LEOsats necessitate ‘blank sheet’ universal service rethink

The ability of LEOsat constellations, including the commercially available Starlink service, to deliver low-latency, high-speed broadband to anywhere in Australia offers the opportunity for a “blank sheet” rethink of the universal service framework, according to Vocus head of government and corporate affairs Luke Coleman.

He told the CommsDay Summit that regional communications had been subject to the string of reviews and inquiries that have urged changes to the Universal Service Obligation arrangements. The 2008 Glasson Review, for example concluded that “all stakeholders are dissatisϐied with them and they are neither practical nor functional for modern telecommunications.”

Coleman told the conference: “Fast forward 16 years to 2024, and what’s changed? Nothing. The USO arrangements that were neither practical nor functional in 2008 are exactly the same in 2024.”

Coleman highlighted the “menagerie of duplicative funding programs”,

“overlapping taxes” in the form of the Telecoms Industry Levy that supports Telstra’s delivery of the USO and the Regional Broadband Scheme, which subsidises NBN Co’s non-commercial services, and overlapping coverage.

All premises in Australia have access to at least two broadband services and one voice service, via NBN and Starlink, he noted. 99.5% have access to three broadband services and two voice services, when Telstra’s mobile network is added. Around 98.4% are reached by four providers, thanks to Optus’ mobile coverage, and the planned sharing deal with TPG Telecom will add in a ϐifth provider.

“If we started with a blank piece of paper, the first question you would ask is: what is the policy problem we are trying to solve?” Coleman said.

“Well: we want every premise in Australia, no matter how remote, to have access to reliable voice and high-speed broadband. Okay that is available today. On purely commercial basis. No subsidies required, no grants program required, no industry levies required.

“Every single premise in Australia no matter how remote has access to voice and high-speed broadband via the LEO satellite provider Starlink.”

Out of the 12.3 million premises in Australia, just 61,000 don’t have access to mobile coverage, Coleman said, but they do have access to Starlink and NBN Co’s Sky Muster.

“If affordability should be part of a universal service framework, we should ask does it need to apply to anybody outside of that 61,000 premises, given they have at least 3 competitive network providers with a range of commercial options?” he said.

For 99.5% of premises, no universal service framework is really required, he sug[1]gested. “The market has delivered two commercial networks that provide better voice and broadband than the existing USO standard – and the taxpayer has delivered a third in the form of NBN,” he sad.

“The policy problem we are actually trying to solve is for just 61,000 premises that only have one commercially available voice and broadband service, in the form of Starlink.

“We don’t need a ‘universal’ service framework. We need a solution for those 61,000 premises that the market has failed.”

Coleman said the availability of LEOsat services, including from the coming wave of Starlink competitors, means that there is no justiϐication for maintaining the copper network. Instead the federal government could simply subsidise Starlink services for those 61,000 premises.

“And the best part? Everybody would have a far better service than under the USO, for a fraction of the cost,” he said.

A modern universal service framework would involve “a competitive market solving the problem better than any regulation, levy, or subsidy ever has,” complemented by a “targeted program to ensure nobody gets left behind” in those areas of market failure.

CLOSING THE GAP: Coleman called for a specific program to address First Nations Communities and help achieve Target 17: A digital inclusion goal with a target date of 2026. He noted that in many remote Indigenous communities living arrangements are signiϐicantly different to elsewhere, with the “very concept of a ‘premise’” being “incompatible with the communal living arrangements typically seen on Country.”

He welcomed NBN Co’s rollout of 111 free communal wi-fi networks, which he said was a good start but called for the federal government to take it “the next level” by accepting a recommendation of the First Nations Digital Inclusion Advisory Group and trialling LEO services in those communities.

Access can be solved through mesh wi-ϐi networks with Starlink backhauls, paired with a central management portal controlled by community leaders. Voice can be de[1]livered using wi-ϐi calling, he said.

The issue of Indigenous digital inclusion cannot be solved by the market, and the community wi-ϐi networks should be free and entirely government-subsidised, he told the conference.

Eventually the management portal could potentially offer premium non-free servvices he said, but everyone should have access to a basic level of connectivity.

The issue of digital ability would require a partnership with community organisations with a local presence, he said.

“For the ϐirst time in history, technology is no longer the roadblock to delivering modern connectivity to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities,” Coleman said. “The opportunity to meet Target 17 and Close the Gap is within reach. It’s no longer a question of how we do it. It’s only a question of will we.”

Rohan Pearce, CommsDay

Australasia Satellite Forum 2024

Contact: kfrench@talksatellite.com

Fullerton Hotel, Sydney
3-4 June 2024
TWO FULL DAYS - Where Satellite Leaders Speak!
Over 50 Top Quality Speakers

EarlyBird Registration >>>

Fullerton Hotel, Sydney
3  & 4 June 2024
SAVE THE DATE