TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPLAINTS IN CONTEXT AT LOWEST LEVEL IN TWO YEARS 

Sydney, 25 October 2018: The volume of complaints about telco service providers has continued to fall in the past quarter, as shown in the Complaints in Context report published today by Communications Alliance.

Complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO)as a proportion of services in operation (SIO) for service providers who participate in the report decreased to 6.2 complaints per 10,000 services for the period July – September 2018. The full report, including participant ratios, can be found here.

This is the third consecutive quarter in which the ratio had decreased, and is the lowest ratio since July - September 2016.

Communications Alliance CEO John Stanton said, “this demonstrates that the improvement in complaint handling and customer service which re-emerged in February this year has been sustained and continues to deliver better outcomes for consumers.”

“While the TIO annual report provides valuable insight, we welcome this up-to-date data reflecting the hard work put in by service providers along with co-regulatory actions by Minister Mitch Fifield, the ACCC and the ACMA.

“Industry sees these positive results as encouraging, and has committed to continue improving customer experience.”

Mr Stanton also mentioned that an upcoming revised Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code will expand the existing Complaints in Context report to include the top ten recipients of TIO complaints, in addition to any providers who choose to voluntarily participate.

“This will give consumers a credible and comparative quarterly snapshot of how well their provider is managing customer service – the first time that such a comprehensive barometer has been available to Australian telecommunications customers.”

Complaints in Context is a quarterly report published by Communications Alliance with complaints data provided by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. This quarter and previous reports can be found here.