Optus boss admits we're poorly served

Optus boss Kevin Russell has finally come clean on what most of us already knew: the poor service standard of the Australian telecommunication industry.

Local telco providers often fall well behind technology companies and even Australian banks when it comes to looking after customers, Mr Russell said.

Proof of the poor service can be found in complaints against telcos to the industry ombudsman, which reached ''stratospheric'' levels in recent years, he said.

''The standard of service in Australia relative to the standard of service in the UK just seems have gone backwards,'' Mr Russell told an Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch in Melbourne.

It was important for the industry to lift its game on customer service to head off competitors such as Google and Apple and to recoup billions of dollars invested in its super-fast 4G network and spectrum licences, he said.

''It makes me nervous that two core competitors have brand recognition with customers that is fundamentally higher than our relationship,'' he said. ''That is a strategic risk that makes me nervous.''

Optus is Australia's second-biggest telco with more than 9 million accounts linked to its network.

Meanwhile, Mr Russell said he worried about whether telcos were able to get returns on their large investments in spectrum and 4G networks in an environment where revenues were expected to decline steadily.

Australia's major telcos, including Optus, recently paid a combined $2 billion to expand their wireless data and broadband capabilities. Telstra, Optus and TPG all bid for new licences in the auction of wireless spectrum previously allocated to analogue television.

''My simple logic is if you are going to ask people to pay a bit more, your service better be good. Happy customers will pay a bit more and … unhappy customers will not pay a bit more.''

He said telcos are likely to charge more in the coming months as they roll out their super-fast 4G networks which allow people to download data faster.

smh.com.au 31 May 2013

Australia is truly in the telecommunications dark ages, no thanks to the industry's regulators.

GSM networks set up in developing countries are cheaper and faster than in Australia.

So called government regulators work for the benefit of corporations and not the general populous, as percieved by many.

If the government regulators worked for the benefit of the masses the results would speak for themselves.