed a number of changes to the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code compliance regime. ACCAN believes the changes may lead to a number of positive changes which should both improve the efficiency of Communications Compliance and provide greater flexibility to smaller suppliers. However, we encouraged the industry group take further steps to address the lack of a publically available, useful performance metrics.

 

The Federal Government is planning to amend the Privacy Act to introduce a mandatory data breach notification scheme. The scheme would mean that all government agencies, and entities with an annual turnover of more than $3m, must notify everyone whose personal information was disclosed if they suffer a serious data breach. A data breach would be 'serious' if it results in a 'real risk of serious harm' to an individual or individuals. The scheme would allow people whose personal information has been compromised by a breach to take steps to lessen or avoid potential harms, such as financial loss or identity theft.

New obligations on telecommunication infrastructure providers are proposed by the Department of Communications and the Arts. This is part of the policy for telecommunications services in new development. The obligations would ensure that new developments, not served by nbn or Telstra, would be served by a network which meets set standards. Furthermore information on the network would need to be made available via an online map for property buyers and developers to use.

In 2014 the Vertigan panel made 53 recommendations on regulatory and market structure matters. The proposed legislation addresses recommendations made in relation to improvements in the access regime and nbn's authorised conduct. ACCAN expressed concern over three parts of the legislation.

Superfast Broadband Access Services (SBAS) are networks that provide broadband that is capable of achieving 25Mbps or greater download speeds. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is inquiring whether there is a case to regulate these networks. Premises served by one network can limit consumers' services and number of providers.

ACCAN made a submission to the Department of Communications and the Arts (DoCA) consultation on the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2016 (the Act). We are broadly supportive of the proposed changes, as they overcome some of the barriers faced by people with a disability – and the organisations who provide services to them – in obtaining material in accessible formats.

The Productivity Commission is looking at Australia's intellectual property system to make sure there are the right incentives for innovation, investment and the production of creative works. The aim is that these protections for intellectual property owners' don't unreasonably stop consumers benefiting from innovation, competition, investment and access to goods and services.

ACCAN has provided its view on Telstra's proposed structural separation undertaking (SSU) in this submission to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). Along with much of the industry, we agree with the ACCC that the current SSU is lacking a clear and enforceable commitment to fair treatment of retail competitors.

ACCAN responded to the ACMA's review of the Captioning Standard for live broadcasts. We recommended that the ACMA undertake research to establish current and possible metrics for accuracy levels and synchronisation of captions with the video for live broadcasts on Australian television. ACCAN asserts that this will allow stakeholders to make informed recommendations on how the ACMA should evaluate the quality of captions for live television broadcasts.

ACCAN has contributed to the Department of Communications and the Arts review of the Captioning Regulatory Framework. The review proposes a number of deregulation options for caption compliance reporting; emergency warning captioning reporting and related issues. ACCAN has reiterated our long-standing position that broadcaster compliance reporting is essential for consumer protection. ACCAN has opposed removing compliance reporting, called for increased requirements for captioning of emergency warning broadcasts as well as calling for increased captioning across all free-to-air channels.

ACCAN has made a submission to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) 2016 stakeholder consultation on "Access to the Internet for persons with disabilities and specific needs". Drawing from the ongoing work and research we undertake to promote full participation of people with disability in our increasingly connected society, we have made a number of specific recommendations on how access to the internet can be increased for people with disability.

The administrator of the .au domain space, .au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA), established a Panel of stakeholders to review the major Australian domain name policies and invited interested stakeholders to submit on in April 2015. This submission is in response to the latest round of consultation on the Draft Recommendations of the Panel.

.au Domain Administration (auDA) invited comment on a public issues paper about the way .au domain names are allocated and used. The paper has been prepared by a Names Policy Panel consisting of nominated members of the Australian Internet community who have expressed interest in helping shape policy for the .au domain space.

The International Mobile Roaming Standard requires mobile service providers to warn consumers about usage costs and limits when they use their mobile phones overseas. Since the introduction of the Standard consumer complaints have dramatically reduced. However, industry has proposed to remove key aspects of the Standard.

The Federal Government (Department of Communications) is conducting a review of the communications regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Many changes have occurred in communications in the last 10 years, and this pace is set to continue. The review is focused on the objectives, functions, structure, governance and resourcing needed for a future communications regulator to remain relevant and fit for purpose.

The ACCC proposes to publish some of the information it collects as part of its regulatory oversight of nbn and Telstra. The information would provide an insight into the wholesale market, such as the number of services active by provider, technology, area and speed.

Mixed experiences from consumers from the migration to NBN have led to the Department of Communication creating a Migration Assurance Plan. The plan sets out the framework for migration from legacy networks to the NBN in the fixed footprint (it does not apply to areas receiving fixed wireless and satellite). During the four stages; serviceability, product availability, end user awareness and management and installation and activation, the plan outlines the expected information sharing and roles and responsibilities for all the parties involved.

Infrastructure Australia is tasked with producing a 15 year national Infrastructure Plan. In order to produce this they first set out to conduct an audit report. The Audit identified the key challenges which need to be addressed in the plan. Telecommunications infrastructure was one element examined by the audit.

The first communities which switched to the NBN fixed network experienced a number of issues. One issue was that some consumers were disconnected from their existing network while waiting for an NBN service to be activated, leaving them without services. To resolve this, and prevent its recurrence in the next planned switch over areas, additional time before disconnection of existing connections has been proposed. The ACCC also asked whether the additional time should be applied more generally to other areas or for known 'hard to reach' premises with complications, such as those with alarms.

The Regional Telecommunications Review is the only review that examines horizontal, or geographic, equity in telecommunications services and so is of value to consumers.

The timing of the 2015 review creates its own challenges, as two large infrastructure projects, namely the Mobile Black Spots Programme and the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN), are still in motion. It is difficult to predict what gaps will still exist going forward. In our submission ACCAN has tried to outline issues that it sees are persistent. Furthermore we have made suggestions on how these might be addressed.

What is the IPND?

The Integrated Public Number Database (IPND) is a database that contains records of all Australian telephone numbers and associated customer details. It is managed by Telstra under the Carrier Licence Conditions, and is an important source of information for emergency and law enforcement purposes.

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