MTN is below par when it comes to customer satisfaction, while Telkom’s mobile arm is a leader among wireless operators, new research claims to show.

The South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) surveyed more than 1 200 customers of local mobile telecommunications operators to come up with the findings in the wireless communications space.

The industry received an overall satisfaction score of 67,2 out of 100. Telkom, Vodacom, Cell C and MTN were included in the index, selected by market share.

The data was collected between January and March 2015. The index probed 3G and 4G/LTE users who access the Internet through dongles, routers or via 3G- or LTE-enabled tablets.

Telkom took the overall leadership position with a score of 70,4 out of 100. Vodacom and Cell C scored on par with the industry at 67,4 and 66,8 respectively, whereas MTN scored below par at 64,5 out of 100.

Customers indicated that none of the providers are regarded as performing close to the ideal wireless Internet solution, the research study found. “This is in line with the low SAcsi score recorded among fixed-line Internet service providers.”

SAcsi says its model combines three drivers of customer satisfaction: customer expectations, perceived quality and perceived value. “The calculated customer satisfaction index is statistically linked to two outcomes: customer complaints and customer loyalty. The industry model can predict the outcome of changes in customer loyalty with a great degree of accuracy.”

Telkom was the only provider that managed to exceed customer expectations in terms of overall quality and reliability, it says.

“Vodacom, Cell C and MTN were rated much lower than expected on the ability to meet individual customer needs. This is indeed a concern given that the expectations among customers are lower than in other industries we have measured,” says Adré Schreuder, founder of SAcsi and CEO of Consulta Research.

Vodacom clients had the highest expectations in terms of two aspects: the overall quality of the service customers would receive and the expectation that the provider would meet the specific needs of the end user. Overall, however, customers did not have high expectations of reliability.

Cell C and Telkom were regarded as providing better value for money than Vodacom and MTN. MTN’s service was regarded as being the poorest given the prices its charges for its wireless Internet service.

“This was borne out in the perceived value scores of the companies measured, which also showed that Telkom offered what was perceived as a good service at a good price,” the survey says.

Schreuder says he is not surprised that perceived value of the wireless industry was low. “Wireless Internet provision is constrained by poor signal strength in many areas, high costs and slow connection speed. Consumers have become reliant on data and as with other items which are deemed a necessary part of daily life, data costs become a grudge purchase. This is why wireless internet service provision is showing low loyalty scores and why customers will move if they can get data at a better price,” he says.

All providers experienced high levels of complaints, with a third of all users reporting that they had experienced a problem with their provider in the previous six months. The majority of complaints revolved around the quality of the network and connection speed. “MTN seemed to struggle with delivering their offering consistently and were regarded as being expensive.”

Net promoter scores (the likelihood that customers would recommend a particular brand) were low compared to other industries. Despite this, Telkom recorded the highest score in the NPS.

Fixed-line service providers
SAcsi measured customer satisfaction among fixed-line Internet service providers (ISPs) last year (the data was collected between April and August 2014 using a sample of 1 675 customers). Fixed-line ISPs were at the bottom of the SAcsi index, recording one of the lowest satisfaction scores of the year at 67 out of 100.

The brands measured were Telkom, MWeb and a category of “other” brands. Telkom scored below par, with a satisfaction score of 61,5, while MWeb and the category of other brands scored above average at 69,5 and 72,5 respectively.