South Africa’s telecommunications sector ranked lowest in customer sentiment across all major industries in 2024, professional services firm PwC’s South African Telecommunications Sentiment Index shows, highlighting the need for strategic reform.

Connectivity complaints, poor customer support and digital service failures are driving widespread dissatisfaction. Traditional service channels, namely call centres, branches and email, are underperforming, while digital platforms like WhatsApp and mobile apps are failing to meet expectations.

The index analysed more than 1.3-million public social media mentions to provide a comprehensive view of customer experience, and included Internet service providers (ISPs), fibre network operators (FNOs) and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), as well as traditional network providers.

Network providers reached a five-year sentiment high, but reputational praise masked persistent operational complaints. ISPs recorded the worst public net sentiment owing to long wait times and poor communication. Fibre operators were caught in the middle, often blamed alongside ISPs for outages and delays, the index shows.

Connectivity issues remain a common source of frustration, mentioned in 16% of serviceable conversations. The industry-wide net sentiment for network quality sits at negative 87%, with customers frustrated by dropped connections, vague outage communication and unusable data bundles.

Overall industry net sentiment was at negative 89%, and poor digital experiences are fuelling cancellation intent.

Improving digital support is the most cost-effective way for telecoms companies to reduce complaints, ease contact centre pressure and unlock smarter services, PwC states.

Further, MVNOs are outperforming legacy operators on sentiment owing to simplified offerings, flexible plans and digital-first onboarding and smoother customer journeys.

However, PwC warns that sentiment drops sharply when campaign-driven conversation is removed, which underscores the need for consistent service delivery.

“The path to customer experience transformation is clear. As customer expectations evolve in a hyper-connected world, telecoms providers must move beyond reactive service models. Investments in digital agility and proactive support don’t just improve sentiment – they’re shaping the future of the industry,” says PwC Telecommunications partner Basheena Bhoola.

“In a saturated and ever-evolving telecoms market, service and personalisation speak loudest,” she says.

Meanwhile, among the service providers, rain retains its position at the top of the network provider category, while Cell C shows real momentum with a sharp year-on-year sentiment lift.

Further, Telkom Fibre was the only ISP to achieve a positive public net sentiment, with praise for reliable connectivity and innovative prepaid fibre products.

FNO Openserve earned solid sentiment for its reliable infrastructure and efficient service delivery.

Additionally, MVNOs are gaining ground, led by Capitec Connect with an impressive positive 88% net sentiment, which was driven by simplified offerings and agile digital experiences, PwC reports.