Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman report shows complaints at five-year low More than half the complaints to the telco ombudsman concerned customer service issues. The report comes just weeks after Foreign Minister Julie Bishop called for legal reforms to boost the ACCC's powers to crackdown on companies charging "ridiculous"global roaming charges. Shocked by the size of her own mobile phone bill, Ms Bishop said the example of New Zealand suggested that many providers cleaned up their act when governments threatened regulatory action. The report also comes after the company dubbed "Vodafail" by customers angered by coverage black spots and chronic dropouts spent the past three years working to improve the badly damaged brand. Telecommunications Ombudsman Simon Cohen praised the telcos for the overall decline in complaints. Consumer complaints to the telco ombudsman: 158,652 new complaints about landline, mobile and internet issues Down down 18.1 pct Mobile complaints down 25.6 pct Landline complaints down 9.3 pct Internet complaints up 1.9 pct Complaints by state (Complaints per 1000 resident): Vic 7.8 Qld 6.0 Tas 4.3 National rate 6.8 Source: Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman 2012/13 annual report.