Telstra pays out $11m in delayed compensation

Telstra has paid out $11 million in compensation to customers and agreed to undergo an independent review of its compliance with compensation rules after admitting to having delayed compensation payments of more than $11 million to customers.

An Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) investigation found that due to internal system errors, Telstra failed to accept it was liable to pay compensation within the mandated 14-day time limit on more than 67,000 occasions.

Under industry rules, telcos must pay compensation if they do not meet agreed time frames around landline connections and repairs. In the event a time frame is exceeded, telcos have 14 days to assess whether it will accept liability to pay the compensation.

The investigation followed recent findings by ACMA that Telstra also breached standards covering billing accuracy, maximum available speed and Integrated Public Number Database (IPND) registrations due to problems with legacy IT systems.

ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said Telstra has now paid affected customers more than $11 million in compensation and entered into a court enforceable undertaking with the regulator committing to implementing an improved payment assessment solution.

“Telstra knows it has had a problem with its internal systems and processes, uncovered through its T22 business strategy,” she said.

“The company has self-reported this and other recent breaches. It is critical that Telstra addresses these longstanding issues in building new systems and processes and, where it is obligated to, compensates its customers for historical breaches of telco rules.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Andrii Yalanskyi