ACCAN, the peak communications consumer body, says today’s Telstra outage is a stark reminder that Australia still has no enforceable reliability standards holding telcos to account for network stability. 

Telstra customers began reporting a loss of voice, SMS and data services from early Wednesday morning. The scale of the outage is not yet confirmed but appears to be significant, with a nationwide footprint and reports suggesting impact in the millions, alongside some customers reporting no disruption at all.

Customers of Telstra sub-brands, such as Aldi Mobile, Belong and Boost, have also reported being affected. Telstra has acknowledged the outage but has not yet confirmed its cause, full extent, or an estimated restoration time.

“Every telco outage carries a cost – to public safety, to business operations, to social connection, and to the economy at large,” ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett said. 

“Australians rely on their phones to call triple zero, to run their businesses, to stay in touch with family, and to access essential services. When that connection disappears without warning or explanation, the impact is immediate and real.”

“This is only the latest in a spate of reliability flashpoints across the Australian telco sector. Consumers are right to ask: how much longer before these companies are held to account for their networks, with enforceable reliability requirements rather than voluntary commitments?”

ACCAN’s own research has consistently shown strong public support for stronger protections. In previous ACCAN-commissioned polling by Essential Research, more than three quarters (76 per cent) of Australians supported minimum reliability requirements for mobile networks, while 1 in 12 Australians (8 per cent) reported that they or a family member had been unable to reach triple zero due to a mobile outage in the past year.

“Telstra needs to come out and provide clear, transparent information about what has happened, who is affected, and when services will be restored,” Ms Bennett said.

“Consumers deserve timely information, not silence, while their calls and texts fail to connect.”

ACCAN continues to call for a centralised national outage register that allows consumers to easily check the status of network outages in one place, and for the introduction of enforceable minimum reliability standards for telecommunications networks.

Until services are restored, ACCAN is encouraging affected customers to enable wifi calling where available, which allows calls and texts to be made over an internet connection when mobile signal is unavailable.

For Australians still without connection this morning, today’s outage is more than an inconvenience. it’s a reminder of how quickly an essential service can disappear, and how little say consumers have when it does.

This press release has also been published on VRITIMES