Customer complaints to telcos increased by over 3% in the three months from April to the end of June this year, with Vodafone the best performing of the three major telcos to once again record the lowest number of complaints per 10,000 services in operation.

The latest Complaints in Context report from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) and Communications Alliance shows that across all telcos where complaints were lodged with the TIO — Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, amayism and Pivotel — there were 6.4 complaints per 10,000 services in operations, up from 6.2 in the January-March quarter but down from 6.5 in the corresponding period in 2015.

The TIO report shows, however, that for Vodafone, there were 3.8 new complaints per 10,000 Vodafone services, a drop from 6.3 per 10,000 services in the corresponding period in 2015.

Commenting on the TIO report, a Vodafone spokesperson said, “We’re very proud of our fast, reliable network, worry-free products and high standard of customer service. So it’s pleasing to see Vodafone again has the lowest level of complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) of the network operators. This is the fourth quarter in a row”.

“Over recent years, Vodafone has achieved an extraordinary turnaround. This transformation is reflected in a number of industry benchmarks, including Vodafone’s status as the least complained about mobile telco for the past 12 months.

“Our ratio of 3.8 complaints per 10,000 services in operation for the June 2016 quarter is 40% lower than the industry average, and represents a 73% reduction on the corresponding quarter in 2014,”Vodafone said.

And, the TIO report reveals that telco complaints as a proportion of services in operation (SIO) increased 3.2% in April-June 2016, but dropped 1.5% from the corresponding period last year.

Historically, the TIO says that seasonal factors contribute to an increase in complaints during January to March, followed by a downturn in April to June.