Telstra has been ordered by the Federal Court to pay a $18 million penalty for breaching the Australian Consumer Law after moving nearly 9,000 Belong customers to lower-speed broadband plans without proper notice.

In October and November 2020, Telstra migrated 8,897 Belong NBN customers from plans with a maximum upload speed of 40Mbps to a plan capped at 20Mbps, while maintaining the same 100Mbps download speed. Customers were not informed of the change at the time.

“Telstra’s failure to inform customers that their broadband service had been altered denied them the opportunity to decide whether the changed service was suitable for their needs,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.

Telstra will also compensate affected customers with $15 per month they were on the reduced upload speed pla

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