Australia’s communications regulator has issued a formal warning to Vocus-Group-owned M2 Commander for transferring a customer’s services to another telco without their consent.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said the transfer came after an unsolicited phone call from one of M2 Commander’s sales agents.
ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said the transgression breached the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code (TCP), calling the issue “particularly troubling.”
“At no point did the consumer consent to having their service transferred. This transfer should simply not have occurred,” said O’Loughlin.
M2 Commander was only handed a formal warning for the alleged breach.
ACMA also reprimanded 10 more telcos for alleged breaches by failing to lodge annual compliance statements with Communications Compliance, an independent monitoring group.
The telcos in question are CNS Group Australia, Exetel, Novel Telecom, Real Sim, Red Broadband, Simply NBN, Telco4U, Trikon, Uniti Wireless and Voiteck.
These companies were told to submit their compliance statements in order to prove they’re meeting their obligations to customers, or risk further action such as fines or court proceedings.
“We take breaches of the TCP Code very seriously. When telcos are failing their own customers it’s not good enough,” said O’Loughlin.
“These actions serve as a message to the wider industry that the ACMA will pursue failures to comply with consumer protection rules.”
M2 Commander was stung by the ACCC in March 2018, agreeing to compensate 5000 customers that couldn’t reach internet speeds stated in its marketing materials.
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