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The review of the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code has been underway since August 2017. The Code sets out rules for how retail service providers must deal with their customers. It covers sales, customer service, contracts, billing, credit and debt management, financial hardship, and transfers between providers.

The Code is reviewed periodically to ensure it reflects current market offers, trends and consumer needs. ACCAN is a part of the Working Committee (comprised of industry, consumer, government and regulatory representatives) for the review and has consulted widely with its members throughout this process.

A draft TCP Code was recently released for public comment. ACCAN’s submission to this consultation focused on the need to improve consumer protection by strengthening the requirements on providers in a range of key areas. In particular ACCAN would like to see better practices for:

Mobile carriers must come clean on exactly how their exorbitant global roaming fees are derived, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) says, as the federal government today announced a new international roaming standard that it is hoped will reduce the number of consumers suffering from global roaming bill shock.

The Regional Telecommunications Review is conducted every three years and is an important forum for examining telecommunications issues and equity of services in regional, rural and remote Australia.

Since the last review in 2015 the rollout of the National Broadband Network in regional areas has almost been completed, and communities and consumers are starting to see the benefits of greater investment in regional and remote telecommunications services. However, for many people in regional and remote Australia the digital divide remains entrenched. There is a need for further investment in infrastructure, targeted affordability measures and digital literacy support programs to close this divide.

In our submission ACCAN has outlined emerging or persistent issues and recommended actions on how these might be addressed. These include:

Peak communications consumer advocacy body ACCAN is celebrating a major step forward in its campaign for fair calls following an announcement today that the telco regulator, the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA) will put an end to the high cost of 1800 and 13 calls from mobiles.

The ACMA has plans to alter what’s known as the “Numbering Plan” so that calls from mobile phones to 1800 numbers will be free and 13 numbers will be a low fixed charge as they are from land lines and pay phones. At present these calls are charged rates of up to $1.78 per minute from mobiles, with the business or organisation at the other end also paying telcos for the cost of the calls.

A lively two-day event being held in Alice Springs this Thursday and Friday (26th-27th July) will focus on the unique communications needs of people living and working in remote Australia and how best to deliver them. The event will include representatives from Federal, state and territory governments, NBN Co, members of the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee, community organisations, researchers and technical specialists.

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ACCAN recently submitted to the Department of Communications and the Arts consultation on Copyright Modernisation. The modernisation of copyright has the potential to bring significant benefits to consumers and ACCAN supports reforms to ensure that consumers are appropriate protected and can have confidence when interacting with the copyrighted material.

In our submission, we reiterated our support for reforms including:

Peak telecommunications consumer advocacy group the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network says regardless of which party wins the Federal Election on August 21, what consumers really want to know is how each party will deliver affordable, accessible broadband services that meet the requirements of Australians into the future.

The global organisation representing consumer groups, Consumers International, is asking Australians to be part of their project aimed at holding internet service providers to account. You can help by taking part in the 10-minute online survey so we can see how Australia compares to the rest of the world for broadband services.

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ACCAN recently submitted to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) consultation on the Competition Notice Guidelines. ACCAN’s submission forms part of ACCAN’s ongoing work to support competition in the telecommunications industry in order to promote better outcomes for consumers and small businesses. 

The Competition and Consumer Act (Cth) provides for an industry-specific regulatory framework for telecommunications. This gives the ACCC power to issue a competition notice, which is a formal ‘stop’ notice to a provider who is suspected of acting anti-competitively. If a provider does not comply with a notice they face substantial fines - $10m, plus $1m per day for non-compliance.

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.

We've been advocating for available, accessible and affordable communications in the lead up to the September election, discussing our current policy priority wish list with politicians from all major parties:

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The New South Wales Law Reform Commission (NSWLRC) has been asked to review and report on access to digital assets upon death or incapacitation. Digital assets can include images, videos, emails, online banking accounts, cryptocurrency, domain names, blogs and online gaming accounts.

The creation of digital accounts, use of digital media and services is common practice amongst Australian consumers. Despite the many ways Australian consumers engage with digital media and online services, there are inadequate legal protections for them and their digital assets after death. This raises questions about the digital legacy deceased Australians leave behind and what should be done to manage it.

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.

ACCAN recently submitted to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) consultation on the declaration of the Domestic Transmission Capacity Service (DTCS).Declaring the DTCS means that wholesale transmission prices on certain routes are regulated by the ACCC. Low DTCS prices means more service providers and more competition.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has called for new rules that require consumers to give their consent before receiving any kind of mobile premium service.

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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.  

The ACMA is developing new rules to protect consumers migrating to the NBN, as announced late last year. The ACMA has now consulted on all five measures which focus on improving the way the telco industry handles consumer complaints, the provision of information to consumers, and ensuring that consumers have access to a working service.


 ACCAN has submitted on the: Complaints Handling Standard, Record Keeping Rules, Consumer Information Standard, Line Testing Determination, and Service Continuity Standard.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is writing to federal, state and territory disability ministers today along with state and territory premiers and chief ministers urging them to adopt six key actions from its report Communications for All: the Role of the National Disability Strategy.

The Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) have begun the exciting and challenging mission of  rebuilding their website www.acma.gov.au and they're looking for your help.

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The Federal Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network is inquiring into the rollout of the NBN in rural and regional areas, focusing on the capacity and reliability of NBN satellite, fixed wireless and fixed line networks. ACCAN has submitted to the inquiry, presenting the major concerns of rural, regional and remote consumers and small business.

Some of the main issues and recommendations in our submission are:

Consumer advocacy group ACCAN says telecommunication providers need to stop charging mobile customers expensive per-minute rates for 13, 1300, 1800 calls to essential services, government agencies and businesses.

ACCAN welcomes today’s announcement that the Government is providing funding to the telcos to make Lifeline a free call from any phone but says there are thousands of vital 13 and 1800 numbers that many Australians are finding too expensive to call from mobiles.

After a year of community calls for action, including those made Fair Calls for All superhero, Number Woman, the telecommunications regulator, the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA), has proposed changes so that 1800 numbers will be free and 13/1300 numbers will cost about 30 cents to call from a mobile phone, just as they currently do from landlines.

Now’s the time to take action! The ACMA wants to hear from interested parties by this Wednesday 30th November. So far we've had over 750 people make a submission, and we've made it easy for you to share your story.

Send a message to the ACMA to say that you want Fair Calls For All. It only takes a minute or two!

Further background on the Fair Calls campaign. 

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ACCAN submitted to the Treasury’s consultation on the final Open Banking Report and the proposed regulatory framework for the national Consumer Data Right, proposed by the Productivity Commission in its Data Availability and Use inquiry. The Consumer Data Right will oblige organisations to provide consumers with the data that is held about them in a machine-readable format.

As part of its response to the Productivity Commission’s inquiry, the Government announced that the Treasurer would lead the development of the Consumer Data Right, which will be developed first in the banking sector, and then in the energy and telecommunications sectors in late 2018.

ACCAN has an interest in the current consultation as the development of the CDR in banking and its rollout will influence the development and establishment of a right to consumer data more broadly, including in the telecommunications sector.

Australia has the potential to be a leader in harnessing the technologies of the National Broadband Network to benefit consumers with disabilities, ACCAN Australia’s peak communications consumer organisation said today.

A new international study commissioned by ACCAN reports on 16 high-speed broadband applications that can provide enormous benefits to people with disabilities.

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