Media Release

24 March 2004
City residents 3 times more likely to complain about telephone / internet services

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City residents are three times more likely to complain about their telephone or internet services than people living in outer regional and remote areas of Australia, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman said today.

Statistics released today by the TIO show that fewer than 1 person in every 1000 people living in the very remote areas of Australia made a complaint to the TIO in 2003, compared to more than 3 in every 1000 people living in the major cities.

Ombudsman John Pinnock said he believed the figures reflected the higher technology take-up rate in cities.

“This is not an indication that service levels are better in the bush than in the cities,” Mr Pinnock said.

“More likely, these figures reflect the reality that city residents commonly use several different communications devices for work and in the home, whereas rural users may only use one or two.

“The more devices you have the more likely you are to run into trouble.”

Mr Pinnock said he remained concerned that community awareness of consumer rights was very low in regional areas.

“These figures are also a good indication that community awareness of consumer rights is much lower in regional and remote areas than it is in city areas.

“This is an issue for all consumer protection agencies - in the telecommunications sector as well as in other sectors, like banking and retail, where consumers are vulnerable,” he said.

Media contact
TIO Public Affairs
Tel: 03 8600 8700
Email: tio@tio.com.au

What the statistics show:

• The TIO received more than 3 complaints per 1000 residents living in metropolitan areas during 2003;
• The TIO received less than 1 complaint per 1000 residents living in very remote areas;
• As a general rule people are less likely to bring a complaint to the TIO the further they live from city areas;
• Western Australian and Northern Territory residents were less likely to bring a complaint than residents of any other state;
• Victorian and South Australian residents were more likely to bring a complaint than residents of any other state;
• There was a comparatively large number of complaints from remote areas of Tasmania suggesting a significant disruption to services in that area at some time during the year.

View Complaints by Remoteness Area Statistics (EXCEL 15kb/1pg)

Background to the data:

The TIO acquired the capacity to regionalize its complaint data in 2003.

An electronic file of over 30,000 locality names was commissioned from the ABS. From the locality of the complainant, the TIO’s database is able to determine the relative number of complaints originating from regional and remote areas in comparison to major cities.

The data is classified into five broad regions according to the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC). According to the ABS, the five regions represent relative remoteness in terms of how far people must travel to access a full range of goods and services. For example people living in Major Cities are relatively close to a full range of services while people living in Very Remote areas must travel considerable distances to access some services.

Established in 1993 by the Federal Government, the TIO is independent of industry, the government and consumer organisations. The TIO is authorised to investigate complaints about the provision or supply of telephone or Internet services.

TIO Talks No 31 contains consumer complaint statistics for the December 2003 quarter.

For further media information, please contact Public Affairs on 0403 601 532.

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