The federal government’s newly-operationalised Triple Zero Custodian might force telcos to enter new information sharing schemes to ensure emergency call services operate reliably and oblige them to be more transparent with information during disruptions.
It will also be searching for gaps in the current transparency arrangements that apply to carriers when making triple zero outages known to the public and authorities.
Additionally, it’s also exploring “possible databases” to improve calling device compliance.
The measures, formulated in response to the September 18 Optus triple zero outage, are among six immediate work priorities that the custodian set out in its submission to the federal parliamentary inquiry into mass service disruption late yesterday.
The custodian wrote to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to put it on notice that the priorities would be its focus throughout the remainder of the year and beyond into early 2026, according to the department’s submission.
The department said it expected the new information sharing arrangements to take the form of mutual assistance arrangements.
It told the inquiry that it was “considering options to promote and, if necessary, compel carriers and the [emergency call providers] to enter into mutual assistance arrangements to share information critical to the carriage of calls to triple zero”.
To address issues around information transparency, the custodian said it would aim to close “gaps” in the notification framework that carriers currently work within when reporting triple zero service disruptions.
To that end, the custodian has put new regulations on the table for consideration.
Rounding out the list of six work priorities, the custodian told the inquiry it would work with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on network reliability and explore mandatory standards for carrying out welfare checks in the aftermath of mass triple zero call disruptions.
It said that the reliability measures would include “regular network testing and in advance of any network upgrades”, in a less than subtle reference to the botched network firewall upgrade that was behind the Optus outage in September.
Australian telcos have already taken steps to try get out ahead of these issues in anticipation of a punishing new regulatory crackdowns in response to fatalities linked to the Optus emergency call service failures.
The carriers face the twinned wrath of an increasingly fearful public and a political class scrambling to come to grips with how to deal with the issues.
Nearly two months to the day after the Optus outage, that anger was reinvigorated when TPG Telecom reported that a customer of its Lebara-branded network tragically died after failing to reach first responders.
The deceased was using a model of Samsung handset among 71 known to have problems placing emergency calls.
Carriers have, for over a year, been asking customers to patch older devices with a software update or replace them. Otherwise, the carriers have told customers, they will block the devices altogether.
As reported by iTnews earlier this month, carriers have been trying to address this part of the problem, getting behind their industry lobby, the Australian Telecommunications Alliance (ATA), to establish a procedure for sharing information about devices with calling problems using a new database – a move line with the custodian’s own program of work outlined in its submission.
As iTnews reported at the time, it’s understood that carriers had been pushing for the ACMA to take the lead in publishing its register of compliant handsets, but that the regulator had persistently knocked the recommendation back.
As a consequence, the industry moved to establish its own register of bad devices, sources close to the matters said.
Medium-to-long term, the custodian said its work priorities could include, but not be limited to, “the future of the emergency call service, the impact of new technologies, public education and messaging, and establishing baseline data and metrics”.
In the latter case, the custodian was potentially referring to the creation of benchmarks for industry emergency calling performance.
A ‘new’ custodian?
The Triple Zero Custodian had some notable insights to share when it came to its own operations.
Labor announced the new custodian October 29 after, it said, passing through parliament in just three weeks a bill that created the role in the Department of Infrastructure, Transport and Communications.
However, it would appear that the unit has been operational preparations since at least March 2025.
“The department established the custodian as an administrative unit in March 2025, informed by advice from a steering committee process, led by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.
“The Custodian’s legislative function was confirmed by the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Triple Zero Custodian and Emergency Calling Powers) Act 2025 (the Act), which commenced on 31 October 2025. The Act sets out the Custodian’s functions and powers,” the communications department wrote of the custodian’s provenance in its submission to the inquiry.
It also clarified the definition of “custodian” in a manner that hosed down expectations that the role might be filled by a high-profile individual acting as a figurehead for its operations
It said that, in practice, “the Triple Zero Custodian is not a single individual. Rather, the department has established a division to deliver on its work and delegated the legislative powers to the division’s [senior executive] officers”.
The custodian also advised the inquiry committee that, while its emergency management powers were limited at state and territory level, it intended to work “closely and collaboratively” with their governments and emergency services operators on efforts to make sure triple zero ecosystems operated effectively.
Optus needing financial support
Optus’ parent company, Singtel, has told the parliamentary triple-zero inquiry that its Australian subsidiary has become a financial burden, in a submission the inquiry made public at the same time as the communication department’s.
It told the committee that it gave Optus financial support to the tune of $2.5 billion in 2024 to fund its spectrum licenses and working capital requirements.
It also said that “due to Optus’ weak financial performance” it has only been able to extract an average return on invested capital in the company of 1.7 percent over the last five years.
“Singtel has always adopted a long-term strategic approach to its investments across Asia Pacific,” Singtel said.
“[We have] provided strategic direction, financial support, technical know-how and best practice sharing to all its operating companies.
“As a long-term shareholder, Singtel has seen its operating companies through the ups and downs of market cycles over long periods of time (span of 20-to-30 years) providing strategic oversight to support their growth and staying invested despite challenging conditions.”
ACCAN repeats concerns about self-regulation
The Australian telecommunications consumer lobby, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), repeated its concerns that the failure of telco industry self-regulation had contributed to the nation’s problems with triple-zero calling.
In its submission, also published late yesterday, it said that the Australia’s regulatory settings for the telco industry had led to poor compliance performance among carriers.
It drew on research published by ACMA to reach its conclusion that the conditions for self-regulation in Australia were no longer applicable, telling the committee it was “clear these conditions are not representative of the current telecommunications market”.
“These shortcomings were recently demonstrated by the ACMA deciding not to register a draft [consumer protection] code after more than two years of development and issuing a formal notice to the Australian Telecommunications Alliance (ATA), requiring it to address deficiencies in the existing 2019 TCP Code within 30 days,” ACCAN wrote.
“On the rejection, the ACMA noted that ‘it is disappointing they [ATA] have not been able to develop a draft code that would deliver what their customers deserve’.”
The underlying problem, ACCAN told the committee, was that telecommunications isn’t regulated as an essential service in Australia.
It said that the lack of regulations meant “that consumer expectations for the level of security and assurance of triple zero are not met”.
“Reliable mobile communications are essential to the effective delivery of triple zero and therefore to supporting public safety.
“However, the mobile networks and infrastructure which triple zero services operate over are not regulated with the express goal of reliability.”