Of these, 13,273 (44.1 per cent) were related to landline services, 11,607 (38.6 per cent) were related to mobile services and 5,203 (17.3 per cent) were related to internet services.

Complaint numbers in most keyword categories remained fairly static over the quarter.

Contracts

Contract complaints accounted for 12.3 per cent of all complaints received, compared with 10.9 per cent in the June quarter.

Landline and internet contract complaints increased significantly; 48 per cent for landline and 76.6 per cent for internet. The largest source of internet complaint was related to the information provided at point of sale by ADSL providers. Complaints of this nature alone increased by 44 per cent during the quarter.

The increase in landline complaints was due to significant increases in general complaints about contracts (up 83 per cent) and complaints related to allegedly misleading or inaccurate point of sale information (up 30 per cent).

Encouragingly, mobile contract complaints fell by 1.9 per cent mainly due to reductions in complaints related to changes in terms and conditions (down 46 per cent), renewal/upgrade complaints (down 26 per cent) and termination fees (down 9.3 per cent).

Faults

Complaints related to faults accounted for 12.5 per cent of all complaints for the quarter, a slight reduction on the 13 per cent recorded during the June 2005 quarter.

Both internet and mobile complaints recorded moderate decreases; internet by 16 per cent and mobile by 7.3 per cent. The main contributors to these decreases are a 35 per cent reduction in ADSL outage complaints combined with a 19 per cent decrease in mobile coverage complaints.

Landline complaints recorded a moderate 17 per cent increase. The main driver for this increase was related to complaints where it was alleged there had been a delay in providing compensation for fault delays, as mandated by the Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) Standard. Complaints of this nature have increased from 306 to 417, a 36 per cent increase.

Billing

Billing complaints overall recorded a 0.01 per cent decrease, mainly due to a slight decrease in landline billing complaints (down 3.7 per cent).

Internet billing complaints increased by the greatest amount, rising by 6.8 per cent. A 41.8 per cent increase in complaints about xDSL administration fees, combined with a 15.5 per cent increase in disputed usage charges were the main drivers for this increase.

Mobile complaints increased by a very slight 0.8 per cent. Of concern to the TIO are the continued increases in complaints related to premium SMS services, which rose by 6.1 per cent. Complaints of this nature account for 31 per cent of all mobile billing complaints. The next greatest source of mobile billing complaint is disputed mobile calls, which accounts for 13.8 per cent of all mobile billing complaints.

A total of 88 complaints were related to premium SMS in the September 2004 quarter.

In the space of 12 months, this has increased to 1,002 complaints in the September 2005 quarter.

ACIF Code Breaches

The September 2005 quarter saw the TIO revert to classifying Code Breaches as confirmed or possible only.

The TIO recorded 2,849 code breaches, including 2,687 possible and 162 confirmed breaches. In terms of total numbers this reflects a 28.9 per cent increase on the 2,211 breaches recorded during the June 2005 quarter.

Nearly all Codes that the TIO has regard to recorded increases during the September 2005 quarter. Of particular note is the 26.2 per cent increase in Complaint Handling Code breaches combined with a 25.9 per cent increase in Billing Code breaches.

Summary of Code Breaches