It’s time to give telco complaints more context

TLDR version: Complaint reporting by the TIO and Communications Alliance shapes how the public and policy makers perceive telcos treatment of customers. The March quarter TIO report highlights some service quality hotspots. There are also opportunities to improve this valuable source of industry data to provide a clearer picture of industry performance.

What’s troubling telco customers?

The last week saw the release of the March quarter complaint data by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO), followed by the ‘Complaints in Context (CiC)’ report by the  Communications Alliance.

First, the good news for Optus. Its overall TIO complaints fell in a quarter where many of its peers saw complaint rates rise. However, Optus’ complaint rate remains above its peers at 5.4 complaints per 10k services, versus 3.7 reported for the industry.

Optus sub-brand Amaysim continues to shine with 0.5 complaints per 10k. At the other end of the spectrum, Southern Phone’s 11.8 complaints per 10k suggests the brand could face a significant challenge if it aspires to return to its glory days of successive Roy Morgan satisfaction awards.

‘Fault and connection’ issues across all categories have fallen over the course of the last year, down -39% YoY. (Mar-22: 11.7k v Mar-23: 7.1k). Of note, ‘poor mobile coverage’ has dropped out of the overall top ten issues. Although it remains a concern for some mobile users (8% of mobile issues), this is a positive sign for the post-pandemic economy, where on the go mobile usage is likely to increase.

The TIO also took the opportunity to flag financial hardship as an issue to watch. Financial hardship currently makes up only a small proportion of TIO complaints. However, over the last year, Australia’s largest mobile providers have all increased prices. Operators will need to be mindful of how further price increases impact on vulnerable groups lest increased coverage of financial hardship undermines operators’ public efforts at improving digital inclusion.

Getting complaints reporting right is important to an informed debate

Both the TIO and CiC reports are valuable in helping the public, policy makers and media to understand what’s challenging the telco sector. For telcos, it’s important that complaints data is presented with sufficient context to enable a fair debate around performance and where the biggest opportunities for improvement are. So how could reporting be improved?

We see four opportunities.

Firstly, contextualised complaint data should be incorporated into the TIO report. This would encourage readers to interpret complaint volumes with the appropriate context – be those differences in the size of providers, or changes in the size of the industry. At present, media coverage of the CiC report appears limited in comparison to the headlines which the initial TIO report generates. At the very least the CiC report should accompany the release of the TIO quarterly report.

Secondly, the TIO and Communications Alliance could consider reporting complaint rates for the major product categories. New Zealand’s Telecommunications Dispute Resolution reports (TDR) and Ofcom’s ‘Telecoms & TV complaint reporting’ already take this approach.  For participating firms this could provide an opportunity to differentiate from peers, the way some providers today leverage third party and ACCC reporting on broadband speeds to set themselves apart.

If there is a reticence to disclosing more granular subscriber data on quarterly basis, reporting could leverage third party market sizing estimates as New Zealand’s TDR does, or report on a half-year cycle following the financial reporting season.

Third, the CiC reporting could be enhanced by publishing five quarters of data, versus the current four. This would enable appraisal of any seasonal impact on complaint rates. It’s surely no coincidence the March quarter is typically Australia’s rainiest, and frequently the worst quarter for new complaints. Including the prior comparable period in the reporting would encourage more meaningful comparisons than simply quarter on quarter alone.

Finally, more visibility is needed into the performance of non-nbn internet services. There is a growing number of customers who will be served by fixed wireless, satellite and non-nbn fixed line services in the coming years. Increasing transparency around the performance of these technologies will be vital to ensuring any systemic issues are identified and addressed promptly.

Why does this matter

The TIO’s complaint data provide a regular health check on how well the industry is addressing consumer and small business concerns. Coverage of telco complaints data thus shapes public perceptions of the telco sectors performance. Improving the ‘in context’ component of public complaints reporting therefore represents an opportunity to improve the quality of public debate around complaints and complaint handling, and support efforts by operators to focus their service improvement efforts more effectively.

About Venture Insights

Venture Insights is an independent company providing research services to companies across the media, telco and tech sectors in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.

For more information go to www.ventureinsights.com.au or contact us at contact@ventureinsights.com.au