Telstra has been fined $18m by the Federal Court for breaching Australian Consumer Law. The breach involved the unnotified transfer of nearly 9,000 Belong customers to a lower speed plan.

The affected customers were moved from a plan with a maximum upload speed of 40 Mbps to one with 20 Mbps, while the download speed remained unchanged at 100 Mbps. These changes occurred in October and November 2020.

The ACCC initiated court action against Telstra on 6 December 2022, and the Federal Court made its findings against the telecommunications giant on 21 February 2025. The court ruled that Telstra did not inform customers of the change in upload speed at the time of the switch, which constituted a breach of consumer law.

ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said, “The $18 million penalty sends a strong message to all businesses that they cannot mislead consumers by making changes to key aspects of a service without informing customers of those changes.”

Brakey added, “Telstra’s failure to inform customers that their broadband service had been changed denied them the opportunity to decide whether the changed service was suitable for their needs.”

The court has mandated Telstra to remediate affected customers with a credit or payment of $15 for each month they were on the lower speed plan. The total remediation cost to Telstra exceeds $2.3 million. Telstra had already made some payments to affected customers before the ACCC commenced proceedings. The remaining payments are being made under a court-enforceable undertaking given to the ACCC.

Belong, launched by Telstra in 2013, serves as a low-cost mobile and internet service provider. The issue arose after NBN Co introduced new wholesale consumer speed tiers in May 2020, which included a 100/20Mbps tier. This tier was $7 cheaper per month than the 100/40Mbps plan at a wholesale level.