The years pass, but the dissatisfaction of the users remains always strong concerning the quality of services of the telecom networks. This is the conclusion of the latest annual report drawn up by the J’alerte l’Arcep platform, set up by the sector policeman to trace the reasons for users’ dissatisfaction with their mobile or fixed operator (thus than their postal service operator)
In 2021, the platform recorded 38,000 alerts, compared to 33,000 a year earlier, which, according to Arcep, demonstrates “increased expectations on the part of users vis-à-vis operators, in particular in terms of quality on duty”.
It is precisely on this precise point that the shoe pinches for the operators. 41% of the alerts identified by the Authority in 2021 (the vast majority of which come from individuals) relate to the quality of the services and after-sales service offered by operators to their subscribers. Result of the races: no less than 51% of users declared having encountered a problem with their operator or their ISP in 2022, as suggested by the latest version of the Observatory of customer satisfaction carried out by the CSA institute on behalf of Arcep.
A sham improvement?
If the figure reflects a definite improvement compared to 2020, when this percentage was 69%, it should not make us forget that operators still have their work cut out for them to find favor in the eyes of their subscribers. Here again, the survey carried out by the CSA institute places once again the quality of service – especially on the fixed line – on the bench of the accused.
The quality of service on mobile networks may well be the subject of criticism for the holes in the racket recorded on certain networks, it is the fixed quality of service that registers the most alerts with Arcep. Asked at the microphone of France Inter, the president of Arcep Laure de la Raudière confirms that “in certain territories and more specifically on certain networks we are facing concerns about the quality of operation and connections”.
The remark should not leave insensitive on the side of SFR and its fiber infrastructure branch XpFibre, which is currently the subject of an administrative investigation led by the telecoms policeman. The Autorité indeed suspects the company and its subsidiaries of not respecting their obligation to provide third-party operators, local authorities and users with satisfactory access to its fiber optic network. “We are in the process of administratively investigating a subsidiary of Altice and SFR because we have noted particularly high levels of accidentology”, indicates Laure de la Raudière on Wednesday.
The connection to the center of criticism
Still, if SFR accuses the highest percentage (19%) of dissatisfied fixed customers, its competitors are not doing much better with proportions of dissatisfied customers ranging from 8% for Free to 15% for Bouygues Telecom.
And if the operators and the entire sector have undertaken to review their practices – particularly with regard to the use of subcontracting – to reduce the failure rates in the final connections, this is not yet enough. in the eyes of Laure de la Raudière, for whom it is necessary “to ensure that the people who intervene on these networks are correctly trained and that they respect the rules of the technical art”.
As for players in the sector, the generalization of a new, stricter subcontracting model should soon “lower the failure rates in connections and put an end to all these aberrant cases that can be seen in the territories” , as Philippe Le Grand, the president of Infranum, argued at the start of the year. This did not prevent representatives of local authorities from sounding the alarm a few weeks ago in the face of the many concerns encountered by companies or individuals in their fiber connection, a “black spot” which is currently the focus of all criticism .