Telstra: No complaints staff = no complaints

Telstra is boasting about its lowest complaints tally in three years, but the industry ombudsman says that's only because there haven't been enough operators to take calls.

A spokesperson for the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, which registers all complaints made regarding Australian telcos, said the industry body's complaints centre was down to less than two-thirds its normal staffing level for the quarter to June 30 due to internal training procedures.

Even so, the number of complaints registered about Telstra remained above the industry average for that quarter, the spokesperson said.

"[In the previous quarter] we had been getting an increase in complaints on the telco industry," the spokesperson said.

Telstra today issued a statement boasting a 22.4 per cent decrease in overall complaints registered with the ombudsman. However, the ombudsman reported that the telecommunications industry average had dropped by around 25 per cent due to the temporary staffing shortage.

Telstra reported a slow-down in complaints in all areas "except one statistically minor area". The ombudsman maintains that the only category that received a higher number of complaints across the industry was billing; billing accounts for more than one-third of all complaints made registered about the telecommunications industry.

Despite the ombudsman's diminished call centre, the spokesperson reported a five percent industry-wide increase in billing complaints for the quarter.

Telstra did not return ZDNet Australia's calls.