Telco complaints fall 4% in turbulent FY20

Complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) continued to decline in FY20 despite the significant disruption posed by natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ombudsman’s annual report shows that total complaints fell 4% to 127,151, with complaints about mobile services remaining steady over the financial year.

But for internet and landline complaints it was a financial year of two distinct halves, the TIO said. In the first half, complaints continued to decline.

But in the second half, a summer of natural disasters followed by the COVID-19 pandemic tested the resilience of networks and telcos to respond to unforeseen impacts on services.

The sector largely held up well, but during the bushfires and floods of the summer, complaints about not having a working phone or internet service increased almost 70% compared with the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, the closure of international call centres led to a temporary almost 1500% year-on-year increase in the number of complaints from consumers who were unable to contact their telco about internet services.

“While the complaints we deal with stem from technology, the problems we are solving are ultimately human ones,” Ombudsman Judi Jones commented.

“The extraordinary events of the year meant that consumers have increasingly had to rely on telecommunications services and internet to continue to live, work and educate, and many have faced frustrations as providers worked to adapt to unprecedented challenges.”

But overall Jones said the lessons learnt from the rollout of the nbn over the last three years has galvanised and matured Australia’s telecommunications sector.

“These lessons have strengthened the telco ecosystem with industry, government, regulators, advocates and ombudsman, each playing a part to ensure continuity of service for consumers in the face of great change,” she said. “But as this year’s events have shown us, there is always more work to do.”

Communications Alliance CEO John Stanton welcomed the findings, noting that the overall decrease in complaints has coincided with increasing numbers of connections, meaning that the rate of complaints-per-service has fallen even more rapidly.

“The recent natural disasters and COVID pandemic have affected all Australians this year and have inevitably disrupted some telecommunications services,” he said.

“The events have underlined the importance of telecommunications to Australians in their everyday lives, so it is encouraging that networks have coped well and that services are being delivered effectively and affordably.”

He also noted that the spike in complaints about not being able to contact their provider came from a very low base of 127 in the prior year.

But Macquarie Telecom Group Executive Luke Clifton said the spike highlights the negative consequence of the industry's “failed strategy” of offshoring jobs.

“As we digest these figures, many Australians — more dependent on phone and internet services than ever — are still unable to contact their providers. Offshoring never worked — unfortunately it has taken this crisis for many providers to recognise that,” he said.

“We’ve seen some positive signs that telcos and other industries are willing to reverse the systemic offshoring of Australian jobs, but there is much more still to be done. The telco industry needs to step up and drastically improve customer satisfaction and contribute to the economic recovery by hiring here, not over here.”

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