Customer satisfaction increases in telecoms industry
Synovate teamed up with the Department of Trade and Industry and launched The South African Satisfaction Index (SAS Index). The Index was developed to “address the lack of transparency about service levels in South Africa. It is a public and common measurement of service levels in various industries, including Telecommunications, Municipalities, Short and Long term Insurance, Medical Aids and Banks.”
This year the telecoms sector is doing particularly well, topping all of the others including Long-term Insurance and Banking (the two next top scorers).
The companies measured in this study were the three cellular providers, MTN, Vodacom and CellC and the fixed line provider Telkom.
Vodacom came up tops with the highest levels of overall satisfaction. They received a score of 86% up from 83% in 2005. MTN was not far behind with a satisfaction rating of 84%, also an increase from the 82% rating received last year. CellC was next and the only company to fall from 80% in 2005 to 79% this year. Telkom came last with a rating of 76%, up from 71% last year.
Telkom currently have no competition in the fixed line environment pushing them to perform better but according to Debbie Amm, Client Services Director at Synovate, the launch of Neotel may provide the impetus needed to change this trend.
“The battle for customers should see customer satisfaction levels in the Telecommunications Industry increase in the future” says Amm. “With the increased competition from Neotel as well as Virgin Mobile, we are certain to see the telecommunications players up their game even more”.
One surprising finding is the consumers were found to be more tolerant of Telkom’s pricing.
“Telkom customers have also shown an increased tolerance for the rates Telkom offers for its services. The statement that it offers services at competitive rates has yielded a score of 70%– up from 61% last year,” noted Synovate.
The general consensus from Synovate was that the industry as a whole is making progress in terms of consumer rights and protection which they claim is especially true of Telkom. The research firm points to the fact that “Telkom has impressed customers with honest communication and provision of the necessary facts to make informed choices.”
The improvements made by Telkom can be somewhat deceiving as the fixed line provider is still far behind the mobile operators but it is impressive to see that they are starting to bridge the gap.
What can be said of the incumbent operator is that they are still not interacting with their consumers but have chosen to hide away. Telkom is not visible in any of the consumer websites like HelloPeter or MyADSL and they continue to shy away from the media on the difficult issues.
But the overall impression from the research is that perhaps Telkom CEO’s policy of customer-centricity is starting to show dividends as Telkom begin to lift their head out of the shadow of poor customer care and slow service delivery.
Satisfaction graphs and discussions
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