Key Dates

Next Grant Round:
Applications for funding will open early 2025.
> Information about our Grants Program

Independent Grants Panel:
Results of the recent EOI will be notified Dec 2024.
> Information about our Panel

We can help: grants@accan.org.au
or phone 02 9288 4000

Grants Information

How Grants are assessed

Hand holding a connected world Have you noticed how more and more everyday items are now connected to the internet?

While we used to have ordinary watches that told us the time and the date, we now have smartwatches that track our fitness, alert us about emails and more.

We are told that we can expect many things in our homes will be connected, our cars will be connected and we will see even more connected ‘wearable’ devices in the future. These new devices and services raise many questions and concerns for consumers.

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NBN Co’s proposed wholesale pricing changes are unlikely to meet the needs of consumers, according to the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN).

In September, NBN Co released a consultation paper to the telco industry that aimed to increase the number of households connected to the NBN. While the proposals outlined in this paper show that NBN Co is listening to ACCAN’s concerns about the current wholesale pricing arrangements, there is still considerable work to be done to ensure that consumers’ needs and expectations of their home broadband service are met.

“While we’re pleased that NBN Co has acknowledged broadband affordability is an important issue for many Australians, we’re concerned their proposals will not address this vital problem,” said ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin.

ACCAN recently submitted on the ACMA’s 2023-2028 draft five-year spectrum outlook (the FYSO). The ACMA consults annually on spectrum management priorities for the coming year.

ACCAN’s submission expressed our support for the FYSO’s goals including to:

Mentor and learner in the Leep in Lab The 2017 Australian Digital Inclusion Index showed that overall digital inclusion is growing in Australia.

Since 2014, when data was first collected for the Index, Australia’s overall digital inclusion score has improved by 3.8 points, from 52.7 to 56.5.

The Index also found that gaps between digitally included and excluded Australians are “substantial and widening.”

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The increase in complaints about internet services to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) highlights the need for greater reliability safeguards, says the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN).

The TIO’s quarterly report shows that of the 32,801 complaints they received from 1 July– 30 September 2019, the majority (33 per cent) were related to internet issues. This is a 4 per cent increase from the same period last year.

ACCAN recently submitted to the Mobile Network Hardening Program Round 2 – Draft Grant Opportunity Guidelines. In our submission we recommended that the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts should:

The ACCAN Annual General Meeting was held in Sydney on Thursday, 21 September, 2017. At the meeting the following three candidates were elected to the Board:

Deirdre O’Donnell
Victoria Rubensohn
Holly Raiche

Congratulations to returning director, Victoria, and a warm welcome back to Holly who re-joins the ACCAN Board after a short break. We also extend a warm welcome to Deidre who joins the ACCAN Board for the first time.

These three new Board members join the six continuing Directors below whose terms conclude at the 2018 and 2019 ACCAN AGM:

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The Australian Media and Communication Authority’s reported drop in telco complaints shows that consumers are starting to benefit from increased industry regulation and new complaint handling rules, according to the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN).

ACCAN recently submitted to Communications Alliance’s consultation on C570:2009 Mobile Number Portability.

ACCAN supports measures to make it easier for consumers to switch between service providers while keeping their phone number. ACCAN considers the current code to be meeting its intended objectives: providing guidance for industry and providing consumer protection. Given the success of the code to date, we suggest a review of the performance levels outlined in the Code in the future as technology allows.

Man using smartphone on street at night We’re pleased to announce the successful Grants for 2017-18. This year the projects look at a range of communications consumer issues including the growing spyware marketplace, how consumers can access their online data, the needs of those living in rural, regional and remote communities, and ways telecommunications providers can better engage with people with disability.

The ACCAN Grants Program funds projects which undertake research on telecommunications issues, represent consumers or create educational tools which empower consumers to derive the greatest benefit from telecommunications products and services.

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Woman using a mobile phone The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) welcomes the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts’ announced changes to the regulation of mobile-porting in Australia’s telco sector.

Fraudulent mobile number porting happens when a scammer uses consumers’ personal details to port their mobile number from one provider to another.

ACCAN recently submitted to Communications Alliance’s consultation on C657:2015 Inbound Number Portability.

ACCAN considers the current code to be meeting its intended objectives: providing guidance for industry and providing consumer protection.

Woman using sign language in front of smartphone The Australian Communications Consumer Action network (ACCAN) has a strong membership base of disability organisations and individuals with disability. The most consistent feedback we get from these members relates to the lack of available information about telecommunications equipment and services for people with disability. The difficulty of accessing telecommunications for people with disability in Australia has long been recognised as a fundamental contributor to the disability digital divide.

While there is a growing number of new and emerging telecommunication products which can improve access and participation for people with disability, without information about these products and how to access them, people with disability will continue to be left out of our increasingly connected digital society.

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The fall in complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) highlights the positive power of effective industry regulation, according to the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN).

Complaints data published today in the TIO’s Annual Report 2018-2019 shows that complaints about phone and internet services fell 21.1 per cent in the last financial year. Among these 132,387 complaints, the TIO identified over 50 possible systemic issues, of which over a third were refer to regulators.

ACCAN recently made a submission to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2026 Census topic consultation. The submission received endorsement from the QUT Digital Media Research Centre (DRMC), the Australian Digital Inclusion Alliance (ADIA), the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society (ADM+S), and the Centre for Inclusive Design (CfID). ACCAN’s submission recommended:

Every quarter the ACCC releases a report on the services operating over the NBN wholesale network. The report provides some interesting insights into the NBN, here are some that we find useful.

Number of services

The report shows that over 2.5 million premises are connected to the NBN as at June 2017.

Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) is the primary technology used. The number of services over both Fibre to the Node (FTTN) and Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC) technologies are increasing at a fast rate. The graph below charts the number of services for each quarter by access technology.

Figure 1: Number of services by access technology¹

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Number of services