Telecom
Telecom operators continue to reveal a wide performance gulf, with rural fibre specialists such as MTN Uganda and West Carolina posting scores above 80, while established mobile incumbents including Telstra Group, TPG Telecom and Melita cluster in the 20–35 range. The 200 scored disclosures in the sector database present a textured picture of customer loyalty across infrastructure types, geographies and competitive intensity.
The headline
The 200 canonical disclosures in the telecommunications database carry a median NPS of 60.0 and a mean of 55.7—both materially below the cross-sector corpus median of 74. The shortfall reflects the twin headwinds of commoditisation pressure and network reliability stress that have defined mobile and broadband competition over the past decade. Telecom's median sits 14 points beneath the benchmark, a gap wider than software, consumer electronics and most B2B categories.
Within the long tail, however, variance is striking. The top quartile stretches well into the 80s and 90s, populated chiefly by regional fibre providers and niche mobile virtual network operators that have designed experience around simplicity and local responsiveness. The bottom quartile, conversely, includes legacy players encumbered by copper infrastructure, enterprise pivot drag and the reputational overhang of merger integration.
NPS evolution
Aggregate sector NPS rose steadily from 2017 through a 2023 peak—annual median climbed from 22 in 2017 to 84 in 2023—then retraced. The 2026 median of 55 is ten points below 2025's figure, driven in part by volume: 39 disclosures this year compared to 24 in 2025, bringing more mid-tier incumbents into the mix and diluting the outlier effect of top performers.
Disclosure volume
Publication frequency has accelerated sharply. From a trickle of one or two datapoints per year in the early 2010s, the sector now yields nearly 40 annual disclosures. The inflection began in 2020, as investor and regulator attention to customer satisfaction intensified and boards embedded NPS in executive scorecards. The 2026 count already exceeds any prior full year with four months still on the clock.
Company stories
The 71-point arc: Orange
Orange claimed the sector's largest recorded swing, recovering from a -35 score in August 2017—then described as a record-breaking low—to 36 in July 2026. The 71-point lift reflects a multi-year overhaul of digital channels, network quality investment and a shift from price-led acquisition to retention-focused service design. While 36 still sits below sector median, the trajectory signals that even deeply negative starting positions are reversible given sustained operational discipline.
Macquarie Telecom's enterprise pivot
Macquarie Telecom climbed 68 points between November 2017 (score of 7) and August 2021 (75), pivoting from commodity connectivity to managed cloud and cybersecurity offerings that command higher wallet share and tighter customer integration. The company's experience illustrates the NPS upside available when telecom operators move up the stack into adjacent, stickier categories.
T-Mobile's backward drift
T-Mobile posted 46 in Q2 2026—a record for the operator—yet the figure represents an 18-point decline from its 2020 high of 64. Thirteen disclosures over six years trace a gradual erosion, likely tied to Sprint integration complexity, price increases and the maturation of the Un-carrier brand advantage as competitors matched promotional tactics. The slide underscores how scale and market leadership do not immunise operators from NPS pressure.
Negative outliers persist
Only one operator in the database has printed a negative score in recent years: Orange's -35 in 2017. The rarity of sub-zero readings in telecom—unlike consumer finance or airlines—suggests that even poorly rated operators retain a modest base of satisfied customers, or that firms elect not to disclose materially negative results. Either way, the absence of fresh negative datapoints hints at survivor bias in the publication set.
Fresh in 2026
Recent filings spotlight a familiar divide. Rural and specialist operators continue to dominate the high end, while metro incumbents grind toward positive territory. Notable August entries include:
- MTN Uganda at 92, pairing customer NPS with an employee engagement score of 51.8.
- Harmonic at 87, citing robust broadband momentum in Q2.
- West Carolina at 83, flagged as one of the industry's leading scores.
- Telkom SA SOC Limited at 80.6 in Q1 FY2027, maintaining exceptionally strong satisfaction.
- Conexon Connect at 79, more than double the industry average, attributed to Calix cybersecurity services.
- Shenandoah Telecommunications holding steady in the 60 percent range, well above the low-single-digit industry baseline.
- Cell C improving from 19 to 33, adding 1.3 million subscribers and reducing debt by 64 percent.
- TPG Telecom at 31 in H1 2026, with mobile growth driving margin expansion.
Older nuggets worth a second look
- Amaysim in November 2013 reported 58, an early proof-point that mobile virtual network operators could outperform facilities-based incumbents on experience.
- Masergy Communications hit 70.3 in June 2016, outpacing the broader technology sector and signalling SD-WAN's loyalty premium.
- Vodacom led its market by 16 percentage points in November 2016 with a score of 53, demonstrating that scale and distribution density can co-exist with customer affinity.
- Simyo earned 30 in Q2 2017, the highest among Dutch providers, ahead of T-Mobile (26) and KPN (22)—a reminder that challenger brands often set the pace.
- Three disclosed 21 in August 2017, higher than any UK network at the time, leveraging unlimited data plans as a loyalty lever.
- Vodafone Netherlands / VodafoneZiggo lifted NPS from 12 to 19 following a quad-play launch, illustrating the loyalty benefit of bundling when executed cleanly.