TLDR
Complaints about unconscionable sales conduct at Australian telcos rose 154.8% to 553 in FY2025-26, with Optus drawing 69.8% of cases despite holding 22.6% of total complaints. Total Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman complaints fell 6.5% to 53,834, a headline improvement that sits alongside a sharp rise in the most serious harm category.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The numbers behind the surge
Complaints about unconscionable conduct, cases where sales representatives are alleged to have exploited vulnerable or disadvantaged consumers, rose 154.8% from 217 to 553 in FY2025-26, according to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) annual report.[1] These are complaints received, not findings of wrongdoing.
Optus drew 69.8% of those complaints, roughly 386 cases, while Telstra accounted for 15.2% and Vodafone for 10.3%.[1] Optus received 12,181 total complaints in the same period, representing 22.6% of the industry total, yet its share of the unconscionable conduct category ran at three times that rate.
Optus's unfair-sales complaint rate is roughly three times what its general complaint share would predict. Sales and marketing teams running commission-based or door-to-door models have a concrete benchmark to measure themselves against.
The broader complaint picture
Total TIO complaints fell 6.5% to 53,834 in FY2025-26, with Telstra receiving 18,541 (down 15.3%) and Optus 12,181 (down 10.3%), together representing 57% of all complaints.[2] The overall fall gives the industry something to point to; the unconscionable conduct numbers sit alongside it uncomfortably.
Mid-tier providers moved in the opposite direction. Lycamobile complaints more than quadrupled to 832, Superloop's rose 89.3% to 1,418, Vodafone's climbed 13.9% to 5,899, and Dodo's increased 12.9% to 979.[1]
TIO Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert said the fall in total complaints offered little comfort. "It's encouraging to see complaints drop this financial year," Gebert said, while noting that more than 53,000 people still came to the TIO for help.[2] Gebert also called for reduced complexity, stronger accountability and clearer standards, saying: "The current framework is decades out of date."[2]
Sales channel risk and the ACCC undertaking
On 18 June 2025, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that Optus had agreed to a A$100 million penalty for unconscionable conduct, subject to Federal Court approval, and had signed an undertaking covering consumer remediation, a A$1 million donation to a First Nations digital-literacy organisation, and changes to how its sales staff are paid.[3] The FY2025-26 figures cover the first full year after that announcement.
The undertaking sets a visible precedent for any telco running commission-heavy or door-to-door sales channels. An incentive structure that rewards volume without guardrails for vulnerable customers now carries a documented regulatory consequence. For sales and marketing teams that set channel strategy, staff incentives, complaint handling and training records are now the places regulators look first.
The TIO annual report covering FY2025-26 was published on 7 October 2026.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
- TIO Annual Report FY2025-26
- TIO press release: Annual telco complaints down but consumers still paying the price
- ACCC media release: Optus agrees to $100m penalty subject to court approval for unconscionable conduct
- Optus accounts for most telco complaints as unfair sales concerns surge, Mediaweek
- Telco complaints fall 6.5 per cent as compensation claims climb, SMBtech
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is an unconscionable conduct complaint in telco?
Why does Optus have such a large share of unconscionable conduct complaints?
Does the overall fall in TIO complaints mean the industry is improving?
Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.
