TELECOMMUNICATIONS CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE INFORMATION

Sydney, 3 February 2021 - Australia’s telecommunications providers strongly agree that emergency services organisations should have access to information about the telecommunications network infrastructure that is needed to protect networks and citizens during emergency situations.

Responding to comments today from Federal Emergency Services Minister, David Littleproud, Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton, said that members of Communications Alliance (CA) agree that the safety and wellbeing of all Australians is the number one priority.

“Whether it is during times of natural disaster, combating pandemics or assisting customers of domestic violence or financial hardship, mobile carriers are first and foremost engaging to ensure the lives of Australians are well protected,” Mr Stanton said.

“Mobile carriers are also well aware that the infrastructure they provide – including in real-time – is critical during times of natural disaster and are constantly engaging with state jurisdictions and emergency services organisations during times of disaster to ensure communications are protected and available in order to assist with emergency response and ultimately save lives.

“Communications Alliance members have been actively engaged in discussions in the Communications Resilience Administration Industry Group within CA, on the provision of critical information and are currently developing a Guideline to provide guidance to industry, states / territories and emergency services organisations on the information which should be provided. These discussions are also centred around ensuring that information provided is kept safe, stored securely and have appropriate access controls and will not pose any threats to national security.

“Mobile carriers are well advanced in holding separate discussions with the NSW Spatial Services department and have participated in demonstrations of the NSW Digital Twin, a database which already holds a vast amount of publicly available infrastructure information (via the Radio Frequency National Site Archive). Some mobile carriers have also noted that they have provided information to some states and territories, whilst they await a response from other states on where they can send the information,” Mr Stanton concluded.