Australia’s government advised the communications regulator to introduce enforceable industry standards to improve telecoms operators’ communications with customers during network outages.

A directive from Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland, stemming from a post-incident review of an outage at Optus, requires the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to establish new measures to ensure operators update customers during major outages.

The recommendations outlined in the review are intended to improve the communications and complaints processes, with the aim of easing the impact of future outages.

The ACMA will review the existing complaints handling standard to ensure processes are effective for consumers in the context of network outages, a ministry statement noted.

Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin stepped down following a massive network outage in November 2023 which impacted about 10 million customers.