In 2018–19 the ACMA prioritised building its data capability to leverage our data for efficient and effective regulatory compliance and enforcement, and to monitor risks and outcomes for consumers and regulated entities.
By late 2019, the ACMA’s first Data Strategy and Governance Framework was endorsed by the ACMA Executive Committee. The vision of our Strategy is that the ACMA’s ‘…understanding of the communications and media sectors and our regulatory decisions are informed by quality data, effective analytics and evidence-based insights for all Australians’.
Our four-year Data Strategy is aligned to the ACMA’s key agency functions, priorities and strategies, and sets the path for continuous improvement of how we manage and use our data. We will ensure our decision making is data driven and optimised with trusted insights. A data team has been established to deliver our Data Strategy, and a Data and Analytics Hub is leading the design and delivery of data projects and Agency-wide data and analytics support.
Achievement of our data analytics vision is being realised through a series of applied Data Action Projects (DAPs). Our DAPs lay a foundation through prioritising use cases to practically test and demonstrate value from improving our data and analytics capability. The first two pilot DAPs were prioritised based on strategic, regulatory and operational benefit, and are being delivered by collaborative cross-functional, multi-disciplinary teams.
Our Spectrum DAP was initiated to provide greater insights into spectrum monitoring and compliance data. As part of this work an Electromagnetic energy (EME) compliance Analytics and Reporting tool has been developed to provide more in-depth analysis of the data being collected as part of the ACMA’s EME measurement program. The overall solution has automated processing and provided access to latest available data and enhanced analysis and reporting of mobile network operator compliance with the EME standards. The solution provides new capability to evaluate and maximise the use of our data, as well as identify and prioritise risk through new insights into spectrum activity at a site level.
Our Telecommunications Performance Reporting DAP provides greater insights into telco provider performance data and informs our decisions about regulatory activities and priorities for the telco industry. As part of this work an interactive and visualised report has been developed to enhance the public reporting of metrics for telco financial hardship arrangements. This report contributes to the evidence base on how telcos are performing with assisting vulnerable customers and small businesses.
The ACMA data program has established a new operational capability, ensuring that the ACMA can deliver a data driven-approach to regulatory activity now and into the future.