TIO gives Australia's largest telcos the thumbs down - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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TIO gives Australia's largest telcos the thumbs down

By Staff writers, ZDNet Australia
October 23, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/TIO-gives-Australia-s-largest-telcos-the-thumbs-down/0,130061791,120269322,00.htm

Australia's two largest telecommunications providers have fared badly in the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman's (TIO) 2002 annual report on the industry's performance, released today.

The report shows that consumer dissatisfaction with Telstra and Optus providers has increased markedly over the last fiscal year. While complaints lodged with the TIO regarding telephone and Internet services fell 13 per cent year-on-year generally, those concerning Telstra and Optus increased significantly.

Optus was the worse performer of the two, the TIO recording a 30 per cent jump in complaints against the carrier. Complaints against Telstra increased 12 percent.

According to the TIO, customer service, mobile phone contracts, Internet service reliability and misleading advertising dominated consumer complaints about telecommunication providers this year.

However, in examining the theme behind consumers complaints, the TIO singled out one in particular. Almost one-third of all complaints to the TIO related to billing problems.

Shadow Minister for Communications, Lindsay Tanner, is touting the report as evidence that Telstra isn't ready to be sold.

"This is further evidence for [Prime Minister] John Howard that Telstra services are not improving and the further sale of Telstra cannot be justified even on the Government's own criteria of adequate services," Tanner said.

A massive 34 per cent of complaints about Telstra's Internet services relate to faults, reflecting the complaints to the Estens Inquiry about Telstra's Internet services, he said.