Do telecommunications carriers / CSPs need to comply with Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) for standard phone services?

Comply with Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) for standard phone services. The Customer Service Guarantee Standard (CSG Standard), enforced by the ACMA, sets how quickly a telco must connect and repair a landline telephone service and the compensation it must pay when it misses those timelines. Timelines depend on community size: a brand new service must be connected within 5 working days in urban areas (10,000+ people), 10 in major rural areas and 15 in minor rural and remote areas, and an existing service within 2 working days everywhere.

Trigger: A customer request to connect a new or existing landline service or feature, a reported fault (no calls, repeated drop-outs, severe interference) or an appointment made to connect or repair a service.

Rules Mate runs its applicability engine across 9 business structures and 6 size bands for each of the 35 industries it maps. For 34 of those industries the answer for "Comply with Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) for standard phone services" is no. Telecommunications carriers / CSPs is one of the 1 where the answer is different: yes.

The deciding fact for telecommunications carriers / CSPs: Industry: Telecommunications carriers / CSPs.

About the industry: Carriers and carriage service providers under the Telecommunications Act.

Compare a professional services (general) business with 6–19 employees structured as a Pty Ltd company: the obligation does not apply (Requires industry: Telecommunications carriers / CSPs).

Each cell is the engine's outcome for a business in telecommunications carriers / csps with that structure and size, assuming it sells to consumers and small businesses and holds customer contact details. "Check" means the obligation turns on a fact the industry does not settle.

When due

Connection and repair within the CSG timelines for the customer's community size (unless the telco has committed to a faster time, which then applies); compensation paid automatically for each working day of delay; mass service disruption notices within 10 days of the disruption starting.

Evidence to keep

Service request and fault logs with timestamps and community classification; appointment windows offered and kept; compensation calculations and payment records; written or oral CSG waivers with the required disclosures (oral waivers confirmed in writing, with a 5-working-day withdrawal right); mass service disruption notices to customers, the ACMA and the TIO.

Maximum penalty

Automatic compensation for each working day of delay: for residential and charity customers $14.52 per day for days 1-5 and $48.40 per day from day 6 for a standard telephone service, and $14.52 per missed appointment; for business customers $24.20 then $48.40 per day and $24.20 per missed appointment (ACMA, last updated 20 March 2024). Business customers keep any claim for loss of business. The ACMA enforces the Standard

Regulator

ACMA

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth (national)

• Comply with Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code: Yes
• Comply with the Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMs Industry Code: Yes
• Telco data retention — 2 years (Part 5-1A Telecommunications Act): Yes
• Customer Service Guarantee (CSG): Yes