10 January 2014

The other CSG

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has announced that Telstra has paid an administrative penalty of $510,000 for failing to provide timely new urban landline customer connections in the 2012-13 financial year.

ACMA issued an infringement notice to Telstra following the annual assessment of Telstra’s compliance with Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) benchmarks.
The CSG benchmarks provide important safeguards for fixed-line telephone service customers for connecting a service, repairing a fault or service difficulty and for attending appointments with customers.
There are nine such benchmarks, of which Telstra met seven. The two that were not met were:
  • for new connections in urban areas (88.6 per cent performance against a 90 per cent benchmark), and 
  • for new connections in remote areas (89.0 per cent performance against a 90 per cent benchmark).
The infringement notice has been issued with respect to the first benchmark, with a formal warning  issued with respect to the second.
In deciding to issue the infringement notice and the formal warnings,  ACMA took into account Telstra’s positive and early responses and its open engagement with the ACMA. The ACMA also took into account that 2012-13 was marked by extreme weather events which affected Telstra’s fixed line network, particularly in remote areas.