Telstra Corporation has avoided a fine for a 2011 incident where it failed to protect the privacy of more than 700,000 customers.

Instead, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on Monday ordered Telstra to comply with the new Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code’s privacy clause.

In June, ACMA found that the addresses, drivers licence numbers and dates of birth of 734,000 Telstra customers were publicly accessible between March and December 2011.

The information was accessible via a web-based customer management tool and made accessible via a link available on the internet, ACMA said.

“Given Telstra has pro-actively taken steps to remedy its processes with a view to preventing such an incident from happening again, a direction with respect to the specific code provision is the appropriate measure,” ACMA chairman Chris Chapman said in a statement.

The ACMA said failure to comply with the code “may result in the ACMA taking Federal Court action seeking the imposition of a pecuniary penalty”.

Telstra spokesman Scott Whiffin said the telco had worked closely with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and ACMA as part of their investigation and accepted the actions outlined by ACMA.

“As we acknowledged at the time, we take our privacy obligations very seriously and invest considerable time and resources in ensuring the privacy of our customers’ personal information,” Mr Whiffin said in an emailed statement.

“We have made it clear that this particular incident is unacceptable and have taken action to prevent it from happening again.”

Telstra closed steady at $3.95.