Satisfaction of business customers with mobile phone and internet services in Spain

• Drivers of business clients’ satisfaction with telecom services are unknown.
• Micro-enterprises and residential clients’ drivers differ from SMEs’ drivers.
• Operators with small market shares outperform the incumbent.
• Competition in the market is a key driver of satisfaction.
• Fixed-mobile bundles increase SME customers’ satisfaction with price and service.

Lately there has been a growing debate on the differences between business and residential telecom consumers. Yet, evidence on these differences is lacking. This study partially fills this gap by econometrically analyzing the drivers of satisfaction with mobile and fixed internet services for business clients in Spain. The results reveal that the factors that drive satisfaction for micro-enterprises and residential customers are similar, but the drivers of satisfaction for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are distinct. For example, alternative DSL operators outperform the incumbent for micro-enterprises, but not for SMEs. Overall, for both fixed internet and mobile services, operators with small market shares perform better than the incumbent, and business clients’ satisfaction levels increase when they perceive that they can switch operators. Finally, subscribing to mobile and fixed bundles and dealing only with one telecom operator increase SMEs’ satisfaction.