Telecommunications (Retail Telco & ISPs)

The shape tilts toward Digital Maturity (63.5) and away from Retention & Loyalty (56.7). That tilt tells you where the industry's marketing dollars have gone and where they haven't. The businesses that correct the tilt first will see outsized returns because they're fixing the constraint that's holding everything else back.

Dimension Breakdown

Why Australian telcos underperform despite massive marketing budgets

Telecommunications at 60.7 composite sits below the national average of 63.2, ranking around 45th of 77 industries. For an industry that collectively spends billions on advertising, this is a poor return. The explanation is structural: telco marketing is overwhelmingly focused on acquisition and price promotion, leaving retention, brand and measurement under-invested.

Telstra at 78 composite is a significant outlier. The 17-point gap between Telstra and the industry average is one of the largest single-company premiums in any vertical. Telstra's brand investment, network differentiation narrative and enterprise marketing capability separate it from the pack. The rest of the industry is fighting a price war.

Retention and Loyalty at 56.7 is the critical weakness. Compare this to Superannuation (67.3) or Health Insurance (69.6). All three are subscription products with annual or multi-year cycles. But super funds and health insurers have built genuine retention strategies. Telcos rely on contracts and inertia.

Brand and Positioning at 56.8 exposes the commoditisation trap. When every carrier offers unlimited data on the same network (most MVNOs run on Telstra or Optus infrastructure), the product is identical. The only way to de-commoditise is through brand or service experience. Most carriers have invested in neither.

Data and Tracking at 58.4 is below average for an industry awash in subscriber data. Telcos have more first-party behavioural data than almost any other industry, but marketing teams often can't access it. The internal politics of data access between network operations, customer service and marketing is one of the most common complaints in telco marketing teams.

Ranked 53rd of 70. Bottom quartile. The blunt version: marketing in this vertical is an afterthought for most businesses. The opportunity version: any business that takes it seriously will have an open lane with very little competition for attention.

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Frequently Asked

Where does your business sit in this picture?

Telecommunications (Retail Telco & ISPs) scores 60.7 on average. That's one number across 6 dimensions. Your number will be different, and the breakdown will tell you exactly where to invest and where to stop wasting money.