Consumers deserve to know where and when telco outages occur, and need to see a transparent, public register of outages, says peak communications consumer body ACCAN in a new position paper published earlier this month.
Australia’s current framework for outage reporting requires telecommunication providers to inform customers and the public if there is a major outage or a significant local outage. However, the way outages are communicated to the public varies greatly. Websites, social media pages, email, SMS and broadcast media all inform the public of outages, but there is no single source of truth.
The position paper, now available on the ACCAN website, calls for a national register on communications outages which would enhance transparency of outage reporting and help keep telcos accountable through data-driven oversight of network performance.
ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett said that a known, centralised and searchable database of outages should be implemented to restore shaken trust in the telecommunications sector.
“Public confidence in telco services, including Triple Zero, have taken a real blow over recent weeks,” Ms Bennett said. “Telco services are essential, and consumers have a right to easily access information about the outages that impact their day-to-day lives.”
“Senate hearings last week revealed greatly concerning information that the Optus network had 272 reportable outages between 11 September and 8 October. Consumers have no way of accessing this information at present.”
“We simply have no way of knowing the ‘when’, the ‘why’, the ‘who’ and the ‘where’ of network outages, and this must change. It’s vital that consumers have a single source of information regarding network performance.”
The Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN), which provides financial counselling and capability services across Far North Queensland, supports the call for a national outage register.
ICAN CEO Aaron Davis said the experiences of many remote communities reflect what the nation witnessed during the Optus outage.
“The experience of Optus customers affected by the recent outages is well known to people living in many remote communities across north Queensland. However, the complete lack of publicly available data regarding these outages means it has been a hidden problem for many years.
We have spoken to people in remote communities who have experienced outages for days and sometimes weeks at a time. In one community, a paramedic and domestic violence worker highlighted the reality of an unreliable telecommunications network and the inability of people to access emergency services.
A national register that ensures oversight over the frequency and extent of these outages will shine a light on how unreliable telecommunications are in regional, rural and remote Australia. Communities have a right to access and use this critical data to advocate for improvements in essential telecommunication services.”
Ms Bennett agreed, saying:
“A national register of outages will consolidate the fragmented outage reporting framework, promote transparency, increase public scrutiny of telco performance, and identify outage trends.
The telco industry has shown a consistent disregard for transparent information sharing. We look forward to seeing the establishment of this register, which we anticipate can be quickly implemented, with minimal additional compliance costs for the industry.”
You can read ACCAN’s position paper here…