The New Zealand Telecommunications Forum (TCF) is pleased to see that this review will now commence.
“Although complaints and enquiries have increased, the majority are resolved by the telecommunications providers themselves, with the TDRS dealing with only 1.9% for the January to June 2020 period (which included the country’s lockdown)”.
Thorn said with nearly 8 million telecommunications connections in New Zealand, the number of consumers complaints and enquiries raised with TDR, relative to connection numbers, continues to be very low compared to other countries such as Australia.
The TCF accepts that there will always be room for improvement, and looks forward to working with the Commission to identify consumer pain points, and identify ways to resolve them.
Thorn says, “with increasing complexity of technology and ever-growing reliance on telecommunications services, providers are continually rising to meet the challenges of customer expectations, but overall, the telecommunications sector in New Zealand is in very good shape”.
For the sixth year in a row New Zealand was ranked 3rd in the world in the GSMA index which is based on four key enablers: infrastructure, affordability, consumer readiness, and content and services. “The GSMA ranking reinforces that New Zealanders are well served by world-class telecommunications networks and services – the result of about $15 billion of investment across the entire sector over the past decade,” says Thorn.
The TCF and telecommunications industry takes this review seriously and we look forward to engaging with the Commission on its review. Read the Commerce Commission media release here.
