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The Federal Government is reviewing consumer safeguards in telecommunications. The third and final part of their review, Part C: Choice and Fairness, looks at consumer protections. Consumer protections rules govern the lifecycle of a customer’s relationship with their telco. The rules outline how a provider must treat their customers, what sort of information it needs to provide, and what it needs to do when things go wrong.

Consumer Safeguards Review Part C examines:

  • The issues that should be covered in consumer protections rules,

  • The way that the rules should be made,

  • The way that the rules should be enforced,

  • What should happen to old rules that have existed for a long time, and

  • What should be done about the affordability of telecommunications services.

The shortlist for the inaugural Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) and Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Apps For All Challenge 2014 Telstra Prize has today been announced. The awards will be handed out at a ceremony during the ACCAN National Conference on Tuesday 16 September, from 5:00pm.

Launched earlier this year, this is Australia's first and only competition for accessible mobile apps which aims to raise awareness of issues faced by people with disability and older Australians with inaccessible apps.

Phone Rights appSince launching in 2013, ACCAN's My Phone Rights app has helped thousands of Australians to better understand their rights as telecommunications consumers. The guides and tips in the app cover a range of topics that are helpful to all telecommunications consumers. My Phone Rights is available now for free on Android and Apple iOS devices.

With the app turning two this year, we thought it was time to revamp the tips and advice to keep up to date with the latest information. After all, the telco industry changes at such a rapid pace.

The app has advice for consumers and also small businesses on how to resolve common phone and internet issues including issues with contracts, bill shock, global roaming and data charges.

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Standards Australia is an independent non-government organisation responsible for the development of Australian Standards. Standards Australia is reviewing its corporate governance and membership system to assess whether it is fit for purpose.

Our submission acknowledges Standards Australia’s existing commitment to consumer representation in standards development. ACCAN encourages Standards Australia to make changes to its corporate governance structure and membership system to expand the role of consumer organisations, and increase their participation in Standards Australia’s governance.

People experiencing homelessness in Sydney and Melbourne have a higher rate of mobile phone ownership than Australians generally, new University of Sydney research shows.

While 92 per cent of Australians own a mobile phone, an even higher proportion – 95 per cent – of the adults, youth and families surveyed own a mobile. More than three quarters (77 per cent) of these have a smartphone, compared to around two thirds (64 per cent) of the general population. The survey found wide variation in the models and ages of the phones owned by the respondents. Almost half (41 per cent) reported that their phone was a gift, second-hand, stolen or borrowed.

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Beginning 14 April 2015, the ABC will start trialling Audio Description on its iview online catch-up service. The trial will provide approximately 14 hours of audio described content each week and is expected to run for 15 months.

Audio Description is additional verbal narration that describes visual elements shown on screen during pauses in dialogue. It can describe elements such as scenes, costumes and actions.

Audio Description is important and useful for people with a vision impairment and people with a learning disability as it helps to enhance their understanding of what is happening on screen.

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The telco regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), is updating two parts of the NBN Consumer Experience Rules: the Service Migration Determination, and the Service Continuity Standard. These rules set out how providers should move customers from their old service over to the NBN, including making sure not to turn off the old service before the new one is working, and developing a plan if the new service isn’t working after 20 days. The proposed changes to these rules seek to clarify key terms and obligations.

ACCAN supports most of the proposed changes. However, ACCAN doesn’t support changes about information a provider needs to tell a customer about the cause of and solution for a problem with their new NBN service. ACCAN has previously commented on the NBN Consumer Experience Rules, and you can read more about this here.

According to industry newsletter Communications Day, the government is now expecting to receive the much anticipated Vertigan Review (formally known as the NBN cost-benefit analysis and review of regulatory arrangements) early in July and plans to make a public release of the report before the end of the month.

The recent Federal Court decision in the Dallas Buyers Club case is the first of its kind in Australia. The decision means that the internet service providers (ISPs) involved – iiNet and others – will now have to give the Dallas Buyers Club rights holder, Voltage Pictures, the contact information of account holders who allegedly downloaded a pirated copy of the film.

Once this information is handed over, Voltage Pictures is able to send account holders a letter about the activity they allege has happened. In this case the Federal Court is reviewing all letters Voltage Pictures will be sending to account holders to make sure there is no 'speculative invoicing'. This is a fancy name for a demand for money to be paid to the rights holder for pirating the film. These letters might say that the company will take you to court if you don't pay. Speculative invoicing has been used overseas in the US, Canada and UK to intimidate consumers into paying compensation for claims of illegal file sharing.

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ACCAN recently made a submission to Communications Alliance in response to a call for public comments about the Emergency Call Service Requirements Industry Code DR C536 2020 (the Code). The Code places obligations on Carriers, Carriage Service Providers (CSPs) and Emergency Call Persons (ECPs). Carriers, CSPs and ECPs are required to ensure customers have access to the emergency call service, and also have access to information about the emergency call service.

Tuesday 1 July 10.00am

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network welcomes today's announcement that telcos will make mobile calls to 1800 numbers free of charge, but says it will hold the industry to its commitments regarding 1300 numbers.

The Federal Government's data retention scheme, enacted in March 2015, will come into effect between 13 October 2015 and 12 April 2017. Our fact sheet covers what consumers need todata binary code abstract with police badge shaped keyhole know.

What is metadata?

Metadata, simply put, is 'data about data'. In telecommunications it is information about communications (e.g. the time a phone call was made and its duration), information about the people communicating (e.g. the sender and the receiver) including account and location information, and the device used. The scheme requires that service providers retain metadata but not the content or substance of a communication. However metadata can still reveal a lot of information about an individual and those they interact with.

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The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications have proposed standards, rules and benchmarks for Statutory Infrastructure Providers (SIPs). SIPs are telecommunications carriers that provide wholesale broadband services, such as NBN Co. The rules proposed are in relation to timeframes for connections, repairs and appointment keeping, rebates, speeds, remediation and record keeping.

ACCAN CEO SPEECH TO INFORMA CONFERENCE: MELBOURNE 24 JUNE 2014

'Collections & Hardship Programs in Utilities, Banks & Telecommunications: Exploring best practice in hardship programs and collections across four sectors'

Thank you for the invitation to speak today.

As some of you may know ACCAN stands for the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network. We are the peak body for consumer representation and advocacy in communications.

The ACCAN Grants Scheme opened this morning and is now accepting applications until Tuesday 31st March.

If you're interested in creating educational resources for phone or internet consumers or in researching an issue that affects them, get in touch with us to chat about your project idea. Call 02 9288 4000 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The most successful projects are those that have a good idea of the kind of work ACCAN does and understand the current telecommunications environment well. We look forward to hearing your ideas!

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ACCAN has recently endorsed the Communications Alliance draft DR C564:2020 Mobile Phone Base Station Deployment Industry Code. The draft Code updates the previous version to bring it in line with the ‘temporary facilities’ requirements in the Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination 2018.

ACCAN was a participating member of the Communications Alliance working group reviewing this Code.

Recently ACCAN attended the Yabun Festival, held on 26 January in Victoria Park, Sydney. Yabun is the largest one day celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures in Australia. This year it was attended by some 8,500 people coming from many places around Australia.

At the event we were able to share lots of useful information for consumers on topics including: hidden costs in free apps, how to avoid smartphone bill shock and how to choose an internet service provider.

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The ACMA is inviting feedback to inform the development of its 2021-22 Compliance Priorities. These are the areas that will guide the ACMA’s activities when enforcing and improving rules and regulations about communications services.

ACCAN’s submission outlines key areas where the ACMA should direct its compliance and enforcement efforts, based on:

• the impact of these issues on consumers of phone and internet services,

• the severity of the risk of consumer harm stemming from non-compliance in relation to these issues, and

• member feedback and evidence received by ACCAN.

ACCAN has released the 2015 ACCAN Grants Guidelines ahead of the Scheme's opening on Monday 16th February 2015. The Scheme will be accepting applications for six weeks: from 16th February until 31st March 2015.

The ACCAN Grants Scheme funds projects that work towards a telecommunications market that is fair and inclusive for all – a market which is available, accessible and affordable. Projects focus on developing research, representation, or educational tools that address issues for telecommunications consumers in Australia.

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The ACCC consulted on the NBN Services in Operation (SIO) Record Keeping Rules (RKR). The rules require NBN to share information on a quarterly basis with the ACCC regarding the number of services in operation, network capacity acquired, technology type and attributes as well as geographical distribution of services. This information is then shared as part of the NBN wholesale market indicators report. The rules are due to expire on 30 September 2020, the ACCC sought consultation on whether they should be extended or amended.

ACCAN supports the ACCC’s preference for extending the rules for another five years and believes that the rules provide a comprehensive view of the NBN wholesale market. We therefore provided no suggestions for revision.

ACCAN, Australia's peak body for communications consumers, says the government's deregulation proposals which could affect the amount of time consumers have to wait to get a landline phone connected or fixed must be more comprehensively reviewed. ACCAN has also flagged concerns around proposed changes to privacy rules for the telco industry.

Man using mobile phone at airportAustralian telcos have taken action to reduce bill shock from global roaming by introducing roaming packs. But before travelling, you should consider all your options for global roaming, especially if you are on a tight budget. Check out your options for global roaming below.

Do you need to use your phone number while overseas?

Telstra, Optus and Vodafone offer their customers global roaming packs that include calls, text and data, at an extra cost. Virgin Mobile offers roaming packs that only include data. Signing up to a roaming pack can be a good option if you need to be contactable overseas on your Australian mobile number.

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The Australian Broadband Advisory Council (ABAC) was established by Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts Minister Paul Fletcher in July 2020. ABAC is working to explore and promote ways that broadband connectivity can boost Australia’s economic output and improve Australians’ wellbeing.

In December 2020, ABAC released its first paper titled Riding the Digital Wave: Report on COVID-19 Trends and Forward Work Program. The report explores the impacts, challenges and opportunities of COVID-19 relating to broadband connectivity.

ACCAN strongly supports the work of the ABAC and has provided feedback on the Riding the Digital Wave report, identifying a range of issues that should be represented in ABAC’s future work plan.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network and the Australian Human Rights Commission have today launched the inaugural Apps For All Challenge 2014, a competition to find Australia's most accessible apps.

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