00:01From streaming your favourite shows to working from home,
00:05most people use the internet every day.
00:08But for many customers of private fibre optic provider Opticom,
00:12going without is the norm.
00:14So usually we get the outages every month
00:16and anywhere between one day to two weeks.
00:20Jason lives in Darwin's north,
00:22but his community is only one of many impacted across Australia.
00:26The feedback we get is that for the fibre services provided by Opticom,
00:31the service is at best patchy.
00:34Now, the communications consumer Peak Body has called on the ACCC
00:38to regulate private networks as it does with the NBN.
00:42In a statement, the ACCC said it was consulting
00:45on setting up new record-keeping rules
00:47that would require private networks to provide data
00:50on their service quality performance compared to the NBN.
00:54And the telecommunications ombudsman says customers
00:57may be entitled to compensation from their internet provider for outages.
01:02But customers like Jason are sceptical.
01:05They've just been giving me essentially the cold shoulder.
01:09Any time I'm trying to get answers,
01:10they just say it's not our problem, it's Opticom's.
01:15Well, this is the problem with not having robust regulation in place
01:18because what you see is a lot of buck passing
01:20and a lot of finger pointing in different directions
01:24and nobody taking responsibility.
01:26In a statement, Opticom told the ABC
01:28it was working to improve its network across Australia,
01:32including here in Darwin,
01:33where it's taking steps to introduce back-up infrastructure
01:35within the next three months.
01:37Experts say real change to service quality
01:40will rely on improvements being made to the Telecommunications Act,
01:43but the Minister for Communications Office wouldn't comment
01:47on whether changes were being considered,
01:49only saying it expects parity between private wholesalers and the NBN.
01:53Now looking to buy his own home,
01:56Jason says he'll search in suburbs with the NBN, not Opticom.
02:00The internet's a part of our life,
02:02it's where we're going in the future,
02:05and to come back having no internet at home
02:08feels like the world country.
02:10Those who can't move are left hoping better service is on the way.
