Phone companies in Australia are being slated for annoying their customers with spam phone calls.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority chairman, Chris Chapman, told telecommunications companies said more than half the calls he got from complaining punters was from those who kept getting unwanted calls promoting phone plans and other related services.

Chapman said that consumers register their telephone numbers because they want to reduce the number of telemarketing calls, however it was unacceptable to see that some telcos are not respecting that decision.

It is illegal in Australia for telemarketers to call numbers listed on a "Do not call" register without consent. This includes mobile and fixed line numbers. However phone companies do not think that the rules apply to them, because they are calling their existing customers.