Highlights
The UK lost £17.6 billion due to fixed business connectivity outages last year, underscoring the need for robust, reliable Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs). A well-defined SLA lets you gauge how reliable a provider's infrastructure is. The more generous the SLA, the more confidence a provider has in their network capability and reliability. It also guarantees that you will be compensated if downtime occurs.
According to our Reliability and Compensation Report, authored by Assembly Research, the UK economy lost £17.6 billion in economic output in the past year due to fixed business connectivity outages.
Billions of pounds were wasted. It's a sobering figure.
How do you, as a business, guard yourself against this?
By getting to know your internet provider's service level agreement (SLA), and what it really means.
A transparent SLA lets you gauge how robust a provider's infrastructure is. The more generous the SLA, the more confidence a provider has in their network capability and reliability. It also guarantees that you will be compensated if downtime occurs.
So, what should you expect to see in the small print? Let's explore the world of SLAs.
What is an SLA?
An SLA is a contract that outlines and defines the type of service you can expect from your business internet provider.
It should lay out how they measure your service and what compensation they will give you if they do not deliver the promised service level.
We all know reliable connectivity is paramount to your business’ internal and external functions, so SLAs are very important. They allow you to mitigate some of the impact of connectivity outages, but more importantly they serve as an indicator of the quality of the infrastructure you rely on. By scrutinising the terms, you can make informed decisions, ensuring that you choose a service that aligns with your demands.
Many businesses are in the dark
There’s low awareness surrounding business internet providers’ SLAs—and that’s an issue.
Our research finds that almost a quarter (23%) of UK fixed business connectivity customers were unsure whether their contracts even included SLAs or SLGs.
Among those familiar with their SLA, 21% didn't know if their contract specified compensation arrangements if certain service quality levels weren’t met.
If you're in the dark about your SLA, your business could be vulnerable. Commitment to high levels of compensation from providers acts as motivation to technical teams to pre-empt issues, therefore fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
The good news is you can request an SLA from your business internet service provider (ISP) if they haven't issued you one (or you haven't seen one).
The economic toll of outages
Consistent connectivity is not a luxury.
Ofcom finds that 83% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) consider communications services fundamental to their business, so much so they could not function without them.
60% of companies in London reported one or more service losses over the past year, with 28% experiencing at least three outages.
Our analysis reveals that over the last year, the average loss of economic output to London businesses as a result of internet outages was £18,620. This equates to an average 314 lost hours of productivity (nearly 40 working days) per London business.
Staggering numbers to swallow.
This highlights the importance of transparency in contractual terms, as well as auto compensation. Businesses should not be left with minimal or no compensation if the worst occurs.
As things stand, the case is clear: businesses across the UK are losing out to connectivity outages.
Don’t leave money on the table
Despite the average UK business losing over £11,000 in economic output due to connectivity outages in the past year, 61% of UK businesses surveyed reported that they did not receive compensation from their ISP.
For those that didn’t ask for compensation, the main reasons given were that they believed it was not worth the time and effort or they didn’t expect to get compensation.
Only around a third of businesses surveyed reported receiving any compensation for connectivity outages in the past year.
If only they knew it could be a seamless and automatic process.
As a result of our findings, we’ve urged Ofcom to introduce an automatic compensation scheme for fixed business connectivity providers; we want this to become the standard.
Why we love SLAs
Business internet providers can hold themselves to account by including automatic compensation clauses in their SLAs. This indicates confidence in their infrastructure and a commitment to their customers.
This is how we use SLAs at Vorboss:
- To highlight our confidence in our network
- To ensure we compensate our customers fairly and automatically if outages occur
- To establish clear expectations between our customers and us (guaranteed uptime, response times, and compensation)
We’re raising the bar by providing the most competitive SLAs in the industry, automatically compensating businesses after just 4 minutes of downtime.
SLAs should be transparent and include automatic compensation to give customers greater trust in their providers—and encourage providers to improve service quality.
The bottom line
Read your SLA, whether it’s your existing one or you’re signing up for a new contract.
If there’s anything unclear, discuss it. If you don’t have one, ask for one.
If necessary, demand a more robust SLA to safeguard against connectivity issues.
If your SLA doesn’t include auto compensation, claim compensation for outages if they occur.
Every SLA should have a silver lining.
Tell us about yourself so we can serve you best.
More Articles
Vorboss formalises strategic partnership with Roc Technologies to deliver innovative connectivity services to London's local councils.
London, [02.06.2025] – Vorboss, London's leading dedicated connectivity provider, today announces a strategic partnership with Roc Technologies to deliver best-in-class network solutions tailored specifically for local councils across the capital.
This partnership, borne of long standing collaboration between the companies, brings together two organisations committed to leveraging technology to enhance public sector services. The Vorboss high-performance, resilient network, combined with Roc Technologies' highly secure, customer-centred approach, provides local councils with a distinctive and robust solution to address real citizen needs.
Jason O’Malley, Chief of Commercial Operations at Vorboss, said: "We're excited to be partnering with Roc Technologies, whose values and customer-centric approach align closely with our own. This partnership enables us to offer unparalleled connectivity solutions, directly improving service delivery and efficiency for local councils."
Adam Jarvis , CRO at Roc Technologies, added: "Our partnership with Vorboss brings together two businesses that truly differentiate in the way they support their customers, providing highly responsive services designed to enhance their overall experience. Leveraging Vorboss' superior infrastructure and their technical experts located across London allows us to provide a combined service delivery capability that transforms how local councils manage their infrastructure, ultimately benefiting the communities they serve."
The combined expertise of Vorboss and Roc Technologies presents councils across London with an unmatched proposition: cutting-edge connectivity delivered with clarity, reliability, and a shared dedication to customer-driven outcomes.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Kirstie Lane
Kirstie.lane@vorboss.com
About Vorboss:
Vorboss is London’s dedicated enterprise fibre network. We are disrupting the status quo by providing London businesses with access to critical fibre infrastructure with simple, transparent pricing and London-wide coverage.
Since 2019, we've invested over £250 million into our London network. We have deployed over 700km of fibre optic cables to date, setting an unparalleled standard in both scale and quality.
We maintain complete ownership of the network that we built. This gives us the freedom to approach telecommunications differently.
Partners and customers deal directly with the engineers who built the network, and we can deliver installations and bandwidth upgrades within days, not months.
About Roc Technologies:
Who are Roc?
Roc Technologies delivers transformational IT solutions to public and private sector organisations across the UK. We are a team of brilliant minds, bringing together highly secure infrastructure, advanced cyber security, intelligent automation and modern cloud services, all supported by our 24/7 Managed Services Operations Centre. Our expertise is backed up by some of the UK’s most rigorous data and security accreditations; we’ve earned the trust of the nation’s largest and most complex organisations and have safeguarded their most sensitive data for over a decade.
This recognition reflects Vorboss’ commitment to the highest standards across the City and its ongoing contribution to making London a better connected, future-ready capital. The scheme challenges engineering teams to exceed legal requirements when working on streets and pavements in the Square Mile, aiming to ensure safety, minimise disruption, and improve conditions for everyone who lives, works, or travels through the area.
Participating companies are assessed on planning and coordination, accountability, responsiveness, and alignment with the City’s business priorities.
Rhod Morgan, Chief Operating Officer at Vorboss, credits the achievement to the company’s investment in its people:
“This award is a direct result of our strategy to train, and support our in-house teams. We’ve hired and built a talented and diverse workforce, and we’re proud that our training academy continues to raise the bar for quality delivery in the City."
Headquartered in the Square Mile, Vorboss remains at the forefront of delivering high-performance, reliable internet to businesses across London. This recognition reinforces Vorboss’ role in shaping the City’s digital infrastructure and supporting its future digital capabilities, with the company investing over £250 million in its dedicated network.
The company’s field technicians are trained at an in-house academy that offers a clear career path into telecoms. More than one-third of the team are women, and Vorboss is proud to be a London Living Wage employer.
Ends
For more information, contact press@vorboss.com
About Vorboss
Vorboss is a network that is purpose-built for London's most ambitious businesses.
Designed with London’s future in mind, it is providing businesses direct access to critical fibre infrastructure, with simple, transparent pricing.
Vorboss is unique in owning its network and service end-to-end, and offers 10Gbps, 25Gbps and 100Gbps connections.
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