Telcos band together to improve customer outcomes in first Enhanced Care Dialogue meeting

13 March 2025: Communications Alliance, the peak body of the telecommunications industry, has hosted the first meeting of the Enhanced Care Dialogue – a new group where telcos have banded together to improve customer outcomes, particularly for customers in vulnerable circumstances.

“Telcos continue to ramp up their efforts to improve customer outcomes, and the Enhanced Care Dialogue has been established for telcos to share and learn from each other’s real-world experience – in particular, how to most effectively help customers in vulnerable circumstances,” said Comms Alliance CEO Luke Coleman.

“Strong consumer protections are fundamental to building trust with customers. The Enhanced Care Dialogue provides a forum for participants to share insights and case studies, and explore collaborative, practical solutions to improve support for customers. The dialogue also provides a means to track trends in customer issues to identify priorities and measure the impact of industry practices.”

The Enhanced Care Dialogue builds on the industry’s existing efforts to improve consumer outcomes by focussing on implementation and operationalisation of processes to assist customers – above and beyond compliance requirements. The dialogue also complements the ongoing work of the Comms Alliance Industry Consumer Advisory Group (ICAG), and other groups committed to uplifting the customer experience.

• Issues canvassed by the dialogue include, but are not limited to:
• Ensuring customers facing financial hardship stay connected,
• Supporting victim-survivors of domestic, sexual, and family violence, as ACMA develops a new industry Standard,
• How to best assist First Nations consumers with unique needs,
• Privacy considerations, particularly when working with customers in vulnerable circumstances,
• Considerations and lessons for how to assist scam victims, in light of the new Scams Prevention Framework legislation.

“Managing issues faced by customers in vulnerable circumstances is rarely a ‘one size fits all’ situation – it typically requires finding a delicate balance between the customer’s personal situation, preferences, and privacy. These are sensitive matters, and sharing experiences about what works – and doesn’t work – will hopefully enable telcos to provide the best support possible,” Mr Coleman said.

Participants in the Enhanced Care Dialogue are required to agree to a competition protocol to ensure that all discussions are in adherence to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, and are solely related to the group’s purpose of improving outcomes for customers.