Radiocommunications (Unacceptable Levels of Interference – 3.4 GHz Band) Determination 2025

Dated: 4 September 2025

Adam Suckling

[signed]

Member

Michael Brealey

[signed]

General Manager

1  Name

  This is the Radiocommunications (Unacceptable Levels of Interference – 3.4 GHz Band) Determination 2025.

2  Commencement

  This instrument commences on 23 September 2025.

Note: The Federal Register of Legislation is available, free of charge, at www.legislation.gov.au.

3  Authority

  This instrument is made under subsection 145(4) of the Act.

4  Repeal of the Radiocommunications (Unacceptable Levels of Interference – 3.4 GHz Band) Determination 2015

  The Radiocommunications (Unacceptable Levels of Interference – 3.4 GHz Band) Determination 2015 [F2015L00727] is repealed.

5  Definitions

 (1) In this instrument, unless the contrary intention appears:

3.4 GHz band means the frequency band 3400 MHz to 3800 MHz.

3.4 GHz spectrum licence means a spectrum licence that authorises the operation of radiocommunications devices in the 3.4 GHz band.

device boundary: see item 1 of Schedule 1.

device boundary criterion: see item 2 of Schedule 1.

earth station protection zone: see Schedule 2.

Recommendation ITU-R P.525-4 means the ITU-R Recommendation “P.525-4 Calculation of free-space attenuation”.

Note: The ITU-R Recommendations are available, free of charge, from the International Telecommunication Union’s website at www.itu.int.

Recommendation ITU-R P.526-15 means the ITU-R Recommendation “P.526-15 Propagation by diffraction”.

Note: The ITU-R Recommendations are available, free of charge, from the International Telecommunication Union’s website at www.itu.int.

Recommendation ITU-R P.2108-0 means the ITU-R Recommendation “P.2108-0 Prediction of clutter loss”.

Note: The ITU-R Recommendations are available, free of charge, from the International Telecommunication Union’s website at www.itu.int.

urban area: see Schedule 3.

Note 1: A number of other expressions used in this instrument are defined in the Act, including the following:

(a) ACMA;

(b) core condition;

(c) frequency band;

(d) interference;

(e) radiocommunications device;

(f) radiocommunications receiver;

(g) radiocommunications transmitter;

(h) radio emission;

(i) Register;

(j) spectrum licence.

Note 2: A number of other expressions used in this instrument may be defined in the Radiocommunications (Interpretation – Technical Framework) Determination 2024 or another instrument made under subsection 64(1) of the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005 to replace it, including the following:

(a) AAS;

(b) Act;

(c) Australian Spectrum Map Grid;

(d) Australian territorial sea baseline;

(e) average ground height;

(f) EIRP;

(g) geographic area;

(h) group of radiocommunications transmitters;

(i) HCIS identifier;

(j) horizontally radiated power;

(k) ITU-R Recommendation;

(l) location;

(m) occupied bandwidth.

 (2) In this instrument, unless otherwise specified, a reference to a part of the spectrum or a frequency band includes all frequencies that are greater than but not including the lower frequency, up to and including the higher frequency.

Note: This subsection means the lower number in a part of the spectrum or a frequency band is not included in the frequency band.

6  References to other instruments

  In this instrument, unless the contrary intention appears:

 (a) a reference to any other legislative instrument is a reference to that other legislative instrument as in force from time to time; and

 (b) a reference to any other kind of instrument or writing is a reference to that other instrument or writing as in force or existing from time to time.

Note 1: For references to Commonwealth Acts, see section 10 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901; and see also subsection 13(1) of the Legislation Act 2003 for the application of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 to legislative instruments.

Note 2: All Commonwealth Acts and legislative instruments are registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

Note 3: See section 314A of the Act.

7  Unacceptable levels of interference

 (1) A level of interference caused by a radiocommunications transmitter operated under a 3.4 GHz spectrum licence is unacceptable if:

 (a) the operation of the transmitter results in a contravention of a core condition of the licence relating to the maximum permitted level of radio emission from the transmitter:

 (i) outside the parts of the spectrum the use of which is authorised under the licence; or

 (ii) outside the geographic area of the licence; or

 (b) subject to subsections (2) to (5), any part of the device boundary of the transmitter lies outside of the geographic area of the licence; or

 (c) the device boundary of the transmitter cannot be calculated in accordance with item 1 of Schedule 1; or

 (d) the transmitter is on an aircraft.

 (2) A level of interference mentioned in paragraph (1)(b) is not unacceptable in relation to a part of the device boundary that:

 (a) lies outside the Australian Spectrum Map Grid; and

 (b) is connected to a radial that:

 (i) is mentioned in item 1 of Schedule 1; and

 (ii) does not cross over the geographic area of another 3.4 GHz spectrum licence.

 (3) A level of interference mentioned in paragraph (1)(b) is not unacceptable in relation to a part of the device boundary that:

 (a) lies outside the geographic area of the licence; and

 (b) lies inside an earth station protection zone;

 (c) is connected to a radial that:

 (i) is mentioned in item 1 of Schedule 1; and

 (ii) does not cross over the geographic area of another 3.4 GHz spectrum licence.

 (4) A level of interference mentioned in paragraph (1)(b) is not unacceptable in relation to a part of the device boundary that:

 (a) lies outside the geographic area of the licence; and

 (b) is connected to a radial that:

 (i) is mentioned in item 1 of Schedule 1; and

 (ii) does not cross over land outside the geographic area of the licence that is permanently above the Australian territorial sea baseline; and

 (iii)  does not cross over any of the following HCIS identifiers: IW3E, IW3I, IW3M, IW6A, IW6E, KX9, LX7, LX8, LX9.

Note: The HCIS identifiers beginning with IW describe an area near Adelaide. The HCIS identifiers beginning with KX and LX describe an area in the Bass Strait.

 (5) A level of interference mentioned in paragraph (1)(b) is not unacceptable in relation to a part of the device boundary that:

 (a) lies outside the geographic area of the licence; and

 (b) lies inside an urban area; and

 (c) relates to the operation of a radiocommunications transmitter with an occupied bandwidth contained in the 3400 MHz to 3475 MHz frequency band; and

 (d) is connected to a radial that:

 (i) is mentioned in item 1 of Schedule 1; and

 (ii) does not cross over the geographic area of another 3.4 GHz spectrum licence.

 (6) This section does not apply in relation to a radiocommunications transmitter to which section 9 applies.

Note: Subsection 145(1) of the Act provides that the ACMA may refuse to include in the Register details of a radiocommunications transmitter if the ACMA is satisfied that operation of the transmitter could cause an unacceptable level of interference to the operation of other radiocommunications devices. However, some radiocommunications transmitters are exempt from the requirement to be registered in the Register under their 3.4 GHz spectrum licence – see subsection 69(2) of the Act. Accordingly, these transmitters are not required to meet the device boundary criterion specified in this instrument.

8  Accuracy

  Unless otherwise specified, the value of a parameter in Schedule 1 must be estimated with a level of confidence not less than 95 percent that the true value of the parameter will always remain below the requirement specified in this instrument.

9  Transitional – radiocommunications transmitter registered before commencement of this instrument

 (1) If a radiocommunications transmitter was included in the Register in relation to a 3.4 GHz spectrum licence before the commencement of this instrument (relevant transmitter), and is taken to cause an unacceptable level of interference under section 7, this section applies to that transmitter.

 (2) Subject to subsection (3), for the purposes of subsection 145(4) of the Act, a level of interference caused by a relevant transmitter is unacceptable if it would have been unacceptable under the Radiocommunications (Unacceptable Levels of Interference – 3.4 GHz Band) Determination 2015, as in force at the time the relevant transmitter was included in the Register.

Note: The Radiocommunications (Unacceptable Levels of Interference – 3.4 GHz Band) Determination 2015 is available, free of charge, from the Federal Register of Legislation at www.legislation.gov.au.

 (3) For the purposes of subsection 145(4) of the Act, if:

 (a) after the commencement of this instrument, both:

 (i) a detail of a relevant transmitter changes (relevant change); and

 (ii) the change to the detail is recorded in the Register; and

 (b) the distance of the new device boundary of the relevant transmitter is, on each radial mentioned in item 1 of Schedule 1, equal to or less than the distance of the old device boundary of the relevant transmitter on that radial; and

 (c) but for the effect of this subsection, a level of interference caused by the relevant transmitter, immediately after the change time, would be unacceptable;

  the level of interference caused by the relevant transmitter, immediately after the change time, is not unacceptable because of the relevant change.

 (4) In subsection (3):

change time, for a relevant transmitter, means the time the relevant change is recorded in the Register.

new device boundary, of a relevant transmitter, means the device boundary of the transmitter immediately after the change time, in accordance with this instrument as in force at the change time.

old device boundary, of a relevant transmitter, means the device boundary of the transmitter immediately before the change time, in accordance with the Radiocommunications (Unacceptable Levels of Interference – 3.4 GHz Band) Determination 2015, as in force at the registration time.

registration time, for a relevant transmitter, means the time the transmitter was included in the Register.

Schedule 1 Device boundary and device boundary criterion

  (subsection 5(1), section 7 and subsection 9(3))

1  Device boundary of a radiocommunications transmitter

 (1) The device boundary of a single radiocommunications transmitter is established as follows:

Step 1: Calculate the device boundary criterion at each m×100 metre increment along each of the n-degree radials, where:

 m is each of the integers from 2 to 1010; and

 n is each of the integer degrees from 0 (true north) to 359.

Step 2: For each radial, find the latitude and longitude of the first point on the radial, moving away from the location of the radiocommunications transmitter (that is, with the lowest value of m) where either:

(a) the device boundary criterion, RP – MP, is less than or equal to 0; or

(b) m is equal to 1010.

This point is the end point of the radial.

Step 3: The end point of each radial is the device boundary of the radiocommunications transmitter connected to that radial.

Note: RP – MP (the device boundary criterion) is calculated under item 2 of this Schedule.

 (2) For a group of radiocommunications transmitters the device boundary is calculated as for a single radiocommunications transmitter. However, the radiated power (RP) for a group of radiocommunications transmitters is taken:

 (a) to be equal for each bearing σn; and

 (b) to have a value that is equal to the maximum horizontally radiated power, in any direction, of any of the radiocommunications transmitters in the group.

Note: n is the bearing of the nth-degree radial for the group of radiocommunications transmitters.

2  Device boundary criterion

  The device boundary criterion is the value of the mathematical expression:

RP – MP

where:

3  Calculation of propagation loss for device boundary criterion

 (1) Subject to this item, the propagation loss for a radiocommunications transmitter, at the mth increment on the nth radial (PL(lmn, Lmn)) is calculated using:

 (a) for a transmitter connected to an antenna that is located more than 6 metres above ground level – the method and parameters set out in section 2.2 of Recommendation ITU-R P.525-4 and section 4.5.2 of Recommendation ITU-R P.526-15; or

 (b) for a transmitter connected to an antenna that is located 6 metres above ground level, or lower – the method and parameters set out in section 2.2 of Recommendation ITU-R P.525-4, section 4.5.2 of Recommendation ITU-R P.526-15 and section 3.2 of Recommendation ITU-R P.2108-0.

 (2) For the purposes of using the method set out in section 4.5.2 of Recommendation ITU-R P.526-15:

 (a) the height of the nominal radiocommunications receiver is taken to be 5 metres above ground level; and

 (b) the height of the transmitter above ground level is the height of the antenna for the transmitter; and

 (c) the height of a profile point is the average ground height of that point.

Note: At the time this instrument was made, the procedure for determining the average ground height was provided in item 2 of Schedule 2 of the Radiocommunications (Interpretation – Technical Framework) Determination 2024.

 (3) For the purposes of using the method set out in section 4.5.2 of Recommendation ITU-R P.526-15:

 (a) the path profile in that method must be developed at 100 metre increments along each radial; and

 (b) the average ground height is worked out at each increment along the path profile.

Note: At the time this instrument was made, the procedure for determining the average ground height was provided in item 2 of Schedule 2 of the Radiocommunications (Interpretation – Technical Framework) Determination 2024.

 (4) For the purposes of using the method set out in section 3.2 of Recommendation ITU-R P.2108-0:

 (a) the percentage of locations is 0.08%, and the correction is applied at only one end of the path; and

 (b) if the loss calculated using the method is less than 0 dB, the calculated loss value is taken to be 0 dB; and

 (c) if the loss calculated using the method is greater than 8 dB, the calculated loss value is taken to be 8 dB.

4  Antenna height

 (1) In paragraph 3(2)(b), and subject to subsection (2), the height of the antenna for the transmitter is the vertical height in metres of the phase centre of the transmitter’s antenna measured with an error of less than 5 parts in 100 and relative to the point:

 (a) located on the line of intersection between the external surface of the structure supporting the antenna and the surface of the ground or sea; and

 (b) having the lowest elevation on that line.

 (2) For a group of radiocommunications transmitters, the height of the antenna for the group is the greatest of the heights of each individual transmitter in the group, calculated as in subitem (1).

Schedule 2 Earth station protection zones

  (subsection 5(1) and paragraph 7(3)(b))

1  Earth station protection zones

 (1) Each of the areas named in column 1 of the table is an earth station protection zone.

 (2) The area of an earth station protection zone is the composite of the areas described using the HCIS identifiers set out in column 2.

Schedule 3 Urban areas

  (subsection 5(1) and paragraph 7(5)(b))

1  Urban areas

 (1) Each of the areas named in column 1 of the table is an urban area.

 (2) The area of an urban area is the composite of the areas described using the HCIS identifiers set out in column 2.