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ACCAN lodged a submission with the ACCC on its fixed line services declaration inquiry. The inquiry relates to the services that Telstra sells on its copper network to other providers of phone and internet services.

The ACCC is proposing to maintain the regulation of the services Telstra provides for further 5 year period. ACCAN agrees with the ACCC’s position.

Once the ACCC makes its final decision, it will then consider the prices Telstra charges other providers to use its network.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) says the Federal Government’s Household Assistance Scheme (HAS) is essential to ensure people on lower incomes who have a disability, seniors and those living in remote areas will have uninterrupted access to television as the switchover from analog to digital television progresses around the country.

ACCAN Chief Executive Teresa Corbin and Senior Policy Adviser Jonathan Gadir have given evidence in front of the Joint Committee: National Broadband Network (Rollout of the National Broadband Network) in Sydney this morning. They discussed the need for low-income broadband affordability measures, voice-only services and the demand for consumers for independent information about the NBN.

Earlier this year ACCAN published a NBN: Guide for Consumers, which Corbin says has been very much in demand. ACCAN says it looks forward to the establishment of a Consumer Advisory Panel within NBN Co, to meet quarterly to discuss issues that are of concern to consumers.

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ACCAN has made a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) on its investigation of TPG Telecom Limited’s (TPG) proposed merger with Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited (VHA).

ACCAN is supportive of the proposed merger as it is likely to lead to more sustainable competition with a positive effect for consumers in the Australian telecommunications market.

ACCAN says submissions to the Australian Communications & Media Authority’s (ACMA) draft report reveal the telco industry is in a state of denial about the threat of regulation if it fails to fix its customer service and complaint handling problems.

The ACMA Communications Report 2010-11 was released today. This major piece of research provides a snapshot of the communications services available and the preferences of Australian consumers. Here’s some key statistics that may be of interest to ACCAN members:

Read more: Communications in 2010-11

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ACCAN has made a submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Human Rights and Technology consultation.

The issues paper asked which human rights can be affected by technology, and what issues technology can raise for different groups of people. The issues paper included some questions that specifically related to people with disability and the accessibility of technology, including what challenges and opportunities people with disability experience when accessing technology and how the development and use of more accessible technology can be encouraged and promoted in Australia.

ACCAN focused on the human rights of people with disability in our submission. We made the following key points:

There is finally hope for consumers after the regulator, the Australian Communications & Media Authority, today released its findings and recommendations for major reform following a year-long inquiry into the industry’s customer service and complaint handling problems.

ACCAN says the ACMA has proposed a strong set of recommendations that, if implemented, have the potential to substantially transform the telecommunications industry.

A reminder to ACCAN members that nominations for Directors to fill six vacancies on the ACCAN Board close at 5pm next Monday 1st October. Newly elected Board members at the 2012 AGM will sit for a two-year term until the Annual General Meeting in 2014.

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ACCAN has made a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Facilities Access Code consultation.

The discussion paper asked whether improvements could be made to the code which provides a process for carriers to access each other’s infrastructure, co-locate equipment and co-build facilities in order to reduce the cost of providing services and protecting community amenity through duplication of infrastructure. The code also provides voluntary consultation and negotiation processes for carriers as well as a framework for dispute resolution in the event that they cannot agree on access arrangements.

Although the code has been largely successful in promoting co-location and reducing duplication, there are indications that in regional areas it has been less effective. There are also some indications that carriers may have incentives to preclude access or co-location where there are commercial advantages to doing so.

ACCAN made the following key points:

If you have a problem with a mobile phone handset or other piece of telecommunications equipment don’t ignore it.

Under Australia’s new consumer laws, if you buy a product and it is faulty you have the right to take it back to where you bought it and ask the business to fix the problem. The same applies if you engage a service and it is not provided to an appropriate standard.

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Peak communications consumer body ACCAN has welcomed the announcement by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy that consumers will soon receive SMS alerts about global roaming costs when they travel overseas.

ACCAN has made a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Mobile Terminating Access Service (MTAS) declaration inquiry.

The review asked whether access to mobile networks should be 'declared' for the purpose of connecting calls.

'Declaring' a service allows a mobile call to be connected between two different providers at a fixed per-minute rate and on certain terms. For example, if your phone provider is Telstra it allows you to call a friend on Optus.

In this example MTAS makes sure that Telstra can connect a call on the Optus network at a rate which represents the cost of the call. Without declaration Optus would be free to charge well above cost to access its network and this high cost would probably be passed on to consumers.

ACCAN made the following key points:

At some time in the near future you’re likely to use a ‘1800’ or ‘13’ telephone service to make a complaint, access essential financial or legal advice or just order a pizza. ACCAN has launched a campaign to ensure you're able to access these numbers.

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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.

The ACMA periodically reviews the Telecommunications (International Mobile Roaming) Industry Standard 2013 (IMR Standard) to ensure it continues to be effective in the changing telecommunications environment. ACCAN submitted to the current review and argued that whilst the IMR Standard continues to offer strong consumer protections, there are some areas for improvement:

Consumers must be notified when they switch between different roaming services such as daily roaming packs and traditional pay-as-you-go roaming
Consumers must be notified more regularly about how much they have spent on roaming, and at a minimum at $50 increments
Consumers must be notified prior to incurring extra charges (e.g. for data beyond what is included in their service). This notification should be provided with adequate time for consumers to turn off their roaming service if they wish to do so
Information about usage and charges relating to roaming must be current, and at a minimum no older than 2 hours, to ensure consumers are able to properly manage and control their usage and spending.

Number Woman wants 13 & 1800 calls from mobiles to be affordable

Australia’s newest superhero, Number Woman, has today written to the chief executives of the big three network providers, Telstra, Optus and Vodafone, appealing to them to become a consumer superhero by ending expensive, per-minute timed calls from mobiles to the 13, 1300 and 1800 numbers used by hundreds of thousands of government services and businesses.

ACCAN argued that work on NBN performance standards is urgently required at the NBN Joint Committee hearing on Friday 19th April in Sydney. The NBN Joint Committee comes together every six months to inquire into the NBN rollout and is comprised of 16 parliamentary members including Rob Oakeshott MP, Malcolm Turnbull MP and Senator Scott Ludlam, among others.

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The Federal Government is developing reforms to give consumers greater access and control over their data held by companies they do business with, like banks, energy companies and telcos. The Consumer Data Right will allow customers to transfer their data to different providers to see if those providers offer products that would be more suitable, at a better price.

For consumers, greater use and control of their data could provide significant benefits through helping them to find services they need at reduced prices.

In this consultation, The Treasury is asking for comments on the draft legislation that will underpin the consumer data right, before the legislation is introduced into Federal Parliament.

ACCAN says today marks a major step forward in important reforms to make calls from mobile phones to 1800/13 numbers free or the cost of a local call, as they currently are from landlines.

The Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA) has today committed to amend the relevant regulation following further consultation and have industry implement the changes by January 2015.

ACCAN is delighted to announce the full speaker program for M-Enabling Australasia 2013 being held on August 14-15 in Sydney. A wealth of local and international experts on accessibility and mobile technologies will feature at the conference, which will highlight why people with disability and older people have been missing out on the mobile revolution and how this can be fixed.

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The Federal Government is reviewing consumer protections in telecommunications. The aim is to ascertain whether existing arrangements will be fit for purpose in an environment where NBN is the underlying infrastructure provider, and consumer use of services has changed considerably since the existing framework was developed. The review is divided into three parts:

Part A – Redress and Complaints Handling - completed in 2018.
Part B – Reliability of Services - launched in November 2018 with submissions closing 18 January 2019.
Part C – Choice and Fairness - expected in the first half of 2019.

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Number Woman wants 13 & 1800 calls from mobiles to be affordable