The New Zealand Consumer Survey, released by the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) this week, reveals home-based telecommunications has the highest incidence of problems.
However, this result isn't surprising, considering the amount of connections and associated transactions people have, according to The Telecommunications Forum (TCF) CEO Geoff Thorn.
Thorn says in the case of fibre, it is new infrastructure that is being rolled out across the country.
"The average New Zealand household has 4.6 telecommunications connections, so there is always going to be a higher level of complaints compared to other consumer goods or services that mare more commonly one-off purchases or single services," he explains.
"Given this, we would welcome the expansion of the way in which MBIE measures its results to put them into the context of volume of transactions or connection numbers, in addition to incidence and impact," says Thorn.
"We know that New Zealand consumers have access to world-class telecommunications services when measured by coverage, speed and price. However, we recognise that there are areas where the telecommunications industry can improve and we continue to develop industry processes which focus on delivering good customer outcomes."
Thorn says the TCF is currently working with the Commerce Commission on the new Retail Service Quality regime, which will be developed over the coming months.
