explanatory statement
Issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority
Telecommunications Act 1997
Telecommunications Technical Standard (Requirements for Customer Equipment, operating in the voiceband, for connection to the non-switched Telecommunications Network — AS/ACIF S006:2008) 2008
Purpose
The purpose of the Telecommunications Technical Standard (Requirements for Customer Equipment, operating in the voiceband, for connection to the non-switched Telecommunications Network — AS/ACIF S006:2008)2008 (the Technical Standard) is to mandate a revised industry telecommunications technical standard in relation to specified customer equipment.
This technical standard mandates a revised standard for CE operating in the voiceband, for connection to the non-switched Telecommunications Network. The revision facilitates the introduction of VDSL2 (Very high speed Digital Subscriber Line – 2nd Generation) technology and ensures that equipment designed to work in conjunction with this technology will not cause interference or degrade its performance capabilities.
Legislative Provisions
This instrument is made under subsection 376(1) of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Act). Subsection 376(1) allows the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to make a technical standard relating to specified customer equipment (CE) and customer cabling (CC). This technical standard relates to specified CE.
Background
The telecommunications regulatory arrangements for CE and CC require each supplier to apply a compliance label to its product prior to supply to the market. Compliance is determined against technical standards made under section 376 of the Act which are referred to in the Telecommunications Labelling (Customer Equipment and Customer Cabling) Notice 2001 (the Labelling Notice).
The Labelling Notice makes it mandatory for a supplier of customer equipment to comply with this technical standard.
A technical standard made under section 376 can only consist of such requirements as are necessary or convenient for:
- protecting the integrity of a telecommunications network or facility;
- protecting the health and safety of persons who are likely to be affected by the operation of the network or facility to which the equipment or cabling is connected;
- ensuring equipment can be used to give access to an emergency call service;
- ensuring interoperability of equipment with a network facility used to provide the standard telephone service; or
- achieving an objective specified in the regulations (no regulations have been made to date).
The Act provides that in making a technical standard, ACMA may apply, adopt or incorporate any matter contained in a standard proposed or approved by any other body or association. ACMA practice is to adopt in their entirety industry telecommunications technical standards developed by Communications Alliance.[1]
Communications Alliance has accreditation as a Standard Development Organisation from Standards Australia. ACMA currently has a Memorandum of Understanding with Communications Alliance under which Communications Alliance is responsible for the development and revision of industry telecommunications technical standards.
The revised industry telecommunications technical standard which this instrument mandates prescribes the technical requirements for CE operating in the voiceband, for connection to the non-switched Telecommunications Network.
As this type of equipment may be used in conjunction with VDSL2 services, the industry telecommunications technical standard has been amended and specifies requirements to ensure that interference to VDSL2 services is minimised.
Operation
This technical standard gives effect to the new industry standard and through its inclusion in the Labelling Notice, will replace the existing technical standard Telecommunications Technical Standard (Requirements for Customer Equipment, operating in the voiceband, for connection to the non-switched Telecommunications Network — AS/ACIF S006)2001 following a twenty four month overlap period. During the overlap period both the old and new technical standards are in force and a supplier may choose to declare compliance against either standard.
This revised industry telecommunications technical standard makes a number of changes to the previous industry standard. These changes are:
- Extension of the Power Spectral Density mask
The upper frequency limit for the testing of maximum signal levels (the PSD mask) has been extended from 12MHz to 30MHz. As VDSL2 technology may make use of frequencies up to 30MHz on the copper access network, it is necessary to ensure that equipment used in conjunction with VDSL2 services does not cause interference to it up to this increased operational frequency range.
2. Editorial amendments
As a result of the changes to the standard, a number of consequential editorial amendments were required.
Consultation
Section 378 of the Act requires ACMA to ensure, so far as practicable, that interested persons have an opportunity to comment on a proposed technical standard and that due consideration be given to any comments before ACMA makes the standard. The new industry standard was prepared by the Communications Alliance VDSL2 Working Committee WC07. This working committee comprises a wide range of industry representatives and includes carriers, carriage service providers, equipment manufacturers and importers, consumer groups and test houses.
A draft version of the industry standard was made available for public comment for a period of 66 days from 17 December 2007 to 25 February 2008, which meets the requirements for consultation under section 378 of the Act.
Copies of the draft industry standard were sent to members of the Communications Alliance including its Customer Equipment and Cable Reference Panel, Network Reference Panel, VDSL2 Working Committee, the Consumer Council and the Disability Council.
The draft industry standard for public comment was also promoted through the following media: Communications Day, Computerworld, ITwire and Exchange.
Further, copies of the draft industry standard for public comment were downloadable free of charge from the Communications Alliance website during this period. Copies of the standard were also sent to interested parties.
Two representations were received. One representation was to correct identified inconsistencies in the draft standard and the other representation was a no comment.
Regulation Impact
ACMA has appointed a Best Practice Regulation Coordinator to make representations for the Office of Best Practice Regulation. The coordinator has advised that the making of this instrument does not impose any substantial additional regulatory burden on manufacturers and importers of CE and accordingly a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) is not required. The ACMA RIS exemption identifier is ACMA 061.
Documents Incorporated in this Instrument by Reference
The instrument incorporates AS/ACIF S006:2008 Requirements for Customer Equipment, operating in the voiceband, for connection to the non-switched Telecommunications Network by reference.
This standard is available from the Communications Alliance website at
http://www.commsalliance.com.au/documents/standards/S006_2008.
Detailed Description of the Instrument
Details of the technical standard are in Attachment A.
ATTACHMENT A
NOTES ON SECTIONS
Section 1 Name of Technical Standard
This section identifies the name of the technical standard as the Telecommunications Technical Standard (Requirements for Customer Equipment, operating in the voiceband, for connection to the non-switched Telecommunications Network—AS/ACIF S006:2008) 2008.
This section also notes that the technical standard may also be cited as AS/ACIF S006-2008.
Note 2 in this section, read in conjunction with the definition of the AS/ACIF Standard given in section 3, indicates that this instrument adopts AS/ACIF S006:2008 without any amendments.
Section 2 Commencement
This section provides for the technical standard to commence on the day after it is registered.
Section 3 Definitions
This section defines the following terms which are not defined in the Telecommunications Act 1997
AS/ACIF Standard, non-switched telecommunications network, public switched telephone network, and voice frequency
Section 4 Objects of Technical Standard
This section sets out the objects of the technical standard. These objects are consistent with matters that may be incorporated into a standard as provided by subsection 376(2) of the Act.
Section 5 Application of Technical Standard
This section identifies the scope of application of the technical standard. It applies to customer equipment, operating in the voiceband that is designed or intended for connection to a non-switched telecommunications network and does not have DC or out-of-band signalling capability or DC power feed.
Section 6 Standard for customer equipment
This section provides that customer equipment referred to in section 5 must comply with the standard AS/ACIF S006:2008 as published in 2008.
[1] Communications Alliance (formerly ACIF) is an industry owned, operated and resourced company established in 1997 by the telecommunications industry to implement and manage self-regulation within Australia. CA provides a neutral forum in which all participants and end-users in the Australian communications industry can work together to foster an efficient and competitive environment through self-regulatory processes, technical codes and standards.