ACMA set to pass judgement on telcos' poor customer service

Stuart Corner
Monday, 30 May 2011 12:57

IT Policy - Regulation

Wednesday 1 June will be judgement day for Australian telcos: the ACMA is expected to announce plans for tougher regulation when it releases the draft report on its year-long enquiry into customer service and complaints handling in the industry.

When it launched the enquiry in April 2010 the ACMA said it was with "the clear intention of materially improving outcomes for consumers of telecommunications services." It promised to "examine how the Australian telecommunications industry is dealing with, and resolving the problems of its customers whether the industry meets best practice standards, and whether the current legislative and regulatory framework supports the achievement of best practice standards."

The ACMA said that a primary driver for the enquiry had been "the significant increase in the number of complaints made to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO)." In 2008-2009, the TIO had recorded a 130 percent increase in complaints about the way in which individual service providers handle customer complaints and a 72 percent increase in relation to complaints about customer service practices."

During the course of the enquiry industry performance, as measured by TIO complaints, deteriorated. When the TIO's report for 2009-2010 came out in December it detailed very substantial increases in complaints relating to credit management and 'bill shock'. Then, earlier this month the TIO reported that consumer complaints for the first quarter of 2011 were up 31 percent on the previous quarter.

During the course of the enquiry the ACMA received over 130 written submissions and over 30 verbal submissions at public hearings around the country. It also: undertook research; convened roundtables with industry, consumer and non-government organisations;  held consumer focus groups and used its powers to obtain specific information from several telcos.

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