Telecom loyalty lasts until the next price rise
Why do French households stay with an operator they could leave any day?
For the first wave of the nabel telecom and media tracker, we talked with 305 people who choose their household’s phone, internet and streaming subscriptions, all of them in a voice conversation with the nabel agent.
Get the full report30 pages, in French
305voice conversations
17 minmedian length
5 daysof fieldwork
No contract holds them. Habit does.
78%
won’t switch operator in the next twelve months, although just as many have a no-contract mobile plan or one from a low-cost brand. About four in ten would leave over a price rise.
Actually, what keeps me there is just laziness. […] Going through all the steps.
Woman, 18–34, Île-de-France
41%
of content subscribers find what they pay too high, yet only 19% plan to cancel a subscription this year. A third of households don’t pay for any content at all, and half of those aged 55+.
I had four of them in all, maybe even five […] it was starting to get too expensive, so […] we chose to keep the one we watch the most.
Woman, 35–54, north-west France
20%
trust Netflix most among twelve telecom, streaming and TV brands, more than the four operators combined (13%). 35% trust none of them.
[…] it’s no worse, it’s no better than the others. So switching to get the same hassle somewhere else is pointless.
Man, 55+, retired
54%
rate their trust in the news media 5/10 or lower. They cross-check rather than tune out, and about fifteen of them already ask an AI like Copilot or ChatGPT to check a story.
And when I’m in doubt, I forward the article to the AI. To Copilot. I ask it whether it’s fake news. And if not, to summarise it for me.
Man, 55+, south-east France
305 conversations, one bubble each.
Click a red bubble to hear or read what that person said.Tap a red bubble to hear or read what that person said.
Loyal until the next price rise
The full report goes further. 30 pages, in French:
- 01Six findings on operators, content subscriptions, trust in brands and the news, and AI
- 02Three subscribers’ stories, in their own words, transcribed verbatim
- 03Three opportunities for telecom operators, content platforms and media groups
- 04The conversation guide and the full methodology
Methodology · Mainland France · 11–16 Sept 2026
305 respondents with a mobile or home internet plan in their name, who choose their household’s subscriptions alone or with someone else. 206 complete voice conversations with the nabel agent, plus 99 partial ones whose completed answers were kept.
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