Under new reporting requirements that came into effect on 30 June 2026, telcos are now reporting significant local outages[1] via unified and accessible public registers, creating a long-term public record of where outages have occurred, how long they lasted and how often they’re happening. For advocates and communities, it’s an important step towards making telecommunications providers more accountable for service reliability in regional and remote Australia.
For ICAN Financial Counsellor Zack Wildy, that’s welcome news.
“Telecommunications outages can affect anyone, anywhere,” he said. “But when you’re already isolated, an outage can mean you’re completely cut off. In remote communities, losing connection can have far-reaching consequences because people often have fewer options and greater distances to essential services.”
In remote communities, a loss of phone or internet service can mean losing access to family, support services, banking services, online government services and critical information. The impacts can be even greater during Far North Queensland’s wet season, when communities may be dealing with flooding, severe weather and tropical cyclones.
As more essential services move online, reliable telecommunications are no longer a convenience. They’re a necessity.
Turning Community Experiences into Data
For years, communities have told service providers, governments and advocates about frequent outages.
The challenge has been proving just how widespread the problem is.
ICAN Advocacy Manager, Jillian Williams, said the lack of publicly available information has made it difficult for regional and remote consumers to demonstrate the extent of the issue.
“We know that people living in remote and regional Australia regularly experience telecommunication outages, and until now there has been no accessible public record of how frequently these outages are occurring.
This means there has been no accessible data to support regional and remote telecommunication consumers in raising their concerns about the regularity and extent of outages.
The only time the issue gets attention is when a widespread outage occurs affecting large numbers of people, generally based in metropolitan areas.
Requiring telecommunication companies to provide consistent public data about outages is critical as it will allow communities and government to hold telecommunication providers to account when people in regional and remote Australia are experiencing regular outages. These are people who are paying the same amount of money for telecommunication services as people in metropolitan areas but for far less reliable services.”
This in turn will ensure pressure can be placed for improved network reliability when outages are due to poorly maintained infrastructure for instance.
Why the Register Matters for Consumer Advocates
The new outage register is more than a transparency measure.
For consumer advocates and community organisations, it provides evidence.
Rather than relying solely on complaints, community feedback, and local experiences, advocates will be able to access publicly reported outage data showing where outages occur, how often they happen, and how long they last. That information can help identify patterns, support policy reform, strengthen advocacy campaigns and build a stronger case for improved infrastructure and service standards.
The register is also expected to provide a broader national picture of telecommunications reliability in regional and remote Australia.
“We’re aware of localised outages because communities tell us about them or we experience them ourselves when we’re visiting communities,” Zack said.
“But that only gives us a small snapshot of what’s happening across the broader network.”
Consistent public reporting will help communities, consumer advocates and service providers better understand the scale of the issue and work together to push for improvements where they are needed most.
Accountability Starts with Visibility
The new reporting requirements won’t prevent outages, but they will ensure they are visible. For communities that have long experienced unreliable services, that’s an important first step.
As Zack puts it, “Telecommunication outages in regional and remote Australia happen too often. They need to be prioritised because communities rely on these services to stay safe, connected and informed.”
View the national historic public outage registers for Telstra and Optus here:
- Telstra: https://www.telstra.com.au/outages/outage-register
- Optus: https://www.optus.com.au/living-network/service-status/national-outage-register
[1] A significant local outage is when there is an unplanned adverse impact to a telco network supplying carriage services which, among other things, affects or is likely to affect:
- 250 or more services in operation in remote Australia that is expected to last for 3 or more hours
- 1,000 or more services in operation in regional Australia that is expected to last for 6 or more hours.