Telecommunications in the UK

Sector average score

Knowledge & Expertise

Style of Communication

Speed of Resolving Problems

Valuing the Customer

Vodafone chalks up its second consecutive quarter at the top of the Telecommunications in the UK table, extending the gap between EE at second to +3 points in Overall Effort Score.

Last quarter, EE still bested Vodafone in the ‘Valuing the Customer’ pillar and Vodafone was behind both EE and Plusnet in ‘Style of Communication.

In this wave there is no such nuance, with daylight between the Vodafone and EE in all pillars – though interestingly, Vodafone is tied at the top with Plusnet in the ‘Style of Communication’ pillar.

This wave, the vast majority of UK Telco brands have built on their Overall Effort Score from Q4 2024, indicating a strong performance as a sector when compared to the other industries and territories covered by the Customer Effort Index.

Only Three at joint seventh didn’t increase its score this time, staying flat wave on wave.

Executive summary

How to use this Index

Executive summary

The merger between Vodafone and Three will set the tone for the UK Telco sector this year. The Customer Effort Index shows that Vodafone is the best in class for CX but Three’s results leave a lot to be desired.
We say

Can the merger push Three higher up the table? How long will it be before the CEI records the tangible benefits? It's a very exciting time as the CEI has not before measured a Telco merger on this scale. We believe our methodology will provide some of the best insights for how CX is impacted or enhanced at Three. Stay tuned for more.
Spare a thought for Virgin Media. With an Overall Effort Score of 38 it is the lowest ranked Telco brand in the index, but with growth in all pillars that could be set to change.

How to use the Customer Effort Index

Customer Effort Scores for the quarter are presented in the rankings, ordered by highest Overall Effort Score first, to show which brand scored highest with its customers for that period. Individual brand ratings against the four pillars take us underneath that Overall Effort Score, with brand-specific explanatory analysis from the CEI Editorial team.

You can use the display above to toggle between score, ranking and individual pillars. Clicking 'Performance Tracker' enables you to analyse the performance over time.

The Customer Effort Index is calculated using a self-referential scale that is recomputed every wave based on what the minimum and maximum values are. This enables us to see how each brand is performing compared to the others within the data set. See About for more on the methodology.