Mandate domestic mobile roaming and strip telcos of Triple Zero, inquiry recommends

A Senate inquiry into the September 2025 Optus national outage , which left hundreds of people unable to call Triple Zero and was linked to multiple deaths, has called for sweeping changes to the telecommunications industry.

“Australian telcos are now on notice,” said Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young , who chaired the inquiry.

“This is the end of the era of self-regulation.” The inquiry’s final report, which was supported by Labor and Coalition members, goes further than the earlier report into the 2023 Optus outage.

The nationwide Telstra outage in July has increased momentum for fundamental change to the industry.

The best approach for the federal government may be to start all over again with a new telecommunications act that is better suited to the modern world.

Key recommendations Telstra is currently contracted until 2032 to operate the Triple Zero system.

The final report of the Senate inquiry recommends Telstra be stripped of this duty, and for a new statutory authority to be given control of the system.

In 2025, the Australian government introduced the Triple Zero Custodian in an effort to bolster Triple Zero.

The custodian was tasked with overseeing the Triple Zero system.

The report recommends the government require the custodian to comprehensively review how welfare checks are carried out across the telecommunications system.

The inquiry also recommended that the government mandate domestic roaming .

This would enable mobile phones and other devices to connect to the mobile network using any available infrastructure, irrespective of who owns and operates it.

A domestic roaming declaration has been a hot topic for the past 30 years.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently launched a year-long inquiry into declaring domestic roaming.