Telstra’s nationwide mobile outage in July wiped an estimated $552 million from the Australian economy, according to new modelling that consumer advocates will put before senators this week.
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advocates → wipe → senators
The estimate, seen by this masthead, was prepared by FTI Consulting for the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network.
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estimate → see → Network
It is more than 500 times what Telstra has paid out in compensation.
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Telstra → pay → compensation
Telstra said it had received about 33,000 complaints and compensation claims, had resolved 99 per cent of them and had paid out about $1 million.
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it → say → million
ACCAN chief executive Carol Bennett said households and small businesses had carried the cost.
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households → say → cost
“One outage cost this economy over half a billion dollars, but the telco at fault didn’t foot the bill,” she said.
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she → cost → bill
“Australian households and small businesses did.”
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households → do → ?
“People are paying a premium for Telstra services in the belief that they are getting better coverage, better service, better reliability, and none of those things apply in this instance,” Bennett told this masthead.
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Bennett → pay → masthead
Telstra said it had not seen the research.
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it → say → research
“On the face of it they appear to rely on a range of assumptions about broader economic impacts that don’t reflect the nature or duration of the outage and significantly overstate its economic effect,” a Telstra spokesman said.
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spokesman → appear → effect
FTI said consulting Telstra to test its assumptions had been outside the scope of its work.
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consulting → say → work
Bennett described the estimate as “grossly conservative”.
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Bennett → describe → estimate
Telstra chair Craig Dunn told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting on Tuesday that the outage “should not have happened”.
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outage → tell → Tuesday
The outage began at 2.50am on July 8, when a GPS card in a Melbourne equipment room reset after a power supply was replaced and told the network the date was 2006.
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date → begin → network
More than 8 million Australians could not make calls or use mobile data, according to the FTI report.
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Australians → make → report
Hundreds of Triple Zero calls failed and regional trains in Victoria and NSW stopped.
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trains → fail → Victoria
FTI estimated the outage’s direct costs at about $130 million, excluding lost leisure time and unpaid wages.
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FTI → estimate → time
Fed into an economic model, that became a $302 million hit to output, and $552 million in lost gross domestic product once flow-on effects were counted.
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effects → feed → product
Lost business productivity was the largest single cost, at $104.2 million.
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productivity → lose → million
FTI calculated that figure would have been $39 million if every worker had lost 15 minutes, and $310 million if all had lost two hours.
It also described its findings as a conservative lower bound that left out rail freight and the heavier toll in areas where Telstra is the only provider.
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Telstra → calculate → areas
Telstra told a Senate inquiry in December it had recorded 5221 mobile tower outages lasting more than 10 minutes in those areas in 2025.
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it → tell → 2025
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said its investigation into whether Telstra met its obligations was ongoing, and it could not say when it would finish.
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it → say → obligations
It could seek penalties of up to $30 million per breach, though an investigation does not mean the regulator has formed a view that the law has been broken.
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law → seek → view
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman has received 397 complaints about the outage.
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Ombudsman → receive → outage
ACCAN and other consumer groups want it to lift its $1500 cap on compensation for non-financial loss to about $15,000, and the ombudsman said it was reviewing the cap.
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it → want → cap
A spokesperson for Communications Minister Anika Wells said telcos were expected to deliver “fair, expedited and efficient compensation”, but did not address the modelling.
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telcos → say → modelling
The modelling comes as the Senate debates the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation bill on Tuesday, which would give the communications minister power to make reliability standards for mobile networks.
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which → come → networks
ACCAN wants the bill amended to make those standards enforceable and to introduce domestic roaming, which would let Australians switch to a rival network when their own fails.
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own → want → network
“Mobile networks are the only essential service in Australia without enforceable reliability and performance requirements,” Bennett said.
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Bennett → say → requirements
Dunn argued against mandated roaming, saying it “does not build a single new mobile tower” and would make it harder to justify regional investment.
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it → argue → investment
The Telstra’s chairman said emergency calls already switched to any available network, so roaming “would have no impact on access to Triple Zero”.
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roaming → say → Zero
Opposition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson said the Coalition’s amendments would ensure the findings of the competition watchdog’s inquiry into mobile services, including roaming, were properly considered.
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findings → say → roaming
That inquiry is due to report next year.
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inquiry → report → ?
“The ACCC has expressed concern about declining regional telco investment and it would be irresponsible to disregard its very significant inquiry including into mobile roaming,” Henderson said.
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Henderson → express → roaming
Bennett said waiting for the ACCC would delay reliability standards by at least a year.
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waiting → say → year
“Senators now have a safety case, an economic case and a yearlong Senate inquiry which all point the same way,” she said.
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she → have → way
“The legislation is before them this week, and they should act.”
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they → act → them
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newsletter → deliver → stories
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