ACMA reports telcos took longer to respond to complaints, overall complaints down

Telecommunications companies have been rebuked by the industry watchdog for taking longer to rectify issues, despite less complaints being made against them.

Data released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) revealed the total number of complaints had dropped from 1,037,823 in the 2022-23 financial year to 899,691 in the 2023-24 period – a drop of 13.3 per cent.

However, customers waited an average of six days for issues to be resolved, up from 5.2 days reported the year before.

ACMA member and consumer lead Samantha Yorke called on the industry to put a “greater focus” on improving its response times.

She emphasised disruptions to phone and broadband services had the potential to impact someone’s livelihood and their ability to communicate with families and friends.

“The time taken to resolve complaints is going in the wrong direction, which is very frustrating for telco customers,” Ms Yorke said.

“People need to feel confident that their telco services will work as expected, and that when something goes wrong, effective and timely action will be taken by their telco to fix it.”

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland noted a reduction in complaints could indicate a loss of trust in the complaints handling process, and said Australians deserved “reliable avenues to have their complaints resolved”.

“A reduction in complaints also doesn’t tell the full story of a customer’s experience, as we know many people choose not to lodge a complaint when they have issues with their service, due to a lack of confidence in complaint processes,” she said.

“I have already directed the ACMA to revise the telecommunications Complaints Handling Standard.

“The aim is to improve the way complaints are handled and resolved by telcos, ensuring processes are consumer-focused, efficient and effective.”

However, Industry body Communications Alliance chief executive Luke Coleman said the figures revealed telcos had “lifted their game”.

He revealed the number of complaints escalated to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) had dropped by 14.5 per cent year-on-year to 55,117.

The referral rate of complaints that weren’t able to be resolved by the provider and required further investigation by the TIO also remained steady at 6.1 per cent, a slight improvement from the 6.2 per cent reported last financial year.

“Australians use more than 45 million mobile and broadband services, but fewer than 57,000 complaints were made to the TIO,” he said.

“(That’s) an extraordinarily low number for an industry that Australians rely on every day.”

While the recent data does not disclose the performance of individual providers, underperforming telcos will be named and shamed in ACMA’s data releases in November.

The first raft of numbers, based on data between July to September 2024, will compare companies on key performance metrics.