Heat goes on telcos

Complaints must be fast-tracked or huge fines to be imposed

IRATE telco customers fed up with outages and streaming problems will have their complaints fast-tracked under a new system designed to resolve issues more quickly.

Millions of Australians have been left furious with service failures from Telstra and soccer fans dubbed Optus’s World Cup streaming “Floptus” after they were unable to stream live matches this week.

But under new changes on complaints handling implemented by the regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, from July 1 telcos and wholesale providers must act more quickly to resolve customer issues.

This includes quitting the finger-pointing that has gone on, particularly between the National Broadband Network and service providers.

Communications Alliance’s chief executive officer John Stanton, who represents the telecommunications industry, said the introduction of time limits would speed up dealing with common customer complaints including outages, voice call issues and service problems.

“It provides assurance to consumers that all of the providers that are involved in their service, including NBN Co, other wholesale telcos and the retail telco service provider, have a responsibility for fixing or helping to fix problems in a timely manner,’’ he said.

“The new rules arrive as the NBN rollout is close to hitting full speed and generates some inevitable disruption to consumers, as hundreds of thousands of people move every month or so onto the NBN.”

The changes mean providers must have and follow a written complaints handling process, acknowledge complaints within two days, and try to resolve complaints on first contact or, failing that, within 15 days.

Providers who do not follow these changes may have court proceedings issued against them, injunctions or receive penalties up to $250,000.