In the UK, broadband outages have become increasingly common, affecting many businesses. A recent report by Vorboss, a business internet provider, reveals that 51% of UK businesses with fixed-line connections experienced at least one outage in the past year, with 19% facing three or more outages. This figure rises to 60% for businesses based in London, significantly higher than the 41% of home broadband users who reported losing connectivity for three or more hours last year, according to USwitch.
The economic impact of these outages is substantial, with the UK economy losing an estimated £17.6 billion in output over the past 12 months, equating to more than £11,000 per business. In response, Vorboss is urging Ofcom to introduce automatic compensation for businesses affected by such outages, similar to the scheme implemented for home users since April 2019.
Ofcom’s current scheme for consumers was introduced after two years of consultations with telecom providers, including major players like BT, Sky, TalkTalk, and Virgin Media, along with smaller providers such as Hyperoptic, Utility Warehouse, and Zen Internet. The scheme entitles customers to compensation for service issues, although it requires customers to report faults themselves. Compensation is provided as a credit on the next bill.
As of April 2024, the compensation rates have been adjusted for inflation:
| Problem | As a landline or broadband customer, you would be entitled to compensation if… | Amount of compensation (as of April 2024) |
| Delayed repair following loss of service | Your service has stopped working and it is not fully fixed after two full working days | £9.76 for each calendar day that the service is not repaired |
| Missed appointments | An engineer does not turn up for a scheduled appointment, or it is cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice | £30.49 per missed appointment |
| Delays with the start of a new service | Your provider promises to start a new service on a particular date, but fails to do so | £6.10 for each calendar day of delay, including the missed start date |
Despite the consumer scheme’s success, Vorboss found that 61% of businesses received no compensation for outages. Many firms do not consider it worth the effort to claim compensation, or they do not expect to receive any due to restrictive terms and conditions of many business broadband providers. For example, BT caps claims for delays to the start of service after 12 days, offering only £10 for missed engineer appointments. Virgin Media’s compensation varies with delay duration, paying up to £360 for delays exceeding 21 days.
Vorboss has taken a proactive approach, implementing its own compensation scheme for business customers. Under this scheme, businesses experiencing internet loss for more than four minutes will automatically receive at least one day’s worth of service credits. For outages exceeding 24 hours, businesses will receive two months’ worth of credits.
Other solutions have been proposed globally, such as the Australian government’s proposal requiring telcos to allow customers to roam on other networks during outages. However, Australia’s scheme for business compensation involves complex criteria, deterring many businesses from claiming.
Compensating businesses for significant connectivity outages should be straightforward, ensuring that businesses are not penalised for their service provider’s failures. Such measures would incentivise providers to enhance their services and support. Legislation should protect end customers from increased costs due to provider shortcomings. Vorboss’ automatic compensation scheme sets a promising precedent, and it remains to be seen how many other providers will adopt similar measures.
