Explanatory Statement
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Communications.
Telecommunications Act 1997
Telecommunications (Designated Service Area and Statutory Infrastructure Provider) Amendment Declaration (No. 1) 2026
Authority
The Telecommunications (Designated Service Area and Statutory Infrastructure Provider) Amendment Declaration (No. 1) 2026 (the Amending Declaration) is made under sections 360L of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Act) and subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
Purpose
The purpose of the Amending Declaration is to amend the Telecommunications (Designated Service Area and Statutory Infrastructure Provider) Declaration (No. 1) 2020 (the Principal Declaration) to amend, designate or repeal a number of service areas under the statutory infrastructure provider (SIP) regime,
Background
The SIP regime is set out in Part 19 of the Act and commenced on 1 July 2020. It aims to ensure that all people in Australia can access high speed broadband services. Under the Act, NBN Co is the default SIP for Australia, reflecting its role in the market. However, the SIP regime provides for alternative providers to be the SIPs for the geographic areas where they deploy telecommunications networks or facilities. This recognises that there is a competitive market in Australia for the provision of this infrastructure. Both carriers and carriage service providers with network infrastructure or facilities in a service area can be designated as the SIP.
The key obligations of SIPs are to connect premises in their service areas to their infrastructure, and supply wholesale services on reasonable request from a service provider acting on behalf of an end‑user within the designated SIP area. The wholesale services must allow the retail provider to supply qualifying services, which are broadband services with peak download and upload speeds of at least 25/5 Mbps. On fixed‑line or fixed wireless networks, the wholesale services SIPs supply must also enable retail providers to supply voice services. SIPs must also publish the terms and conditions on which they offer to connect premises and supply eligible services to providers.
Under section 360Z of the Act, the ACMA is required to maintain a register which, amongst other things, must contain the name of each SIP and, for each of those SIPs, the relevant service area or areas. The names and geographical boundaries of the designated service areas declared in the Amending Declaration and the name of the relevant SIP will be made publicly viewable by the ACMA on its register.
The Amending Declaration is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 and is subject to the default sunsetting requirements and disallowance. The Amending Declaration commences the day after it is registered.
Details of the Amending Declaration are set out in Attachment A.
Consultation
SIPs seeking changes to the Principal Declaration provide information to the Department and in some cases information is passed along by the ACMA. The Department also reaches out to relevant parties as required (such as in the case of the liquidation of one SIP in 2025). The Department consulted NBN Co, as the default SIP for Australia, on the proposed amendments and also consulted the ACMA on the draft Amending Declaration. No concerns were raised about the draft Amending Declaration.
The Amending Declaration is covered by a standing Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) exemption issued by the Office of Impact Analysis (OIA), as the regulatory impacts of the Amending Declaration are minor and/or mechanical in nature, and were considered and costed as part of the implementation of the wider SIP regime (OIA ID: 44338).
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
A statement of compatibility with human rights for the purposes of Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 is set out at Attachment B.
Attachment A
Details of the Telecommunications (Designated Service Area and Statutory Infrastructure Provider) Amendment Declaration (No. 1) 2026
Section 1 – Telecommunications (Designated Service Area and Statutory Infrastructure Provider) Amendment Declaration (No. 1) 2026
This section provides that the name of the instrument is the Telecommunications (Designated Service Area and Statutory Infrastructure Provider) Amendment Declaration (No. 1) 2026 (the Amending Declaration).
Section 2 – Commencement
This section provides for the Amending Declaration to commence on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.
Section 3 – Authority
This section provides that the Amending Declaration is made under sections 360L of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Act) and subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
Section 4 – Schedules
This section provides that each instrument specified in the Schedule to the Amending Declaration is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable item in the Schedule concerned, and that any other item in a Schedule to the instrument has effect according to its terms.
Schedule 1 – Amendments
Item 1 removes Commsol Holdings Pty Ltd from the list of SIPs in section 4 as the company went into liquidation in July 2025 and Transact Capital Communications Pty Ltd as the SIP network operated by this company was transferred to another SIP.
Item 2 sets out the changes to CNT Corp Pty Ltd’s responsibilities. Currently Schedule 3 includes 13 service areas. The Amending Declaration introduces another two service areas with CNT Corp Pty Ltd as the SIP. The Amending Declaration achieves this by repealing the current Schedule 3 and replacing it with a new schedule 3 that sets out all of the service areas in alphabetical order.
Item 3 sets out the changes to Commsco Pty Ltd’s responsibilities. Currently Schedule 3A includes 16 service areas. The Amending Declaration introduces another seven service areas with Commsco Pty Ltd as the SIP, bringing the number of designated service areas to 23. The Amending Declaration achieves this by repealing the current Schedule 3A and replacing it with a new schedule 3A that sets out all the service areas in alphabetical order.
Item 4 repeals the Commsol Holdings Pty Ltd schedule. Currently Schedule 4 includes three service areas which will now become the responsibility of other SIPs and the default SIP.
Item 5 sets out the changes to Frontier Networks Pty Ltd’s responsibilities. Currently Schedule 6 has service areas numbered up to 21 but is missing numbers. The Amending Declaration updates Schedule 6 with a total of 20 service areas. These changes include some service area boundary amendments and administrative changes to the item numbers and service area addresses. The Amending Declaration achieves this by repealing the current Schedule 6 and replacing it with a new schedule 6 that sets out all the service areas in alphabetical order.
Item 6 repeals and replaces Schedule 7 Interphone Pty Ltd amending the boundaries for three service areas, updating the item numbers for the whole schedule, and adding more detailed address information for all service areas in the schedule.
Item 7 repeals and replaces Schedule 8 LBN Co Pty Ltd. Schedule 8 has significant amendments following a mapping audit conducted by LBN Co. The previous schedule listed 1082 service areas; the updated schedule amends the number to 721 service areas. This is the result of a number of mapping amendments to combine adjacent service areas, and the submission of 360R notices to exit 12 service areas where there are few or no remaining customers.
Item 8 amends Schedule 11 OPENetworks Pty Ltd. It repeals items 17, 28, 36, 37, 38, 62, 64, 81 and 95 from the schedule OPENetworks submitted 360R notices to exit these service areas due to few or no remaining customers and amends the boundaries for items 71A, 93 and 94. These boundary amendments are the result of a mapping audit conducted by OPENetworks.
Item 9 amends Schedule 12 Opticomm Pty Ltd. It repeals and replaces items 10, 12, 23, 25, 30, 33, 34, 35, 40, 41, 44, 51, 54, 55, 57, 59, 60, 62, 73, 80, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 93, 97, 98, 100, 104, 115, 117, 120, 121, 124, 125, 126, 127, 134, 139, 141, 142, 145, 147, 152, 155, 159, 165, 181, 183, 186, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 206, 212, 217, 218, 225, 237, 238, 240, 244, 247 and 248. These boundary amendments are the result of a mapping audit conducted by Opticomm.
Item 10 amends Schedule 12A Opticomm Pty Ltd (Former Telstra Designated Service Areas). It repeals and replaces items 15, 20, 34, 36, 43, 45, 47, 55, 98, 100, 101, 103, and 113. These boundary amendments are the result of a mapping audit conducted by Opticomm.
Item 11 repeals and replaces Schedule 13 PIPE Networks Pty Ltd. The amended Schedule 13 has the service areas that were listed in Schedule 17 TransACT Capital Communications Pty Ltd to PIPE Networks. This follows the sale of both the PIPE Networks and TransACT networks to Vocus Group. The updated schedule includes an additional service area (Item 22) that was previously designated to Commsol, which has been liquidated. PIPE has network infrastructure in the service area and so will take on the SIP responsibilities.
Item 12 repeals and replaces Schedule 14 Real World Networks Pty Ltd. The updated schedule includes a service area (Item 5) that was purchased by Real World Networks from Commsol following the company’s liquidation, and amends address information for the other four service areas designated to Real World Networks.
Item 13 repeals Schedule 17 TransACT Capital Communications Pty Ltd. All TransACT service areas have been moved into Schedule 13 PIPE Networks following the purchase of both TransACT and PIPE Networks by Vocus Group.
Attachment B
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Telecommunications (Designated Service Area and Statutory Infrastructure Provider) Amendment Declaration (No. 1) 2026
Overview
The purpose of the Amending Declaration is to amend the Telecommunications (Designated Service Area and Statutory Infrastructure Provider) Declaration (No. 1) 2020 (the Principal Declaration) to amend, designate or repeal specified service areas under the statutory infrastructure provider (SIP) regime for CNT Corp Pty Ltd, Commsco Pty Ltd, Frontier Networks Pty Ltd, Interphone Pty Ltd, LBN Co Pty Ltd, OPENetworks Pty Ltd, Opticomm Pty Ltd, PIPE Networks Pty Ltd, and Real World Networks Pty Ltd. The Amending Declaration also removes Commsol Pty Ltd and TransACT Capital Communications Pty Ltd as Statutory Infrastructure Providers (SIPs) and repeals the relevant schedules.
The SIP regime provides a framework for people in Australia to access high-speed broadband wherever they live or work. The key obligations of SIPs are to connect premises in their service areas to their infrastructure, and supply wholesale services on reasonable request from a service provider acting on behalf of an end‑user within the designated SIP area. The wholesale services must allow the retail provider to supply qualifying services, which are broadband services with peak download and upload speeds of at least 25/5 Mbps. On fixed‑line or fixed wireless networks, the wholesale services SIPs supply must also enable retail providers to supply voice services. SIPs must also publish the terms and conditions on which they offer to connect premises and supply eligible services to service providers.
Most of the changes proposed by the Amending Declaration are to amend or repeal some existing SIP service areas. Some of the areas had been found to need boundary corrections or required minor administrative changes to item number and address information. The Amendment Declaration removes two SIPs and the relevant schedules from the Principal Declaration.
Designated service areas are geographic areas in which telecommunications networks have been built by carriers other than NBN Co, and the Minister has determined that those carriers, rather than NBN Co, should fulfil SIP obligations. Once a service area is designated, end‑users living or working in such areas have certainty that they will have access to infrastructure that supports the delivery of superfast broadband services, as well as voice services (where fixed‑line or fixed wireless networks are used). Access to telecommunications services is important for social, economic, political and cultural participation.
The Amending Declaration does not include personal information about any end‑user residing or working within a designated service area.
Human rights implications
The Amending Declaration is compatible with 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. The Amending Declaration does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
The Amending Declaration is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.