Consumer groups urge ACMA to ban telco sales incentives in draft TCP Standard

The Fair Call Coalition, an alliance of consumer and community organisations, has joined ACCAN in calling on the ACMA to strengthen its draft Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Standard and bring it into force without delay. The call was published on 11 November 2026.

The Fair Call submission on the draft Standard names four areas where it says the rules must go further: banning sales incentives, significantly lifting credit assessments, and strengthening remedies and disconnection protections. The group says its recommendations draw on evidence from financial counsellors, community lawyers and caseworkers who support consumers after they have been mis-sold, disconnected or left without a remedy. It also wants the ACMA to resist industry pressure to weaken the Standard.

The coalition said the ACMA's March 2026 decision to replace the industry-written TCP Code with an enforceable Standard vindicated its case for tougher rules. The 2019 Code stays in force until the Standard commences, and the coalition argues every month of delay means more harm for consumers.

To back its case, the group cited ACCAN's Consumer Sentiment Tracker, run by Essential Research, which found 22 per cent of consumers felt pressured to buy a more expensive plan than they wanted. The same research found more than 1 in 3 had experienced unexpected contract changes. It also pointed to Federal Court penalties of $50 million against Telstra in 2021 and $100 million against Optus in 2025 over unconscionable conduct in sales practices and debt collection.

ACCAN chief executive Carol Bennett said the member organisations sit with consumers who have been disconnected or up-sold needlessly expensive plans or devices "to pad the pockets of sales staff". Jean Skeat of the Consumer Action Law Centre said the group wants the ACMA to deliver outcomes by banning sales incentives, improving credit assessments and making remedies more accessible. Aaron David, chief executive of the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network, said the rules should protect people from unaffordable contracts while ensuring that low incomes or remote living do not become reasons to exclude people from services. COTA Australia chief executive Patricia Sparrow said the proposed changes are "a welcome step forward", but that stronger, enforceable rules are needed.