Report On Customer Satisfaction Of Aktel

Report On AKTEL

1

Prepared For:

Nusrat Jahan

Lecturer, School of Business, Independent University Bangladesh

Prepared By: Abu Naser Mohammad Moinuddin #0720350 Ajoy Bhomik #0631055 Md. Tamjid Rahman #0631024 Tazverul Ameen #0631052 Md. Tariq Hasan #0631031

Date of Submission: December 6, 2009

December 06.12. 2009 Nusrat jahan Lecturer, 2

School of Business, Independent University Bangladesh. Sub: submission of report on Customer regarding Products and Services of Aktel Dear Madam,

Satisfaction

It is a great pleasure for us to submit our report on the topic “Customer Satisfaction regarding Products and Services of Aktel” We have prepared this report, as a fulfillment of the course requirement. To make this report up to the standard, we have tried our level best to fulfill the requirements. We hope that this will help us in our future practical life. We believe that you will be pleased to see my work. We also believe that this report will be able to fulfill your expectation. Sincerely yours, …………………. Abu Naser Mohammad Moinuddin

#0720350

…………………. Ajoy Bhomik

#0631055

………………… Md. Tamjid Rahman

#0631024

………………… Tazverul Ameen

#0631052

………………… Md. Tariq Hasan

#0631031

3

Acknowledgement

At the very beginning we must be grateful to “The Almighty” who has sent us on this globe and given us the ability to work on such a project. After that we must offer my gratitude to a number of persons who guided me to successfully complete the project.

We would like to thank our supervisor Ms. Nusrat Jahan, Lecturer, School of Business, who has provided us an attention grabbing course that exposed one more transparently to know customer satisfaction regarding products and services of Aktel. We are also thankful to those respondents who filled up the questionnaire, which helped us to make this paper. Without their help, collecting primary data for user’s reaction would have been difficult. We extend our thanks to the personal working in Aktel customer satisfaction to provide us some important information. We again thankful to our Suspected teacher of IUB from whom, we have been learning continuously.

Table of Contents 4

Topics

Page No.

Executive Summary

6

1.Introduction 2.Background of the study

7

3.Problem statement

8

4.Problem definition

5.Literatutre Review

9

6.Research methodology

17

Findings on analysis

34

Recommendation and conclusion

35

Limitation of the study

36

References

37

Gantt Chart

40

Sample qestionnaire1

41

Sample questionnaire2

42

Executive Summery As a market leader, Aktel is continuously coming up with new ideas regarding its products and services. Recently, the company is mainly focusing on the non-voice services. Because, the company knows in near future, voice based services will reach to the maturity stage, which will make the business growth constant to some extents. Hence, the company is trying 5

to maintain the leading position in non-voices services as well like SMS, Push-Pull, and Information related services at the early growing stage. These services are working as a building block to increase Aktel’s service value. Coming up with innovative service is easier than making subscribers aware of services. Hence through this report we have tried to analyze the present situation of the cellular phone industry in Bangladesh and Aktel’s position there in, find out the services that Aktel phone is presently providing to its valued customers & their satisfaction level. 10 million people out of 140 million total citizen of Bangladesh are presently using cell phone; it means that out of every 14 people one is using cell phone. In the third world country like Bangladesh the amount of users is amazing. Aktel holds almost 41% market share of telecom industry that is out of every 10 users 4 belongs to Aktel. So Aktel marketing strategy should be “Profitable growth & expanding market share through satisfying existing customers”. We have drawn some valuable recommendation to Aktel to be the market leader in future in this competitive market. A comprehensive survey was conducted to know about Aktel’s present position in the market and its present service condition that is providing to its valued customers. The survey report shows that Aktel is still a market leader in this industry but as it is becoming more competitive day by day so Aktel should revise its service packages, quality

with more conveniently for

the customers. Among the other cellular phone companies Aktel has some unique competitive advantages in this industry in Bangladesh so if it is possible for Aktel to provide better services with continuous innovative products it will add value to the company. Otherwise, in the long run new innovation services will not give its ultimate success.

1.Introduction Aktel is a dynamic and leading countrywide GSM communication solutions provider. It is a joint venture company between Axiata and NTT DoCoMo, Japan. 6

Aktel was officially commenced its operations in 1997 among the pioneers GSM mobile telecommunications provider in Bangladesh. In this research, We want to know the customer satisfaction regarding the product and service of AKTEL.

2.Background of the study It has started its commercial operation in Dhaka as a Global system for mobile communication (GSM) 900 cellular operators on 15th November 1997. Moreover, Aktel has commenced its operation in Chittagong on March 26, 1998. Aktel is the market follower in telecommunication service in Bangladesh having more than 1 million subscribers and is controlling approximately 23% of the market share. The market share of Aktel is now decreasing at a great extent as the customer satisfaction level is decreasing. As the socioeconomic status of the country does not provide further possibilities to enhance the growth of the industry, as a market follower, Aktel should strive to retain its existing subscribers and penetrate other operator’s subscriber. Therefore, there is an emergence of studying the related facets of the customer loyalty in the context of Bangladesh GSM telecommunication system for Aktel to retain and increase its market share.

Hence, in the current study, the researcher try to examine whether there are relationships between products and service quality, customer satisfaction in Aktel in Bangladesh or not.

3.Problem Statement Customer satisfaction are positively related with product and service quality. In the recent study, Aydin, Ozer, and Arasil (2005) have investigated the relationship between customer satisfaction and trust with product and service quality in the context 7

of Global System for Mobile Telecommunication (GSM) mobile phone service providers in Turkey. They have utilized customer satisfaction and trust as dependent variables while products and services are as independent variable. Moreover, the study of Aydin et al. (2005) suggested that overall service quality, corporate image, and attractiveness of the company could be take into account to investigate further research. The present study will investigate the relationship among product and service quality, customer satisfaction in the context of Aktel in Bangladesh.

4.Problem Definition The problem definition is to know the customer satisfaction regarding service and product of AKTEL as well as analyze the whole data.

Objective • To determine the level of satisfaction regarding different products of Aktel • To determine the level of satisfaction regarding different services of Aktel • To evaluate the reasons behind dissatisfaction regarding products and services of Aktel

5.Literature Review

Service quality Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982) defined service quality in terms of physical quality, interactive quality and corporate (image) quality. Physical quality relates to the tangible aspects of the service. Interactive quality involves the interactive nature of services and refers to the two-way flow that occurs between the customer and the service provider, or his/her representative, including both 8

automated, and animated interactions.

Corporate quality refers to the image

attributed to a service provider by its current and potential customers, as well as other publics.

Lewis and Booms' (1983) definition clearly states that service

quality is a measure of how well the service level delivered matches customer expectations and delivering quality service means conforming to customer expectation on a consistent basis. In some earlier studies, researchers define service quality as the extent to which a service meets customers' needs or expectations (Lewis & Mitchell, 1990; Dotchin & Oakland, 1994; Asubonteng, McCleary, & Swan, 1996; Wisniewski & Donnelly, 1996).

Zeithaml (1987)

defined that service quality is the consumer's judgment about an entity's overall excellence or superiority. It is a form of attitude, and results from a comparison of expectations to perceptions of performance received. Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman (1990) on the other hand, have chosen to define service quality as the extent of the discrepancy between customers' expectations or desires and their perceptions.

Service quality has been also defined as the consumers

overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the organization and services (Zeithaml et al., 1990; Taylor & Baker, 1994). Christopher, Payne, and Ballantyne (1993) have defined service quality as the ability of the organization to meet or exceed customer expectations. Service quality is believed to depend on the gap between expected and perceived performance (Anderson, Fornell, & Lehmann, 1994). Gitlow, Oppenheim, and Oppenheim (1989) also stated that service quality is the extent to which the customer or users believe the service surpasses their needs and expectations. Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988) proposed that service quality is a function of the differences between expectation and performance along the quality dimensions.

Service quality is also defined as a consumer attitude

reflecting the perceived overall superiority and excellence in the process and outcome of a service provider (Parasuraman et al., 1988).

Gronroos (2001)

recently defined service quality as a mixture of three elements: quality of the 9

consumption process itself, the quality of the outcome of the process; and image of the provider of the service. Service quality has become an increasingly important factor for success and survival in the service sectors. Provision of high quality service aids in meeting several requirements such as customer satisfaction and its consequent loyalty and market share, soliciting new customers, improved productivity, financial performance and profitability (Collet, Lancier, & Olliver, 1990; Julian & Ramaseshan, 1994; Lewis, 1989, 1993).

For service organization, Service

quality has become an important factor in determining market shares and profitability (Andereson et al., 1994; Spathis, Kosmidou, & Doumpous, 2002). Responsiveness Responsiveness is defined as the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service (Parasuraman et al., 1988). It concerns the willingness or readiness of employees to provide services. Responsiveness involves timeliness of service like posting a transaction slip immediately, returning a phone call quickly, giving prompt service, setting up appointments quickly. According to Zeithaml et al. (1990), responsiveness refers to the motivation to help (internal) customers and provide prompt service to them.

Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is becoming an increasingly salient topic in many firms and in academic research (Söderlund, 1998).

Anderson et al. (1994)

affirmed that satisfaction is a post consumption experience which compares perceived quality with expected quality. Correspondingly, Oliver (1996) defines 10

satisfaction as an emotional post-consumption response that may occur as the result of comparing expected and actual performance (disconfirmation), or it can be an outcome that occurs without comparing expectations On the other hand, some previous researchers have explained customer satisfaction in terms of expectation. They define if expectations are exceeded by performance; satisfaction is generated (Churchill & Surprenant, 1982; Bearden & Tell, 1983; LaBarbera & Mazursky, 1983).

Equally, Buswell (1983) identified

customer satisfaction as a combination of five key attitudes.

Those are

knowledge of staff, communications, expertise of staff, willingness to lend and branch design. Consequently, Berry, Zeithaml, and Parasuraman (1985) argued that customer satisfaction can be defined as the attributes of search, experience, and credence. Yi (1990) believes customer satisfaction should mean evaluation, symbolizing a type of consuming experience.

Avkiran (1994) recognized

customer satisfaction by customer conduct, credibility, communication, access to teller services.

Simultaneously, according to Anderson and Fornell (1994), customer satisfaction is the term which may lower the chance of customers being driven away due to the poor quality of products or services. Fornell (1992) noted that the more satisfied customers are the one that are greater in their retention while, Anderson and Sullivan (1993) added that satisfied customer would intend to repeat purchase which would enhance organizations’ profitability. In association with this Jones and Sasser (1995) acknowledged that completely satisfied customers are those who are much more loyal than merely satisfied customer Spreng,

MacKenzie,

and

Olshavsky

(1996),

alternatively,

defined

satisfaction as the emotional reaction to a product or service experience. Oliver 11

(1997) defined satisfaction as the customer's fulfillment response.

It is a

judgment that a product or service feature, or the product or service itself, provides a pleasurable level of consumption- related fulfillment. The most common interpretations reflect the notion that satisfaction is a feeling which results from a process of evaluating what was received against that expected, the purchase decision itself and the fulfillment to needs or want (Armstrong & Kotler, 1996: Berkowitz, Kerin, Hartley, & Rudelius, 1999). Kotler (1999) also noted that satisfaction is a function of perceived performance and expectations which identifies feelings of a person resulting from comparing a products perceived performance in relation to his or her expectations. Wong (2000) believes that a customer’s total satisfaction is an emotional perception.

Evaluation is based on the customer’s reaction from using the

product or service. Customer satisfaction then is a total satisfaction that leaves a good perception. The perception of this wholeness is very similar to the meaning of customer value package brought up by Fredericks and Salter (1995). The customer value package includes: price; product quality; service quality; innovation; and corporate image.

Moreover, Martensen, Grùnholdt, and

Kristersen (2000) also discovered that expectation, product quality, and corporate image are three facilitating factors in ensuring customer satisfaction. Hackl and Scharitzer (2000) have identified customer satisfaction as economic goals and have considered customer satisfaction as a prerequisite for customer retention and loyalty, and obviously that tend to help in realizing economic goals like profitability, market share, return on investment. Sureschandar et al. (2002) introduced different approach of customer satisfaction and defined customer satisfaction as multidimensional construct. According to Bitner and Zeithaml (2003), satisfaction is the customers’ evaluation of a product or service in terms of whether that product or service has met their needs and expectations. The researchers reveal that satisfaction can as well be viewed as contentment, pleasure, delight, and relief. Thus they noted customer satisfaction 12

as a dynamic and moving target that may evolve over time, influenced by variety of factors. Guenzi and Pelloni (2004) use the following definition of satisfaction in their study: “Overall satisfaction is the consumer’s dissatisfaction or satisfaction with the organization based on all encounters and experiences with that particular organization” (Bitner & Hubbert, 1993). Fe and Ikova (2004) added that the perception of the word satisfaction influences the activities which we conduct to achieve customer satisfaction. Boselie, Hesselink, and Wiele (2002) defined satisfaction as a positive, affective state resulting from the appraisal of all aspects of a firm’s working relationship with another firm.

This definition purported that satisfaction

(understood as affective) can be contrasted with an objective summary assessment of outcomes – thereby forming a target-performance comparison mechanism. Therefore, the appropriate definition of customer satisfaction for this study would be the one by Boselie et al. (2002).

Customer Loyalty The importance of loyalty has been widely recognized in the marketing literature (Oliver, 1999; Samuelson & Sandvik, 1997; Howard & Sheth, 1969). According to Duffy (2003), loyalty is the feeling that a customer has about a brand which ultimately generates positive and measurable financial results. Soderlund (1998) drew on the concept of loyalty as the extent to which the customer intends to purchase again from the supplier who has created a certain level of satisfaction. Loyalty, in one or more of the forms noted above, creates increased profit through enhanced revenues, reduced costs to acquire customers (Sharp & Sharp, 1997), lower customer-price sensitivity (Krisnamurthi & Raj, 1991), and decreased costs to serve customers familiar with a firm's service delivery system (Reicheld & Sasser, 1990). 13

Customer loyalty represents the repeat purchase and referring the company to other customers (Heskett, 1994). Improvements in retention and increasing in the share of the company are the obvious economic benefit of customer loyalty. According to Feick and Lee (2001), customer loyalty has been measured as the long term choice probability for a brand or as a minimum differential needed for switching.

Loyal customers are less likely to switch

because of price and they make more purchases than similar non-loyal customers (Reichheld & Sasser, 1990). Oliver (1997) viewed customer loyalty as a deeply held commitment to rebuy or repatronize a preferred product or service consistently in the future, despite situational influences and marketing efforts having the potential to cause switching behavior. Customer loyalty reduces marketing costs and that the relative costs of customer retention are substantially less than those of acquisition (Fornell & Wernerfelt, 1987).

Hallowel (1996) characterize customer loyalty as the

relationship a customer maintains with the seller after the first transaction. Customer loyalty is often referred to as a purchase behavior (Griffin, 1996). On the other hand, customer loyalty is approached as an attitudinal construct. Attitude denotes the degree to which a consumer’s disposition towards a service is favorably inclined (Azjen & Fishbein, 1980). In addition to attitude, it has been argued that loyalty may also be based on cognition (Lee & Zeiss, 1980). In its cognitive sense, customer loyalty is frequently operationalised as a conscious evaluation of the price/quality ratio or the willingness to pay a premium price, or alternatively price indifference (Fornell, 1992; Zeithaml et al., 1996). Jacoby and Kyner (1973) elaborated that the definition of loyalty includes six necessary conditions – that loyalty is the biased (that is, nonrandom), behavioural (that is, purchase) response, expressed over time, by some decision-making unit (a person or group of persons), with respect to one or more

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alternative brands out of a set of such brands, and is a function of psychological processes (decision-making, evaluative). On the contrary, Oliver (1999) argues that customer loyalty is a condition of strong involvement in the repurchase, or reuse, of a product or brand. This involvement is strong enough to overcome the situational and competitive influences which might drive a variety seekers or a switching behavior. This condition of customer loyalty is reached through four sequential stages: cognitively loyal (direct or indirect knowledge about the brand), affective loyalty (repeated confirmations of his expectations), conative loyalty (high involvement that is a motivating force), and action loyalty (‘desire to overcome’ every possible obstacle that might come in the way of the decision to buy the brand to which the person is loyal). On the word of Gremler and Brown (1996) customer loyalty is noted by the degree to which a customer exhibits repeat purchasing behavior from a service provider, possesses a positive attitudinal disposition towards the provider, and considers using only those providers when a need for the service arises. Correspondingly, Kandampully (2000) stated that a loyal customer is a customer who repurchases from the same service provider whenever possible, and who continues to recommend or maintains a positive attitude towards the service provider. In relation with this, Pong and Yee (2001) is defined as the willingness of customer to consistently re-patronize the same service provider/service company that may be the first choice among alternatives, thereby complying with actual behavioral outcomes and attaching with favorable attitude and cognition, regardless of any situational influences and marketing efforts made to induce switching behavior. Zeithaml (2000) affirmed that loyalty is repeated transactions (or percentage of total transactions in the category, or total expenditures in the category) and can sometimes be measured quite simply with observational 15

techniques. Furthermore, a briefer and more specific definition is provided by Anderson and Srinivasan (2003), who define loyalty in contest of electronic business as the customer’s favorable attitude toward an electronic business, resulting in repeat purchasing behavior. Loyalty deals with specific behaviors related to repurchasing the service or product (Durvasula, Lynoski, Mehta, & Tang, 2004). Wong (2004) suggested customer loyalty as a key mediating variable in explaining customer retention (Pritchard & Howard, 1997) which is concerned with the likelihood of a customer returning, making business referrals, providing strong word-of-mouth, as well as providing references and publicity (Bowen & Shoemaker, 1998). Pearson (1996) defines customer loyalty in term of those customers who hold favorable attitudes toward the company, commit to repurchase the product/service, and recommend the product/service to others.

Hence, the

researchers of the current study will use the definition of Pearson (1996) to define customer loyalty.

6. Research Methodology

Research Design This is Descriptive reseach. The present study will investigate the relationship between products and service quality, customer satisfaction within the context of Aktel in Bangladesh.

Here customer service quality is being

considered as independent variables and customer satisfaction is being considered as a dependent variable.

Research Approach To investigate research questions, the researchers will gather information from the post-paid subscribers of Aktel who will visit the Aktel service center during the 16

data collection period of this study. All the participants will be given a letter from the researchers explaining the context of the research focus. All participation will be voluntary. If the participants want to withdraw, they will be free to do so at any time.

Population The study will be conducted only in Chittagong city due to time and budget constraints. The population would be all the subscribers of Aktel in Chittagong city. The sampling frame for the subscribers would be the official register list for all subscribers, which will be provided by Aktel. Based on the study’s focus, samples will be taken only from the service centers of Aktel. According to the Aktel’s official subscriber register list, currently approximately 100,000 post paid subscribers exist. So, the target population is 100,000 thousands and sample size is 100.

Sample and Sampling Technique It obvious from the definition of the population above that a census is not feasible in this study. Accordingly, the researcher will adopt the survey type of research in which a sample from the target population will be used for the study. Hence, the sample size of the current study would be 100. To gather data, the researchers will use questionnaires.

The questionnaire

survey is the most effective method for this study to collect the data for the following reasons• Respondents anonymity can be maintained • The researchers will conduct survey on 320 respondents. It will not be possible to conduct personal interview because of time limitation.

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Therefore, a questionnaire survey will be the most appropriate one for the current study. • The postal system of the country is very slow. Hence, mail survey will be time consuming for this study. • The Internet facility is not widespread in our country. Therefore, online survey will also be inappropriate for the study. • The data gathered through questionnaire is easy to put in quantitative analysis. It takes less time to fill up a questionnaire. Therefore, the customers will not be reluctant in providing accurate data.

Data collection The present research is a unique one for Aktel. As a result, a secondary source of data will not be available for the present study.

Therefore, the

researchers will require primary data to investigate research questions.

To

collect data from the primary sources, the researchers will use the questionnaire survey method. This method is commonly used in consumer surveys to collect data from primary sources. That means the questionnaire will be distributed among the customers through the researchers’ friends and relatives. Numerous reasons accounted for the choice of this research method. First, it allows large amounts of information to be obtained at a relatively low cost. Second, more accurate responses are obtained because interviewer bias is avoided. Finally, the number of non-usable questionnaires is reduced since the personal contacts tend to make respondents more cooperative in completing the questionnaires.

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Data collection Instruments In the data collection instruments there will have some questionnaire, choose some sample. The questionnaire will be structured, formed and build demographic profile. We will also divided the questionnaire like A,B and C.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

The Customers are in the mainstream of sales oriented services. The success of such companies largely depends on the satisfaction of the customers .The buyers are happy if the product and/or the services meet their expectations. If their requirements do not meet the expectations the buyers become discontented, they are delighted when the performance fulfils their requirements.

Customers’ past buying experiences, the opinion of friends, associates, marketer, competitor information and promises lead to the expectations. Marketer must be careful to set the right level of expectations. If they set expectations too low, they may satisfy those who buy but fail to attract enough buyers. In contrast, if they raise expectations too high, buyers are likely to be disappointed. Dissatisfaction can arise either from a decrease in product and service quality or from an increase in customer expectations. In either case, it presents an opportunity for companies that can deliver superior customer value and satisfaction.

19

To-day most successful companies have taken the strategy of are raising expectations and delivering performance to match. Such companies track their customers’ expectations, perceived company performance, and customer satisfaction. Highly satisfied customers produce several benefits for the company. Satisfied customers are fewer prices sensitive remain customers for a longer period and talk favorably to others about the company and its products and services.

Although the customer centered firm seeks to deliver high customer satisfaction relative to its competitors, it does not attempt to maximize customer satisfaction. A company can always increase customer satisfaction by lowering its price and increasing its services, but it may result in lower profits. Thus, the purpose of marketing is to generate customer value profitably. Now, we have a very good idea regarding the importance of customer satisfaction. So, it is also important for the company to know about the satisfaction level of the customers. When any problem is identified, it becomes easier to solve the problem.

The next part of this paper

has focused on the “Customer Satisfaction Factors of

Aktel”. It is done through a research survey to find out the customer satisfaction level of Aktel.

Customer Satisfaction Factors of Aktel: Aktel is a fast growing mobile company. In mobile telecommunication industry, there are direct and indirect factors that influence customer satisfaction. Here focus on the most important factors that influence customer satisfaction at Aktel which relates with after sales services.

Airtime: Air time is the core offering of Aktel, So, quality of communication network availability, etc, are the most important customer satisfaction factors, quality of airtime depends on 20

the ratio of subscribers and transmission base station. It the numbers of subscribers are increased without developing the network, quality of airtime goes down

After Sales Services:

After sales services is very important in the mobile telecommunication industry. Aktel has extensive after sales customer care tools. Here foucus on these step by step.

1. Helpline: Aktel is the first company that introduced 24hours helpline in Bangladesh. In this part of my paper I tried to focus on the existing operations of the helpline service of Aktel which will enable us to understand the importance of the helpline service.

Aktel subscriber needs to dial 123, 01819400400 to reach Aktel Phone Helpline. It is a computer aided information base to afford immediate access to the information about the subscribers, but the operations are done manually. After dialing 123, 01819400400 subscribers are first welcomed by an automated and standardized process. Then he needs to wait for few seconds. After that the subscriber reaches the Customer Manager. CM starts the conversation with a greeting. The subscriber explains his/her problems to the CM If the inquiry is regarding general information, the customer relations officer does not need to take help of information system. She/he just provides the information and the subscriber keep the phone. 2 Interactive Voice Responses (IVR): 21

This newly introduced service by Aktel. This is automated helpline service. A Aktel subscriber needs to dial 123, 01819400400 to reach this service. After that she/he can get information regarding the bill, usage, credit policy, bank name that receives GP’s bill and so on by choosing different options. It is free of charge for the first minute, from the second minute the subscriber needs to pay tk.2 per minute.

3. Information Centers: Most of the problems of the subscribers are solved by the helpline service. But there are some problems that can not be solved there. Subscriber need to come physically to deal with that problems. Aktel Phone has seven customer relation centers and 260 AktelSDs which provide services all over the country.

These Customer Relation Centers are situated in the prime divisional head quarters like Dhaka, Chittagone, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Khulna and AktelSDs situated all most everywhere in Bangladesh. In these information centers the subscribers can come directly with their problems like billing, address change, SIM change, handset problems, etc. These after sales services are very crucial to keep subscribers satisfied regarding Aktel.

Survey Findings: In order to measure the satisfaction of the customers a series of questions were asked to the customers with the help of a questionnaire, the data from these questions are tabulated below. For clear understanding, the overall satisfaction has been divided into satisfaction with the package and satisfaction with the after sales service. As already mentioned, the survey was conducted among 100 Aktel subscribers, it was conducted in the information center as subscribers from different areas in Chittagong come to this center 22

Interpretation of Survey Data: a. I useAktel because it is the best: Strongly Agree

25%

Agree

55%

Neither Agree nor

15%

Disagree

15%

Disagree

5%

Strongly Disagree

0%

5% 0%

25% Strongly Agree Agree

55%

Neither Agree nor Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree

23

b. I use Aktel mobile as it has additional features in comparison to other operators. Strongly Agree

29%

Agree

63%

Neither Agree nor

8%

Disagree 0%

Strongly Disagree

0%

Strongly Disagree

Neither Agree

63% 70% 60% 50% 40% 29% 30% 20% 8% 10% 0% 0% 0% Strongly Agree

Percentage

Disagree

Strongly Agree Agree Neither Agree nor Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Farctors

c. Price of Aktel’s different package is affordable.

Strongly Agree

4%

Agree

49%

Neither Agree nor

13%

Disagree Disagree

23% 24

Strongly Disagree

60%

11%

49%

Strongly Agree

Percentage

50% 40%

Agree 23%

30%

13%

20% 10%

11%

4%

Neither Agree nor Disagree Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neither Agree

Agree

Strongly Agree

0%

Strongly Disagree

Farctors

d. I am satisfied with the service (quality of airtime and network availability) of Aktel. Strongly Agree

9%

Agree

26%

Neither Agree nor

24%

Disagree Disagree

30%

Strongly Disagree

11%

25

35%

30% 26%

25%

24%

Strongly Agree Agree

20% 15% 10%

11%

9%

Neither Agree nor Disagree Disagree

0%

Strongly Disagree

Neither Agree nor

Strongly Disagree

5% Strongly Agree

Percentage

30%

Farctors

e. Whenever I want to have a Aktel connection, I can get it.

Strongly Agree

23%

Agree

28%

Neither Agree nor Disagree

17%

Disagree

19%

Strongly Disagree

13%

13%

23%

Strongly Agree 19%

Agree

17%

28%

Neither Agree nor Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree

f. Aktel helpline is very helpful in meeting my queries and other needs 26

Strongly Agree

10%

Agree

35%

Neither Agree nor

20%

Disagree

15%

Strongly Disagree

20%

35% Strongly Agree 20%

20% 15%

Agree Neither Agree nor Disagree

10%

Strongly Disagree

Disagree Neither Agree

40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%

Strongly Agree

Percentage

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Farctors

g. Aktel helpline is very helpful in meeting my queries and other needs Strongly Agree

9%

Agree

40%

Neither Agree nor

20%

Disagree Disagree

15%

Strongly Disagree

10%

27

10%

Strongly Agree

9%

Agree

15%

Neither Agree nor Disagree Disagree

40% 20%

Strongly Disagree

h. Billing rate of Aktel is low: Strongly Agree

3%

Agree

18%

Neither Agree nor

14%

Disagree Disagree

37%

Strongly Disagree

28%

40% 35%

Percentage

30% 25% 37%

20%

28%

15% 18%

10% 5%

14%

3%

0% Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree nor Disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Factors

i. Criteria’s important while purchasing any cellular service

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Criteria Network Coverage International Roaming Value added Services After Sales service Easy Bill Payment System.

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

No. of subscribers 68 11 12 16 37

Network Coverage

68

37 16 1112 No. of subscribers

International Roaming Value added Services After Sales service Easy Bill Payment System.

As we can see from the above table and the chart, maximum number of subscribers would purchase a cellular service which has a good network coverage, apart from that the other criteria which is they consider after network coverage is easy bill payment system. j. Criteria’s which were considered while purchasing Aktel

Criteria Network Coverage International Roaming Value added Services 24 hrs customer service Pre-paid facility and bill

No. of subscribers 68 8 7 48 37

payment facility

29

68

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Network Coverage International Roaming

37 16 1112

Value added Services After Sales service

No. of subscribers

Easy Bill Payment System.

From the chart and the table above it can be seen that most of the subscribers purchased Aktel due its network coverage. Also by looking at the figures the bill payment system and the 24 hrs customer service were the other common attributes which attracted the subscribers to purchase Aktel k. Are the Aktel employees able to solve your problem regarding the following criteria’s? Criteria’s

Always

Sometime

Never

N/A

Total

32 29 49 17

s 25 22 31 21

4 2 5 2

39 47 15 60

100 100 100 100

Billing Bar/ unbar line After sales service Special service

(International roaming) Value Added services 60 22 18 18 100 Total 187 121 31 179 100 From the table above it can be seen that regarding almost every criteria, the Aktel Phone employees are able to solve the problem most of the time. But at the same time there is quite a large number who always do not get a solution to their problem this occur because for certain queries a subscriber has to go to the information center and Aktel has only one information center, due to this shortage a customer is made to wait long hours in a queue. Also many times when the line takes more than a day to be reconnected. l. Subscribers’ perception of the different Aktel Phone package

30

What is your perception of Aktel? Excellent, Good, but Alright, I use I am fully the Aktel because satisfied services no other could be company improved offers Which Aktel Phone Package do you use? Total

Aktel prepaid Aktel regular Ak-Ak Regular Ak-Ak

Bad, I am looking for alternative

Total

6

34

14

0

54

3

9

1

0

13

1 0

12 14

2 1

1 3

16 17

10

69

18

3

100

It can be seen from the above table that most of the subscribers from every package perceive their respective packages as good packages but they feel that the services can be improved. According to the four faces of customer loyalty by Smart Loyalty, we could consider the 10% to fall under truly loyal customers as highly satisfied, 69% of the subscribers could be considered as accessible because they feel that the services can be improved, these subscribers want to give a chance to Aktel to earn their loyalty. 18% could be considered as trapped because they use Aktel as no other company offers them the services and only 3% fall under High-risk as these subscribers do not like the Aktel services and are looking for alternatives.

m.Opinion whether Aktel subscribers would remain loyal if another company came up with packages of similar features. Disagree

Neither agree or disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Total 31

Which Aktel 9 17 20 Aktel prepaid Phone Aktel 3 3 3 Negative package attributes: Neither agree or disagree + disagree =33+20 = 53 regular do you Ak-Ak 5 5 3 use? Regular Ak3 8 2 Ak Total 20 33 28

Positive attributes: agree + strongly agree = 28+19 =47

8

54

4

13

3 4

16 17

19

100

Some Representative “Additional Comments”:

 Helpline is not so easy to reach.  Behavior of helpline officers is quite rough.  Helpline gives support to solve our problem.  Info Centers take a whole day to solve a small problem.  In Chittagong city, there should be more info centers, especially in old side.  Prepaid connections are very difficult to avail.  Billing rate should be reduced, it is too high.  Aktel does not think about the subscribers, their main intensions are to make money.

Finding on Analysis 32

Several frequency distribution have been constructed to find the answers regarding the customers perspective of Aktel line users. By the analysis. Some limitation of Akel have been identified. The most important finding of the analysis is customers have claimed some problem on their network system. It is found that some of the customer of Akel hardly got connected after calling more then 4 or 5 times. This problem happens especially in case of connecting outside Chittagong . It is found from the analysis on customers occupation that the Aktel is being more used by the students. Also the have been frequently changing their choices regarding mobile service providers. By proper customer care, once they catch this group for long time, they can better perform in the market. Analysis shows that 80% of the customers use prepaid lines. One of the significant finding from the analysis is that customer who use Aktel , use the line because of minimum call charge compared to other. So further study is needed to understand the related problems and the company should offer more facilities to the competitors to increase their customer and present users satisfaction.

RECOMMENDATION & CONCLUSION Analysis of the Results: It is already discussed that Aktel is one of the leading company in the mobile telecommunication industry in Bangladesh. This has been possible because it

33

has a created a superior image in comparison to the other operators. In other words, Aktel has a clear advantage over competitors. Aktel has some additional advantageous features in comparisons to its competitors. There is easier access to person to person contract. Another important thing is that Aktel users are mostly satisfied with the initial price of Aktel connections and handsets. Before Aktel’s introduction to the market, mobile phones were virtually out of reach to the major part of the current market. Moreover, Aktel subscribers are happy with the country wide network. However, there is dissatisfaction among the Aktel users with the service of the company. Many important factors are acting as reasons behind this overall dissatisfaction. Quality of airtime and network availability is not satisfactory. Aktel Phone connections are difficult to reach sometimes. It so happens that the subscribers used to pay extra money to get the access. This is especially true for prepaid service. It is encouraging that very recently situation has improved to a certain extent bases on the findings in this report. Most of the subscribers are not happy with the billing rate of Aktel. They think it is too high in the context of Bangladesh, But they are still using the service as Aktel is still more easily accessible. Many newer companies are coming up with the lower price; it is thus a great challenge to GP to face,

Another significant dissatisfaction of the Aktel users is that most of the Aktel connections are mobile to mobile. Access to BTTB is rare. Wider access with BTTB will boast the subscribers. Most alarming thing is that most of the Aktel users are not loyal towards the company. If BTTB or any other company comes up with same sort of services, the Aktel subscribers might switch to that company

34

Limitations of the Study:

Aktel basic strategy is widening its market through its emerging countrywide network. As a result of this strategy, the subscribers are from different segments or from different income levels. Moreover, the subscribers are scattered all over the country. The time constraint confined the study mostly on the data collected in Chittagong zone. Moreover, it was not possible to get all required internal information of the company as these are treated as confidential to the company.

35

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Chain: How Leading Companies Link Profit and Growth to Loyalty, Satisfaction and Value.: The Free Press, New York, NY. Page, N., & Eddy, C. (1999). The correlation between service quality, satisfaction and loyalty. Paper presented at the Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference. Papadopoulou, P., Andreou, A., Kanellis, P., & Martakos, D. (2001). Trust and relationship building in electronic commerce. Internet Research: Electronic Networking and Policy, 11(4), 322-332. Tucker, W. T. (1964). ``The development of brand loyalty''. Journal of Marketing Research, 1(August), 32-35. Van Riel, A. C. R., Lemmink, J., Streukens, S., & Liljander, V. (2004). Boost customer loyalty with online support: the case of mobile telecoms providers. International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 1(1), 4-23. Van Riel, A. C. R., Liljander, V., & Jurrie¨ ns, P. (2001). "Exploring consumer evaluations of e-services: a portal site". International Journal of Service Industry Management, 12( 4), 359-377. Webster, C. (1989). ``Can consumers be segmented on the basis of their service quality expectations?". Journal of Services Marketing, 8(2), 35-53. Williamson, O. E. (1993). "Calculativeness, Trust and Economic Organization". Journal of Law and Economics, 36(5), 453-486. Yi, Y. (1990). ``A critical review of customer satisfaction'' in Zeithaml, V.A. (Ed.), Review of Marketing. American Marketing Association, 25(7), 68-123. Zeithaml, V. A. (1987). Defining and relating price, perceived quality, and perceived value. Marketing Science Institute, 4(2), 87-101. Zeithaml, V. A. (1996). ``The behavioral consequences of service quality". Journal of Marketing, 60(2), 31-46. Zeithaml, V. A. (1998). "Consumers Perceptions of Price Quality, and Value: A Means End Model and Synthesis of Evidence". Joural of Marketing, 52(3), 2-22. Zeithaml, V. A. (2000). "Service quality, profitability and the economic worth of customers: what we know and what we need to learn". Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(1), 67-85. Zeithaml, V. A., Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1994). The behavioral consequences of service quality. Journal of Marketing, 60(April), 31-46.

Website www.msn.com www.google.com www.wikipedia.com www.aktel.com 38

www.globaloneness.com www.ask.com Annual Report of Aktel

Gantt Chart 20/10 Start

24/10

26/10

29/10

04/11

6/11

7/11

8/11

9/11

Preparati on Making plan for the Resear ch Making the researc h Design Collect Second ary Data Analyze the Secondar y data

Collec t data for some peopl e who are doing job in AKTEL

Making a draft of Resear ch Propos al Finalyzi ng the researc h proposa l 39

Sample Questioner-1 1. User’s Name:…………………………………………………… 2. Age:……………………………………………………………… 3. Occupation:………………………………………………………… 4. Length of phone use:………………………………………………. 5. Type of sim card:

Pre-Paid

6. Reason for using the line:

Post-Paid

Minimum call charge Good network Minimum pulse Special Bonus Others

7. Per month Expense:

100 – 500

501 -1000

1001 -2000 8. Location of user’s:

More than 2000

Chittagong

9.Problems from Aktel use:

Out side Chittagong

Bad network No network in village Others No problem

10. Do you want to change your line? If yes why-

Yes

Often network problem faced Sometime charged more

No No voice SMS Others

Sample Questionnaire-2 40

A.

I use Aktel because it is the best:

1.Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Neither Agree nor Disagree 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree B. I use Aktel mobile as it has additional features in comparison to other operators. 1.Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Neither Agree nor Disagree 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree C. Price of Aktel’s different package is affordable. 1.Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Neither Agree nor Disagree 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree d. I am satisfied with the service (quality of airtime and network availability) of Aktel. 1.Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Neither Agree nor Disagree 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree e. Whenever I want to have a Aktel connection, I can get it. 1.Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Neither Agree nor Disagree 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree f. Aktel helpline is very helpful in meeting my queries and other needs 1.Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Neither Agree nor Disagree 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree g. Aktel helpline is very helpful in meeting my queries and other needs 1.Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Neither Agree nor Disagree 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree h. Billing rate of Aktel is low: 1.Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Neither Agree nor Disagree 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree i. Criteria’s important while purchasing any cellular service 1. Network Coverage 2. International Roaming 3. Value added Services 4. After Sales Service 5. Easy bill payment System j. Criteria’s which were considered while purchasing Aktel 1.

Network Coverage 2. International Roaming 3. Value added Services 4. 24-hours customer Service 5. Prepaid facility and bill payment facility. 41