The Australian Communications and Media Authority has formally warned Dodo Services Pty Ltd (Dodo) about its compliance with the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code (TCP Code).
The warning follows an ACMA investigation which found that the telecommunications service provider had failed to send alerts to customers about their data usage (as required by the TCP Code). The failure affected some 3,300 Dodo fixed broadband customers in October 2013 and nearly 2,000 fixed broadband customers during November 2013.
‘Dodo cooperated with the ACMA’s investigation,’ said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman.
‘Once its failure to send the alerts was identified in its response to the ACMA’s enquiries, Dodo worked swiftly to fix the information technology faults that had prevented the alerts from being sent. Dodo also compensated affected customers and had capped the excess usage charges,’ he said.
All telco providers must send usage alerts to customers on post-paid broadband internet plans when they have reached 50, 85 and 100 per cent of their monthly data allowance (unless the plan is for unlimited data, the data is ‘shaped’ or if usage is capped at 100 per cent).
The Dodo issue was the only one identified during an ACMA audit of seven large and medium telco service providers to assess compliance with the usage alert requirements, which were introduced in September 2013. All seven providers had begun offering usage alerts before they became mandatory and several offered customers flexibility about when and how the alerts are delivered.
‘It’s again heartening to see that industry is embracing these new rules and actively promoting spend management tools to their customers,’ Mr Chapman said.