Privacy a priority for SA consumers

South African consumers place privacy high on their list of priorities when selecting which telecoms company to use, with 90% of consumers claiming to be selective about whom they share their personal data with and why.

This is according to Jorg Erlemeier, head of Nokia Siemens Networks' Middle East Africa region, speaking at the Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference, in the Western Cape.

Erlemeier pointed to the 2009 Nokia Siemens Consumer Privacy Survey of SA, which indicated that 89% of local consumers see privacy as an important topic and 87% are concerned about privacy violations.

Only 8% of South Africans don't care about data protection, he said, which suggests that privacy is a hot topic for local consumers.

The survey also researched consumer trust across the local industry and, in this category, fixed-line operator Telkom faired well.

The survey listed Telkom as the most trusted telecoms player, scoring a possible 6.9 points out of 10, in the Internet service provider market. MWeb placed second, with a score of 6.4, and Vodacom third, with a score of 6.2.

In the landline category, Telkom again ranked most trusted, with a rating of 6.1, followed by Neotel with 6.2 and “others” scoring 4.4.

In the mobile service provider category, Vodacom is considered the most trusted provider, scoring 6.6, followed by MTN with 6.5 and the Cell C with 6.3.

Erlemeier argued that prioritising privacy and trust is key in maintaining customer loyalty in the telecoms market. He stated that customer retention is a critical factor for the success of telcos.

An increase in customer retention of 5% results in a profitability increase of 75%, Erlemeier stated.

The focus for the next-generation telecom company must be on identity authentication, verification and payment assurance, noted Eremeier.

He argued that subscribers are a valuable asset and that telcos must be committed to the whole subscriber lifecycle.

“Actioning and automating business processes out of real-time processes are the key success factors for achieving customer loyalty tomorrow,” he concluded.