Action on telco consumer protections: October to December 2019

We made the Telecommunications (Emergency Call Service) Determination 2019 to help make the emergency call service, and the telecommunications networks it depends on, more reliable and resilient.

We made the Telecommunications Service Provider (International Mobile Roaming) Determination 2019 to reduce mobile roaming bill shock.

We registered the Mobile Premium Services Code to set new rules for third-party mobile content services that are directly billed to peoples’ mobile phone accounts.

We published the Telecommunications complaints-handling 2018 to 2019 report, containing data about telco-managed complaints. The data includes details of different complaint types, the access technology associated with the customer’s services, and the time taken to resolve complaints by large to medium size telcos.

We opened investigations into the compliance of 4 providers with the NBN Service Continuity Standard and NBN Service Migration Determination (the NBN Service Continuity rules).

These investigations will determine whether telcos followed rules requiring them to provide interim services to eligible customers whose telco services did not work after moving to the NBN, and to prepare detailed plans to fix NBN services that did not work for an extended time.

We also began an audit of the compliance of 5 providers with requirements under the Complaints Handling Standard to monitor and analyse complaints and address systemic issues.

During the quarter we finalised an investigation into a medium-sized telco’s compliance with the Complaints Record-Keeping Rules. The provider paid an infringement notice for failing to lodge a quarterly complaints report on time, as required under the rules.

We also finalised 7 compliance assessments, including assessments of compliance with the NBN Service Continuity rules (6) and NBN Consumer Information Standard (1).

Figure 1: Completed NBN consumer experience compliance activities 

Table 1: NBN consumer experience investigation outcomes

We began 2 investigations into telco compliance with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) scheme.

We also began 1 investigation into telco compliance with joining the TIO scheme.

We finished 17 investigations into telco compliance with accurately populating the Integrated Public Number Database.

We also finished 7 investigations into telco compliance with the TIO scheme and 1 investigation into telco compliance with joining the TIO scheme.

One further investigation was completed into telco compliance with the data usage notification requirements under the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code.

We finished 4 compliance assessments, including assessments into the requirements of the Emergency Call Service Determination and the TCP Code.

Figure 2: Other completed compliance activities

Table 2: Other investigation outcomes

* The ACMA does not generally publish the names of entities that have not been found in breach or where enforcement actions have not been finalised or published.

Consultation on NBN consumer experience rules

On 17 December 2019, we began a consultation on proposed revisions to the NBN consumer experience rules. Submissions closed on 31 January 2020.

On 25 October 2019, we held a meeting of the Consumer Consultative Forum (CCF). The CCF brings together key consumer, industry and government stakeholders to discuss current telco consumer issues impacting consumers.

The issues discussed included improving consumer education about 5G health concerns, financial hardship, addressing fraudulent mobile number porting, and missed appointment rebates for NBN service customers.