Nearly 80% of global consumers are suffering issues of some kind, according to a new survey by mobile messaging vendor Acision. The issues include slow speeds (62%), network coverage (39%) and connection drops (36%). 74% of video consumers complain of long wait times and pausing. Worldwide this is driving a churn potential of 31%, consistent across all countries.
In a world where the network issues faced by telcos are daily news, this survey uncovered a surprising array of facts about customers’ reactions.
Based on representative samples of mobile broadband users from the U.K., United States, Brazil, Singapore and Australia, these results are more relevant now than early in 2011 when the study was launched.
Most importantly, customers are willing to work with telcos, once they understand the problem. According to the survey, 67% of customers accept the need for policies around network usage and 35% of customers would pay for an improved quality of experience.
This included an interesting list of services that customers would be prepared to pay for: 41% said they’d pay for notifications, as well as fair bandwidth management, shared bundles and prioritized network access.
The conclusion, according to this survey, is that there are revenue opportunities out there for telcos, despite underlying network challenges.
One recent opportunity arose for Acision with Setar, Aruba’s national telecom provider (CP: Hybrid pre-, post-paid bundles winning over subscribers). By implementing a hybrid system, Setar was able to offer control to customers in a positive way that drove take up of 20% of their customer base.
By offering a bundle of minutes, texts and data — which switched automatically into a hybrid zone if the customer reached his limit and then into a prepaid mode when the limit was stretched — even students could use smartphones without the fear of bill shock and the resulting debt problems to the operator.
At the beginning of this year, Acision made some predictions about the things to watch in 2011 – and so far they are on track with their thoughts on policy management implementations, roaming, data caps, consolidation amongst billing players and the uptake of more sophisticated measuring tools.
One trend they pointed to was that the first partnerships between telcos and over the top players would also appear. Well, we still have some months to go….
Isn\’t there a disconnect in this article? Customers complain that they are getting poor service, esp. video downloads, while carriers are focusing on making money off them without focusing on solving the problem?
If, as AT&T has said, video revenue is 1/1000th the amount you get from voice, where is the financial incentive?
Have carriers made a big mistake raising expectations among subscribers for service they can\’t afford to deliver?
No. At least in the US, by the time consumers realize that they’ve been duped there won’t be any competitors left to switch to. Solving problems is not the big carriers’ job; getting rid of carriers that solve problems is.