The telecom sector earned a global Trust & Like Score (TLS) of 65 in 2023, placing it in the Average tier on Caliber’s five-point normative scale. That’s one point better than 2022 — but it still leaves telecommunications companies with the second-worst reputation of the 16 sectors Caliber tracks globally, ahead only of energy.
According to Caliber’s Telecoms Global Reputation Report 2024, the direction of travel is positive. Perceptions improved across almost every brand and reputation attribute year-on-year. People are more likely to support, consider, and recommend telecom companies than they were in 2022. Yet ESG scores stalled, only 30% of people would consider seeking employment in the sector, and concerns about pricing and privacy continue to weigh on the industry’s standing.
This article presents Caliber’s full rankings of the world’s top telecommunications companies by reputation, covering more than 100 companies across 21 countries. It also examines what drove and threatened those reputations in 2023, and what stakeholders globally want from telecom companies going forward.
Caliber’s Trust & Like Score (TLS) is the primary metric used to evaluate the strength of a company’s brand and reputation. It’s calculated as the average of two survey statements — “I like [company]” and “I trust [company]” — rated on a 1–7 Likert scale and normalized to a 0–100 range. The score is statistically proven to be the best predictor of stakeholder behavior: higher TLS scores correlate strongly with greater advocacy, consideration, and recommendation intent.
| Score | Rating |
| 80–100 | Very High |
| 70–79 | High |
| 60–69 | Average |
| 40–59 | Low |
| 0–39 | Very Low |
To explain what’s driving a company’s TLS, Caliber measures a set of Brand, Reputation, ESG, and Behavior attributes — covering dimensions like Innovation, Integrity, Leadership, Society, and Governance. These attributes don’t feed into the TLS calculation; they’re diagnostic tools that help identify where a company’s reputation is strong, where it’s weak, and what’s influencing how stakeholders feel.
A sector average of 65 tells only part of the story. According to Caliber’s Telecoms Global Reputation Report 2024, monthly scores ranged from a low of around 59 to a high of nearly 69 across the year — reflecting how quickly the sector’s reputation can move in response to specific events.
Several high-profile stories contributed to those swings. BT announced plans to cut 55,000 jobs by 2030. Vodafone and Three agreed to merge in the UK. Nokia unveiled plans to reduce its workforce by 14,000 people. In the US, a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed the presence of toxic lead in aging cable networks, triggering separate investigations by the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency — a story that sent telecom stocks falling. T-Mobile US laid off approximately 5,000 employees. On the positive side, Ericsson inked a $14 billion network deal with AT&T, signaling continued large-scale infrastructure investment.
Economic pressure compounded those headline risks. Inflationary costs kept consumer bills high, while frequent coverage of data breaches, service outages, and labor conditions created a sustained backdrop of negative sentiment. Improving scores around April reflected a brief period of more favorable coverage — before news cycles turned negative again mid-year.
Globally, 23% of people say they perceive telecommunications companies better than they did five years ago, compared to just 6% who say they perceive them worse. The remaining majority — 67% — say their views are roughly the same.
The market-level picture is more nuanced. Brazil stands out: 50% of Brazilian respondents said they perceive the sector better than before. China followed at 48%. In contrast, France and the UK showed the smallest improvement among Caliber’s index countries, at 14% each. The US sat at 21%, Germany at 19%, and Japan at 21%.
In more mature, regulated Western European markets, the gap between expectations and delivery appears harder to close — and the sector’s relatively modest improvement in those markets reflects that challenge.
The rankings below are drawn from Caliber’s Telecoms Global Reputation Report 2024. Companies with fewer than 15% familiarity among respondents in their home market were excluded to ensure statistical reliability.
Mexico and Brazil dominate the Americas rankings. AT&T Mexico tops the region with a TLS of 78 (High tier), while Brazilian telecom companies Vivo (77) and Claro (76) follow closely. Eight of the top nine companies in the Americas are from Mexico or Brazil. US telecommunications companies cluster in the Average tier: Verizon, AT&T US, and T-Mobile score 65, 65, and 64 respectively — well below their Latin American counterparts.
| Company | Country | TLS | TLS Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | Mexico | 78 | High |
| Vivo | Brazil | 77 | High |
| Claro | Brazil | 76 | High |
| Telcel | Mexico | 76 | High |
| Telmex | Mexico | 76 | High |
| América Móvil | Mexico | 75 | High |
| Algar Telecom | Brazil | 72 | High |
| TIM | Brazil | 71 | High |
| Movistar | Mexico | 67 | Average |
| Verizon | US | 65 | Average |
| TELUS | Canada | 65 | Average |
| AT&T | US | 65 | Average |
| T-Mobile | US | 64 | Average |
| Grupo Televisa | Mexico | 64 | Average |
| UScellular | US | 62 | Average |
| Charter Communications | US | 61 | Average |
| Bell Canada | Canada | 60 | Average |
| Cox Communications | US | 60 | Average |
| Oi | Brazil | 60 | Average |
| Comcast | US | 60 | Average |
| Rogers | Canada | 55 | Low |
| Frontier Communications | US | 54 | Low |
| DISH Network | US | 51 | Low |
Excluded from ranking due to very low familiarity: Lumen (US), Windstream (US), Viasat (US), Crown Castle (US).
Greece’s Cosmote leads European telecommunications companies with a TLS of 72, placing it alone in the High tier. A cluster of operators in the Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland (all scoring 68) follow. Most major Western European incumbents — Deutsche Telekom (64), Orange France (62), BT Group (60) — sit in the middle of the Average tier. Scandinavian operators score consistently lower, with several falling into the Low tier. Sweden’s 3 (Three) records the weakest score in Europe at 39, placing it in the Very Low tier.
| Company | Country | TLS | TLS Tier |
| Cosmote | Greece | 72 | High |
| KPN | Netherlands | 68 | Average |
| Movistar | Spain | 68 | Average |
| Magenta Telekom | Austria | 68 | Average |
| Swisscom | Switzerland | 68 | Average |
| Fastweb | Italy | 66 | Average |
| Vodafone Ziggo | Netherlands | 66 | Average |
| OTE Group | Greece | 66 | Average |
| Plus | Poland | 66 | Average |
| T-Mobile | Poland | 65 | Average |
| Play | Poland | 65 | Average |
| Odido | Netherlands | 65 | Average |
| Orange | Poland | 65 | Average |
| Yoigo | Spain | 65 | Average |
| Deutsche Telekom | Germany | 64 | Average |
| 3 (Three) | Austria | 64 | Average |
| TIM | Italy | 64 | Average |
| Orange | Belgium | 64 | Average |
| BASE | Belgium | 63 | Average |
| Wind Tre | Italy | 63 | Average |
| Elisa | Finland | 63 | Average |
| Telefónica | United Kingdom | 62 | Average |
| Vodafone | United Kingdom | 62 | Average |
| Lycamobile | Netherlands | 62 | Average |
| Orange | France | 62 | Average |
| Nova | Greece | 62 | Average |
| Virgin Media O2 | United Kingdom | 62 | Average |
| Vodafone | Greece | 61 | Average |
| A1 Telekom Austria | Austria | 61 | Average |
| Salt. | Switzerland | 61 | Average |
| Sunrise | Switzerland | 60 | Average |
| BT Group | United Kingdom | 60 | Average |
| Free | France | 60 | Average |
| Vodafone | Italy | 60 | Average |
| Telefónica | Spain | 59 | Low |
| 1&1 | Germany | 59 | Low |
| Lebara | Netherlands | 59 | Low |
| 3 (Three) | United Kingdom | 58 | Low |
| Vodafone | Germany | 58 | Low |
| Proximus | Belgium | 58 | Low |
| O2 | Germany | 58 | Low |
| Telenet | Belgium | 58 | Low |
| Orange | Spain | 58 | Low |
| freenet | Germany | 56 | Low |
| Vodafone | Spain | 56 | Low |
| YouSee | Denmark | 56 | Low |
| Vivendi | France | 56 | Low |
| Bouygues Telecom | France | 56 | Low |
| Telia Company | Finland | 56 | Low |
| DNA Oyj | Finland | 55 | Low |
| SFR | France | 55 | Low |
| Orange | United Kingdom | 54 | Low |
| Telenor | Denmark | 54 | Low |
| 3 (Three) | Denmark | 53 | Low |
| Telia Company | Sweden | 52 | Low |
| Tele2 | Sweden | 51 | Low |
| Telia Company | Denmark | 51 | Low |
| Telenor | Sweden | 47 | Low |
| 3 (Three) | Sweden | 39 | Very Low |
Excluded from ranking due to very low familiarity: Cellnex (Italy), United Internet (Germany), VEON (Netherlands).
India’s telecommunications companies dominate the Asia rankings. According to Caliber’s Telecoms Global Reputation Report 2024, Jio and Tata Communications both scored 84 — the highest scores recorded across any regional ranking in the report — followed by Bharti Airtel at 82. India’s strong showing reflects deep stakeholder engagement with telecom services in a market where digital connectivity has expanded rapidly in recent years. China’s three major state-owned operators also scored well, all landing in the High tier.
China’s three major state-owned operators — China Mobile (78), China Telecom (77), and China Unicom (76) — scored in the High tier, placing them among the stronger-performing telecommunications companies globally.
Japanese telecom companies scored substantially lower. KDDI led the Japanese market at 59, followed by NTT Corporation at 56 and SoftBank at 50. All three placed in the Low tier, reflecting broader challenges with stakeholder trust in Japan’s telecom market.
| Company | Country | TLS | Tier |
| Jio | India | 84 | Very High |
| Tata Communications | India | 84 | Very High |
| Bharti Airtel | India | 82 | Very High |
| China Mobile | China | 78 | High |
| China Telecom | China | 77 | High |
| China Unicom | China | 76 | High |
| Vi (Vodafone Idea) | India | 76 | High |
| BSNL | India | 75 | High |
| KDDI | Japan | 59 | Low |
| NTT Corporation | Japan | 56 | Low |
| SoftBank Group Corp. | Japan | 50 | Low |
Top-rated telecommunications companies tend to outperform their local competitors on a specific set of brand and reputation attributes. According to Caliber’s Telecoms Global Reputation Report 2024, Innovation and Integrity were the most common differentiators among the top-ranked companies across eight highlighted markets.
Four of the eight market leaders had Innovation as a top-three relative reputational advantage, including Verizon in the US, China Mobile, Vivo in Brazil, and KDDI in Japan. Four had Integrity in their top three, including Orange in France, Telefónica in the UK, AT&T in Mexico, and KDDI. Leadership appeared for three companies, including Deutsche Telekom and Vivo. Authenticity also featured for three, particularly in markets where institutional trust tends to be more contested.
The sector’s overall picture is mixed. On the positive side, perceptions improved across almost every measured attribute in 2023. People are more likely to advocate for, consider purchasing from, and recommend telecom services than they were in 2022. The Offering score rose two points to 65, Innovation also rose two points to 65, and Leadership improved two points to 64.
The negative signals are harder to dismiss. Of the 16 sectors Caliber tracks, telecommunications sits second from the bottom. ESG scores failed to improve, with the average Society score falling by one point — partly attributed to frequent coverage of large-scale workforce reductions across the industry. And only 30% of respondents would consider working in the sector, a figure unchanged from 2022 despite the industry’s ongoing digital transformation.
Privacy breaches are the single biggest reputational risk facing telecommunications companies globally. According to Caliber’s Telecoms Global Reputation Report 2024, this was the top answer across all age groups, ahead of misleading marketing (second) and inadequate customer service (third).
Market-level data reveals important nuances. In Brazil, 50% of respondents cited misleading marketing as a top concern, making it the market most focused on advertising transparency. In France, environmental impact ranked as a top-three reputational risk — a reflection of the stronger sustainability expectations in that market. In both China and Japan, monopolistic practices ranked third among reputational risks, pointing to a different set of competitive and regulatory pressures.
For communications teams at telecom companies, these variations matter. A single global message around data security won’t land equally across markets with meaningfully different priorities.
Globally, 31% of respondents believe telecom companies should face more regulation, while 56% think the current level is appropriate, and 8% favor less. But the global average conceals wide variation in regulatory appetite across markets.
Brazil is the most regulation-positive market: 48% of respondents called for stronger oversight. France (41%) and the UK (37%) also showed significant appetite for tighter controls. In contrast, just 20% of German respondents and 15% of Japanese respondents called for more regulation, suggesting those markets are more comfortable with the current framework.
For public affairs and government relations teams, this data points to meaningfully different operating environments. Caliber’s telecom sector intelligence page covers how companies in the sector can monitor these shifting regulatory perceptions in real time.
When asked what telecom companies should prioritize to attract and retain customers, respondents globally ranked reliable service, data security, and transparent pricing as the top three. These are operational priorities — not brand narratives — which suggests that stakeholder trust in telecom services is built, or lost, primarily through the quality of the product itself.
Market and demographic breakdowns add important texture. Customer support ranked as a top-three priority among 18–24-year-olds in the US and UK, and among high-income individuals globally, pointing to a service quality gap that matters most to the most commercially attractive segments. Data security commanded even greater salience in China, where 50% of respondents named it a top-three concern compared to a 40% global average.
Understanding which priorities matter most in which markets is exactly the kind of intelligence that can inform both product investment decisions and communications strategy. Caliber’s reputation management KPIs guide covers how to translate these perceptions into measurable business metrics.
The societal challenges respondents most want telecom companies to address are affordability for underserved communities, cybersecurity protection, and privacy protection. These ranked as the top three globally, but their relative weight differs significantly by market and age group.
Affordability was the top concern in Brazil, the US, and the UK. In the UK, it was selected by 53% of respondents — making it the most pronounced single finding on societal impact in the entire report. Cybersecurity was seen as less of a challenge among younger respondents: 18–24-year-olds were notably less concerned about it than older groups.
Among respondents under 35, social impact initiatives, sustainability, and local community engagement all ranked as more important than they did among older audiences. One in six people globally under 35 said that working with local communities to address their specific telecom needs was a top-three priority. In contrast, fewer than one in ten respondents aged 65–75 cited it. These age-driven differences point to a widening gap in expectations between younger and older stakeholder cohorts — one that will only grow as those younger groups accumulate purchasing power and political influence.
Telecommunications companies are in slow but measurable reputational recovery. Stakeholder perceptions improved across almost every dimension in 2023, and the sector’s Trust & Like Score of 65 reflects genuine progress from a year earlier.
The structural challenges remain significant. Telecoms still carries the second-worst reputation of any sector Caliber tracks. ESG performance is stagnating. Employment intent has flatlined at 30%. And the risks most likely to set back that recovery — privacy breaches, opaque pricing, and poor service — are largely within the sector’s control to address.
For telecom companies looking to move the dial, the Caliber data provides a clear starting point: know your specific stakeholder priorities by market, measure how perceptions shift over time, and build your communications strategy around the issues that actually drive trust. The companies at the top of these rankings didn’t get there by accident.
Download Caliber’s Telecoms Global Reputation Report 2024 to see the full data behind these rankings. Or explore how real-time reputation tracking can help your company stay ahead of shifting stakeholder perceptions.
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It depends on the market. According to Caliber’s Telecoms Global Reputation Report 2024, regional leaders are Jio and Tata Communications in Asia (TLS: 84), AT&T Mexico in the Americas (TLS: 78), and Cosmote in Europe (TLS: 72). In the US, Verizon leads with a TLS of 65, followed by AT&T and T-Mobile at 65 and 64.
Caliber measures reputation using the Trust & Like Score (TLS), a 0–100 metric derived from survey data assessing how much people trust and like a company. The score draws on four clusters of attributes: Reputation (Offering, Innovation, Integrity, Leadership), Brand (Authenticity, Differentiation, Relevance, Inspiration), ESG (Environment, Society, Governance), and Behavior (Advocacy, Consideration, Recommendation, Employment intent). Scores are compared against a five-tier normative scale ranging from Very Low (0–39) to Very High (80–100).
According to Caliber’s Telecoms Global Reputation Report 2024, the top three global priorities are reliable service (consistent network coverage with minimal disruptions), data security (protecting customer data from breaches), and transparent pricing (clear billing without hidden fees). Customer support is a particularly important priority for 18–24-year-olds in the US and the UK, and for high-income individuals globally.
The telecom sector scores in the Average tier globally and ranks second-worst of 16 sectors in Caliber’s tracking data. Key contributing factors include inflationary pressure keeping consumer bills high, high-profile data security incidents, large-scale job cuts generating sustained negative coverage, concerns about misleading marketing, and stagnant ESG performance. The sector’s Society score fell in 2023, partly attributed to frequent coverage of workforce reductions — many linked to AI adoption. Privacy and transparency concerns remain structural issues rather than one-off events.
Privacy breaches — by a clear margin. Caliber’s 2024 report found this was the single greatest threat to the sector’s future reputation across all age groups and all markets surveyed. Misleading marketing ranked second, and inadequate customer service third. For telecom companies, the reputational risks that matter most are entirely within their control.
