The Communications Alliance has announced: ‘Hutchison 3G Australia Pty Ltd (3 mobile) has become the first signatory to the new code designed to protect telecommunications consumers.’
They’re talking about the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code, a consolidation of six previous codes that had become topsy-turvy.
3 has shown leadership by voluntarily signing up to the TCP Code. But providers who don’t sign on the dotted line still can’t ignore it.
Signing up to a Code is largely a PR exercise
There’s no law that forces a phone or internet provider to sign the register and bind itself to the Communications Alliance consumer protection code. But you may get brownie points for taking the extra step.
But you can’t avoid the code by not signing up
ACMA has power to direct any provider to comply with a code – see section 121 of the Telecommunications Act 1997.
After that, failure to comply is a breach of the Act, and attracts penalties of up to $250,000 for companies and $50,000 for individuals who are involved.
You’d need to behave pretty badly to put yourself in that position, but the point is that non-signatories do indeed need to keep code compliance in mind.
3 has audited its systems and taken the plunge
It would be embarrassing, to say the least, for a company to sign up for code compliance and be found guilty of a swag of breaches. So 3 has audited its processes and is satisfied that it has robust compliance in place.
According to the Communications Alliance’s media release, Michael Young (Director, Technology and Customer Services at 3) said: ‘With the establishment of this single code, it makes it easier for 3′s customers to know their rights and ensures that 3′s business practices, procedures and staff training are in line with the requirements of this and other industry codes.’
Call a CSP Central expert of you want to know more about CA Codes and code compliance
Peter Moon has been advising on code compliance for more than 5 years.
Loading ...
No comments yet.