The Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 inserts a registration regime for certain carriage service providers, makes compliance with registered industry codes and standards mandatory, and substantially increases the maximum pecuniary penalties for corporate breaches. It also requires carriers and wholesale providers to refuse listed carriage services to registrable providers who are not registered, and creates a publicly accessible Carriage Service Provider Register maintained by the ACMA (or its contractor).
These changes reframe regulatory levers across the sector: registration becomes a precondition to participate in markets for certain services, code breaches attract civil penalties, and penalties for serious contraventions can scale to benefit disgorgement or a share of turnover. The bill centralises information sharing (ACMA to disclose register data to specified agencies) and creates procedural safeguards like show‑cause notices, renewal consultations and obligations to transfer customers when registration lapses — all of which matter to compliance officers, wholesale carriers, and consumer regulators.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill requires 'registrable' carriage service providers to register with the ACMA before supplying specified carriage services and prohibits carriers and wholesale providers from supplying those services to unregistered registrable providers. It makes all registered industry codes and standards mandatory and raises the ceiling for corporate pecuniary penalties to the greater of set penalty units, 3x the value of the benefit obtained, or 30% of adjusted turnover.
Who It Affects
Registrable carriage service providers (including classes declared by the Minister), carriers and wholesale carriage service providers, contracted operators of the ACMA’s register, the ACMA itself, and enforcement bodies such as the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, ACCC and specified government departments.
Why It Matters
Registration plus mandatory codes shift gatekeeping toward regulators and impose ongoing regulatory conditions on market participants. The new penalty formulas and publicity mechanisms create stronger financial and reputational incentives to comply, and the register creates a single public point of truth — with data-sharing consequences for privacy, enforcement and market access.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill adds a new Division (3A) to Part 4 of the Telecommunications Act that makes registration a threshold for supplying certain 'listed carriage services.' The Minister can declare which providers or classes are 'registrable' and can also exempt specific eligible providers. Registrable providers apply to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for registration using a minister‑approved form, and the ACMA must register an applicant unless discrete grounds for refusal are met.
Grounds for refusal and non‑renewal include false or misleading application information, non‑payment of fees, prior revocations or refusals, failure to be a member of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (where required), certain criminal convictions or disqualifications among people in the applicant’s immediate circle, and conduct that poses a significant risk to consumers or likely contravenes telecommunications law. Registration runs for at least one year (or a longer period set by the Minister).
The ACMA may impose conditions on registration — including an obligation to comply with the TIO scheme — and it may also attach post‑registration or post‑revocation obligations.ACMA must establish and maintain (or contract) a publicly available Carriage Service Provider Register. Where the register is operated by a contractor, the contractor’s work is treated as a service to ACMA for Privacy Act purposes.
The ACMA and an approved list of entities (the Department, Attorney‑General’s Department, Home Affairs, TIO, ACCC and any other entities the Minister determines) may request and receive register information, subject to civil penalty provisions for improper contractor disclosure and an ACMA assessment that disclosure is necessary to enable the recipient’s functions.The bill tightens enforcement mechanics. Before refusing renewal or revoking registration the ACMA must give show‑cause notices and consult the Minister, a Communications Access Coordinator and the ACCC.
If renewal is refused or registration revoked (including at the provider’s request), the provider must notify customers and make arrangements to transfer them to another registered provider. The schedule implementing registration is saved until proclamation but defaults on 12 months’ lapse; other schedules (mandatory codes and penalties/infringement changes) commence on the day after Royal Assent.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Registrable carriage service providers must be registered under Division 3A before supplying 'listed carriage services'; carriers and wholesale CSPs must not supply those services to unregistered registrable providers.
The ACMA must refuse registration or renewal where the applicant provides materially false information, is not a required member of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman scheme, has disqualified officers or relevant convictions in its immediate circle, or poses a significant consumer risk.
Registration is for at least one year; the ACMA can impose conditions (including ongoing TIO membership) and can set post‑expiry or post‑revocation obligations that survive registration.
If registration is refused, revoked or non‑renewed the provider must notify all customers, certain suppliers and make arrangements to transfer customers to another registered provider.
Corporate pecuniary penalties for listed civil penalty provisions rise to the greater of 30,300 penalty units, three times the value of any benefit obtained, or 30% of adjusted turnover for the breach period; infringement notices to corporates are capped at 20% of the maximum penalty in penalty units.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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New registration regime and Ministerial declarations
This part creates the legal hook requiring 'registrable' carriage service providers to obtain ACMA registration before offering specified 'listed carriage services.' The Minister can declare individual providers or classes to be registrable (or exempt eligible providers) via notifiable or legislative instruments, giving ministers flexible control over which market participants are captured. The provision also forbids carriers and wholesale CSPs from supplying listed services to unregistered registrable providers, making registration a de facto market access control.
How applications are decided and what disqualifies an applicant
Applicants must apply in a minister‑approved form and can be asked by ACMA to supply further information. ACMA must register an applicant unless certain grounds for refusal are both present and justify refusal — these include false or misleading applications, unpaid fees, prior refusals or revocations, failure to join the TIO when required, disqualified officers or relevant convictions within the 'immediate circle', and conduct posing significant consumer risk. Decisions to refuse registration are reviewable under existing merits review provisions, and the Minister can prescribe additional circumstances by legislative instrument.
Conditions of registration, renewals and procedural safeguards
ACMA may impose conditions necessary to secure compliance with the Act; compliance with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman scheme is a registration condition where applicable. Renewals follow the same application form requirements; ACMA must consult the Minister, a Communications Access Coordinator and the ACCC before refusing renewal and must give written reasons and invitations to show cause. The ACMA may also impose obligations that continue after registration expiry, creating continuing regulatory reach.
Revocation process and customer continuity obligations
The ACMA can revoke registrations and must consider factors including persistence of contraventions, likely future contraventions, customer impacts and necessity to prevent harm. Before revocation or refusal to renew ACMA must issue a show‑cause notice and consult specified bodies. If registration is refused, revoked or not renewed, the provider must notify all customers and make arrangements to transfer customers to another registered provider — a practical continuity safeguard that imposes operational duties on failing providers.
Public register, contracted operators and data sharing
ACMA must establish and maintain a public Carriage Service Provider Register or arrange for a contracted service provider to do so. The register is electronic and public; contractors operating it are treated as providing a service to ACMA for Privacy Act purposes. The ACMA and a defined list of government and regulator recipients (Department, Attorney‑General’s, Home Affairs, TIO, ACCC and minister‑determined entities) may request register information, with contractor disclosures subject to civil penalties; the Minister can expand the recipient list by legislative instrument.
Mandatory codes and new penalty framework
Schedule 2 makes compliance with registered industry codes and standards mandatory and adds a consultation check requiring ACMA to consult the Information Commissioner before enforcement where the alleged code breach engages Australian Privacy Principles or an APP code. Schedule 3 amends section 570 to add a high‑water mark for corporate penalties: for specified civil penalty provisions the maximum is the greater of 30,300 penalty units, three times the value of any benefit obtained, or 30% of adjusted turnover during the relevant breach period. Schedule 4 limits infringement notice amounts for corporates to no more than 20% of the maximum penalty (expressed in penalty units).
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Retail customers of registrable providers — the bill mandates customer notice and transfer arrangements on revocation/non‑renewal, reducing disruption if a provider is removed from the market.
- Regulators and enforcement bodies (ACMA, ACCC, TIO) — they gain clearer gatekeeping tools, mandatory code compliance, and statutory access to a public register that supports enforcement, oversight and cross‑agency collaboration.
- Consumers concerned about market integrity — registration and public listing create transparency about who is authorised to supply listed carriage services and lets third parties verify provider status.
Who Bears the Cost
- Registrable carriage service providers (including small resellers) — they must apply, pay fees, maintain conditions (e.g., TIO membership), face show‑cause processes and potentially expensive renewals or revocation consequences, increasing compliance costs and operational overhead.
- Carriers and wholesale carriage service providers — they must check the register and refuse supply to unregistered registrable providers, adding onboarding and supplier‑due‑diligence burdens and potential commercial disruption if a partner is de‑registered.
- ACMA and contracted register operators — ACMA assumes administration, decision‑making, publication and disclosure responsibilities; contractors face privacy and civil penalty exposure when operating the register, and ACMA faces resource and implementation costs to manage the scheme.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill pits tighter consumer protections and stronger enforcement (registration gates, mandatory codes, heavier penalties and public disclosure) against regulatory friction that can raise compliance costs, create barriers to entry for small providers, and expand privacy‑sensitive data sharing; the central policy dilemma is how to deter misconduct and protect customers without unduly stifling competition or making routine supplier relationships legally precarious.
The bill packs significant discretion into Ministerial and ACMA instruments: the Minister can declare which providers are registrable or exempt, and can specify circumstances and classes by legislative instrument. That flexibility allows targeting emerging risks but raises uncertainty for new entrants about capture, timing and compliance costs.
The combination of mandatory codes with civil penalties and a public register creates strong incentives to comply — but also risks chilling entry for small-scale resellers and platform participants who cannot absorb fees or TIO membership costs.
Privacy and information‑sharing raise thorny implementation issues. Treating contracted register operators as providing a service to ACMA for Privacy Act purposes means the contractor is governed by APP obligations, yet the bill also permits disclosure to multiple law enforcement, regulatory and minister‑determined entities and makes improper contractor disclosure a civil penalty breach.
Balancing transparency for enforcement with protection of commercially sensitive register content will require clear ACMA policy and robust contract‑level controls. The new penalty rules grant courts large discretion (benefit disgorgement or percentage of turnover), which improves deterrence but may produce disproportionate outcomes for complex supply chains where attributing benefit or turnover is hard.
Operationally, the requirement that carriers and wholesale CSPs refuse supply to unregistered registrable providers shifts responsibility onto upstream suppliers — but the bill also includes carve‑outs where the supplier reasonably believes the counterparty is not registrable. How 'reasonable grounds' is interpreted, and how 'listed carriage services' are defined in practice, will determine whether the rule becomes a blunt market‑access barrier or a targeted risk control.
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