Telco complaints at eight-year lows

Customer complaints about telecommunications companies have reached an eight-year low, particularly in mobile services, according to new figures from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).

Between October and December last year, there were 29,560 complaints about telecommunications service providers. This is the lowest it has been since July to September 2007 when there were 26,632 complaints.

Telco complaints are now in a three-year decline, with a 21 per cent drop in complaints about mobile services last quarter – the lowest since April-June 2010 – along with a 2.6 per cent drop in internet service complaints. Landline services saw a minor increase of 3.7 per cent.

Ombudsman Simon Cohen said the drop is partially due to a significant reduction in billing problems for mobile users.

“Innovative new products that reduce unexpected high charges, stronger industry rules to inform consumers about their usage and a TIO that is active in identifying and acting on systemic issues are some of the reasons for this positive outcome,” Cohen said.

In the recorded period, there was a 12.2 per cent decrease in the number of complaints received by the TIO for every 100,000 telco services in operation, while the number of services as a whole decreased by approximately 200,000 (50.6 million to 50.4 million).