The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has appointed a former telecommunications regulator as an advisor to the Radiocommunications Consultative Committee (RCC).

The RCC allows government and industry to discuss local and international radiocommunications issues including spectrum allocation and standardisation.

It has 22 members from government, industry and regulatory bodies including the Department of Defence, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, the CSIRO and ACMA's six radiocommunications study groups.

ACMA chair Chris Chapman said Geoff Luther has been appointed as specialist industry advisor to the RCC to better represent public interest.

"The appointment will provide additional capacity for the RCC to take account of legitimate interests that may not otherwise be represented on the committee," Chapman said.

The RCC held its first meeting last week to discuss its plan to make the overcrowded 400MHz band more efficient and to improve radiocommunications interoperability.

Chapman called for organizations involved in remote sensing to nominate a representative to the RCC, and said other sectors may be included in the committee.

The ACMA will hold its three-day RadComms 2008 conference in Melbourne from April 30 to May 2.