65,970 complaints were made to the TIO regarding landline, mobile or internet services in Australia during the second half of last year.
Image: Bidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0 au, Link
The TIO's latest Six Monthly Update; released on Thursday, states of the nearly 66,000 complaints made to the Ombudsman, 37.4 per cent were in relation to internet services.
“The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman has experienced an increase in complaints for phone and internet services, which were up 5.3 per cent from the preceding six months (1 January 2016 to 30 June 2016)," said Ombudsman Judi Jones.
"This is a 33.8 per cent increase in complaints compared to the same six months in 2015 (1 July 2015 to 31 December 2015)."
The TIO recorded a 117.5 per cent increase in complaints about services delivered over the National Broadband Network (NBN) during 1 July to 31 December 2016 compared to the same 6 months in 2015.
While the NBN saw a major uptick in complaints, the TIO points out growth was slower than the rate of new premises connected to the National Broadband Network. By the end of last year, 1,652,564 premises had been "activated" for the NBN.
During the July-December period, 4,309 complaints were filed specifically regarding NBN internet services, with the remainder being landline problems.
Under the NBN, homes connected to fibre (i.e. FTTP, FTTB or FTTN) plug a phone handset with a standard RJ11 phone cable directly into the ‘NBN Box’. Those relying on NBN through satellite or wireless services continue to use existing copper wires.
Breakdown of the overall 65,970 complaints the TIO :
- 24,641 complaints regarding internet service (53.6% up on same six months in 2015)
- 23,331 complaints regarding mobile phones, (18.8% up on same six months in 2015)
- 17,998 complaints regarding landlines (32% up on same six months in 2015)
Complaints were recorded against 324 phone and internet service providers (ISPs) in Australia.
Overall, complaints concerning customer service and billing/payments were the two most common issues residential consumers and small businesses filed complaints about, followed by service faults.
Residential consumers represented 86.7% of all complaints, followed by small business (13.0%) and non-profits (0.3%).
The TIO's Six Monthly Update can be viewed in full here (PDF)
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) offers a free and independent dispute service for small business and residential consumers in Australia who have an unresolved complaint about their telephone or internet service that they have initially attempted to resolve with the provider.
ISP's and other carriers and carriage service providers in Australia are required to be members of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.
