Telstra Group (ASX:TLS) paid a penalty of AU$18,780 and committed to an independent review after mistakenly disabling an emergency call relay service used by people with hearing and speech impairments for nearly 13 hours in July 2024, according to a Wednesday statement by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

No emergency calls were made during the downtime, but ACMA warned the failure could have had serious consequences.

Telstra has agreed to improve its change management processes, implement review recommendations, train staff, and report regularly to ACMA, the regulator said.