ACCAN, the peak national communications consumer body has today welcomed the release of the findings of a year-long senate committee report into the Optus outage in September 2025 that affected thousands of services, including access to Triple Zero, and led to two deaths.
“If Australians are to be safe, have access to the essential services they need from telcos, and be able to rely on a Triple Zero emergency system, we need a courageous approach that embraces the recommendations of this report and implements them in full,” said Carol Bennett, ACCAN CEO.
The Senate Environment and Communications References Committee inquiry into Triple Zero service outages followed a string of network failures that left Australians without access to emergency services.
An Optus outage a year ago left hundreds of people unable to reach Triple Zero and has been linked to two deaths, and the pain has only compounded. Just two months ago, a Telstra network outage cut Triple Zero access for more than 600 people. In June, a Vodaphone nationwide outage impacted triple zero access and affected hundreds of customers. Earlier this month (Friday 11 September), Optus customers across four states and territories were hit with a voice calling issue which impacted dozens of Triple Zero calls.
“This landmark report is the product of a year of hearings, submissions and evidence from hundreds of people and organisations including consumers and various experts. It sets out a clear path forward, and inaction is no longer an option,” Ms Bennett said.
The report makes a number of important recommendations including modernisation of the Telecommunications Act 1997 and related legislation; the introduction of enforceable reliability and performance standards including automatic compensation for consumers when mobile networks fail; domestic mobile roaming; and the establishment of a statutory authority to assume responsibility for the emergency call person function, replacing Telstra. ACCAN strongly supports all recommendations.
“Mobile networks are the only essential service in Australia not legislated and regulated in the way it should be including being subject to reliability and performance requirements and this needs to change as a matter of urgency. The vast majority of Australians (94% with a firm view) want to see reform of telco services including the introduction of reliability standards and domestic mobile roaming,” Ms Bennett said.
The Senate report comes at an ideal time for reform with the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) Bill 2025 [the UOMO bill] currently in the Senate.
“The UOMO Bill offers a clear and immediate vehicle to act on the Committee’s findings.”
“Amendments to introduce robust reliability standards and domestic mobile roaming, supported by ACCAN and the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF), would make a real difference, particularly in regional, rural and remote communities where people already face higher prices and fewer choices than those in cities.”
ACCAN is calling on all parties and crossbench senators to support amendments to the UOMO Bill that reflect the Senate Committee’s recommendations.
A year of evidence, hundreds of submissions and a Senate report all point to the same conclusion: we need fundamental reform of legislation that underpins the telco sector, and most immediately an uplift in reliability and performance, the introduction of domestic mobile roaming and improved critical Triple Zero services. Australians need and deserve nothing less.
About us:
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is Australia’s peak communication consumer organisation. The operation of ACCAN is made possible by funding provided by the Commonwealth of Australia under section 593 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. This funding is recovered from charges on telecommunications carriers.
