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Follow UsNEW DELHI: Metro cellular users are largely satisfied with their service
providers, according to data available from the recent Voice & Data survey
of cell phone users. Almost 93 percent of cellular users in metros expressed
satisfaction with their service providers, says a survey conducted by leading
communication magazine, Voice & Data.
In a report published in its June 2001 issue, the magazine says the
subscribers have given an overall rating of 7 out of 10 to their service
providers. The survey was conducted among 644 cell phone users in six cities of
Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, and Ahmedabad.
The survey, the first of its kind, tried to gauge the overall satisfaction
among the users, the impact of advertising and marketing on cellular users, and
their awareness to the latest technologies. While the cellular service providers
have got a good rating when it comes to service delivery, they have failed on
the marketing front, the report says. As many as 53 per cent respondents said
they do not get any marketing communication regarding new services from their
service providers. And only eight percent of the respondents were aware of the
Website address of their service providers.
Some of other the major findings were:
* As many as 57.1 per cent feel the voice quality is consistently good
* More than half (51.8 percent) users feel there is no call dropping.
* Interestingly, as many as 47.6 per cent approved the tariff rates and only
12.9 per cent termed it is as too steep.
* Nearly 58.1 per cent said they consulted customer care for billing related
queries.
* As many as 74 per cent, however, said they would want more such service
providers.
* While the usage of voice mail and SMS is moderate, the usage of utility
services like dial a cab etc is abysmally low with only about 9.5 per cent
respondents use these services.
* Nearly 52.8 per cent said they do not receive any marketing communication
from the service providers. A majority of the respondents, (59.8%) said their
service providers had never inquired them about any additional services they
would like to receive. The response was quite uniform across all the cities.
* The uniformity, however, ends when it comes to awareness and usage of new
technologies. While as many as 64.7 per cent people knew about WAP in Bangalore,
only 3.6 per cent knew about the protocol in Ahmedabad.
* As many as 66.6 percent think that introduction of limited mobility is a
good step, while a sizeable 22.3 per cent said they would switch to limited
mobility service when it is made available.
"On the face of it, 7/10 is an excellent score," says Voice &
Data. The magazine attributes the good show to the added thrust by the service
providers on improving the service quality, because of favorable regulatory
changes made in the recent months. Noting that the service providers had failed
to effectively market new services like SMS the survey, however, warned that
operators may have to lay greater thrust on marketing these services if they
were to stay afloat in the increasingly competitive data-centric world.
Voice & Data, published by Cyber Media (India) Ltd. is the leading
monthly publication in India catering to the business and technology information
needs of communication service providers and high-end enterprise communication
users.