Thirty nine telco providers have been issued with formal warnings by the Australian Communications and Media Authority for failing to comply with the industry compliance scheme under the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code.
Telcos providing services to consumers were required to lodge documents to the industry compliance body, Communications Compliance (CommCom), by 1 April 2014 attesting to compliance with the TCP Code.
On 21 July 2014, CommCom announced that 331 telcos had lodged the required documentation for 2014, representing a very material improvement on 225 lodgers in 2013. The ACMA has issued formal warnings to those providers who have failed to lodge documents for the first time.
Investigations are continuing into the non-lodgement of documents by a number of telco providers already the subject of previous ACMA enforcement action.
‘These formal warnings by the ACMA reflect how serious the ACMA is about fostering a culture of TCP Code compliance by industry players,’ said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman.
‘It is again encouraging to see that the majority of active telcos have lodged documents with CommCom on time. However, the ACMA’s intention is to see all telcos, regardless of their size, taking the industry’s own compliance scheme seriously.’