Urgent Reforms Required to Boost Investment in Digital Infrastructure
The Australian Telecommunications Alliance has called on the Government to reduce red tape holding back digital infrastructure investment, following a new report which ranked Australia 37th out of 42 countries for regulation, 38th for business taxation, and 38th for investment restrictions.
“The Business Council of Australia’s Global Investment Competitiveness Index should be a wake-up call for policymakers that we need urgent reform of regulations holding back digital infrastructure investment,” said ATA CEO Luke Coleman.
“Globally, AI is driving of one of the largest investment cycles in history – but while investors are pushing the accelerator, our policy settings are pumping the brakes.”
According to the BCA report, Australia ranked 21st out of 42 countries overall for investment competitiveness – down 4 places since 2019. Countries at the top of the rankings were found to have simple and predictable regulation – in contrast to Australia, where telcos face a myriad of costly and complex regulation which is suppressing investment.
“Digital infrastructure is central to everything. The pervasiveness of digital connectivity, and its criticality for Australia’s productivity, result in a multiplier effect of capital invested in digital infrastructure,” Mr Coleman said. “Capital invested into infrastructure yields a higher economic return than regulatory costs, lengthy planning processes, and overpriced spectrum licences.”
The Government’s National AI Plan recognises that there are two critical components of AI: data centres and connectivity – meaning high-capacity fibre and 5G infrastructure. But red tape is preventing investment in this critical connectivity. One major telco reported that a single intercapital fibre route required more than 3,000 land access activity notices, 1,128 construction certificates, 1,723 land access surveys, and 171 cultural heritage and environmental assessments.
“If Australia wants the digital infrastructure required for AI, then we must make it easier to build,” Mr Coleman said.
The ATA is a member of the BCA-led Alliance of Industry Associations, a group of 24 organisations representing Australia’s small, medium and large businesses, universities, farmers, retailers, and the investment community.
“Telcos are subject to more than 200 sector-specific legislative and regulatory instruments, with around 20 new obligations introduced in 2025 alone,” Mr Coleman said.
The Productivity Commission’s recent Creating a more dynamic and resilient economy named telecommunications as one of three sectors in the entire economy in need of urgent regulatory reform, calling on Government to undertake a ‘substantial regulatory review’ of red tape in the telco sector.
