Rogue telecommunications companies could face financial penalties or be forced to pay compensation after a surge in complaints about mobile phone service and the national broadband network, the federal government warns.
The size, structure and methods of the industry ombudsman will also be scrutinised in a federal government review.
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield announced the review into customer safeguards after the watchdog reported almost 85,000 complaints in the six months to December 31, 2017.
That's an increase of 28.7 per cent on the same period in 2016.
A quarter of those were about the NBN, with more than 14,000 regarding service quality, and 8757 recorded about delays in establishing a connection.
"Clearly, telcos need to lift their game," Senator Fifield told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
"We want transparency and we want accountability."
The minister said the review would look at whether imposing financial penalties on telcos and forcing them to pay compensation to customers would be beneficial.
"You want there to be a bit of a sting for telcos when it comes to behaviour that isn't what it should be," he said.
But Senator Fifield did argue the ombudsman's figures omit a 16 per cent drop in complaints about the NBN during the first half of the year, when the national broadband network grew by 39 per cent.
Gone are the days where one company built the network, serviced it and took care of everything in the home, outgoing NBN chief executive Bill Morrow said.
"We each need to know what our roles are and which links of the chain that we contribute to, but we have to look across that entire chain itself to be sure that we don't drop the ball," he told the National Press Club.
Senator Fifield said the ombudsman is doing "very good and important work", but it was a "timely" opportunity to launch a review into how complaints were being handled.
"One of the things we'll look at in the review of consumer safeguards and complaint arrangements is the resourcing of the ombudsman, the structure of the office and the scope of the responsibilities," he said.
He denied he was "shooting the messenger" and said it was about improving the watchdog's capabilities.
"Australians want to know who's responsible when there's an issue and one of the best ways to lift performance in the telco industry is to have transparency," he said.
"When you can see who is responsible you have accountability and you can affect change."
Australian Associated Press
