Critical Connections: Essential Services and the Future of Co-regulation

A two-part series on the future of telecommunications: infrastructure, access and sovereignty.

Australia's telecommunications sector stands at a regulatory crossroads. The physical infrastructure underpinning our digital economy, from mobile towers and fibre to subsea cables, data centres and now low-earth-orbit satellites, has never been more strategically significant, yet much of the framework governing it was built for a different era. At the same time, the sector's long-standing model of co-regulation is being tested.

The series examines two of the most consequential questions facing the sector: one about how telecommunications is regulated at home, the other about how Australia secures the infrastructure it increasingly relies on from beyond its borders. Critical Connections brings this conversation to audiences in Sydney (Part 1) and Melbourne (Part 2).

Part 1: Essential Services and the Future of Co-regulation (Sydney)

Access to telecommunications is now as fundamental as access to power or water, essential to work, health, education, safety and civic participation. So why is it regulated so differently? Taking the energy sector as a lens, this session examines what “essential service” status would mean for telecommunications: the case for stronger consumer protections and enhanced infrastructure rights, weighed against the regulatory burden that comes with it.

It also asks where co-regulation is headed. For decades, the sector has relied on the industry developing its own codes, registered and enforced by the regulator, but that model is under pressure. The decision to replace the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code with direct regulation marks a turning point in how the sector is governed, and raises a bigger question about the future of co-regulation across telecommunications. The reliability of services like Triple Zero shows what is at stake when the rules do not hold.

Relevant to carriers and carriage service providers, consumer advocates, regulators, academics and policy researchers.

Opening Remarks:

• Cynthia Gebert, Ombudsman, Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman

Panel Discussion:

• Luke Coleman, CEO, Australian Telecommunications Alliance (ATA)

• Carol Bennet, CEO, Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN)

• Rob Nicholls, Senior Research Associate, Centre for AI, Trust, and Governance, The University of Sydney

• Rosemary Sinclair, Member of NSW IPART Energy Network Regulation Committee

Moderated By:

• Kate Creighton-Selvay, Partner, Mallesons

Light lunch: Midday to 12.30 pm

Seminar: 12.30 pm to 2.00 pm

Please note this event will be held under the Chatham House Rule.

This event series is kindly hosted by Mallesons