AMTA’s Chair, Louise Sexton (VHA), gave the following address to the 2009 Annual General Meeting in Sydney yesterday:

Our industry has faced challenging and uncertain international economic conditions during this year.

We have met this uncertainty to record a robust performance under difficult market conditions.

Performance

In the 10-months to October this year, official AMTA industry figures (not sales) recorded 7,294,000 million shipments. This compares to 7,242,000 million for the same period in 2008.

In 2007, there were 7.59 million shipments for the ten months to October. The total for 2007 was 9.28 million, which is the highest annual total recorded.

CommSec, which uses AMTA’s figures as an economic indicator, characterized this performance as one of “cautious optimism”.

One of the key features of our market this year has been the 29% surge in converged device (smartphone) shipments in the first half of the year, according to IDC.

For the first time, data-centric converged devices exceeded voice-centric, accounting for 51% of all coverged device shipments in the first quarter of 2009; by the middle of this year data-centric penetration had risen to 65%, according to IDC.

Mobile’s pivotal role

The mobile telecommunications industry is a significant – and growing – contributor to Australia’s productivity and its economy. It is a key plank in enabling Australia to participate in the digital economy.

Reflecting its growing impact on the community and economy, mobile telecommunications has gravitated towards the centre of economic and social policy in Australia.

As the Government has indentified, access to broadband is critical if Australian business and individuals are to reap the full benefits of participation in the global economy. The demographic and geographic conditions in Australia dictate that wireless broadband service is even more important here than in many other countries.

Spectrum

AMTA commissioned Spectrum Value Partners to undertake a report into the economic value of the Digital Dividend, which found mobile operators needed certainty about the retention of their existing spectrum allocations, access to the 2.6GHz band and at least 120MHz of useable spectrum from the Digital Dividend so Australia can meet and benefit from the rapid surge in demand for mobile broadband services.

Policy certainty is a prerequisite for mobile carriers to plan investments in networks, technologies, services and applications.

It is critical that network owners have sufficient lead time to secure the capital and investment in spectrum. If the industry fails to get sufficient spectrum there will be fewer services on offer, potential service delays and disruptions.

Our industry is concerned with the delay of the release of the Government’s Green Paper on digital dividend and discussion paper on re-planning 2.5GHz.

The lack of a clear direction has placed our industry in an awkward situation, which, if it continues for much longer, threatens vital plans to invest in next generation networks that will drive Australia’s productivity and growth.

Regulation

This year there have been calls for re-regulation and increased government intervention in markets.

AMTA has consistently argued throughout the year that although regulation has the objective of managing risk and ensuring service quality, it can have the unintended consequence of reducing business flexibility in responding to consumer requirements as well as adding a cost burden to their operation.

AMTA has stated in submissions to government and agencies the need for a more streamlined policy framework that tackles the raft of overlapping, complex and inconsistent regulations, which result in increased costs, less innovation and fewer benefits for consumers.

Law enforcement

AMTA recognises industry’s responsibility to work with law enforcement agencies to assist in pursuing objectives to safeguard our community from security threats and help protect our citizens.

Our industry expressed concern to the Productivity Commission this year about the “prepaid scheme” to check consumer identity information at the point-of-sale.

Members have found the scheme, which costs industry $10 million a year to administer, has limited effectiveness. The Productivity Commission found the identity check requirements should be revised to lower costs to business while achieving their objective of allowing law enforcement agencies to identify mobile phone owners.

AMTA is working with the Government to review the prepaid arrangements and explore more cost effective approaches to meet the law enforcement agencies’ objectives.

MobileMuster

Climate change has been a key policy focus of governments around the world this year in efforts to take concerted action in reducing emissions.

Mobile telecommunications technology will play an important part in helping to create a low-carbon economy through “virtual” alternatives, such as video-conferencing and smart logistics solutions.

AMTA is committed through its MobileMuster program to an environmentally sustainable industry in Australia, which minimises the use of resources through product stewardship, including recycling.

This year MobileMuster, in partnership with Landcare Australia, will plant more than 25,000 native trees, which will help protect hundreds of koala habitats in Victoria as part of the “Old Phones, More Trees” campaign.

Since 2007, MobileMuster has funded local Landcare groups across Australia to plant 200,000 trees.

Planting native trees helps to prevent erosion, improves biodiversity, improves soil and water outcomes and enhances revegetation.

It is a great example of how many people taking small actions by recycling their old mobile phones can lead to big environmental outcomes of reducing waste and storing carbon through revegetation – all of which help in tackling climate change.

Our industry’s recycling program has also been active in assisting communities devastated in the Victorian bushfires on to the road to recovery.

MobileMuster’s Schools Recycling Challenge donated one plastic fence post, derived from recycling old mobile phones and chargers, for every 5kg of mobile phones collected by schools.

The Challenge focused its efforts on the Labertouche Primary School in the Shire of Baw Baw and donated 720 fence posts to re-fence 5km of boundary fencing burned during the bushfires earlier this year.

View AMTA’s 2009 Annual Report  here