Dr Horton said the shift from dependence on "a formal government regulator" was a credit to both the ACA and the communications industry. The ACA -- a Commonwealth statutory authority established under the Australian Communications Authority Act 1997 -- administers legislation governing telecommunications and radiocommunications services in Australia.
"I think we've moved away from that quite successfully," Dr Horton told ZDNet Australia in an exclusive interview ahead of the imminent merger of the ACA with the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) to form mega-regulator the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
However, he conceded that codes designed to entrench better ethics and practice in the way consumers were treated by communications providers had been "a little longer in the gestation" than codes governing operational matters such as mobile number portability. "The demand side and the supply side aren't quite balanced.
| During the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony, a broadcaster caused the radio-controlled cauldron to pause on its ascent for 15 to 20 seconds. The ACA had to swing into action to avoid a major embarrassment. |
The consumer codes would take three years or so to reach a high level of maturity, Dr Horton said, but added that the fact the communications industry was prepared to engage in the process meant it was "on the brink of reaching a higher level of maturity in self-regulation". A new strategy and management -- introduced last year -- at industry body the Australian Communications Industry Forum was a positive step towards a more consumer-accountable communications industry, Dr Horton said.
Under the self-regulatory model, the Australian Communications Industry Forum devises draft codes after consultation with the industry or upon request by the ACA, which then registers the code provided all its concerns are dealt with.
Two years ago, the ACA realised the extent to which the public was on the wrong side of the equation following representations from consumer groups and other indicators including the slowness with which consumer codes were being devised and the lack of balance in many proposed codes.
A collaborative effort involving groups such as the Consumer Telecommunications Network, the Communications Law Centre and disability project group Tedicore, had yielded 71 recommendations to boost consumer representations, around 30 percent of which fell within the ACA's purview.
The Consumer Telecommunications Network is organising a consumer telecommunications summit likely to be held in November this year, Dr Horton revealed, which would debate progress on those recommendations. The regulator had already started work with telecommunications companies on simplifying consumer contracts which had reach the point of being "almost impenetrable" to the person on the street and on processes by which customers could negotiate unexpectedly high bills with their providers.
Dr Horton said the ACA was very much encouraged by cost capping arrangements recently introduced by Optus.
Checklist
Dr Horton, 58, said he has 10 items that require sign-off before he leaves the ACA.
The first is to deliver an organisation ready for the merger to form the Australian Communications and Media Authority. "We now have a structure that is ready to go from July 1," Dr Horton said. "People have been assigned to positions and the work program is sorted for the next year".
He collaborated closely with the acting head of the Australian Broadcasting Authority in readying the merged entity. The federal government is yet to name a chairman for the organisation.
Dr Horton also hopes to draw together an international plan for spam control. While anti-spam legislation and enforcement was in place in Australia, "99 percent of the problem comes from overseas," he said.
Another item is the delivery of rules allowing mobile content providers to provide adult services.
Another issue is related to the finalisation of the rules governing Voice over Internet Protocol in Australia.
The ACA is looking at ensuring nomadic VoIP devices were placed in a specific, easily identifiable number range, so an emergency services operator would be prompted to ask a caller for their location when receiving a call.
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