Action on telco consumer protections: October to December 2023

On 6 September 2023, the Minister for Communications directed the ACMA to make a new industry standard by 15 February 2024. The purpose is to enhance protections for telco customers who are (or may be) experiencing financial hardship.

On 24 October 2023, we released the draft Telecommunications Financial Hardship Industry Standard for public consultation. The consultation closed on 24 November 2023. We received 14 submissions from a range of stakeholders including the telecommunications industry, consumer advocates, individual consumers and government agencies. The consultation submissions provided a broad range of feedback and we are considering all relevant issues raised in finalising the standard. 

The standard must commence at the earliest opportunity and no later than 29 March 2024.

Protecting telco customers experiencing financial hardship

We continued to prioritise telco customers experiencing financial hardship. We are focussing on how telcos comply with their obligations to support these customers. This includes monitoring direct debit and responsible selling practices.

Compliance with the new Telecommunications Financial Hardship Standard being developed will be a priority once it commences. 

Supporting telco customers experiencing domestic and family violence

Telecommunications are an essential service for all consumers. However, for people experiencing (or trying to escape) domestic and family violence (DFV) these services can be a lifeline. 

We are assessing whether selected telcos have complied with the TCP Code and the Complaints Handling Standard when dealing with customers affected by DFV.

Combating SMS scams

Telcos reported blocking over 246.7 million scam calls in the quarter under the Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMs industry code. Telcos also reported blocking over 106.7 million scam SMS in the quarter.

Our audit of SMS aggregators’ compliance with reducing scam calls and scam SMS rules is ongoing. An SMS aggregator is a platform or service that allows businesses to send bulk SMS messages to their customers, partners or other stakeholders.

Read more about our 2023–24 compliance priorities.

We started 8 investigations into telco compliance with:

• Emergency Call Service Determination rules that require telcos to comply with Triple Zero (000) requirements (1).
• TCP Code rules that set out telco selling practices and disconnection notification requirements (2).
• Legislation that requires telcos to comply with the TIO scheme (2).
• Complaint Handling Standard rules that specify how telcos must handle complaints (1).
• Legislation that requires telcos to comply with conditions of research authorisation (1).
• Anti-scam rules to prevent scam calls (1).

We completed 12 investigations into telco compliance with:

• TCP Code rules that set out telco selling practice requirements (1).
• TCP Code rules that set out telco direct debit requirements (1).
• TCP Code rules that set out telco advertising requirements (1).
• Legislation that requires telcos to comply with the TIO scheme (1).
• TCP Code rules that set out telco billing accuracy requirements (1).
• Various rules that specify how telcos must store and protect data (1).
• IPND rules and various anti-scam rules, including to prevent identity theft and SMS scams (6).

We also conducted an audit of all non-NBN Co Statutory Infrastructure Providers (SIPs). We assessed compliance with their obligations to publish wholesale terms and conditions on their websites. We are working with SIPs to improve compliance with these obligations.

Our compliance and enforcement outcomes for the quarter included:

• Telstra paying a $3,010,320 infringement notice for failing to comply with TCP Code rules that set out telco billing accuracy requirements. It also did not comply with an ACMA direction given to it in 2020. 
• Telstra paying a $306,360 infringement notice for failing to provide accurate details of thousands of customers to the IPND. We also accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Telstra that includes an independent review of its IPND compliance and checking the accuracy of its IPND data. 
• Telnyx paying a $106,560 infringement notice for breaches of the IPND service provider rule, Pre-Porting Additional Identity Verification Standard and the Prepaid Determination. The ACMA accepted a 2.5-year court-enforceable undertaking signed by Telnyx that it will conduct an independent review of its compliance practices and make improvements where needed. Telnyx was also formally directed to comply with the IPND and anti-scam industry codes after it failed to comply with multiple anti-scam and public safety obligations.
• Directing Skymesh to comply with the advertising rules in the TCP Code. 

We also monitored compliance with 4 court-enforceable undertakings during the quarter. We set out actions telcos must take to improve their compliance with telecommunications laws.

View our finalised investigations into telco providers. Please note that we do not generally publish ‘no breach’ findings or investigation reports before taking enforcement action.

We started 15 compliance assessments and completed 14 compliance assessments into telco compliance with a range of consumer safeguards. These included TCP Code rules.

We released the telco complaints report 2022–23. The report shows Australian telcos received over a million complaints in the 2022–23 financial year. The 1,037,823 complaints represented an increase of 2.3 per cent compared to complaints received in 2021–22. However, the number of complaints per 10,000 services remained steady at 58, as the number of telco services also increased at the same rate over the period.

It took telcos on average 5.2 days to resolve complaints, which is down from 7.4 days in 2021–22.

The Consumer Consultative Forum (CCF) allows consumer, industry and government stakeholders to meet and discuss telco issues affecting consumers. The ACMA also holds 2 online meetings each year for the consumer representatives to share information and set CCF meeting agendas. 

The CCF met on 31 October 2023. This was the first meeting for incoming CCF Chair, Authority Member Samantha Yorke. She provided members with an update on our work on scams, telco complaints reporting and compliance and enforcement activities. Representatives were also given an overview of:

• Information on plans for the 3G network closure, including FAQs and information available on the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association’s website. 
• Member concerns about cost-of-living impacts and DFV on telecommunications consumers, digital inclusion in regional and remote areas and the Universal Service Obligation (USO) review. 
• The draft Telecommunications Financial Hardship Standard.
• TCP Code review work underway.  

The next CCF meeting was set for February 2024. 

Check the accessibility file for the information shown in the chart above. 

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Accessibility file: Action on telco consumer protections Oct to Dec 23