🇦🇺Australia

Verstöße gegen Abrechnungs- und Verbraucherschutzregeln verursachen Geldbußen

5 verified sources

Definition

The ACMA enforces compliance with the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the registered TCP Code, which sets rules for billing, sales, and account information.[6] The TCP Code explicitly defines billing processes, billing accuracy and the need for valid calculation of charges and clear itemisation.[1] The Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 strengthens this regime by mandating registration of carriage service providers, mandating compliance with industry codes, and increasing pecuniary penalties for non‑compliance.[2][5] ACMA’s published compliance priorities emphasise enforcing new rules to support telco consumers and using its expanded penalty powers.[10] When a call‑centre or telco mis‑bills customers (for example, charging incorrect call durations or undisclosed fees), the conduct can breach both the TCP Code and Australian Consumer Law (misleading or deceptive conduct), exposing the operator to ACMA infringement notices and court‑ordered penalties. Given the Bill’s focus on raising penalty caps and empowering the Minister to increase infringement‑notice penalties, a medium‑size provider facing systemic billing failures across many customers can face aggregate penalties in the high six to seven figures alongside remediation costs and potential loss of registration as a CSP.[2] Even before court action, businesses frequently refund over‑charged amounts and provide customer compensation to avoid escalations, creating direct cash outflows in addition to regulatory fines.

Key Findings

  • Financial Impact: Logic-based: ACMA infringement notice penalties for significant TCP Code breaches can reasonably reach AUD 250,000–500,000 per investigation for a mid‑tier provider (multiple contraventions), plus forced refunds of over‑charging often in the AUD 100,000+ range across affected customers.
  • Frequency: Low‑frequency but high‑impact events; typically arising from systemic billing configuration errors uncovered by customer complaints, TIO escalations or ACMA audits.
  • Root Cause: Lack of robust compliance governance over billing logic, inadequate testing of minute/transaction rating rules, weak documentation and record‑keeping, and failure to keep billing practices aligned with updated TCP Code and consumer‑law expectations.

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Australian 🇦🇺 telco‑aligned call centres risk ACMA penalties in the hundreds of thousands of AUD, plus mandated remediation projects, when billing systems mis‑calculate or mis‑present minute‑based charges. Implementing compliant, auditable billing workflows and automated calculation logic drastically reduces this exposure.

Affected Stakeholders

CFO, Chief Compliance Officer, Head of Legal, Billing Manager, Customer Operations Director

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Financial Impact

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Current Workarounds

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Methodology & Sources

Data collected via OSINT from regulatory filings, industry audits, and verified case studies.

Evidence Sources:

Related Business Risks

Ungenaue Minuten- und Transaktionsabrechnung führt zu Erlösverlusten

Logic-based: 1–3 % of annual client‑billing revenue lost to mis‑rated or missing minutes/transactions. For a call centre billing AUD 10 million p.a. on usage, this equates to AUD 100,000–300,000 per year in leakage.

Verzögerter Zahlungseingang durch fehleranfällige, nicht PEPPOL‑fähige Abrechnung

Logic-based: Additional 10–20 days DSO on usage‑based invoices; for a provider with AUD 1 million monthly billings, this ties up approx. AUD 333,000–666,000 in working capital (equivalent financing cost of ~AUD 15,000–30,000 p.a. at 4.5 % cost of capital).

Kundenabwanderung durch intransparente und schwer nachvollziehbare Minutenabrechnung

Logic-based: 5–10 % annual revenue churn driven by billing‑related client dissatisfaction. For a provider with AUD 20 million in annual contracts, this equals AUD 1–2 million per year in lost revenue, plus additional acquisition costs.

Incentive Calculation Overtime Costs

AUD 5,000-10,000/month in overtime for mid-sized centres (based on 20-40 hours at AUD 50/hour)

Agent Incentive Fraud Losses

1-3% of annual payroll (AUD 50,000+ for 100-agent centre at AUD 60k avg salary)

Poor Hiring from Faulty Performance Data

AUD 15,000-25,000 per agent turnover (recruitment + training + lost productivity)

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