Telcos rail against rushed metadata costing

The telecommunications industry has criticised the Coalition government’s approach to deducing the compliance costs of its proposed data retention regime, labelling the process rushed.

According to The Australian, the industry has warned that the costing assigned could well be inaccurate given how little time service providers were given to submit their evaluation.

Much of the industry discontent stems from a survey handed out by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Christmas Eve, which asked service providers to provide cost estimates for the scheme.

The Attorney-General’s department has charged PricewaterhouseCoopers with the task of working out how much the proposed two-year mandatory data retention scheme will cost.

According to The Australian, the survey also canvassed the comparative cost of storing communications data for up to three years.

The telecommunications industry is less than impressed by the length of time already stipulated in the scheme, saying that the two-year time frame is too long.

According to the industry, a six month retention provision is far more palatable.

“We note that it would be entirely feasible to commence a regime on this basis and to examine as part of the PJCIS three-year (or earlier) review of the legislation whether this retention period is optimal, or in need of modification,” a joint submission from the Communications Alliance and the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association to the government's inquiry examining the introduction of a data retention regime said.

Communications Alliance chief executive John Stanton also told The Australian that delays in defining the data set had meant the costings process was being rushed.

“Industry has felt pressured by the time frames around gathering costing information and trying to help government clarify the data set that has been asked for,” he said.