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30% of mobile users look for better operators: IDC

Our Bureau

New Delhi , March 15

DESPITE doling out low tariffs and feature-rich value added services, mobile operators may have to do a lot more to keep subscribers within their fold. Thirty per cent of mobile subscribers are likely to shift to an operator offering better service, if given the option, according to International Data Corporation (IDC) India's Mobile User's Study.

"These 30 per cent vagabonds, coupled with other mobile services trade dynamics, make India one of the most complex mobile markets," said Mr Arpit Singh, Assistant Manager, User Research, IDC India.

The big plus that emerges from the study is the remarkable improvement in overall satisfaction scores of service providers over the last years. Two Global System for Mobile Services (GSM) operators — Aircel and Idea — have crossed Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's recommended benchmark of 95 per cent on a 100-point user satisfaction scale.

"In Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), the surprise was the State-owned MTNL Garuda scoring better than the bigger and more visible brands Tata Indicom and Reliance," said Mr Singh.

The areas of concerns include customer care and billing. The average waiting time while speaking to the customer care executive is five minutes, the study points out. "Across studies, we have seen none of the brands being strongly associated with customer care. This could be one of the vacant positioning slots for mobile service operators," said Mr Singh.

On billing, 23 per cent of the mobile users were a dissatisfied lot. Almost all operators had a high number of billing-related complaints. Users perceive wrong amounts being charged by the operator as the primary concern in billing. To make matters worse, for 43 per cent of the billing complaints, it took more than three days for operators to resolve issues.

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