The Telecommunications Forum (TCF) welcomes the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution (TDR) Annual Report, published today, which shows the number of complaints enquiries received by the service has remained relatively static, in contrast to the increase in demand for telecommunications services.
In 2017/18, the TDR received 2261 complaint enquiries, which is consistent with the previous year. Meanwhile over the past five years, fixed broadband data consumption has increased by 500%, and mobile usage by 1600%.
Geoff Thorn, Chief Executive of the TCF says “what the report is showing, is that with approximately 8.2 million telecommunications connections, the number of complaints per customer remains relatively low across the industry.”
“In fact, when compared with overseas data, the annual number of complaints and enquiries received by the TDR as a percentage of connections across the industry, is substantially lower than similar services receive in other jurisdictions, such as Australia and the UK” says Thorn.
“We believe the TDR report shows a more accurate view of the performance of the telecommunications industry than similar complaints reports, by placing the number of complaints enquiries in context of the industry size” says Thorn.
The TCF Annual Report, published in August, shows New Zealand is well served by its telecommunications industry, with the cost of services for consumers decreasing year-on-year, and ongoing investment in infrastructure such as Ultrafast Broadband (UFB) and mobile networks remaining at one of the highest rates in the OECD.
“The complexity of communications services, and the reliance consumers place on connectivity, means we constantly strive to provide better and more consistent services across the industry. We take consumer complaints very seriously and will work towards improvements in the areas identified by the TDR’s report, to continue to improve the service the industry provides to consumers.”
