ABC

The Federal Government says Parliament needs to pass a telecommunications bill to give consumers greater choice for both phone and broadband services.

The telecommunications industry ombudsman received 230,000 complaints last financial year, which is a 54 per cent increase on the previous year.

The Government wants Telstra to separate its retail and wholesale businesses, but the Opposition is threatening to block the move.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has told Channel Ten the Government's bill recognises that customers deserve better services.

"Competition has not delivered the outcomes with the infrastructure-based competition that we currently have," he said.

"We're saying we need to reshape the industry. Australians have been suffering some of the slowest broadband speeds and some of the most expensive broadband in the world, and every day of delay is going to mean higher prices and less services and less innovation.

"We will start to see some real pressure on these large organisations, which traditionally have not had to worry about their customers, because once they've got their hooks into you with a couple of services, it's impossible to change.

"It's quite a dramatic change, it's almost becoming like changing your bank."

Senator Conroy says that 230,000 complaints in one year is unacceptable.

"This is not just one company, this is all of the companies in the sector, are guilty of treating their customers cavalierly," he said.

"I've said publicly and I'll say it again today, if we do not start seeing a significant improvement in these sorts of reports, and that the trends start heading down, we will legislate."