Telcos in denial over regulation threat: ACCAN

Peter Dinham
Tuesday, 26 July 2011 20:08

IT Policy - Regulation

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) reckons the telecommunications industry is in 'denial' about the threat of regulation if it fails to fix its customer service and complaints handling problems revealed in submissions to the Australian Communications & Media Authority's (ACMA).

ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin, said today that the industry body, Communications Alliance, had pointed to the voluntary Telecommunications Consumer Protection (TCP) Code as a way to fix all the industry's problems, a co-regulatory approach which she says 'cannot possibly provide the fixes the ACMA has demanded surrounding issues such as advertising, customer-nominated spend limits and clear unit pricing information.'

'We're quite surprised, given the threat made by the regulator to regulate if the industry failed to deliver on certain non-negotiables, that the industry hasn't offered up anything substantive to address the ACMA's concerns,' Corbin said.

'Instead, they've tinkered with, and pointed to, their voluntary Code as a solution. The current TCP Code has categorically failed to address basic levels of customer service and complaint handling and, during the course of this inquiry, complaints to the Ombudsman have risen to record highs. It's very hard to believe that a revised Code alone will produce a different result.'

Corbin says the industry has been told major change is needed, but she claims, 'yet they come back and say it's too expensive and too hard to fix the problems. It's very disappointing.'

Corbin points out that ACCAN has strongly supported the ACMA's draft recommendations in its submission, which she says has been endorsed by 14 of its member organisations including Brotherhood of St Laurence, Central Land Council, Consumer Credit Legal Centre (NSW), Consumer Action Law Centre and Council of the Ageing Australia.

ACCAN maintains that regulation is required for certain areas, including:

'¢    Banning confusing terms such as 'cap', 'unlimited', 'free', 'no exclusions' and similar terms;

'¢    Standardised unit pricing for call and data costs;

'¢    Compulsory spend-management tools so consumers are able to monitor their spending in real time and nominate their own maximum spending limits;

'¢    If a service provider does not provide spend management tools, they are limited to recovering a maximum of 30% above the contracted (plan) price;

'¢    Complaints-handling processes;

And, the consumer body says the strength of the final ACMA recommendations will 'only be as good as the compliance measures and enforcement tools the regulator has to work with.'

ACCAN and the ACMA will host a Reconnecting the Customer Summit in Sydney next week, which it says will include delegates from all over Australia representing ATSI, CALD and disability and low-income consumers, and provide a chance for discussing the findings of the RTC inquiry directly with ACMA Chair, Chris Chapman.