Here are the best and worst mo

Image: Canva

Here are the best and worst mobile networks in SA

MTN first, rain finishes last: Here are the best and worst South African network providers according to consumers.

Here are the best and worst mo

Image: Canva

Social media and customer insights business BrandsEye has published its South African Telecommunications Sentiment Index for 2020 – which reveals how consumers feel about the mobile networks available in South Africa.

The best and worst network in SA

The index, in partnership with Deloitte, is based on an analysis of over two million social media posts between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020, which are assigned sentiment scores based on their content. The study ultimately revealed that South Africans were notably more negative towards telecommunications operators (telcos) than banks, insurers or retailers in 2020.

That said, having tracked posts mainly about Cell C, MTN, rain, Telkom, and Vodacom, the index found that some networks received significantly more negativity on social media platforms than others. Each post received a sentiment rating – positive, neural, or negative – which was used to calculate a net sentiment ranking for each network.

MTN comes out on top while rain finishes last

It was revealed that newcomer rain ranked last, scoring over 20% points below the industry average. On the other end of the spectrum, having scored the lowest negative sentiment and highest positive sentiment, MTN ranked first. Unexpectedly, Cell C – whose survival came into question during 2020 – placed second, while Telkom placed second-last despite seeing the most annual customer growth.

“While seeing only a small advantage in quality, it was speed and coverage with which consumers were most satisfied with MTN. rain on the other hand, saw above-industry levels of risk conversation about downtime, evidencing network quality as one of its major weaknesses. In terms of load shedding conversation, both MTN and Cell C saw a considerably better net sentiment than the other telcos, suggesting their users were the least affected by power outages.”

Pricing complaints followed a downward trend across the industry in 2020, largely driven by the data price cuts implemented following the Competition Commission’s inquiry. However, despite slashing data prices by up to 40%, Vodacom still saw the most negativity around pricing. Cell C recorded the highest positive and least negative pricing sentiment, ranking them first in this regard.

Customer service is a major industry-wide issue

Another area that negatively impacted sentiment towards telcos in 2020, was customer service.

“With the temporary closure of many physical branches and difficult operating conditions for call centres, turnaround time was raised in the bulk of these service complaints. Many customers reported poor responsiveness from telcos and of having to try contact them on multiple instances when seeking assistance.”

While complaints about traditional channels like call centres generally outweighed negative conversation towards digital channels, customers would naturally turn to digital channels when their traditional attempts proved unsuccessful. This undoubtedly caused additional frustration, especially considering telcos’ poor response rates on social channels.

Helping customers on social media

It is said that more than half of all mentions requiring a response from network providers did not receive one in 2020.

rain was most impacted by service complaints, suggesting their affordability approach came at the expense of customer experience. Despite ranking first in overall net sentiment, MTN customers appeared to struggle the most when trying to contact their network provider telephonically. These complaints increased steadily from April to June, suggesting the initial stages of lockdown impaired MTN’s call centre.

In terms of response rate, Cell C replied to the largest portion of its priority conversation while also responding to customers in the shortest time. Whereas Telkom, the only state-owned enterprise (SOE) in the mix, appeared unable to compete with its private rivals when it came to online responsiveness.

Net Sentiment ranking of SA telcos according to customer feedabck
Image: brandseye.com/