First-of-its-kind telco report gives consumers key new information

Sydney, 19 December 2014 – Consumers are being given important new information to help them compare the performance of Australia’s top telcos and make more informed choices.

The Complaints in Context report, jointly released today by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) and industry peak body Communications Alliance, shows the number of TIO complaints received per telco as a proportion of that telco’s services in operation.

Five telcos – Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, iiNet and amaysim – volunteered to participate in the report.

The average number of complaints for the participating five providers was 6.9 complaints per 10,000 services in the July-September 2014 quarter – a marked improvement on the 7.6 complaints per 10,000 services recorded the previous quarter.

“The report puts TIO complaint numbers in the context of each telco’s customer base, making the performance of individual telcos and the industry itself more transparent,” Ombudsman Simon Cohen said.

Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton, congratulated the five service providers that have volunteered to participate in the program.

“Customer service excellence is the new competitive battleground in Australian telecommunications, and the initiatives being taken by these service providers are borne out in the positive results in these data,” he said.

Please see the attached media release for further information.

ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS ALLIANCE

Communications Alliance is the primary telecommunications industry body in Australia. Its membership is drawn from a wide cross-section of the communications industry, including carriers, carriage and internet service providers, content providers,search engines, equipment vendors, IT companies, consultants and business groups.

Its vision is to provide a unified voice for the telecommunications industry and to lead it into the next generation of converging networks, technologies and services. The prime mission of Communications Alliance is to promote the growth of the Australian communications industry and the protection of consumer interests by fostering the highest standards of business ethics and behaviour through industry self-governance. For more details about Communications Alliance, see  www.commsalliance.com.au.

Media information contact:

Kreab Gavin Anderson

Lucy Chamberlain 
0402 106 613

lchamberlain@kreabgavinanderson.com