With the licence restructure in October 2005 that created the Advanced
licence replacing the former Unrestricted, Limited and Intermediate
licences, the demand for not issued 2-letter callsigns outstripped the
supply.

Previously only Unrestricted licensees could have these callsigns. The ACMA
being inundated with requests for callsigns put an embargo on any further
being released until a fair and equitable allocation method could be
determined.

Now the ACMA has announced it has asked the WIA to manage a fair and
transparent ballot process for them.

This is in line with the ACMA decision in February to delegate certain
statutory functions and administrative services associated with Amateur
licensing to the WIA.

The WIA will be seeking comment from the amateur community on a proposed
process for the equitable allocation of the callsigns.

The key points of the proposal is that applicants must have an Advanced
licence or be qualified for that licence, only apply for a callsign in the
state or territory in which they reside and must not already have a
2-letter callsign.

Further, it is proposed that a list of available callsigns be published,
applicants would be able to express a callsign preference.

The final details of how the ballot will work are to be announced after the
WIA has consulted with the amateur radio community.

It is proposed that the WIA may set a charge to recover the costs involved in
conducting the ballot. The ACMA will also require the licensee to apply
and pay for a variation of licence so their new callsign can assigned.