Executive Summary – Internet Services Providers Q1 2025
Introduction
The Internet sector continued to show strong competition at the top in Q1 2025, with iiNet reclaiming leadership in both Overall CX and Agent Mastery, and Dodo Internet setting a new benchmark for Accessibility with a near-perfect score of 95.8%. The sector also outperformed all others for Accessibility overall, making it the easiest industry for prospective customers to reach a live agent — a major advantage in a sales-driven environment.
But while connecting with customers is easy, converting them effectively is becoming harder. Agent Mastery scores have now declined for four consecutive quarters, and the sector ranked last across all industries for the Impact competency — which covers empathy, clarity, tone, and control. These are foundational skills for building trust and converting interest into sales, and right now, many ISPs are falling short. Telstra’s continued struggle with Accessibility further reinforces this divide, with wait times and unanswered calls undermining the customer experience from the outset.
Despite these challenges, there are strong signs of what’s possible. The sector led the nation in the Discover competency — with agents showing strong ability to understand and validate customer needs. As competition intensifies, the providers who can match strong accessibility with consistently high-quality conversations will be the ones who stand out — and win.
Top Performers
✅ Best Overall CX Performer – iiNet (70.5%)
iiNet returned to the top of the leaderboard in Q1 2025 with a CX score of 70.5%, reclaiming the top spot they last held in Q3 2024. They edged out last quarter’s leader, TPG Internet, who finished close behind at 67.8%.
📈 Top Accessibility Performer – Dodo Internet (95.8%)
After four consecutive quarters of iiNet leading the sector in Accessibility, Dodo Internet took the top spot in Q1 2025 with a score of 95.8% — their highest result to date. That score also ranked them second overall across all 50+ contact centres assessed nationally.
⭐️ Best Agent Mastery – iiNet (60.8%)
iiNet also led the sector for Agent Mastery in Q1 2025 — their second time achieving this since Q3 2023 — narrowly ahead of TPG Internet, who had held the top spot for the previous three consecutive quarters.
💡 Industry Insight:
Despite strong competition at the top, the sector’s overall Agent Mastery score has declined for four consecutive quarters. Internet Retailers now rank 4th out of 7 sectors for soft skills and behavioural performance — a concerning trend in a highly competitive environment where first impressions matter.
Biggest CX Challenges
🧠 Agent Mastery in Decline
Agent Mastery in the Internet sector has now declined for four consecutive quarters — falling from 61.6% in Q2 2024 to just 52.2% in Q1 2025. These are sales-focused calls, with customers actively looking to switch or sign up for a new plan. In that context, poor conversation quality isn’t just a service issue — it’s a commercial failure. While iiNet continues to lead, the broader sector trend points to a growing inability to convert interest into action through confident, human-led conversations.
🎭 Struggling with Impact – The Emotional Engine Room
Impact is one of the five Agent Mastery competencies and focuses on building a strong emotional connection with customers through tone, empathy, clarity, and call control. In Q1 2025, the Internet sector ranked last across all industries for this critical skillset — with an average score of just 50.0%, compared to the sector-leading Councils at 80.4%. In particular, agents struggled with Empathy and Clarity, often failing to acknowledge the customer’s needs or explain information without jargon. These are sales-driven calls — and when customers don’t feel understood or confident in what they’re hearing, they’re far less likely to convert.
📞 Telstra’s Accessibility Problem Persists
Telstra has now ranked last for Accessibility for seven consecutive quarters — a clear and consistent issue. In Q1 2025, they were the only ISP that didn’t answer 100% of calls within 10 minutes, with 11.1% of sales calls going unanswered in that timeframe. Their average wait time of 1:48 isn’t extreme in isolation, but when the sector average is just 23 seconds, it stands out — and not in a good way. For new customers, especially those already conditioned to view Telstra as slow or hard to reach, it likely reinforces the perception they’re trying to overcome.
🏆 Key Wins
📞 Leading the Way in Accessibility
The Internet sector ranked #1 across all industries for Accessibility in Q1 2025, with an average score of 85.5%. That’s a stark contrast to the banking sector, which recorded just 47.7%. For prospective customers looking to compare or switch providers, the ability to quickly and easily speak to a live agent gives ISPs a strong competitive advantage at a critical decision-making moment.
🧠 Best in Class for Discovering Customer Needs
While the sector struggled with emotional connection (Impact), it led all others in the Discover competency — scoring 59.6% in Q1 2025. This skill is all about uncovering the customer’s true needs through curiosity, listening, and validation. One standout behaviour was Confirm, where ISPs achieved an impressive 84.3% — the highest of all sectors and miles ahead of categories like Car Insurance (22.2%). It shows that once connected, many agents are doing a solid job of staying aligned with what customers are actually trying to achieve.
Recognising Call Centre Excellence for Internet Service Providers
Congratulations to the top-performing internet service providers delivering exceptional customer experiences via their call centres in Q1 2025.
These rankings are based on independent mystery shopping assessments, using real customer enquiries to evaluate how effectively providers support Australians looking to switch plans, connect a new service, or resolve pre-sales questions.
Recognition in these rankings highlights providers who stand out for their speed, clarity, and service quality – turning everyday enquiries into high-impact acquisition opportunities in a fiercely competitive market.
70.5%
67.8%
67.1%
51.4%Quarterly Trend
Overall CX
Internet Service Providers
The Overall CX Score is the most important metric in our benchmarking program – a single, weighted score that reflects how easy it is for customers to reach a contact centre and the quality of the experience once connected.
As the defining measure of customer experience, the Overall CX Score blends Accessibility (30%) and Agent Mastery (70%) to reflect both access and impact – with a greater emphasis on the agent’s role in shaping outcomes. Penalties are applied for major breakdowns to ensure a true picture of performance from the customer’s perspective.
Key Metrics Trend – Internet Retailers (12-Month View)
The chart below highlights a 12-month trend across three core CX performance metrics for Australian Internet retailers:
- Overall CX – A weighted composite score reflecting the end-to-end customer experience, factoring in accessibility, agent quality, and call handling efficiency.
- Accessibility – The ease of reaching a human agent.
- Agent Mastery – The quality and effectiveness of agent conversations.
Overall CX
This is the headline metric – representing the total customer experience across every stage of the call journey. It’s calculated using a weighted combination of the Accessibility and Agent Mastery scores, providing a holistic view of how well ISPs are delivering end-to-end service during key sales interactions.
Accessibility
This measures how easily and quickly prospective customers can reach a real person. It includes navigating phone menus, clarity of options, queue times, and whether callers successfully speak with a representative. Higher scores reflect smoother, more customer-friendly access experiences.
Agent Mastery
This evaluates the quality and professionalism of frontline service. It includes how well ISP call centre agents greet, listen, explain plan options, handle moving enquiries, and support switching decisions – along with empathy, clarity, and overall service delivery. It’s a direct measure of agent capability during high-value conversations.
Learn more about the Australian Contact Centre CX Standards that power these assessments.
Call Centre CX Quadrant – Australian Internet Retailers Q1 2025
This Call Centre CX Quadrant illustrates how Australian internet retailers compare in Accessibility (ease of reaching a live agent) and Agent Mastery (quality of customer interactions).
Striking the right balance is no easy feat – some internet retailers offer fast and easy access but fall short in agent skill or engagement, which can undermine the overall experience.
Others may deliver strong agent interactions but frustrate customers with long wait times or difficult IVRs before help is even reached.
The top-right quadrant represents CX best practice – internet retailers that make it both easy to get help and deliver high-quality conversations that drive conversion, reduce churn, and strengthen customer trust. 📊⚡️
