The telco was forced to give a court enforceable order agreeing to compensate customers following an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission into concerns that Optus was providing less data than advertised to consumers.

The ACCC has now accepted the undertaking from Optus with ACCC commissioner Sarah Court saying Optus has agreed to credit affected customers with an amount of data, calls and/or texts equivalent to the amount each consumer missed out on.

Under the agreement, affected customers will have their accounts credited where possible, or they can claim a refund.

The undertaking from Optus to refund short-changed consumers relates to three separate incidents in 2015 and 2016 when the telco decided to reduce some of the data, calls and/or texts inclusions offered with particular pre-paid products without telling affected customers.

“Customers who chose an Optus pre-paid plan based on its advertised value, but who activated or recharged their SIM card after Optus changed allowances for calls, text and data, received less than they were promised at the time they purchased the plan,” Court said.

“Mobile providers must provide the ‘value’ and benefits they advertise. Optus pre-paid customers who may be entitled to a credit should visit the Optus website or the outlet where they bought the prepaid product.”

The issue was raised as a result of changes Optus made to a number of its pre-paid inclusions for consumers who bought certain pre-paid mobile broadband devices, pre-paid mobile phones, or pre-paid mobile plans.

The ACCC says that in some cases Optus reduced the benefits that consumers received when they activated or recharged the SIM card provided with the products and failed to ensure that these changes only applied to consumers who purchased the products after the change was introduced.

Court warned that businesses must act swiftly to offer consumer redress and meet their obligations under Australian Consumer Law or face action from the commission.

In March, the ACCC flagged that it would scrutinise the telecommunications sector more this year after revealing that there were 2775 complaints and inquiries about telecommunications services to it in the 2015-2016 financial year, a rise of 9% over the previous year.

The ACCC said that the sector would be a key focus for 2017, although it revealed that consumer complaints to the industry ombudsman, the TIO, actually dropped during the 12 months from 2015 to 2016. The TIO received 112,518 complaints during the year, a drop of 9.6% on the previous year.