The Commerce Commission plans to address pain points for internet and cell phone customers who are having trouble with their service.
Photo: 123rf
Telecommunications Dispute Resolution Scheme figures show customer complaints about their providers continued to increase in the year to June 2020.
Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson said that needed to change.
"A key part of our work is determining what the specific pain points are for consumers and finding solutions to address them."
The commission held workshops with community groups and took submissions from industry stakeholders and consumers to work out where the problems were.
"Hearing from the industry, alongside consumers and community groups, was invaluable to help build a detailed picture of consumer issues at the coalface of the telecommunications industry,"
He said consumer feedback showed there was difficulty getting timely resolutions, it was hard to compare providers and plans and the speed and reliability of the services did not meet expectations.
"These have given us a wider view of what matters to New Zealanders and why.
"Our focus is now on conducting a broad-scale consumer survey on pain points before releasing a consultation paper in July on what pain points we propose to prioritise addressing," Gilbertson said.
The Commerce Commission was planning to publish a final paper in October which would identify what problems it will prioritise fixing before moving to address and test potential solutions in late 2021 and early 2022.