Your service provider’s Customer Charter

What is a customer charter?

From 5 January 2026, a customer charter will be implemented by internet and phone service providers. A customer charter is a “one-stop shop” of information about the levels of quality of customer service. Consumers including microenterprises, small enterprises and not-for-profit organisations, can expect to be made aware of the existence of a customer charter by service providers. Customer charters also inform you of your rights and protections, including around accessibility, complaint handling and when you may receive compensation from your service provider.

What is included in a customer charter?

Once customer charters are published from 5 January 2026, you can find in one place information about service providers’ offer of commitments in relation to the level of quality of customer service you can expect to receive when:

• Contacting customer service: how long it will take for a person trained as a customer service agent to answer and respond to your issue via phone, chat, email, web form and post.
• Connecting to a new service: how long it will take a service provider to acknowledge a new line connection request and activate a new service on an existing line.
• You are due a refund: how long it will take for your refund to be issued as well as the type(s) of refund available.
• If there is a service outage: the advance notification period for planned service outages, and how soon you can expect information to be available in the event of an unplanned service outage.

A customer charter must direct you to a service provider’s compensation schemes required by law, such as, switching and porting compensation scheme(s). A service provider may also include details of voluntary compensation offered by them if they do not meet their customer charter commitments.

In addition, the customer charter must direct you to a service provider’s accessibility information including their accessibility statement, and their complaints handling code of practice, which provides you with useful guidance when you need to contact your service provider with a query or a complaint.

Customer charters may be updated by service providers at the start of any calendar quarter.

How does the customer charter help you?

The customer charter creates transparency and makes available, in one place, important information about levels of quality of customer service. It supports you to more easily find, understand and compare levels of quality of customer service available from your service provider and across other service providers. This supports you to more effectively choose the internet and phone service provider who promises to deliver the best overall service to you and meet your needs.

When switching service providers, the customer charter can be a guide to understanding what you can expect from a potential new service provider and help you to make a well-informed decision. It can help you to choose a service provider that prioritises customer support and clear communication.

Service providers are required to report regularly to ComReg on how they’re doing against the commitments made in the customer charter.

Where can you find a service provider’s customer charter?

Service providers must publish the customer charter on their website with direct access to it from the homepage.

They must make you aware of the customer charter’s existence and any updated charter and how you can request a copy of it. If you’re not able to access the customer charter from your service provider’s website, you can request a copy by contacting them. When requested, a copy of the customer charter must be provided to you within 5 working days.

The customer charter must be accessible for customers with disabilities. People with disabilities can request that the customer charter is made available to them in an accessible format by contacting the service provider.