Regulatory Policy Update for Communications Sector
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This document provides a summary of regulatory and policy updates from the Communications Alliance Director. Key points include: 1) Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman complaints are at record lows despite challenges from COVID-19, down 51% from previous highs. 2) Industry work to further reduce scam calls and expand coverage to SMS texts through broadening the existing Reducing Scam Calls Code. 3) Delay in finalizing the Existing Customer Authentication Code due to overlapping regulations from ACMA, but target commencement remains April 2022. 4) Development of new Online Safety Codes by July and December 2022 to implement the Online Safety Act regarding harmful online content.
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Regulatory Policy Update for Communications Sector
- 1. Regulatory and Policy Update COMMSDAY MELBOURNE CONGRESS 16 March 2022 Christiane Gillespie-Jones Director, Program Management Communications Alliance
- 2. © 2022 Communications Alliance 2 Real estate prices?….Probably not. Q2 18- 19 Q3 18- 19 Q4 18- 19 Q1 19- 20 Q2 19- 20 Q3 19- 20 Q4 19- 20 Q1 20- 21 Q2 20- 21 Q3 20- 21 Q4 20- 21 Q1 21- 22 Q2 21- 22
- 3. © 2022 Communications Alliance • TIO complaints at a ‘record low’, despite challenging times (COVID). • Down 51% compared to the highest pre-pandemic level of the last 3 years, and 36% compared to the lowest level in that time. • Complaints-in-Context: 4.1 complaints per 10k SIO in Oct- Dec 21 quarter. (average for top 10 recipients of complaints to the TIO from the previous FY) Lowest since CiC launched in 2014. • Continuing to work on improving the customer experience. 3 TIO complaints 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 Q2 18- 19 Q3 18- 19 Q4 18- 19 Q1 19- 20 Q2 19- 20 Q3 19- 20 Q4 19- 20 Q1 20- 21 Q2 20- 21 Q3 20- 21 Q4 20- 21 Q1 21- 22 Q2 21- 22
- 4. © 2022 Communications Alliance 4 Reducing Scam Calls and SMS Code • Reducing Scam Calls Code registered by ACMA in 2020. • Processes for identifying, tracing, blocking and otherwise disrupting scam calls. • Under the existing Code, industry has already blocked close to 400 million scam calls to Australians ( + millions more each month). • Now broadening Code to include SMS. Scam texts account for around 20% of all network-based scam activity. • Public Comment closed, now incorporating feedback, subsequently submission for registration with ACMA.
- 5. © 2022 Communications Alliance 5 Existing Customer Authentication • Draft Code released in Aug 2021: common set of principles to ensure providers have strong protections in place to authenticate that request to make changes to communications service is being made by customer / authorised reps. • In the meantime, draft Service Provider Determination by ACMA covering the same ground, final text yet to be settled. • Code to still to be formally considered by the ACMA Authority. • Industry preference for Code: appropriate flexibility to tailor authentication solution for vulnerable customers, e.g. for domestic and family violence situations or for flood victims etc. • Targeted commencement date of Code was 1 April. Now delayed due to circumstances of ‘overlapping instruments’.
- 6. © 2022 Communications Alliance 6 Online Safety • New Online Safety Act (in force since Jan 2022). • New Basic Online Safety Expectations (also Jan 2022). • Development of Online Safety Codes • Code covering pro-terror, extreme violence, child sexual exploitation material (Class 1A and 1B) by July 2022. • Code covering pornographic material (Class 1C and 2) following by Dec 2022. • Coalition of six industry associations as Act/Codes cover ALL online sectors: • Social media platforms • Electronic messaging services • Search engines • App distribution services • Internet service providers • Hosting service providers • Manufacturers and suppliers of any equipment that connects to the internet, and those who install and maintain the equipment • Any website
- 7. © 2022 Communications Alliance 7 National Security • Critical Infrastructure Reforms: • First Bill (enacted): emergency network/systems take-over powers • Second Bill (yet to pass Senate): Positive Security Obligation • Asset register • Cyber security incident reporting • Risk management program • Electronic Surveillance Reform: • Repeal Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act, Surveillance Devices Act and parts of ASIO Act & replace with a single, streamlined, technology-neutral Act by the end of 2023. • Discussion Paper proposes: • Very broad definition of communication, incl. M2M, IoT, signalling, quantum computing, info derived from machine learning; • Clear distinction between traditional content data (warrant) vs. non-content (metadata) (warrant-less, also at scale and over time); • Extension of requirements to non-carriers/carriage service providers, e.g. social media platforms, search engines, data centres. Telco rules Phase 1 (consultation closes 1 April) Telco rules Phase 2 (timing: “in due course”)
- 8. © 2022 Communications Alliance 8 Consumer Data Right • Consumer Data Right declared for the telecoms sector. • Cost-benefit analysis? Regulation Impact Statement? • Now consultation on CDR rules and standards design paper: • Questions include: • Threshold – should CDR apply to all service providers? • Which customers – exclusion of enterprise customers? • Which data sets? (legacy, closed accounts, historical data, unlimited data, metadata, etc.) • Timing/phasing?
- 9. THANK YOU!
Editor's Notes
- Sydney,15 February 2022 – Telcos have achieved the lowest-ever recorded complaint rates in the latest Complaints-in-Context report, released today by Communications Alliance. The report, covering activity during the October-December quarter, 2021, showed that across all participating service providers, there were 4.1 complaints to the industry ombudsman for every 10,000 services in operation (SIOs). The report details the complaints received by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) per 10,000 SIOs, creating an index that allows comparison of the customer service and complaint handing performance of providers, regardless of their size. Comms Alliance CEO, John Stanton noted that because report participants change slightly each year, the results are not directly comparable. “This is the strongest result achieved since the index was launched in 2014 and has been achieved against the backdrop of the continuing disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “The continuing decrease in complaint rates for most participants reflects the successful efforts by all of industry to improve customer service. This aligns with the 39.7% drop in all complaints received by the TIO for this quarter (compared to the same quarter in 2020), reported last week.” Stanton added, “The Complaints in Context results show that only one in every 2,439 of the services in operation among participating providers generated a complaint during the period.” The industry-driven report is published by Communications Alliance, using complaints data provided by the TIO and SIO data supplied by participating providers. Per the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code, the participants were updated this quarter to reflect the top 10 complaint recipients in the most recent TIO Annual Report, in addition to voluntary participants. Communications Alliance encourages any RSP interested in joining the index to contact them.
- PUBLIC COMMENT SOUGHT ON NEW INDUSTRY INITIATIVE TO COMBAT SCAM TEXT MESSAGES Sydney, 9 February 2022 – A strengthened draft Anti-Scam Industry Code - which now targets scam SMS messages as well as phone calls - has been released for public comment by Communications Alliance. The new provisions build on the existing, enforceable C661: Reducing Scam Calls Code, which was registered in 2020 by the industry regulator, the ACMA. Under the existing Code, industry has already blocked more than 350 million scam calls to Australians and is blocking millions more each month. Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton, said fraudsters had focused more strongly on scam SMS and short messages during the pandemic, partly because of the measures put in place by industry to fight scam calls. “Scam texts account for around 20% of all network-based scam activity and these new tools will help service providers fight what is a distressful scourge on Australian consumers. “This type of fraud may see consumers being asked to click on a link or call back a 1800 number. With more consumers having worked from home and receiving home deliveries, scammers have taken to sending messages impersonating messages from delivery companies and enticing consumers to click on fraudulent web links. “We’ve all received them – they are annoying, but also dangerous if the consumer falls for the ruse” he said. The revised Code features improved tracing and reporting measures, along with a new section dealing with the identification, tracing, and blocking of numbers associated with SMS Scams. The Code continues to provide a framework for co-operation and information-sharing among telecommunications service providers, that assists in the identification of scammers, so that blocking and enforcement action can more easily be taken. The draft Code will remain open for public comment until 11 March 2022, after which all the comments and feedback received will be assessed as part of the process of producing a final draft Code and submitting this to the ACMA for consideration for registration.
- INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT The Operations Reference Panel was tasked with reviewing Customer authentication principles to create an Industry Code designed to supplement other Industry regulation that seeks to provide a wholistic approach to authentication of a person seeking to take action that affects the use of a telecommunication service. This Code together with the associated Industry Guideline Existing Customer Authentication Industry Guideline (G668:2021) is designed to provide: a common set of principles for ensuring that CSP’s have strong protections in place to authenticate that a request to undertake an activity associated with supply of a carriage service has sufficient rigour to limit fraudulent activity that may affect the Customer; that a request to undertake an activity is being made by the customer or their Authorised Representative and has adequate authentication that is consistent with the level of risk that arises from the requested action; limits to the opportunity for fraudulent activity, in particular any action that could result in the customer losing access to their telecommunications service (e.g. via SIM swap or service transfer). The Code seeks to provides a framework for an approach to customer authentication that includes: (i) a focus on desired outcomes (rather than process); (ii) allows flexibility in how and when telecommunications providers use additional authentication measures to enable customers to use and make changes associated with use of their carriage service without undue delay’; (iii) provides easy to use flexible approaches to authentication that do not cause difficulties for those customers who are vulnerable or have special needs; and (iv) requires CSPs to provide information to their Customers so that they are aware of the authentication solutions that will apply to particular actions associated with the supply of the carriage service in a time and a way that makes sense to each provider authentication arrangements and their Customers. The intended result is for targeted approaches to existing customer authentication to limit the opportunity for fraud. In August last year, Communications Alliance released, for public comment, a draft Industry Code designed to strengthen customer authentication in the telecommunications sector, including measures to combat fraud perpetrated via communications services. We had earlier provided a draft of the instrument to the ACMA, in the hope of receiving some feedback from the regulator. Now, almost seven months later, we are waiting for the Authority members to formally consider the draft Code. The Authority has, in the meantime, also created a draft Service Provider Determination, covering essentially the same ground and is working on the text of that potential alternative. Industry players have stated a preference for the Code approach over the direct regulation approach, for a number of reasons, including because we believe the draft Code provides appropriate flexibility, necessary to enable service providers to tailor authentication solutions to meet the needs of vulnerable customers, including those at risk of domestic and family violence. We had targeted for the Code to take effect from April this year, but the unusual circumstance of having two overlapping instruments on the table has acted to delay the introduction of these important additional safeguards. We await advice from the Authority and hope to receive it soon. (The new Code C666:2021 Existing Customer Authentication, will work in concert with other regulatory safeguards, including the Pre-Port Verification Standard and the Reducing Scam Calls Industry Code, to seek to minimise scamming and fraud for all Australian telecommunications users. It provides a common set of principles to ensure that service providers have strong protections in place to authenticate that any request to make changes to a communications service is being made by the customer or their authorised representative. The objective is to limit the opportunity for fraudulent activity, in particular any action that could result in the customer losing access to their telecommunications service – for example via an illegal SIM swap or service transfer. The draft Code also requires service providers to give information to their customers about the authentication solutions that will apply to particular actions associated with the supply of the service.)
- PUBLIC COMMENT SOUGHT ON NEW INDUSTRY INITIATIVE TO COMBAT SCAM TEXT MESSAGES Sydney, 9 February 2022 – A strengthened draft Anti-Scam Industry Code - which now targets scam SMS messages as well as phone calls - has been released for public comment by Communications Alliance. The new provisions build on the existing, enforceable C661: Reducing Scam Calls Code, which was registered in 2020 by the industry regulator, the ACMA. Under the existing Code, industry has already blocked more than 350 million scam calls to Australians and is blocking millions more each month. Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton, said fraudsters had focused more strongly on scam SMS and short messages during the pandemic, partly because of the measures put in place by industry to fight scam calls. “Scam texts account for around 20% of all network-based scam activity and these new tools will help service providers fight what is a distressful scourge on Australian consumers. “This type of fraud may see consumers being asked to click on a link or call back a 1800 number. With more consumers having worked from home and receiving home deliveries, scammers have taken to sending messages impersonating messages from delivery companies and enticing consumers to click on fraudulent web links. “We’ve all received them – they are annoying, but also dangerous if the consumer falls for the ruse” he said. The revised Code features improved tracing and reporting measures, along with a new section dealing with the identification, tracing, and blocking of numbers associated with SMS Scams. The Code continues to provide a framework for co-operation and information-sharing among telecommunications service providers, that assists in the identification of scammers, so that blocking and enforcement action can more easily be taken. The draft Code will remain open for public comment until 11 March 2022, after which all the comments and feedback received will be assessed as part of the process of producing a final draft Code and submitting this to the ACMA for consideration for registration.