Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 28 February 2008 15:57
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
ACMA notes that their research “also highlights that during the period 2002 to 2007, the number of complaints made to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman about telecommunications services continued to grow”.
Still that’s no surprise – we’ve had more new phones, plans, caps, services, wireless offerings and entire new 3.5G mobile systems launch in the last 5 years than we’ve ever seen before. Not everyone will be happy and plenty of telecommunications companies have given their customers both good – and bad – experiences.
Some of the report’s other findings include:
- Fixed-line telephone services were rated most highly across all consumer sectors, although 77 per cent of SMEs indicated improvements could be made.
- For emerging services such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP), the majority of users were satisfied, although around a third reported being neither dissatisfied or satisfied, suggesting a transitional period for these customers.
More detail on ACMA’s report is as follows, and it is sobering reading.
My own observation is to wonder why the telecommunications industry can’t focus on delivering excellent, value prices services to consumers is beyond me. It’s an essential service – people will pay for quality services.
Telcos can often be hated as much or more than banks and insurance companies – why, in the 21st century, we can have amazing gadgets and “tyranny of distance”-killing wireless services, but not the highest levels of ultra friendly service will likely remain modern civilisation’s biggest mystery – Lord knows consumers would dearly love simple, good, old fashioned service and value.
So... onto some more of the interesting findings in ACMA’s 11-month old report:
“While consumers in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas expressed similar levels of satisfaction across all types of services, more focused research found that there were some regional differences in satisfaction with specific services”.
“In particular, the lack of availability of ADSL2 and cable was cited as an issue in non-metropolitan areas. Farm consumers reported the highest levels of dissatisfaction with internet services at 26 per cent – the primary reason being the slow speed of their service.”
“Consumers perceived internet services as an essential part of their lives – 70 per cent of household consumers surveyed said broadband access was a critical service for the future.”
For the rest of ACMA’s notable findings as listed in their media release, as well as the five major (and damning) perceptions that most consumers have of their telcos, please read onto page 3.
