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Consumer advocacy group Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is pushing for the implementation of mandatory domestic roaming for mobile providers in a new policy position report published this week.
Domestic roaming is similar to international roaming, but within a single country. The idea is that if someone is in an area where they don’t have coverage within Australia, they would be able to roam onto the network of another provider that does. This allows them to continue using data, making calls, and sending text messages, even outside of their “home network’s” coverage area.
In its report, ACCAN says the implementation of mandatory domestic mobile roaming would deliver several benefits to consumers. These include expanding the availability of existing coverage to more consumers in rural and regional areas, placing downward pressure on consumer prices by improving competition, and encouraging new competitors to enter the mobile market.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) investigated mandatory domestic roaming in 2016 and ultimately decided against it, due to concerns it would reduce incentives for telcos to invest in their networks and not lead to lower prices. Despite this, ACCAN says the “rapidly changing market” suggests it is time to revisit it, pointing to a lack of “meaningful competition” in the local mobile space.
“This is not just about affordability; it is also an equity issue,” said ACCAN in the report. “Regional, rural, and remote (RRR) Australians effectively face a location premium through higher prices, fewer plan options, and limited ability to switch to a better deal.”
“A lack of choice and competition in the retail mobile market, particularly in RRR areas, forces many Australians to pay high, often unaffordable prices just to stay connected. In RRR areas, this limited competition leads to regional monopolies, fewer service options, higher prices, and significant service gaps.”
Optus and TPG (the parent company of Vodafone) already have a network sharing agreement that is similar to domestic roaming. Under ACCAN’s proposal, Telstra would effectively be forced to allow Optus and TPG customers to roam onto its network when coverage is not available.
A Telstra spokesperson pushed back on the idea of mandatory domestic roaming in comments given to WhistleOut.
“Mandated roaming doesn't build a single new mobile tower, extend coverage into a single new community, or improve resilience where no network exists today,” said the Telstra spokesperson. “If we want better connectivity in regional Australia, the focus must be on encouraging investment in new infrastructure, not reducing the incentive to build it.”
“Mandated roaming risks undermining future investment by removing one of the key incentives for operators to expand and improve their networks. If providers can no longer differentiate through coverage and network quality, the commercial case for investing in new sites and upgrades is weakened. Over time, that could mean less network expansion, not more, particularly in the regional and remote communities that need it most.”
The spokesperson also noted concerns that mandated roaming could exacerbate issues like outages.
“During major incidents or outages, mandated roaming could make outcomes worse. Mobile networks are designed and engineered around the customers they serve each day. If large numbers of customers were automatically transferred to another network, the additional demand could overwhelm available capacity, leading to network congestion and reduced service quality for everyone.”
A TPG spokesperson told WhistleOut that while the company doesn’t oppose policymakers looking at domestic roaming, the “discussion comes a decade too late”.
“Our network sharing arrangement with Optus is now delivering many of the benefits domestic roaming was intended to address, with the TPG mobile network now reaching 99% of the population,” said the spokesperson. “New technologies such as satellite-to-mobile services are expected to further improve connectivity in regional and remote areas.”
An Optus spokesperson told WhistleOut that despite the challenges mandatory domestic roaming poses, “exploring its suitability in the current network environment is worth renewed consideration”.
“We welcome constructive discussions with government and industry on all options available to improve choice and connectivity outcomes for Australians while ensuring the sector continues to invest in the infrastructure our communities rely on every day,” said the spokesperson.
ACCAN’s report doesn’t address the matter of how mandatory data roaming would be financed. WhistleOut reached out to ACCAN for comment, but did not hear back in time for publication.
In other markets, domestic roaming is typically paid for in one of two ways: a flat fee agreement between telcos, or usage-based billing. TPG, for example, will pay Optus close to $1.6 billion over the course of 11 years as part of the network sharing agreement. By contrast, usage-based billing would have seen TPG pay a fee for the exact amount of data used by its customers when they accessed the Optus network.
Canada is often pointed to as a success story for domestic roaming, but WhistleOut understands it isn't a like-for-like situation compared to Australia. When domestic roaming was implemented in Canada, it didn't have a telco with a Telstra-sized network. Instead, individual providers had a network advantage in their own territories, which made domestic roaming more akin to international roaming in Europe, for example. The key difference is every provider had something to gain by accessing others’ coverage, compared to Australia, where that isn’t necessarily the case.
While different to mandatory domestic roaming, Telstra, Optus, and TPG have all been working on implementing temporary disaster roaming. Rather than solving coverage gaps, the system is designed to address outages caused by natural disasters. For example, if the Optus network were to go down because of damaged infrastructure, its customers would be able to temporarily use the Telstra network.
Telstra’s spokesperson told WhistleOut the capability is expected to be ready “ahead of the upcoming disaster season”, and noted that demand would be carefully managed to avoid overloading infrastructure.
Looking further forward, regional coverage concerns could be addressed by the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation (UOMO), legislation that will require telcos to offer basic mobile coverage via satellite when out of range of a mobile tower. While the bill is set to kick in at the start of December 2027, the Big Three telcos have pushed back, suggesting the technology won’t be mature enough until late 2028 at the earliest.
ACCAN says this uncertainty “risks further perpetuating poor mobile coverage outcomes for consumers”, however, and is advocating for mandatory domestic roaming in spite of the UOMO.
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