Report reveals growing customer frustration with SA mobile networks

Source: Magnific

The report analysed more than 653,000 social media mentions across X, Facebook and HelloPeter between October 2025 and March 2026. It found that three of South Africa's five major mobile network operators recorded net negative operational sentiment across customer service, account administration, network quality and responsiveness.

The industry's overall operational net sentiment stood at -8%, with network quality and customer service among the factors pulling down the overall score.

Social media has also become an important customer-service channel, with customers increasingly using platforms to raise issues and seek assistance from their service providers.

DataEQ analyst Tebogo Maluleke says the results show that customer experience is not determined by product quality alone.

“What separates the leaders from the rest is not just product quality. It is whether consumers felt the brand was on their side when things went wrong,” says Maluleke.

According to DataEQ, Rain and Cell C generated positive customer feedback around service resolution and data reliability, while operators with negative sentiment faced recurring complaints about similar issues across the same channels.

Rain recorded the highest operational net sentiment in the index at +16%. The company says the findings reinforce the importance of network quality, its product and service offering, and how it engages with customers.

The operator says its focus includes improving communication between customer-facing and technical teams, expanding its use of AI to resolve customer issues and giving employees greater authority to address problems.

“Trust and transparency are becoming competitive advantages as customers' experience of how their challenges are acknowledged and resolved becomes an increasingly important differentiator for operators in a competitive market,” the Rain spokesperson says.

The findings point to customer service and problem resolution becoming increasingly important areas of differentiation as South Africa's mobile network operators compete in a market where consumers have multiple connectivity options.

DataEQ's index is based on social media sentiment and examines customer experiences across operational areas including customer service, account administration, network quality and responsiveness.

More detailed information from the 2026 SA Telecoms Customer Experience Index is available from DataEQ.