Current Consumer ConcernsCommsDay Summit

Sydney, 10 April 2017

Teresa Corbin, ACCAN CEO

Current Consumer Concerns• Rural Regional and Remote

Communications • Mobile Coverage• Universal Service Obligation• Customer Service Guarantees• Broadband Speed • NBN Roll-out Issues• Low Income Measures for

Broadband• Third Party Charges

RURAL, REGIONAL AND REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS

RURAL, REGIONAL & REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS CURRENT FOCUS• Metropolitan Equivalence• Higher Dependency• Access to Emergency services & broadcast warnings• Lack of Availability

Fixed landlines v. alternative voice options Broadband services (nbn – sky-muster, fixed

wireless) Mobile coverage

• Reliability & Repairs• Affordability – pay a premium but less quality• Access to government services on-line (digital first

strategies)• Missing out on productivity gains with agribusiness

#BetterBushComms #DataDrought• Rural, Regional and Remote

Communications Coalition est. October 2016

• 19 organisations raising awareness about the important role of connectivity in regional Australia

• 5 priority areas with proposed action to achieve equitable access to communications in the bush

RRRCC Members• ACCAN• AgForce Queensland• Australian Forest Products Association• Better Internet for Rural, Regional &

Remote Australia• Broadband for the Bush Alliance• Cotton Australia• Country Women’s Association of Australia• Country Women’s Association of NSW• Country Women’s Association South

Australia• GrainGrowers• Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association• National Farmers’ Federation• National Rural Health Alliance• Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association• NSW Farmers• The Pastoralists' Association of West

Darling• Ricegrowers' Association of Australia• Victorian Farmers Federation• WAFarmers

The Coalition is seeking support for :

1. A universal service obligation that is technology neutral and provides access to both voice and data;

2. Customer service guarantees and reliability measures to underpin the provision of voice and data services, to deliver more accountability from providers and nbn;

3. Long term public funding for open access mobile network expansion in rural and regional Australia;

4. Fair and equitable access to Sky Muster satellite for those with a genuine need for the service, and access which reflects the residential, educational and business needs of rural and regional Australia;

5. Fully resourced capacity-building programs that build digital ability, and provide learning and effective problem solving support for regional, rural and remote businesses and consumers.

DELEGATION FROM ACROSS REGIONAL AUSTRALIA MEETS WITH OVER 50 MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT IN CANBERRA

OVER 2 DAYS IN MARCH 2017

Opportunities to raise concerns:• Roundtables with NBN CEO - liaison with NBN on outages• ISS shut down – Regular NBN updates• Raising Parliamentary Awareness• Parliamentary NBN Joint Committee,• Productivity Commission’s inquiry into USO• Pre-budget submissions• the ACCC Domestic Mobile Roaming Declaration Inquiry• consultation on the Government’s Telecommunications Reform

Package, • the Department of Communications’ review of consumer safeguards,

and• the ACCC Communications Sector Market Study• Mobile Blackspots Program (Round 2 & Round 3)• Broadband for the Bush Conference in Perth, June 2017

MOBILE COVERAGE

accan.org.au/consumer-resourcesCommunity Consultation Guide – 2nd Edition:

Mobile coverage is a key issue for consumers

ACCAN is helping communities understand what mobile network operators look for when weighing investment decisions

ACCAN’s Community Consultation Guide helps communities address issues withmobile coverage in their areas

Tips to improve mobile connectivity

to roam or not to roam..

• Will it deliver competition and choice?• What affect will it have on coverage?• What alternatives are there that may deliver

coverage and choice?

• Industry should be required to provide regular updates to the ACCC on coverage.

• There should be more transparency around advertising for MVNO so consumer better understand the service they are buying

• Regional consumers need additional coverage in areas where they live and work and travel including highways, small communities and in-paddock.

• Existing networks needs to be upgraded to improve capacity and reduce congestion.

• There should be monitoring of the domestic transmission capacity service backhaul and co-location issues with a view considering whether there are barriers to competition and potentially regulate this without roaming.

UNIVERSAL SERVICE OBLIGATION INQUIRY

USO

• Productivity Commission– Report (Draft Dec) (Final April)– Government Response Mid-late 2017

• ACCAN position– Voice, Data & Payphones– Service guarantees and reliability– Affordability– Accessibility– Funding, cost and implementation

Future protections and universal communications services

• PC Inquiry into Universal Service Obligation (USO)

• Departmental review Consumer Safeguards– Customer Service

Guarantee (CSG)– Wholesale level

guarantees & benchmarks

Review of TCP Code

FUTURE CUSTOMER SERVICE GUARANTEE

Posters for display in public spaces

New reliability measures

Agreed independent performance benchmarks for metrics such as:Number of minutes a customer is without service

per yearNumber of interruptions to a customer’s service

per yearDuration of each interruptionNumber of momentary interruptions per customer

per year

Policy proposal

• Wholesale obligation for NBN and all networks• Customer service standard setting timeframes

for fault repair, connections, appointment keeping

• Wholesale compliance incentives and remedies:– Customer compensation– Wholesale pricing decisions – Penalties

Retailer obligations

• Direct contractual relationship with consumer • Point of contact for consumer re connections,

fault repair, outages• Working closely with network for fast

reporting of issues and action• Administration of automatic customer

compensation if customer service standard breached

Retail performance measures

• Retailer management of capacity and contention

• Consumers need information to select best retailer

• Independent broadband performance monitoring (just announced)

• Publically available in easy to use format

BROADBAND SPEEDS

Competing on Speed

• Choice of speed is new for consumers• Independent broadband performance

monitoring (just announced) fixed services only• Provide in a user friendly format• Advertising guidelines to assist – generic labels

such as basic, standard and premium good idea• Upload speed is also important• Consumer education vital

NBN ROLL-OUT

Consumer Experience of Roll-out

• Access to Broadband has been a dream for some but for most QoS has been low before nbn

• For many the nbn roll-out has not been “seamless”• Consumers and the media report widespread confusion

and problems at all stages• Most problems are not standard and often fall out of

TIO jurisdiction• Consumers are passed between multiple providers,

agencies and end up going to politicians seeking answers

ACCAN submission to Parliamentary NBN Joint Committee:

• Recommendation 1: Network access should be enshrined in legislation. All premises should have guaranteed access to broadband services. The protection that NBN provides may need to be examined further as access to a network may not be sufficient, in itself, for a competitive retail market to deliver services to all consumers.

• Recommendation 2: Broadband standards should be established to protect services. This needs to include wholesale service obligations, arrangements to deal with tension between wholesale and retail obligations and incentives for compliance. Customer Service Guarantees and safeguards should be updated.

• Recommendation 3: An additional statutory determination that RSPs gain informed consent is required to ensure all consumers are thoroughly informed of the effect of switching to nbn.

• Recommendation 4: The Government should be encouraged to work with Optus to standardise the switchover process over their legacy network. All consumers in the fixed line areas should be given 18 months to switch.

ACCAN submission to Parliamentary NBN Joint Committee (continued):

• Recommendation 5: Sufficiently resource the ACCC to carry out the Broadband Performance Monitoring and Reporting Program across all nbn technologies.

• Recommendation 6: Require nbn to release Net Promoter Scores and congestion issues in an attempt to identify causes of problems and encourage better services.

• Recommendation 7: Require nbn to provide information on outages that are being experienced across its network and expected repair timeframes.

• Recommendation 8: Sky Muster plans should be increased to reflect the residential, educational and business needs of rural and regional Australia.

• Recommendation 9: Only those with a genuine need for the service, without alternative options, should be put on Sky Muster.

ACCAN submission to Parliamentary NBN Joint Committee (continued):

• Recommendation 10: Review the Centrelink Telephone Allowance to address affordability barriers.

• Recommendation 11: Establish a grants program for independent digital technical support and capacity building.

• Recommendation 12: Support the proposed clarification of the level playing fields rules policy that aim to ensure consistency across all networks delivering superfast broadband network access.

• Recommendation 13: Require nbn to provide clarity about areas and networks which it intends to overbuild.

• Recommendation 14: Supplying information to the Departments Telecommunications in New Developments map should be a mandatory requirement for all networks. Consideration could be given to extend the resource to other non-nbn networks operating in existing estates.

• Recommendation 15: International comparisons should reflect consumer experience and use of services.

THIRD PARTY CHARGES

Area for future consideration:

• Does the current regulation around third party

charging on telecommunications bills meet the

community expectations for providing an adequate

consumer safeguard ?

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