Customer service was a widespread problem, often caused by outsourcing, he said.

"In the mobile area, faults have gone up by almost 100 percent, billing complaints have gone up by 112 percent and customer service complaints by 145 percent," he said.

He said many of the complaints related to handset faults, particularly in 3G (third-generation) mobile phone technology.

In landline and Internet use, bad customer service was also a standout.

"It"s the customer service increase that we"re worried about and this generally reflects people"s inability to get things done by their provider," he said. "To the extent that you outsource ... it"s just that one step further removed from your customer base.

"No matter how well you try to control that by various protocols with your agents, there"s a loss of customer knowledge or an absence of customer knowledge ... even within Australia," he said.