Telco Award 2026: the small independents have the happiest customers

The short version

• Six independent providers are awarded. Mobile: spusu (9.1), Digital Republic (8.9), iWay (8.6). Internet: Teleboy (9.3), Init7 (8.7), iWay (8.6).
• Nine awards: three for mobile, three for internet, three for the best-rated provider on each mobile network.
• The basis is the Peer Score, a mark from 1 to 10 built from public Google and Trustpilot reviews, weighted by the number of reviews. Calculated for all 24 Swiss providers in the comparison.
• No jury, no entry, no fee. There is no way to influence an award, and a link back to handyabo.com is not a condition.
• Among the network winners, Mucho (6.3) leads on the Swisscom network. The three network operators themselves are not among this edition's winners: Swisscom 5.5, Sunrise 4.7, Salt 4.5.
• Every awarded provider gets a badge in four formats, free to use. The next edition follows in January 2027.

The nine awards

Mobile · Overall ranking

Internet · Overall ranking

Mobile · Network winners

All badges are available for download on the award page.

What the award is, and what it is not

In August, handyabo.com calculated the Peer Score for all 24 Swiss mobile and internet providers, a mark from 1 to 10 built from public Google and Trustpilot reviews. The satisfaction check that came with it showed a pattern running through the whole ranking: the happiest customers do not belong to the biggest providers.

The Telco Award is the excerpt from that. It takes the top-placed providers and turns the result into something a provider can show, a badge with a number and a cut-off date. It is nothing more, and it is not meant to be.

What it does not measure matters just as much. The Peer Score captures what customers say in public. It does not measure network quality, outage duration or hotline waiting times. That is why the award says best-rated and not best service. A provider with many happy voices can still have a slow network, and the other way round.

The winners of the 2026 edition

Mobile. First place goes to spusu with a Peer Score of 9.1 out of 10, followed by Digital Republic with 8.9 and iWay with 8.6.

Internet. Here Teleboy leads with 9.3, the highest value in the whole survey, ahead of Init7 with 8.7 and iWay with 8.6. That makes iWay the only provider awarded in both categories.

Network winners. Because network quality depends on the antenna and not on the logo, there is an additional award per mobile network. On the Salt network spusu wins, on the Sunrise network Digital Republic, and on the Swisscom network Mucho with 6.3. Mucho transmits over the same network as Swisscom and reaches a higher customer satisfaction value than Swisscom itself (5.5). Network quality is identical for both, the difference lies in the service around it.

What connects the six: they are independent providers without a network of their own behind them, and they have to compete on service and price because they cannot compete on name recognition. That is exactly where this survey finds the happiest customers. The three network operators are not among this edition's winners, they sit mid-table among the 24 providers examined, with Swisscom at 5.5, Sunrise at 4.7 and Salt at 4.5.

For internet, only providers with a wired connection count, that is fibre, cable or copper. Digital Republic offers internet over 5G. That is a different product with different properties and is not ranked against a fibre line, so the provider is missing from the internet ranking and takes second place in mobile instead.

Our expert's take

Moritz Schmid, telecom expert handyabo.com

'At the top there are six small, independent providers, and that is what pleases me most about this edition. A prize you can apply and pay for mostly measures the marketing budget. Here only the customers' voices count, and they are spread differently from the market shares. You can see it clearly with Mucho, which transmits over the same Swisscom network and comes out ahead on satisfaction. The antenna is the same, the difference lies in the service around it.'

Moritz Schmid is an expert on Swiss internet and mobile providers. Through his work in mobile outdoor livestream production, he regularly tests and uses SIM cards, data plans and contracts from various providers, at home and abroad.

The badge for the winners

The nine awarded providers get a badge in four formats, portrait and landscape, light and dark, plus a ready-made text block. It costs nothing and is tied to nothing. Whether a provider embeds it or links back changes neither its rank nor its rating on handyabo.com. The full rules are on the award page.

handyabo.com is funded through commissions when someone signs up for a plan through our links. There are no extra costs for users. The order in the calculator follows price and Deal Score, not the size of the commission. The methodology is open at handyabo.com/en/how-we-rate/.

A cut-off date, not a permanent verdict

The 2026 edition records the state as of 8 July 2026. Reviews change, and so do providers. The badge keeps its number and its year so that it stays traceable later what it refers to. The next survey runs in January 2027.

If a value is wrong, we correct it and recalculate the edition. Reports go to hello@handyabo.com, ideally with a link to the right profile.