101/05
4 September 2005

Minister calls on industry to address unexpected high bills

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, has called on the telecommunications industry to immediately address the problem of unexpected high telecommunications bills.

“I have written to the CEOs of every major service provider to make it clear that the Government expects the industry to develop an effective registered code of practice, without delay, in the interests of protecting consumers, especially young people,” Senator Coonan said.

“I have told each CEO that the Government will consider implementing more direct action if a code is not implemented soon. Credit management is an important issue and I’m keen to have it resolved sooner rather than later.”

In some cases, surprise bills can cause considerable financial hardship and there are growing consumer concerns over some new premium services. For instance the popular SMS ring-tone services have caused concern due to the way they are promoted to young people and the difficulties experienced when attempting unsubscribe from some services.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has already developed a set of service provider rules requiring industry to inform consumers about the financial risks associated with premium services, the actions customers can take to lessen the risk of unexpected high bills and to enable consumers to unsubscribe to services they no longer want. The service provider rules came into effect in December 2004 and June 2005.

“I welcome the recent move by the industry to review the Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) Credit Management Code and I expect the industry will substantially strengthen the code in consultation with consumer representatives so that it addresses the issues identified in the ACMA report Preventing Unexpectedly High Bills,” Senator Coonan said.

“The ACMA report found that deficiencies exist with credit management practices in the telecommunications sector.

“The ACIF Working Committee for the Code comprises equal numbers of representatives from industry and consumer stakeholders, including a financial counselling expert.

“I encourage industry and consumer stakeholders to continue to work together, as they have done recently in the successful Consumer Contracts Code process, to achieve timely and effective outcomes.”