Digital Regulation Research, Forecasts & Analysis

6 Nov 2026 · Digital Regulation · Brief· NEW

New Zealand's LEO and Hyperscaler Regulatory Gap: The Case for Reform

: New Zealand's telecommunications regulatory challenge differs structurally from Australia's. The primary risk is operational, not fiscal. Chorus is publicly listed, and the UFB network covers approximately 87% of the population with gigabit-capable fibre. The exposure lies elsewhere: a civil defenc…

29 Oct 2026 · Telecom · Explainer

Channelling the Constellation: How Six Regulators Are Responding to Starlink

: This report examines how regulators in six markets, the European Union, India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom, are responding to the competitive threat that SpaceX's Starlink poses to local telecommunications operators. It covers both threats: Starlink's fixed satellite broad…

29 Oct 2026 · Media · Explainer

The UK Online TV Switch: Policy Horizons in UK TV Distribution

: This explainer sets out how UK Government policy on television distribution has evolved, from the analogue-to-digital switchover of 2007-2012 to the June 2026 media green paper, Watch this Space, which consults on ending digital terrestrial television (DTT) in either 2034 or 2044. It first lays out…

26 Oct 2026 · Telecom · Report

What Agentic and Physical AI Will Mean for Wholesale Networks and Regulation

: This report takes a ten-year view of how agentic AI and physical AI will reshape "North-South" demand in the fixed access network, as distinct from the "East-West" traffic generated in data centre interconnection. It examines what that means for wholesale products, market structure and regulation i…

19 Oct 2026 · Telecom · Report

Sovereignty Stack at Risk: Three Tech Dependencies That Threaten Australia

: Australia's digital economy now depends on three categories of infrastructure that are controlled, directly or indirectly, by US entities: frontier AI models, hyperscaler cloud and data centre services, and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity. Assessed individually, each dependency carries…

12 Oct 2026 · Media · Brief

Duty of Care: Australia's Plan to Re-Engineer the Rules of Online Engagement

: This report examines the Australian Government's proposed Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026. It sets out the Bill's legislative strategy, the design-feature restrictions and algorithmic-choice mandates it would introduce, and the enforcement regime available to the eSafety Co…

6 Oct 2026 · Digital Regulation · Explainer

How Open-Weight AI Is Redrawing the Frontier - and What China's DeepSeek Moment Means for Australia

: The artificial intelligence industry is cleaving into two structurally distinct camps. On one side stand the closed frontier models - proprietary systems from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google DeepMind, accessed exclusively via metered APIs, with weights that never leave vendor-controlled infrastructur…

23 Sept 2026 · Digital Regulation · Explainer

Is Big Tech Weaponising AI Safety to Crush Open-Source Rivals?

: Between 2023 and 2026, the world's AI oligopoly shifted from publishing abstract ethical declarations to submitting comprehensive legislative blueprints to global policymakers. This explainer analyses the AI governance doctrines of Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Meta, IBM, Amazon Web Service…

8 Sept 2026 · Digital Regulation · Report

New Tax Ruling For Global Tech Giants: A Fight We Need To Have

: The Australian Taxation Office's royalty ruling TR 2026/2 marks a critical turning point for digital tax equity in Australia, addressing the long-standing tax asymmetry enjoyed by foreign tech giants. By reclassifying cloud computing, streaming, and SaaS revenues as intellectual property royalties,…

4 Sept 2026 · Media · Report

Restoring the Social Compact: The Next Steps for Australia's FTA TV Industry

: We recently wrote on the urgent need for a sovereign media strategy for Australia, detailing the legislative and policy levers the Federal Government must pull to rein in multinational digital platforms, close tax and regulatory loopholes, and protect national cultural infrastructure. The policy fa…

4 Sept 2026 · Media · Report

Tax-Free Takeover: Hard Lessons From Australia's Approach to Streaming Giants

: Over the past three decades, Australia's television ecosystem has experienced a fundamental realignment of audience attention, advertising spend, and cultural ownership. Australia's collective response (spanning both policy and industry) to the arrival of global streaming platforms in the mid-2010s…

24 Aug 2026 · Digital Regulation · Report

ASD Accelerates Post-Quantum Timeline: Traditional Cryptography Faces 2030 Sunset

: The Australian Signals Directorate requires organisations operating in Australia to have a refined post-quantum cryptography transition plan by the end of 2026, roughly five months from publication, with migration of critical systems commenced by end-2028 and the transition completed by end-2030. T…