Sagacity: 87pc of telcos believe there is a ’moral duty’ to support vulnerable customers

Only half of telcos surveyed offer special tariffs for those who apply

The majority of senior telecoms professionals believe network operators have a ‘moral duty’ to support vulnerable customers, according to research from data solutions expert, Sagacity. 

A further 97 per cent of those surveyed think having access to the internet is a basic human right, and 66pc believe the industry isn’t doing enough to support vulnerable customers.

Overall, 68pc of telcos empathise with those who are struggling, but believe these customers should ask for it instead of business tracking them down.

Meanwhile, 36pc of respondents claim they do not have the data or resources to find the customers that need this extra financial support.

Sagacity Founder Harry Dougall said: “Earlier this year, Ofcom made a clear statement that telecom businesses need to do more to support vulnerable customers.

“While there is broad agreement from people working in the industry that more needs to be done to ensure help gets to those that need it, many believe the onus should be on the customer to ask for help.

“But from our experience with identifying financially vulnerable customers, people are not always forthcoming in asking for help when it’s needed. 

“So a big step will be for telecoms providers to wrangle their data and apply an analytics layer which allows them to look for trends and spot anomalies that will help them to proactively support the vulnerable.”