The call comes ahead of a proposed NSW State Government trial of mobile phone jammers in Lithgow gaol which if successful could make Australia one of about 10 countries to legalise the practice.

Australian and New Zealand heads of correctional services agreed at a Corrective Services Ministers' Conference in June 2008 to plan the use of phone jammers in prisons and sent the communications watchdog a submission last March. New Zealand has already legalised and is expanding its use of jammers in correctional facilities.

Phone jamming has been subject to years of heated debate between privacy advocates and political parties, while state governments including Victoria have attempted to introduce the technology into their prisons.

Mobile phone use in goals is a global problem and rose to the public radar when convicted gang rapists Bilal and Mohammed Skaf were found last year with mobile phones inside Goulburn's Supermax prison.

The NSW Department of Corrective Services is supplying the communications watchdog with technical data that will shape regulatory arrangements for the trial, while mobile phone carriers and industry groups will also assist.