Telcos told to shape up as consumer complaints surge

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 22 October 2008 16:32

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Complaints to Australia's consumer telecommunications watchdog, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, have risen by a record amount to reach an all time high of almost 150,000 prompting a warning from the Government that the industry must lift its game.

Communications minister, Stephen Conroy, has been quick to voice his concerns at the level of complaints, which rose from just 102,000 last year and to threaten the industry with tighter controls.

He described the increase as "very disappointing", saying: "This level of complaints is clearly unacceptable. Consumers have the right to expect that telecommunications services are delivered as expected and that their concerns are dealt with in an efficient and effective way.

He warned that "The Government will be closely examining these statistics. We will be looking seriously at steps the government can take to ensure these figures improve."

Conroy earlier this year moved to facilitate the formation of a single body to unite the views of consumers, presently represented by a number of smaller, specialised and often poorly resourced organisations. This group, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has already established its founding board and constitution , and expects to be operational in July 2009.

The TIO said that mobile phone services, which now outnumber landlines in Australia, caused the most concern. It logged 47,300 complaints this year compared with 33,670 last year.

Despite a move by consumers away from landlines, complaints about landlines increased by almost 60 percent, from 34,116 to 54,326, easily outstripping growth in Internet complaints, which rose from 27, 591 in 2006/07 to 34,217 this year. Internet complaints increased much less than last year, when their number was up 83 percent on the year before.
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