ACCC Mobile Services Inquiry: A Tasmanian Business Guide
The ACCC is asking Australian businesses and consumers to share evidence about mobile coverage, service quality, prices and provider choice. For a Tasmanian business, the most useful response is specific: record where and when service fails, which business task is affected, how often it occurs, what workaround you use and what that disruption costs. Submissions responding to the discussion paper close at 5 pm on 26 November 2026. The consumer survey remains open until 5 pm on 10 December 2026.
The consultation does not promise new towers, instant roaming or a particular regulatory decision. It is part of an inquiry into whether regulated access to certain wholesale mobile services could improve competition, investment, coverage, choice and service quality. That makes clear, dated evidence more valuable than a general complaint that reception is poor.
What changed on 15 October 2026?
On 15 October 2026, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission opened public consultation for its Mobile Services Inquiry. The ACCC is seeking views from consumers, businesses, community organisations, industry and government.
The inquiry itself began on 5 August 2026. The new development is the release of the discussion paper and the opportunity to submit evidence. According to the official inquiry timeline, the project is ongoing and considers two possible wholesale services:
- Domestic roaming: a service that could allow customers of one mobile provider to use another provider’s network in an area covered by a declaration.
- Radio access network service: a service that could allow one provider to use another provider’s radio equipment to connect customers’ devices to a mobile network.
In this context, “declaration” is a telecommunications regulatory mechanism. It would require a network operator to provide access to a declared service when another provider requests it, with access terms governed by the relevant framework. The ACCC says it has not formed a view about whether either service should be declared.
Why the inquiry matters to Tasmanian businesses
Mobile connectivity is now part of ordinary business infrastructure. A weak or unreliable service can interrupt card payments, booking systems, navigation, staff communication, two-factor authentication, cloud applications and contact with customers. The consequences may be particularly visible for mobile teams and businesses operating beyond central Hobart.
Tasmania’s Small Business Growth Strategy 2026 identifies digital connectivity as an important foundation for business efficiency, accessibility, regional work and access to wider markets. The ACCC consultation creates a current channel for businesses to explain what the mobile-service experience looks like in practice.
Examples might include:
- a tourism operator unable to confirm bookings or contact drivers along a regular route;
- a market stall or mobile service business whose EFTPOS terminal repeatedly drops out;
- a trades team that cannot upload job photos, receive schedule changes or use a field-service app at particular sites;
- a regional retailer with little practical provider choice at its premises;
- a home-based business whose backup mobile connection does not work during a fixed-line outage; or
- staff who regularly travel between Hobart and regional customers and encounter repeatable coverage gaps.
These are examples of the type of evidence a business could document, not claims about any particular network or location. Coverage varies by provider, device, terrain, building materials, network conditions and other factors.
Survey or formal submission: which route should you use?
The ACCC provides two participation routes. They serve different levels of detail.
| Route | Best suited to | Closing time |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer survey | Sharing everyday experience of coverage, quality, provider choice and switching | 5 pm, 10 December 2026 |
| Discussion paper submission | Providing a structured business, industry, community or policy response with supporting evidence | 5 pm, 26 November 2026 |
The ACCC’s participation page links to both options. A sole trader or small-business owner is also a mobile-service user and may find the survey appropriate. If the issue affects multiple sites, employees, customers or an industry, a written response to the discussion paper can explain the business context in more depth.
The ACCC says no names or identifying information are required for a submission, but information provided may be published in inquiry reports. Remove customer names, personal phone numbers, credentials and other unnecessary personal or commercially sensitive information before sending evidence.
What useful business evidence looks like
A persuasive record connects the network experience to a real task. It does not need to be a technical engineering report. Start with a simple incident log and use the same fields each time.
Record the place and time
Note the date, local time and location as accurately as is safe and appropriate. For a fixed workplace, the street or locality may be enough. For a route, record the direction of travel and a recognisable section of road. Explain whether the problem occurred indoors, outdoors or in a vehicle.
Describe the service and device
Record the provider, plan type if relevant, device model and whether the device was using 4G, 5G, voice, SMS or mobile data. Note whether other staff using the same provider experienced the problem and whether another provider worked at the same place. Do not publish staff phone numbers, account details or device identifiers.
Connect the issue to a business task
“No signal” describes the symptom. “A technician could not receive a schedule change or upload the signed job record for 45 minutes” explains the operational impact. Other useful measures include failed payment attempts, delayed bookings, extra travel, calls diverted to another number, staff time spent finding reception, or a customer task that could not be completed.
Explain frequency and workarounds
Say whether the event was isolated or repeated. Record what the business did instead: drove to another location, switched devices, used Wi-Fi, kept paper notes, called later or maintained a second service. A workaround may show both the importance of the task and the cost of unreliable connectivity.
Separate observations from assumptions
Report what you observed without guessing at the technical cause. Terrain, congestion, handset capability, building design, outages and network configuration can all affect service. Evidence is stronger when it distinguishes “the payment failed three times between 2 pm and 2.20 pm” from “the tower is overloaded”.
A practical seven-day evidence plan
- Choose two critical mobile tasks. Examples include payments, staff calls, bookings or field-app synchronisation.
- Create a shared incident log. Use date, time, place, provider, device, task, observed problem, duration, workaround and impact.
- Brief staff on privacy. Do not copy customer details, passwords, account numbers or private messages into the log.
- Record successful use as well as failures. This gives the evidence context and helps identify repeatable patterns.
- Check contract and support history. Collect relevant case numbers, outage notices and provider responses without including irrelevant personal data.
- Group repeated events. Summarise common locations, times, tasks and operational consequences.
- Match the evidence to the ACCC questions. Read the discussion paper and submission instructions before writing the final response.
A week may not capture intermittent or seasonal issues, but it can establish a repeatable method. Use a longer period when the business travels infrequently or the problem varies with peak demand, weather, visitor seasons or work locations.
Do not wait for the inquiry to fix continuity risks
The consultation is about possible market and regulatory outcomes. It is not an incident-response service and will not resolve an individual outage before the submission deadline. Businesses should still reduce their immediate dependence on any single connection where the consequences justify it.
Practical measures can include offline procedures for essential work, documented provider support contacts, tested payment alternatives, staff instructions for missed communications and a second connection that has been tested at the places where it is meant to help. A backup using the same network infrastructure may not provide genuine diversity.
Connectivity should also be part of technology procurement. When selecting a field platform, booking tool or customer portal, ask what happens when a connection is slow or unavailable, whether work can be saved locally and how conflicting updates are handled. DanSol’s guide to custom software versus off-the-shelf systems explains how to compare workflow fit, integrations, data access and continuity responsibilities.
For digital services that need a resilient mobile experience, DanSol’s Hobart app development service covers requirements, user experience, integrations and testing. That work should begin with the real conditions users face, including low bandwidth, interrupted sessions and smaller screens.
Connectivity is only one layer of resilience. Accounts, devices, backups and supplier responsibilities also matter. The ASD Essentials guide for Hobart businesses provides a separate checklist for current Australian cyber-security guidance.
Questions to discuss before submitting
- Which business activities rely on mobile voice, SMS or data?
- Where do coverage or quality problems occur repeatedly?
- What provider choices are realistically available at those locations?
- How do interruptions affect customers, safety, staff time, payments or service delivery?
- What equipment, second services or manual processes do you maintain as a workaround?
- Have you raised the issue with a provider, and what response did you receive?
- Which evidence can be shared without exposing personal or confidential information?
If several businesses in a region experience similar issues, each should preserve its own evidence. An industry association, chamber or community organisation may also be able to identify patterns and prepare a broader response.
Frequently asked questions
Will the ACCC inquiry guarantee better mobile coverage in Tasmania?
No. The ACCC is gathering evidence and has not formed a view on whether to declare either wholesale service. The inquiry will assess competition, investment and consumer outcomes before reaching a position.
Is the inquiry only for regional and remote areas?
No. The ACCC is seeking responses from cities, regional areas and remote communities. Regional and remote coverage concerns are an important focus, but Hobart businesses can also provide evidence about service quality, choice and switching.
Can a small business complete the consumer survey?
The ACCC’s announcement invites consumers and businesses to participate. A small-business owner sharing their experience as a mobile-service user may use the survey. A structured written submission is more suitable when the business wants to address discussion-paper questions or provide detailed operational evidence.
Does domestic roaming mean every phone will automatically use every network?
No such outcome has been decided. Domestic roaming is one wholesale service being considered. Any future access obligation would depend on the ACCC’s final decision, the declared service description and the relevant access arrangements.
Should a submission include customer records or screenshots?
Only include information that is necessary and appropriate. Redact customer names, phone numbers, credentials, account details and unrelated personal information. Review the ACCC’s privacy and confidentiality instructions before submitting.
Turn mobile frustrations into usable evidence
The current consultation gives Tasmanian businesses a defined opportunity to explain how mobile coverage, quality and provider choice affect real work. Begin with a factual log, connect each problem to a business task, quantify the workaround where possible and use the ACCC’s questions to structure the response.
Keep the deadlines separate: discussion-paper submissions close at 5 pm on 26 November 2026, while the consumer survey closes at 5 pm on 10 December 2026. Check the ACCC inquiry page before submitting in case instructions change.
Information checked against ACCC material published on 15 October 2026 and the Tasmanian Small Business Growth Strategy 2026. This article provides general business information, not legal, telecommunications engineering or regulatory advice.