Opticomm slapped with $150k fine for infrastructure notification failure

Incident occurred between May 2023 and May 2024.

Wholesale access broadband provider Opticomm has been hit with a $150,000 fine from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

According to ACMA, the company failed to adequately notify the authority of planned and completed broadband infrastructure installations for a number of real estate developments.

Under relevant industry rules, carriers that install telco network infrastructure to connect premises in new and redevelopment real estate project areas must meet a number of obligations.

This includes connecting premises, supplying broadband services that can reach minimum internet speeds, and notifying the ACMA when they enter contracts to install telco network infrastructure and again when they have completed the works.

An ACMA investigation into Opticomm’s compliance with notification obligations found that between May 2023 and May 2024 Opticomm failed to provide relevant notifications within the required timeframes on 184 occasions.

As part of the investigation, Opticomm claimed the breaches arose from human error and manual processes which meant that issues were not immediately identified.

Samantha Yorke, ACMA member said these notification rules provide important transparency regarding the availability of networks, enabling timely connection of premises and supply of services to end-users.

“Clear information about where carriers are planning to install telco networks reduces inefficiencies and unnecessary infrastructure duplication,” she said.

“Opticomm is one of the largest independent providers of broadband access networks in Australia and should have adequate systems and processes in place. This penalty serves as a warning to industry that the ACMA takes enforcement of these rules seriously.”

In addition to the financial penalty, Opticomm has entered into a court-enforceable undertaking committing the company to a comprehensive independent review of its compliance processes in relation to the statutory infrastructure provider rules, and to implement any recommended improvements.

Opticomm is the statutory infrastructure provider of wholesale broadband networks in a number of new real estate developments across Australia.