INDUSTRY WELCOMES 5G INQUIRY REPORT HIGHLIGHTING THE CRUCIAL ROLE 5G PLAYS TO ALL AUSTRALIANS

Sydney, 12 May 2020: The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) and Communications Alliance welcome the 5G Inquiry Report by the House Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts tabled in Parliament today.

The Committee assessed 5G technology from all perspectives over the past 12 months and clearly identified 5G as a safe and transformative technology – building on the legacy of previous mobile generations (3G and 4G).

The Report highlighted that 5G will enable substantial opportunities for innovation and connectivity to benefit Australian consumers and industries alike. 5G provides the crucial enabling architecture needed to support the onset of the fourth industrial revolution, where Australians will experience the blurring of lines between the cyber and physical in their workplaces, homes and leisure time. In addition to the direct benefits of 5G enabled technologies, it will also provide significant beneficial flow-on impacts by delivering enhanced productivity and connectivity to furtherdrive the economy and society forward.

The Committee observed the many decades of scientific research into the health and safety of mobile technologies and are assured  that 5G is safe. It stated that we are at a point where enough is known about the standards and safety of 5G technology to allow businesses of all sizes, communities and individuals to imagine new use cases and opportunities and be able to now bring them to life.

In addition to recognising the crucial and important role 5G will play, the report calls out that technology can be complex to understand so there is an ongoing need to provide public education resources to explain mobile networks and the mobile infrastructure needed in our cities and towns to enable 5G’s contribution to a better-connected future for Australia.   

AMTA CEO, Chris Althaus, said: “The broader mobile network including 3G, 4G, and increasingly 5G, has played a crucial role in enabling Australians to remain connected during these challenging recent months – highlighting our significant need for connectivity – economically and socially.

“The mobile telecommunications industry looks forward to working with the government on consideration of the Report’s recommendations to ensure the right regulatory environment and essential 5G mobile infrastructure is in place to enable all Australians, including those in rural and regional Australia, to benefit from the productivity and connectivity 5G will enable.”

Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton, said: “5G will deliver unprecedented opportunity across the community and economy, and we will now take time to consider the details of this report which is built on 12 months of thorough analysis and discussion with the science and research sector, industry and community representatives.”