Cell users demand flexible charging

Johannesburg, 11 Sept 2009

Contract structures, call cost, and customer care levels account for 40% of customer dissatisfaction in SA, says Marc Veelenturf, head of service management and charging for Nokia Siemens Networks Middle East and Africa.

“Most service providers focus on the next killer app. I say focus on a killer experience,” he advises.

Veelenturf explains that overall market maturity is indicative of what service providers will focus on, be it connectivity, customer acquisition, or customer retention.

“SA is somewhere in the middle, achieving a managed growth stage. At this stage service providers continue subscriber acquisition. They have achieved a wider product portfolio and improved network quality, and have begun building up retention measures,” says Veelenturf.

At the highest level of maturity, he notes, service providers focus on customer retention. “At this level the service provider differentiates itself through the services it offers and the experience it's gained.”

According to research conducted by Nokia Siemens, contract structure and call costs account for 17% and 16% respectively of customers changing service providers. “Customer-focused businesses need to be payment method independent,” he opines.

Considerations that end-users have identified as being critical, states Veelenturf, are mobile budget management, easy access to transparent account information, and payment method flexibility.

“These are challenges that unified charging and billing is ideally placed to solve. In broad terms, this is a solution that provides a common pre-paid and post-paid view of the customer.

“Corporate and business subscribers can benefit from a unified charging and billing system without losing pricing flexibility or the richness of already-available offerings. The way in which a service provider designs its offerings is no longer dependent on the payment type or the services used.

“I see little downside and huge potential in unified charging and billing.”