Summary

  • ACMA proposes accredited people coordinate most special-event FM assignments and submit a combined application at least four weeks before transmission.
  • The accredited person would do more of the engineering and paperwork; ACMA would still make the spectrum determination and issue the licence.

A temporary radio station can be the least temporary thing in an event plan. Frequencies need checking, neighbours need protecting and somebody has to put a name on the licence application. Australia’s communications regulator wants to move much of that preparation outside its own office, without handing over the final switch.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority’s consultation, opened on 19 October, proposes a new instruction for special-event radio in the broadcasting bands. The draft covers FM from 88.0 to 108.0 MHz and specified VHF Band I channels used for narrowcast subscription services, including “sports ears”. A qualifying special event is organised, significant for sporting, cultural or community reasons, and lasts no more than 30 days under ACMA’s published guide.

Today, ACMA’s public application guide asks organisers to submit the package at least eight weeks before an event. The proposed route puts an accredited person between the organiser and the regulator. The prospective licensee would arrange for an appropriate accredited person (AP) to handle the assignment. That person would choose and coordinate a frequency, assess coverage and interference, and send ACMA a draft B110 application no later than four weeks before the service begins, until an online portal for APs is available.

The four-week clock is the headline. The B110 is the machinery. Its first part asks the AP to certify the assignment; another names the prospective licensee; a later section records the transmitter site, frequency, power, antenna and coverage area. The final part identifies the planning method or sets out the interference criteria and rationale. The draft requires those records to be kept for five years and produced to ACMA on request. The AP brings the technical certification, interference calculations and five-year record trail into the application.

For General Licensing Accreditation, the 2021 rules require relevant qualifications and experience in frequency assignment and interference assessment.

ACMA still holds the authority that makes the application legally usable. It considers the file, makes the section 34 determination that opens the broadcasting-band spectrum for the event service, enters the licence in its system and issues the licence after payment. The draft routes ACMA’s invoice for tax and the licence issue fee to the AP named in the application. The proposed form keeps the applicant/licensee and AP as separate people or organisations.

The shortcut has edges. The initial AP route excludes FM stations above 100 watts effective radiated power in capital cities and high-density areas, along with applications outside the draft’s standard parameters. Those cases stay with ACMA; its consultation paper gives them an eight-week filing lead. The draft allows case-by-case power exceptions above 100 watts in non-metro or non-high-density areas, but only after ACMA receives supporting analysis on interference. Higher power adds a longer review and a second engineering test; ACMA needs supporting interference analysis before granting an exception.

ACMA argues that AP coordination could improve turnaround and might lower fees. It already orders special-event applications around the event date; the new route would move the frequency work to an accredited person, while the regulator retains the determination and licence. The consultation contains no operating results because the process is still a proposal. It sets out a December 2026 finalisation target, a proposed 1 March 2027 start subject to feedback, and a review after 12 months. The comment period closes on 13 November.

The live test will be whether the hand-off removes waiting or merely changes who has to be booked first. Event organisers will need an AP early enough to run interference checks, secure any authority letter and assemble the form. ACMA will still need to decide whether the spectrum can be made available and whether the proposed service fits the rules. For a radio station that may last a few days, the process now has a new first call—and the regulator keeps the last word.

Primary records: ACMA consultation and key documents; draft consultation paper; draft RALI BS 01; draft B110 form; ACMA special-event licence guide; Radiocommunications Accreditation (General) Rules 2021; Broadcasting Services Act 1992.