The regulator’s decision not to register the TCP Code aligns with the Government’s recent push towards direct oversight of the sector
ACMA rejected the draft consumer protection code submitted by the industry
On 24 October 2025, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced it had rejected the draft Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code (TCP Code) submitted by the Australian Telecommunications Alliance (ATA). Under the Telecommunications Act, the industry association is responsible for drafting co-regulatory codes that are registered with, and enforced by, the regulator. The ongoing drafting process aims to update the current TCP Code, which was last revised in July 2022. The ATA submitted its proposal in May 2025 after nearly two years of review and consultation. Adam Suckling (Acting Chair, ACMA) described the draft code submitted by the ATA as “disappointing”, having given the organisation “every opportunity to get this right”. The ATA will have 30 further days to submit an amended version to the ACMA before the regulator will have the option to develop a binding industry standard of its own design.
Priorities on protecting vulnerable consumers and improving transparency
When ACMA initiated the process to update the TCP Code in July 2023, it highlighted six key areas of concern it considered should be addressed by industry moving forward, including:
Selling practices;
Credit assessments;
Payment methods;
Disconnection processes;
Financial hardship assistance; and
Treatment of customers in vulnerable situations.
Some of these priorities have since been addressed with the development of industry standards, often at the direction of the Government, including through the Financial Hardship Industry Standard and the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Consumer Protections Industry Standard. The ATA addressed each of these priorities via position papers, informed by stakeholder feedback, that became the basis of amendments to the text of the TCP Code. Regarding disconnection policies, the revised Code specified the ways in which new industry standards would interact with Code provisions and defined the additional information to be provided to consumers at risk of disconnection due to missed payments. On selling practices, the ATA proposed to create a standardised list of “essential information” to be provided to every consumer on the service being advertised or sold and to revise credit assessment practices to shield consumers from potential financial harm from taking on services or products they may not be able to afford.
Mobile coverage has emerged as a sticking point for Government and the regulator
In announcing its decision to reject the draft Code submitted by the ATA, ACMA cited its unhappiness with commitments on responsible selling, credit assessments, disconnection and the provision of mobile coverage information to consumers. Though not identified as a priority of the regulator in its initial notification to the ATA, concerns with the accuracy and comparability of mobile coverage mapping have also been raised by the Government, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and by operators accusing their competitors of misleading advertisements. The Government is currently undertaking a National Audit of Mobile Coverage, which will run until June 2027 and involve drive testing regional and rural roads throughout the country each year for three years to develop a map that “better reflects on ground experiences”. While the ATA did commit in its draft TCP Code to ensure that consumers are provided with relevant information on mobile coverage during the sales process and have a recourse method if their quality of service is not as promised, the Code does not commit to any meaningful changes in how operators measure and report coverage.
Wider aims for direct regulation of the telecoms sector
Following ACMA’s announcement, a number of consumer organisations renewed their calls for more direct regulation of the sector that would do away with the current system of co-regulatory codes. Over the past two years, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), CHOICE and other members of the Fair Call Coalition have consistently urged ACMA to regulate the sector through industry standards. The Telecoms Industry Ombudsman as well as the ACCC have supported ACMA in rejecting the ATA’s most recent draft code and encouraged a shift towards more direct enforcement. The Government is also pursuing new legislation that would empower ACMA to directly enforce industry codes and issue far larger fines for non-compliance. Though the co-regulatory process has historically been a hallmark of Australian regulation and has delivered successful standards, as in the case of scams and fraud protections, the breakdown in the registration of the TCP Code may well represent a significant escalation in the Government’s wider recent push towards more stringent consumer protections in the telecoms sector and a far more empowered ACMA.
