Is it down? Strict rules for telcos that suffer outages
Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson |
Consumers must be told why their phone or internet service has been disconnected during major outages and when they can expect it to return under stricter telecommunication rules.
Providers will also have to improve the way they deal with triple-zero outages under the regulations and issue detailed plans to prevent recurrences.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority revealed the changes on Wednesday that will come into effect in June and November under the threat of fines or court enforcement.
They follow a nationwide Optus outage in November 2023 in which millions of customers were disconnected for 14 hours, and more than 2100 phone calls were unable to connect to emergency services.
The new communication rules will be enforced from June 30 and require telcos to inform customers about local outages including their cause, location and an estimated time of repair.
Outages affecting more than 1000 services in regional areas for more than six hours, or 250 services in remote areas for more than three hours, will need to be prioritised under the updated rules.
The new requirements recognise the significant impact disconnection can have on consumers and companies, authority spokeswoman Samantha Yorke said.
“When your phone or internet goes down it’s not just frustrating, it can cause significant issues including disrupting businesses and impacting public safety,” she said.
“We will be closely monitoring compliance with the new obligations and will review the customer communications obligations 12 months from their introduction.”
During significant outages, service providers will be required to communicate with customers in several ways including email, SMS and app alerts, depending on the type of outage, as well as public communications.
“Broader communications may also be required via websites, social media, call centres and traditional media,” a spokesman told AAP.
“Where the outage is caused by a natural disaster, communications are only required to be published on websites, and not directly to customers.”
Additional changes to the way providers handle triple-zero call outages will come into effect in November, including sharing information with emergency services and isolating problematic mobile base stations so calls can be delivered by another carrier.
Providers that experience emergency call outages must also submit a written report to the regulator and the federal communications department within 45 days.
“Improving industry accountability for the carriage of calls to triple zero will give Australians greater confidence that their safety is prioritised when networks are down,” Ms Yorke said.
The regulations follow an inquiry into a nationwide Optus outage on November 8, 2023, caused by a software upgrade that affected its routers.
The authority found 2145 calls to emergency services failed to connect during the outage, and Optus paid more than $12 million for breaching its obligations.
AAP
