The infocommunications authority conducted its annual, face-to-face, large-scale sample, national survey of executives in the domestic SMEs and large enterprises between the first and second waves of the coronavirus pandemic. It showed that, despite increased demand, business leaders were already almost completely satisfied with mobile and fixed internet services during the first wave of the pandemic: overall and on the basis of the nine factors surveyed, they gave both services a four-fifths rating.

The main expectations of business leaders regarding internet service are that it should be available at their premises (which are often on the outskirts of cities or in areas with poor infrastructure), work flawlessly and that the provider be a reliable large market operator. This last point is confirmed by the fact that half of the subscribers are the customers of Magyar Telekom, the largest operator in Hungary. Availability and the operator’s status as a major market player had the highest satisfaction rates. Business subscribers are most satisfied with the internet service in Dél-Dunántúl, Alföld and the central regions of the country – in Budapest in the case of mobile and in Pest County in the case of fixed internet networks.

Apart from overall satisfaction, business managers are least satisfied with the price of the service. Other factors that are somewhat disappointing, presumably also due to the curfew, are error-free operation and bandwidth for mobile internet and speed, availability, reliability of the provider and speed of troubleshooting for fixed internet.

Price-sensitive service provider choice, if there are any

The results show that price is the most important consideration for business leaders when subscribing to a new service, but reliability and previous experience with the provider are also important factors. Managers also take into account increased work efficiency, choice of services and cost reduction. When making their choice, the reputation of the provider weighs more heavily than, for example, the quality of customer service, territorial coverage or the provision of a dedicated account manager. 

However, the provider choice is slightly overshadowed by the fact that only half of the multi-site firms, which account for three tenths of SMEs and large enterprises in Hungary, said they could choose between at least two providers to ensure fixed and mobile services for all their sites. Almost 40 percent of all firms complained that there were not enough providers to choose from at their premises, and the same number said they had difficulty finding the right service for their company.

Finding their way around the telecommunications market is generally not a problem for business leaders, with 78 percent saying so. Most are also satisfied with the range of services on offer (62%) and the clarity of contracts (60%). But four out of ten find it difficult to compare package offers, and the same number said that providers do not advertise the same service packages with the same parameters, making it difficult to decide which is better value for money. Only one in four decision-makers use independent websites and comparison apps for telecommunications and IT.

Research background

The NMHH's national representative surveys aim to better understand the situation in the electronic communications sector and, in this survey, the habits, opinions and concerns of business subscribers. The survey was carried out between 6 July and 12 October 2020, with a national representative sample of 1659 social enterprises with at least 10 employees. Due to the small number of large domestic companies – 41 in the sample –, the representative part is complemented by a further 117 large companies as a replacement sample. Interviews were conducted face-to-face with competent managers of small, medium and large companies. Any biases in the sample were corrected by the researchers by weighting. The survey was carried out for the NMHH by Bellresearch Kft. This press release covers only a small part of the full survey.