Australian prepaid mobile phone customers receive poorer in-store and over-the-phone service than those in the UK, the US and a host of other countries, a report says.
Global auditing firm KPMG compared the experiences of customers in 25 countries using hundreds of mystery shoppers.
Australia came 18th in in-store service, which accounted for items such as the amount of time shoppers waited, whether they were greeted and staff knowledge.
This was below countries including France, the US and the UK. China came first, followed by Singapore.
Australia came an even poorer 19th in over-the-phone customer service, which included user-friendliness, voice recognition, and the helpfulness of call-centre staff.
This put Australia behind nations as diverse as Nigeria and Indonesia. Only customers in South Africa, France, and Canada waited longer on hold.
China again topped the rankings.
Asher Moses from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network said the findings were not surprising.
"Judging from complaint statistics, telcos seem to be worse at customer service than Australian banks who are historically the most hated service providers in Australia."
He said the results were "a timely reminder that changes are needed to protect consumers".
KPMG's Chris McLaren, who co-authored the report, said no single Australian telco stood out.
"No one carrier was providing a consistent, high quality experience across all channels," he told AAP.
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