Australian Communications and Media Authority, also known as ACMA, is a State Owned entity headquartered in Australia. Founded in 2005, the organization operates with approximately 310 employees. Functioning as a government administration body, it is a statutory authority within the federal government Communications portfolio, responsible for the regulation of broadcasting, the internet, radiocommunications, and telecommunications.
Associate Professor Mark Gregory from RMIT University's School of Engineering recently informed the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on April 3, 2026, that mobile coverage maps used across Australia present a misleading picture for people outside major cities. He offered a blunt assessment of data collection and reporting in response to the ACMA's mobile coverage map inquiry. This development followed the ACMA's directive on April 1, 2026, requiring Telstra to remove one million square kilometres – an area larger than New South Wales – from its mobile coverage maps within three months, forcing the telco to exclude regions with extremely weak and unreliable signal strength. Previously, on March 31, 2026, Gregory highlighted that the mobile coverage map inquiry exposed serious flaws in measuring and reporting mobile connectivity for regional and remote communities, asserting that maps relying heavily on industry-supplied data create an overly optimistic picture. This action stemmed from the ACMA's introduction of new rules on March 30, 2026, to standardize how major network providers like Telstra, Optus, and TPG/Vodafone calculate their coverage maps, which would notably prompt Telstra to reduce its reported coverage by one million square kilometres.
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