IAA Newsletters
Parliament has resumed following the recent federal election, and we hold our breath for what the returning government has in store for the telco sector. Consultations have already started to ramp up again after a brief lull during the caretaker period. We are hopeful that ambitious reforms being undertaken by the Treasury into Australia’s overall economy will bring about improvements to the policy settings that dictate telco investment and operations. You can read more in our submission below.
A number of new regulatory obligations kicked off in late June and early July such as the DFSV Standard, and new complaints handling processes. IAA has made legal templates available on the IAA Member Portal as well as an explainer article to help you understand your obligations so make sure to check these out!
We are also working on organising to consult on behalf of Members to develop DFSV policy and training material, and will update Members when we have more details. In the meantime, you can read more about the new DFSV Standard in this article.
In September, IAA will be hosting a joint-panel session with auDA on ‘Multistakeholder ways to improve trust in Australia’s digital ecosystem’ at the auIGF 2025. The auIGF is a great event that facilitates multistakeholder discussions on policy issues related to the internet in Australia, and globally. We highly recommend you to register and check out the full program. The event will be in Adelaide from 23-24 September, but you can also attend virtually. We will also provide more details about our session shortly, so stay tuned.
As always, please get in touch to share any thoughts on any of the open consultations below and/or previous submissions as we really appreciate your feedback.
Open consultations:
Completed submissions:
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The Telecommunications (Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Consumer Protections) Industry Standard 2025 (DFSV Standard) commenced 1 July, introducing lots of new rules for carriage service providers to assist consumers affected by domestic, family, and sexual violence in the telco context. The obligations under the DFSV Standard are listed at the end of the article. You can also read guidance prepared by the ACMA on its website.
One of the obligations is for CSPs to consult with DFV support services, a panel of victim-survivors or other expert organisations to inform the provider’s policies, procedures, and training material. However, for smaller CSPs with less than 30,000 SIOs, this consultation may be conducted by an industry representative on behalf of the small CSP.
We will be organising a joint-consultation forum in the future to help inform CSPs’ DFSV policies, statements, and training material, with further details to be provided in due course.
In the meantime, we also recommend you to watch the recording of Telco Together’s last webinar, which discussed the new DFSV Standard.
Obligations under the DFSV Standard:
Please note, a ‘large provider’ means a provider with at least 30,000 SIOs and a ‘small provider’ means a provider with less than 30,000 SIOs.
From 1 July, telcos must:
- Reverse service limitation for affected persons (s 13(3)-(5)):
If a service has been limited (e.g. suspended or disconnected), and the affected person urgently requests reversal due to a DFV safety risk, the telco must urgently reverse it on first contact, or offer an equivalent service if reversal isn’t practical. However, reversal isn’t required where doing so would breach another Commonwealth law (e.g. emergency call service obligations).
- Not require affected persons to engage with perpetrator (s 15(1)):
Telcos must not require a person affected by DFV to contact or interact with the perpetrator of the DFV or the perpetrator’s authorised representative.
- Publish information about support offered (s 16):
Telcos must publish information on their website about the support they offer to people affected by domestic and family violence. If they don’t yet offer specific support, they must publish contact details for external support organisations and indicate when their own support services will become available.
- Implement a DFV Policy (s 19-20):
Telcos must begin to develop and implement a DFV Policy that is approved by the telco’s most senior executive, and develop supporting procedures that meet specific standards. The DFV Policy must be implemented by 1 January for large providers, and 1 April for small providers.
- Train staff on DFV – general (s 21)
All personnel must receive DFV training, which can be delivered internally or via an expert 3rd party. Staff must be trained by 1 January for large providers, and 1 April for small providers.
- Conduct specialised DFV Training for customer-facing staff (s 22):
Personnel in customer service, or likely to deal with DFV issues must complete specialised DFV training which covers applying the telco’s DFV policy and procedures, nature of DFV and its relationship to telco services, how to identify affected persons, intersectionality and DFV, engaging with affected persons, and recognising and prioritising safety of affected persons and the safety of personnel engaging with perpetrators. The specialised DFV training can be tailored to the role of the personnel, and may be delivered internally or via an expert 3rd party. Staff must be trained by 1 January for large providers, and 1 April for small providers, with annual refreshers of the training to be completed.
- Consult with expert organisations (s 32):
From 1 July, telcos must consult with and consider feedback from DFV support services and either people with lived experience or organisations representing at-risk groups when developing DFV policies and procedures (s 19), and training (s 21-22). Large providers must consult directly; small providers may do so via an industry body. As discussed above, IAA is looking at undertaking consultation requirements on behalf of our Members that fall under the ‘small provider’ category, and to develop template materials that our Members can adopt.
Please get in touch if you have any questions.
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Welcome to our newest Professional Members:
Darryl Boelcsfoeldi
George Coldham
Nickolas Dakis
Alan Gan
Michael Mansour
Nathan Mudie
Josie Parfitt
James Pearce
Matthew Taylor
Welcome to our IAASysters of 2025:
Vicki Apostolidis
Cassie Byrne-Quinn
Mary Ghazavi
Serena Green
Navraj Deep Kaur
Huoy Ming Leow
Serena Li
Lauren Morand
Brigitt Nagle
Mary-Lou O’Brien
Nasrin Sadiqi
Helena Singer
Tembi Tlhabane
Divya Valsarajan
Taryar Wai
Welcome to our Corporate Members:
Australian Telecommunications Pty Ltd
A big welcome to Australian Telecommunications, joining IAA as they transition from two decades as a business-only internet reseller to operating as a full ISP with their own network infrastructure. Based in Equinix SYD3 and soon expanding to a second data centre, they’re launching business-grade internet alongside telephony, managed IT, and telco services.
China Unicom (Singapore) Operations PTE LTD
We’re excited to have China Unicom (Singapore) Operations on board. As a major global carrier, their participation strengthens IAA’s international connectivity and offers new peering opportunities for our Members.
Digital Immortality Pty Ltd
We’re pleased to welcome Digital Immortality to IAA. As they expand their network presence and connect into more data centres, they join our mission of building a stronger, more resilient internet across Australia.
DigitalOcean Australia Pty Ltd
Please join us in welcoming DigitalOcean Australia to the IAA peering exchange. Known for their developer-friendly cloud infrastructure, DigitalOcean’s presence will enhance connectivity and performance for Members accessing their global platform.
Emutel
Welcome Emutel to the IAA community! Joining for both peering and broader industry engagement, Emutel adds to our diverse Member base committed to keeping traffic local and cost-effective.
Kite Plus Limited
A warm welcome Kite Plus Limited to the IAA community! Handling over 200Gbps of Tencent CDN traffic to Australian users daily, Kite Plus joins to share their content and improve connectivity for Members across our exchanges.
Turnkey Networks Pty Ltd
We’re pleased to welcome Turnkey Networks to the IAA peering exchange! As a new a carrier-neutral wholesale provider, Turnkey Networks is looking to build strong industry relationships and explore peering partnerships. We look forward to seeing them grow their network presence and connect with fellow Members.
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Over the last month or so I’ve been able to catch up with a number of Members at our 30th anniversary events. If you can get to one over the next couple of months, please join us! I promise, however, that I will be asking about a range of issues as the information we get from our Members is the most potent fuel for our submissions to government.
We have also been having fun tearing away the debris (literally) from QV1 as we decommission our original facility, upgrading the portal (and every switch the team can get their hands on), upgrading the website and more! Of course, we keenly listen to your feedback on that too. I hope you enjoy the articles below that cover more of the team’s amazing achievements.
As I write, the dust is barely settled on the federal election. With such an endorsement from the electorate, it is possible the Labor government will take the opportunity to open new policy avenues or push existing ones further. It leads me to wonder: should we re-think our expectations for the new government? What do we, as an association, want from the incoming government?
In the previous term of government, Labor sought to increase the level of regulation and update the approaches in security, consumer protection and privacy, with corresponding increases in penalties and paperwork. We worked actively to mitigate the heavy hand of regulation in our submissions and regulatory templates you can find on the Member Portal.
In the recent Cabinet reshuffle the previous Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland, was promoted to Attorney-General and will be replaced by Anika Wells, who also retains her role as Minister for Sport. Minister Wells is new to the communications sector, with her appointment aligning with the government’s decision to move sport under the Infrastructure Department. It remains to be seen how the new Minister will approach this complex portfolio, and whether her dual responsibilities will allow for the depth of engagement the sector demands.
We continue to work hard to challenge lingering negative perceptions of our industry – dare I say prejudices – as we are often characterised as predatory and lax with privacy and security, therefore needing more regulation.
On the Opposition side, it is possible that the current inexperienced Communications spokesperson will stay, but probably more likely that a National Party person will take the portfolio given their higher proportion in the parliament. Again, their impressions won’t necessarily play positively towards our sector either, given the Nationals tend to see the whole industry as a problem with Telstra.
Happy peering!
Narelle
IAA CEO
Question from the desk
Each newsletter, I will pose a question to Members, because your perspective is important. Please email me with your thoughts and opinions. Over to you:
What do we, as an association, want from the incoming government?
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Great news, Adelaide! After months in the pipeline, 100Gbps ports ane now available across all SA-IX Points of Presence, delivering the high capacity your users demand.
More capacity. More content.
Our latest upgrade will support the surge in traffic from major content sources like Steam, Netflix, Google, and more – keeping your users connected and content flowing smoothly.
There’s never been a better time to level up.
Order your port via the IAA Member Portal now:
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You might have noticed something a little different – and in some cases some quirks – with your invoices this month. From 1 May 2025, IAA invoices began being sent directly from the IAA Member Portal as part of our ongoing plans to make our Portal the single source of truth for services and more streamlined overall.
Unfortunately, we set a higher default for the invoice settings and in many cases additional account holders received copies of invoices. We’ve now corrected that, so only your billing contacts will receive them in future. We appreciate your patience as we get the new system up and running.
We’ve addressed the issues behind the scenes, and things should be back on track for next month’s billing cycle. To be clear, our bank details and payment methods remain the same as usual.
If you have any questions or need a copy of your invoice, feel free to get in touch at accounts@internet.asn.au.
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Got a location in mind for a new Point of Presence (PoP)? We’re proudly carrier and data centre neutral and always open to proposals from peers, suppliers, and data centres looking to improve connectivity for the benefit of all.
IAA does, however, have a minimum design and service standard for placement of a POP. It needs to have – at minimum – high grade redundant air conditioning, dual power feeds from diverse sources, secure racks in a secure facility, structured cabling facilities and multiple fibre providers via diverse paths to the site. Basically the site needs to be rated at Tier III or above, and we need evidence of member demand for its usage. This last point means that if Members ask for it, it can be so!
Help us expand our footprint to better serve your region and the wider network community. Propose a PoP and let’s explore the possibilities together.
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The IAA Members Forum was held in May as an opportunity for Members to hear our news and share their views.
The Forum began with a brief presentation from the team about the various IX upgrades, ongoing portal development, recent and future events, advocacy updates and governance news.
You can watch this presentation via the IAA YouTube Channel and check out the slide deck in the links below.