Who must comply with Customer Service Guarantee (CSG)?

Standard telephone service providers face CSG financial penalties for missed connection + repair timeframes.

The Customer Service Guarantee Standard, enforced by the ACMA, sets how quickly a telco must connect or repair a landline telephone service and keep appointments, and the compensation it must pay automatically when it misses those timelines. A new connection is due within 5 working days in urban areas (10,000+ people), 10 in major rural and 15 in minor rural or remote areas, or 20 working days where there is no nearby infrastructure or spare capacity; an existing line must be connected within 2 working days. Faults must be fixed by the end of the next working day in urban areas, the second in rural areas and the third in remote areas. Appointment windows may not exceed 5 hours. Mobile, internet, fax and services for customers with more than 5 lines are outside the Standard.

Applies when the business has industry: Telecommunications carriers / CSPs.

How the regulator frames it: Telcos supplying a standard telephone service (fixed landline) to residential, charity and business customers, including connection of features such as call waiting and calling number display. It does not apply to mobile or internet services or to customers with more than 5 landline lines.

What triggers it: A customer request to connect a landline service or feature, a reported fault (cannot make or receive calls, repeated drop-outs, severe interference, or features not working), or an appointment made to connect or repair.

Jurisdiction: Commonwealth law, so the test is the same in every state and territory.

Outcome across the 35 industries Rules Mate maps (1 of 35: yes; 34 of 35: no).

Structure does not change the answer in telecommunications carriers / csps: for every structure the answer is "yes".

Size does not change the answer in telecommunications carriers / csps: at every size band the answer is "yes".

Each line is one run of the Rules Mate applicability engine for a single business profile, with the reason the engine gives:

• Pty Ltd company in telecommunications carriers / csps with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: applies. Industry: Telecommunications carriers / CSPs.
• Pty Ltd company in real estate agents with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: does not apply. Requires industry: Telecommunications carriers / CSPs.

When due

Per the timelines above for each connection, repair or appointment; a shorter time promised by the telco becomes the timeline. After a mass service disruption caused by a natural disaster, notified maintenance or third-party damage, the telco must notify affected customers (or publish a website notice) and tell the ACMA and the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman within 10 days.

Frequency

Ongoing

Evidence to keep

Connection and fault tickets timestamped against the CSG timeline for the customer's community size; appointment windows and attendance records; automatic compensation calculations and payments; written or recorded oral CSG waivers containing the mandatory disclosures; mass service disruption notices to customers, the ACMA and the TIO; exemption claims.

Status

Current

Priority

Medium

Maximum penalty: Missed timelines trigger automatic compensation to the customer for each working day of delay, at a higher daily rate from the sixth working day, plus a payment for each missed appointment; business customers receive higher early-day rates than residential and charity customers and can still claim for loss of business. The current amounts are published by the ACMA. The ACMA enforces the Standard against telcos.

Rules Mate has not yet classified the audit or assurance level for this obligation. Any audit, review or certification requirement is set by the regulator source listed below.

If this obligation applies to you, so do these 4: the engine uses the same rule for each.

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

Across the 1,890 business profiles Rules Mate evaluates, these obligations apply to most of the businesses this one applies to, and are far more common among them than among businesses generally:

• Comply with Basic Online Safety Expectations + industry codes: applies to 100% of the same businesses (11.7× the overall rate)
• Comply with online safety industry codes (Phase 1 + 2): applies to 100% of the same businesses (11.7× the overall rate)

Rules Mate tracks 5 published obligations tagged "telecommunications", 0 of them rated critical. For a professional services Pty Ltd company with 6–19 employees operating in every state, 0 of those apply outright. This obligation is rated medium priority, and is an ongoing duty.

Regulated by Australian Communications and Media Authority.

ACMA: Telecommunications, broadcasting, radio, and online content regulator. Administers Spam Act, Do Not Call Register, telecom consumer codes.

• Australian Communications and Media Authority

Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999: USO, CSG, TIO Scheme, premium services + national emergency communications.

• Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999

Free tools that help with this obligation:

• Compliance calendar builder