What changed for telco outage reporting in 2026?
From 30 June 2026, telecommunications providers in Australia must publish, or link to, a register of resolved network outages. According to the ACMA, the registers cover outages resolved on or after 31 March 2026 across all of a provider's networks, and they apply to the two categories the outage rules already use: major outages and significant local outages.
The requirement was added to the Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages) Industry Standard 2024 after a direction from the Minister for Communications in December 2025. It sits on top of obligations that were already in place:
- Major outage rules, which the ACMA says commenced in December 2024 and cover outages affecting 100,000 or more services.
- Local outage communication rules from 30 June 2025, which the ACMA says reach smaller outages, such as 1,000 or more services in regional Australia for more than six hours, or 250 or more services in remote Australia for more than three hours.
- Live outage information and direct notification of affected customers, covering the status, scale and cause of an outage, the estimated time to fix it and notice when services are restored.
The ACMA says the registers are meant to support transparency and trend analysis, and will complement its quarterly complaints data. For anyone who runs events on mobile or fixed internet, they are also a new planning input.
What does an outage register entry show?
The ACMA lists four pieces of information that each register entry must include. The table below sets them out with what each one can tell an event planner.
| Register field | What it can tell you |
|---|---|
| When the outage started and when services were restored | How long past outages lasted, and whether they fell on weekends or evenings when events usually run |
| Geographic areas affected | Whether a regional town, venue precinct or route between sites has had repeated outages |
| Types and estimated number of services impacted | Whether mobile, fixed or both were affected, which matters if your primary and backup links use different technologies |
| High-level cause | Whether outages were linked to power, weather, equipment or cable damage, which points to the kind of backup that would help |
Because the registers cover resolved outages, they describe the past. They will not tell you whether a link will fail on the day of your event, but they can show which areas and which kinds of service have had problems, and how long restoration took.
What will the registers not show?
Outage registers are useful, but they have limits that matter for temporary sites:
- Small outages may not appear. The registers are tied to major and significant local outages. A single mobile site under heavy load, a damaged cable to one building or a fault in a venue's own equipment may never reach a reporting threshold.
- Congestion is not an outage. At a crowded festival or sporting event, mobile data can slow sharply while the network is technically working. That will not show in an outage register.
- The history is short. Registers cover outages resolved from 31 March 2026, so there are only months of data so far.
- Each provider publishes its own register. If your plan relies on two providers, you need to check both.
In practice, the registers are one input alongside a site survey, signal tests when you visit the site and local knowledge from the venue.
How can event organisers use outage information?
- Check the area before you commit to a site. For regional weddings, agricultural shows, rural sporting events and remote film locations, look at the registers of the providers you are considering for the past few months.
- Look at the cause and duration, not just the count. Repeated power-related outages that last several hours suggest you need a backup that does not depend on the same local infrastructure.
- Plan two different paths. If one link uses a fixed service and the other uses mobile, or two mobile links use different networks, a single fault is less likely to take both down.
- Bookmark the live outage pages. On event day, check the live outage information published by each provider if connections slow or drop, so staff know whether to fail over or wait.
- Keep a way to call Triple Zero that does not depend on the event network, and make sure supervisors know what it is.
Our guide to temporary internet options in Australia compares the main connection types, and the guide to how long internet takes to connect explains how early fixed services need to be ordered.
What does this mean for backup internet at events?
The new registers do not change the basic advice: anything that takes payments, scans tickets or carries a live stream should have more than one internet path. What they add is evidence. A planner can now point to recorded outages in an area when deciding whether a backup link is worth the effort.
A practical backup setup for a temporary site usually looks like this:
- A primary link sized for the peak. Each live stream needs a steady 10 to 20 Mbps upload, with 1.5 to 2 times headroom, and video calls need about 1.5 Mbps in each direction.
- A second link on a different network or technology, connected to a router that can fail over automatically. See backup internet and 4G and 5G router hire.
- Offline payment settings confirmed before the event, as a last line rather than the plan.
- Separate networks for payments, ticketing, production and guests, so a problem on one does not spread to the others.
If you are planning an event in a regional area or at a site you have not used before, you can send the location and event details and we will look at the connection options and backup paths with you. A site survey confirms signal, power and cable routes on the ground.
Questions to ask before your next event
- Which providers will the primary and backup links use, and have you checked both providers' outage registers for the area?
- Have past outages in the area lasted longer than your event's trading hours?
- Do the primary and backup links share a single point of failure, such as the same power supply, cable route or mobile site?
- Who on site checks live outage information, and who decides when to fail over?
- Which devices must keep working if both links fail, and how will they cope?
None of these questions need specialist tools. They need half an hour of checking before the site is booked, rather than on the morning of the event.
Questions people ask
What is a telco outage register?
It is a public list of resolved network outages that each Australian telecommunications provider must publish or link to from 30 June 2026. Each entry shows when the outage started and ended, the areas affected, the type and estimated number of services impacted, and the high-level cause.
Which outages are included in the registers?
The ACMA says the registers cover major outages and significant local outages resolved on or after 31 March 2026, across all of a provider's networks. Smaller faults below those thresholds may not appear.
Will an outage register show mobile congestion at a crowded event?
No. Congestion slows data while the network is still working, so it is not recorded as an outage. Crowded events need their own capacity planning and a separate backup link.
Do outage registers replace a site survey?
No. They show past outages in an area. A site survey checks signal, power and cable routes at the actual location, which is what decides the network design.
Does this change what backup internet an event needs?
The advice is the same: payments, ticketing and live streams should have a second internet path on a different network or technology. The registers help show where that backup is most likely to be needed.
Sources
- ACMA: Telcos required to publish outage registers from 30 June
- ACMA: Stronger consumer protections during telco outages
- Federal Register of Legislation: Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages) Industry Standard Variation 2026
Event dates, prices and product details can change. Check the organiser or manufacturer before you plan around them. Planning figures are starting points; every network is confirmed against the actual site.