Communications Regulation and Digital Hub Development Agency (Amendment) Act 2023

Minimum quality-of-service standards

37. (1) The Commission may specify minimum quality-of-service standards to be met by providers of internet access services or publicly available interpersonal communications services when providing such services to end-users generally, or such class of end-user as the Commission may specify, in respect of any of the following:

(a) customer service, including—

(i) available customer service channels,

(ii) response times on available customer service channels,

(iii) time taken to revert to a customer if an issue is not resolved on first contact, and

(iv) escalation to complaint handling;

(b) complaint handling, including—

(i) available complaint handling channels,

(ii) acknowledgement times, and

(iii) time taken to resolve a dispute;

(c) outages and repairs, including—

(i) notification of planned and unplanned service outages,

(ii) time taken to restore service in the event of service interruption,

(iii) available channels for end-users to report outages,

(iv) times for provision of acknowledgement and estimated outage information to end-users after an outage has been reported, and

(v) timelines and methods for provision of updates on the outage;

(d) switching services, including—

(i) availability of handset unlocking facilities,

(ii) time taken to unlock a handset after any residual payment owing to a provider has been made, and

(iii) methods for payment of residual fees, where applicable;

(e) billing and refunds, including—

(i) time taken to review billing queries and complaints and to make any refund where a bill is found to have been incorrect,

(ii) measures to avoid bill-shock, and

(iii) instances of incorrect billing;

(f) disconnection policy in case of non-payment of bills, including—

(i) instances where disconnections may occur,

(ii) end-user notification in advance of disconnection,

(iii) service restrictions, and

(iv) reconnection process and fees;

(g) connections, including—

(i) the time for initial connection to the network,

(ii) connection failure rates, and

(iii) missed and delayed service and installation appointments;

(h) such other matters as the Minister may prescribe relating to paragraphs (a) to (g).

(2) The Commission may make and publish guidelines in relation to the application of minimum quality-of-service standards and providers shall have regard to those guidelines.