The Senate has passed the federal government's Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation bill after accepting three Coalition amendments requiring mandatory mobile reliability standards, a regulatory backstop for temporary disaster roaming and further consideration of domestic roaming by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has identified several competitive advantages of regulated radio access network sharing over conventional domestic roaming as it questions whether Australia's traditional model of coverage-based mobile competition can continue to deliver infrastructure investment.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has identified deteriorating investment economics as a key reason for reconsidering compulsory wholesale access to mobile networks, but has given little specific attention to whether spectrum acquisition and renewal prices are contributing to the problem.

The Internet Association of Australia will coordinate an open letter from smaller telecommunications providers seeking a hearing from communications minister Anika Wells, following a contentious panel discussion at this week's CommsDay Wholesale Congress about the growing regulatory burden on challenger telcos.