Privacy Policy
Connect Tel Pty Ltd ABN 60 081 254 639
Our commitment to you is simple, privacy matters. How your information is used, stored and collected and ensuring the security of your information is a priority. We are committed to ensuring the safety of this data.
1. About this policy
Connect Tel Pty Ltd supplies telecommunications, internet, data, cloud and voice products and services to businesses, not for profit organisations, government and residential customers across Australia.
This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, who we share it with, and how you can access it, correct it or complain. It applies to information you give us by phone, email, in person, through our website, through the OneView customer portal, or through our social media pages.
2. The laws that apply to us
As a telecommunications provider, not only are we bound to the standard privacy laws in Australia, but by additional regulations. These additions are extra obligations to ensure your sensitive data remains secure.
| Law | What it does |
|---|---|
| Part 13 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 | Restricts what we may do with information about you, your service and your communications. It applies to us regardless of our size, and it prohibits use or disclosure except in defined circumstances. |
| Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 | Requires us to retain certain records about your communications, and governs how law enforcement and security agencies may access them. |
| Privacy Act 1988, Part IIIC | The Notifiable Data Breaches scheme. Requires us to assess suspected data breaches and, where a breach is likely to result in serious harm, notify you and the Information Commissioner. |
| Spam Act 2003 and Do Not Call Register Act 2006 | Govern electronic marketing messages and telemarketing calls. |
| Telecommunications Consumer Protections and industry standards | Include obligations about how we handle information relating to complaints, financial hardship, and domestic, family and sexual violence. |
3. What personal information means
Personal information is information or an opinion about you where your identity is apparent or can reasonably be deduced from that information.
Sensitive information is additional information, this may include information about your health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions or memberships, religious beliefs, criminal record and biometric information. We collect sensitive information only with your expressed consent. Or where the law allows or requires it, and we use it only for the purposes you gave it to us.
4. Why we collect personal information
We collect personal information only where it is reasonably necessary for our functions or activities, or where the law requires it. Our purposes are:
- Supplying, provisioning and supporting your services
- Billing, credit assessment and collections
- Managing our relationship with you as a customer or supplier
- Providing support and handling faults and complaints
- Assessing and administering applications for payment assistance
- Supporting customers affected by domestic, family or sexual violence
- Providing information to the Integrated Public Number Database so that emergency services can locate you
- Marketing our products and services, where you have not opted out
- Improving our products, services and systems
- Employing and managing our people
- Meeting our legal and regulatory obligations
If you choose not to give us information we need, we may not be able to supply a service or assist you.
5. What we collect
What we collect depends on your dealings with us. It may include:
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Identity and contact details | Name, service address, billing address, email address, telephone numbers, date of birth. For business customers, job title and business address. |
| Service information | Service numbers including unlisted numbers, service addresses, equipment details, plan and account details. |
| Telecommunications data | Records about your communications — the source, destination, date, time, duration and type, and the location of the equipment used. We do not retain the content of your communications. |
| Usage information | Call and internet usage, service faults, complaints, and responses to promotions. |
| Financial information | Payment and bank or card details, credit history, information relevant to a credit assessment, and information you give us when applying for payment assistance. |
| Identity verification | Driver licence, passport or other identification, where we are required to verify your identity before making changes to a service. |
| Employment information | For our people and applicants. |
6. How we collect it
We collect information directly from you by telephone, email, in person, in writing, through our website and through the OneView portal. We also collect it from our contractors, suppliers and agents, from credit reporting bodies where you become a customer, from marketing lists and data services, and from publicly available sources.
Where practical you may deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym — for example a general enquiry about our services. If you choose not to identify yourself, we may not be able to help you.
7. Our website
Personal information you provide through our website, by email or through our social media pages is covered by this policy.
We may record the IP address of the device you use to visit our site. We use this only to understand broadly where our visitors come from, and we do not use it to identify individual visitors.
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to understand how the site is used and to improve its content. Most browsers allow you to refuse cookies. We do not use cookies to identify or target individual visitors.
Our website may link to sites operated by others. We are not responsible for their content or their privacy practices, and a link does not mean we endorse them.
8. Telecommunications data
As a telecommunications provider we are required by the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 to retain certain records about communications made using our services. These records cover who the parties were, when the communication happened, how long it lasted, the type of service and the location of the equipment used. They do not include the content of your communications.
Information of this kind is also protected by Part 13 of the Telecommunications Act 1997, which restricts what we may do with it. We use and disclose it only where Part 13 permits — for example to supply your service, to comply with a law, in an emergency, or where you have consented.
9. The Integrated Public Number Database
If your service has a public number, we are required to give your details to the Integrated Public Number Database. Emergency service organisations use this database to locate people who call Triple Zero, and it also supports directory assistance and approved research.
You can ask us what details we have provided about you to the database, and we will normally respond within 20 business days. If anything is wrong, tell us and we will correct it, subject to the database requirements.
10. How we use and disclose your information
We use personal information for the purpose we collected it and for related purposes you would reasonably expect. We may disclose it to:
- Our wholesale carriage suppliers and carriers, to provision and support your services
- The operator of the Integrated Public Number Database
- Emergency service organisations
- Contractors, suppliers and agents who help us deliver our services, including IT, hosting, billing, payment and communications providers
- Credit reporting bodies and debt collection agencies, in accordance with the Privacy Act
- Our professional advisers, including legal, accounting and insurance advisers
- The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and other regulators
- Law enforcement and security agencies, where we are authorised or required to do so
Direct marketing
We may use your information to tell you about our products and services. We will not use sensitive information for marketing without your consent. Every marketing message includes a way to opt out, and you can ask us to stop at any time by contacting us using the details in section 16.
11. Information disclosed outside Australia
Our systems and the personal information we hold are located in Australia.
Some of the service providers we use to support our systems and communications operate outside Australia, and limited personal information may be disclosed to them in the course of providing our services. Where overseas recipients are involved, they are likely to be located in the United States.
Where we disclose personal information overseas we take reasonable steps to ensure it is handled in a manner consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.
12. Keeping your information secure
We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These include access controls limiting who can see customer information, multi-factor authentication, encryption of information in transit, logging of access to customer accounts, secure hosting in Australian data centres, and training for our people on their confidentiality obligations.
13. How long we keep it
We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purpose we collected it, or for as long as the law requires. We are required by legislative requirements to keep data for prescribed periods of time. When this information is no longer required, or the relevant legislative requirement elapses, where we are not required to keep it, we destroy it or de-identify it.
14. Data breaches
If we suspect a data breach involving personal information, we assess it promptly. Where a breach is likely to result in serious harm to you, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as soon as practicable, and tell you what happened, what information was involved and what you can do.
15. Accessing and correcting your information
You can ask us for the personal information we hold about you, and you can ask us to correct it if it is wrong. There is no charge for making a request. For complex requests, or where information is archived or extensive, we may charge a reasonable amount for providing access, and we will tell you before any charge applies.
We will respond within 30 days. We may refuse access in limited circumstances set out in the Privacy Act, for example where giving access would be unlawful, would unreasonably affect another person’s privacy, would prejudice law enforcement, or would pose a serious threat to health or safety. If we refuse, we will tell you why and how to complain.
16. Contact us
| Telephone | 03 5246 8888, or +61 3 5246 8888 from outside Australia |
|---|---|
| info@connecttel.com.au | |
| Post | Connect Tel Pty Ltd, 1/41-43 West Fyans Street, Newtown VIC 3220 |
17. Complaints
If you think we have mishandled your personal information, please contact us first using the details above. We will investigate and tell you the outcome.
If you are not satisfied with our response, or you do not hear from us within 30 days, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Complaints must be made in writing.
| Office of the Australian Information Commissioner | 1300 363 992, oaic.gov.au |
|---|---|
| Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman | 1800 062 058, tio.com.au. For complaints about our handling of personal information relating to your telephone or internet service. |
Our Complaints Handling Policy sets out how we handle complaints generally.
18. Changes to this policy
This policy came into effect on 20th August 2026, we are committed to reviewing this policy regularly or when required to do so. When such an update occurs, it will be made available here: https://www.connecttel.com.au/privacy-policy/
