Australian Government Releases Telecom Report

Australia's telecoms regulator will tighten reporting standards in an attempt to force carriers to comply with the Customer Service Guarantee (CSG).

by David Braue of ispwatch.com.au [December 11, 2000]

ISPs received good grades in the Australian Communication Authority's latest annual survey of Australia's telecommunications industry, with the growing diversity and coverage of Internet services confirming a "healthy, competitive market" in terms of the options available to consumers.

Coverage good, service poor
The Telecommunications Performance report 1999-00, handed down by the ACA late last week according to its statutory obligations under s.105 of the Telecommunications Act 1997, noted strong growth in wireless and Internet customer numbers backed by an overall increase in the number of licensed carriers to 43, up from 29 at the end of June 1999.

Customer service was the most deficient area identified in the report, with Telstra, Cable & Wireless Optus, and AAPT all falling below par when measured against the legislative Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) specifying minimum performance for carrier service providers (a term that includes ISPs).

This area could potentially be problematic for the carriers, who are being held to even tighter timeframes—including the slashing of allowable rural connection times from 40 to 30 working days, and wait for connection of in-place phone services from three to two working days—since the imposition of new CSG standards on July 1.

Of particular importance to carriers is the new CSG provision that frees customers from the onus of filing claims for CSG breaches; instead, the responsible company must now self-report breaches of the CSG, a move clearly intended to raise service standards even more.

Growth was commended
While the ACA noted overall satisfactory performance by telecommunications carriers, the ISP sector earned a much more glowing report card.

Most reflective of the growing Internet market was the ACA's finding that fully one-third of Australian households had Internet access as of this past May, compared with just 22 percent a year earlier. Also encouraging, 46 percent of Australian adults said they had accessed the Internet in the past year, up from 41 percent a year earlier.

Furthermore, the ACA reported, local-call Internet access is now available in 806 urban centers and localities, compared with just 560 a year earlier. Competition is still lacking in many of those areas, however: of the 806 areas covered, just 348 of those centers had more than one option for ISP.

Nonetheless, the growth of the market convinced the ACA that things are well in the Internet space, even though increasing revenue pressures may lead to further consolidation this year. "The significant variation in the size of ISPs and the great number of ISPs suggests a healthy, competitive market," the report's authors write.

"The levels of service offered by different ISPs were consistent with a market in which consumers have a level of choice to enable them to trade off quality and price…. There did not appear to be significant geographic barriers to access. Overall, consumers indicated that they were either satisfied with their provider, or saw little impediment to changing providers, suggesting that the competitive environment is working effectively for most Australians."

Low prices lead to customer satisfaction
The cost of access in Australia was noted in the report as being among the lowest of all OECD member countries. ISPs were also acknowledged as having improved their busy signal and connection rates, although difficulties in balancing supply and demand continue to create busy signal rates of more than 40 percent during peak evening hours.

Overall, the ACA's own consumer satisfaction survey showed that 84 percent of Internet users are satisfied with their service—the same as last year—while dissatisfaction levels dropped from 9 percent to 8 percent. However, small business respondents' satisfaction dropped from 84 percent last year to just 75 percent year—with the difference due not to the six percent 'dissatisfied' responses but the increase in respondents who were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

Billing, technical advice and customer support were all identified as key areas in which many ISPs could be doing a lot better.

The Australian Information Industry Association had not replied to requests for comment by publication time.

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