Telecoms Satisfaction Survey suggests "most people" are happy

Thursday 20 September 2018

Telecoms operators are working to a "satisfactory level" for most users, according to a survey done by their watchdog.

The survey was conducted by CICRA, and put questions to users of Sure, JT and Airtel regarding how they felt about the service they received. While reports show most are happy, 20% said they had had a reason to complain.

The questions covered key aspects of customer satisfaction including quality of service, reliability, value for money and complaints handling by the operators providing mobile, broadband and landline services.

It all followed the approach used by the UK's telecoms regulator, Ofcom and the local results are benchmarked against those achieved in the UK. 

Louise Read from CICRA said: "Living as we do, in the Channel Islands, the need for robust communications is very important. It's vital that telecoms operators locally deliver high quality, choice and value for money services, and offer proper support when things go wrong. 

"Our use of mobile and broadband services has been evolving rapidly and it's essential that our home phones, mobile and broadband services are reliable and perform well. This survey enables customers to compare how different operators are performing and make properly informed decisions when choosing their service provider. It also gives telecoms operators a clear incentive to improve their service quality, particularly when their performance is benchmarked against UK providers." 

Pictured: The research covers services offered by JT, Sure, Airtel and Jersey Homenet/Ytel in 2018. 

Headline results from the survey include:

• The majority of customers are satisfied with the services offered by their telecom provider.
• The results show that in both islands the average level of satisfaction in respect of landline, mobile and broadband services is lower than in the UK average but there are differences between operators.
• In some cases local operators outperformed the UK average.
• 20% of people had a reason to complain about their mobile service in 2018, but not all went on to raise their complaint with their operator.
• There are a range of telecoms services available to people. Customers who are not satisfied with the service they are receiving should raise their concerns with their operator and if still dissatisfied shop around. 

The research itself was conducted by a local independent professional consultancy using a mixed methodology of an online survey sent to closed databases, and Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing in both islands to provide a robust outcome. 

The Annual Telecoms Customer Satisfaction in the Channel Islands survey is one element of the Competition Authority's work to monitor and encourage the improvement of service quality of telecoms services. 

To read the full report visit cicra.gg.