Best and worst mobile network in SA: unexpected results

The South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) announced its first set of results for mobile network providers today, revealing that MTN is the top rated mobile provider in the country.
SAcsi is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in South Africa.
The SAcsi mobile research was conducted using a sample of 1,182 local mobile subscribers. Each company was measured through telephonic and web-survey methods at a statistically reliable sample of 270 respondents per company.
According to the SAcsi report, South African mobile network customers are generally satisfied with the quality of products and levels of service they receive.
“The results showed that the South African mobile networks industry achieved an overall satisfaction score of 77.3 out of 100. This places customer satisfaction in this industry sixth amongst 19 other ACSI-licensed countries,” the report stated.
Best and worst mobile operators
The index showed that MTN scored highest in terms of customer satisfaction (2.1% above industry average).
“The ‘new kid on the block’, 8ta, has shown an impressive performance and shares the position with already well-established Vodacom, both of which are on par with the industry,” the index revealed.
Cell C finished last with a score of 4.1% below the industry average.
Low expectations in South Africa
SAcsi founder and CEO, Adre Schreuder, said that in comparison to the USA, South Korea, Turkey, and the UK, South African mobile customers have a lower level of customer expectation.
“Clearly we do not have the same customer complaints-handling capabilities as these countries since we consistently show higher levels of customer complaints across all four network providers of between 31-34%, compared to South Korea at 3%, Turkey at 12% and the UK at 13%”, said Schreuder.
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