SYDNEY, March 11, 2026, 10:57 AEDT
Telstra Group ramped up its opposition to Australia’s draft mobile coverage-map standard on Wednesday, claiming the plan would wrongly label regions where 1.5 million customers use its network each month as lacking service. The protest followed the release of industry feedback by the Australian Communications and Media Authority on March 10, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also throwing support behind stricter mapping requirements.
This fight comes to a head with ACMA under deadline—March 31 to lock in the standard, then roll it out by June 30. Telstra warns, if the regulator holds the line on its threshold, it could be forced to slash some 1 million square km from the coverage maps crucial for winning customers and sales in a market where every patch still counts.
The figure in focus: -115 dBm, shorthand for signal strength. Under ACMA’s draft, anything weaker than that gets categorized as no coverage, following the government’s national mobile audit and international benchmarks. Outdoor handheld coverage splits into good, moderate, useable, or none.
Shailin Sehgal, who heads networks and technology at Telstra, argued the standard ought to capture the “real world outdoor mobility experience.” Right now, he said, Telstra sees around 57,000 emergency calls annually, plus 700,000 voice calls and 750,000 text messages every day, all coming from locations that fall under the proposed coverage threshold. Telstra.com
TPG Telecom, the company behind Vodafone in Australia, argued the real test is whether a handset can actually get service, flagging results from 20 sites where Telstra’s maps showed full bars but calls likely wouldn’t go through. Optus, in its submission to ACMA, maintained that -115 dBm is about as low as you can go for reliable coverage, warning that using a weaker standard would just muddle map comparisons.
The ACCC threw its support behind ACMA’s push, arguing that existing maps often fall short of reflecting real user experience. It flagged issues with inconsistent transparency and varied modelling, saying these gaps could leave consumers relying on shaky data—and complicate any crackdown on misleading claims.
The question isn’t closed yet. Should ACMA stick to its guns, Telstra could end up with a more limited map and lose some punch from its major regional pitch. But if the rules get relaxed, the ACCC and competitors warn comparison shopping stays murky for consumers. Telstra, for its part, argues the draft standard could muddy the waters with its satellite-to-mobile messaging and might blunt investment incentives in the bush.
Telstra’s timing could hardly be worse. Back on Feb. 19, Reuters said Australia’s biggest telecom booked a 9.4% bump in first-half profit, increased its buyback to A$1.25 billion, and reported mobile revenue of A$5.77 billion. CEO Vicky Brady claimed the buyback would “support earnings and dividend per share growth.” Reuters
That’s part of what’s behind the company’s stubborn stance. Following the numbers, eToro’s Zavier Wong described Telstra as “one of the most defensive names on the ASX.” Regardless of whether ACMA shifts the boundaries, the new standard appears likely to determine how Telstra, Optus and TPG pitch coverage in regional Australia going forward. Reuters
