Communications Alliance today welcomed the release of the draft report of the ACMA Reconnecting the Customer inquiry, which signals clearly the ACMA’s continued willingness to work with industry to achieve the common objective of improved customer service, complaint handling and customer satisfaction in the Australian telecommunications sector.
Communications Alliance CEO John Stanton said the ACMA has delivered a comprehensive report, with clear indications as to the outcomes it is seeking.
“A number of the recommendations are in line with the direction industry is taking – through the extensive revision of the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code, and through a wide range of individual initiatives by service providers – to further lift its performance in these areas.
“Some recommendations go further than envisaged by the current TCP Code draft, which already incorporates wide-ranging improvements to consumer protections and industry practices in areas such as product disclosure, complaint handling, advertising, code compliance and spend management tools.
“Industry will examine all the ACMA recommendations in detail and explore the potential to incorporate elements not already covered by the revised draft Code, which has been waiting on the RTC Inquiry draft findings before being released for public comment,” Mr Stanton said.
He added that work would be needed to determine the most practicable means of implementing any agreed additional measures, focusing in particular on:
- The need to ensure that any additional types of information provided to consumers are calculated and presented in a way that gives clarity for consumers and does not risk generating confusion; and
- The need to take account of the differing systems and operational capabilities among the more than 1000 service providers operating in the Australian market.
The TCP Code Steering Group, which is comprises representatives from consumer groups, industry, the Federal Government and regulators, will meet shortly to further examine the draft Code in the light of the ACMA draft report.
ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS ALLIANCE
Communications Alliance is the peak body for the Australian communications industry. Through a range of successful programs, events and initiatives, Communications Alliance has a leadership role in facilitating industry-based solutions to sectoral issues and is taking steps to bring to fruition the broadband and digital era, including leading the industry’s involvement in the National Broadband Network implementation. For further information visit www.commsalliance.com.au