Survey finds that data providers not viewed positively

A SURVEY of the country’s top communications (telecons) giants has found that the locals have become considerably more negative towards them than they are to banks, insurers or retailers in 2020.

The second annual Telecommunications Sentiment Index 2020 by Brandeye – in partnership with Deloitte – revealed that there was more negative than positive conversation about telcos on social media, with Rain and partly state-owned Telkom doing worse than their competitors.

Telecommunications companies have made a killing on data as Covid19 has forced many people to work from home.

Last month, Vodacom reported a 43.2 percent data traffic increase in the quarter to December, with the addition of 200 000 new data customers helping them to reach 22.5 million customers.

Vodacom Business service revenue grew 6.1 percent to R3.9bn in the quarter, with corporate and university data demand moderating from the elevated levels recorded in the first six months of the financial year.

MTN this month said that its data revenue expanded 31 percent, with a 110 percent increase in traffic brought about by higher levels of online demand resulting from the effects of Covid-19, including an increase in the learn-from-home and work-fromhome trend.

Brandeye analysed more than 2 million social media posts mentioning MTN, Vodacom, Telkom, Cell C and Rain to measure how they compared in terms of value for money based on pricing, network quality and customer service.

The survey these aspects sentiment.

Rain sat over 20 percentage points below the overall net sentiment of -34.6 percent, which aggregated all five telcos. Telkom came in second also focused on how contributed towards last despite overtaking Cell C as South Africa’s third-largest mobile operator and recording the most year-on-year growth in the industry.

“Data complaints were the network providers’ leading source of negative sentiment, as users grew discontented with data prices and often noted not being able to use their data due to network issues,” Brandeye said.

“This serves as a good reminder that while growth is important, it must be seen alongside customer satisfaction if telcos want to build the sort of loyalty that will see their customers not just sticking with them, but hopefully also trusting them as their financial service providers.”

MTN topped the overall sentiment aided by its reputational efforts, which accounted for 46.9 percent of overall positive conversation.

The network operator outperformed every provider in all three of the drivers of network conversation, with customers more satisfied with speed and coverage.

The Brandeye report also said customers had praised MTN for its 5G speeds and it was named ‘best mobile network’ in SA for data speeds by Mybroadband.

Cell C, which was placed second in overall net sentiment, had its approach to customer experience to thank, said the report.