Comms Connect Melbourne 2026: conference preview

The 2026 edition of Comms Connect Melbourne, taking place at MCEC on 14–15 October, is expected to welcome over 1600 guests — including more than 450 conference delegates — with the event regularly attracting attendees from industries including marine, aviation, utilities, mining and emergency services.

Recognised as the major conference and expo for critical communications and public safety professionals in the Southern Hemisphere, Comms Connect Melbourne will see over 60 local and global critical comms leaders speak across three dedicated conference streams: Public Safety, Technology and Industry. Across the two days of the conference, this stellar line-up of speakers will share their expertise and insights on topics including interoperability, smart cities, PSMB, marine communications, remote communications, P25, drone tech, private networks for mining, 5G and ISAC, AFC in 6 GHz and much more.

Keynote speakers include Bradley Creevey, NEMA’s PSMB Taskforce Assistant Coordinator General, who will open day one with a detailed update on the rollout of Australia’s Public Safety Mobile Broadband platform. Kylie De Courteney, Managing Director of the NSW Telco Authority, will follow with an update on the Authority’s latest public safety deployments and their role in the PSMB rollout. The TasGRN project will also feature on day one, with the CIO of the Department of Police, Fire & Emergency Management Tasmania, Tim Rutherford, on stage with Telstra’s Wireless Engineering Principal, Andrew Johns.

Day two will open with a presentation by Hamad Alnuaimi, ICT Advisor for Abu Dhabi Police, who will share his insights into how 5G and smart cities are enhancing citizen safety. Shane Fitzsimmons, former NSW Fire Commissioner and current Board Chair of the Connectivity Innovation Network (CIN), will share practical outcomes where collaboration is driving innovation in critical communications, including a recent Wi-Fi antenna development involving the NSW SES, CIN and The University of Sydney. And Louise Francis, Ecosystm’s NZ Country Manager, will draw on real-world use cases from several countries to explore how the challenges of AI are being overcome to build next-generation emergency communications fit for the future.

AI is in fact set to be the big discussion point of the event, as the subject of multiple presentations. Matt Ingersole, CIO for Surf Life Saving NSW, will reveal how groundbreaking AI tech is being used for drowning prevention, while Derek Madden, CEO of Moorabool Shire Council, will teach the practical lessons any mission-critical organisation can apply to introduce AI safely and responsibly. Dan Winson, founder and CEO of Zetifi, will meanwhile explain how agentic AI is moving into decision chains that used to be entirely human, including safety-critical ones. Winson will join Francis and other experts in the panel discussion ‘AI in Critical Comms — insights from local and global leaders’, while a second panel discussion will explore how AI is becoming part of a hybrid ecosystem, coexisting alongside LMR, LTE/5G, private networks, Wi-Fi, LEO and cloud platforms.

Hybrid systems are of course already here, with Italy’s Adolfo Ferraro, VP of Critical Communications Sales for Leonardo, set to reveal how his company delivered a hybrid mission-critical comms network to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games — a challenging task that required resilient, secure communications across geographically dispersed venues, transport corridors and Olympic villages. Simon Hill and Matt Wroughton, respectively CTO and Group Sales Director of Excelerate Technology Group in the UK, will meanwhile reveal how European emergency service organisations are utilising hybrid connectivity solutions that intelligently bond satellite and terrestrial networks to deliver resilient, always-on communications in mission-critical environments. And David D’Souza, ICT & Operational Technology Leader at Powercor, will outline the hybrid comms solution that’s ensuring continuous connectivity to rural and remote Australia.

There will as always be plenty of news from our friends across the ditch. Matthew Hansen, Senior Project Manager for the PSN Program at SafetyNet (formerly Next Generation Critical Communications), will discuss the introduction of a new shared voice console for New Zealand’s emergency services, as part of the transition to a new P25 network from later this year. Telecommunications consultant Neal Richardson, Director of Otarise Services, will explain why Australia and New Zealand have not yet implemented a technology initiative along the lines of Europe’s eCall — which enables a vehicle to automatically contact emergency services, establish a voice connection and simultaneously transmit critical incident information. And Matt Ellingham, ICT Manager for Land Search and Rescue New Zealand, will reveal the three lessons his organisation has learned from the last 7–8 years of search-and-rescue communications innovations.

Four pre-conference workshops will take place at MCEC on 13 October, prior to the commencement of the main conference on 14 October, conducted by Comms Connect Association Partner ARCIA and Supporting Partner ACCF/TCCA. ARCIA’s morning workshop explores the cybersecurity challenges facing modern mission-critical radio and communications systems, while its afternoon workshop will give attendees an overview of the latest ACMA spectrum developments, licensing changes, and emerging areas of interest for radio system planners and licence managers. The ACCF/TCCA workshops will meanwhile address how the latest technology developments and 3GPP releases will drive changes in the critical communication ecosystems globally. All four workshops include a morning or afternoon tea break for networking with other delegates, and can be booked as part of conference attendance or on their own.

Over 100 leading critical comms vendors will feature as part of the event’s largest ever exhibition showcase on 14–15 October, including Innovation Partner Telstra as well as Platinum Sponsors Hypha, JVCKENWOOD, L3Harris, RFI Technology Solutions and Tait Communications. With a wide range of technologies on display, this will give attendees plenty to see and do in between conference sessions — and for those who don’t have time to commit to the conference, free exhibition-only passes are available.

The exhibition hall will also host networking drinks on the evening of 14 October, with attendees then invited to make their way to ARCIA’s Gala Dinner & Excellence Awards at the Sofitel Melbourne on Collins. Featuring plenty of food, drinks and entertainment, the dinner provides the opportunity to celebrate all that is great about a critically important industry, including some of its most outstanding individuals and organisations. Award nominations are open until 18 September and dinner bookings are open until 23 September.

Flexible attendance options are available for Comms Connect, including one- or two-day conference packages, with or without workshops, or expo-only passes. For more information and to register now, visit melbourne.comms-connect.com.au.

What: Comms Connect Melbourne
When: 14–15 October 2025
Where: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC)
Web: melbourne.comms-connect.com.au