ARCIA comments on 5‑year outlook

Each year the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) sets out the work plans for spectrum management for the coming five years, both as an indication to users as well as a report to government on the management of the valuable resource.

ARCIA has been a regular respondent to this five-year spectrum outlook (FYSO) for many years and offers constructive comments in many areas. In the present version, available in draft from the ACMA website, the organisation is pleased to see that after several years of lobbying both the ACMA and Department of Communications, there are now spectrum segments being forecast that may be used for allocation for private LTE/5G systems.

The industry association has been highlighting that business-critical users are not confident in the public carriers’ mobile broadband services and have concerns regarding resiliency and latency, both important factors for safety in many industries. Already many of the ARCIA clients have begun moving towards installing their own wireless data systems and the trend will continue as other industries recognise the benefits of having their own small networks and so controlling their own business operations.

This is likely to open new markets for the two-way radio industry over the coming years.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Cozine