Satisfied consumers a matter of survival for the telecom industry's serious players

Telecoms

The other week, the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Per Bolund, announced that the government is now taking several steps to strengthen consumer power and security. Our industry welcomes this, and calls for more effective supervision of rogue and, where appropriate, criminal actors in the telecom market. Like the Minister, we are convinced that this will also benefit serious companies.

Sweden's consumers are among the most digital in the world today. More than 97% of the population aged 16-75 use the internet. 87% of families with children have multiple computers, smartphones and tablets. Almost 100% have a private mobile phone, which corresponds to around 11 million private subscriptions.

Telecoms companies deliver services that are extremely central to people's lives, and are continuously making very large investments to constantly improve these services based on consumer needs and expectations. For example, the average surfing speed for receiving data on a mobile phone (as measured by the Bredbandskollen mobile app) was 17 Mbit/s at the beginning of 2015, compared with 4 Mbit/s just three years earlier. Moreover, thanks to healthy competition, prices for telephony and broadband are among the lowest in the world, according to the PTS report "Price developments for mobile telephony and broadband 2015".

Yet, as I mentioned before the launch of the report, this year's Consumer Report highlights the telecoms market as one of the most problematic. So why is consumer confidence in our sector so low? And what are we doing to improve it?

According to the PTS, a handful of small operators are responsible for the vast majority of complaints; six small operators with a market share of less than 2% caused 54% of complaints to the authorities in 2015.

But, of course, not all the criticism directed at our industry can be blamed on that. Consumers have been right about many things and their views are taken very seriously. By actively working to improve sales methods, customer service and contractual terms - both within each company and across the industry as a whole - the industry has also achieved results. These positive developments are clearly reflected in the companies' own evaluations and customer surveys, as well as in the monthly statistics they receive from the Telecoms Advisers - a non-profit organization funded by participating operators to provide impartial and free help to consumers.

Last week, Minister for Consumer Affairs Per Bolund received the Consumer Report at a packed and well-attended seminar jointly hosted by IT&Telekomföretagen, the Swedish Telecom Advisors and the Swedish Consumer Agency. The fact that we from the industry did this together with the Swedish Consumer Agency is one of many examples of how we actively work to enable consumers to better understand, manage and trust our services. Trust in the industry is a matter of survival and a very high priority for all serious operators.

Therefore, many are members of, and co-finance, the Telecom Advisors and therefore Com Hem, Telenor, Telia and Tre are part of a project group under the auspices of the IT&Telecom companies that work together with the industry on the issue of trust.

In order to persuade rogue operators to act responsibly, cooperation with the authorities in this area, PTS and the Swedish Consumer Agency, is of great importance. We therefore call for:

  • A continued constructive dialog and collaboration between us serious actors and the relevant authorities.
  • More effective regulatory oversight of rogue and, where appropriate, criminal operators in the telecoms market.
  • Introducing requirements for sales calls to be recorded and made available to both buyers and sellers, together with requirements for written, clear and simple confirmations of contracts concluded, to increase consumer confidence in telesales.