NZ telecom satisfaction falls despite network gains

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In this edition:<br>Customer sentiment deteriorates<br>ComCom reports on Satellite impact<br>2300 MHz and 2600 MHz band redistribution<br>Jason Paris steps down at One NZ<br>Consumers unsatisfied despite world-class networks<br>Writing in the 2025 Telecommunications Monitoring Report, the Commerce Commission says New Zealand has world-class fibre and mobile infrastructure. Network quality has continued to improve in recent years. Yet customer satisfaction remains stubbornly low.<br>The finding is striking because customer sentiment has deteriorated even as fibre coverage, mobile coverage and broadband speeds have continued to improve.<br>Overall satisfaction was 69 percent in June 2025, according to the Commerce Commission’s monthly consumer survey. The satisfaction figure is the proportion of consumers who rated their provider positively.<br>Two years earlier, satisfaction was 79 percent. It slipped to 76 percent in June 2024 before reaching a low of 68 percent in December 2024.<br>The Commerce Commission considers 80 percent the benchmark for good performance. Satisfaction has remained well below that level.<br>NPS trending down<br>The Commission also monitors Net Promoter Scores (NPS). This measures how likely a customer is to recommend a service provider. Like the more general satisfaction measure, the NPS has been trending down over the past two years. In June 2023 it had a net positive score of 13. This fell to a low of -16 in December 2024 and back to -12 in June 2025.<br>The Commission says other industries also recorded falling NPS scores over the period, suggesting economy-wide factors such as cost-of-living pressures may have played a role.<br>Even so, the telecommunications sector performed considerably worse than other sectors and is at a point where detractors outnumber promotors by a significant margin.<br>The surveys show consumers are more satisfied with small service providers than the large telcos. As the Commission notes in the report:<br>‘This suggests that size does not automatically translate into better customer experience’.<br>Dissatisfaction but customers stay put<br>High levels of dissatisfaction have not resulted in customers shopping around for alternatives. The report says ‘switching activity remains relatively limited’.<br>Around 11 percent of broadband customers switched service providers during the year to June 2025. Even fewer, just seven percent, switched between mobile service providers. The Commission notes that the electricity sector sees a switching rate of around 19 percent. It concludes this suggests there may be scope to increase competitive pressure by making it easier for customers to change provider.<br>Why are people not satisfied?<br>Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson told The Download Weekly that while satisfaction reflects consumer expectations and experience across a wide set of factors, it doesn't always move directly in line with improvements in technical performance measures alone.<br>‘Ongoing concerns around pricing, value for money and customer service continue to act as a drag on satisfaction scores among residential customers.<br>‘Switching barriers are also deterring consumers from acting on their concerns by moving to a better provider. Addressing these barriers is key to unlocking progress in this whole area and is a priority focus for us this year.’<br>2025 Telecommunications Monitoring Report<br>Download the report<br>2025-Telecommunications-Monitoring-Report-29-June-2026.pdf<br>5 MB

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The rise and rise of satellite comms<br>Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson focused on the rise of satellite communications in his foreword to the Commerce Commission's 2025 Telecommunications Monitoring Report.<br>He notes that just as fibre transformed urban connectivity over the past decade, low-Earth-orbit satellites are now doing the same for rural New Zealand. And, he says, direct-to-cell (D2C) satellite services are starting to extend mobile coverage too.<br>The report calls satellite-enabled connectivity 'one of the most important drivers of further change in the next phase of market development'.<br>Satellites have overtaken the mainstream incumbents. Starlink's rural broadband share rose to 27 percent at June 2025 (from 18 percent the year earlier). Customer numbers jumped 46 percent, from 58,000 to 85,000 (72,000 rural, 13,000 urban).<br>New Zealand ranks first in the OECD for satellite broadband on a per capita basis. As of December 2024, NZ recorded 1.3 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.<br>Starlink bigger than Spark<br>Starlink now has a bigger share of New Zealand’s rural telecoms market than any other service provider. It ousted Spark from the top spot as the telco’s share fell to 23 percent from 27 percent.<br>One of the drivers for Starlink’s rapid growth is customers moving off the copper network, which is in the process of being decommissioned. The Commission's data highlights that over half (54 percent) of all rural consumers...