New data from the ACMA shows that while complaints to telco providers have dropped over the last 12 months, the proportion of complaints referred to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) is still substantial.
The 2025-26 telco complaints report shows that the proportion of complaints escalated to the TIO rose to 6.9 per cent, up from 6.6 per cent in 2024-25.
Overall, the report showed 748,501 complaints in the 2025-26 financial year, a decrease of 10.8 per cent from 2024-25.
The data also showed it took on average of 5.4 days for telcos to resolve complaints, a decrease from 5.9 days in the previous year.
In terms of individual telcos, the most recent quarter's rankings showed that Starlink had the fewest complaints with two per 10,000 services, while TPG internet had the most, with 76 per 10,000 services. Of the major telcos, Optus had 66 complaints per 10,000 services, while Telstra had 25.
With the release of the draft Telecommunications (Consumer Protection) Industry Standard for consultation last week, the ACMA is working towards having improved consumer protections in place at the earliest opportunity. Monitoring complaint trends assists in assessing the impact of new regulatory obligations, and will be of particular use when the new Standard is made and comes into effect.
The full telco complaints report 2025-26, published on the ACMA website, contains customer complaints data for 40 medium to large Australian telcos by services supplied.
