Virgin Media didn't fare too well in Ofcom's latest quarterly report logging customer complaints in the landline, broadband, pay-monthly mobile and pay-TV segments.

Covering the Q1 2021 period, which overlapped with the UK's third nationwide lockdown, the regulator found that the volume of complaints about mobile services remained more or less stable.

It was a different story in the landline and broadband markets, however, where complaints reached a three-year high. Moans about pay-TV services also increased in the quarter.

The uptick in complaints was largely driven by Virgin Media, before it became Virgin Media O2, which carried the ignominious moniker of most complained about broadband, landline and pay-TV provider for the quarter.

Even in the pay monthly mobile segment, where Three is officially dubbed the most complained about player, Ofcom, in a footnote, pointed out that the actual measurable difference between Three's and Virgin Media's number of complaints per 100,000 subscribers was less than one. As such, said Ofcom "their results should be considered comparable."

Complaints handling was Virgin Media's biggest weakness across the various market segments, according to the Ofcom report.

Rankings

In fixed broadband, the industry-average number of complaints per 100,000 subscribers was 19. Virgin Media notched up 33 per 100,000. The best performers here were EE and Sky, which each managed to keep their volume of complaints down to 7 per 100,000.

In the landline space, Virgin Media nearly doubled the industry average – 11 complaints per 100,000 subscribers – with 19 complaints. EE and Sky were again the least complained about here with each scoring 5 in Ofcom's measurement system.

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In the pay-monthly segment, O2, now part of Virgin Media O2, beat the industry average of 3 complaints of 100,000 customers with a score of 2. EE, Sky Mobile and Tesco Mobile were the least complained about, however, with a score of 1. Virgin Media scored 5.

When measured against the industry average, Virgin Media's most egregious performance was in pay-TV, where it racked up 17 complaints per 100,000 subscribers against an industry average of 6.

Sky took the mantle of least complained about pay-TV provider in the UK with a score of 2.

— Ken Wieland, contributing editor, special to Light Reading