Telecoms Industry Ombudsman, Deirdre O'Donnell, to step down

Stuart Corner
Friday, 18 September 2009 14:01

IT Industry - Strategy

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, Deirdre O’Donnell, will step down at the end of 2009 to pursue her long held ambition to undertake doctoral studies.


TIO chairman, John Rohan, said, "Since Deirdre's appointment in May 2007, the TIO scheme has gone through unprecedented growth. It is to Deirdre’s credit that she has guided the scheme through this period, ensuring that the TIO rose to the challenge of increased demand and remained true to the principles of a successful Ombudsman scheme."
 
Prior to her appointment, O'Donnell had been the West Australia Ombudsman. She succeeded John Pinnock. The TIO says it will seek a new Ombudsman to lead the scheme in 2010.

In the year to 30 June 2008, the TIO received 173,005 contacts, an increase of 41.0 percent on 2006/07. Of these contacts, 149,742 were escalated to formal compaints, a 46.1 percent increase on 2006/7.  A significant source of complaints were mobile premium services which became the TIO's responsibility in December 2006 under the Mobile Premium Services Industry scheme. This accounted for 14,000 complaints in 207/8.