The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has proposed a new radio-communication transmitter and receiver licence type, which it says could be used to authorise the communication of Internet of Things (IoT) messages.

The proposal is aimed at providing more flexible licensing for a variety of services, uses, applications and technologies, according to an ACMA consultation paper.

The paper states that existing apparatus licences often “align with specific uses and purposes”. These include uses and services associated with land mobile and Public Telecommunications Service licences.

And the “scale, cost and limited availability” of spectrum licences means that aren’t always suitable for small deployments, according to the ACMA.

It has proposed area-wide apparatus licence (AWL) types for multi-device deployments in small areas. The licences would be useable for “a wide range of purposes, uses, services, applications and technologies.”

They would specify a frequency band, which might be different to those typically authorised by spectrum licenses. But they would be adaptable to different size areas and frequency bandwidths.

The licence type could be used for a wide range of uses, including authorising the communication of machine-to-machine messages, states the ACMA paper.

AWL licences “could be used to authorise the automatic communication of messages between ‘things’ such as remotely operated or autonomous machines (machine-to-machine communications) that facilitate the application such as information about location, speed, direction, activity or battery level.”

The ACMA is inviting comments and submissions about its proposal. The deadline for submission is close of business on August 9, 2019.