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Cellular Mobile Repeaters – Regulation Impact Statements – Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and Australian Communications and Media Authority

On 9 August 2013, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced that the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) made changes to the Radiocommunications Regulations 1993 to restrict the supply of mobile repeaters. A cellular mobile repeater is a wireless radiocommunications device that repeats mobile network signals. It can receive, amplify and retransmit these signals in order to improve mobile phone reception within a small area. Repeaters can be used to extend signal coverage into areas where coverage may not exist or is too low and their unauthorised use has the potential to cause interference. The new regulation prohibits the supply of cellular mobile repeaters to persons other than a licensee or a person authorised in writing by the licensee. These changes involved a two stage policy development process. Initially, a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared by the ACMA and explored five options. The RIS considered that Option 4, the adoption of a new regulatory framework to restrict the supply of repeaters, would be the most effective option to prevent the unauthorised use of repeaters. Five submissions were lodged during the consultation period from interested parties with the majority of submissions indicating support for Option 4. The policy process undertaken by DBCDE involved the development of a RIS to inform a recommendation to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, which took into account the impact analysis of the preferred option in the ACMA RIS (Option 4). The DBCDE RIS considered two main elements to the proposed changes that would be implemented under Option 4: (i) make the supply of repeaters subject to the restrictions under section 301 of the Radiocommunications Act 1992; and (ii) place new record-keeping obligations on suppliers of repeaters. The additional record keeping requirements are expected to result in an increase in administrative costs incurred by suppliers of repeaters. These costs are expected to be relatively minor as suppliers of mobile repeaters will only need to keep records for customers who are authorised users, which primarily comprise the major Australian telecommunications carriers. The record-keeping requirements will also assist suppliers in determining whether a prospective customer is authorised, thereby minimising the risk of selling a repeater for unauthorised use that has the potential to cause interference. The two RISs prepared by the ACMA and the DBCDE were assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation under the June 2010 Australian Government best practice regulation requirements.