News

Stronger protections a positive step for telco consumers experiencing family violence

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) welcomes the Government’s Direction to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to strengthen protections for telecommunications customers experiencing domestic and family violence.

Government’s scams solution driven by banks, confusing for consumers, weakens telco consumer safeguards

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman today published its submission to the Scams Prevention Framework (SPF) draft legislation and Explanatory Materials.

TIO to launch enhanced and accessible complaint form

The TIO’s online complaint form will be updated to simplify the process for consumers, and to capture additional data key to driving fair and reasonable outcomes.

From October 10, our new form will be in place for all new complaints. It comes with a new look and feel and offers consumers a function to track the status of their complaint.

Annual complaints data reveals telco consumers remain frustrated by stubborn challenges

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) received 56,718 complaints from the Australian community in the 2023-24 financial year. Residential consumers accounted for 88.3 per cent of these complaints, while small businesses made up the remaining 11.7 per cent.

TIO welcomes Senate report into Optus outage

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) welcomes the Environment and Communications References Committee’s final report on the Optus Network Outage, released Friday 27 September 2024.

Last year’s Optus network outage highlighted that telecommunications services are essential and critical to our community and economy.

Statement regarding Government's announcement about scam complaints

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman is considering the implications for consumers regarding the Government's announcement about scam complaints falling within the scope of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

Ombudsman welcomes new rules for telco communications

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has welcomed the announcement of new rules which will improve the way that telcos communicate with their customers.

Telco problems significantly impacting regional, rural, and remote Australians

Data collated by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has found that Australians living outside of metropolitan hubs are experiencing significant issues with their telcos.

Scams, financial hardship and 3G shutdown on the agenda for TIO Consumer Panel meeting

At the end of July we held our quarterly Consumer Panel meeting to discuss the unique issues affecting telco consumers and what we can do better to help them.

DM is the new text message, yet there’s nowhere to go with our social media complaints

The 21st century has seen rapid changes in communications. Social media has moved from the advent to the norm, becoming increasingly important for social and business connection. Yet despite our reliance on social media for communications, there is no external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme to help people when things go wrong.