ACCC launches mobile services inquiry

The ACCC commenced a public inquiry on 5 August 2026 into regional mobile coverage across Australia and whether regulating wholesale access to certain mobile services could improve consumer outcomes. The inquiry, expected to run for around 12 months, will consider whether the ACCC should declare one or more wholesale mobile services, specifically a domestic roaming service and a radio access network service.

A declaration under the relevant access regime would require a mobile network operator to give other providers access to specified services using its infrastructure or network on terms the ACCC regulates, a step the ACCC has previously declined to take following an earlier 2017 inquiry. ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said the telecommunications sector is changing rapidly, with satellite-based services and network-sharing arrangements altering how mobile services are delivered, and that there are growing calls for the ACCC to intervene in regional mobile access. A domestic roaming declaration would, broadly, allow customers to connect automatically to another carrier's network where their own provider has no coverage or service is interrupted, similar to arrangements operating in New Zealand and Canada, while a radio access network declaration could extend existing multi-operator network sharing arrangements to more of the market.

The ACCC has said it will only make a declaration if satisfied that doing so would benefit end users over the long term, and the inquiry process will include a discussion paper and public forums in regional and remote areas. No declaration has been made and none is guaranteed as an outcome, with the ACCC itself describing the issues as complex and warranting careful assessment. Telecommunications carriers, infrastructure owners and businesses dependent on reliable regional mobile connectivity all have an interest in how the inquiry develops.