Hang up on your telecoms provider

1950s Businessman talking on four phones at once © Alamy

If your business is spending more than ever on phone and broadband, now is the time to look around for a better deal. The average small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) will spend around £2,050 on telecoms services this year, according to a recent Consumer Intelligence report, up almost 33% on the £1,400 that regulator Ofcom said SMEs typically spent in 2016.

For businesses increasingly dependent on technologies such as high-speed broadband, it's also worrying that more than a third of SMEs describe their telecoms provider's service as average or poor.

For now, Ofcom's data suggests that as few as one in ten SMEs change their telecoms provider each year. But the regulator has sought to encourage switching in recent years for example, by banning providers imposing penalty charges on customers who want to take their business elsewhere. While switching may still be complicated by issues such as fixed-term contracts, it's high time more small businesses looked around for a better deal.