AMTA will work co-operatively and constructively with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on its formal inquiry into customer service and complaints handling, which was announced this week.

AMTA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Althaus, said: “AMTA will fully engage with the ACMA in this review. We strongly support a co-operative and constructive approach on consumer issues. We see this as an opportunity to analyse these issues and find practical ways of making improvements in what is a dynamic and fast-moving industry.

“We will engage with government and relevant agencies to develop a more streamlined policy framework for the mobile telecommunications environment that delivers an efficient and competitive mobile telecommunications industry through the supply of innovative and diverse services that ultimately benefit consumers.”

The Australian Communications and Media Authority will conduct a formal inquiry into customer service and complaints handling in the telecommunications industry following the on-going high volume of complaints to the industry ombudsman.

Announcing the inquiry today, ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman said: “Many would share the ACMA’s concern about whether the current arrangements which underpin telecommunications consumer protection are really effective in dealing with the issues that concern consumers most.

“The trend-line growth and sheer quantum of complaints about complaint handling and customer service —up to 900 every working day—reflects poorly on the entire industry. Whether this is evidence of a failing regulatory system or just a perception of that failure, I now believe this issue has to be confronted directly and urgently otherwise we will be talking about these same issues for years to come.

“A vital part of this inquiry will be determining how consumer expectations of customer service might be satisfied in the NBN-delivered broadband world,” Mr Chapman said.

“As part of the inquiry, I will personally brief CEOs of the larger service providers (representing 90 per cent of the TIO complaints) and ask for their support. As the learnings emerge from the inquiry, I will seek their collective agreement on enforceable strategies for lowering the number of complaints to the industry ombudsman about complaint handing.”

Mr Chapman also foreshadowed other regulators with roles in the telecommunications sector joining the ACMA in a regulatory forum.

“As regulators, we need to turn the mirror on our structures and roles. I do not believe the current regulatory ‘alphabet soup’ of ACMAs, TIOs, ACCCs, DBCDEs, CAs and TISSCs (along with the state Offices of Fair Trading) is leading to the best solution for some of the bigger problems. In the short-term, I will be seeking to work with my colleagues at the ACCC and the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and with consumer groups, led by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, to identify emerging issues in telecommunications and develop appropriate regulatory responses. This is best done in collaboration.”