Telcos hold sway in TIO accountability decisions - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Telcos hold sway in TIO accountability decisions

By Andrew Colley, 0
December 23, 2003
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Telcos-hold-sway-in-TIO-accountability-decisions/0,130061791,120282145,00.htm

Recent moves to make the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman more accountable for its decisions could be held back by telecommunications carriers.

The TIO currently publishes position statements on issues that regularly arise in disputes it's called on to resolve. In recent weeks the TIO council agreed to go further, amending the body's constitution to allow it disclose determinations to the public in their entirety.

However, according to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, John Pinnock, anonymity conditions that carriers have attached to the amendments are making the new policy unworkable.

Pinnock said that while some determinations may be published early next year, in three of the five case determinations prepared for publication by TIO staff, he was not satisfied that the identity of the carrier had adequately been protected.

Pinnock said it was "not always simply a matter of striking out [the carrier's name] wherever that word appears or striking out the complainants name wherever that word appears".

The quandary before the TIO arises as it faces pressure from some quarters of the legal community to be more transparent about its activities -- particularly those involved in well-publicised clashes between Hutchison and local councils over placement of their 3G transmission towers.

One such member of the community, Melbourne-based solicitor Philip Nolan, said the TIO needed to make its determinations public in order for lawyers to best decide how to advise their clients.

The TIO has been called on to offer its interpretation of terms contained in the federal telecommunications laws that override local laws (the Telecommunications Act 1997) and have fallen to the heart of disputes between councils and carriers.

Pointing to recent examples in which courts have grappled with the definitions such as "low impact" and "maintenance", Nolan argues that publishing the determinations could reduce the number of complaints brought forward by land owners.

For example, said Nolan, if the TIO had previously determined that a particular type of mobile phone facility is low-impact, a land owner may choose not to proceed with complaint action.

"I can see no downside to making TIO determinations publicly available," said Nolan.

Pinnock, who argued for the new policy, believes he will be able to convince the TIO board members and council to waive the condition at a meeting scheduled for February next year, but said for now it would be unfair to ignore it.

"That's the way the matter went through council and the board I don't feel I can unilaterally simply publish [the determinations] and be damned," said Pinnock.