Southern Phone and MyRepublic left as only telcos with double-digit complaints in context | ZDNet

Complaints to the Australian Telecommunications Ombudsman across the telco sector have continued to drop in the second quarter of 2021, with complaints per 10,000 services in operation (SIO) falling from 6.9 to 5.3, the Communications Alliance said on Friday.

In previous reports, complaints for individual providers reached into the high 20s, but in the latest report, only Southern Phone and MyRepublic are left with double-digit complaints per 10,000 SIO.

Southern Phone hit 14.8, MyRepublic recorded 11.5, Commander dropped from 10.9 to 8.6, Telstra posted 7.1, and Aussie Broadband went against the trend to see an increase to 6.9 complaints per 10,000 SIO.

Sitting below five complaints per 10,000 SIO were iiNet on 4.9, Optus on 3.9, Dodo with 3.8, TPG dropped to 3.6, Vodafone fell to 2.8, Exetel gained the silver with 2.6, and Amaysim recorded 0.3 complaints per 10,000 SIO.

“It is very encouraging that the industry continues to improve customer service and drive down complaint volumes in a pandemic environment where networks and the customers who rely on them are having to cope with unusual stresses,” Comms Alliance CEO John Stanton said.

“Providers are still working to keep Australians connected throughout lockdowns, and we strongly encourage anyone with worries about paying their bills to contact their telco and ask about financial hardship assistance.”

TPG seized on the drops across its brands after the 2020 merger with Vodafone.

“We have delivered customers a faster mobile network with our 5G rollout and spectrum optimisation. We have also increased our infinite data speeds on Vodafone plans, while TPG and iiNet mobile plans have ten times the data than before the merger,” TPG Telecom group executive for customer operations and shared services Ana Bordeianu said.

“Over the last 12 months we have seen an increase in customer digital engagement across our consumer brands, and we continue to modernise our digital tools to give customers more choice about how they interact with us and how they manage their accounts.”

Bordeianu added that the company also created an “integrated customer operations function” to work across its brands, before striking out at NBN.

“One of the biggest declines was across TPG and iiNet fixed broadband customer complaints, despite the problems caused by NBN Co with HFC and appointment delays,” Bordeianu said.

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