Key messages • Individuals, businesses and local economies are starting to benefit from 5G, which is already live in 100 Australian cities and towns. More than 75% of Australia's population have access to at least one 5G network. • 5G will power new industries and enable many new features. These include faster speed, a greater number of devices in any given area, ultra-low latency (the time it takes for data to travel between user and the target destination) and ultra-high reliability. • To create a comprehensive and competitive 5G landscape, the cost of building new telecommunications base stations needs to be sustainable. The most significant costs are hardware, site rental (frequently on public land) and spectrum licenses. More can be done to ensure costs are reasonable both for spectrum and for renting sites on public property. • Smart infrastructure is more efficient, lower-cost and better maintained. Collecting, communicating and crunching' related data in Australia's cities and regions is the basis of a smart nation vision that can build prosperity. • The data universe is doubling in size every two years. Quintillions of bytes of data are generated every day. Innovations such as the Internet of Things, 5G and artificial intelligence are bringing new business opportunities and economic growth. • The increasing collection and processing of a growing amount of personal data present multiple risks. They include data misuse, invasion of privacy and ethical concerns such as algorithmic bias.69 To protect consumers, there should be industry codes that encourage responsible application of solutions and regular updates to privacy legislation. • Australia's Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure is evolving into a dynamic ecosystem. Many different technologies complement many different uses. The technology is transformative and growing fast but needs to be better supported by spectrum, standards, interoperability and regulation. • Digital innovation can support the better maintenance, optimised productivity and lower-cost operation of Australian infrastructure across all sectors. Shaping and accelerating ongoing investment in new and emerging technologies is now critical. Digital technology is not yet the default application for every new Australian infrastructure project. To maximise its benefits, there must be clearer ownership, adoption of standards, industry alignment and effective governance for infrastructure data. |