Reliability and fault repair

Service reliability

The principal strategy to improve telephone services in Australia is to encourage effective competition in the telecommunications sector. This strategy is underpinned by a regulatory safety net, which includes the Universal Service Obligation (USO), Customer Service Guarantee (CSG), the Network Reliability Framework (NRF), extensive performance monitoring and reporting and a dispute resolution service under the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) scheme.

Information on the USO is on the Connecting the telephone page on this site.

The Network Reliability Framework

To ensure Australia's telecommunications network continues to improve, the Network Reliability Framework (NRF) requires Telstra to repair facilities used to provide services to Telstra retail customers that have recurring faults. For individual services, the reliability requirements are for no more than three faults in 60 days and no more than four faults in 365 days.

Under the NRF, Telstra is also required to report regularly to the industry regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), on network faults at a number of levels—ranging from regions to individual phone services. The NRF encourages Telstra to take preventative action to ensure that faults in services provided to its retail customers do not exceed specified levels. Where levels are exceeded, investigation is required and, where appropriate, remediation is undertaken. The ACMA monitors remedial action taken at an individual level and may issue directions to Telstra to undertake remedial action at a regional level. These arrangements help to ensure that recurrent faults are effectively targeted and promptly fixed.

Under the NRF, Telstra is required to report publicly every month on the performance of its telephone network. These reports are available from Telstra's Customer service page.

Fault repair

Unfortunately, telephone faults do occur and can affect individuals and businesses. To address this, there are a range of consumer protection safeguards in place to support the availability of high-quality and reliable telephone services.

Customer Service Guarantee

A key consumer safeguard is the Customer Service Guarantee (CSG). The CSG provides an incentive for telephone companies to improve their service performance and provide some redress to customers and small businesses in certain circumstances where minimum CSG performance standards are not met. These include the time within which new services must be connected, faults must be rectified, and appointments kept.

Under the CSG, compensation is payable to residential and small business customers where telephone companies do not meet performance requirements set out in the CSG Standard.

Fault repair time frames

If you experience a fault on your fixed phone service it should be reported to your phone company. Your phone company is required by law to repair faults on a standard phone service within the time frames set out under the CSG. The CSG requires that all repairs should not exceed three working days, except in circumstances beyond the control of your phone company. The exact time frames for repair depend on the nature and location of the fault.

The following table outlines the maximum time frames for repairs by your phone company, once you have made a fault report.

Community type	Community size (no of people)	Repair time
Urban	More than 10 000	End of next working day
Rural	Between 200 and 10 000	End of second working day
Remote	Less than 200	End of third working day

Where the fault is an administrative error by the phone company, or can be repaired without attending your premises, repair should occur by the end of the next working day after you have reported the fault.

Keeping appointments

The CSG also provides time frames for telephone companies to keep appointments. If a phone company makes an appointment with you to connect or repair a service, the company must commit to an appointment that is within a five-hour period. The phone company must keep this appointment unless it gives you reasonable notice. If the appointment is missed, you may be entitled to compensation. This generally occurs in the form of a credit to your account.

The following table outlines the definition of missed appointments for the purposes of the CSG.

Appointment period	Definition of missed appointment
Four hours or less	Phone company does not attend within 15 minutes of appointment period
Between four and five hours	Phone company does not attend within the appointment period

An extra 45 minutes is allowed where the phone company must travel long distances for an appointment. The extra time applies if your premise is in a community of fewer than 2500 people.

CSG exemptions—mass service disruptions

CSG timeframes for phone companies can be extended when circumstances beyond the control of the company prevents it from meeting the CSG standards. This could include natural disasters or extreme weather conditions that prevent the company from repairing services on time. Generally, such events cause widespread faults across a community and are called mass service disruptions (MSD). In these circumstances, a provisional extension of the CSG time frame may apply. This means that a CSG time frame will continue in which your phone company must provide the service, but with perhaps a longer time frame to take account of the MSD. Telephone companies are required to notify the ACMA, the TIO and the public when claiming an MSD. Typically, MSDs are notified by placing print advertisements in the local press in the areas affected by the MSD.

A claimed or notified MSD exemption does not necessarily mean the telephone company is exempted from the CSG. Consumers can dispute the claimed exemption, and the TIO has the power to review the company's claims.

Customers can challenge the validity of an MSD bycontacting their service providers directly, or the TIO on 1800 062 058.

Interim services—delayed repair

Telephone companies subject to the CSG are considered to have fulfilled their obligation to the CSG standards if a customer accepts the offer of an interim or alternative service, such as a mobile phone diversion.

Service complaints

The performance of a telephone company against the USO and/or CSG is a regulatory matter. The TIO, ACMA, and ultimately the courts have responsibility for assessing issues of compliance where satisfaction is not achieved through direct dealing with the telephone company.

If you have a complaint about a telephone company's fulfilment of its regulatory obligations under the USO and/or CSG, you should first contact the company and try to resolve the issues. If you are not satisfied with the response, most companies have arrangements by which consumers can escalate complaints internally.

If you continue to be dissatisfied with the company's response, you may wish to make a complaint to the TIO, the independent dispute resolution service that deals with complaints about telecommunications services including the CSG. The TIO's decisions are binding, and all carriers and eligible carriage service providers (including internet service providers) must participate in the scheme. There is no charge to have a complaint investigated by the TIO.

Having the TIO take action on your complaint does not restrict you from pursuing other avenues of complaint—such as state and territory fair trading offices, small claims tribunals or the courts.

Submit a complaint to the TIO:

TIO website
Make a free call: 1800 062 058

The ACMA will also investigate systematic breaches of the USO and CSG as necessary and enforce regulatory requirements. The ACMA can issue remedial directions and seek penalties of up to $10 million. Contact the ACMA office by phone on 03 9963 6800 or TTY (free call) 1800 808 101.