Reviews & Consultations

All Australian Telecommunications Alliance published documents (Code/Guideline/Standard) are reviewed from time to time.

Review aims

To identify:

• any existing issues with the document;
• whether any process improvement is required, from operational experience in dealing with the document;
• any gaps in the document;
• clarifications that improve requirements;
• whether the document is meeting the needs of industry and the community satisfactorily; and
• expected impact of technology changes.

The document review will focus on its obligations and what it delivers, rather than compliance with the document, noting that it operates in the current legislative framework.

Review process

The Australian Telecommunications Alliance Document Maintenance Policy and Process defines the policy on the review of Australian Telecommunications Alliance documents.

All comments received will be considered by representatives of stakeholders to prepare a specific recommendation and reasons to revise, reconfirm or withdraw the published document.

Outcomes of the review

The outcome of the review of a document will be a decision to revise, amend (in the case of Standards), reconfirm or withdraw the published document.

Note that a review will not necessarily lead to the document being changed with a new version being published.

Want to submit a comment on document under review?

You can use the Submit Comments form to submit your comments via email or go to the Contact Us webpage to obtain other contact methods such as by post or fax.

All submissions received will be made publicly available on the Australian Telecommunications Alliance website unless the submitter requests otherwise.

The Australian Telecommunications Alliance is seeking comments from interested parties on the following Standards:

• AS/CA S043.1:2015 Requirements for Customer Equipment for connection to a metallic local loop interface of a Telecommunications Network— Part 1: General
• AS/CA S043.3:2015 Requirements for Customer Equipment for connection to a metallic local loop interface of a Telecommunications Network— Part 3: DC, low frequency AC and voiceband

AS/CA S043.1:2015 applies to Customer Equipment (CE) that is designed or intended for connection to a Telecommunications Network via a metallic local loop interface. This Standard does not apply to CE designed or intended for connection to HFC, coaxial cable or wireless local loop.

AS/CA S043.3:2015 applies to Customer Equipment that is:
(a) is designed or intended for connection to a Telecommunications Network via a metallic local loop interface; and
(b) is designed or intended to include one or more of the following capabilities:

i. DC power feeding or signalling.
ii. Operation in the low frequency AC band, below 300 Hz.
iii. Operation in the voice frequency band.
iv. Operation above the voice frequency band up to 20 kHz.

Requirements for CE designed or intended to interwork with the PSTN for DC loop seizure and clearing, low frequency AC ring signalling, and decadic or DTMF address signalling etc. are defined in AS/CA S002.

The publications can be downloaded from ATA Industry Publications

You can use the Submit Comments form to submit your comments, submit via email (info@austelco.org.au) or go to the Contact Us webpage to obtain other contact methods such as by post.

All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on Monday 23 November 2026. Submissions received will be made publicly available on the Australian Telecommunications Alliance website unless the submitter requests otherwise.

The Australian Telecommunications Alliance is seeking comments from interested parties on the following Standard:

• AS/ACIF S040:2001 Requirements for Customer Equipment for use with the Standard Telephone Service — Features for special needs of persons with disabilities

AS/ACIF S040:2001 applies to certain Customer Equipment that uses a telephone handset or a keypad, that is manufactured in or imported into Australia for use with the Standard Telephone Service. This Standard defines the technical requirements relating to the features of the equipment that is designed to cater for some of the special needs of persons with disabilities.

When this Standard was last reviewed, a Review Background paper was developed to provide information on why the Disability Standard was developed and the legislation that it is enforced under. An updated Background Paper is being provided as part of this review as it provides useful context. The section on ‘What has changed?’ is particularly useful in its observations of the evolving supply market, an aspect that is becoming increasingly relevant since the Background Paper was first drafted.

Further information on the Legislative Instrument and the Explanatory Statement for AS/ACIF S040 can be found at https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2015L00191.

Of interest to the readers of this review, the C625 Information on Accessibility Features for Telephone Equipment Code was revised in 2020, including simplifying the compliance arrangements for suppliers to meet their obligations by using the Mobile & Wireless Forum Global Accessibility Reporting Initiative (GARI) to provide information for their devices. The C625 Code can be found at https://www.austelco.org.au/publication/c625/. The Mobile & Wireless Forum’s GARI website is at https://www.gari.info/.

The publications can be downloaded from ATA Industry Publications

You can use the Submit Comments form to submit your comments, submit via email (info@austelco.org.au) or go to the Contact Us webpage to obtain other contact methods such as by post.

All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on Monday 23 November 2026. Submissions received will be made publicly available on the Australian Telecommunications Alliance website unless the submitter requests otherwise.

Australian Telecommunications Alliance is seeking comments from interested parties on the following Guidelines:

G522:2016 Calling Number Display Industry Guideline.

This Guideline is intended to:

(a) assist Suppliers with providing privacy protections in the use of Calling Line Identification (CLI) and Calling Number/Name Display (CND);

(b) assist Suppliers with adopting procedures to allow an A-Party to easily Enable or Block CND to the B-Party, where technically feasible; and

(c) deal with the use of CLI by Suppliers.

You can use the Submit Comments form to submit your comments via email or go to the Contact Us webpage to obtain other contact methods such as by post.

All submissions closed at 5:00 p.m. (AEST) on Friday 30 May 2025.

Submissions received will be made publicly available on the Australian Telecommunications Alliance website unless the submitter requests otherwise.

Comments

• ACCAN (291.9 KB)
• TIO (129.9 KB)

G596:2013 Communications Support for Emergency Response Industry Guideline.

The Guideline was developed to provide a standard procedure for the cooperative handling by Carriers and Carriage Service Providers of incidents that require the coordination and communication support of Emergency response.

G596 deals with the provision of Ad hoc services in responding to an Emergency, where:

(a) Pre-planned services are inadequate; and

(b) additional communications support is requested by an Emergency Service Organisation (ESO).

You can use the Submit Comments form to submit your comments via email or go to the Contact Us webpage to obtain other contact methods such as by post.

All submissions closed 5:00 p.m. (AEST) on Friday 30 May 2025.

Submissions received will be made publicly available on the Australian Telecommunications Alliance website unless the submitter requests otherwise.

Comments

• ACCAN (297.9 KB)