Do businesses with 1–5 employees need to comply with Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) for standard phone services?

Yes (1–5 employees, turnover $100K–$1M).

Who must comply with Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) for standard phone services?

The applicability test for Comply with Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) for standard phone services (ACMA), computed across 35 industries, 9 business structures and 6 size bands.

Short answer: Some businesses

Applies when the business has industry: Telecommunications carriers / CSPs.

What the obligation is

Telstra + other carriers must meet CSG performance benchmarks for installations + faults.

The Customer Service Guarantee Standard (CSG Standard), enforced by the ACMA, sets how quickly a telco must connect and repair a landline telephone service and the compensation it must pay when it misses those timelines. Timelines depend on community size: a brand new service must be connected within 5 working days in urban areas (10,000+ people), 10 in major rural areas and 15 in minor rural and remote areas, and an existing service within 2 working days everywhere. Faults must be fixed by the end of the next working day in urban areas, the second in rural areas and the third in remote areas. Appointment windows cannot exceed 5 hours. Compensation is automatic and paid per working day of delay. The Standard does not cover mobile or internet services, customers with more than five landlines, or fax lines, and a mass service disruption from a natural disaster, notified planned works or third-party damage is exempt if the telco notifies customers, the ACMA and the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman within 10 days.

The applicability test

Applies when the business has industry: Telecommunications carriers / CSPs.

How the regulator frames it: Telcos (carriage service providers) that supply a standard telephone service to residential, charity and business customers with five or fewer landline phone lines. Mobile and internet-only services are outside the Standard.

What triggers it: A customer request to connect a new or existing landline service or feature, a reported fault (no calls, repeated drop-outs, severe interference) or an appointment made to connect or repair a service.

Jurisdiction: Commonwealth law, so the test is the same in every state and territory.

Which industries are in or out

Outcome across the 35 industries Rules Mate maps (1 of 35: yes; 34 of 35: no).

Industry	Answer
Telecommunications carriers / CSPs	Yes
No	34 other industries

Business structure and size

Structure does not change the answer in telecommunications carriers / csps: for every structure the answer is "yes".

Size does not change the answer in telecommunications carriers / csps: at every size band the answer is "yes".

Worked examples

Each line is one run of the Rules Mate applicability engine for a single business profile, with the reason the engine gives:

Pty Ltd company in telecommunications carriers / csps with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: applies. Industry: Telecommunications carriers / CSPs.
Pty Ltd company in real estate agents with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: does not apply. Requires industry: Telecommunications carriers / CSPs.

What you must do, and when

When due: Connection and repair within the CSG timelines for the customer's community size (unless the telco has committed to a faster time, which then applies); compensation paid automatically for each working day of delay; mass service disruption notices within 10 days of the disruption starting.
Frequency: Quarterly
Evidence to keep: Service request and fault logs with timestamps and community classification; appointment windows offered and kept; compensation calculations and payment records; written or oral CSG waivers with the required disclosures (oral waivers confirmed in writing, with a 5-working-day withdrawal right); mass service disruption notices to customers, the ACMA and the TIO.
Status: Current
Priority: High

Penalty for not complying

Maximum penalty: Automatic compensation for each working day of delay: for residential and charity customers $14.52 per day for days 1-5 and $48.40 per day from day 6 for a standard telephone service, and $14.52 per missed appointment; for business customers $24.20 then $48.40 per day and $24.20 per missed appointment (ACMA, last updated 20 March 2024). Business customers keep any claim for loss of business. The ACMA enforces the Standard.

Audit or assurance level

Rules Mate has not yet classified the audit or assurance level for this obligation. Any audit, review or certification requirement is set by the regulator source listed below.

Obligations with the same applicability test

If this obligation applies to you, so do these 4: the engine uses the same rule for each.

What usually applies alongside it

Across the 1,890 business profiles Rules Mate evaluates, these obligations apply to most of the businesses this one applies to, and are far more common among them than among businesses generally:

Where it sits in the corpus

Rules Mate tracks 5 published obligations tagged "telecommunications", 0 of them rated critical. For a professional services Pty Ltd company with 6–19 employees operating in every state, 0 of those apply outright. This obligation is rated high priority, and is a quarterly obligation.

Regulator, legislation and tools

Regulated by Australian Communications and Media Authority.

ACMA: Telecommunications, broadcasting, radio, and online content regulator. Administers Spam Act, Do Not Call Register, telecom consumer codes.

Australian Communications and Media Authority

Telecommunications Act 1997: Federal telecom regulation.

Telecommunications Act 1997

Free tools that help with this obligation:

Compliance calendar builder

Run the compliance journeyAnswer a short questionnaire about your business and get the obligations that apply to you, with the reason each one applies.

Questions

Who must comply with Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) for standard phone services?: Applies when the business has industry: Telecommunications carriers / CSPs.
Do sole traders need to comply with Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) for standard phone services?: Yes. Looking in telecommunications carriers / csps and every size band, the engine's answer for a sole trader is: yes.
Do businesses with 1–5 employees need to comply with Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) for standard phone services?: Yes (1–5 employees, turnover $100K–$1M).
When is "Comply with Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) for standard phone services" due?: Connection and repair within the CSG timelines for the customer's community size (unless the telco has committed to a faster time, which then applies); compensation paid automatically for each working day of delay; mass service disruption notices within 10 days of the disruption starting.

Sources

Computed by the Rules Mate applicability engine from the published obligation corpus; facts last checked 3 October 2026. Rules Mate is not a law firm and this is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your position with the regulator source or a qualified adviser before acting.