Voice telephone services
The Australian Government is committed to improving voice telephone services for residential and business consumers by encouraging competition in the supply of services and through appropriate regulation.
Underpinning a competition framework is a regulatory safety net consisting of a range of consumer safeguards, such as the Universal Service Obligation (USO), Customer Service Guarantee (CSG), Network Reliability Framework (NRF) and the Priority Assistance scheme. These consumer safeguards support the availability of telephone services to all individuals and organisations in Australia and encourage providers to supply reliable services quickly, restore faulty services promptly and provide quicker responses to assist in meeting the telecommunication needs of people with life-threatening medical conditions.
Information on recent telecommunication regulatory reforms is available at the Telecommunications regulatory reform – consumer safeguards and Telecommunications regulatory reform - separation pages.
The supply of fixed telephone services, connection times and the legal obligations of telecommunications providers under the CSG and USO.
Regulatory arrangements for improving the reliability and quality of telephone services, including the CSG and the NRF.
Arrangements for monitoring and reporting the performance of telecommunications providers.
Priority assistance for consumers with diagnosed life-threatening medical conditions
Consumers with certain life-threatening medical conditions can get priority assistance when problems arise with their telephone services.
