More than three-quarters of Australian telecommunications customers report being satisfied with their service, although this proportion has fallen slightly since the previous quarter.
The findings come from the latest Telecommunications Customer Satisfaction Survey published by Communications Alliance and conducted in partnership with Roy Morgan Research.
The study shows that 74% of respondents were satisfied with the ease of contacting their provider, while 83% reported no issues understanding their monthly bills. Satisfaction with the information provided about telecom products stood at 82%.
However, satisfaction declines noticeably when it comes to how providers handle complaints. Only 60% of customers were satisfied with complaint handling, down from 66% in earlier quarters and essentially unchanged from the prior quarter’s 61%. One in five respondents (21%) expressed some level of dissatisfaction with their provider’s customer service, and 9% said they were “very dissatisfied.”
The research also reviewed customer usage trends. Nearly all respondents (98%) used a mobile phone for personal use, compared with 71% who reported using a landline or VoIP service—a modest increase from previous surveys. Telstra remains the most frequently cited provider, named by 46% of participants, followed by Optus at 30%, BigPond (a Telstra product) at 27%, and Vodafone at 13%. Among users under 30, Telstra and Optus are almost neck-and-neck at 42% and 41% respectively, while Telstra/BigPond and Vodafone register 21% and 14%.
Communications Alliance characterized the quarter’s results as “mixed,” noting that several measures point to areas where the industry can improve.
The full survey report is available from Communications Alliance in PDF format.
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