Press release
	Performance Indicator Summary
	Residential Quality of Service Indicators

 

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MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday 18 December 1996


TELECOM'S FAULT FIXING NOT WHAT IT SHOULD BE


"Telecom's performance in fixing faults is not what it should be. Consumers want problems with their phone service fixed within a reasonable time and do not want to listen to excuses about poor performance," said Hon Robyn McDonald, Minister of Consumer Affairs today.


The Telecom performance indicators released today show that the number of consumers who have had to wait more than 4 days for their phone to be fixed has increased by 133 percent. The number of faults cleared within 24 hours also decreased. Written complaints have jumped by over 70 percent as consumers have voiced their dissatisfaction with this poor fault fixing performance.


This performance in fixing faults is just not acceptable to consumers. Telecom should be able to make contingency plans to cover the worst events so that consumer's phones get fixed; this includes poor weather and lawful industrial action.


The other performance indicators remained at high levels or improved. For instance, the number of call minutes lost due to exchange outages fell by almost 50 percent.


In this day and age, consumers are demanding a reasonable level of service be provided. Consumers, while satisfied that performance is reasonable in other areas, will certainly expect to see improvements in Telecom's ability to fix any problems with their phone.

Telecom Performance Indicator Summary


On 31 October 1995, the Telecom performance indicator agreement was revised. Under this revised agreement, the number of performance indicators has increased from 10 to 15. New indicators that measure exchange outages, the number of party lines, correct white pages listing and complaints were agreed upon.


The new indicators are not directly comparable with those previously and therefore comparisons are only available with the previous period. The comparison with the previous period shows a deterioration in Telecom's fault service. This deterioration is behind the jump of written complaints.


On a positive note, the number of call minutes lost due to exchange outages dropped sharply. The other indicators relating to installing residential phones, providing payphones and directory assistance service has remained at high levels.


The main points are:

• the number of faults outstanding after 4 days increased by 133% to 7% of all faults;
• the percentage of faults that were cleared within 24 hours decreased by 10% from 60 percent to 54%;
• the number of fault reports per 100 circuit ends increased by 12.2% from 41 to 46;
• the number of written complaints about Telecom's service increased by 74.1%; and
• 96% of service requests met the customers requested installation time. Only 0.7% of service requests were outstanding after 96 hours.

Overall, Telecom's performance has declined significantly in the faults area. Performance in other areas has improved or remained at similar levels compared to the previous period.

Residential Quality of Service Indicators

Service Provision

1. The percentage of service requests that meet the customer's requested installation time.

2. The percentage of intact service orders completed within 24 hours if requested by the customer

3. The percentage of intact service orders that are not completed within 48 hours if the request by the customer is for installation with 24 hours.

4. The percentage of service requests outstanding 96 hours after the installation date requested by the customer.

Availability of Electronic Exchange Services

5. Call-minutes lost in electronic exchange outages

6. Number of party-lines

Directory Assistance

7* Average time to answer directory assistance calls (seconds)

8* Average time to handle directory assistance calls (seconds)

Directory Listings

9. The percentage of correct residential white page listings (as a percentage of total residential listings)

Complaints

10. The number of written residential escalated complaints regarding any aspect of service or getting service

Faults

11* Faults per 100 residential circuit ends

12. Percentage of repair commitments that meet the customer's request

13. Percentage of faults cleared within 24 hours

14. Percentage of faults outstanding after 96 hours

Payphones

15* Availability of electronic payphones

* Telecom performance indicators which can be compared with the original indicators.