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According to new data from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), complaints to Australia’s top telecoms (per 10,000 services) declined by 7.9 per cent in 2021–22.
The statistics also indicated that, on average, telcos resolved complaints roughly five days more quickly than they did the prior financial year.
ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said, “Telco services have become essential to our daily lives, and more than a million complaints per year shows people are still experiencing too many issues with their phone and internet.”
The number of complaints that needed the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s (TIO) assistance decreased by 33 per cent, and there were 3 per cent fewer complaints escalated to the TIO in comparison to 2020–21.
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O’Loughlin said that while the continuing downward trend was encouraging, complaints remain stubbornly high at over one million per year.
“The industry needs to make further improvements to address common telco pain points—prompt and effective communication, customer service, billing issues and the protection of vulnerable consumers—to drive down customer complaints.
The watchdog chair also said that even while the average amount of time it takes to address a complaint has dropped to little over seven days, certain telecoms are still taking much too long, with some requiring an average of more than ten days to resolve complaints.
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“This data pre-dates the recent Optus data breach which can be expected to further increase complaints to Optus and the broader telco sector over the coming months,” she added.
The figures come from ACMA’s annual telco complaints report 2021–22, which contains customer complaints data for more than thirty top Australian telcos.
Source: ACMA
Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
