- Details
ACCAN’s submission to the Independent Review into the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) highlighted the important role of the TIO, but also identified a number of areas for improvement.
The final report agreed with ACCAN’s recommendations that there is a need for:
Read more: Positive outcomes from TIO review
Write comment (0 Comments)- Details
ACCAN contributed to the Financial Rights Legal Centre’s joint consumer submission on the Review of the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code 2014 (CR Code). The other contributors included the Australian Privacy Foundation, the Consumer Action Law Centre, the Consumer Credit Legal Service (WA), and Financial Counselling Australia.
The CR Code makes up part of Australia’s credit reporting scheme, and is important as it strengthens consumer privacy protections. The joint consumer submission makes 34 recommendations on a wide range of consumer issues including: Repayment History Information and financial hardship; the need for independent code governance; the inclusion of credit scores on free credit reports; ongoing problems with accessing free credit reports; and many others.
Read more: Joint submission to Review of the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code 2014
- Details
ACCAN provided comments to the Communications Alliance on the Prepaid Calling Card Guideline. The original purpose of the Guideline was to ensure that consumers were adequately informed when making a decision on which calling card to buy. ACCAN submitted that the current Guideline no longer achieves this purpose and that its objectives should be redrafted to reflect its actual content. This is because a 2015 review of the Guideline removed a majority of content that was replicated in the Australian Consumer Law and by the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code. The Guideline now only contains two sections; one on Emergency Services Requirements, and another on general rules. ACCAN submitted that if the Guideline were to be withdrawn, it should be on the condition that these two sections are moved to a new enforceable instrument.
Read more: Revision of the Prepaid Calling Card Guideline (G640:2015)
- Details
As a member of the Broadband for the Bush Alliance (B4BA), ACCAN contributed to a response to the NT Government’s discussion paper, Towards a digital strategy for the NT. The paper clearly outlines many of the benefits of increased connectivity and ICT innovation for Territorians. However, B4BA argues in its submission that in order to design and implement an effective digital strategy, current barriers to affordable, accessible, and reliable telecommunications services must be addressed.
Importantly, B4BA has recommended that the NT Government’s digital strategy should prioritise achieving basic levels of access for all Territorians. This would include providing reliable and affordable broadband internet in the 44 communities where it is not yet available, and mobile services in the 30 communities where there currently are none.
Read more: Towards a Digital Strategy for the Northern Territory
- Details
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has powers to request information from providers in the telecommunications market about telecommunications infrastructure. These powers are an important tool to inform the ACCC’s work. As an example, the ACCC could use these powers to request information about infrastructure like the mobile networks owned by Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.
The ACCC is consulting on improvements and revisions to the information it requests from telco infrastructure providers. ACCAN welcomes the proposed changes to these rules as they benefit competition in the telecommunications markets.
Read more: Audit of Telecommunications Infrastructure Assets – Record Keeping Rules 2013
- Details
The summary below outlines ACCAN's activities from 1 June – 31 August 2017.
- Details
With many people travelling or taking time off over the holidays, we thought we’d share some tips to help you keep track of your data usage, use your phone overseas and get issues resolved.
Mobile
If you are travelling locally you may be more reliant on your smartphone and you might find your data allowance getting used up more quickly. Check out our tip sheet on how to use less data on your smartphone and our blog on how much excess data will cost you.
Read more: Phone and internet tips for the holidays
Write comment (0 Comments)- Details
ACCAN worked with Dr Greg Ogle of the South Australian Council of Social Services to analyse the detailed telecommunications data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2015-16 Household Expenditure Survey. This analysis provides a more detailed view of the telecommunications expenditure of different groups in Australia.
Some key findings are that:
- Details
RRR Communications Coalition celebrates one year
By Teresa Corbin & Fiona Simson*
Anyone who lives in a rural or regional area knows the pain of poor telecommunications services. We often hear stories of people pulling their hair out trying to run businesses, apply new technologies and educate their kids on small data allowances and unreliable connections.
Read more: All we want in 2018 is #BetterBushComms
Write comment (0 Comments)- Details
For consumers, migrating their services to the National Broadband Network (NBN) can be complicated and any loss of services or functionality can cause significant risk to life and result in extra costs and inconvenience for consumers. This statement sets out key areas that ACCAN believes should be improved for a successful consumer experience.
- Details
An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Melbourne have updated their research on the fate of online accounts, financial assets and personal profiles when a user passes away. The team investigated licencing policies, terms of use agreements and copyright law, and interviewed a range of people, including funeral directors, religious workers, internet content and service providers, as well as estate planning lawyers.
The updated version includes new features and services such as 'legacy contact' options, legislation changes and online bereavement practices.
- Details
nbn announced today that it will 'pause' the rollout of NBN HFC connections. This is because nbn has identified issues in the HFC rollout that need remediation, and will be taking a more careful approach that should result in improved customer experience. ACCAN welcomes this approach.
Consumers in HFC areas may be wondering how this announcement will affect them. We have identified five different situations that consumers may find themselves in. See below for information on how consumers in HFC areas may be affected.
Read more: nbn ‘pauses’ new HFC connections
Write comment (0 Comments)