ACMA: the toothless tiger finally gets some teeth?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 02 June 2011 10:00

Your IT - Mobility

ACMA, Australia's Communications and Media Authority, has released an important report that will hopefully mean truth-in-advertising from telcos at last, with ACMA explaining why it has been so ineffective to date.

For years, telcos have abused marketing terms such as 'cap' and 'unlimited', with caps being the minimum a customer will pay (instead of a maximum), and with claims of 'unlimited' sending some looking for the fine-print which explains what the limits on 'unlimited' plans really are.

Now, ACMA (the Australian Communicatons and Media Authority) has put out a draft report called 'Reconnecting the Customer', with its website saying the report has 'findings of its public inquiry into customer care and complaints-handling in the telecommunications industry'.

The draft 138-page report is available in Word or PDF formats, and 'outlines the main problems [ACMA] found and solutions that [ACMA] think would materially improve outcomes for consumers', while also 'seeking comments from interested people and groups about those proposed solutions'.

The report makes for fascinating reading and is quite an exposé into the inner workings of the telco world as ACMA sees it, from the pre-marketing stages allt he way through the dispute resolution and everything in between.

Given ACMA's relatively toothless status of the past few years, it's both pleasing and surprising to see a report of this nature finally come to light.

The report also explains, from ACMA's point of view, why it has been difficult to take more decisive action earlier, from there being over 1000 service providers in Australia, through to the lack of unit pricing, through to the enormous amount of time and resources needed to effectively police the industry.

The final report isn't due until August, but the report clearly shows that the telco industry in Australia needs a real honesty shake-up, with the report noting the situation needs to be addressed immediately, especially in light of the impending NBN.

For more information, read the report itself, or if you're super time-pressed, at least the executive summary.

Now we just need to see whether ACMA is actually capable of doing more than writing detailed 138-page reports and is actually able to enforce the regulations and standards of behaviour it wants to see from Australia's telcos and service providers.

Given the poor record of Government departments and authorities to do anything on time, on budget and with efficiency, no matter the political persuasion, please forgive me for wondering whether ACMA really has outfitted itself with very sharp titanium teeth implants, or whether it's just wearing some sharp-looking but ultimately ineffectual dentures.