In 2025, the global telecommunications industry is expected to surpass USD 1.7 trillion in market value, driven by rapid advancements in 5G, growing data consumption, and the continued convergence of digital technologies. The sector is not only a backbone of global connectivity but also a key enabler of innovation across industries. 

As telecom providers expand infrastructure and launch new services to meet rising demand, the importance of data-driven decision-making and performance optimization has never been greater. In this context, performance measurement has become a strategic priority. As service delivery becomes more complex and customer expectations evolve, key performance indicators (KPIs) offer critical insights for improving network efficiency, enhancing customer experience, managing operational costs, and driving sustainable growth.

To support telecom professionals in navigating these changes, The KPI Institute has released the Top 25 Telecommunications KPIs – 2025 Edition. This report features the most impactful KPIs, selected based on global usage and their relevance to real-world industry practices. 

To provide a glimpse into the report, here are five of the top KPIs featured in the 2025 edition:

•  % Call setup success rate (CSSR) – Measures the percentage of call attempts that successfully connect to the dialed number, out of the total call attempts. It is used to assess the accessibility of the telecommunication network.
•  $ Telecom subscriber acquisition cost –  Measures the average cost of acquiring a new subscriber. It helps optimize acquisition spending by ensuring each new subscriber provides long-term value.
• % Answer seizure ratio (ASR) – Measures the percentage of calls successfully answered out of the total call attempts. It is used to evaluate the effectiveness of call handling. 
• $ Telecom subscriber retention cost (SRC) – Measures the costs associated with retaining a customer, including customer service, retention marketing, and related expenses. It aims to track net retention spending per subscriber.
•  % Data network availability – Measures the percentage of time the data network is operational and accessible. It is used to monitor the overall availability of the data network.

This report is part of the Top 25 KPIs – 2025 series developed by The KPI Institute. The series provides a comprehensive framework for effective performance measurement and addresses key challenges in KPI implementation. Each KPI is documented with practical definitions, calculation formulas, analysis guidelines, and recommended usage scenarios to support integration into performance management systems.

Explore the full report to strengthen your organization’s performance measurement practices. The Top 25 Telecommunications KPIs – 2025 Edition is now available on the TKI Marketplace, with printed copies available for order on Amazon. Get your copy today!

Around 67% of the world’s population, or 5.4 billion people, are now online, according to the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) report, “Facts and Figures 2023.” Apparently, the demand for high-speed Internet access is increasing, and the telecommunications industry should make sure that its infrastructure can handle the growing usage without compromising quality.

But beyond infrastructure upgrades, it is important that organizations can effectively sustain their systems to constantly meet their goals and maintain reliable service for customers. One approach to achieve this is the implementation of performance measurement systems. This will allow organizations to gather data on network efficiency, easily identify bottlenecks, make well-informed decisions regarding infrastructure investments, and most of all, deliver better customer service.

Providing leaders, professionals, and the broader business community with essential knowledge and resources, The KPI Institute (TKI) curates a collection of diverse learning materials and opportunities in strategy and performance management and adjacent fields every month. Some of these resources, while released years ago, remain highly relevant due to their timeless principles and adaptability to changing business dynamics as well as their enduring value and insights for today’s challenges.

This month, TKI is pleased to present comprehensive, research-based resources focusing on telecommunications.

Articles (FREE): Explore these featured articles from Performance Magazine: 

• $ Telecom subscriber acquisition cost
• % Call setup success rate (CSSR)
• Verizon Communications and the HR Balanced Scorecard
• Decision-Making: An Applied Case of Problem-Analysis and Solutions Finding

The Telecommunications KPI Dictionary: The key performance indicator (KPI) taxonomy used in this dictionary covers all major functions of the telecommunications industry, such as call center and telecommunications. The content covers establishing a robust workforce, improving people policies, practices, and systems, ensuring that the financial and operational telecom models meet their goals, and providing information on the quality of inbound and outbound calls.

Call Center Scorecard: This represents a catalogue of the KPIs used by the call center in order to manage and measure its strategic performance. The KPIs are grouped in the four traditional perspectives of the balanced scorecard, each containing objectives and KPIs that describe and assess the performance of the organization.

Call Center Performance Management System Toolkit: Featured here is a visual snapshot of the overall system for managing and measuring performance within the call center, including the system tools and processes and the connections between them.

Customer Service Call Center Dashboard: This is designed for managing and measuring performance of inbound call centers. The tool contains a repository of the most relevant and widely spread KPIs in the call center industry. While pre-populated with KPIs and other relevant data, this template can be customized for the specific needs of your organization. A Customer Service Call Center Dashboard Administrator Guide is also included with each purchase to make template customization an easy process.

June 25, 2013, Melbourne, Australia – The KPI Institute, the global authority on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) research and education announces the launch of a new report in its 2011-2012 edition of its popular Top 25 series of reports. The series is based on research conducted through www.smartKPIs.com, which contains over 20,000 Key Performance Indicator examples, making it the world’s largest source of thoroughly documented KPIs.

Telecommunications industry refers to the specific services that support the exchange of information over significant distances by electronic means. It includes the activities of providing telecommunications and related service activities (i.e. transmitting voice, data, text, sound and video). The transmission facilities that carry out these activities may be based on a single technology or a combination of technologies. The commonality of activities classified in this division is the transmission of content, without being involved in its creation. The breakdown in this division is based on the type of infrastructure operated. The indicators regard the data transmission outcomes, process and efficiency, as well as the infrastructure supporting it.

The Top 25 Telecommunications KPIs of 2011-2012 report compiles the most popular 25 KPIs used by the Telecommunications industry. The methodology used to conduct the research consisted of ranking the KPI examples published in the Telecommunications industry of smartKPIs.com, based on their number of views in 2011. Out of the more than 40 Telecommunications KPIs available on smartKPIs.com, the 25 most viewed by the members and visitors of smartKPIs.com were selected and analysed in detail in this report.

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