Regulation Impact Statement – Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)
On 28 February, the ACMA announced new measures to fight mobile number fraud.
Mobile number portability allows customers to change their telecommunications provider without changing their mobile phone number. Scammers have used stolen identity information to fraudulently port mobile numbers, enabling them to complete security verification for linked accounts such as banking or social media.
The new Telecommunications (Mobile Number Pre-porting Additional Identify Verification) Industry Standard 2020 will commence from 30 April 2020 and require mobile providers to implement additional identity verification processes before a phone number can be transferred.
The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) assessed the Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) prepared by ACMA as compliant with the Government’s requirements. However, the OBPR considers that the RIS did not meet best practice since it does not contain sufficient depth of analysis or exploration of stakeholder views. More details are provided in the OBPR’s assessment advice (link to below) to ACMA.
The RIS estimates the average annual regulatory costs at $460,000. The OBPR agreed that, as the costs were less than $2 million per annum, regulatory costs could be self-assessed by ACMA.