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Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets

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Measuring the Competitiveness Factors
in Telecommunication Markets

Md. Nekmahmud and Shafiqur Rahman

Abstract Telecommunication sector has emerged as the fastest growing tech

market in the world. This chapter measures the competitiveness of factors in
telecommunication markets and focuses on service quality and customer satisfac-
tion in telecommunication markets. Moreover, this chapter is mainly descriptive in
nature and, is conducted based on a mixture of primary and secondary data. It
proposes an approach to develop the conceptual framework of service quality,
competitive factors of customer satisfaction and loyalty in the telecommunication
markets. It is also proved in the constructed model and hypotheses development on
the six-independent competitive factors and those are value-added service (VAS),
price and tariff, conveniences, customer care which has a positive significant
influence on customer satisfaction, communication and coverage and sales promo-
tion which has a negative influence on customer satisfaction in telecommunication
markets. It emphases on emerging telecommunication markets where having seven
features as emerge from the change in technology, change in Government law and
regulation, change in value-added service, change in social media demand, change
in sales promotion, change in user behaviour and change in market competition. A
summary of the main findings of the study has been presented with addressing
managerial implications and recommendations in telecommunication markets. The
chapter can help researchers to generate new thoughts and service provider of
telecommunication operators to retain the customer on the basis of findings.

M. Nekmahmud (*)
Department of Marketing, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, Bangladesh
e-mail: [email protected]
S. Rahman
Australian Academy of Business Leadership, Minto, NSW, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 339

D. Khajeheian et al. (eds.), Competitiveness in Emerging Markets, Contributions to
Management Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71722-7_18
340 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

1 Introduction

The telecommunication sector is playing an important role in the economic devel-

opment of any country because of increased progress in technology and a massive
competition among all service providers in telecommunication sector (Roos and
Edvardsson 2008). Due to privatization and liberalization of policy, telecommuni-
cation sector is experiencing phenomenal global change all over the world (Beard
and Hartmann 1999).
In the age of information communication technology (ICT), usage of mobile
phone or cell phone is increasing and business environment of developing country
is becoming more competitive day by day. Mobile phone or cell phone is the most
lucrative weapon that helps to keep in aware of the changes of information (Huq
et al. 2015). Mobile or cell phone is such a device that has made the communication
easier, even for the countryside people (Lee et al. 2001).
Telecom sector has emerged as the quickest rising telecom market in the world.
With more reasonable services, expanded penetration and a supportive government,
alongside the regular drop-in tariffs in the sector have brought significant changes
in a number of consumers and usage of mobile telecom services (Sinha and Wagh
2008). Today’s telecommunication is an inseparable part of our everyday life.
Besides, nowadays cell phone is becoming more popular and user-friendly device
due to its convenient using and availability of low-cost to communicate with all
classes of people. Gender, occupation, education, and income level of the consumer
have a strongly significant influence on attitudes towards the usage of smartphone
(Nekmahmud et al. 2017). It is projected that Bangladesh will be the third biggest
telecom market in Asia after China and India (Uddin and Akhter 2012; Hasan
2008). According to The Mobile Economy Report 2017, 65% of the world’s
population had a mobile subscription—a total of 4.8 billion unique mobile sub-
scribers at the end of 2016. The total is set to reach five billion in mid-2017. By
2020, almost 860 million new subscribers will be added, taking the global penetra-
tion rate to 73%. Regional penetration rates are forecasted to range from 50% in
Sub-Saharan Africa to 87% in Europe. Total mobile revenues reached $1.05 trillion
in 2016, up 2.2% in 2015, marking the second consecutive year of rising revenue
growth.1
The mobile platform is emerging as the single most powerful way to extend
economic opportunities and key services to millions of people, said World Bank
economist (Qiang 2009). The telecommunications industry is one of the leading
contributors to economic growth, mainly in developing countries. In addition to the
economic contribution, the telecom industry also influences the growth and
advancement of many other sectors including education, health, e-governance
and rural development. In 2016, mobile operators and the ecosystem provided
direct employment to more than 11 million people globally. In 2016, around
17 million extra employments were indirectly supported in this way, bringing the

1
The Mobile Economy 2017, website at www.gsma.com
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 341

aggregate effect (both direct and indirect) of the mobile industry to more than jobs.2
This excessive economic activity produced a further $430 billion, in 2006. Further-
more, the utilization of mobile technology also improves the productivity for
workers and businesses, which was 1.85 trillion in 2016. Finally, if we consider
the total impact of mobile phone productivity, directly and indirectly, it accounts
for 3.3 trillion in 2016 equal to 4.4% of global GDP. Agribusiness is the main
contributor to GDP in emerging markets and the biggest employer. Mobile tech-
nology is uniquely situated to deliver the critical information quickly that rural
smallholder farmers require, empowering them to make better decisions and
investments that increase their productivity and profit. Telecommunications oper-
ators help to achieve the SDGs. The ubiquity and affordability of mobile technol-
ogy provide a unique platform for improving and enhancing social and economic
development. The GSMA 2016 Mobile Industry Impact Report, which evaluates
the performance and impact of the telecommunication (mobile) industry on the
SDGs, fields that mobile is already contributing to all 17 SDGs to changing degrees.
Globally, the industry has already connected 4.8 billion people, where including 3.6
billion people in developing countries, as long as access to tools and applications
that a wide range of socioeconomic challenges in vulnerable communities and also
empowering new technologies and innovations for building all the more effetely
and environmentally sustainable societies.3
The spread of information and communications technology and global interconnectedness
has great potential to accelerate human progress, to bridge the digital divide and to develop
knowledge societies (p. 5).4

Telecommunication core service usually comprises of networks to use mobile

phones, broadband etc. and support service usually support and facilitate the core
service (Vargo and Lusch 2004a, b). “The most important thing for telecommuni-
cations companies has to be developed for achieving customer’s loyalty, quality
and satisfaction” (Roos and Edvardsson 2008, pp. 87–107). A global research
identified that higher service quality gives customer’s satisfaction and loyalty,
greater willingness to commend to someone else, improve customer retention
rates and reduce complaints (Danaher 1997; Mägi and Julander 1996; Levesque
and McDougall 1996 cited in Dhandabani 2010). The mobile telecommunication
companies in Bangladesh are aiming at providing cost effective and quality services
to the customer (Neogy 2014). Consumer satisfaction and loyalty is long-term
agenda for each mobile telecom company. Without the customer’s satisfaction,
the mobile telecom operator companies can’t run long term with successfully.
Customers’ fulfillment relies upon the distinctive service, which shows the mobile
telecom operator companies for their customers. Customers’ satisfaction has now
become a major concern of the mobile service providers (Hossain et al. 2012a, b).

2
GSMA Intelligence Analysis.
3
Mobile Industry Impact Report 2016: Sustainable Development Goals, GSMA, 2016.
4
Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, United Nations (UN).
342 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

The chapter basically highlights the competitiveness of factors in telecommuni-

cation markets. At the same time, however, we measure the service quality and
customer satisfaction on telecommunication markets in developing countries. The
chapter addresses the attributes of service quality that affects the users in the
selection of the different mobile phone operators in developing country of
Bangladesh. This finding of the chapter helps the telecommunication operators to
manage their business and improve their service quality.
In this chapter, we focus on the present scenario of telecommunication markets
in the world. The literature review includes reviewing some important theories such
as service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty on telecommunication markets
of the previous study is presented. It attempts to differentiate the present study from
the past studies in telecommunication markets.
Our approach explores some factors that are affected by emerging telecommu-
nication market. We also measure some competitiveness of factors in telecommu-
nication markets, which have a significant influence on customers’ satisfaction and
loyalty. Then the methodology deals with the selection of a sample of respondents,
sources of data, methods of data collection, research questionnaire, measurement
techniques, and processing and analysis of data in perspective in Bangladesh. The
chapter proposes an approach to develop the conceptual framework of service
quality, competitiveness factors of customer satisfaction and loyalty in telecom-
munication markets. It is also proved in the construction of model and hypotheses
development.
A summary of the main findings of the study has been presented. At the end, the
chapter will be concluded by addressing a set of recommendations and suggestions
with a view to improving customers’ satisfaction towards the service and compet-
itiveness factors in telecommunication markets.

2 Present Scenario of Telecommunication Markets

in the World

A recent GSMA’s ‘Mobile Economy’ global edition report of 2017 revealed that the
five billion-subscriber milestones are expected to be achieved by mid-year 2017
and 5.7 billion by the end of this decade, globally. Asian markets such as India is
predicted to add 310 million new unique subscribers by the end of this decade.
GSMA Intelligence and Ericsson report slightly differ for both unique users and
active mobile connections, total the unique number of mobile users is 4.9 billion
and mobile connection is 8.0 billion. According to Ericsson mobile report, at
present, there are 5.1 billion of unique individual mobile users and 7.5 billion
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 343

mobile connections. So, the overall trend is clear: mobile phones have become an
indispensable part of today’s life for most people globally.5, 6
The recent data also strongly indicate that over half of the world’s inhabitants
use the smartphone, which is yet another major milestone included in this year’s
report. However, the number of the mobile user varies from country to country and
region to reason. South Asia and Africa are having the world’s lowest levels of
connectivity compared to the populations. On the other hand, people in Eastern
Europe are enjoying the highest number of active mobile connections.
The top ten telecommunications companies of the world, each having a market
value of over $50 billion. To serve world’s fast-growing telephone and wireless
connection demands, the telecommunications industry is expected to expand fur-
ther. Increased number of individuals in emerging markets is subscribing telephone
and internet connection day by day. Also, new telecommunications technologies in
developed nations are expanding among the pre-existing customers. Although
several companies’ can distinguish the top telecommunications companies glob-
ally, market value aids as the determining factor that arranges the list of the top ten
companies in this sector (Table 1).7, 8
Bangladesh enters the mobile telecom world through the Citycell (Pacific
Bangladesh Telecom Limited) in 1993. At present, there are six (Grameenphone,
Robi, Banglalink, Airtel, Citycell and TeleTalk) mobile telecom operator compa-
nies in Bangladesh. The total number of mobile phone subscriptions and internet
subscribers has reached 129,584 and 67,245 million at the end of February 2017.
The mobile phone subscribers of different companies are Grameenphone (59,306),
Banglalink (31,309), Robi Axiata (27,017), Airtel (8219), Teletalk (3733).9

3 Literature Review on Customer Satisfaction

Marketing scholars have thoroughly studied customer satisfaction (e.g. Oliver 1980,
1999; Johnson et al. 2001; Anderson et al. 2004; McQuitty et al. 2000; Eshghi et al.
2008). “Satisfaction as a person’s impression of pleasure or dissatisfaction resulting
from comparing a product’s perceived outcome in relation to his/her anticipations”
(Kotler and Keller 2009, p. 128). Many other studies have supported this definition, for
example, Tse and Wilton (1988) and Oliver et al. (1997). Other scholars defined

5
GSMA Intelligence report, web site at http://gsmaintelligence.com/
6
Ericsson report, web site at https://www.ericsson.com/mobility-report
7
Investopedia, The World’s Top 10 Telecommunications Companies|Investopedia website at
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/030216/worlds-top-10-telecommunications-compa
nies.asp#ixzz4mXnU2RKo
8
Web site at http://alert-komunikacije.com/2016/10/31/top-10-telecom-companies-world-2016/
9
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Report 2017, website at
http://www.btrc.gov.bd
344 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

Table 1 Top 10 telecommunication companies list in the World and its subscriptions
Total
Subscriptions Country
Rank Company Country (main market) (in million) origin
1 China China Mobile operates over four coun- 859.9 (April China
mobile tries: Mainland China, Hong Kong, 2017)
Pakistan, Thailand
2 Vodafone Vodafone has a reach of more than 469.7 United
150 countries (September Kingdom
2016) (UK)
3 Airtel Airtel serves more than 21 countries 372.4 (March India
2017)
4 America America Movil has a reach of 18 coun- 279.8 (March Mexico
Movil tries in the Americas and 7 countries 2017)
across the Europe
5 Telefónica Telefónica has a present from over 274.1 (March Spain
22 countries 2017)
6 China China Unicom provides services in the 267.3 (April Chain
Unicom chain 2017)
7 Veon Veon provides services more than 237.7 (March Netherlands
18 countries 2017)
8 MTN MTN operates in over 20 countries 236.8 (March South Africa
Group 2017)
9 China China Telecom operates in the chain 224.1 (March Chain
Telecom 2017)
10 Orange Orange is present in about 28 countries in 203.5 (March France
the Europe 2017)
Source: Wikipedia

customer satisfaction as the feeling of customers toward a product/service once it has

been used (Solomon 1996; Wells and Prensky 1996; Hansemark and Albinsson 2004).
A customer becomes satisfied, if the perceived performance matches or exceeds
his/her expectations. On the other hand, when perceived performance goes below
expectations, the customer gets dissatisfied (e.g. Oliver 1993; Mittal et al. 1999;
Westbrook and Oliver 1991; Banker et al. 2000). So, satisfied customers repeat the
purchase, become brand loyal, spread positive word-of-mouth advertising, leading
towards increased sales (Dispensa 1997; Aaker 1992; Fornell 1992; Oliver et al.
1997). Conversely, dissatisfied customers may not buy the product, spread negative
word-of-mouth advertising, leading towards the decline of (Day et al. 1981;
Hirschman 1970). All the above indicate the importance of identifying customer
satisfaction (Metawa and Almossawi 1998).
“Friendly, courteous, knowledgeable, helpful employees, the accuracy of bills,
competitive pricing, and service quality impact customer satisfaction” (Bamfo
2009, pp. 299–311). Some customer satisfaction studies identified positive corre-
lations between importance quality and customer satisfaction (Cronin and Taylor
1992; Taylor and Baker 1994). A few other studies also identified that service
excellence plays a key role in customer satisfaction (Bartell 1993; Kotler and
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 345

Armstrong 1991; Bitner 1990; Chitwood 1996). Consequently, many companies

apprehend that customer satisfaction must begin from their employees’ satisfaction
(Bitner 1990; Surprenant and Solomon 1987; Lian 1994; Gremler et al. 1995).
Exceed customer’s expectations, friendly behaviour & efficient employees, fair
price, competitive service quality, repeating to purchase, brand loyalty, positive
word-of-mouth and comfortable environment are facilitated to determinant cus-
tomer’s satisfaction (Nekmahmud et al. 2016).

4 Service Quality

“Service quality is the gap between customers’ expectancy and actual performance
of a service” (Parasuraman et al. 1985, p. 42, 1988, p. 17). Parasuraman et al. (1988)
developed the SERVQUAL model, where assurance, reliability, responsiveness,
empathy, tangible are key elements.
According to Yang et al. (2005, p. 578), “service quality depends on the
usefulness of content, usability, adequacy of information, interaction and accessi-
bility”. Besides, Kuo et al. (2009) proposed four dimensions of service quality of
mobile value-added services, which include customer service and system reliabil-
ity, navigation and visual design, content quality, and connection speed.

5 Customer Satisfaction in Telecommunication Markets

Service quality has a positive impact on satisfaction and loyalty. Such a positive
relationship between service quality and satisfaction is supported by many studies,
for example (Sureshchandar et al. 2003; Cronin et al. 2000; Caruana et al. 2000;
Negi 2009; Agyapong 2011).
Customer satisfaction is explained by customer services, personal and market
factor, perceived quality, perceived value, technological advantages and company
image have positively related to customer satisfaction except for customer services
(Uddin et al. 2014). According to Islam and Rima (2013) stated that core service,
product variation, and promotion have a significant influence on the customer
experience that significantly affected by core activities of telecommunication
services like network, promotion and product variety. Hossain and Suchy (2013)
identified six factors of customer’s loyalty, which are communication, value-added
service, price structure, convenience, customer service and sales-promotions. The
result indicated that excluding for sales-promotion, all other five factors are having
positive correlations with customer loyalty.
According to Arokiasamy and Abdullah (2013, p. 1), “all service quality dimen-
sions of SERVQUAL model positively induced customer satisfaction in terms of
loyalty and attitudes, although there was a significant gap between the perceived
satisfaction and expectancy on these service quality dimensions”. Almossawi
(2012) stated that payments and savings (such as offers, rents, and charges) are
346 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

the most significant in determining satisfaction, retention, and likelihood of

switching from one mobile provider to another. Customer service, friendly
employees, and user-friendly websites were found to be the least significant. On
the other hand, Hossain et al. (2012a, b) emphasized that there are some factors
including quality of air time, service of the information centre, service of the
helpline, and high billing rate are acting behind customers’ dissatisfaction and
need to be improved to gain higher market share.
Leelakulthanit and Hongcharu (2011) investigated that promotional value, qual-
ity of customer service at shops and corporate image play the most important role in
determining customer satisfaction. According to Alireza et al. (2011) addressed that
customer satisfaction plays a significant mediating role in relationships from
service quality, corporate image, and perceived value of loyalty. Loyal customers
tend to remain longer with their service providers. Service quality is the determi-
nant of customer satisfaction (Cronin and Taylor 1992) and by ensuring good
service quality; telecom operators can enrich customer satisfaction (Kuo et al.
2009). Osei-Owusu and Henten (2017) highlighted that the communal lands con-
stitute the dominant land proprietorship system. The authors further added that it
when it faces a private ownership system, a number of land ownership cases were
grown increasing the costs for the telecom companies. It has been calculated that
the total transaction costs in terms of the ownership issues related with mobile
towers were estimated between GHC 6.9 and 13.9 million in 2015.
Malik et al. (2012) stressed that brand image, service quality, and price are
correlated to customer satisfaction. Interestingly, there was a negative correlation of
customer satisfaction with the price, and positive correlation with brand image and
service quality. Khan (2012) identified that many factors have impacts on customer
satisfaction, but price fairness, coverage and customer services were three major
factors highly impacted the customer satisfaction.
Loke et al. (2011) attempted that reliability, assurance, responsiveness, and
empathy significantly positively inclined towards customer attitudes in terms of
loyalty. Furthermore, a significant gap between the perceived satisfaction and
importance of all of the service quality dimensions was also found. Alom et al.
(2010) interviewed that two factors, brand image, and perceived call rate, to have
the most influence in the consumers’ selection decision of a mobile service provider
in Bangladesh. Kabir et al. (2009) looked for the presence of a significant direct
relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. It has also recog-
nized that switching costs, service quality, and trust is significant forecasters of
customer loyalty. Among other factors, trust has been identified to be the most
significant forecaster of customer loyalty.

6 Emerging Telecommunication Markets

“Emerging markets are high-growth developing countries that represent attractive

business opportunities for Western firms that share remarkable features in terms of
economic potentials” (Cavusgil 1997, p. 87). According Emerging to Markets
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 347

Fig 1 Emerging markets as

output of changes (Source:
Khajeheian 2017b)

Directory “An emerging market is a country trying to change and improve its
economy with the goal of raising its performance to that of the world’s more
advanced nations”. “Emerging markets are those markets that emerge from
changes: change in technology, change in demography, change in law and regula-
tion, and change in media” (see Chap. 2 by Feldmann and Zerdick 2005,
pp. 19–29). Khajeheian (2017b, p. 3) develops their definition in ‘emerging
media markets are those that emerge from changes in (1) technology, (2) consump-
tion habits, (3) societal patterns, (4) law and regulations, (5) social demands, and,
(6) values (See Fig. 1).
Emerging telecommunication markets are those as emerge from a change in
technology, change in Government law and regulation or political change, change
in value-added service, change in social media demand, change in sales promotion,
change in user behavior, change in market competitions. A range of the character-
istic of emerging telecommunication market is illustrated in Fig. 2.
Technological environment forces that create new technologies, creating new
product and market opportunity (see Chap. 3 by Kotler and Armstrong 1991). A
technological change or up gradation has a great influence on emerging telecommu-
nication markets. New technology expands the existing market and increases the new
market with large share. Changing technology brings an inordinate revolution on
telecommunication markets. In addition, the fast change of technologies gives rise of
too many new markets while many existing markets diminish (Khajeheian 2017a).
Companies native to emerging market countries have grown in prominence in
the twenty-first century. In emerging markets, regulations and policies are some of
the main factors that are shaping the industry (Venkatram and Zhu 2012). The
importance of regulatory and policy changes is stressed upon in order to adapt to the
348 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

Fig. 2 Emerging telecommunication markets (Source: Elaborated by Authors)

future and maintain the growth rate of the telecom industry (Bhattacharya 2001;
USCC 2011). The role of the government is a vital advocate of the industry,
employing a host of policies to support directly to the competitive performance
of target industries (Porter 1990). The telecom companies with the most exposure to
emerging markets are usually the ones that are politically favoured. Telecommu-
nication companies flourish in emerging economies based on the political and
regulatory context as well as their business expertise. Telecoms businesses are
regulated by the governments, and require licenses to operate. For example,
Vodafone, a U.K.-based telecommunications companies spent many years to
peruse the policy makers in India to allow it access to consumers (Ross 2015).
A large number of competitors in telecommunication markets offer similar
products and services and increase its value line with the core services. Value-
added service is the most changeable characteristic in emerging telecommunication
markets. In emerging telecommunication market, value-added service depends on
demography variable such as location, gender, race, occupation, education, genera-
tion, income, and technology. Telecommunication operators offer a large number of
value-added services (e.g. caller tunes and alerts, friends and family (fnf) facilities,
mobile banking, internet speed, missed call alert and call block facilities, entertain-
ment, insurance coverage, caller identity display, conference call, online service
etc.), which raise the market growth and profit that support to change markets.
A central feature of the Internet is its nature as a network, which fosters the
emergence and development of positive externalities (see Chap. 2, Feldmann and
Zerdick 2005). In emerging market, social media is the vital part of
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 349

telecommunication industry. Different kinds of social media (e.g. Facebook,

Twitter, LinkedIn, Google plus, Instagram, Tagged, Skype, Tumblr, Flickr, Meet
up, Vine etc.), are connecting the world as a global village. Without a SIM card, it is
not feasible to use the social media. The users connect with social media network by
using SIM card or telecom operator. Social media interconnects with telecommu-
nication markets. It is building the new markets and the market growth. Social
media exposes the emerging markets by providing new innovation.
Although sales promotion does not a huge effect on emerging market, but
companies always try to make a sustainable relationship with its customers. Various
types of sales promotions are offered to the customer to attract the new markets.
Sales promotion has a sound contribution in emerging and economic development
in Asian developing countries like India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Maldives.
Market competition strategy is changing. Telecommunication companies take
different types of competitive marketing strategy to stay in markets. Customer
demand or customer expectations rapidly changes and customers are always
searching out for innovative packages or services (Khajeheian 2017b). Thus tele-
communication industry always tries to fulfill the customer expectation and satisfies
their demand by expanding the emerging market.
Competition is one of the important characteristics of the emerging telecommu-
nication markets. The intensity of rivalry in a competitive market is the major
determinant of the competitiveness of the industry. The importance of industry
competition force is the number of competitors and their ability to threaten a
company (Porter 2008). Telecommunication industry has an existing strong com-
petition to expose the emerging market. Telecommunication operators always
hardly compete with existing competitors to keep up its present market share and
revenue (Nekmahmud and Rahman 2016). So, it has a strong influence in emerging
telecommunication market. The telecommunication industry helps by extending
and upgrading its infrastructure, connecting remote and underserved communities,
stimulating economic participation, and supporting new telecommunication
innovation.

7 Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets

7.1 Communication and Coverage

Communication guarantees that negotiable call failure rates are to be influenced by

the loyalty. All telecommunication operators updated their technological commu-
nication coverage, e.g. connection, network coverage, wire line voice, internet and
GPRS, signal quality, international roaming etc. in the world. Communication and
coverage are the first steps to enter the emerging market. Moreover, network
coverage, signal quality, uninterrupted communication, international roaming facil-
ities are significant competitive factors for building the loyalty of telecom market of
350 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

Communication and Price & Tariff Convenience

coverage • Call rate • Customer care centre
• Network coverage • Accuracy call cost • Recharge point
• Signal quality • lnternet price
• Free internet browsing • Recharge vouchers
• Call drop
• Price of SIM card • Balance transfer &
• International lnstant recharge
roaming, IDD • Cost of receiving
• Available package Media Content • Available SIM card
• International SMS & Facilities • Emergency Balance
MMs • VariousTips & it's cost facilities
• Internet & GRPS • Electronic payment
Connection system
• Wireline voice & • Door to door service
Wireline Broadband • E-shop
• GSM international Price & Tariff
roaming

Communicati
on and Convenience
coverage
Competitiveness
factors

Value Added Sales

Service (VAS) Promotion
Value Added Service
(VAS) Customer Sales Promotion
• Available SMS & MMS Service Care • Price pack (bonus)
• Caller tunes & alerts • Prizes & premium
• Friends and Family • Cash refund
(FnF) facilities • Free talk time & bonus
• lnternet Speed (4G, 3G, • Free lnternet facilities
2G) Customer Service Care • Free Social Media
• Social Media access • Reporting complaint & • SIM replacement
• News Services resolution • Free Media content
• Missed all alert & Call • Customer care facilities
block facilities • Friendly Website • Corporate Business
• Entertainment facilities • Helpful and Service
• Insurance coverage informative
• E-Service • E-customer care
• Caller identity display • Help line
• Conference call • Staff Behavior

Fig. 3 Competitiveness factors in telecommunication markets (Source: Elaborated by Authors)

Bangladesh (Hossain and Suchy 2013). If the certain cellular company fails to
provide coverage where customer needs, then it will lead to customers’ dissatis-
faction. Firstly, users use the operators by considering the communication and
coverage factors. If the operators are unable to provide better communication and
coverage, users or subscribers will switch to other operators. A range of charac-
teristics of communication and coverage in telecommunication is illustrated in
Fig. 3.
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 351

7.2 Value-Added Services (VAS)

A value-added service (VAS) is popular in the telecommunications industry. There

are two common reasons why the value is added to a product or service: (1) to
satisfy customer needs (2) to create profits for the company and shareholders.
“Value-added services are service options that are complementary to but also
ancillary to a core service offering” (Managing Value 1995, p. 6). Value-added is
an economist’s term meaning that the service offered would have added value to the
user compared with more basic telecommunications (or other) services. The DTI,
Value-added and data services, which define anything beyond the basic telephone,
telex and leased line services as being of a value-added nature (Collins 1986,
pp. 193–218). The term for non-core services, or in short, all services beyond
standard voice calls and fax transmissions. Value-added service and customer
loyalty embrace a positive relationship. Value-added services include SMS,
MMS, GPRS facilities, caller tunes and alerts offered by the service providers
that quickly come into focus and considered important by the users in case of
building loyalty towards the operator of the telecom market of Bangladesh (Hossain
and Suchy 2013). It also highlights the continuing growth of the importance of
value-added services, including mobile Internet, multimedia services, location-
based services and camera-enabled phones, as mobile telecommunications technol-
ogy evolves rapidly. Mobile carriers must concentrate their efforts on developing
value-added services to increase enjoyment and convenience (Kim et al. 2004).
Value-added services are attitude, followed by perceived ease of use, perceived
cost, and perceived usefulness. Service providers need to develop mobile value-
added services (Kuo and Yen 2009). Which types of Value-added service offered
by the telecommunication that is as shown in Fig. 3.

7.3 Price and Tariff Structure

Customers perceptions about the price of a product or service are the determinants
of supply and demand they also resonance that price is a sign of product or service
quality. Also, customer satisfaction is echoed by the price consciousness (Lyer and
Evanschitzky 2006; Varki and Colgate 2001). Similarly, the price level, value for
money, and special offers may impact both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Fur-
thermore, among others price fairness, price possibility and price perceptibility may
dissatisfy the customers (Zielke 2008). Additionally, the various levels of price,
product, and a combination of price consciousness scopes are having the potenti-
ality to terrify the customers’ satisfaction (e.g. Diller 2000; Pramhas 2004; Matzler
et al. 2006). Customers can be enticed to a retail store by utilizing price and special
promotions (Grewal et al. 1998). Figure 3 illustrates Call rate, internet price, price
of SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card, costs of receiving media content facil-
ities, various tips and its cost, accuracy call cost etc. are significant competitive
352 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

factors in the telecommunication markets in the world. Market penetration pricing

and tariff structure to help keep it up its existing customers and attract the new
customers. Users always consider lower pricing and tariff structure. Price and tariff
structure is moving factors in telecommunication markets.

7.4 Convenience

Convenience has a positive correlation to customer satisfaction and loyalty. It is

also evident that customers “convenience to reach customer care centre and avail-
ability of recharge points and vouchers can influence customer loyalty” (Hossain
and Suchy 2013, p. 78). Figure 3 shows as convenience characteristic in telecom-
munication markets.

7.5 Customer Service Care/Point

Customer care is initially concerned with the perceptions of an organization

reflected in associations with reaching customers. Customer service can be defined
as a system of activities that comprise customer support systems, ease of reporting
and speed of processing complaints; friendliness when reporting complaint
(Hossain and Suchy 2013). “Handling customer-complaint effectively leads to
customer satisfaction” (Jawaria et al. 2009, p. 4). The promptness of all these
activities grounds for creating customer loyalty towards the service operator in
the telecom market in Bangladesh. Customer service care is a comparatively new
practice of mobile telecom operators in Bangladesh but their presences have
partially influenced customer loyalty. Different types of customer service care in
telecommunication in the world are illustrated in Fig. 3.

7.6 Sales Promotion

Sales promotion can be deified as short-term incentives to encourage the purchase

or sales of a product or service (see Chap. 3 by Kotler and Armstrong 1991). Sales
promotion has a significant impact on consumer’s brand choice, purchase time, and
purchase quantity decision (Khan 2012; Hossain and Suchy 2013). In Bangladesh,
the mobile telecom operators are intensifying their offerings in case of sales pro-
motions (bonus, price-offs) to attract existing and new customers (Hossain and
Suchy 2013). Sales promotion can affect the consumer’s buying decision, such as
brand choice and brand switching (Oyeniyi 2011). The purpose of sales promotion
is to increase the cellular subscribers; therefore, cellular companies offer extra free
minutes, limited offer to get double balance, free VAS, MMS at low rate etc.
(Shahzad Khan 2012). Sales-promotion services divert attention to financial
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 353

incentives and encourage brand-switching behaviour, as well as increased price

sensitivity, which minimizes the importance of quality criterion (Omotayo 2011;
Aaker 1996). Figure 3 shows as the different types of sales promotion activities that
are offered to the customer.

8 Customer Satisfaction on Loyalty

According to Foss and Stone (2001), customer loyalty relates to what customers
think and do (or try to do). As mentioned earlier in the literature review that in
marketing literature, a strong positive correlation exists between customer loyalty
and customer satisfaction (Donio et al. 2006; Cheng et al. 2008; The story and Hess
2006). Most of the studies concluded that customer satisfaction is an indicator of
customer loyalty (e.g. Faullant et al. 2008; Terblanche 2006; Leverin and Liljander
2006). Communication, price, value-added service, convenience in usage and
customer service are positively related to customer loyalty and less-promotion is
not related to the customer loyalty (Hossain and Suchy 2013).
Figure 4 highlights that customer satisfaction on telecommunication depends on
six competitiveness factors. Strong communication and coverage, customer’s
expected price and tariff, available convenience package, offering superior value-
added service, exciting sales promotion and effective and friendly customer care
satisfy the customer wants and demands. If customers are satisfied that it helps mark
the customer loyalty to the particular telecommunication operator. Customer loy-
alty makes the sustainable and profitable relationship, which helps to emerge the
telecommunication markets.

Fig. 4 Conceptual framework of service quality, competitiveness factors of customer satisfaction

and loyalty in telecommunication markets (Source: Elaborated by the authors)
354 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

9 Hypotheses Development

H1 Communication and coverage has a significant influence on customer satisfac-

tion in telecommunication Market in Bangladesh.
H2 Value-added services (VAS) has a significant influence on customer satisfac-
tion in telecommunication market in Bangladesh.
H3 Price and tariff has a significant influence on customer satisfaction in telecom-
munication market in Bangladesh.
H4 Convenience has a significant influence on customer satisfaction in telecom-
munication market in Bangladesh.
H5 Customer service care has a significant influence on customer satisfaction in
telecommunication market in Bangladesh.
H6 Sales promotion has a significant influence on customer satisfaction in tele-
communication market in Bangladesh.
H7 There is a positive correlation between customer satisfaction and customer
loyalty in the telecommunication market in Bangladesh.

10 Methodology

The chapter has been designed to measure the competitiveness of factors in

telecommunication markets. It also highlights the service quality and customer
satisfaction on telecommunication market in Bangladesh. This study is descriptive
in nature and conducted based on a mixed of primary and secondary data. The
designated population for the study includes all customers who regularly use SIM
card of different mobile phone operators in Bangladesh.
The random sampling method is used to select respondents from developing a
country of Bangladesh. Primary data were collected over a 4 months’ period during
the October 2016 to January 2017. The field survey method is used to collect
primary data by taking direct interviews through the questionnaire and observation.
The secondary data are collected from different sources such as previous articles,
books, different related publications, news, reports, and websites etc.
A questionnaire was designed which has been considered as the major tool of
study. In the questionnaire, respondents were asked 45 questions those are usually
considered for telecommunication. To develop the research questionnaire and
collect data from the determined sample, the extended semantic differential scale
was used in this study. To get the respondents original and active opinion, Liberty’s
7 (Seven) point rating scale is used. Where, Where, 1 ¼ Strongly Disagree,
2 ¼ Disagree, 3 ¼ Somewhat disagree, 4 ¼ Neither Agree nor Disagree (Neutral),
5 ¼ Somewhat agree, 6 ¼ Agree, 7 ¼ Strongly Agree.
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 355

The questionnaire was designed in three (3) parts. The first part identifies
respondents’ specific demographic criteria and some basic questions about mobile
operators were framed; the next part includes 29 measurement questions of iden-
tifying dependable variables sales promotion, value-added service (VAS), price and
tariff structure, customer service care, communications and convenience competi-
tiveness that measure the service quality and customer satisfaction on telecommu-
nication market in Bangladesh, Third part includes five factors under two
dependable variable of customer’s satisfaction and loyalty that measure the cus-
tomer’s present satisfaction on the brand loyalty. For this research, data are
collected from direct and online interviews through the questionnaire. In this
study, researchers distributed 390 questionnaires to respondent for measuring the
service quality and customer satisfaction on telecommunication markets in
Bangladesh. Among them, 340 respondents returned the completed questionnaires.
Because of respondent’s inability, unconsciousness, and excessive missing values,
we had to drop 40 questionnaires. Lastly, the size of the sample stands at 300 (three
Hundred). The collected data were analyzed by various statistical tools and tech-
niques, which includes frequency distribution, reliability test (Cronbach α) and
factor analysis (KMO and Bartlett’s test). We also conducted multiple regression
analysis using IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) 20.0 version to
test the hypotheses.

11 Results and Discussion

The summary of respondents’ demographic statistics, Table 2 shows that 74.2%

(n ¼ 230) male and 25.8% (n ¼ 80) female. The age of respondents belongs to less
than 20 years (n ¼ 16) 5.2%, 20–25 years (n ¼ 148) 47.7%, 25–30 years (n ¼ 62)
20.0% and 30–25 years (n ¼ 44) 14.2%, above 35 years (n ¼ 40) 12.9%. Here, the
analysis also illustrates that 60.0% of respondents are students, 15.2% of belonging
to service holder, 13.5% of business people and 6.1% of household and rests of
them are retired and other professionals.
Table 3 Exhibits that 3.9% of customers use their current SIM less than 1 year,
5.8% of customers 1–2 years, 9.4% of customers 2–3 years, 13.2% of customers
3–4 years and 67.7% of customers use their SIM more than above 5 years. 64.8% of
customers use Grameenphone, 16.8% use Robi, 12.9% of Banglalink and 1.9% of
Teletalk and 3.5% use others SIM operators. 61.0% of customers have 1–3 bio-
metric SIM card, 24.2% of 3–6 SIM card, 7.1% of 6–12 SIM card, and residual
5.2% of customers have 9–12 biometric SIM card. 36.5% of customers recharge to
their mobile phone less than 4 $ per month, 31.0% of recharge to 4–8 $, 21.3% of
recharge to 8–12 $, and remaining 11.3% of users recharge to 12–16 or above 16 $
per month to their mobile phone.
The table also demonstrates that 66.1% of customer use the mobile phone for
keeping in touch with family member, and rest of 33.9 % of customers use mobile
phone for business, office, friends and others motives. 26.8% of customers are
356 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

Table 2 Summary of socio-demographic profile of telecom operator users

Profile Groups Frequency Percent
Gender Male 230 74.2
Female 80 25.8
Age of the respondent < 20 years 16 5.2
20–25 years 148 47.7
25–30 years 62 20.0
30–35 years 44 14.2
> 35 years 40 12.9
Occupational status Student 186 60.0
Service holder 47 15.2
Business 42 13.5
Household 19 6.1
Retired 8 2.6
Others 8 2.6

satisfied to usage mobile phone operator for call rate, 27.4% for the network, 12.9%
for internet packages, 10.6% of FnF number, rest of them satisfied to others reasons.
24.2% of customers would like to switch to the others phone operator to attract the
call rate, 17.1% for network, 29.7% for internet packages, 8.1% for FnF number,
7.1% for 3G internet speed and others attractive new offers or factors (see Table 3).

11.1 Reliability Analysis

The research computed Cronbach Alpha test to discover the inner consistency that
shows reliability of different factors of the survey questionnaire. Reliability analysis
has been measured via Cronbach’s coefficient alpha to check for internal consis-
tency of the constructs. All constructs had no problems in reliabilities as Cronbach’s
Alpha values exceeded the criterion of 0.700 (Anderson et al. 2010). Cronbach’s
alpha has been applied widely in social science and it gives a conventional result and
subsequently, analysts recommended composite reliability as an option measure
(Wong 2013). An acceptable reliable esteem will be between 0.60 and 0.95 (Hair
et al. 2013; Bagozzi and Yi 1988). On the other hand, George (2003) provides a
commonly accepted the following rules of thumb for describing internal consistency
is: “α  0.9—Excellent, 0.9 > α  0.8—Good, 0.8 > α  0.7—Acceptable,
0.7 > α  0.6—Questionable, 0.6 > α  0.5—Poor, 0.5 > α—Unacceptable”.
Table 4 illustrates that computed value of the Cronbach Alpha of the factors is
0.908, which that implies data is excellent and reliable because the pragmatic value
is comparatively higher than the standard reliable value of Cronbach Alpha. Thus,
the survey appliance is reliable to measure all constructs resolutely and free from
random error.
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 357

Table 3 Frequency distribution of customer’s general information about telecommunications

operators
Percent of
Variables Frequency respondents
Usage duration of current SIM < 1 year 12 3.9
1–2 years 18 5.8
2–3 years 29 9.4
3–4 years 41 13.2
> 5 years 210 67.7
Name of the operator Robi 52 16.8
Grameenphone 201 64.8
Banglalink 40 12.9
Teletalk 6 1.9
Others 11 3.5
Total number of biometric SIM card 1–3 189 61.0
3–6 75 24.2
6–9 22 7.1
9–12 16 5.2
12–15 4 1.3
15–20 4 1.3
Recharging the mobile phone Amount <4$ 113 36.5
($) per month 4–8 $ 96 31.0
8–12 $ 66 21.3
12–16 $ 29 9.4
> 16 $ 6 1.9
Why you are using a mobile phone Keep in touch with 205 66.1
family
Business 39 12.6
Keep in touch with 0 0
friend’s
Office use 0 0
Above all 66 21.3
The major reason for my satisfaction to the Call rate 83 26.8
mobile operator is Network 85 27.4
Internet package 40 12.9
Service package 21 6.8
Attractive 8 2.6
advertisements
Number of FnF 33 10.6
Package 6 1.9
3G speed 10 3.2
Others 24 7.7
(continued)
358 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

Table 3 (continued)
Percent of
Variables Frequency respondents
I would like to switch to another operator Yes 88 28.4
No 222 71.6
Which factors attract to switch the mobile Call rate 75 24.2
phone operators? Network 53 17.1
Internet package 92 29.7
Service package 12 3.9
Brand image 4 1.3
Attractive 6 1.9
advertisements
Number of FnF 25 8.1
Package 14 4.5
3G speed 22 7.1
Others 7 2.3

Table 4 Reliability Reliability statistics

coefficients
Cronbach’s Alpha No. of items
0.908 34

11.2 Descriptive Analysis

The descriptive analysis of the statistics (Table 5) illustrates that the mean as well as
the standard deviation value of all the questions, which have been designed under
seven (7) point’s semantic scale. According to this scale 7-strongly agree and
1-strongly disagree. The mean of all variables ranged from 2.6548 to 6.1065.
Meanwhile, the standard deviation for the below variables ranges from 1.80961
to 1.17620. The observed mean value is 6.1065 or more with little value of standard
deviations of all statements that experienced the customers’ satisfaction on tele-
communication markets in Bangladesh.
The overall mean value of communications (4.5413), value-added service
(4.8522), customer service care (4.3226) and customer loyalty (4.4613), which
indicates customers somewhat agree towards the service. The mean value of price
and tariff structure (3.5890), sales promotion (3.6581) on customer satisfaction
variable measure somewhat disagree towards the telecommunication market. Cus-
tomers agree to the convenience factor mean value, which is 5.0258. The overall
result justifies that respondents are showing the multi-coloured attitude towards the
telecommunication industry.
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 359

Table 5 Descriptive statistics on competitiveness factors of customer satisfaction and loyalty in

telecommunication markets
Item statistics
Over Over all
Std. all std.
Constructs Items Mean deviation mean deviation
Communications I am satisfied with the network 4.9065 1.56653 4.5413 1.15382
coverage
Signal quality is high 4.7065 1.34416
Drop calls is low 4.3774 1.68646
International roaming services 4.1548 1.79226
are available
Service packages are available 4.5613 1.61940
that my mobile operator pro-
vides is very attractive and easy
to go
Value-added Provide Information through 5.2935 1.58909 4.8522 1.00238
services (VAS) available SMS, MMS
Caller tunes and alerts are 5.3258 1.59904
available
Friends and Family Number 5.1806 1.69129
(FnF) facility
Quality, facility and high speed 3.7516 1.80961
of Internet and GPRS Connec-
tion (3G), (2G)
Facebook access service by 5.1839 1.77407
mobile phone
Sports news, job news, news 4.3774 1.69984
service are available
Price and Tariff Lower call rate 3.5097 1.70803 3.5890 1.15694
structure Lower price of internet 2.7903 1.77484
Free Internet browsing 2.6548 1.77365
Price of SIM is moderate 4.7387 1.59270
Accuracy of call cost 4.2516 1.58510
Convenience Availability of customer care 4.7129 1.56566 5.0258 0.98919
centre
Availability of recharge points 6.1065 1.17620
Different types of recharge 5.1677 1.43159
vouchers
Balance transfer system is good 3.7548 1.72491
Availability of SIM Card 5.3871 1.44315
Customer ser- Ease of reporting complaint and 4.1548 1.35170 4.3226 0.91485
vice care Speed of complaint resolution
Customize (Personalize) care 4.3032 1.40214
Customer care department is 4.4161 1.51724
helpful and informative
Having user-friendly website/E- 4.4161 1.35975
customer care
(continued)
360 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

Table 5 (continued)
Item statistics
Over Over all
Std. all std.
Constructs Items Mean deviation mean deviation
Sales promotion Price pack (bonus)/my mobile 4.1419 1.57216 3.6581 1.20963
operator gives frequent special
Offers
Prizes, premium and price-off 3.9839 1.36166
are available
Cash refund offers 3.0839 1.53473
Free talk time and bonus facili- 3.4226 1.66211
ties are good
Customer I am satisfied with using the 4.0935 1.50972 3.9387 1.11518
satisfaction mobile telecommunication
services
Telecom company has effec- 4.0548 1.47258
tively provided mobile telecom-
munication services
Mobile telecommunication ser- 3.6677 1.60378
vice is better than expected
Customer Say positive things about tele- 4.5484 1.47775 4.4613 1.28160
loyalty communication in Bangladesh
Intend to continue doing as a 4.3742 1.33244
customer
Valid N (list wise) 300

11.3 Factor Analysis (KMO)

Factor analysis is suitable for determining whether the data set of this study or the
strength of the inter correlation test were carried out applying Bartlett’s Test of
Sphericity (Bartlett 1954) and the Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin measure of sampling ade-
quacy (KMO) (Kaiser 1970, 1974). Bartlett’s trial of Sphericity esteem value ought
to be considered (p < 0.05) for the significance of the factor analysis and KMO
esteem ought to be considered in the range of 0 to 1 with 0.6 suggested as the
minimum value for good factor analysis (Tabachnick and Fidell 2007). The result
of the study (see Table 6) shows the calculated value of Bartlett’s test of Sphericity
measure 0.000 which was highly significant and KMO test 0.561 was close to 0.6
which directly indicates that data collected from the respondents is acceptable for
factor analysis.
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 361

Table 6 KMO and Bartlett’s test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0.708
Bartlett’s test of sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 8851.586
Df 561
Sig. 0.000

11.4 The Test of Hypotheses

11.4.1 Regression Analysis (ANOVA)

Model 1a linear regression analysis was used for hypothesis testing, Adjusted R2,
the coefficient of determination, which shows that overall service quality and
customer satisfaction in the telecommunication market can be explained 44.3% of
sales promotion, value-added service (VAS), price and tariff structure, customer
service care, communications and convenience (see Table 7).
Model 2b exhibits that customer satisfaction can be explained 63.6% by cus-
tomer loyalty.
From the ANOVA Table 7, we get F-value is 40.174 and (P ¼ 0.000) is less than
0.05, the null hypothesis is rejected, then alternative hypothesis is significant
accepted at the 95% level of confidence, which means that the sales promotion,
value-added service (VAS), price and tariff structure, customer service care, com-
munications, and convenience statistically significantly explained of overall cus-
tomer satisfaction in telecommunication market in Bangladesh. Same as F-value is
198.016 and P ¼ (0.000) which is less than 0.05 that customer satisfaction
explained by customer loyalty. ANOVA Model 1a and 2b we see that the signif-
icance value is 0.000 (Table 7), thus proving that the model is valid and significant.

11.5 The Result of Hypotheses and Interpretation

First Hypothesis (H1): The results of multiple regression analysis of the alternative
hypothesis H1 as presented in Table 8 indicated that communication concerns signif-
icantly negative influenced on customer satisfaction on telecommunication market in
Bangladesh and disclosed a significant negative result (β1 ¼ 0.014; t-value ¼ 0.239;
<0.05). According to the analysis, the significance value for the hypothesis is 0.811,
which is higher than the level of significance p ¼ 0.05. So, an alternative hypothesis is
rejected and null accepted, H1 implying the significant negative relation.
Second Hypothesis (H2): The alternative hypothesis, H2, Value-added service
(VAS) of service quality has a strongly positive significant influence on customers
satisfaction on telecommunication market in Bangladesh, the significance value for
the hypothesis is 0.001, which is less than the level of significance p ¼ 0.05. So, an
alternative hypothesis is accepted and null rejected. H2 implying the significant
positive relation between values added service and customer’s satisfaction (see
Table 8).
362 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

Table 7 Illustrating the regression analysis

Model summary
Model R R2 Adjusted Std. error of the
R2 estimate
Model 0.666a 0.443 0.432 0.84044
1a
Model 1 0.626a 0.391 0.389
2b
ANOVA
Model Sum of Df Mean Square F Sig.
squares
1a Regression 170.259 6 28.376 40.174 0.000b
Residual 214.021 303 0.706
Total 384.280 309
a. Dependent Variable: Customer satisfaction
b. Predictors: (Constant), sales promotions, value-added service (vas), price and tariff structure,
customer service care, communications, convenience
2b Regression 198.611 1 198.611 198.016 0.000b
Residual 308.925 308 1.003
Total 507.535 309
a. Dependent Variable: Customer loyalty
b. Predictors: (Constant), Customer satisfaction

Table 8 Regression coefficient (test result of hypotheses) coefficientsa

95.0%
Unstandardized Standardized confidence
coefficients coefficients interval for B
Std. Lower Upper
Model B error Beta t Sig. bound bound
1a (Constant) 0.218 0.283 0.770 0.442 0.775 0.339
Communications 0.014 0.058 0.014 0.239 0.811 0.100 0.128
Value-added 0.220 0.068 0.198 3.216 0.001 0.085 0.355
service (VAS)
Price and tariff 0.242 0.053 0.251 4.585 0.000 0.138 0.346
structure
Convenience 0.243 0.072 0.215 3.353 0.001 0.100 0.385
Customer ser- 0.174 0.073 0.143 2.381 0.018 0.030 0.318
vice care
Sales 0.050 0.055 0.055 0.917 0.360 0.058 0.158
promotions
a. Dependent Variable: Customer satisfaction
2b (Constant) 1.630 0.209 7.793 0.000 1.218 2.041
Customer 0.719 0.051 0.626 14.072 0.000 0.618 0.819
satisfaction
a. Dependent Variable: Customer loyalty
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 363

Third Hypothesis (H3): Alternative hypothesis H3, customer’s price and tariff
service quality has a highly positive significant influence on customer satisfaction
on telecommunication market where (β3 ¼ 0.251; t-value ¼ 4.585; p < 0.05). Thus,
proves as per the evidence that significance value for the hypothesis is 0.001, which
is less than the level of significance p ¼ 0.05. Thus, the significant relation between
customer satisfaction and price and tariff. So alternative hypothesis is accepted (see
Table 8).
Fourth Hypothesis (H4): The alternative hypothesis, H4, convenience has a
positive significant influence on customers satisfaction on telecommunication oper-
ators in Bangladesh and released a significant result (β1 ¼ .215; t-value ¼ 3.353;
p < 0.05). The significance value for the hypothesis is 0.001, which is less than the
level of significance p ¼ 0.05. So, an alternative hypothesis is accepted and null
rejected. H4 implying the significant strongly positive relation between the cus-
tomer’s satisfaction and convenience of telecommunication market in Bangladesh
(see Table 8).
Fifth Hypothesis (H5): The alternative hypothesis, H5, customer service care has
a negative significant influence on customers satisfaction on telecommunication
operators in Bangladesh (β1 ¼ 0.143; t-value ¼ 2.381; p < 0.05). Thus, proves as
per the evidence that the significance value for the hypothesis is 0.018, which is less
than the level of significance p ¼ 0.05, the significant positive relation between
customer satisfaction and customer service care in telecommunication market in
Bangladesh (see Table 8).
Sixth Hypothesis (H6): The alternative hypothesis, H6, sales promotion has a
negative significant influence on customers satisfaction on telecommunication
market in Bangladesh (β1 ¼ 0.055; t-value ¼ 0.917; p < 0.05). The significance
value for the hypothesis is 0.360, which is higher than the level of significance
p ¼ 0.05. So, an alternative hypothesis is rejected and null is accepted. H6 is not
supported indicating that the significant strongly negative relation between cus-
tomer sales promotion and customer’s satisfaction on mobile telecommunication
market (see Table 8).
Seventh Hypothesis (H7): The alternative hypothesis, H7, Loyalty has a highly
significant positive relationship with customer satisfaction on telecommunication
market where (β1 ¼ 0.626; t-value ¼ 14.072; p < 0.05). The significance value for
the hypothesis is 0.00, which is less than the level of significance p ¼ 0.05. So, an
alternative hypothesis is accepted and Null is rejected (Table 9). H7 is signified that
the significant strongly positive relation between customer loyalty and customer’s
satisfaction on mobile telecommunication market (see Table 8).

12 Recommendations

The recommendations are given below based on suggestions to improve the cus-
tomer service to fulfill the customer satisfaction and make a sustainable relationship
with the customer. Recommendations are made based on survey findings and
364 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

Table 9 Illustrates the summary of hypotheses accepted or rejected

Accepted or
HN Hypotheses Rejected
H1 Communication and coverage has a significant influence on cus- Alternative (H0)—
tomer satisfaction in telecommunication market in Bangladesh Rejected
(0.811 > 0.05) Null (Ha)—
Accepted
H2 Value-added Services (VAS) has a significant influence on cus- Alternative (H0)—
tomer satisfaction on mobile telecommunication market in Accepted
Bangladesh (0.001 < 0.05) Null (Ha)—
Rejected
H3 Price and tariff has a significant influence on customer satisfaction Alternative (H0)—
on telecommunication market in Bangladesh (0.000 < 0.05) Accepted
Null (Ha)—
Rejected
H4 Convenience has a significant influence on customer satisfaction on Alternative (H0)—
telecommunication market in Bangladesh (0.001 < 0.05) Accepted
Null (Ha)—
Rejected
H5 Customer service care has a significant influence on customer Alternative (H0)—
satisfaction in telecommunication market in Bangladesh Accepted
(0.018 < 0.05) Null (Ha)—
Rejected
H6 Sales Promotion has a significant influence on customer satisfaction Alternative (H0)—
on telecommunication market in Bangladesh (0.360 > 0.05) Rejected
Null (Ha)—
Accepted
H7 Customer satisfaction has a significant influence on customer loy- Alternative (H0)—
alty (0.00 < 0.05) in telecommunication market in Bangladesh Accepted
Null (Ha)—
Rejected

analysis. Some customers have been switching to other operators because of their
poor network infrastructure, internet packages, 3G speed, and promotional pack-
ages. Telecommunication operators should have quick expansion in the network,
lower internet price with 3G and 4G high speed over Bangladesh if they want to
keep its customers to stay with them. The value-added services (VAS) department
should be coming up with more ideas to entertain its customers. This department
has its potential but should be used it to the full range to provide more useful
services to customers’ needs. Although telecommunication operators provide latest
technology and services, should clarify that to the customers. As it has been
observed that many customers are unaware off the use of value-added services,
they may not be well informed about the recent packages of the companies. If the
customers are happy and satisfied on telecommunication sectors than it makes
sustainable customer loyalty on service provider operators. So, service providers
need to provide customers’ expected service to make loyalty. Different programs
should be taken in the customer care centres to educate the customers by providing
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 365

pertinent advice regarding different essential features of the mobile phone and its
operations and services. The result shows that some dissatisfaction among the
respondents about the charge of internet packages in Bangladesh. The respondents
said that the internet package charge is higher. So, telecommunication operators
need to reduce internet package rate. Based on the findings of this study service
quality of telecommunication companies should focus on the tangible, reliability,
and assurance of service quality, these three dimensions of service quality have the
significant relationship with customer satisfaction in using telecommunication
service in Bangladesh.

13 Managerial Implications

The result of this chapter has important managerial implications. It will support to
generate new thoughts for researchers, consultants and telecom experts. The key
competitive factors like [sales promotion, Value-added service (VAS), price and
tariff structure, customer service care, communications and convenience] touching
the customers’ perception in mobile phone operators (service providers) will put the
practitioner in a better position to design appropriate strategies to deal with mar-
keting practices that will enhance the benefit of the operators. The study also finds
improvement areas for telecommunication investors and sellers for serving better
than the before and helps to achieve remarkable progress. Mobile telecommunica-
tion operators should pay attention to improving the quality of different services
and customer image to build sustainable customer loyalty.

14 Limitations and Further Research

The research area, the data collection only focused on customers of developing the
country in Bangladesh. The result of developed and under developing countries
may be variation. Further, researchers should collect data from some part of
developing and developed countries. Based on the proposed theory in this chapter,
it is highly suggested to the researchers in the field of telecommunication markets to
conduct researches on the implementation of applying the emerging markets
theory, the emerging telecommunication markets theory and conceptual framework
of competitiveness factors of customer satisfaction and loyalty in telecommunica-
tion markets which are discussed in this chapter.
366 M. Nekmahmud and S. Rahman

15 Summary and Conclusions

Telecommunication market is going up by modernizing and emerging its technol-

ogy. The mobile telecom industry has a higher impact across developed economies,
as investments in and connectivity and networks over a long period of time leading
to higher infiltration of voice and data. On the other hand, in developing countries,
this business has made progress against the SDGs mainly through rising connec-
tivity and access to information, with explicit services like mobile money and
agricultural platforms leading to higher productivity and poverty eradication.
Moreover, for the survival of telecommunication companies in any country, they
should also consider the competitive factors. The phone is not only used for making
calls, among many other functions, it is used for communicating through text-
messages, multi-media messages (MMS), as well as to connect us to the internet.
Telecom industry is now a paramount importance in developing countries with
emerging markets (Huq et al. 2015; Arokiasamy and Abdullah 2013). In Emerging
telecommunication markets, we focus some characteristic of change in technology,
change in government law and regulation or political change, change in value-
added service, change in social media demand, change in sales promotion, change
in user behaviour, and change in market competitions. Telecommunication market
is growing fast in the world by extending its market share. Telecommunication
companies should increase its strong networks in everywhere. Communication and
coverage, price and tariff, convenience package, value-added service, sales promo-
tion, and customer care are the competitiveness factors in telecommunication
markets. Telecommunication operators compete with their competitors by provid-
ing this effective competitiveness factor. In Bangladesh, telecommunication has
become a very popular communication to all professional persons, even the X and
Y generation are using this product intensively for their personal and occupational
purposes. Telecommunication provides mobile banking service to the rural area in
Bangladesh. The telecommunications service quality depends on both the
supporting services and networking. The mobile telecommunications service qual-
ity is typically measured in terms of some common parameters like call completion
rate, call drop rate, voice quality, complaints resolved percentage within a
timeframe and customer service etc. (TRAI 2008; Sutherland 2007; Australian
Communications and Media Authority 2008). The mobile telecom companies in
Bangladesh need to eradicate several concerns that enable them to draw the
attention of customers and retain them in the long run. It is an established fact
that both customers’ perceived service quality and satisfaction have been the most
significant success factors of business competition either for manufacturers or for
service providers (Munusamy et al. 2010; Buzzell and Gale 1987). Communica-
tions, value-added service, customer service care and customer loyalty, which
indicates customer, are somewhat satisfied towards the service quality. That’s
mean customer are not satisfied towards their providing service. The result of this
research is illustrated that value-added service (VAS), price and tariff, convinces
and customer care competitive factors have a positive significant influence on
Measuring the Competitiveness Factors in Telecommunication Markets 367

customer satisfaction in telecommunication operators in Bangladesh. Other sides

Communication and coverage and sales promotion competitive factors have a
significant negative influence on customer satisfaction in the telecommunication
market in Bangladesh. So company operators in Bangladesh need to develop the
communication coverage, sales promotion, and customer service care. In addition,
these operators need to consider the factors of competitiveness in the telecom sector
in order to survival and growth the market share. Companies need to segment the
markets and provide the particulars offers to the customers. In developing country,
quality education, sustainable cities and communities, industry, innovation and
infrastructure are provided by telecommunication industry. It creates more employ-
ment in different sectors, ensures standards of living, and develops the economic
growth. It also helps to achieve the sustainable development in the world. By
upgrading the new telecommunication technology, they create new market
opportunity.

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Md. Nekmahmud is a research scholar in marketing. He earned

his M.B.A. (Master of Business Administration) specialization in
marketing and received B.B.A. in marketing from Begum Rokeya
University Rnagpur, Bangladesh. Nekmahmud achieved first
position in B.B.A. He has published more than ten academic
research articles in reputed international journals of the USA,
the UK, Australia and New Zealand. His three research papers
have also been presented in international conferences. His current
research interests are in the areas of advertising, consumer behav-
iour, sustainable marketing and telecommunication markets.

Shafiqur Rahman has been a Vice-President of Australian

Academy of Business Leadership (AABL) for last 3 years. Prior
to this, he served the US Embassy in Dhaka as an economic
specialist and trade promotion manager for about 10 years. He
also served as an M.B.A. coordinator for two private universities
in Bangladesh for about 12 years. He is a Ph.D. in management
from Macquarie University, Australia. He also received a Grad-
uate Certificate in Research from Western Sydney University and
an M.B.A. from I.B.A., Dhaka University. His research profile
includes 15 research articles and 20 conference presentations.

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