No. 1 Story

ACCC clears Optus to scrap HFC network and use NBN instead

The ACCC has cleared, provisionally, the proposed deal between Optus and NBN Co under which Optus is to be paid around $800m to shut down its HFC network and transfer customers onto the NBN. read more

Internode launches online call-waiting service

IT Industry - Market

With demand for broadband services plateauing, Internode has upped its efforts in customer service as it looks to maintain an edge over competitors with the launch today of a real-time, web-based call waiting service in its business departments.

As Internode told iTWire today, and as the company predicted some time ago, there’s been a tapering off in demand for broadband services right across the industry and for all the players its now all about offering added-value and better customer services than those offered by competitors.

The nature of the game has changed somewhat as well. Now that the peak, initial take-up of broadband services has passed and a vast number of Australians already have broadband, Internode says there’s a fairly strong enquiry rate from potential customers looking around for a better deal than the one they have with their existing provider.

Today’s launch of its call waiting information service comes at a time when Internode is getting about 62,000-plus calls a month – as it did in July -  or more than 2,000 calls a day to customer service and other staff in its various departments.

Internode managing director, Simon Hackett, said the company has launched its web-based service to provide its customers with real-time access to telephone call wait times for its departments and, if they choose, to make their calls during low-demand periods.

Hackett said the new service, or Frontline Queue Statistics project, is the company’s latest initiative to become “an even more customer-friendly company.”

CONTINUED page 2