More than half of consumers across five major European telecommunications markets are open to changing mobile providers, signaling a growing challenge for operators that have traditionally relied on pricing, network performance and bundled services to retain subscribers.

A new Consumer Insights: Customer Stickiness & Loyalty in European Telecommunications analysis from Circles found that 53% of consumers across France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK are open to switching mobile providers. The research points to a fragmented loyalty environment in which customer retention increasingly depends on market-specific behavior, customer value and the relevance of personalized offers.

The findings come as European connectivity markets become increasingly mature. The European Commission's latest Digital Decade connectivity report says 5G coverage reached 96.8% of EU households, while FTTP coverage reached 74.1% in 2025. As network availability becomes more widespread, differentiation based exclusively on connectivity performance may become harder.

Market Landscape

Switching intent varies significantly by market. In Italy, two-year switching intention increased from 18% in 2023 to 27% in 2024, according to the Circles analysis. In the UK, 31% of consumers said they were likely to change operator within two years in 2024, six percentage points higher than a year earlier.

Germany shows a pronounced generational divide: the research cited by Circles found 64% of adults under 35 were open to switching compared with 75% of consumers over 55 intending to remain with their provider. Spain presents another challenge, with approximately 55% of intended destinations among switchers being low-cost operators.

Price remains the leading consideration when consumers evaluate providers, followed by network speed, coverage, reliability and handset discounts. This suggests that loyalty programs cannot compensate for weaknesses in the underlying customer proposition.

Bundles also appear less protective than operators may assume. Circles says fewer than 43% of consumers in the UK, Italy and Germany hold fixed and mobile services with the same operator. Even in Spain's highly converged market, low-cost alternatives continue to attract prospective switchers.

Strategic Outlook

The next phase of telco customer experience is likely to move beyond simply adding loyalty rewards. Deloitte's 2026 TMT research similarly identifies rewards as an increasingly important source of mobile differentiation. In the UK, Deloitte found rewards ranked second among non-price factors that could influence switching, while rewards ranked first in the Netherlands and Belgium.

For marketers, the implication is a shift from broad retention programs toward customer-value orchestration: using customer data, segmentation and behavioral signals to determine which incentive or experience is relevant to each subscriber.

Rather than treating bundle penetration, rewards or personalization as standalone loyalty metrics, operators will increasingly need to connect them to measurable outcomes such as churn reduction, profitability, satisfaction and customer lifetime value.

Top Insights

1. 53% switching openness indicates significant pressure on traditional telco loyalty models.
2. Price and network quality remain foundational, despite growing interest in differentiated experiences.
3. Low-cost operators are intensifying competitive pressure, particularly in markets such as Spain and Italy.
4. Personalization needs to become more outcome-driven, rather than simply increasing the number of offers.
5. Customer segmentation is becoming strategic, as age, market and customer value materially affect switching behavior.

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