Guideline proposed for broadband speed claims

The creation of an industry guideline on making representations to consumers about the performance of broadband services has been proposed by Communications Alliance and the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA).

This follows a discussion paper released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on broadband speed claims.

The associations argue that retail service providers (RSPs) are best placed to communicate information to consumers about the broadband performance they can expect to receive. This includes taking into account the wide range of different factors that can affect service performance.

The associations have offered to create the Communications Alliance Guideline in collaboration with government, regulators and consumer representatives.

The submission provides an explanation of existing impediments to RSPs being able to provide precise speed information to customers. It offers an evidence-based argument to demonstrate that upload and download speeds are typically not the highest priority for consumers when they are assessing which service to purchase.

It also provides some context to the complaints about internet services being made to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) and casts doubt over the ability of a broadband quality monitoring program to achieve its objective. Indeed, it warns that the result of such a program might in fact be anticompetitive. In addition, the submission details the wide range of existing tools available to consumers to enable them to monitor the quality of their broadband service.

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