Comms industry put on notice over premium mobile shonks

Stuart Corner
Friday, 13 March 2009 11:02

IT Industry - Market

ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel has lashed out at the communications industry over its poor track record in serving consumers and in particular at the way it handles premium mobile services.

In an impassioned speech to the Australian Telecommunications Users Group annual conference Samuel said: "Today, the ACCC is putting the telecommunications industry on notice. Misleading advertising, unfair contracts, inadequate disclosure and subscription scams are all in the ACCC's sights. Standards must improve or risk increased scrutiny and action...The ACCC is drawing a line in the sand – we're saying to the poor performers, and there are many of them, mend your ways."

He added: "The range of investigations and actions the ACCC has taken and the types of complaints that we receive concern a number of different types of operators, conduct and telecommunications products and services. This suggests consumer protection issues are becoming more prevalent and persistent throughout the industry.

"The risk is, if this continues, the industry's reputation with consumers may be irretrievably damaged... The ACCC receives more than 4,000 complaints a year concerning consumer protection issues in the telecommunications sector. It consistently ranks number one in the sectors most complained through our InfoCentre."

The main areas of concern for the ACCC are: mobile premium services; phone cards; broadband advertising; and inclusions in bundled packages.

Communications Alliance has been developing a code of conduct covering premium mobile services, but the ACCC has some issues with the initial draft and appears to be getting impatient with the speed of progress.

Samuel said: "The ACCC made a number of suggestions in response to the draft Industry Code, the most significant being that the Code should require MPS providers to use a 'double opt-in' mechanism, where a consumer requesting a subscription service would be required to take an extra step to confirm their purchase.
Improvements were also suggested in relation to information disclosure, advertising practices and complaint handling mechanisms.

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