Paris, 14 June 2017

A study of SMEs' telecom needs

Arcep is publishing a new study that it commissioned from IFOP on the telecoms services market for small and medium enterprises (SME) and micro-enterprises. A study that allows Arcep to gain a better understanding of SMEs' telecoms needs, their perception of and satisfaction with the market, as well as the incentives for and obstacles to switching operators.

The study helped reveal that, although SMEs and micro-enterprises as a whole are not at the leading edge when it comes to the use of digital technology, they have a clear interest in fibre access. So the development potential for fibre plans designed for SMEs and micro-enterprises is substantial.

The study also revealed a certain number of difficulties and concerns that SMEs and micro-enterprises have when switching operators: the risk of having their service interrupted, the difficulty in assessing the reliability of their new provider, difficulty understanding the contents of the different plans, the feeling of being ill-informed.

A partner-based approach and a joint press conference with CPME, MEDEF and AFUTT to present the guide

In an attempt to respond to these difficulties in particular, Arcep and its partners - employer federation, MEDEF, SME confederation, CPME, and French Telecoms users association AFUTT - joined forces to produce an instructional guide for SMEs and micro-enterprises to help them understand the market, and define their needs and criteria when choosing their telecoms products.

Other major contributors to this guide include the firm Euklead, the Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) and especially the Directorate General for Enterprise (DGE) which will be a key ally for the guide's dissemination amongst SMEs and micro-enterprises across the whole of France.

This guide comes at a time of tremendous change in the telecoms market for businesses, with the arrival of new players and new products (fibre, etc.) and the upcoming phasing out of the PSTN (public switched telephone network).