A Telstra executive says a database "error" resulted in customers' personal information being made publicly available against their wishes.
Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland told ABC Radio Melbourne some customers' names, addresses and phone numbers were accidentally made available on White Pages and directory assistance.
"It's an error between those databases that we discovered through our regular audit and reconciliation processes," he said.
"We've now gone and removed all of that data that was published where a customer legitimately requested us not to publish it."
Directory assistance is a service offered by Telstra where members of the public can call 1234 to ask for a specific customer's details, while White Pages is an online directory. Customers are able to opt out of their information being included on these services.
Mr Ackland told ABC News Breakfast the information of 130,000 customers was accidentally published on the directory assistance database, and 16,000 on White Pages.
"Millions of customers request their details to be unlisted," he said.
"We got it wrong in this case."
He said the telco had removed the information from White Pages and was reloading the directory assistance database, and was supporting affected customers.
"We've offered all of those customers access to IDCARE for them to work through any concerns."
Mr Ackland said the error was "unacceptable" but not the result of a cyber attack.
In a letter to one customer, the telco said the information was publicly available from August 13, 2021 until December 5 this year.
