COMMS ALLIANCE STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO TIO COMPLAINTS DATA

Published 13/11/2024

• "Telcos have done an amazing job of improving customer service in recent years - complaints are at their lowest levels in two decades.
• Annual complaints to the TIO were above 167,000 when the transition to the NBN was at its peak in 2018 – today they’re under 57,000, a reduction of more than two-thirds over the past six years.
• It's important to keep in mind that what appears to be an increase in 'unresolved' complaints is actually the result of a new reporting methodology. Given the dramatic decrease in overall complaints, it should not come as a surprise that the issues going to - and returning to - the TIO are more complex, take longer to resolve, and may remain in dispute for a longer period.
• The numbers tell the story: complaints have consistently trended down for more than five years straight, as telcos have lifted their game and fixed the overwhelming majority of issues before customers feel the need to go to the TIO.
• Just last month the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) reported that fewer than 900,000 complaints were made by customers to their telcos in 2023-24 – that’s almost half of the 1.7 million complaints reported by the ACMA when it began publishing these numbers five years ago."