Saudi Arabia’s CST Releases CX Index 2025 to Measure User Experience and Telecom Service Quality
Report tracks customer satisfaction, loyalty, ease of access to services, and complaint escalation rates across nine telecom providers
Saudi Arabia’s Communications, Space & Technology Commission (CST) has released its Telecom Sector Customer Experience Indicators Report — CX Index 2025, providing a comprehensive assessment of user satisfaction and the quality of customer experience delivered by telecom providers across their service and support channels.
The report is based on field surveys conducted throughout 2025. It is designed to capture the voice of telecom users and translate their experiences into measurable and comparable indicators that can help policymakers and service providers identify areas for improvement, enhance operational efficiency, and develop services that are more closely aligned with customer needs and expectations.
The report comes as Saudi Arabia’s telecom sector continues to undergo rapid transformation, driven by rising customer expectations and the expanding use of digital services. As a result, customer experience has become a central measure of provider performance alongside network quality, pricing, and coverage.
Four Main Service Categories
The report assesses customer experience across four main telecom service categories:
Mobile voice services
Data-only services delivered over 4G and 5G networks
Bundled services combining voice, data, and value-added services
Fixed broadband services, including fiber and fixed wireless access technologies
The assessment covers nine telecom providers and brands operating in the Saudi market: stc, Mobily, Zain, Salam, GO Telecom, Beyond ONE, Lebara, Red Bull Mobile, and Salam Mobile.
Four Core Customer Experience Indicators
The CX Index 2025 is built around four primary indicators:
Customer Satisfaction Score, or CSAT
Net Promoter Score, or NPS
Customer Effort Score, or CES
Complaint escalations submitted to CST per 100,000 subscriptions
Customer Satisfaction
Beyond ONE recorded the highest Customer Satisfaction Score at 87%, followed by Lebara at 85% and stc at 83%.
Mobily achieved a satisfaction score of 80%, while Zain and Salam each recorded 79%. Salam Mobile followed at 78%, Red Bull Mobile at 73%, and GO Telecom at 72%.
Under the report’s classification framework, scores between 75% and 84% are considered high, while results of 85% or above are classified as outstanding.
Net Promoter Score
The Net Promoter Score measures users’ willingness to recommend a telecom provider based on their actual experience.
stc and Lebara jointly led the ranking with 71 points each, placing both providers in the outstanding category. Beyond ONE followed with 69 points, ahead of Zain at 68 and Mobily at 64.
Salam Mobile recorded 58 points, Salam achieved 44, Red Bull Mobile scored 40, and GO Telecom registered 39.
The findings indicate that most providers maintained relatively strong levels of customer loyalty, although their ability to convert satisfaction into consistent positive recommendations varied.
Customer Effort Score
The Customer Effort Score measures how easy it is for users to obtain a service, access support, complete a request, or resolve an issue.
stc, Zain, and Lebara each recorded 87%, followed by Beyond ONE at 86% and Mobily at 85%.
Salam Mobile achieved 84%, Red Bull Mobile recorded 81%, Salam reached 78%, and GO Telecom registered 77%.
The results point to strong performance among several providers in simplifying the customer journey, particularly when users are requesting services or interacting with customer support.
Wide Variation in Escalated Complaints
The report found a significant variation in the number of complaints escalated to CST per 100,000 subscriptions.
Lebara recorded the lowest escalation rate, with only 2 complaints per 100,000 subscriptions. Beyond ONE followed with 3, stc with 5, and Mobily with 10.
Red Bull Mobile recorded 18 complaints, GO Telecom 21, Zain 27, and Salam Mobile 33.
Salam registered the highest escalation rate by a wide margin, at 231 complaints per 100,000 subscriptions.
The indicator does not represent the total number of complaints received by each provider. It only measures complaints that users escalated to CST through the commission’s electronic system.
Branches, Call Centers, and Digital Channels
The report also assessed satisfaction across three major customer service channels: provider branches, call centers, and digital channels.
Branches
Zain achieved the highest branch satisfaction score at 84%, followed by stc at 82% and Mobily at 81%.
The remaining providers recorded scores ranging from 68% to 77%.
Call Centers
Beyond ONE ranked first for call center satisfaction with 81%, followed by Mobily at 79%.
stc, Zain, and Lebara each recorded 77%, while the remaining brands scored between 65% and 71%.
Digital Channels
stc and Beyond ONE jointly led digital channel satisfaction at 81%, followed by Zain at 80%.
Mobily and Lebara each achieved 79%, while Salam Mobile recorded 75%. Other brands posted scores ranging between 67% and 73%.
The results underline the growing importance of websites, mobile applications, and digital chat services in shaping the customer experience, while branches and call centers continue to play an important role in service fulfilment, support, and complaint handling.
Information Availability
The report assessed whether information relating to services, packages, prices, and terms of use was clear, accurate, updated, and easy for users to access.
Voice Services
Mobily led with 81%, followed by stc at 80% and Zain at 79%. Beyond ONE and Salam Mobile each recorded 77%.
Data-Only Services
Zain ranked first at 80%, while Mobily and Beyond ONE each scored 79%. Salam Mobile achieved 76%, and stc recorded 75%.
Bundled Services
stc led the category with 84%, followed by Salam at 83%.
Mobily and Zain each achieved 82%, Salam Mobile recorded 80%, Beyond ONE and Lebara each posted 77%, and Red Bull Mobile scored 75%.
Fixed Broadband
Mobily ranked first at 79%, followed by stc at 78% and Zain at 76%.
Salam and GO Telecom each recorded 71%.
Overall, information availability was generally stronger for bundled services than for fixed broadband.
Speed of Obtaining Service
This indicator measures the time required from the start of a customer request until the service is fully activated and available for use.
Voice Services
Beyond ONE led with 88%, followed by Salam Mobile at 85%.
stc and Mobily each recorded 82%, while Zain achieved 81%.
Data-Only Services
Salam Mobile ranked first with 87%.
Mobily and Beyond ONE each recorded 84%, followed by Zain at 83% and stc at 82%.
Bundled Services
Salam Mobile, Beyond ONE, stc, and Mobily achieved strong scores ranging from 87% to 88%.
Zain, Salam, and Lebara each recorded 86%, while Red Bull Mobile achieved 83%.
Fixed Broadband
stc and Salam jointly led at 85%, followed by Zain at 84%, GO Telecom at 83%, and Mobily at 82%.
The results make service activation speed one of the strongest-performing dimensions in the report, with most scores falling within the high or outstanding performance categories.
Service Quality
The service quality indicator measures technical performance, stability, reliability, call clarity, signal strength, continuity, and internet quality.
Voice Services
stc ranked first at 81%, followed by Mobily at 80%.
Zain and Beyond ONE each recorded 79%, while Salam Mobile achieved 73%.
Data-Only Services
Zain led at 80%, followed by Mobily and Beyond ONE at 79% each.
stc recorded 76%, while Salam Mobile posted 60%.
Bundled Services
stc ranked first at 82%, followed by Mobily at 81% and Zain at 79%.
Beyond ONE recorded 77%, Lebara 75%, Salam and Salam Mobile 70%, and Red Bull Mobile 65%.
Fixed Broadband
Mobily achieved the highest score at 79%, followed by Zain at 73%, stc at 71%, Salam at 68%, and GO Telecom at 58%.
The findings suggest that fixed broadband quality remains one of the clearest areas requiring further improvement compared with voice and mobile data services.
Value for Money
The report also assessed whether the quality and features of each service represented fair and convincing value relative to its cost.
Voice Services
Salam Mobile led with 88%, followed by Beyond ONE at 81%.
Mobily and Zain each recorded 78%, while stc achieved 75%.
Data-Only Services
Salam Mobile ranked first at 87%, followed by Beyond ONE at 83% and Zain at 80%.
Mobily recorded 78%, while stc achieved 72%.
Bundled Services
Salam Mobile led with 88%, followed by Salam at 85%.
Zain, Beyond ONE, and Lebara each recorded 82%, Red Bull Mobile achieved 81%, Mobily 80%, and stc 78%.
Fixed Broadband
Zain achieved the highest score at 78%.
stc, Mobily, and GO Telecom each recorded 71%, while Salam posted 69%.
The results indicate that value-for-money perceptions were generally stronger for mobile and bundled services than for fixed broadband.
What the Findings Show
The CX Index 2025 shows that Saudi Arabia’s telecom sector achieved strong customer experience results across several dimensions, particularly service activation speed and ease of interaction with providers.
However, the findings also point to clear opportunities for improvement. These include strengthening fixed broadband quality, improving call center efficiency, enhancing branch and digital channel experiences at some providers, and creating a closer relationship between pricing and the actual quality of service delivered.
The significant variation in complaint escalation rates also highlights the need for stronger internal complaint-handling mechanisms, higher first-contact resolution rates, and more proactive communication with users before issues are escalated to the regulator.
CST said the report supports its wider efforts to improve market transparency, enable users to compare provider performance, encourage competition, and promote data-driven decision-making across Saudi Arabia’s telecom sector.
