Vodafone may face fines from ACMA over network issues

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued two directions to Vodafone for failing to comply with the Telecommunications Consumer Protection (TCP) code over its network issues a year ago. The regulator said the company had breached the TCP Code, as it “failed to provide timely customer information about network performance in late 2010”. In addition to this, the company was also found to have failed to classify and analyse complaints from customers. The ACMA also took Vodafone to task for its “poor systems in place for protecting the privacy” of customers, through it Siebel-Oracle customer relationship-management system that was investigated by the privacy commissioner. The privacy commissioner had found that in-store staff had been sharing passwords. ACMA chair Chris Chapman said that the regulator had issued the directions to check that Vodafone keeps improving its customer services, and does not break the TCP Code again. Vodafone said in response that the company has already been working on improving its network and service. If the regulator finds the mobile operator has not taken sufficient action, it can ask the Federal Court to impose fines of AUD 250,000.