[MLB-WIRELESS] Proposed Carrier licensing changes - This could affect a lot of things...

[Fenn Bailey]

Hey Guys,

Check this out (for those of you who haven't already seen).

http://www.aca.gov.au/aca_home/media_releases/media_enquiries/2003/03-44.htm

To summarise, the ACA is currently looking at reviewing the carrier
licensing scheme/costing which would allow application fees for carrier
licenses to drop to $3000 and ongoing annual charges to under $1000.

This certainly changes the equation as to who would be able to viably
setup/commercially use wireless gear for data transmission and definitely
would change the wireless community in Australia quite significantly.

At this point, I'm not sure whether it's a good thing or not, but I think
out of anyone, WE should most definitely have an opinion on this and make a
submission. I know that's really easy for me to say, and much harder for us
to achieve (and we only have 10 days left), but would anyone be keen on
organising/has already organised a group to look at this?

To (hopefully) stimulate discussion, here are some thoughts from both points
of view:

For
---
The drop in entry point for carrier licensing all of a sudden makes it
possible for companies AND community groups with sufficient technical skill,
to coordinate people and funds and put together a network that can be used
for feeding wireless connectivity for data/internet/etc without having to
worry about potentially gray areas with carrier licensing.