Virgin, 3 customers most satisfied: study

Roy Morgan Research (RMR) has revealed that customers of Virgin Mobile and VHA brand "3" are more satisfied with the service they are receiving from their mobile provider than customers of other telcos, although the nation's biggest telco Telstra is rapidly catching up.

A study was conducted by RMR for the period from January to December 2010 on a sample of more than 14,000 users who had at least one mobile phone. Results for the second half of the year showed 84 per cent of Virgin Mobile customers and 80 per cent of 3 users were either "very" or "fairly" satisfied with the services they purchased.

The research reported that Optus was 11 per cent behind Virgin, with 73 per cent of its customers being satisfied with its services; a result that qualifies Optus as the only other competitor performing above the industry average of 71 per cent. Vodafone and Telstra followed at 70 and 65 per cent respectively.

RMR director of mobile, internet and technology Andrew Braun said that although Telstra seemed to be far behind rival telcos, its position had actually improved in the second half of 2010.

"The second half of 2010 has seen overall satisfaction with service providers gradually increase on the back of a resurgent Telstra, and to a lesser extent the growth in satisfaction with 3," he said.

According to the research, 3 recorded the largest growth, increasing its satisfied customers by 6 per cent since June 2010, when RMR rated it at 74 per cent. Optus improved slightly from 72 to 73 per cent. The industry average satisfaction level increased by two percentage points, reaching 71 per cent.

Troubled telco Vodafone, which had experienced coverage and privacy issues, recorded a loss of four percentage points, from 74 to 70 per cent, just below the industry average score. Telstra was the last one on the list, increasing satisfied customers from 62 to 65 per cent.

Last February, at the release of its half-year financial results, Telstra made it clear that it had worked to improve customer service and to develop a new strategy to retain and grow its portfolio of customers.

RMR's Braun explained that the index of customer satisfaction for the year ahead might be affected by natural disasters such as flooding, which saw poor network coverage in some cases, and the way providers reacted to those situations. He added that admissions by telcos of compromised services and inability to deliver were signs of improved transparency.

"Already in 2011 we have seen service providers pro-actively admitting service difficulties due to events such as flooding and poor coverage," he said. "Could this improved transparency and continued focus on satisfaction further improve performance in the first half of 2011?"