Unaccounted costs for SMEs: Telstra fined $3 million for overcharging customers

Telstra is paying the price after being caught overcharging customers for the third time since 2020.

The telco giant will refund $21 million to consumers charged for inactive internet services across an 11-year period, at an average of about $2,600 a customer.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) also stung Telstra with a $3 million fine for breaching customer billing accuracy rules and breaking its direction to comply with its code after a similar issue in 2020.

The authority says most of the 6,532 customers overcharged between 2012 and 2023 were small businesses.

Its boss Nerida O’Loughlin was scathing in her assessment of Telstra’s conduct, saying her organisation had “lost patience” after the third recent breach.