Customer Wellbeing
Taking care of our customers as they use our products and services
With telecommunications an integral part of daily and business life, it is our responsibility to support customers and help them manage current and emerging issues as they use our products and services. This includes protecting their personal information and privacy, helping them avoid scams and theft, keeping them connected to our networks, and providing a flexible approach to support individual needs and circumstances.
Our strategy comprises the following areas of focus:
- Information security and privacy
- Online safety
- Customer experience
- Inclusive customer practices
Information security and privacy
At TPG Telecom, robust information security is vital to safeguard our customers' information, ensuring service continuity and trust in our networks.
Our Privacy Policies, available on our branded websites, outline our practices related to information security and data privacy. Cyber security and privacy are core components of our Code of Conduct and our Supplier Code of Conduct, available here.
Investing in technology security
Information security and data privacy is a high priority at TPG Telecom, and we use the latest technologies and security practices to protect our people, customers, company and assets.
Cyber security and privacy are governed by the Information Security Governance Committee, which is made up of senior security, risk and technology leaders across the organisation, and reports regularly to the Executive Leadership Team.
Key threats from malicious actors, organised crime and nation-states include unauthorised access to our networks, systems and data. To strengthen our defences against these threats, we make significant investments into our systems and controls. These investments focus on four key areas:
- vulnerability remediation
- expanding security capabilities
- transforming IT architecture
- standardising policies and controls
In addition, we regularly train our employees across a range of security best practices. This includes both annual mandatory training and ongoing education delivered throughout the year.
Data privacy and governance
To enable the supply of our products and services to customers and comply with data retention laws, we collect personal and usage information. Handling large volumes of sensitive information requires the highest levels of security and must meet the expectations of customers, employees and partners.
TPG Telecom has a robust privacy program, with dedicated specialists who implement and manage policies, and physical and technical controls. We also embed privacy culture for our people through a detailed privacy training and awareness framework.
The concept of ‘privacy by design’ is embedded across our business, with protections built into products, systems and services. We only collect personal information necessary and relevant to the work we are doing and as required by law. We protect the content of communications and the personal information we hold, we manage information carefully, and take steps to safeguard its integrity. Projects involving personal information undergo privacy assessments to identify and minimise any associated privacy risks.
Data privacy and governance is managed through our Information Security Management Framework (ISMF). This includes policies, standards and guidelines, as well as our cyber security program, to protect against those threat actors who may seek to damage our brand and telecommunications systems. The ISMF has achieved certification against ISO/IEC 27001:2013 - Information technology, Security techniques, Information security management systems.
In addition, TPG Telecom’s cyber defence team delivers monitoring, analysis and response services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, to help us quickly detect and respond to security incidents. We are also a member of the Joint Cyber Security Centre, with which we collaborate on national threat intelligence, along with other government agencies and industry partners.
Read about it in our Sustainability Reports, located on our Investor Relations page.
Online Safety
We work hard to train our people to maintain secure systems so they can mitigate the risk of external attacks. Protecting our customers while they are online is equally important
This is why we have committed to:
- Increasing awareness among our customers of ways to avoid falling victim to scams and theft and continuing to improve ways of blocking.
- Effectively managing our internal framework for ongoing compliance with the Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMS Industry Code.
- Offering services and support to help and educate families and children to stay safer online as they use our products and services.
Additionally, we actively collaborate with authorities including the eSafety Commissioner, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Australian Federal Police, to block websites associated with illegal gambling, abhorrent violent material and other seriously harmful and criminal activity.
Addressing Scams and Fraud
We are determined to play our part in protecting people from scams, through raising awareness and educating our customers, and working actively with other industry participants like the Communications Alliance Communications Security Reference Panel and as a member of the ACMA's Scam Telecommunications Action Taskforce.
Our State of Scams Report, to educate customers on the prevalence and impact of SMS and phone scams.
In 2020, TPG Telecom established the Fraud and Security Alliance Forum, a cross-industry forum bringing together banks, telcos, postal services, law enforcement, government agencies and regulators. The Forum works together to protect businesses and Australians from falling victim to scams through building partnerships, detection, prevention, and awareness programs. The forum meets regularly and has continued to grow, with over 130 participants attending the most recent meeting.
In 2023, we partnered with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) in a pilot initiative to help protect customers by sharing SMS scam-related intelligence in near real-time. This allows us to block more scams from reaching customers while also improving CBA's ability to disrupt, detect and proactively block fraudulent payments.
We also entered into an agreement with the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange where we will work alongside other industries to share intel to further disrupt scams.
Regulatory Engagement
In 2022, we collaborated on the update of 'Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMS' industry code through the Communications Alliance. Upon its release, we conducted a review of our internal framework to confirm it met or exceeded the updated requirements.
We remain committed to protecting Australians from financial harm and identity theft through:
- Supporting the National Anti-Scam Centre: TPG Telecom actively engages as a key industry member, contributing to the Investment Scam and Communications & Awareness working groups.
- Advocating for a Verified Origin Registry: To combat alpha-tag impersonation SMS scams, we joined the ACMA SMS ID Registry pilot, aiming for more effective prevention of SMS scams that impersonate senders in text message headers.
- Collaboration through the Communications Alliance: Our involvement includes technical responses to call identifier number spoofing, incorporating SMS volume controls, limitations on the use of numbers allocated to TPG Telecom, and system improvements to disrupt and block scam calls and scam SMS on our network.
- Ongoing collaboration with regulatory authorities: This includes the eSafety Commissioner, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), Tertiary Education Quality & Standards Agency, Therapeutic Goods Administration and the Australian Federal Police, to block websites associated with illegal exam cheating, illegal gambling, illegal advertising of therapeutic goods, abhorrent violent material and other seriously harmful and criminal activity.
The Online Safety Act
The enactment of the Online Safety Act in 2021 increased the eSafety Commissioner’s regulatory powers for dealing with cyberbullying of children, image-based abuse, and illegal or restricted online content. In 2023, the eSafety commissioner registered several new industry codes under the Online Safety Act, including the Hosting Services Code, Internet Carriage Services Code and the Equipment Code.
We align our systems and processes with the requirements of the Online Safety Act of 2021 and the industry codes under the Act. We regularly assess the level of compliance across all applicable TPG Telecom brands. Where gaps are identified, we develop action plans to address the identified issues.
Keeping families and children safe online
Families remain an important focus for TPG Telecom, as we work to protect the safety of children online. We have information and available support for online safety services and resources across all brand websites. This included both cyber security and parental safety advice. Our brand websites feature dedicated pages offering helpful resources for families, including how to find information about family friendly filters and links to the eSafety website, which provides resources focused on helping parents, educators and others to better understand the risks and offers support to protect children online. We also work with our filter provider Norton to enable their accreditation under the Family Friendly Filter program.
Read about it in our Sustainability Reports, located on our Investor Relations page.
Customer Experience
Our ambition is to be Australia's best telco for our customers, shareholders, our people, and the community. At the heart of this is a commitment to enhance the value we provide to our customers through a simpler, improved experience.
A continued focus on customer satisfaction
We strive to put customers at the heart of everything we do. A key metric that we hold ourselves accountable to is the Complaints in Context report. Published by Communications Alliance as part of the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code (TCP Code), it is a ratio of Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) complaints per 10,000 services in operation.
Simplifying and enhancing the customer experience
Recognising that our customers want to interact with us in different ways according to their needs, we continue to modernise our digital tools to give customers more choice, and to improve and simplify their experience.
Read about it in our Sustainability Reports, located on our Investor Relations page.
Inclusive customer practices
Supporting our customers, especially in times when support is needed most, is one of TPG Telecom’s highest priorities. We have a range of measures in place to enable our employees to support customers experiencing vulnerability, including domestic and family violence, financial hardship and customers in need of special assistance for other reasons.
Customers experiencing vulnerability
To support customers facing vulnerability, we have a range of measures in place and we actively participate in industry advisory groups and working committees to build our capabilities and understanding.
We have developed an internal ‘Supporting Consumers’ policy, and formalised our Customer Wellbeing strategy, focused on how we can best support customers who face vulnerable circumstances.Comprehensive training is provided to our retail and call centre staff, focusing on customers experiencing vulnerability and those with accessibility needs, enabling them to identify and assist customers who are vulnerable or suffering hardship.
Our policy and strategy covers our support to:
- Vulnerable or disadvantaged consumers
- Consumers with disabilities and identified needs
- Financial hardship
- Accessibility (including digital accessibility)
- Governance, procedures, and training
People affected by domestic and family violence
Recognising the crucial role of safe communication for people experiencing domestic and family violence (DFV), we actively contribute to collective efforts to address this issue.
TPG Telecom is a signatory to the 'Telco Industry Domestic and Family Violence Pledge' and through the Telco Together Foundation Impact Hub, we collaborated with leading Australian telcos to develop a DFV Action Framework. Launched in April 2022, this framework provides a consistent approach for telcos to address DFV and technology-facilitated abuse, while also supporting victims/survivors. We are currently implementing our Action Plan, in line with the 'Adapt' level of the framework. We look forward to completing this stage in 2024.
TPG Telecom has a team of dedicated customer specialists who support and care for customers affected by DFV. These specialists work one-on-one with affected customers, ensuring their connection is maintained, their service is safe and secure, and helping with debt and account issues arising from abuse. We provide comprehensive training to these specialists, including:
- Information on the main causes of abuse, what constitutes technology-facilitated abuse, and tips on what to do if someone tells you they are experiencing DFV.
- Additional domestic abuse information and resources for our people in the Philippines.
- Awareness of hidden meanings of common expressions that can excuse disrespectful behaviour.
- A Conversation Guide to help us speak more confidently and openly with young people about the importance of respectful relationships.
Accessibility of our services
We have a responsibility to ensure customers can easily access and navigate our websites and mobile apps. This includes customers with disability, elderly customers, and customers with temporary injuries. Our internal Accessibility Working Group is focused on driving improvements across all aspects of our digital footprint. While we have made significant progress, we recognise that there is much more we can do and we are committed to continued improvement to support our customers.
Supporting our customers and communities through emergencies and major incidents
Responding to natural disasters and emergencies that significantly impact our communities remains a high priority for TPG Telecom. We have in place a Business Continuity Management Framework which is aligned with international standards to ensure we can continue delivering services when customers need us most. This framework includes processes and requirements for business impact assessments, risk assessments, and business continuity strategies to ensure preventative measures and effective responses and recovery actions are taken to recover from an incident.
We also maintain a set of Financial Hardship policies, located on our brand websites, to help our customers navigate significant events. These may include loss of income or property, sudden illness or injury, change of family circumstances or as a result of natural disasters. We know these can affect our customers in both the short- and long-term and we want to make sure they get the support they need to stay connected.
Read about it in our Sustainability Reports, located on our Investor Relations page.