AMTA Members and guests will have an opportunity to hear the head of the new peak consumers organisation and the retiring Ombudsman at a Members Forum in Sydney on November 26.

Consumer issues will be to the fore when Allan Asher, the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) addresses the AMTA Networking Forum.

Mr Asher has a long association with consumer issues and telecommunications. He was deputy chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, a director with Consumers International and a director of Energywatch, the gas and electricity consumer council in the UK.

“Consumers will not get a better deal until industry chief executives wake up to the magnitude of their service failures and redefine their approach to service delivery. Telcos need to get serious about improving customer service,” he said recently.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, Deirdre O’Donnell, will also speak at the Forum about the results of the Connect Resolve campaign, which aims to focus on the telecommunications industry’s customer service performance.

Ms O’Donnell recently announced that she will step down from the position at the end of this year and undertake doctoral studies.

She said the last Connect Resolve report in August had shown that the collaborative program with industry was working because the level of complaints had stabilized ‘but they need to continue their efforts to prioritise customer service”.

AMTA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Althaus, said the attendance of both speakers at the Forum gave AMTA Members a great opportunity to hear firsthand the views of senior consumer representatives.

“Our industry has it as a top priority to continue its engagement on consumer issues and we welcome the opportunity to work co-operatively and constructively with the new peak consumer body for telecommunications issues, ACANN,” he said.

“We have also worked closely with the TIO. We recently launched some new industry consumer tips on mobile data spending in conjunction with the Ombudsman. The Forum will be a chance to hear Ms O’Donnell’s views on customer service before she steps down next month.”

When: 4-6pm on Thursday, November 26, 2009

Where: Level 6, Tower B, 799 Pacific Highway, Chatswood, Sydney

The speakers will give their presentations and take questions from 4 - 5pm.

Drinks and canapés will be served between 5 - 6pm during informal networking.

Cost: Members $22.00 (Inc GST) Non-members $44.00 (Inc GST)

Download registration form here.