80Management plan required for proposed significant changes to operations or a telecommunications network that will impact the carriage of emergency calls

80 Management plan required for proposed significant changes to operations or a telecommunications network that will impact the carriage of emergency calls

(1) This section applies to a carrier that proposes a significant change to its operations or underlying telecommunications network technology or architecture that will fundamentally and adversely change how its controlled network and controlled facilities carry emergency calls to the relevant termination point.

Note: Examples of a significant change to telecommunications network technology or architecture include the introduction of a new generation of mobile technology, the decommissioning of a legacy generation of mobile technology, or the introduction of a new transmission protocol for delivering emergency voice calls.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), before a carrier undertakes a proposed significant change to its operations or underlying telecommunications network technology or architecture, the carrier must, at least 6 months prior to the proposed change, submit a plan to the ACMA (the management plan). (3) If a carrier reasonably believes that a management plan cannot be provided 6 months prior to the change, the carrier does not need to comply with the timeframe specified in subsection (2) if, within 14 days of forming its belief, the carrier: (a) submits a management plan to the ACMA; and (b) provides written reasons as to why a management plan in relation to the proposed change cannot be provided 6 months prior to the proposed change. (4) The management plan referred to in subsection (2) and subsection (3) must detail the steps the carrier will take to minimise any detrimental impacts on end-users of the proposed change to the carriage of emergency calls to the relevant termination point. (5) Carriers must: (a) implement the steps set out in the management plan; and (b) provide written updates to the ACMA that detail the carrier’s implementation of the steps set out in the management plan. (6) The updates under subsection (5) must be provided: (a) if the ACMA specifies in writing a timeframe that is not less than 30 days for those updates, within those specified timeframes; or (b) if the ACMA has not specified a timeframe under paragraph (a), every 45 days from the date of providing the management plan under subsection (2) or subsection (3) until each of the steps taken by the carrier under the management plan has been implemented in full.