ACCAN has welcomed the transparency of data released this week by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman which highlights a small year-on-year jump in complaints as well as the telling figure of 30% of consumers not being able to reach a resolution after it is referred to their telco.
ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett said, "consumers rely on mobile, internet and landline services for essential connectivity and the transparency provided by this report highlights much room for improvement in the management of consumer telco complaints."
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO)'s complaints data from Q1 2025 (July – September 2024) has shown a 0.2% decrease in complaints from the previous period, but a 4.6% increase in complaints on the same reporting period last year. While complaints relating to internet services dropped (4.3%), complaints about mobile services (3.6%) and landlines (6.8%) both jumped.
It is of particular concern that 30% of complaints returned unresolved after referral to a telco. This statistic has only come to light after the TIO commenced an active follow-up process with consumers after the referral period.
"We know from research commissioned by ACCAN and conducted by the Consumer Policy Research Centre that consumers are giving up complaining. Consumers are finding the process of lodging a complaint with their provider difficult, complex and unlikely to see a satisfactory resolution. As a result, only 10% of consumers with a telco complaint choose to escalate it to the TIO."
"We see now that consumers have good reasons for their scepticism with the complaints process – telco complaint referrals are unresolved too often."
"We look forward to working with telcos and other stakeholders to rebuild faith in the complaints system, particularly through the revision of the Complaints Handling Standard."
