Date Time ACMA report shows telcos supporting customers in financial hardship A new report from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) reveals more than 19,500 residential customers and 1,500 small business customers entered into a financial hardship arrangement with their telco in the 2019-20 financial year. The report, which analyses telco data on customers in financial hardship arrangements, provides some indicator of the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on telco customers, particularly small business. Data shows there was a significant increase in the number of small business customers accessing telco financial hardship programs in March-June 2020, with the total level of debt from small businesses in financial hardship three times higher in June than during the pre-COVID-19 period of the financial year.