Summary of outcomes: Compliance priorities 2025–26

Our focus

We said we would work proactively with device manufacturers and broadcasters to help build a culture of compliance before the commencement of the TV prominence framework and provide guidance and greater certainty on the scope and administration of the framework.

What we did

• Introduced a voluntary attestation program for manufacturers to identify eligible devices supplied in Australia and confirm their ongoing compliance.
• Produced guidance for manufacturers on device eligibility and interface requirements and provide information resources for retailers and wholesalers.
• Set up a compliance monitoring program, including commissioning external researchers to conduct targeted device audits and created a complaint form for reporting possible non-compliance.
• Met regularly with major TV manufacturers and their industry body to address compliance questions and practical issues.

Key outcomes

Over the past 12 months, our close engagement with industry has supported a high level of compliance. All major manufacturers updated their interfaces so their TV product ranges meet the minimum prominence requirements. This means people buying new TVs and similar devices can more easily find free-to-air broadcasting apps and services. We will continue to monitor the market, provide compliance updates and take formal enforcement action where needed.

Our focus

We said we would introduce the ACMA Equipment Safety Pledge, a voluntary commitment requiring sellers to follow a set of principles to better protect Australians buying radiocommunications devices online. We also said we would keep educating consumers about the harms non-compliant radiocommunications devices can cause.

What we did

• Launched the Equipment Safety Pledge with eBay, SHEIN, Gumtree, Radio Warehouse, ICOM Australia and Temu as inaugural signatories.
• Conducted audits of select e-commerce platforms.
• Engaged with online platforms and suppliers to remove listings of non-compliant devices.
• Ran a consumer advertising campaign across online platforms during the Christmas and New Year period, when sales are high.

Key outcomes

The launch of the Equipment Safety Pledge has helped to reduce the prevalence of non-compliant ‘dodgy’ radiocommunications devices being advertised and sold to Australians online.

Our audits of online platforms have identified 4,794 listings of non-compliant devices, with all identified listings removed by the platforms upon request. 

Our consumer advertising campaign educated consumers and suppliers about the problems with buying non-compliant devices and raised awareness about the rules. We also developed and published new educational materials on purchasing mobile phones online or overseas, supporting consumers to make safe and informed choices.

Our focus

We said we would monitor whether telcos are complying with their fraud prevention obligations and take strong enforcement action if we found non-compliance with the rules that protect Australians from the harms associated with mobile number fraud.

Mobile number fraud is where scammers gain control of a person’s phone service to steal financial and personal information. It can result in serious financial losses, identity theft and a range of ongoing emotional impacts for consumers. 

What we did

• Promoted and enforced the mobile number fraud rules, alerted telcos to potential compliance issues, and shared intelligence with industry on emerging threats and vulnerabilities exploited by scammers identified through our compliance and enforcement activities.
• Investigated when we identified potential non-compliance, finalising 12 investigations during the period.
• Engaged with industry on mobile number fraud disruption matters.
• Issued 41 compliance alerts and 5 requests for information to telcos about allegations of potential mobile number fraud, to promote early action to protect consumers.
• Issued consumer scam alerts to provide information about steps Australians can take to protect themselves from mobile number fraud.

Key outcomes

Our investigations uncovered failures by many telcos to have adequate security measures in place to prevent scammers manipulating their systems, leading to consumer losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The breach findings we made resulted in telcos paying just under $4.6 million in financial penalties and 3 telcos offering us court-enforceable undertakings, which commit those telcos to having their systems independently tested and reviewed, and making improvements where needed.

Our early engagement with telcos via compliance alerts and information requests prompted them to investigate potential incidents and take early corrective measures, helping to reduce risks to their customers. In addition, our telco threat alerts and guidance improved industry awareness of emerging threats and reinforced stronger security practices, including more robust authentication processes. 

Our consumer-facing scam alerts provided practical guidance to help people recognise and respond to risks. Strong collaboration with the National Anti-Scam Centre extended the reach of this messaging, ensuring more Australians were informed and better equipped to protect themselves.

As a result of our efforts, we have seen a significant reduction in consumer reports of mobile number porting fraud. The rate reported in July 2024 to March 2025 decreased by 72% from that reported in the same period in 2024–25.

Our focus

We said we would build on our previous work to strengthen the regulatory frameworks that support access to Triple Zero by making sure that telcos are meeting their new obligations under those frameworks. This includes meeting the different requirements for communicating with customers during unplanned outages.

What we did

• Amended the Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages) Industry Standard 2024 to include new requirements for carriers to publish public network outage registers, and for carriage service providers to link to these registers. These rules commence on 30 June 2026 and will improve transparency about outages to the community and stakeholders.
• Commenced 7 investigations and 27 assessments in the 2025–26 financial year into compliance with the requirements of either or both the Telecommunications (Emergency Call Service) Determination 2019 and the Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages) Industry Standard 2024.

Key outcomes

This work has improved transparency and accountability in telco outage management and customer communication. New regulatory settings and compliance activities are supporting clearer, timelier information for consumers, helping people make informed decisions during service disruptions, and strengthening confidence in continued access to critical services, including Triple Zero. Our compliance and enforcement work has reinforced expectations on industry and addressed risks to public safety.

Our focus

We said we would monitor the telco industry’s implementation of requirements in the new Telecommunications (Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Consumer Protections) Industry Standard 2025 (the Standard), particularly those that require telcos to provide the critical information and enhanced support that affected customers need.

What we did

• Published FAQs and guidance for industry to support them to effectively implement these important consumer safeguards.
• Conducted a targeted sweep to assess compliance among a cross-section of telcos, with a focus on the sector’s responsibilities to provide support information to affected consumers. From this, we undertook targeted compliance engagement to lift sectoral compliance, resulting in telcos addressing all compliance concerns we raised in this area.
• Assessed complaints and reports to detect further compliance issues, including by gathering targeted intelligence from telcos and others by using our compulsory information-gathering powers.
• Opened 3 investigations and completed 53 compliance assessments across the 3 tranches of protections that commenced in 2025–26, including relating to telcos’ responsibilities to protect affected persons’ information (effective 1 January 2026).

Key outcomes

Our actions saw a significant uplift in industry compliance with the requirement in section 16 of the Standard to ensure affected persons have access to appropriate support information. Our compliance actions and investigations have communicated a clear expectation that the sector is required to take consumer safeguarding responsibilities and community expectations in this area seriously and that appropriate measures must be in place to prevent and address new or compounding consumer harms. Our investigations are detecting and addressing consumer harms present in systems and compliance cultures to prevent future consumer harms in this area.

In 2024–25 we introduced 3 enduring priorities, reflecting our long-term focus on matters of significant and ongoing harm to the Australian community. 

Protecting vulnerable telco customers

Our focus

We said we would focus on telcos’ compliance with complaints-handling rules on which customers, particularly vulnerable customers, rely.

What we did

• Undertook an assurance program of the Telecommunications (Consumer Complaints) Record Keeping Rules (RKRs) 2018 to assess the effectiveness of the RKRs.
• Commenced one new investigation and assessed 18 telcos’ compliance with responsibilities under the Complaints Handling Standard, including to make information about how to complain clear and accessible.
• Issued a formal warning to a telco after an investigation found that it had breached the ACMA’s complaints record-keeping rules on 20 occasions over a 15-month period. During the course of our compliance engagement, the telco started to submit the required reports to the ACMA in line with specified timeframes.
• Issued a remedial direction to a telco for failing to comply with a decision of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) which required it to refund a customer. The ACMA’s remedial direction requires the telco to improve its compliance, including by uplifting its complaints handling systems, processes and training.

Key outcomes

Our compliance, enforcement and performance monitoring activities have detected and addressed where telcos are falling short in their complaints-handling responsibilities and enabled us to target our actions to identify where industry action is needed to prevent and address consumer harms and to improve consumer experiences.

Our enforcement of the TIO scheme supports its important role as the independent complaints handling service, which in turn supports improved consumer outcomes and consumer trust and confidence in the sector.

Minimising gambling harm

Our focus

We said we would actively enforce the rules for BetStop – the National Self-Exclusion Register™ (NSER) and take action to further disrupt illegal wagering providers that target Australians.

What we did

• Conducted research involving users of the NSER to better understand their experiences, the effectiveness of the program and any suggestions for improvement, which we published in November 2025.
• Opened 7 investigations and closed 8 looking into industry compliance with NSER requirements under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001.
• Collaborated with state and territory regulators, licensed wagering operators, responsible gambling bodies, sporting and racing bodies, and other Australian Government regulators, advising of action being taken to disrupt illegal wagering providers and seeking their assistance to report any illegal services.
• Monitored illegal wagering operators targeting Australians during major sporting and racing events, including Wimbledon, the NRL and AFL finals, Australian Open, Ashes Tests, Asian Women’s Football Cup and the spring racing carnival, and commenced investigations into 70 services.
• Issued a sector-wide compliance alert to social media influencers about the penalties for advertising and promoting illegal gambling services to Australians.

Key outcomes

Since the NSER launched in August 2023, more than 64,500 Australians have chosen to self-exclude from all licensed online and phone wagering providers. Our data shows the NSER is having a positive impact on the lives of many users, with our research finding:

• around 77% of Australians surveyed say they have experienced a better overall quality of life since registering
• 79% have experienced improved mental health
• 69% have experienced better personal relationships with family, friends and partners.

Our NSER investigations resulted in financial penalties of just over $112,000, a court-enforceable undertaking, 2 remedial directions and 2 formal warnings. These enforcement outcomes addressed the harm these providers cause to Australians by not complying with the rules, and serve as a broader deterrent to industry. We also released comprehensive industry advice to educate providers about their responsibilities and support them in complying with their NSER obligations.

We made breach findings against 70 of the illegal wagering services we investigated in 2025–26. We arranged to web-block 49 of these illegal services, preventing access to them in order to protect Australians, and are currently progressing enforcement action against 14. Seven of the services we investigated withdrew from the Australian market. 

Our proactive alert targeting social media influencers has laid the foundation for strengthening the compliance culture of this cohort, safeguarding consumers against this emerging risk.

Combating spam and telco scams

Our focus

We said we would focus on persistent unwanted spam or telemarketing and escalate our approach to businesses that do not respond to our compliance alerts and early warnings.

What we did

• Gave 3,836 compliance alerts to businesses raising potential compliance issues and promoting early remediation of any issues, in response to consumer complaints.
• Conducted investigations when we identified potential systemic or serious non-compliance.
• Engaged directly with industry, delivering targeted presentations on spam and telemarketing obligations, with a focus on sectors disproportionately represented in consumer complaints.
• Continued to widely promote the ACMA’s Statement of Expectations – Use of consent in telemarketing and e-marketing, released in July 2024, to positive stakeholder feedback.

Key outcomes

We finalised 6 investigations regarding businesses’ compliance with Australia’s spam and telemarketing rules, resulting in over $7.4 million in financial penalties. We also accepted court-enforceable undertakings from 4 businesses, requiring them to appoint an independent consultant to further review their compliance with spam or telemarketing laws and to undertake regular and comprehensive reporting to the ACMA.

The 3,836 compliance alerts we issued notify businesses of potential compliance issues, providing an early opportunity to address and remediate them. In most cases, once a business receives a compliance alert, we do not receive further complaints about that business.

We engaged with real estate franchisors to strengthen oversight of their franchisees and delivered targeted education to the industry on spam and telemarketing obligations.