Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages Industry Standard Amendment) Direction 2025

This instrument directs the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to amend the existing Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages) Industry Standard 2024 (the 2024 standard) so that the standard requires carriers, and where appropriate carriage service providers, to publish and maintain outage registers and related communications arrangements. The direction is made under subsection 125AA(4) of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (s3) and commences the day after registration (s2). It does not itself directly impose obligations on carriers and carriage service providers; instead it compels ACMA to amend the 2024 standard to give effect to the specified objectives and content (s5(1)). The ACMA is required to complete the amendments by 31 March 2026, and the outage registers created under the amended standard must be operational by 30 June 2026 (s5(2)(a)-(b)).

Mechanically, the instrument does the following (source citations in parentheses): it (a) defines the immediate scope of terms used in the instrument, including that "outage" means a major outage or significant local outage as defined in the 2024 standard (s4); (b) directs ACMA to amend the 2024 standard to require each carrier to cause an outage register to be established and published on a publicly available website, and maintained to be promptly updated, accurate and retained for a reasonable period (s6(1)(a)-(c)); (c) sets presentation and accessibility criteria to be reflected "to the extent technically practicable and appropriate", including standardised presentation, plain English and WCAG 2.2 compliance, and publication in a manner that allows external extraction for analytical purposes (s6(1)(d)(1)-(4)); (d) requires carriage service providers who are not carriers but supply a relevant carriage service to display a link to the carrier's outage register on their publicly available website on and after 30 June 2026 (s6(1)(e)); and (e) mandates minimum content fields that must be displayed for each outage insofar as known by the carrier or carriage service provider (date commenced, duration, geographic areas, types and numbers of carriage services impacted to the extent practicable, number of premises impacted to the extent practicable, and responsible party if appropriate) (s6(2)(a)-(f)).

The instrument gives ACMA implementation discretion: ACMA may treat different classes of carriers or carriage service providers differently and may exempt classes from particular requirements (s5(3)(a)-(b)); ACMA may further amend the 2024 standard as it considers necessary provided standards in force continue to comply with directions (s5(4)); ACMA may define additional terms it considers appropriate (s5(5)); and ACMA must have regard to other obligations and processes relating to the emergency call service when making amendments (s5(6)). The instrument also explicitly states the new objectives and content are additional to, not a substitution for, objectives and content already specified in the 2024 direction (notes following s6(1) and s6(2)).

In short, the instrument mandates that ACMA prescribe, by amendment, carrier-run public outage registers with minimum fields, accessibility and extractability features, and that non-carrier carriage service providers link to the carrier registers. It sets concrete deadlines for ACMA action and registry operation, and delegates significant definitional and exemption discretion to ACMA while preserving the primacy of directions in force under s125AA(4) of the Act (s5(4)).

The instrument hinges on a small number of tightly defined concepts and procedural steps. Key concepts and how the instrument uses them are as follows, with textual references.

• Direction to ACMA (s5(1)). The Minister directs ACMA to amend the 2024 standard. This is procedural: the instrument does not itself draft the amended standard. Instead it specifies objectives and minimum content that the amended standard must give effect to (s5(1); s6).

• Outage register (s6(1)(a), s4 definition note). The instrument requires each carrier to cause an outage register to be established and published on a publicly available website. The instrument refers to "outage" as meaning a major outage or significant local outage as defined in the 2024 standard (s4). The outage register concept is central: it is the publicly available vessel for the required information.

• Carriers and carriage service providers (s4 definitions). The instrument uses the statutory terms carrier and carriage service provider as defined in the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the 2024 standard. For carriers the instrument imposes the register obligation; for carriage service providers who are not carriers it imposes a link-display obligation (s6(1)(e)).

• Technical practicability and appropriateness (s6(1)(d) and s6(2) preface). Several obligations are qualified "to the extent technically practicable and appropriate" (eg types and numbers of carriage services impacted, number of premises impacted) (s6(1)(d)(4); s6(2)(d)-(e)). That qualification sets a standards-of-feasibility test rather than an absolute data-compilation duty.

• Presentation and accessibility standards (s6(1)(d)(1)-(4)). The instrument prescribes criteria that should be reflected "to the extent technically practicable and appropriate": standardised presentation; plain English and accessibility, including WCAG 2.2 compliance; publication in a manner that allows extraction by external entities (e.g. the Custodian or emergency service organisations); and accurate and up-to-date public presentation.

• Minimum outage information fields (s6(2)(a)-(f)). The amendment must require outage registers to display, as far as known, the date commenced; duration; geographical areas impacted or likely to be impacted; types and respective numbers of carriage services impacted (to the extent practicable); number of premises impacted (to the extent practicable); and, if appropriate, the carrier or carriage service provider responsible for resolving the outage.

The instrument allocates duties and affects parties in a targeted way. The affected actors and the nature of effect, as stated in the text, are:

• Carriers (primary duty-bearers). The instrument requires that a register is caused, by each carrier, to be established and published on a publicly available website that includes information about outages occurring on or after 31 March 2026 (s6(1)(a)). Carriers therefore face primary operational, compliance and publication responsibilities: establishing and operating the outage register, maintaining data accuracy and currency, and ensuring accessibility and extractability requirements are met (s6(1)(b)-(d)).

• Carriage service providers who are not carriers (secondary duty-bearers). If a carriage service provider supplies a relevant carriage service but is not a carrier, it must ensure that, at all times on and after 30 June 2026, its publicly available website displays a link to the outage register published by the carrier for their service (s6(1)(e)). This creates a distributional duty,linking to the carrier register,on non-carrier retail or service providers.

• ACMA (implementing regulator). ACMA is the addressee of the direction and must amend the 2024 standard to give effect to the objectives and content set out in s6 (s5(1)). ACMA must make the amendments and have them commence no later than 31 March 2026, require outage registers operational by 30 June 2026, may exempt or differentiate, may define terms, and must consider emergency call service obligations when making amendments (s5(2)-(6)). Thus ACMA controls the precise legal obligations that carriers and carriage service providers will have under the amended standard, and it retains significant discretion.

• Custodian and emergency service organisations (users/analytical recipients). The instrument explicitly contemplates that outage registers be published in a manner that allows the information to be extracted by external entities such as the Custodian or emergency service organisations for analytical purposes (s6(1)(d)(3)). The instrument references the Custodian as defined in Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 and emergency service organisation as defined in section 147 of that Act (s4 note), thereby identifying these actors as users of the data rather than direct duty-bearers.

• Consumers and the public (information recipients). The register must present accurate and up-to-date information to the public (s6(1)(d)(4)). While the instrument does not create a new statutory consumer right, it creates a publicly accessible information flow with effects on consumer information environments.

The instrument sets a framework of duties for ACMA, carriers and certain carriage service providers, and sets out presentation and content expectations. The text establishes duties rather than private rights; the instrument itself does not create a new statutory cause of action or penalties. The principal duties and the legal mechanics are:

• ACMA's duty to amend the 2024 standard (s5(1)). The Minister directs ACMA to amend the 2024 standard so that it gives effect to the objectives and content set out in s6. This is a mandatory direction to ACMA under the text.

• ACMA's timing duty (s5(2)). ACMA must make and cause the amendments to commence in full no later than 31 March 2026 and must require the outage registers to be operational by 30 June 2026. These are time-certain obligations on ACMA.

• ACMA's discretion and duties in exercise (s5(3)-(6)). ACMA may apply requirements differently across classes of carriers or carriage service providers and may exempt certain classes. ACMA may further amend the 2024 standard as necessary provided standards in force continue to comply with directions under s125AA(4) of the Act. ACMA may define terms as necessary and must have regard to obligations and processes concerning the emergency call service when making amendments. These clauses both enable discretion and impose a duty to consider emergency-call related constraints.

• Carrier duty to establish and publish an outage register (s6(1)(a)). The instrument requires that each carrier cause an outage register to be established and published on a publicly available website, covering outages on or after 31 March 2026. This is the primary substantive duty that ACMA must effectuate by amending the 2024 standard.

• Duty to maintain accuracy and currency (s6(1)(b)). The register must be maintained so that information about an outage is included as soon as practicable and is kept up-to-date and accurate. The instrument imposes a timeliness and accuracy standard, expressed as operational expectation rather than specific time intervals.

• Duty to retain information for a reasonable period (s6(1)(c)). The register must retain information for a reasonable period of time. The instrument does not define "reasonable period", leaving this to ACMA’s standard drafting.

• Presentation and accessibility duties (s6(1)(d)). The amended standard must, to the extent technically practicable and appropriate, reflect criteria including: standardised presentation of outage information; plain English and WCAG 2.2 compliance; publication allowing extraction by external entities; and presentation of accurate and up-to-date information to the public.

The instrument is a Ministerial direction to ACMA and does not itself establish penalties or enforcement mechanisms against carriers or carriage service providers. The text makes no mention of fines, infringement notices, administrative sanctions or criminal penalties. The enforcement landscape implied by the instrument consists of the following points, drawn from the instrument:

• The instrument’s immediate legal effect is to require ACMA to amend the 2024 standard (s5(1)). Any penalties or enforcement mechanisms that apply to carriers and carriage service providers for failing to comply with the outage register requirements will therefore be those that ACMA includes within the amended 2024 standard, or that exist elsewhere in telecommunications legislation. The instrument explicitly empowers ACMA to make standards (s5(4) refers to standards in force under subsection 125AA(1) of the Act continuing to comply with directions), but does not itself set out enforcement tools.

• ACMA's scope to exempt or treat classes differently (s5(3)). Because ACMA may exempt classes or vary requirements by class (s5(3)(a)-(b)), enforcement tasks may vary across provider classes. That discretion implies enforcement design (including graduated remedies or differentiated compliance expectations) will be part of ACMA’s standard drafting.

• No penalties in instrument text. The absence of any mention of enforcement or penalty in the instrument means there is no instrument-level penalty for non-compliance with the outage register mandate. Entities should be aware that the legal consequences of non-compliance will be those set out in the amended standard or in underlying Acts; the instrument does not supply them.

• ACMA ongoing amendment and compliance interplay (s5(4)-(6)). ACMA may further amend the 2024 standard as it considers necessary provided standards remain consistent with directions. That ongoing amendment power allows ACMA to adapt enforcement mechanisms over time, but again the instrument itself supplies none.

• Practical enforcement implications for carriers and CSPs. From an operational compliance perspective, carriers should expect that the amended 2024 standard will include compliance obligations and likely compliance monitoring, because the instrument mandates specific public-facing publication, maintenance and extractability obligations. Carriers and carriage service providers should therefore plan for compliance risk and regulatory oversight once the amended standard is published. The instrument's requirement to have regard to emergency call service obligations (s5(6)) suggests ACMA may align enforcement with emergency-services-related responsibilities, but the instrument does not specify how.

The instrument explicitly situates itself within existing telecommunications legislation and cross-references other statutory regimes. Its interactions with other laws, as set out in the text, are the following:

• Authority under the Telecommunications Act 1997 (s3). The instrument is made under subsection 125AA(4) of the Telecommunications Act 1997. It directs ACMA to amend an industry standard that operates under the Act. The instrument therefore sits within the Act’s standard-making and direction-making framework.

• Definitions drawn from other Acts (s4 notes). The instrument notes that several expressions are defined in section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1997, including ACMA, carrier, carriage service, carriage service provider and emergency call service. It also imports the meanings of "Custodian" and "emergency service organisation" from the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 (s4). The instrument therefore depends on cross-referenced statutory definitions to set the scope of duties.

• Relationship to the 2024 standard (s4, s5(1), notes in s6). The instrument amends and adds to the existing Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages) Industry Standard 2024 (the 2024 standard). The instrument’s objectives and content are intended to be additional to, not substitutions for, objectives and content previously set out in the 2024 direction (notes in s6(1) and s6(2)). Thus ACMA must amend the earlier standard rather than replace it in whole, preserving the interplay between the two instruments.

• Emergency call service obligations (s5(6)). The instrument requires ACMA to have regard to other obligations and processes relating to the emergency call service when amending the 2024 standard (s5(6)). This establishes an explicit interaction with emergency-call-service-related legal and operational regimes, which may include obligations defined under the Telecommunications Act 1997 or other instruments referred to in that Act via section 7.

• Data extraction and external entities (s6(1)(d)(3)). The instrument requires publication in a manner that allows extraction by external entities, including the Custodian or emergency service organisations, for analytical purposes (s6(1)(d)(3)). By design this creates an information-sharing interface between carriers’ public registers and bodies operating under separate legal regimes (eg the Custodian under the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999), though the instrument does not itself create statutory duties for those external entities.

This instrument is itself an amending direction to the 2024 standard; the textual record within this instrument provides the amendment history available in the source. The relevant facts in the instrument are:

• Instrument identity and date. The instrument is titled Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages Industry Standard Amendment) Direction 2025, signed and dated 8 December 2025 by the Minister for Communications (Anika Wells) (preamble and signature block).

• Direction to amend the 2024 standard. The instrument directs ACMA to amend the Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages) Industry Standard 2024 (referred to as the 2024 standard) so that it gives effect to the additional objectives and content specified in section 6 (s5(1)).

• Commencement. The instrument commences the day after registration (s2), which creates a point-in-time from which the statutory direction to ACMA is operative. The instrument requires ACMA to make and commence the amendments in full by 31 March 2026 (s5(2)(a)), and to require outage registers to be operational by 30 June 2026 (s5(2)(b)). These dates form part of the instrument’s amendment schedule.

• Relationship to the 2024 standard. The instrument repeatedly notes (in s4 and s6 notes) that several terms and the baseline provisions are drawn from the Telecommunications Act 1997 and from the 2024 standard. It also clarifies that the objectives and content are additional to those in the 2024 direction and not substitutes (notes after s6(1) and s6(2)). This establishes that the instrument is an addendum to the regulatory framework created by the 2024 standard.

• ACMA’s ongoing amendment power preserved. The instrument authorises ACMA to further amend the 2024 standard as it considers necessary from time to time, so long as the standards in force under subsection 125AA(1) continue to comply with any directions in force under subsection 125AA(4) of the Act (s5(4)). This records that future amendments by ACMA are expected and permissible within the direction’s constraints.

• Definition adjustments permitted. The instrument permits ACMA to define any terms it considers appropriate or necessary, including terms used in this instrument but not defined in section 4 (s5(5)). This clause is an amendment-power adjunct that allows ACMA to refine definitions in the standard as it implements the direction.

There is no earlier amendment history recorded within this instrument beyond its relationship to the 2024 standard. The instrument itself represents the Ministerial amendment direction issued on 8 December 2025, and it sets fixed deadlines for ACMA action. Any subsequent amendments to the 2024 standard made by ACMA pursuant to this instrument will constitute the operational amendment history, but those are not present in this instrument.

The instrument contains no record of litigation. It is a current-direction instrument dated 8 December 2025 and does not reference court proceedings, tribunal determinations or judicial challenges. The text therefore records no litigation history, and offers no judicial decisions or precedent to cite within its terms.

Implications for litigation risk and avenues (based strictly on the instrument text):

• The instrument is an exercise of the Minister’s power under s125AA(4) of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (s3). The instrument directs ACMA to amend a standard. Any legal challenge to the instrument would therefore, in principle, be directed at the validity of the Ministerial direction under the Act or at ACMA’s implementation of the amended standard. The instrument does not itself identify litigation processes or remedies.

• Absence of enforcement detail and private rights. Because the instrument does not create penalties or private rights, the immediate scope for private litigation against carriers for non-compliance with this instrument is limited. Any enforcement or private claims will depend on the content of the amended 2024 standard and the Acts under which ACMA operates.

• Discretionary design of ACMA’s standard. The instrument gives ACMA discretion to treat different provider classes differently and to exempt classes (s5(3)). Litigation arising from ACMA’s eventual standard could relate to the exercise of that discretion, for example disagreements over whether an exemption was appropriate or whether ACMA had properly considered emergency call service obligations (s5(6)). Those potential disputes would arise only after ACMA has made the standard.

• Factual unknowns which commonly generate litigation. The instrument leaves undefined elements such as what constitutes a "reasonable period" for retention (s6(1)(c)), what is "technically practicable and appropriate" (s6(1)(d), s6(2) preface), and the exact definitions of outage thresholds (s4). Those undefined elements are the sorts of matters that can generate administrative-law challenges or appealable decisions once ACMA has issued determinations or enforcement notices.

Because the instrument itself records no litigation history, practitioners should monitor ACMA’s amended standard and subsequent enforcement actions for potential bases of dispute. Any litigation history relevant to these obligations will arise from ACMA’s future actions, not from this direction instrument.

This instrument contains several drafting and implementation features that create practical risks, compliance traps and interpretive ambiguities. The following are concrete, source-grounded "gotchas" that carriers, carriage service providers, counsel and compliance teams should note, each tied to the relevant clause:

• The instrument is a direction to ACMA, not an immediate carrier obligation (s5(1)). Carriers have no direct statutory obligation under this instrument until ACMA amends the 2024 standard. Misreading the instrument as immediately enforceable against carriers would be a mistake. The obligation will flow from the amended standard that ACMA must promulgate.

• Tight sequential deadlines (s5(2)). ACMA must make and commence amendments by 31 March 2026, but must ensure outage registers are operational by 30 June 2026, leaving a short implementation window between standard commencement and operationalisation. Carriers should anticipate compressed timelines to develop, test and publish registers once ACMA finalises the standard.

• "Outage" defined by the 2024 standard (s4). The instrument defines "outage" as a major outage or significant local outage as defined in the 2024 standard. Any change in thresholds or definitions within the 2024 standard will alter scope. Parties should not assume universal coverage of all service interruptions; the legal trigger will be whatever the 2024 standard defines.

• ACMA’s power to treat classes differently and to exempt (s5(3)). ACMA can vary obligations by class of provider and exempt classes entirely. This can lead to heterogenous obligations across the market. Carriers cannot assume uniform application; non-carriers might be entirely exempt or differently regulated.

• Undefined operational standards: "as soon as practicable", "reasonable period", "to the extent technically practicable and appropriate" (s6(1)(b)-(c), s6(1)(d), s6(2) preface). These qualifiers are open-textured. Compliance expectations and enforcement thresholds will hinge on how ACMA defines these concepts in the amended standard. Prepare to document technical constraints and to justify delays on practicability grounds.

• Accessibility and extractability obligations with specific standards (s6(1)(d)(2)-(3)). The instrument requires, to the extent practicable, WCAG 2.2 compliance and publication in a manner that allows extraction by external entities such as the Custodian or emergency services. Compliance may require specialised web accessibility work and structured open-data formats (eg machine-readable APIs), not merely static HTML pages.

Compliance planning should be driven by the instrument’s deadlines and by the text’s specification of duties to be enacted by ACMA in the amended 2024 standard. The following steps convert the instrument’s provisions into an operational compliance checklist for carriers and for carriage service providers who are not carriers. All steps cite the relevant instrument provisions.

For carriers (primary obligations under s6(1)(a)-(d) and s6(2)):

1. Monitor ACMA’s amended standard. The instrument directs ACMA to amend the 2024 standard by 31 March 2026 and to require outage registers to be operational by 30 June 2026 (s5(2)). Establish a legal-watch and regulatory-change process to obtain the amended standard as soon as ACMA publishes it.

2. Design the outage register architecture. Plan a publicly available website-based outage register that can present standardised outage information, meet plain-English readability, and conforms to WCAG 2.2 accessibility (s6(1)(d)(1)-(2)). The design should include structured, machine-readable outputs (eg API or CSV download) to satisfy the extractability requirement (s6(1)(d)(3)).

3. Implement data model consistent with minimum fields. Ensure the register can, insofar as known, display the minimum fields: date commenced, duration, geographic areas, types and respective numbers of carriage services impacted (to the extent practicable), number of premises impacted (to the extent practicable), and if appropriate the responsible carrier or CSP (s6(2)(a)-(f)). Where practicability is limited, document the technical constraints and the steps taken to collect or estimate those data.

4. Operationalise timeliness and accuracy processes. Put in place incident detection, verification and publishing workflows to ensure information is included "as soon as practicable" and kept up-to-date and accurate (s6(1)(b)). Define and record time-stamps for initial publication, updates and resolution for every outage; retain logs showing who approved and published updates.

5. Establish retention policy aligned with "reasonable period". Draft a retention policy for outage records; because the instrument requires retention for a "reasonable period" (s6(1)(c)), the policy should set a practical retention period and the rationale, be prepared to justify it to ACMA, and align with any data-access requests from the Custodian or emergency services (s6(1)(d)(3)).

6. Ensure extractability and stakeholder interfaces. Implement data export interfaces for external entities named in the instrument (eg the Custodian, emergency service organisations) so that the register’s data can be extracted for analytical purposes (s6(1)(d)(3)). Create an API or scheduled data dump and document the data schema and update frequency.