The number of consumer alerts in telecommunications skyrockets

The app has never been in such high demand. “Alert to Arcep”, the tool created in 2017 by the Postal and Electronic Communications Regulation Authority to allow subscribers of telecommunications operators to report a malfunction, received 38,060 alerts in 2021, that is, 14% more than in 2020. The regulator struggles to distinguish in the success of its application what amounts to the growing notoriety of its application and the real deterioration of relations between consumers and operators. But the rebound in the figure demonstrates the extreme sensitivity of the issue in this sector.

“Consumer Empowerment” through this type of tool should allow you “Become a full regulatory partner”, explained Maya Bacache, a member of the Arcep school, during the presentation on May 11 of the figures of “Alerto Arcep” and the Customer Satisfaction Observatory 2021, whose realization was entrusted by the regulatory entity to CSA Institute. The latter shows a slight improvement in the rating assigned by subscribers to each of the four main operators (Bouygues Telecom, Free, Orange and SFR), with ratings ranging from 7.2 out of 10 for SFR to 7.9 for Free and Orange. Bouygues Telecom is in the middle with 7.5 out of 10. In 2020, the range stretched between 7.1 and 7.7 out of 10, with an almost identical podium: Free was then second behind Orange, SFR was already last.

Poor quality of fixed networks

But looking in detail, the main black spot in telecommunications is obvious: fiber optics. While it decreased in the mobile sector for all operators, except Bouygues Telecom, the number of alerts received by Arcep in the fixed sector increased unanimously. It even reached a peak of 89 reports for 100,000 users on Free (owned by Xavier Niel, individual shareholder of the World), 28 more than for Bouygues Telecom, the best student in the fixed sector. Inconvenience confirmed by the Customer Satisfaction Observatory: according to it, 51% of users report having some problem with their Internet service provider.

The problem does not date from 2021 and “Arcep has taken over for a few years” the issue of the poor quality of fixed networks, says Laure de la Raudière, president of the authority, in a mixture of optimism and fatigue. Since 2020, the regulator has put all operators at the same table. But the effect of these meetings that are linked every six weeks is struggling to materialize on the ground. “We don’t see any improvement”breathing^I de la Raudière who recognizes, however, that the “new tools announced” in recent months by industry players “not in place yet”. “The pressure we are putting on operators on this issue is not and will not be weakened”she promises.