- 1Consultation opened24 Oct 2023
- 2Consultation closed24 Nov 2023
- 3Outcome and submissions published07 Feb 2024
Key documents
Outcome
On 6 February 2024, the ACMA made the Telecommunications (Financial Hardship) Industry Standard 2024.
You can access the submissions made to the consultation at the bottom of this page.
We thank all those involved in the consultation process.
Previous consultation: The issue
Telecommunications is an essential service. There is evidence that current safeguards are not offering sufficient protections to telecommunications consumers facing financial difficulty. Current financial hardship rules for telcos are in Chapter 7 of the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code. However, there are gaps in the operation of these rules and the required level of protection to help customers meet their payment obligations and keep them connected. The Minister for Communications has directed the ACMA to make an industry standard that deals with:
- information to be provided and made available by telcos to customers relating to financial hardship matters
- the support provided by telcos to customers who are, or may be, experiencing financial hardship.