Media Releases
ACCAN's work informs public debate about consumer issues in the communications landscape. Welcome to our collection of the latest news and current affairs that impact communications consumers.
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Complaints up by 31% as customer service levels reach a new low
ACCAN says the record-high complaints figures released by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) today are the final piece of evidence the regulator, the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA), needs to justify strong action to bring the self-regulated industry under control.
Figures released by the TIO report 60,000 new complaints from January to March this year – more than 20,000 per month – and up by 31% on the record-high in the previous quarter.
Read more: Record complaints spell the end of an era for Australia’s most-hated industry
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The Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU) and the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), today launched NBN: A Guide for Consumers, designed to offer all Australians simple information about the National Broadband Network.
Read more: Senator Conroy launches ACCAN’s NBN: Guide for Consumers
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Peak telecommunications consumer body ACCAN body says the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) needs to be given greater powers, including the ability to charge telcos more to resolve complaints and the right to award compensation to customers when a telco breaches its consumer protection obligations, in order to bring about real change to the industry.
Read more: Telco ombudsman must hit telcos’ hip pockets to encourage real change
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The Footscray Legal Community Centre (FCLC) together with ACCAN has today released a damning report that documents the experiences of 16 new Australian migrants and finds that in many cases telcos are taking advantage of this already disadvantaged and highly vulnerable group.
Read more: Phone, internet plans “incomprehensible” for African and Burmese refugees and migrants
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A new report about emergency services during the Queensland floods says major issues with the National Relay Service (NRS), based in Brisbane, left some people with hearing or speech impairments unable to contact emergency services.
Read more: Queensland flood highlights need to fix Triple Zero accessibility
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Telco complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) have soared 9% in the last six months taking them near their 2009 record highs and marking a new low for Australian customers, peak communications consumer body ACCAN said today.
Read more: Sky high: 671 people per day call Ombudsman for help
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Peak communications body ACCAN commends Vodafone CEO Nigel Dews for his frank and unqualified letter of apology to the company’s four million customers for a string of incidents that has seen its network – and customer service – stretched to its limits over the past four months.
Read more: Vodafone apology comes at a critical time for telco industry
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The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) and Media Access Australia (MAA) are calling on the major television networks to include comprehensive captioning on digital free-to-air multichannels after new research has found a high level of awareness and use of closed captions – even among those who aren’t hearing impaired.
Read more: TV networks need to tune into audience's appetite for captions
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Deaf Australia, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) and the Australian Federation of Deaf Societies (AFDS) today congratulated the outstanding efforts of the Queensland Government in ensuring there was an Auslan (Australian Sign Language) interpreter standing alongside Queensland Premier Anna Bligh during press conferences concerning the devastating floods that inundated the state this week.
Read more: Australia’s Deaf community congratulates and thanks the Queensland Government
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The creator of Vodafail.com, Adam Brimo, has submitted a damning 30-page document to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that summarises the experiences of 12,000 Vodafone customers in relation to poor 3G network coverage, customer service and complaint handling by the telco.
The report, Vodafone situation: yesterday, today and tomorrow, analyses thousands of similar stories from customers about hours spent on hold to Vodafone’s call centre trying to make a complaint about its 3G network issues, including frequent call dropouts and delayed receipt of voicemail and text messages.
Read more: Epic Vodafail: customer takes 12,000 complaints to the regulators
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ACCAN welcomes Vodafone Chief Executive Nigel Dews’s apology to millions of frustrated customers who have experienced network problems in recent months and says it marks the start of a long journey back for the company to restore its customer service reputation.
Read more: Sorry seems to be the hardest word but, finally, Vodafone says it
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Peak communications consumer body ACCAN has welcomed the Government’s move to greatly improve media access for people who are Deaf, blind, or who have vision or hearing impairments, by improving television captioning and trialling an audio description television broadcast service.
Read more: ACCAN welcomes improved media access for people with disability