澳大利亞移動通信基建報告2023-英

Mobi

leInfrastructureRepor

t

2023November

2023Acknowledgmentof

countryTheACCCacknowledgesthetraditionalownersandcustodiansof

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ACT2601.ACCC

11/23_23_74.auiiACCC?|?Mobile

Infrastructure

Report

2023?|?November

2023Contents1.Overview11.1Telstra

continuesto

have

themostmobilesites

withsigni?cantdominanceinregionalandremote

areas1121.21.31.4Transition

away

from3Gnetworkscontinues5Groll

outgatheringpaceDifferencebetweenoutdoorcoverageandexternalantenna

coveragecouldbesigni?cant22.3.Background3Mobilesiteanalysis563.1Total

numberof

sites3.23.33.43.53.63.73.83.93.103.113.123Gsites74G

sites95Gsites111314161719202122NewsitesCo-fundedsitesDecommissionedsitesCo-locatedsitesTypes

of

spectrumdeployed3Gsites

–

spectrumdeployed4G

sites

–

spectrumdeployed5Gsites

–

spectrumdeployed4.Mobilecoverageanalysis242527293133344.14.24.34.44.54.6Optus–

3GgeographiccoverageOptus–

4G

geographiccoverageTelstra

–

3GgeographiccoverageTelstra

–

4G

geographiccoverageTPG–

3GgeographiccoverageTPG–

4G

geographiccoverageiiiACCC?|?Mobile

Infrastructure

Report

2023?|?November

20231.

Over

v

iew1.1

Telstra

continues

to

have

the

most

mobile

siteswith

significant

dominance

in

regional

andremote

areasAsat

31

January

2023,

Telstra

hadthemostmobilesites

with11,302

sites

inoperationfollowed

byOptus(8,821)

andTPG

(5,769).

Telstra

hadthegreatest

increaseinmobilesites,up300

sites

since2022,followed

by

Optus(189

moresites)

andTPG

(41

moresites).Thenumberof

sites

eachMNOhadinMajorCitieswas

relatively

comparablebetween2018

and2023.Asat

31

January

2023,

Telstra

was

slightlyaheadwith5,493sites

followed

by

Optus(5,416)andTPG(4,383).Ontheotherhand,Telstra

hadconsiderablymoremobilesites

thanOptusandTPGinregionalandremote

areas

of

Australia

between2018

and2023.Forexample,inregionalareas

in2023,

Telstra

had40%

moresites

thanOptusand216%

moresites

thanTPG.

ThegapbetweenTelstra

andOptushasreducedfrom45%in2018.

However,

thegapbetweenTelstra

andTPGhas

widenedinregionalareas(192%

in2018).Whileinremote

areas,Telstra

had282%moresites

thanOptusand2318%

moresites

thanTPGin2023.Similarly,

thegapbetweenTelstra

andOptushas

reducedfrom324%

in2018.

ButthegapbetweenTelstra

andTPGhas

also

widenedinremote

areas

since2018

(up

from2176%).1.2

Transition

away

from

3G

networks

continuesSo

far

thetransitionaway

from3Gsites

appearsto

belargelytakingplaceinMajorCities.Telstra

andTPGhave

beenreducingtheirnumberof

3Gsites

inMajorCitiessince2018

and2019

respectively.However,

since2022,Optushas

also

startedto

reducetheirnumberof

3Gsites

inMajorCities,andthepaceof

reductionwas

signi?cantcomparedto

thoseof

Telstra

andTPG.Thenumberof

3Gsites

will

likely

decreasesubstantiallyinthenext

12–18

monthswithTelstra,

OptusandTPGall

having

announcedplansto

shutdown

their3Gnetworks.TPGis

expectedto

bethe?rstinDecember2023followed

by

Telstra

andthenOptusin2024.1Asa

consequenceof

theimpendingshutdown,all

themobilenetworkoperatorsare

progressivelyrepurposingtheir3G2100

MHzspectrumfor

4G/5Gservices.

Telstra

andOptushave

signi?cantlyreducedtheiruseof

2100

MHzfor

3Gservicescomparedto

TPG.Asat

31

January

2023,therewere

still

many

3Gonlysites

inoperation.Unless4G/5Gcoverageisprovidedby

othersites

intherelevantareas,these3Gonlysites

will

need

to

beupgradedto

4G

or5Gsothat

customersdonot

losecoverageand/or

experiencereducedqualityof

serviceafter3Gnetworksare

switchedoff.

Telstra

hadthemost3Gonlysites

with767

3Gonlysites

still

inoperationwitha

majorityinMajorCitiesorVeryRemote

Australia.OptusandTPGhadsubstantiallyless3Gonlysites,127

and92sites

respectively.1TPG

Telecom,TPG

Telecomcon?rms

December

2023switchoff

for3G

network,TPG

Telecom,2022,

accessed16

August

2023.Telstra,

3G

Network

Service

Closure:

End

ofthe

line

for3G,Telstra,accessed

16

August

2023.

Optus,

We’reupgrading

our

network

withchanges

to3G,Optus,

accessed

16

August

2023.1ACCC?|?Mobile

Infrastructure

Report

2023?|?November

2023Overall,as

at

31

January

2023,thereremainedsomedifferenceinthesize

of

3Gand4G

coverageforsomeoperators.Optus’s

overall

4G

outdoorcoveragewas

around119%

of

its3Goutdoorcoverage.Ontheotherhand,Telstra’s

4G

outdoorcoveragewas

around80%

of

its3Goutdoorcoverage,andTPG’s4G

outdoorcoveragewas

around62%

of

its3Goutdoorcoverage.21.3

5G

roll

out

gathering

paceAllMNOsnow

have

a

5Gpresenceineachof

theABS

RemotenessAreaswiththeexceptionof

TPGinVeryRemote

Australia.Asat

31

January

2023,

Telstra

hadthemost5Gsites

(4,559)

with57%more5Gsites

thanOptus(2,905)

andmorethantwiceas

many

sites

as

TPG(2,063).TPGaddedthemost5Gsites

(1,034)since2022,followed

by

Optus(973)

andTelstra

(488).

Thevast

majorityof

thesesites

were

rolledoutinMajorCities.TPGalso

rolledoutits?rst5Gsites

inOuterRegional(17)

andRemote

Australia

(5)between2022and2023.To

date,

theroll

outof

5Gsites

has

predominantlyinvolved

usinglow

andmid-bandspectrum.Notably,

Optusreporteduseof

low

bandspectrum(900MHz)

for

5Gfor

the?rsttimein2023.Telstra

haddeployedthemostsites

that

utilise

low

band5Gspectrumwith2,605sites

using850MHzspectrum,as

at

31

January2023.However,

OptusandTPGhave

both

increasedtheirlow

bandusagewithboth

addingapproximately

1,0005Gsites

inthelastyearusinglow

bandspectrum.Furthermore,useof

highbandspectrum(26

GHz)

is

also

beginningto

grow

withTelstra

leadingtheway

with289sites

usingthis

spectrumfollowed

by

Optus(72)andTPG

(6).1.4

Di?erence

between

outdoor

coverage

andexternal

antenna

coverage

could

be

significantThereare

2

maintypes

of

coveragemaps–

outdoorcoverageandexternalantenna

coverage.Outdoorcoverageis

thereceptionyou

canexpectto

receiveoutdoorswitha

typicalhandhelddevice.Externalantenna

coverageis

expectedcoveragewhena

handhelddeviceis

augmentedusinganexternalantenna,for

example,anexternalantenna

mountedona

vehicle.Asa

resultof

amendmentsto

theInfrastructureRKRin2022,theMNOsare

now

requiredto

provideboth

externalantenna

coveragemapsandoutdoorcoveragemapsfor

3G,4G

and5Gtechnologies(where

inoperation).

Thisinformation

was

providedby

all

3

MNOsfor

the?rsttimein2023.Thisadditionalinformation

enablestheACCCto

assesschangesinexternalantenna

coverageandoutdoorcoverageover

time,as

well

as

thedifferencesbetweenthesize

of

thecoverageaccessibleviahandhelddeviceandcoverageaccessiblewiththeaid

of

externalantennas.Theextentto

whicheachMNOsnetworkis

accessibleoutdoorsviaa

typicalhandhelddevicevaries.In

somecases,thedifferencebetweencoverageareas

accessibleviahandhelddeviceandcoverageaccessiblewiththeaid

of

externalantennas

couldbesigni?cant.Forexample,Optus’s

4Goutdoorgeographiccoverageis

around83%

of

its4G

externalantenna

geographiccoverage.Thismeansaround17%

of

Optus’s

4G

networkcoveragecanonlybeaccessedviaanexternalantenna.TPG’s4G

outdoorgeographiccoverageis

74%

of

its4G

externalantenna

geographiccoverage.Ontheotherhand,Telstra’s

4G

outdoorgeographiccoverageis

around52%of

its4G

externalantennageographiccoverage.2Theseareaggregatecomparisons

between

thetotalareaofeach

MNOs

3G

and

4G

outdoor

coverage

maps.

The

ACCCcouldnotverifyifeach

MNOs

3G

outdoor

coverageareasarealsocoveredby4G.2ACCC?|?Mobile

Infrastructure

Report

2023?|?November

20232.

BackgroundTheMobileInfrastructureReport2023providesanalysis

onthechangesinthenationalmobilenetworkoperators’(MNOs)

mobileinfrastructureandcoveragefrom2018

to

2023,basedoninformation

collectedfromtheMNOsunderthe

AuditofTelecommunicationsInfrastructureAssets–RecordKeepingRules

(InfrastructureRKR).TheACCChas

collectedInfrastructureRKRdata

relevantto

mobileinfrastructurefromthenationalMNOs–

SingtelOptusPty

Limited(Optus),

Telstra

CorporationLimited(Telstra)

andTPGTelecomLimited(TPG)–

for

theperiodfrom2018

to

2023.We

have

disclosedthis

data

pursuantto

section152BUA

of

theCompetitionandConsumerAct2010.ThedisclosedInfrastructureRKRdata

includesdetailedinformation

onthemobilesites

operatedby

eachMNOandhistoricalcoveragemapsas

at31

Januaryfor

eachyearfrom2018

to

2023.Thedatasets

are

available

at

.au

at

thefollowing

address:.au/dataset/ds-dga-4b472a18-d0fa-409c-994a-ab17162bcb90/details?q=ACCC.Foreachyearfrom2018

to

2023,thedata

madeavailable

includes:?anExcelspreadsheetcontaininga

list

of

theMNO’sactive

mobilesites,withuniqueidenti?cationnumber(i.e.

Radio

FrequencyNationalSite

Archive(RFNSA)ID),

thelocationof

thesite,

thetypeof

technologyandassociated

spectrumdeployedat

eachsite

andwhetherthesite

is

co-fundedundera

governmentco-contributionprogramandif

so,whichone3?coveragemapsby

technology(3G,

4G

and5G)

and,insomeinstances,also

by

frequencybands.4TheACCChas

also

derivedandpublishedkey

statisticsfromtherelevantdata.Theseare

containedinanExcelspreadsheettitled‘MobileInfrastructureReport2023–

outputtables’andis

availableontheACCC’swebsite

at:.au/regulated-infrastructure/telecommunications-internet/mobile-services-regulation/mobile-infrastructure-report/mobile-infrastructure-report-2023.Thekey

statisticsinclude:?thetotal

numberandthechangeinthenumberof

mobilesites

that

anMNOoperatesfor

3G,4Gand5Gtechnologies5?thenumberof

newanddecommissionedsites

andtheproportionof

newsites

that

areco-fundedundera

governmentco-contributionprogram??theextentto

whichtheMNOsare

co-locatingonthesites

theyoperatethenumberof,

andthechangeinthenumberof,

sites

onwhicheachfrequencybandis

deployedfor

eachtechnology?percentagechangeinthelandmasscoveredby

eachMNO’snetworkas

shownby

theirhistoricalcoveragemapsfor

eachtechnology??4G

coverageareas

as

a

proportionof

3Gcoverageareas

for

eachMNO’snetworkover

timeoutdoorgeographiccoverageareas

as

a

proportionof

externalantenna

geographiccoveragefor3Gand4G

for

eachMNO’snetwork.3Unique

identi?cation

number

(RFNSA

ID)and

co-fundingstatusonlyavailablefrom

2020onwards.4MNOsareonly

requiredto

provide

coverage

mapsbyfrequency

bands

from

2020onwards.However,somehavechosentoprovide

mapsbyfrequency

bands

in

previous

years

whereas

othershaveprovided

mapsbytechnology

type.

The

ACCChasused

the

frequency

band

maps

providedbyan

MNOto

construct

technology

level

maps

where

the

latterwasnotalreadyprovidedbythe

MNO.5Analysisislimitedto

3G,

4G

and

5G

technologies.2Gsiteswereswitched

offbyOptus

andTelstrabefore2018.TPG

turnedoff

its2Gsitesby2019.

Mobilesiteinformationand

coverage

mapsforTPG’s2Gnetwork

in2018

isavailable.3ACCC?|?Mobile

Infrastructure

Report

2023?|?November

2023Thekey

statisticsare

also

disaggregated

by

AustralianBureauof

Statistics’(ABS)AustralianStatisticalGeographyStandard(ASGS)RemotenessStructure

andstate/territory.The

2016

versionof

this

ABS

RemotenessStructureclassi?cationhas

beenappliedto

all

reference

yearsbetween2018and2022(inclusive).

Thelatest,

2021versionof

this

classi?cationhas

beenappliedto

all

referenceyearsfrom2023onwards.

Asresult,someof

thechangesinthedata

between2022and2023are

theresultof

re-classi?cationinABS

RemotenessArea.Theimpactof

this

update

is

minor.Thedisclosureof

theInfrastructureRKRdata,togetherwiththederivedstatisticsandMobileInfrastructureReportstems

fromanearlierACCCcommitmentandprovides:6???moretransparencyonhow

theMNOs’mobileinfrastructureandcoveragehave

changedovertimeandscrutinyof

thesechangesinspeci?cgeographicareasmoreaccountabilityover

investmentclaimsmadeby

theMNOs,particularlyinspeci?cgeographicareasusefulinformation

onthestate

of

mobilenetworksfor

policymakers,particularlywhenformulating

policyresponsesto

mobilecoverageissues.6ACCC,

Measures

toaddress

regional

mobile

issues,October

2017,

p26.4ACCC?|?Mobile

Infrastructure

Report

2023?|?November

20233.

Mobile

site

analysisA

mobilesite

hostsradioequipmentthat

usesradiofrequencyspectrumto

provide

connectivitytomobiledevices.Withtheuseof

backhaul,theyconnectendusersto

theirserviceprovider’scorenetworkfor

voiceanddata

connectivity.A

mobilesite

exists

invariousformsincludingona

mobiletower,

ontop

of

commercialorresidentialbuildingsandlightpolesas

well

as

insidebuildings,collectivelyreferred

to

as

passive

infrastructure.Passive

infrastructuremay

have

beenbuiltby

anMNOora

third

partysuchas

a

specialistinfrastructurecompany.AnMNOmay

deploytheirequipmentonthesamepassive

infrastructureas

anotherMNO(s),

this

isknownas

co-location,whichis

a

formof

passive

infrastructuresharing(see

section3.8).

Co-locationis

oneway

to

reducethecostof

site

deployment.Reducingthecostof

site

deploymentenhancestheabilityof

MNOsto

invest

inadditionalmobileinfrastructureto

improve

thebreadthordepthof

theircoverage,therebypromotingcompetitionindownstreammarkets.

Dueto

theuseof

co-location,thetotal

numberof

mobiletowers/structures

inAustralia

is

not

equalto

thesumof

themobilesites

foreachMNO.Thenumberof

mobilesites

anMNOhas

equipmentdeployedonprovidesanindicationof

theoverallscaleof

theirnetwork.MNOsadd(see

section3.5)andremove

sites

(see

section3.7)

fromtheirnetworkover

time.AnMNOcanadda

newsite

to

improve

capacity/reducecongestionbutwithnochangeintheoverall

reachof

theircoverage(i.e.

site

densi?cation).

Site

densi?cationhasbecomemorecommonwiththeroll

outof

5G.

AnMNOmay

decommissiona

site

becauseithas

addedequipmentto

a

newmobilesite

nearbywhichprovidesthesameormoredepthand/or

breadthofcoverage.A

mobilesite

canalso

have

severaltechnologiesinstalledonitsimultaneously.

Therefore,MNOsmay

also

addnewequipmentcompatiblewithnewermobiletechnologyonneworexistingsites

orremove

older,

legacytechnologiessuchas

2G

and3G.Furthermore,itmay,

insomecases,becostlyto

maintainorupgradea

site

(for

example,from3Gto

4G/5G)

soanMNOmay

decommissiona

site

anddeploya

newsite

at

a

lower

costorrelyona

nearbysite

for

coverageand/or

capacity.Forthesereasons,changesinthenumberof

mobilesites

anMNOoperatesinitsnetworkinitself(see

section3.1–3.4)

is

not

necessarilyindicative

of

the?nancialinvestmentithas

madeontheirnetwork.Thecostof

rolling

outa

newmobilesite

couldalso

varyacrossABS

RemotenessAreas.Addinga

newsite

ina

MajorCitywill

generallycostlessthana

newsite

ina

Remote

orVeryRemote

area.Dueto

thehighercostof

networkdeploymentinregionalandremote

areas

andthelower

populationdensity,thecommercialincentivesto

deploynetworkinfrastructureintheseareas

are

typicallylowerthaninmetropolitanareas.Consequently,co-contributionfundingmay

bea

key

driverfor

MNOswhenconsideringexpandingmobilecoverageinto

theseareas.Local,state

andfederalgovernmentshave

developedco-contributionprogramsto

provide

subsidiesto

networkoperatorsininfrastructuredeploymentintheseareas.Mobilesites

fundedundertheseprogramsare

consideredco-fundedsites(see

section3.6).5ACCC?|?Mobile

Infrastructure

Report

2023?|?November

20233.1

Total

number

of

sitesAsat

31

January

2023,

Telstra

hadthemostmobilesites

(11,302)

followed

by

Optus(8,821)

andTPG

(5,769)

(Table

3.1).

Telstra’s

total

mobilesite

countalso

increasedthemostof

all

MNOs,300

moresites,since2022,followed

by

Optus(189

moresites)

andTPG

(41

moresites).Figure3.1

displays

a

breakdown

of

theMNOs’sites

by

ABS

RemotenessAreasin2023.Thenumberof

sites

eachMNOhadinMajorCitieswas

relatively

comparablein2023.However,

as

canbeseeninTable

3.1,

thegapbetweentheMNOswiththegreatest

andfewest

numberof

sites

inMajorCitieshaswidenedovertimeto

1,110

sites

in2023(Telstra

vs

TPG).

Thisis

higherthanthegapof

529sites

in2018

(Telstra

vs

TPG)

and957sites

in2022(Optus

vs

TPG).In

regionalareas7andremote

areas

of

Australia,Telstra

hadsubstantially

moresites

thantheother8MNOsbetween2018

and2023(Table

3.1).Overtheperiod,thegapbetweenTelstra

andOptusappearsto

have

reduced.In

regionalareas

in2023,

Telstra

had40%

moresites

thanOptus,down

from45%in2018.

Whileinremote

areas

in2023,Telstra

had282%moresites

thanOptus,a

dropfrom324%

in2018.Ontheotherhand,thegapbetweenTelstra

andTPGhas

widened.In

regionalareas

in2023,

Telstrahad216%

moresites

thanTPG,upfrom192%

in2018.

In

remote

areas,thegapis

signi?cantlylarger.In2023,

Telstra

had2318%

moresites

thanTPGupfrom2176%

in2018.

ThegapbetweenTelstraandTPGinremote

areas

is

not

surprisinggivenTPG’slimited

mobilecoverageintheseareas.Table

3.1:Total

numberofsitesby

MNO&

ABSRemotenessArea–

MajorCitiesofAustraliavsRegionalareasofAustraliavsRemoteareasofAustralia–

2018to

2023201820192020202120222023Major

CitiesofAustraliaOptus4,6914,7364,2074,7584,8004,2684,8745,0594,3065,0375,1664,5035,2945,2574,3375,4165,4934,383TelstraTPGRegional

areasofAustraliaOptus2,3333,3731,1572,5983,7561,2712,7353,9201,3012,8224,0541,3192,9394,1391,3212,9754,1651,318TelstraTPGRemote

areasofAustraliaOptusTelstraTPG3111,320583561,416693711,472683791,546703991,606704301,64468TotalOptusTelstraTPG7,3359,4295,4227,7129,9725,6087,98010,4515,6758,23810,7665,8928,63211,0025,7288,82111,3025,76978RegionalareasofAustralia

means

the

sumofInner

and

Outer

Regional

ABS

Remoteness

Areas.RemoteareasofAustralia

means

the

sumofRemoteand

VeryRemoteABS

Remoteness

Areas.6ACCC?|?Mobile

Infrastructure

Report

2023?|?November

2023Figure3.1:

Total

numberofsitesby

MNO&

ABSRemotenessArea–

20236,0005,4935,4165,0004,3834,0003,0002,2461,8031,9192,0001,00001,172924853720465254176608MajorCitiesofAustraliaInnerRegionalAustraliaOuterRegionalAustraliaRemoteAustraliaVeryRemoteAustraliaABSRemotenessAreaOptusTelstraTPG3.2

3G

sitesFigure3.2shows

that

thewindingdown

of

3Gnetworkshas

commencedfor

all

3

MNOs.Optusledtheway

since2022witha

382decreaseinnumberof

3Gsites,followed

by

Telstra

(-107

sites)

andTPG

(-17

sites).To

date,

thetransitionaway

from3Gsites

appearsto

belargelytakingplaceinMajorCities.Telstra

andTPGhave

beenreducingtheirnumberof

3Gsites

inMajorCitiessince2018

and2019respectively.

However,

since2022,Optushas

also

startedto

reducetheirnumberof

3Gsites

inMajorCities,andthepaceof

reductionwas

signi?cantcomparedto

thoseof

Telstra

andTPG(Figure3.3).Figure3.2:

Changeinnumberof3Gsitesby

MNO–

year-on-year–

2018to

2023500378400300160

1861861892001000101926013-

5-

5-

17-100-200-300-400-500-

51-

107-

3822022to20232018to20192019to20202020to20212021to2022YearOptusTelstraTPG7ACCC?|?Mobile

Infrastructure

Report

2023?|?November

2023Figure3.3:

Changeinnumberof3GsitesinMajorCitiesofAustraliaby

MNO–

year-on-year–

2018to

202320084100666037120-

10-

6-

6-

8-

17-

25-

45-100-200-300-400-500-

64-

89-

4042018to20192019to20202020to20212021to20222022to2023YearOptusTelstraTPGItis

likely

that

thenumberof

3Gsites

will

decreasesigni?cantlyinthenext

12–18

monthswithOptus,Telstra

andTPGall

having

plansto

shutdown

their3Gnetworks.TPGis

expectedto

bethe?rstinDecember2023

,

followed

by

Telstra

inJune202410

andOptusinSeptember2024.119We

note

that

reductionsinthenumberof

3Gsites

to

date

are

not

necessarilyassociated

withany

reductionsinthesize

of

3Ggeographiccoverage.PleaseseeSection4

for

mobilecoverageanalysis.Figure3.4belowshows

therewere

still

a

signi?cantnumberof

3Gsites

inoperationas

at31

January2023.Importantly,thereare

still

many

3Gonlysites

inoperation.Unless4G/5Gcoverageis

providedbyothersites

intherelevantareas,these3Gonlysites

will

need

to

beupgradedto

4G

and/or

5G

to

avoidcustomerslosingcoverageand/or

having

a

reducedqualityof

serviceafterthe3Gshutdown.Asat

31

January

2023,

Telstra

hadthemost3Gonlysites

with767

3Gonlysites

withthemajorityof

theminMajorCities(253

sites)

orVeryRemote

Australia

(238sites)

(Figure3.5).

OptusandTPGboth

hadsigni?cantlyless3Gonlysites,127

and92sites

respectively.

A

majorityof

Optus’s

3Gonlysites

were

also

inMajorCities(39

sites)

orVeryRemote

Australia

(54sites).

GivenTPG’splanned3Gshutdown

is

theearliestof

the3

nationalMNOsandtheyh