The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, the peak body representing Australian communications consumers, today announced the results of its third National Survey. The survey examined the local telecommunications landscape with research conducted by Ipsos Australia. A national representative sample of 1079 surveys were completed.
ACCAN's National Survey shows that mobile phones are now definitively the universal communications service preferred by Australians, with 98 per cent of respondents owning a mobile phone. Not surprisingly, the number of respondents with a fixed line service dropped to 73 per cent, down from 77 per cent in last year's survey. Eighty-six per cent of respondents said they have a home internet connection.
"Since we commissioned our first National Survey in 2012 we've seen a significant increase in mobile phone ownership and consistent decreases in the use of fixed landline services," said ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin. "This isn't surprising as smartphone usage continues to grow and consumers don't see the need to pay for a fixed line service anymore."
The data showed that Telstra remains dominant for fixed line services and home internet, but its lead is less pronounced in the mobile market. Amaysim appears to be closing in on Virgin to take over the fourth spot in the mobile market.
The survey revealed that when respondents received an unexpectedly high bill, almost half (49 per cent) said that this was due to data or excess data charges.
"This is in line with the recent annual report released by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman that showed a 27.2 per cent increase in complaints about excess data charges," added Ms. Corbin. "There is clearly a mismatch between data usage and plans, especially when research from the ACMA shows that average monthly mobile data usage for Australians is 2GB while separate research from the CSIRO stated that most Australians are on plans that only provide 1GB or less per month."
Of those who received an unexpectedly high bill, 60 per cent said they complained to their telco when they had an issue with their service. Those aged 55 years and over were more likely to complain than younger people. Just over half (52 per cent) were satisfied or very satisfied with the response to their last complaint while almost one third (32 per cent) were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with how the complaint was handled.
According to the survey, 45 per cent of respondents had contacted their telco provider with an enquiry or to deal with an issue in the previous 12 months. When making contact with their service providers, the vast majority (83 per cent) made contact by phone. Online contact via websites comprises 10 per cent of the contact that respondents had with their telcos.
"While online contact methods were low overall, we noticed that these methods are more popular than average for customers of Amaysim and LiveConnected. Unsurprisingly, online contact methods are also popular with those aged between 16-24," said Ms. Corbin.
A majority (57 per cent) of those who contacted their service providers in the last 12 months were either very satisfied or satisfied with the experience.
See below for links to the results of the ACCAN National Survey.
ACCAN Consumer Perceptions 2014.docx355.83 KB
ACCAN Consumer Perceptions 2014.pdf1.94 MB
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