Communications service providers (CSPs) - particularly cellphone operators - tend not to get a good rap in SA. Consumers are becoming less tolerant of poor service as their mobile devices become more important to them.
Trends and studies reveal that cellphones are becoming more personal and more of a lifeline to users, as technology enables the devices to be used for far more than just their original function of making a phone call.
Craig Holmes, communications and industrial sectors executive at IBM SA, points out that communications has fast risen to the top of the list in terms of South Africans' hierarchical needs structure. So when things go wrong, consumers get seriously disgruntled.
In order to see how consumers' responses and behaviours can best be managed and channelled for smoother operations by SA's networks, IBM SA conducted an extensive survey.
The Global Telecom Consumer Survey's country data for SA outlines salient points around the behaviour and perceptions of telecommunications consumers in SA.
Here are 10 of IBM's main observations:
1. SA intends to spend more on communications: consumer sentiment on future spending in SA exceeds mature markets by 25%.
2. Under 25s in SA communicate more using social networking than all other forms of communication; they also use landlines less. 90% use social networks on a daily basis, while only 42% use fixed voice lines daily.
3. For cellphone users with Internet access, the mobile phone is the primary means to access media and content services, with 71% of under 25s and 67% of those above the age of 25 accessing the Internet via their phone.
4. One-sixth of consumers cannot make mobile voice calls due to unavailability of network.
5. The majority of South Africans automatically redial when they are disconnected from a mobile, landline or broadband connection during a voice call or when accessing the Internet (95%).
6. While most consumers will not engage with their providers regarding poor network experience, 83% tell friends or family about their poor experience.
7. 84% of cellphone users avoid providers with whom friends and family have had a poor experience.
8. A third of all consumers surveyed think it is too much of a hassle to try get through to a call centre.
9. 24% say they do not complain as they do not think it would make any difference, and a further 24% say they are put off by having to wait in a “queue” for too long.
10. In IBM's survey, Telkom was found to have the highest proportion of users over the age of 40 (54%), with 6% of that being over 60. Vodacom holds the younger side of the spectrum, having the largest number of users under the age of 35 (62%) - 11% of which are under 25 years of age.
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