Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Annual Charges) Determination (No.1) 2026

Administered by Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts

Legislation au F2026L00529 In force Legislative Instrument

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EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Approved by the Australian Communications and Media Authority

 

Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Charges) Act 1997

 

Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Annual Charges)

Determination (No.1) 2026

 

Authority

 

The Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Annual Charges) Determination (No.1) 2026 (the Determination) is made by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) under subsection 14(1) of the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Charges) Act 1997 (the Act) and subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (the AIA).

 

Legislative provisions

 

Under section 12 of the Act, an annual charge is imposed on a carrier licence that is in force at the beginning of a financial year (an annual carrier licence charge). 

 

Subsection 14(1) of the Act provides that the amount of an annual carrier licence charge imposed on a carrier licence is the amount ascertained in accordance with a written determination made by the ACMA. 

 

Section 15 of the Act limits the total of charges that may be imposed.  Subsection 15(1) of the Act provides that the total of the annual carrier licence charges that are imposed on carrier licences in force at the beginning of a financial year must not exceed the sum of the amounts determined under paragraphs 15(1)(a) to (d).

 

Under subsection 14(1) of the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005, the Minister may give written directions to the ACMA in relation to the performance of its functions and the exercise of its powers.  On 21 April 2017, the then Minister for Communications made the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Direction 2017 (the 2017 Ministerial Direction) which directed the ACMA to make such determinations as are necessary under subsection 14(1) of the Act to have the effect of imposing an annual carrier licence charge of $0 on each carrier licence that is:

  • in force at the beginning of a “relevant financial year”; and
  • held by a carrier that was a “non-participating person” for the eligible revenue period immediately preceding that financial year.  

The 2017 Ministerial Direction defines “relevant financial year” as the financial year that begins on 1 July 2017 and each later financial year, and the term “non-participating person” as having the same meaning as in the Telecommunications (Participating Persons) Determination 2015 (the Participating Persons Determination[1]).

 

Subsection 33(3) of the AIA provides that where an Act confers a power to make an instrument, the power shall be construed as including a power exercisable in the like manner and subject to the like conditions (if any) to repeal, rescind, revoke, amend, or vary any such instrument.

A provision-by-provision description of the Determination is set out in the notes at Attachment A.

The Determination is a disallowable legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 (the LA).

 

Purpose and operation of the instrument

 

The purpose of the Determination is to set out the method for ascertaining the amount of annual carrier licence charge imposed on each carrier licence that was in force at the beginning of the 2024-2025 financial year, in accordance with subsection 14(1) of the Act. (Further information about that method is set out in the notes on section 9 of the Determination at Attachment A.)

 

Consistent with the 2017 Ministerial Direction, the Determination imposes an annual carrier licence charge of $0 on a carrier licence that was in force at the beginning of the 2024-2025 financial year and held by a carrier that was a non-participating person for the eligible revenue period that began on 1 July 2023 and ended on 30 June 2024 (exempt carrier licence).

 

If a carrier licence holder held a carrier licence that was in force on 1 July 2024, their liability to pay an annual carrier licence charge for the 2024-2025 financial year (except in the case of an exempt carrier licence) arises on 1 July 2024 because of the operation of sections 12 and 13 of the Act, regardless of when the charge is determined or collected by the ACMA.

 

Section 5 of the Determination is an application provision which identifies the carrier licences to which the Determination (and the annual carrier licence charge calculated in accordance with the Determination) apply, namely, the carrier licences that were in force on 1 July 2024.  Section 5 of the Determination does not have any retrospective application as it does not commence before the Determination is registered and it does not interfere with substantive rights and obligations that have previously been acquired or accrued.  Its purpose is to identify the carrier licences to which the Determination applies, and in order to comply with the Act, it does so by reference to licences in force at the start of the financial year in relation to which annual charges are payable, namely, 1 July 2024.

 

Documents incorporated by reference

 

The Determination incorporates the following Acts and legislative instruments (including by the adoption of definitions), or otherwise refers to them:

-          the Acts Interpretation Act 1901;

-          the LA;

-          the Act;

-          the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999;

-          the Participating Persons Determination;

-          the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) (Non-Participating Persons) Determination 2025;

-          the Telecommunications (Consumer Complaints) Record-Keeping Rules 2018;

-          the Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Specification of Costs by the ACMA) Determination (No.1) 2026;

-          the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Charges) (Paragraph 15(1)(d) Estimated Total Grants) Determination 2025;

-          the 2025 Determination under Paragraph 15(1)(b).

 

The Acts and legislative instruments listed above may be accessed, free of charge, from the Federal Register of Legislation (http://www.legislation.gov.au).  The Acts listed above are incorporated as in force from time to time, in accordance with section 10 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 and subsection 13(1) of the LA. The legislative instruments listed above are incorporated as in force from time to time, in accordance with section 7 of the Determination and subsection 14(1) of the LA.

 

Consultation

 

Before the Determination was made, the ACMA was satisfied that consultation was undertaken to the extent appropriate and reasonably practicable, in accordance with section 17 of the LA.

 

The ACMA consulted with the public and industry stakeholders on the making of the Determination and the instrument made by the ACMA determining amounts under paragraphs 15(1)(a), (c) and (ca) of the Act, for a four-week period from 15 August 2025 to 12 September 2025.  The consultation was facilitated through the public release of a consultation paper and a draft cost recovery implementation statement (CRIS) on the ACMA’s website. The CRIS and consultation paper outlined the method to be used by the ACMA to determine the carrier licence charge for the financial year commencing on 1 July 2024.

 

In response to its consultation, ACMA received two written submissions[2]. The submissions mainly sought clarification on the decrease in the ACMA’s compliance, enforcement and consumer safeguard costs from the previous year and cost reduction opportunities aligned with the Government’s productivity agenda. None of the submissions commented on the methodology used by the ACMA to determine the ACLC or on other aspects of the Determination and no changes were made to the Determination as a result of consultation. The ACMA considered the submissions before making the Determination.

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

 

Subsection 9(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 requires the rule maker in relation to a legislative instrument to which section 42 (disallowance) of the LA applies to cause a statement of compatibility with human rights to be prepared in respect of that legislative instrument.

 

The statement of compatibility set out in Attachment B has been prepared to meet that requirement.

 

 

Attachment A

Notes on sections of the Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Annual Charges) Determination (No.1) 2026

Section 1 - Name

 

This section provides for the Determination to be cited as the Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Annual Charges) Determination (No.1) 2026 (the Determination).

 

Section 2 - Commencement

 

This section provides for the Determination to commence on the later of the start of the day after the day it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation and immediately after the commencement of the Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Specification of Costs by the ACMA) Determination (No.1) 2026 (Specification of Costs Determination). Both events must occur before the Determination commences. The Specification of Costs Determination commences on 13 May 2026.

 

The Federal Register of Legislation may be accessed free of charge at www.legislation.gov.au.

 

Section 3 - Authority

 

This section identifies the provision of the Act that authorises the making of the Determination, namely subsection 14(1) of the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Charges) Act 1997 (the Act).

 

Section 4 - Repeal of this instrument

 

This section provides that the Determination is repealed at the start of 1 July 2027.

 

Section 5 - Application

 

This section provides that the Determination applies to carrier licences that were in force at the beginning of the 2024-2025 financial year.

 

Section 6 - Definitions

 

Subsection 6(1) sets out definitions for various terms used in the Determination, including the terms “MBA” (Measuring Broadband Australia), “CSPA” (Consumer Safeguards Part A) and “QRCSP” (qualifying retail carriage service provider).

 

This section defines a number of key terms used throughout the Determination. A number of other expressions used in the Determination are defined in the Act, and in the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999.

 

Section 7 - References to other instruments

 

Paragraph 7(a) provides that a reference to a legislative instrument in the Determination is a reference to that instrument as in force from time to time. Paragraph 7(b) provides that a reference to any other kind of instrument is a reference to that instrument as in force at the commencement of the Determination.

 

Section 8 - Carrier licence charge – exempt carrier licence

 

This section provides that the amount of carrier licence charge imposed on an exempt carrier licence is $0, in accordance with the 2017 Ministerial Direction.

 

Section 9 - Method of ascertaining carrier licence charge – other carrier licences

 

This section sets out the method for ascertaining the amount of carrier licence charge imposed on a carrier licence that is not an exempt carrier licence (a relevant carrier licence).

 

Subsection 9(2) explains that the carrier licence charge imposed on a relevant carrier licence in relation to each carrier named in an item in Schedule 1 (which lists the participating persons for the relevant year) is equal to the sum of the amounts ascertained using the three formulas set out in subsections 9(3), (4) and (5), as applicable to each carrier.

 

Subsection 9(3) sets out how the first amount included in the carrier licence charge is ascertained. This represents the component of the carrier licence charge relating to the costs determined under paragraph 15(1)(a) of the Act, excluding the costs attributable to the Measuring Broadband Australia (MBA) program and the Consumer Safeguards Part A (CSPA) program. This formula applies to all carriers who are named in Schedule 1 to the Determination (all carriers who were participating persons in the 2023-2024 financial year/eligible revenue period and who held a carrier licence on 1 July 2024).

 


This amount is ascertained, for a relevant carrier licence, using the following formula:

 

Where:

 

  • MCA (maximum charge amount excluding the CSPA program and the MBA program amounts) is the total sum of the amounts determined under subsection 15(1) of the Act, excluding the relevant amount ascertained in relation to the CSPA program and the portion of the amount determined by the ACCC under paragraph 15(1)(b) of the Act that relates to the MBA.
  • OTC (other telecommunications costs) is an amount relating to costs that:
  1.                are part of the proportion of the ACMA’s costs for the 2023-2024 financial year that is attributable to the ACMA’s telecommunications functions and powers; and
  2.                have been recovered from telecommunications charges (other than annual carrier licence charges);
  • ER (eligible revenue), for the holder of the relevant carrier licence, is the eligible revenue of the holder for the 2023-2024 eligible revenue period as assessed by the ACMA under subsection 47(1) of the TCPSS Act; and
  • TER (total eligible revenue) is the total sum of the eligible revenue of all holders of a relevant carrier licence for the 2023-2024 eligible revenue period as assessed by the ACMA under subsection 47(1) of the TCPSS Act.

 

The total amount ascertained for the purpose of subsection 9(3) is calculated by subtracting the other telecommunications costs from the maximum charge amount. The net amount is then allocated to each holder of a relevant carrier licence in the same proportion as that holder’s eligible revenue bears to the total eligible revenue.

 

Subsection 9(4) sets out how the second amount included in the carrier licence charge is ascertained. This represents the component of the carrier licence charge relating to the costs determined under paragraph 15(1)(a) of the Act that relate to the CSPA program. This subsection only applies to a carrier who was also a qualifying retail carriage service provider (QRCSP) for the 2023-2024 financial year and is named in Schedule 2 to the Determination.  

 

The CSPA cost is ascertained, for a relevant carrier licence, using the following formula:

 

Where:

  • CSPA is the cost of the Consumer Safeguards Part A program for the 2023-2024 financial year - $730,127;
  • ERQRCSP is the individual carrier and QRCSP’s eligible revenue for the 2023-2024 eligible revenue period (as specified in Schedule 2); and
  • TERQRCSP is the total assessed eligible revenue of all QRCSPs - $9,700,873,101.

The amount applicable to the CSPA program forms part of the ACMA’s cost component determined under paragraph 15(1)(a) of the Act. This relates to, essentially, providing improvements to dispute resolution for Australian telecommunications consumers. The costs will be recovered from those carriage service providers who are required to report under the Telecommunications (Consumer Complaints) Record-Keeping Rules 2018 (the RKRs) (that is, carriage service providers who were QRCSPs during the relevant period) and are also carriers and participating persons. The carriers who were also QRCSPs in the 2023-2024 financial year and therefore liable to pay the CSPA costs component of the ACLC are Aussie Broadband Ltd, Optus Mobile Pty Ltd, Starlink Australia Pty Ltd, Superloop (Australia) Pty Ltd, Telstra Corporation Ltd, TPG Telecom Ltd, Uniti Group Pty Ltd and Primus Telecommunications Pty Ltd. Given that information obtained under the RKRs by the ACMA falls within the definition of ‘authorised disclosure information’ in section 3 of the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005, the ACMA has obtained the consent of each of the relevant QRCSPs to name the QRCSP in the Determination.

 

The formula allocates the cost in the same proportion as the QRCSP’s assessed eligible revenue bears to the total assessed eligible revenue of all QRCSPs for the 2023-2024 eligible revenue period/financial year.

 

Subsection 9(5) sets out how the third amount included in the carrier licence charge is ascertained. This represents the component of the carrier licence charge relating to the costs determined under paragraph 15(1)(b) of the Act that are attributable to the MBA program.

 

This amount is ascertained, for a relevant carrier licence, using the following formula:

 

where:

  • APC (annual program costs) is equal to $1,837,036. This is the amount of the costs incurred by the ACCC, during the 2023-2024 financial year, as determined by the ACCC under the ACCC Determination that are attributable to the MBA program (see the explanatory statement to the ACCC Determination).
  • FLC (fixed line connections) for each carrier is the number listed for that carrier in an item in Schedule 3. This number is derived from information provided by the ACCC about the total number of NBN fixed line connections operated in a test segment which are attributable to carriers during the 2023-2024 financial year. The ACCC provided the number of NBN fixed-line connections for the 2023-2024 financial year to the ACMA based on NBN’s quarterly reports.
  • TFLC (total fixed line connections) is equal to 7,884,533. This represents the total number of NBN fixed-line connections operated that are attributable to participating persons during the 2023-2024 financial year.

The charge amount attributable to the MBA program is allocated to each carrier licence by first identifying the broadest test segment that applied during the relevant period, and then identifying the volume of services the participating person was responsible for in the relevant period that met the description of that test segment, expressed as a proportion of the total number of such services for which all monitored service providers who are also participating persons were responsible in the relevant period.

 

In the period relevant to this Determination, the broadest test segment comprised of NBN fixed line services and hence the charge amount is allocated based upon the relevant proportion of the participating person’s NBN fixed line access services to the total number of NBN fixed line access services of all monitored service providers who are also participating persons.

 

Schedule 1

 

Schedule 1 sets out, for each holder of a relevant carrier licence named in the Schedule:

  • the holder’s name;
  • their ACN or ABN (or in one case, their jurisdiction of registration);
  • their eligible revenue for the 2023-2024 financial year as assessed by the ACMA under subsection 47(1) of the TCPSS Act; and
  •  the total eligible revenue of all the carriers named in the Schedule.

 

Schedule 2

 

Schedule 2 sets out, for each holder of a relevant carrier licence named in the Schedule, who was also a QRCSP in the 2023-2024 financial year:

 

  • the holder’s name;
  • their ACN or ABN;
  • their eligible revenue for the 2023-2024 financial year as assessed by the ACMA under subsection 47(1) of the TCPSS Act; and
  •  the total eligible revenue of all the carriers named in the Schedule.

Schedule 3

 

Schedule 3 sets out, for each holder of a relevant carrier licence named in the Schedule:

 

  • the holder’s name;
  • their ACN or ABN; and
  • the number of fixed line connections operated by the monitored service provider in a test segment during the 2023-2024 financial year, as reported by the ACCC, that are attributed to the relevant carrier licence.

Attachment B
 

Statement of compatibility with human rights
 

Prepared by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) under subsection 9(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

 

Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Annual Charges) Determination

(No.1) 2026 (the Determination)

Overview of the Determination

Under section 12 of the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Charges) Act 1997 (the Act), an annual carrier licence charge (ACLC) is imposed  on a carrier licence that is in force at the beginning of a financial year, where the financial year begins on or after 1 July 1998.  Carrier licences are issued by the ACMA under the Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Tel Act) and section 73 of the Tel Act provides for the collection of the ACLC by the ACMA on behalf of the Commonwealth.

 

Subsection 14(1) of the Act provides that the amount of an ACLC imposed on a carrier licence is the amount ascertained in accordance with a written determination made by the ACMA. 

 

The Determination is made by the ACMA under subsection 14(1) of the Act.  It sets out the method for ascertaining the amount of ACLC imposed on the holder of each carrier licence that was in force at the beginning of the 2024-2025 financial year, with the exception of “exempt carrier licences” (as that term is defined in the Determination). Subsection 15(1) of the Act provides that the ACLC must not exceed the sum of the amounts specified in the subsection. Section 9 of the Determination (with reference to Schedules 1, 2 and 3) specifies the formula and methodology for calculating the ACLC payable by each carrier liable to pay the charge, by reference to the total ACLC for the 2024-2025 financial year (which is the sum of the amounts specified in subsection 15(1) of the Act) that is payable by each carrier.  The amounts referred to in subsection 15(1) of the Act are determined by the ACMA (paragraphs 15(1)(a), (c) and (ca)), the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (paragraph 15(1)(b)), and the Minister (paragraph 15(1)(d)) by legislative instrument.

Human rights implications

 

The ACMA has assessed whether the Determination is compatible with human rights, being the rights and freedoms recognised or declared by the international instruments listed in subsection 3(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 as they apply to Australia.

Having considered the objective and purpose of the Determination and the nature of any applicable rights and freedoms, the ACMA has formed the view that the Determination does not engage any of those rights or freedoms. 

Conclusion

The Determination is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.

 

[1] Despite its repeal by the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) (Non-Participating Persons) Determination 2025 (the 2025 Determination), the Participating Persons Determination as in force immediately before its repeal continues to apply to the eligible revenue period beginning on 1 July 2023 and ending on 30 June 2024 (see section 7 of the 2025 Determination).

[2] These can be accessed at: www.acma.gov.au. 

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Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation at 26 August 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au.