TELCOS RECORD IMPROVED PERFORMANCE IN LATEST COMPLAINTS IN CONTEXT REPORT

Sydney, 10 February 2021 - Communications Alliance today released its Complaints in Context report for the October – December 2020 quarter, showing a drop in complaint rates for a majority of participants.

The report details the complaints received by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) per 10,000 Services in Operation (SIO) for participating service providers for each quarter. This index allows comparison of the customer service and complaint handing performance of providers, regardless of their size.

For all participating service providers, there were 7.0 complaints per 10,000 SIOs. In other words, roughly one in every 1430 services in operation during the period was the subject of a complaint to the TIO.  As report participants change each year for the October – December quarter, this ratio is not directly comparable to previous quarters.

Communications Alliance CEO John Stanton said: “The decrease in complaint rates for most participants reflects the hard work by all of industry to improve customer service. This aligns with the 11.2% drop in all complaints received by the TIO for this quarter, reported last week.”

“When considering data points such as complaints, it is important to keep in mind the constant growth in the number of services in operation by telcos in Australia. Industry is pleased to provide this report, which adds that important context,” Mr Stanton concluded.

The industry-driven report is published by Communications Alliance, using complaints data provided by the TIO and SIO data supplied by participating providers. Per the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code, the participants were updated this quarter to reflect the top 10 complaint recipients in the most recent TIO Annual Report, in addition to voluntary participants.

Communications Alliance encourages any RSP interested in joining the index to contact them.