CUSTOMER

SWITCHING IN
TELECOM
INDUSTRY
GROUP 4

Joe
Irene
Cisla Prathap
Maneesha
Neena
 RESEARCH TOPIC CORRECTIONS

1.Why is the research Applied?

A. MNP or Mobile Number Portability permits customers to switch

operator without changing their mobile telephone number. The present
study will help practitioners and telecom service providers in
understanding the factors affecting customers’ switching intentions to
prevent switching. Customer switching intention is an interesting
phenomenon as it can be used to explain customers’ intentions and give
insights for companies to help maintain their customers. Operators who
wish to retain their existing customers should create barriers in the form
of acceptance/affordable call rates or prices of services, as well as better
network coverage.

2.What type of study are you going to use?

A. Quantitative Research is used to quantify attitudes, opinions,
behaviours, and other defined variables – and generalize results from a
larger sample population. Descriptive study is used to collect data using
surveys.

3.Management Dilemma stated is wrong.

A. Customers in the telecom industry switch from one service provider to
another. The relationship between customer’s switching intentions and
attitude towards MNP, customer loyalty, and switching barriers.

4.Framing of investigative question is wrong.

A. What are the factors causing customer switching in the telecom
industry?
 SYNOPSIS CORRECTIONS

1.Literature Review need to be updated.

A. Literature review has been updated to include the latest journals.

2.Research Design components need to be included.

A. The objective of this study is to examine the customers’ switching
intentions from one mobile service provider to another with the
introduction of MNP; to meet the objectives, the data were collected
through a structured instrument. This research is based on the primary
data. The data is collected from the respondents with the help of well-
structured questionnaires.

3.Scope need not be a separate heading.

A. Removed scope from the synopsis.

4.Nature and form of results and Bibliography need to be corrected.

A. Bibliography updated to include journal details.

5.Questionnaire should be based on a ranked publication.

A. Updated the questionnaire based on ranked publication.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Customers have very important place for the companies. Market conditions
have become very competitive and companies are trying to capture share of
each other. Due to intense competition in telecommunication industry customers
of this industry frequently switch over from one brand to another.Brand
switching behaviour of customers differs in different industries. Some industries
are characterized by high brand switching rates while others show low rates of
brand switching. Telecom industry is one of the industries which possess high
rates of brand switching .This is mainly due to the intense competition in the
Telecom industry.
Telecom industry is characterized by its high growth. It has been forecasted that
the number of mobile subscribers will reach at 5 billion in the next five years
which was 4 billion by the end of 2011. Telecom industry has 3% contribution
in the total GDP of the world.
This research is going to investigate brand switching phenomenon in
perspective of Telecom industry. This report includes survey of 25
questionnaires. From this we can make an attempt to generalize the result to the
whole universe. We have taken survey of 50 people including Men and Women.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The fundamental problem in predicting the customer choices is in the customer

choices is in the fact that brand switching decisions of the customers are solely
made on the bases of several different criteria simultaneously which includes
factors like brand image, feature , network quality, prices etc. Thus the frequent
switching behaviour of customers has compelled to review such factors that
affect telecom industry.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

 To determine the factors that influence the customers to switch from their
particular service providers to others
 To access the problems generally faced by the service users and their
satisfaction towards the different cell phone service providers.
 To examine the factors that prevent the brand switching

LITERATURE REVIEW
Philip Kotler defines BRAND as a "name, term, sign symbol (or a combination
of these) that identifies the maker or seller of the product".
Ryals (2005) found that the customers switching behaviour is high when their
competitors launch new, better performing products, when they increase their
service prices or when they do not completely succeed in a zero defect strategy.
Don and Bailey (2012) showed that phone service quality, customers service
quality and phone plan quality are three major motivators in terms of causality
with regard to brand image, customer service quality and complaint
management.
M. Satish, K.J Naveen, V. Jeevananthan, (2011) identified the factors that
influence the consumers to switch the service providers. They concluded that
there is a relation between switching the service provider and the factors like
poor network coverage, frequent network Problem, High call rates, influence
from family and friends.

Numerous studies have focused on factors as determinants of customer loyalty

in different areas and examined the relationships between those factors, such as
service quality, brand trust, and risk aversion. Most of studies have
demonstrated those factors have positive correlation with customer loyalty
(Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001; Chinomona et al., 2013; El-Manstrly et al.,
2011; Lui et al., 2017; Matzler et al., 2008; Ngo & Pavelkova, 2017; Zhang &
Mattila, 2015). However, relatively few studies have examined relationships
between switching costs and customer loyalty even though evidence indicates
switching costs will increase switching difficulty or prevent consumer switching
behavior (Jones et al., 2002). This is because the measurement of switching
costs lacks a consistent instrument (Hu et al., 2016). Satisfaction switching costs
and attractiveness of alternatives are the most commonly used predictor
variables to explain switching intentions. Switching costs subjective norms and
interpersonal relationships moderate the relationship between switching
intentions and its antecedents. Customer switching behavior in mobile
telecommunication services has received a lot of attention.
Abdul, Awan, Nasir Nadeem et al.(2016) have conducted research to find the
Determinants of Brand Switching in Mobile Service Providers in Southern
Punjab-Pakistan using structured questionnaire and found that the determinants
like, customer satisfaction, customer services, price, service failure, and
inconvenience have significant impact on brand switching.
Rashid Saeed, et al.(2013) have conducted research study in Sahiwal District of
Pakistan to find the Factors Affecting Brand Switching in Telecommunication.
The outcome of their results shows that inconvenience and price of Call, SMS,
GPRs were the reason behind brand switching but service failure was not that
much affect brand switching.
Hitesh Parmar and Jaidip Chaudhari (2012) surveyed 100 customers from Surat
City to find out the comparative analysis of customer satisfaction before and
after the adoption of Mobile Number Portability. Poor network facility of the
previous service provider, better sms pack from new service provider and full
talk time on recharge are some of the reasons for switching from one operator to
another.

RESEARCH DESIGN

 Research Design is the blue print of the various methods for conducting the
research projects. It includes the procedures for obtaining the information
needed, the way in which they are processed and the method of presentation
of result to solve the research problems.
 Even though the research designs are many, the present study applied the
descriptive research design.
 Since the present study has made an attempt to explain the profile of
customers, their buying behaviour, switching behaviour and various
determinants and antecedents of switching behaviour among the customers
in cellular service market, it is descriptive in nature.
 The objective of this study is to examine the customers’ switching intentions
from one mobile service provider to another with the introduction of MNP;
to meet the objectives, the data were collected through a structured
instrument.
 This research is based on the primary data. The data is collected from the
respondents with the help of well-structured questionnaires.

DATA ANALYSIS

Inferential statistical methods used are ANOVA ,correlation and regression.

REASONS:
 To know that the satisfaction of the particular customer depends on which
factors and knowing which factor plays the most important role.
 To know which how two things are related to each other positively and
negatively.
 To understand how would the dependent variable/s change on changing one
of the independent variables and to what extent.
 DATA ANALYSIS TOOLS

QUANTITATIVE:
Pie Chart
Graphs
Diagrams
Percentage
Tables

QUALITATIVE:
Interview transcripts
Notes, video and audio recordings
Images and text documents
Questionnaire

NATURE OF THE RESULTS

The nature of the result is limited to five major players of Telecom.

The objective of this study is to examine the underlying factors that
led to the customers switching behaviour. The purpose of this study is
to know the customer satisfaction for these various telecom service
providers. The leading switching behaviour of customers in the
telecom industry is question of study to analyse the factors
influencing their switching behaviour and how important they
perceive these various factors.

QUESTIONNAIRE

1) The quality of the previous mobile operator’s services i.e. VAS,

MMS, SMS (GPRS, WAP etc.) are
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
2) Promotional offers extending by previous operator were
 a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
3)The previous mobile operator has suitable plans for different age
groups.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
4) The previous mobile operator provided hassle free & error free
processing of all transactions to the utmost satisfaction of customers.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
5) Employees of the previous mobile operator were consistently
courteous and polite.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
6) Employees of the previous mobile operator handled queries and
complaints efficiently.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
7) Employees of the previous mobile operator give excellent service
at peak hours.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
 c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
8) Employees of the previous mobile operator do not give me caring
and individual attention.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
9) Employees of the previous mobile operator do not give prompt
service
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
10) Employees of the previous mobile operator know very well the
products and services offered.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
11) Employees of the previous mobile operator understand my
specific needs.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
12) The previous mobile operator was firmly recognized and stable.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
13) The previous mobile operator was not forward looking and
innovative.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
14) The previous mobile operator has a positive image.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
15) The previous mobile operator has a social contribution for the
public.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
16) The value of the service provided by the previous mobile
operator is excellent.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
17) The cost of the services of the previous mobile operator were
higher than the competitors.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
18) I paid higher price for the services at previous operator than I
would/will be at present
a) Strongly agree
 b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
19) The previous mobile operator has operating hours convenient to
all its customers.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
20) The previous mobile operator uses advanced computer/
information technology to give excellent call connectivity.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
21) The previous mobile operator’s geographical coverage area is
excellent.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
22) The quality of the previous mobile operator’s customer service is
excellent.
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree

23) The current cellular service provider continuously upgrades its

service according to the trend?
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
 c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree

24) The call rates offered by the current provider are high
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
25)The advertisements of the competitors are encouraging me to
switch to their service
a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Ryals, L., (2005), “Making Customer Relationship Management Work: The

Measurement and Profitable Management of Customer Relationships”,
Journal of Marketing
 Don Jyh-Fu Jeng and Thomas Bailey, (2012), “Assessing Customer
Retention Strategies in Mobile Telecommunications”, Management
Decisions
 Sathish, M; Kumar, K; Naveen, K and Jeevananthamn, V (2011). A Study
on Consumer Switching Behavior in Cellular Service Provider: A Study
With Reference to Chennai. Far East Journal of Psychology and Business
71-81.
 Ngo, V., & Pavelkova, D. (2017). Moderating and mediating effects of
switching costs on the relationship between service value, customer
satisfaction and customer loyalty: investigation of retail banking in Vietnam.
Journal of International Studies, 10(1), 9-33. doi:10.14254/2071
-8330.2017/10- 1/1.
 Parmar, H and Chaudhari, J (2012). A Comparative Analysis of Customer
Satisfaction Before and After the Adoption of Mobile Number Portability.
Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Transforming World Economy,
342-348.
 Awan, A. G., & Nadeem, N. (2016). Determinants of Brand Switching in
Mobile Service Providers: A Case Study of Mobile Phone Industry in
Southern Punjab-Pakistan. European Journal of Business and Management,
8(1), 21-35.
 Saeed, R., Lodhi, R. N., & Saeed, M. S. (2013). Factors Affecting Brand
Switching in Telecommunication A Case Study of Sahiwal District,
Pakistan. World Applied Sciences Journal, 26(5), 667-671.
 http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in
 https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/factors-behind-the-brand-
switching-in-telecom-industry-marketing-essay.php
 Antecedents of Mobile number Portability in Indian telecommunication
sector