Summary

  • ACMA’s October 16 paper favors amending Australia’s existing low-interference-device class licence and accrediting AFC system providers; neither change is final.
  • Trials retrieved licence data and operated devices, but also found database-synchronization and device-registration issues. Their limited-incumbency locations do not prove nationwide coexistence.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has moved its 6 GHz automatic frequency coordination proposal from an open-ended discussion toward a possible regulatory design. Its October 16 consultation paper describes how standard-power radio local area network devices might use 5925–6585 MHz while protecting licensed users. Comments are due by 5 pm AEDT on December 18. ACMA is seeking views, not authorizing commercial operation.

The proposed route is notable for where it places responsibility. ACMA’s preliminary view is to amend the existing Low Interference Potential Devices class licence and let devices transmit at standard power only when an accredited AFC provider manages their access. Rather than accredit each software product, the regulator currently prefers accrediting the system provider, which would be responsible for operating compliant software and meeting prescribed safeguards. The paper defines standard power as up to 4 W EIRP; current very-low-power outdoor use is capped at 25 mW.

The proposal could therefore expand coverage for campuses, mines and fixed-wireless providers, but the higher ceiling is conditional on coordination and has not been adopted.

ACMA says it received 26 responses to its 2025 discussion paper. It characterized 18 as supporting standard-power RLAN, including outdoors, if AFC coordinates access. Five raised incumbent-protection concerns without opposing AFC in principle; two urged caution, including about in-home Wi-Fi and rail spectrum; one opposed the change and favored a narrower band with a government-controlled database. These are the regulator’s categories, not a vote that settles the design.

The trials show why database operations matter as much as the headline spectrum decision. Work at four sites in Queensland, Western Australia, New South Wales and South Australia found that systems could retrieve records from the Register of Radiocommunications Licences and operate AFC-enabled devices. No interference was observed, but ACMA says incumbency was relatively limited in those areas. The trials also identified issues in synchronizing databases and registering devices. Those observations support continued testing; they do not establish how the system would perform nationwide or under dense, changing conditions.

Under the proposed model, providers would use register data, propagation models and protection criteria to calculate permitted channels and power at each location. ACMA is considering cybersecurity, audit, data-integrity, refresh, record-retention and incident-reporting requirements. If an update were missed, the paper expects devices to stop transmitting until refresh is complete. Yet ACMA has not set the refresh interval, geographic scope of accreditation or final audit and revocation process.

It also does not propose publishing individual AFC assignments in the register or coordinating assignments between different AFC providers; ordinary Wi-Fi contention would handle device-to-device risks.

The pathway is deliberately staged. ACMA plans to analyze responses, consult on detailed requirements in the third quarter of 2027, then finalize licensing and accreditation arrangements from the fourth quarter of 2027 to the first quarter of 2028. Deployment may begin only at that later point. Until then, scientific-trial licences remain case by case.

Sources