ACCC rules on Vodafone's Telstra coverage complaint

Australia’s competition watchdog will not take “enforcement action” against Telstra following a 2025 complaint by rival TPG Telecom over mobile coverage claims.

TPG Telecom, through its Vodafone brand, referred Telstra to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) last year, alleging Telstra’s mobile coverage claims were artificially inflated.

The ACCC has now formally declined to take the complaint further, but only after a new technical standard for coverage maps was made by fellow regulator the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which came into effect July 1.

The standard forced Telstra to drop about one million square kilometres of previously claimed coverage from its maps.

The ACCC suggested this outcome is likely what it would have tried to pursue had it been able to substantiate the TPG complaint and allegations.

“The ACCC has finalised its consideration of a complaint made by TPG Telecom in May 2025 about geographical coverage claims published on Telstra’s website,” it said in a statement.

“After careful consideration and analysis of the material we obtained during our in-depth investigation, the ACCC has decided not to take further action on these geographical coverage claims at this time.

“We have reached this position based on the technical complexity and evidentiary challenges in establishing that these claims were false or misleading, in part because they were made at a time when there was no consistent way to assess mobile coverage.

“A key objective of any enforcement action in relation to this matter would have been to ensure greater transparency for consumers about mobile coverage representations.”

Despite declining to take the TPG complaint further, the ACCC said it would still observe the space closely, given the recent changes to coverage maps.

“We remain concerned about ongoing coverage issues, and we continue to receive a significant number of complaints from consumers, including about patchy service and the accuracy of coverage maps,” ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said.

“We will continue to consider providers’ claims about coverage and will take enforcement action where appropriate.”