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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The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) says it is extremely concerned that a major Telstra mail-out bungle has resulted in a breach of privacy of some 220,000 customers including 23,500 silent-line customers and is calling on the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) to commence a major investigation into the issue.

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The board of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is pleased to announce the appointment of Teresa Corbin as the peak communications’ body new Chief Executive. Ms Corbin is currently Acting CEO at ACCAN and will move immediately into the new role.

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A new report into communications-related privacy complaints has found there are vast differences in complaint resolution times, remedies and compensation available to consumers, depending on which of the three statutory bodies you lodge a complaint with.

 

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Media reports that Telstra will put in place an “app cap” to cut off smartphone users’ internet access once they’ve reached their data allowance limit are not yet a reality, according to consumer group ACCAN.

The telco giant is yet to decide whether or not they will allow their customers to nominate a maximum spend to help them avoid bill shock, says ACCAN.

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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.

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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.

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ACCAN welcomes today’s release of the Australian Government Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy by the Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner, and Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Bill Shorten.

The Strategy outlines the steps that need to be taken to ensure all government web sites are compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 to its second highest AA level by 2015.

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A complaint sent by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) today (7 June) details six separate examples of telecommunications advertising that the consumer group believes breach the Trade Practices Act because they are misleading, deceptive or unfair – and sometimes all three.

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The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has formed an alliance of organisations representing the interests of Australians who are Deaf, hearing impaired and those who rely on captions for information, to bring attention to the growing issue of inaccessibility of online audio/visual content being posted to websites. Specifically, there are concerns around the amount of video content that is being auto-captioned on YouTube as the vast majority of these videos are not being reviewed for accuracy or readability.

An ad hoc survey of Australian Government websites found a range of problems with video captions, including videos with no captions, video captions with minor misspellings and videos with completely incomprehensible captions. Go to ACCAN's Facebook page to view a photo album containing examples of incomprehensible captioning. The websites of many Australian politicians, political parties and Government agencies feature these inaccessible videos.

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The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) congratulates the telcos involved in the TIO and Communications Alliance quarterly Complaints in Context report for their efforts in reducing the number of complaints for the April-June 2015 quarter. The latest report shows that Vodafone, Telstra, Optus, amaysim and Pivotel had 6.5 TIO complaints per 10,000 services in operation (SIO) for the quarter, a decrease of 9.7 per cent on the previous quarter, and a 14.5 per cent drop when compared to April-June 2014.

Three out of the five telcos recorded lower complaints when compared to the previous quarter. This is a great result and is good for consumers. It's also positive to see smaller provider, Pivotel joining the Complaints in Context reporting.

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The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) says that consumers should be aware of the high fees charged for calling directory assistance numbers. Today Telstra has introduced a $0.50 charge for directory assistance calls from landlines and other telcos charge for these calls often outside of the included plan value. Telstra customers on the Pensioner Discount are exempt from the $0.50 charge for directory assistance calls. See ACCAN's tip sheet for directory assistance call charges from a range of landline and mobile providers.

Wherever possible, consumers should use free, online methods of accessing this information. Directory information can be accessed online from the White Pages website or smartphone app or even by doing a simple Google search for the company or service required. However, ACCAN is concerned that call charges to directory assistance numbers may unfairly impact on consumers who don't have internet access or who aren't comfortable using the internet.

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The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is putting industry on notice that it will be closely watching the impact of revisions made to the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code. The Code registered with the ACMA replaces the existing Code from today.

"The TCP Code provides significant consumer protections. ACCAN will be keeping a close eye on how the industry performs under the revised Code," said ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin. "We want to see the debate shift from just being about deregulation to the more nuanced 'better regulation.' If we don't then consumers will begin to suffer due to reductions in community safeguards.