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The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and Board has welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the review of the Consumer Safeguards.  

Our submission to the Consumer Safeguards Review focuses on the need for all parties in the telecommunications sector to address underlying consumer dissatisfaction with telecommunications services.

Over the last 25 years, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s high complaint volumes have coincided with major change and disruption in the telecommunications sector, and declined as change has been bedded down.

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Among the top 10 issues raised by consumers, nine issues registered increases in complaints compared to the previous quarter. The largest increase was noted for no phone or internet service which increased by 44.1 per cent, followed by intermittent service or dropouts which registered a 21.1 per cent increase in complaints since Quarter 1. The TIO also saw complaints about mobile services jump by 23.2 per cent since the previous quarter. 

Residential consumers and small businesses made 65,970 complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman about their landline, mobile or internet services between 1 July and 31 December 2016.

These figures were highlighted in the organisation’s Six Monthly Update, published today (Thursday 11 May, 2017). Complaints were recorded against 324 phone and internet providers in Australia.

Our submission to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications' consultation on Amendments to the telecommunications carrier powers and immunities framework - Tranche One can be found here. 

One of the issues high on the agenda was accessibility of telco services. Panel members highlighted examples of consumers facing accessibility issues, such as the unique problems for people who are blind or vision impaired.

The Panel heard that consumers with vision impairment often require extra assistance when troubleshooting modems, as telcos may rely on visual cues such as flashing lights to diagnose problems.

The Board of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and the Ombudsman are pleased the report on Part A of the Government’s Consumer Safeguards Review (Complaints handling and consumer redress) recognises the importance and strength of the work of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman in resolving complaints that residential consumers and small businesses have been unable to resolve with their provider.

Complaints we receive about billing include claims that a consumer:

• is not receiving regular bills
• cannot tell from the bill whether or not they have been charged according to the terms of their service
• cannot tell from the bill whether or not a credit or adjustment has been applied
• has asked for an itemised statement but not received one
• is unhappy with the bill method used for their bills
• has been billed for charges incurred some time ago.

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Between 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2024, the TIO received 51,854 phone and internet complaints from consumers living in regional, rural and remote Australia about faults, poor service quality, poor mobile service coverage, outages and accessibility barriers.

Regional consumers told the TIO that faults and service problems can take longer to be resolved in regional locations. In some cases, a regional customer may report faults over several years without any lasting improvements to their services.