By Kylie De Courteney, Managing Director, NSW Telco Authority
Lives depend on reliable data access
Picture a paramedic trying to transmit a patient’s vital signs en route to hospital, but the device won’t connect. Or a firefighter waiting for satellite imagery before entering a blaze, but the files won’t download.
This is the reality for emergency services today. While they have reliable radio for voice, their access to data – live video, mapping tools, drone feeds – depends entirely on commercial networks. When those networks are congested and fail, as commonly happens during emergencies, responders lose the digital tools they rely on and lives are put at risk.
Australia has invested heavily in mission-critical radio. But frontline responders now rely just as much on broadband data. They need a capability that is secure, prioritised and designed for emergency use.
A market failure in public safety
Despite years of reviews and inquiry recommendations, Australia still lacks access to the radio frequency space, known as spectrum, that would make emergency broadband work effectively. Without the right kind of spectrum set aside to support emergency traffic, responders are forced to compete with the general public for bandwidth on commercial networks – networks that were not built to prioritise life-saving communications during disasters.
The current plan is to layer emergency broadband over existing commercial infrastructure. But these networks do not currently deliver the features required for emergency use: prioritisation so responders go to the front of the queue; pre-emption so they can clear bandwidth when lives depend on it; and roaming so devices can switch between carriers for reliability if one network is inaccessible.
Telstra, Optus and TPG have all outlined concepts for public safety broadband, but these remain at the carriers’ discretion and are not backed by enforceable guarantees. That is not good enough when public safety is at stake. There remains a basic conflict between the commercial profit motive and emergency needs. Carriers cannot justify building resilience to emergency standards because there is no commercial return. That is a market failure - but we live in a society, not just an economy.
Spectrum decisions now will shape the next 20 years
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is reviewing low-band licences expiring over the next five years. These bands, particularly under 1 GHz, offer the wide coverage and building penetration critical for broadband data during emergencies.
Yet the current push from carriers is to have these licences reissued under long-term commercial arrangements with no provisions for public safety. That would effectively lock up the most valuable spectrum until the 2030s or even 2040s, sidelining emergency services and jeopardising Australia’s response capabilities for decades. It is like handing over huge areas of real estate to developers for free, without reserving space for essential services like schools, hospitals or fire stations.
Telcos are critical delivery partners, but government needs to require them to prioritise emergency communications.
Spectrum held in trust
The smarter model is to reserve suitable spectrum and hold it for the public good. Telcos will provide infrastructure and services, but government ensures emergency traffic always has a protected corridor when it’s needed.
Spectrum is a scarce national asset, like prime land. Reserving it gives government bargaining power with carriers to secure coverage, resilience and service standards that reflect public safety needs. It also ensures spectrum delivers broader public value, rather than being locked away solely for private profit.
Telstra’s address at the National Press Club yesterday argued that unless carriers own spectrum outright, consumer prices will rise. Handing spectrum to carriers would be a windfall gain for them. Prices are shaped by competition and regulation, not by gifting away spectrum that should be held in trust for public safety.
Public stewardship of spectrum would help prevent the premium fees carriers often charge emergency services for access and maintains fair competition by allowing multiple carriers to deliver services. Reserving spectrum for public safety protects consumers and guarantees emergency services the reliability they need.
If spectrum isn’t reserved, safeguards must apply
If government will not reserve spectrum for emergency use, renewed licences must at least include enforceable conditions: roaming for emergency services across all networks, priority and pre-emption during emergencies, and resilience standards.
These requirements are not radical. In the US, FirstNet is a dedicated public safety broadband network with enforceable guarantees. In the UK, the Emergency Services Network embeds public safety capabilities into commercial infrastructure via strict conditions. Canada is progressing with a national Public Safety Broadband Network built on reserved spectrum, South Korea operates Safe-Net, a fully dedicated LTE network for first responders, and New Zealand is developing a Public Safety Network that integrates mission-critical voice and data. Australia remains behind.
The decision ahead
ACMA now faces a clear decision: reserve fit-for-purpose spectrum for public safety or impose binding conditions on commercial licences. Anything less locks Australia into another decade of dependence on networks designed for profit, not for saving lives.
ACMA should prioritise the public interest objectives in the Radiocommunications Act 1992, which requires spectrum to be managed in support of national security, defence and public safety.
Australia cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past. Whether through reservation or regulation, spectrum must be secured for emergency use, because lives depend on it.
Read the opinion piece on NSW Telco Authority's LinkedIn page.