Media Release: Telco complaints continue trending down

The Morrison Government welcomes new figures released today which show telecommunications complaints continuing to decline.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) 2018-19 Annual Report shows a 21.1 per cent decrease in complaints over the last 12 months.

Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said he was pleased to see a continuing downward trend.

“This reduction in complaints correlates with actions taken by the Government, regulators and the telecommunications industry to improve transparency, accountability and consumer experience for Australian telco users,” Minister Fletcher said.

The report shows Australians across the country are seeing improved outcomes with all states and territories recording less complaints. This follows the introduction of key measures including enforceable industry standards designed to improve the management of complaints, availability of information, and service quality and continuity when migrating to the NBN.

The report also shows complaints by residential consumers decreased by almost a quarter (23.2 per cent) compared to the previous financial year. Complaints by small business decreased by 6.2 per cent.

“The decrease in complaints is good for consumers and small business. It’s especially pleasing to see a decrease of 16 per cent in complaints relating to services delivered over the NBN network in what was the largest year of construction for the rollout with almost 1.5 million premises added to the NBN in the 2018-19 financial year. This is a testament to the continuing efforts of industry to improve customer experience,” Minister Fletcher said. 

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman is a not-for-profit company which provides a fair, accessible and independent dispute resolution service for telephone and internet complaints.

More information on the TIO’s Annual Report is available here: www.tio.com.au.