In August 2002, the Australian Government announced a review of telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote Australia.

That review was conducted by the Regional Telecommunications Inquiry (RTI) committee, chaired by Mr Dick Estens. The committee was asked to report on the adequacy of telecommunications services in these areas and put forward recommendations to the government.

As a part of its recommendations, the RTI recommended that the government put in place a process to regularly review telecommunications services in those areas.

In response, the government established the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee (RTIRC) under the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 to regularly review telecommunications services in regional and remote areas and to assess whether important new service advancements are delivered equitably.

The first RTIRC review was completed in September 2008. As a result, the government committed $74 million for three programs—the Digital Regions Initiative, the Satellite Phone Subsidy Scheme and the Indigenous Communications Program.

The reports of the 2002 review and the 2008 Glasson review, as well as the government’s statement of response to the 2008 Glasson review, are on the website of the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy on the Regional Telecommunications Review page.