Australia’s consumer regulator has brought separate cases against the country’s top three internet service providers for allegedly making false statements about speeds, which the firms believe is primarily because of the government-backed broadband provider.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued a notice on Monday alleging that Telstra, Optus, and TPG Telecom made false claims about the maximum speed of the internet connections they offer and accepted payments from some customers for plans that did not provide the promised speeds.
In Australia, the government-owned National Broadband Network (NBN) provides wholesale broadband to internet service providers, who then sell it to their clients. TPG said it would compensate affected consumers, while Telstra and Optus said they would provide customers with remedial options.
TPG attributed the problem to NBN Co’s “failure to transmit timely and accurate speed information to TPG Internet” as well as its own “old processes from 2017” that have since been corrected.
According to the regulator, Telstra and TPG made false statements to customers between April 2019 and April 2020, while Optus did so throughout 2019.
“These three major internet providers are believed to have misled hundreds of thousands of consumers,” stated ACCC chair Rod Sims.
What’s more disturbing is that Telstra, Optus, and TPG were well aware of the problems and had previously issued the ACCC pledges to provide customer remedies. The ACCC is seeking penalties and other measures but has not specified a dollar number.
INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS ARE BEING CHARGED WITH MAKING FALSE SPEED CLAIMS
