Welcome to the SETEL website
SETEL's role is to advance the interests of small, micro and home business as consumers of telecommunications services with industry, government and regulators. We seek to raise levels of awareness of telecommunications issues, products and services and assist small businesses to make informed decisions as consumers in the telecommunications market.
SETEL is concerned about the extent and quality of supply of telecommunications services to all Australian small businesses, particularly in areas where competition is either non-existent or is inadequate. The availability of affordable medium/high speed data services remains a key issue.
What's New
Connect.resolve is the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman (TIO)’s response to the severe increase of telecommunications customer service complaints in the past year. In 2007/2008 complaints to the TIO increased by 46% - up to nearly 150,000.
In this period ‘customer service’ complaint issues increased by a startling 94.2%, and now outrank any other complaint subject, hence the TIO’s identification of the need to embark on a special campaign.The complaints are often about issues such as wait times, getting switched many times between departments, and no follow-ups of simple requests, such as a change of address or a cancelling of a service. The ‘complaint handling’ complaint issues increased by 14% over the past year.
This campaign was launched on Friday, 21 November in Melbourne and will run until June 2009. It aims to:
create awareness of increases in complaints about customer service and complaint handling
encourage the telecommunications industry to focus on improving its customer service and complaint handling processes and systems as a priority
promote a collaborative response from all stakeholders – the TIO’s member organisations, industry groups, consumer groups, the regulators, and the TIO – which leads to:
an improvement in customer service and complaint handling, and
a sustainable decrease in the rate of growth of number of complaints about customer service and complaint handling, and in the number of such complaints, to the TIO.
The minister of the Department of Broadband, Communications, and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy has wholeheartedly encouraged the connect.resolve campaign stating that “The Rudd Government is very keen to ensure consumers are better represented and get a better deal in the telecommunications industry.”
For more information, head to the TIO's website: www.tio.com.au
Do Not Call Register: Expansion?
Over 2.3 million personal home and mobile phone numbers have been recorded with the Do Not Call Register over the past year. And, according to ACMA almost 90% of these no longer receive telemarketing calls. Perhaps it is time to expand the scope on who can register their number on the list.
Small Businesses, Emergency Services, and other organisations cannot currently register their number.
SETEL have previously advocated that small businesses be included, and are still of the same view.
One argument is that telemarketers have the potential to reduce the effectiveness of business operations. On the other hand, the needs of the telemarketing and fax industries have to be considered. However, the reduced base has made telemarketing more effective.
Right now, telemarketers can only call between the hours of 9am – 8pm on Weekdays, 9am – 5pm on Saturdays, and cannot call at all on Sundays or National Public Holidays.
Charities, religious organisations, governmental bodies and educational institutions are exempt from washing their lists against the Do Not Call Register.
The Department of Broadband, Communications, and the Digital Economy released a discussion paper seeking community views on potential changes allowing small businesses to add their phone number to the register, plus extending its scope to include fax numbers.
See SETEL's submission here.
No decision has yet been made.
Latest ABS Business Count.
As at June 2007, most employing businesses, 755,758 (90%) employed less than 20 employees.
• 527,445 (70%) with 1-4 employees, &
• 228,313 (30%) with 5-19 employees.
Small & Micro Businesses: 1,927,590 (non-employing + employing < 20)
Medium Businesses: 78,304 (9%) with 20-199 employees.
Large Businesses: 5,876 (<1%) with 200 or more employees.
More information on exit, survival, and growth rates for businesses can be found here.
Key topics for small business this month
CHECK your Mobile Premium Services
Content such as ringtones, wallpapers, news, games, and horoscopes and so on, can be sent to almost any compatible mobile phone. These services come at a cost which is a lot higher than the standard SMS rate, yet you may not be paying for one-off buys, but for a whole subscription to a service. The use of premium services may run up large bills, particularly when the user of the phone is not the primary bill-payer, such as a parent or employer.
To avoid big bills, the new 19 SMS website developed by Communications Alliance, has several tips on what to do before opting-in to any 19 SMS services:
- Check what you are actually purchasing: You may be buying into a subscription when you only want to buy one piece of content – for example, only one ringtone or psychic reading.
- Check the cost of the service: Check the details and amounts on your bill. Are you paying for a subscription service you don’t want or do not remember signing up for, renewal costs for this service, or more than what the content was advertised for?
- Check if it is a subscription or one-off.
- Check if your phone is compatible.
- Check the terms and conditions of the service.
- Ask questions if you are unsure
- Keep records of what you opt-in / opt-out for: When you sign up for a premium service, a confirmation message will be sent to you. Be sure to keep this message and read over it carefully.
- Text 'STOP' at any time to cancel. For premium content services there are no minimum contract periods. Once you have sent this message, another message from the content provider should be sent back within 10 minutes or 1 business day confirming that you have unsubscribed.
If there are issues with a 19 SMS service, the content provider providing this service should be contacted. The 19sms.com.au website contains a search engine for 19 SMS numbers, and can provide details on how to contact them.
If the issue is ongoing after the content provider has been contacted, speak to your mobile service provider, for example, ‘Optus’, ‘3’, ‘Vodafone’ etc, so they may help rectify or block the problem.
If the issue is still not resolved, then a complaint can be made to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman via their website, www.tio.com.au or by calling 1800 062 058
National Broadband Network (NBN)
Comments on the regulatory process necessary to underpin the proposed NBN were due in to DBCDE on 25 June however the full parameters of any selected tender proposal are not yet known. The event of the incumbent dominant carrier being the successful tenderer will have very different implications compared with success by a consortium bid. Additional price controls and access regulations spring to mind!
SETEL's view is that the data speeds promised by a fibre-based NBN are worth waiting for (up to 5 years) but that much more needs to be done in the interim to remove network impediments (RIMS & Pair-Gains) and upgrade most exchanges to handle ADSL2 with access to competitors. Broadband speeds of 1.5-2 Mbps are adequate but necessary for a significant majority of small, home and micro businesses in the short to medium timeframe to enable them to experience the growing range of applications that can benefits their business operations.
At stake due to the NBN tender process is the continued existence of competitive supply in a range of telecommunications services. Small business will not be well served by a very large dominant telco having significant control over access, pricing and service supply issues throughout most of Australia.
If the NBN timeframe is subjected to a delayed start date immediate remedial action is essential to upgrade existing services to supply all users with at least low-end broadband. Competition in copper, wireless, mobile and satellite networks can provide much needed services to all users while the fibre-based network (if selected) is rolled out.
Security
The issue of security in relation to ICT always comes to the fore when software upgrades are introduced. Security has to be addressed on a year-round basis hence the focus on those matters in this site.
Events
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman has recorded the biggest rise in complaints for the past 10 years. Since last year, the number of complaints has gone up by 46%. In the 2007/08 financial year, Ombudsman Deirdre O'Donnell's office received almost 150,000 complaints from consumers and small businesses who could not resolve a problem with their landline, internet or mobile phone service provider. A large 30% of complaints are about customer service and complaint handling matters, representing the biggest issue for consumers who come to the TIO.
In response to concerns, the TIO is launching their connect.resolve campaign by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy on Friday 21 November, in Melbourne.
Through this campaign the TIO aims to create awareness about complaints, customer service and complaints handling by:
Encouraging industry to focus on improving these complaint handling areas, and their customer service, and
Promoting a collaborative response from all stakeholders to deliver two benefits:
An improvement in customer service and complaint handling
A sustainable decrease in the rate of growth of complaints about customer service and complaint handling, and in the number of such complaints, to the TIO.
More details will be provided following the launch of the services
PoliciesSETEL develops concise policy statements to emphasise small business concerns about particular issues and to highlight SETEL's views.
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SETEL Newsletter No. 13 November 2008What was covered:
Previous newsletters can be read in full here |