The opinion piece below was written by ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett for the Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. It was originally published on 24 March 2025.

When our phones and internet are knocked out in natural disasters - such as occurred in the recent cyclone and flooding in northern NSW and south-east Queensland – it’s not just inconvenient, it puts lives at risk. Being disconnected makes it difficult to know what is happening, seek help – or even to offer help - support others and reassure family and friends.

When Australia deregulated our phone systems and sold them off to private interests in the 1990s, we ensured phone companies still had to provide a minimum set of services and standards. Unfortunately, what we still have today is outdated obligations on carriers to maintain landline connections and pay-phone boxes.

We also have a consumer protection code for telcos that they themselves write – akin to the fox being in charge of henhouse security.

It’s not surprising that there are countless examples of major telcos failing to prevent service outages, data breaches, scams using their platforms, and irresponsible sales to vulnerable consumers.

It’s also not surprising that vast swathes of the country – especially in regional and remote areas – don’t have reliable access to critical mobile services.

The existing service obligations and consumer protection codes are not only outdated and inadequate, they are actually causing harm and creating disadvantage.

Communications are now fundamental to the daily lives of most Australians, but those providing the services are alarmingly unaccountable, unresponsive and prone to under servicing and over pricing.

The ongoing failures of Australia’s telcos to meet even the existing minimum standards of service and protection cannot continue unchallenged.

Let’s look first at the lack of protection for communications consumers in this country.

The Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code is written by the industry and then registered by the government regulator ACMA (the Australian Communications and Media Authority).

No other essential services sector writes its own code. This practice must change.

It’s one of the reasons why ACCAN has joined a union of 22 consumer advocacy bodies - the Fair Call Coalition - to recommend that ACMA (the regulator) refuse to register the Code and instead implement direct regulation of consumer protections in Australia’s telco industry.

ACCAN, consumer representatives, key regulators, and even some telcos agree that after years of drafting and consultation, the proposed new protections Code fails on too many fronts. The only effective path forward is for the ACMA is to reject the Code and introduce stronger, mandatory rules for the sector.

The second critical issue failing consumers is the Universal Service Obligation.

The USO is an existing agreement the government has with Telstra to ensure landlines and payphones work for everyone – and can be accessed for a fair price.

The USO, written in the 1990s, is clearly outdated and not fit for purpose.

Today, less than 1.6% of people only use a landline at home. And can anybody remember when they last used a payphone?

Meanwhile, in rural and remote areas residents are still not guaranteed widespread access to triple zero emergency services. Business and daily life is regularly hampered by limited connectivity.

But there is some good news in this area. ACCAN and many other groups have welcomed the governments’ latest promise to introduce ‘the world’s first’ reform to provide basic universal outdoor mobile coverage across Australia. The proposal is called the UOMO - Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation.

Put simply, it will require the major mobile carriers to provide access to mobile voice and SMS almost everywhere across Australia.

The government says the reform would ensure up to 5 million square kilometres of new competitive outdoor mobile coverage across Australia, including over 37,000 kilometres on regional roads.

The aim is to expand Triple Zero access for Australians across the nation, to expand outdoor voice and SMS coverage into existing mobile black spots and improve the availability of mobile coverage during disasters and power outages.

But there is a ‘but’. This change will not happen overnight. And with an election pending it’s probably better described as an ‘election promise’.

If re-elected the Government will consult and introduce legislation in 2025 to expand the universal service framework to incorporate mobile coverage for the first time. Implementation of outdoor SMS and voice will be expected by late 2027, with many more Australians likely to obtain access before then.

The Opposition is yet to match this commitment. This is disappointing. ACCAN and our regional telco consumers see this as a long overdue change - and bi-partisan support is key to its success. The only other groups not fully supporting the proposed new universal obligation are from the telco industry where concerns about costs and profits drive policy making.

The other potential problem is largely technical. The new obligations would be reliant on the success of new technology. The development of Low Earth Orbit satellite (LEOSat) connectivity has made a major difference to many Australian consumers, particularly in regional, rural and remote areas.

Until now, LEOSat connectivity has been limited to internet services. With trials of Direct-to-Handset connectivity well underway and a commercial rollout pending – the technical barriers are diminishing. Now is the time to act on all of the reviews and consultations on telco services and provide for SMS and phone connectivity via LEOSat.

Telco consumers deserve strong, enforceable protections and strong, relevant obligations on carriers. What we have now is no longer fit for purpose.

Our connections to each other and the world are an essential service. If we are not prepared to put in place the service obligations and protections needed to ensure connections across Australia, our productivity, our wellbeing and our safety will all be compromised.

If we want to all Australians to be safer in their homes and better connected to the world, we need to make changes to our telecommunications service obligations and protections now.