Ombudsman Steps in for Telco Woes

In a recent report released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), there has been a noticeable increase in telecommunications customers escalating their complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). The 2024–25 telco complaints report indicates a rise to 6.6% of complaints reaching the TIO, up from 6.1% in the previous year.

According to ACMA member Samantha Yorke, telecommunications companies are over-relying on the Ombudsman to handle issues that they should be resolving themselves. “The trend is a higher reliance on the TIO to resolve issues between customers and providers. While telecommunications networks are inherently complex, and issues such as faults or delays are inevitable, telcos need to take greater responsibility to address complaints internally,” Yorke explained.

Despite a 6.8% decrease in overall complaints from the previous year, totaling 838,767, the report highlighted concerns regarding the average time taken by telcos to resolve these complaints. There was a slight increase to an average of 5.9 days for resolution, up from 5.8 days. Yorke expressed disappointment over the duration of complaint resolutions, noting that more than one in four providers took eight days or longer.

“This year’s report, while showing some positive trends such as the reduction in overall complaints, also underscores the need for telcos to take customer grievances more seriously and improve their internal complaint resolution processes,” Yorke added.

The full Telco Complaints Report 2024–25 is available on the ACMA website, providing detailed customer complaints data for the 38 largest Australian telcos. The ACMA continues to monitor the situation closely and urges service providers to enhance their response times and effectiveness in handling customer issues.

For further details, the report can be accessed via the ACMA website or by contacting ACMA Media directly.