Hang up on your telecoms provider

published 16 October 2019

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.

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David Prosser is a regular MoneyWeek columnist, writing on small business and entrepreneurship, as well as pensions and other forms of tax-efficient savings and investments. David has been a financial journalist for almost 30 years, specialising initially in personal finance, and then in broader business coverage. He has worked for national newspaper groups including The Financial Times, The Guardian and Observer, Express Newspapers and, most recently, The Independent, where he served for more than three years as business editor.