There has been a call for Australia’s telecommunications companies to raise the bar for consumer identity verification and increase consumer safeguards.

Vodafone has trumpeted a 22% decline in the rate of consumer complaints between the December and March quarters – and a complaints ratio for the March quarter more than 50% lower than the industry average.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has reacted with a barrage of criticism over a significant increase in complaints about services delivered by the National Broadband Network.