In this discussion paper ACMA reviews the regulation of mobile phone jammers and provides background on a proposal to trial mobile phone jammers in a correctional facility.

Executive summary

In 1999 the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) published the Mobile Phone Jammer Prohibition to prohibit the supply and operation of specified radiocommunications devices commonly known as mobile phone jammers. The Mobile Phone Jammer Prohibition was introduced in 1999 because a small number of retailers were marketing mobile phone jammers and the ACA could not identify any legitimate uses for them.

In recognition of a number of significant developments that have occurred since 1999, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) identified the need for a review of the overall regulation of mobile phone jammers in 2008. A separate, but related, issue was the question of whether it was now possible to address the long-standing concerns of the corrective services community about the illegal use of mobile phones by inmates in correctional facilities and potential for mobile phone jammers to prevent or minimise that illegal use.

In 2009 the Corrective Services Administrators Council (CSAC) lodged a submission with the ACMA that set out:
> the extent to which mobile phones are illegally used by inmates;
> the steps that had already been taken to prevent or minimise the illegal use of mobile phones by inmates; and
> the public benefits that could be expected if the deployment of mobile phone jammers in correctional facilities was permitted.

In particular, the CSAC submission detailed a number of measures that had been put in place by the States and Territories since the use of mobile phone jammers in correctional facilities was last considered by the ACA in 2003.

In response to the CSAC submission, the ACMA has formed the preliminary view that a trial of mobile phone jammers, at a suitable correctional facility, would be a useful first step in evaluating the feasibility of making regulatory arrangements to enable ongoing deployment of mobile phone jammers in correctional facilities in Australia.

In particular, the ACMA is considering the potential for an exemption to the Mobile Phone Jammer Prohibition to facilitate the trial of mobile phone jammers at the Lithgow Correctional Centre, a maximum security correctional facility in regional NSW. The proposed trial is within the scope of this review and is discussed and identified as an issue for comment in this paper. The ACMA expects to deal with the matter of the exemption as a priority.

This discussion paper:
> examines the ten year history of the Mobile Phone Jammer Prohibition and its interaction with other provisions of the Radiocommunications Act;
> considers the Mobile Phone Jammer Prohibition within the broader context of relevant regulatory theory;
> identifies problematic aspects of the current regulatory approach;
> explores options for future regulation of mobile phone jammers; and
> invites comment on those options and other matters relating to the regulation of mobile phone jammers; including consideration of the proposed trialling of mobile phone jammers at the Lithgow Correctional Centre.