Australia’s AI Future Depends on Urgent Telecommunications Deployment Reform
Australia risks missing out on the full economic and productivity benefits of AI unless governments urgently reform the rules governing telecommunications infrastructure deployment, the Australian Telecommunications Alliance (ATA) has warned.
In separate submissions to the Senate inquiry into artificial intelligence and data centres and the Tasmanian Parliament’s inquiry into AI data centres, the ATA argues telecommunications networks must be considered in planning alongside data centres, energy, water, and other enabling infrastructure.
“Australia’s AI ambitions are running ahead of the rules that govern the infrastructure needed to support them,” ATA CEO Luke Coleman said. “We’re stuck with a 1990s planning framework and expecting it to deliver 2030s digital infrastructure.”
“Data centres create AI capability, but they’re nothing without connectivity. The success of AI in Australia depends on the fibre and mobile networks that enable Australians to access it.”
“Australia’s 21st-century AI ambitions are being hamstrung by 20th-century planning processes. The decisions we make in the next few years will determine whether Australia leads, follows, or misses the AI opportunity altogether.”
The ATA is calling for urgent reforms to deployment rules for telecommunications infrastructure, warning that delays to fibre and network rollouts will translate into delays to AI uptake.
“Telecommunications deployment reform is no longer just telecommunications policy. It’s AI policy, productivity policy, and economic policy,” Mr Coleman said.
With governments competing for AI investment and major infrastructure decisions being made now, the ATA warns the window to modernise Australia’s telecommunications deployment framework is rapidly narrowing.
The ATA’s recommendations in the two submissions recognise that data centres, telecommunications networks, energy systems, and connectivity are part of a single digital ecosystem. The ATA argues that treating telecommunications as foundational AI infrastructure is essential if Australia is to capture the productivity, resilience, and regional benefits of AI investment.
The submissions are available on the ATA’s website.
