The company claimed that some customer complaints were not genuine, and were just seeking a free iPhone upgrade. Vodafone Hutchinson Australia also blamed the iPhone for an increase in consumer complaints in its submission (PDF), noting that rises in complaints from consumers often coincided with the release of new technologies. Optus cited the release of the iPhone and the subsequent "temporary network performance issues" for the reason for the rise in complaints to the TIO in 2009. "Optus believes that any future regulations imposed on telecommunications providers must be based on clear evidence that market failure exists, and that it is possible to ameliorate that market failure with well-targeted and outcomes-orientated regulatory measure," the submission stated. This was a sentiment echoed by the telco's biggest rival, Optus, in its submission (PDF) to the inquiry. The telco giant noted a significant reduction of complaints made against it to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) in 2009-2010 and advised against any regulatory reform while "market-based" approaches were working. In its submission (PDF), Telstra reiterated CEO David Thodey's comments when he originally took on the role that customer service was now fundamental to the company. "I was surprised the telcos did not come up with more constructive solutions to issues they admit are major problems." "Too many of the submissions were little more than reiterations of the current self-regulatory framework and cautioned against any regulatory intervention," he added. But frankly the response from industry falls short of what we had expected, given the early positive signals from industry chief executives," Chapman said in a statement. "There has been a healthy response from members of the public and consumer representatives. ACMA chairman Chris Chapman welcomed the response, but criticised the industry submissions for not addressing the questions raised by the inquiry. The submission received responses from consumers, industry, customer representatives and other organisations, and has published these on the ACMA website. On Sunday, the ACMA released over 120 public submissions for its "Reconnecting the Customer" inquiry. (The telephone image by Sam Garza, CC2.0)