Telephone, mobile and internet providers are revealed to face huge fines in relation to violate new stringent customer service standards that will substitute cumbersome voluntary industry codes.

Amendments to the Telecommunications Act will grant the Australian Communications and Media Authority power to frame consumer protection regulations and issue penalties of over $250,000 for corporations and $50,000 for individuals in breach of the standards.

The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, posted that the changes would trigger more complaints made to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman; revealing that there had been a 118 per cent rise in customer service complaints last year.

The chairman of ACMA, Chris Chapman, posted to initiate with a formal inquiry into customer service in the telecommunications sector in a bid to shed light on complaints handling process and the way the customer's complaints are ignored by the industry.

In addition, he revealed that codes developed by the industry took too a large time to develop and were highly difficult to change, rendering customers exposed to bad or deceitful service.

A perfect example includes the reality of an overzealous Telstra salesman, who nearly cost Sue Abbott, of Scone, $1400 after he coaxed her to upgrade her mobile phone last year.