Telstra found to have breached conditions of carrier licence over 160,000 times
Telstra has been found to have breached conditions of its carrier licence on over 160,000 occasions after the details of over 140,000 telco customers who had requested unlisted numbers were made available to the public.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) delivered the findings of an investigation on Wednesday, in which it confirmed that between 2021 and 2022, the telco published 24,005 unlisted numbers, sometimes referred to as ‘silent numbers’, with corresponding customer names and addresses in the White Pages.
Telstra also included 139,402 unlisted numbers with customer details in its directory assistance database.
The company reported the incidents to ACMA in 2022 after it discovered “system issues and process failures” led to the release of the numbers.
Telstra regularly fails to meet its regulatory obligations, particularly in government mandated services and listings that are not revenue positive – jobs would be cut to meet an Exec’s numbers, no handover done and it would be collectively hoped that no-one would notice. By the time the problem was identified said Exec group had long pocketed their Short Term Incentive and moved on.