Low Earth Orbit Satellite (LEOSat) Working Group has delivered a report to government with 6 recommendations to help guide future telecommunications priorities and regulatory reform.
The aim of the LEOSAT Working Group is to help Australia consider the policy and regulatory implications of LEOSat technology as well as capturing the benefits of this technology as early as possible.
The report notes LEOSats have the potential to close the gap for digital inclusion, particularly for First Nations people and highlights that there are opportunities that may contribute toward modernising existing universal services arrangements.
The report also notes potential acceleration of business and economic benefits that might flow from greater use of LEOSats, including through facilitating the Internet of Things (IoT), and providing resilience, redundancy and connectivity for consumers when there are outages and emergencies.
The recommendations centre on 5 themes: digital inclusion, universal services, direct to handset (device), resiliency and redundancy in emergencies, and business and economic benefits when adopting this new technology.
The Working Group consists of industry, government and First Nations representation and was chaired by Richard Windeyer (former Deputy Secretary, Communications and Media Group, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts).
The Working Group was established in October 2022 by the Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland.