IOSR Journal of Computer Engineering (IOSR-JCE)

e-ISSN: 2278-0661, p- ISSN: 2278-8727Volume 11, Issue 6 (May. - Jun. 2013), PP 83-88 www.iosrjournals.org

www.iosrjournals.org 83 | Page

Customers Attitude toward Mobile Service Providers in

Hyderabad

Yousef Mehdipour*, Hamideh Zerehkafi** * PhD Scholar, Institute of Advanced Study in Education, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. 500007.

** MBA Student, College of Commerce and Business Management, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India

Abstract: Measuring customer attitude provides an indication of how successful the organization is at

providing products and/or services to the marketplace. Indian mobile industry has witnessed a dramatic growth.

Cheap mobile handsets, affordable airtime rates, low initial cost and affordable monthly rentals made it easy

for anybody to go mobile. As per latest statistics India has around 160 million mobile subscribers. Le Roux

(1994) defines attitude to be a positive or negative emotional relationship with or predisposition toward an

object, institution or person. Customer satisfaction is a collective outcome of perception, evaluation, and

psychological reactions to the consumption experience with a product or service. This research article

investigated the attitude of customers to mobile communication. All the customers of mobile in Hyderabad city

(Andhra Pradesh) constituted the population. Air Tel, Vodafone, Idea, Cell One are the four companies which

are included in study. The sample of the study is 2600 customers that randomly selected. A questionnaire was

developed and validated through pilot testing and administered to the sample for the collection of data. The internal consistency of the instrument was determined using Cronbach alpha method and the coefficient of

internal consistency obtained was 0.82. The researcher personally visited respondents, thus 100% data were

collected. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed by SPSS. Results showed that Air Tel has major share

in market and among customers Vodafone has larger share than Air Tel. Reasons like Packages offered by

Vodafone are attracting, which makes it a have a larger share. Services and network of Air Tel is good compare

to the other players in the market but it is Vodafone which offers better packages.

This study showed that most of the respondents need improvement in service. Majority of respondents gave an

Good rate for “mobile service providers”.

Keywords: Attitude , Communication , Customer, Mobile, service providers.

I. Introduction Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers. Measuring customer

attitude provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and/or services to the

marketplace. Businesses monitor customer attitude in order to determine how to increase their customer base,

customer loyalty, revenue, profits, market share and survival. Customer attitude in turn hinges on the quality and

effects of their experiences and the goods or services they receive. Although greater profit is the primary driver,

exemplary businesses focus on the customer and his/her experience with the organization. They work to make

their customers happy and see customer satisfaction as the key to survival and profit.

Attitude is inner feeling or beliefs of an individual towards particular phenomena. Attitudes are an

expression of inner feelings and beliefs that the reflect whether a person is favorably or unfavorably pre-

disposed to some phenomenon. The word “attitude” is defined within the framework of social psychology as a subjective or mental

preparation for action. It defines outward and visible postures and human beliefs. Le Roux (1994) defines

attitude to be a positive or negative emotional relationship with or predisposition toward an object, institution or

person . Chambers and Pettman (1986) have shown that both feelings and information are critical factors in the

formation of attitudes, and that these are critical components of understanding.

Attitudes determine what each individual will see, hear, think and do. They are rooted in experience and do not

become automatic, routine conduct. Furthermore, “attitude” means the individual's prevailing tendency to

respond favorably or unfavorably to an object (person or group of people, institutions or events) (Morris &

Maisto, 2005). Attitudes can be positive (values) or negative (prejudices). According to Lord (1997) and

Kreitner and Kinicki (2007), there are three components of attitudes: affective, cognitive and behavioral. The

affective component is a feeling or an emotion one has about an object or situation. The cognitive component is

the beliefs or ideas one has about an object or situation, whereas the behavioral component of attitude reflects how one intends to act or behave towards someone or something (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2007).

On the other hand, Customer satisfaction is a collective outcome of perception, evaluation, and psychological

reactions to the consumption experience with a product or service (Yi, 1990). Establishing and achieving

customer satisfaction is the main goal of businesses nowadays because there is a strong relationship between the

Customers Attitude Toward Mobile Service Providers In Hyderabad

www.iosrjournals.org 84 | Page

quality of product, customer satisfaction and profitability (Fecikova, 2004). Kotler (2003) states that there is a

general agreement that satisfaction is a person’s feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from

comparing a product perceived performance (or out come) in relation to his or her expectations. In order to

achieve customer satisfaction, Companies should measure it because according to Ho, (1995) you can not

manage something that you can not measure it.

Telephony introduced in India in 1882. The total number of telephones in the country stands at 960.9 million, while the overall Tele-density has increased to 79.28% as of May 31, 2012; and the total numbers of

mobile phone subscribers have reached 929.37 million as of May 2012. The mobile Tele-density has increased

to 76.68% in May 2012.

In last decade Indian mobile phone industry has witnessed a dramatic growth. Cheap mobile handsets,

affordable airtime rates, low initial cost and affordable monthly rentals made it easy for anybody to go mobile.

India has the fastest growing telecom network in the world with its high population and development potential.

Airtel, Idea, Reliance, Tata DoCoMo, BSNL,Cell One, Aircel, Tata Indicom, Vodafone, MTNL, and Loop

Mobile are other major operators in India. However, rural India still lacks strong infrastructure. India's public

sector telecom company BSNL is the 7th largest telecom company in world.

Bharti Airtel is the world's third largest mobile telecommunications company with over 266 million

subscribers across 20 countries as of August 2012. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with 265.56 million subscribers as of October 2012. Airtel is the third largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base,

behind China Mobile and China Unicomcon.

Vodafone India , formerly Vodafone Essar and Hutchison Essar, is the third largest mobile network

operator in India after Airtel and Reliance Communications by subscriber base. It is based in Mumbai,

Maharashtra. It has approximately 147.48 million customers as of December 2012. IDEA Cellular has licenses

to operate in 11 circles with a customer base of over 113 million as of December 2012. BSNL is the next largest

player in the Indian market with 96.28 million customers as of October 2012.

If the service providers capture another 10 to 15 % share in untouched market it is huge business for

the major service providers in the market. The subscribers will opt to one service provider if they are satisfied

with the service offered is meeting their expectations. In that the network of the service provider will play a vital

role. The young customers are opting for a service provider if they are getting good packages, latest technology,

and uninterrupted network. The usual measures of customer attitude involve a survey with a set of statements using a Linker

Technique or scale. The customer is asked to evaluate each statement in terms of their perception and

expectation of performance of the service being measured. American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a

scientific standard of customer satisfaction. The ACSI measures customer attitude and satisfaction annually for

more than 200 companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors.

II. Statement Of The Problem Measuring customer attitude provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing

products and/or services to the marketplace. Customer attitude survey is a systematic process for collecting consumer data, analyzing this data to make it into actionable information, driving the results throughout an

organization and implementing attitude survey is a management information system that continuously captures

the voice of the customer through the assessment of performance from the customers’ point of view.

The setting of objective is the core stone of a systematic study. The study will be fruitful one when the basis laid

down is a concrete one they represent the desired solution to the problem and help in proper utilization of

opportunities.

III. Objectives Of Study: The objectives of the research are:

1) To compare efficiency and quality of the service providers. 2) To find out the market share of major service providers.

3) To know the features that attracts the customer to subscribe to service providers.

4) To know the level of satisfaction of customers towards service provides.

IV. Material and Methodology Design Of The Study

The design of the study is a descriptive survey which attempts to collect data from members of a population in

order to determine the current status of the population

Area Of The Study

The study was carried out in Hyderabad City (Andhra Pradesh state, India).

Customers Attitude Toward Mobile Service Providers In Hyderabad

www.iosrjournals.org 85 | Page

Population Of Study

The target population comprised of all the customers of mobile service providers in Hyderabad.

Sample And Sampling Techniques

The sample consisted of 2600 customer that randomly were selected from population in Hyderabad city (Andhra

Pradesh State).

Instrument For Data Collection

One questionnaire was used in order to collect the views of customers. The instrument used for data collection

was a 20 item that developed and validated by the researcher. The internal consistency of the instrument was

determined using Cronbach alpha method and the coefficient of internal consistency obtained was 0.81.

PROCEDURE OF THE STUDY In order to get data from the respondents through the above instruments, the researcher visited the

sample customers personally and administered the questionnaires to the sample customers. The respondents

were requested to record their free, frank and independent responses. An assurance was given to the respondents

that their responses shall be kept confidential and information collected will be used only for the purpose for it was collected. The collected data were analyzed by using Excel 2007 software.

V. Findings And Conclusion: In this study 18% respondents are in the age group of 15-25 years, 54% respondents are in the age group of

26-35 years, 23% respondents are in the age group of 36-45 years, and 5% respondents are in the age group

of 46 and above.

41% respondetns were businessmen, 36% employees, 15% students, 5% professionals, and 3% respondetns

were other occupations.

19% respondents were in the income group of less than Rs.5000, 49% in the income group of Rs. 5000-

10000, 21% in the income group of Rs. 10000-15000, and 11% were in the income group of Rs 15000 and above.

15.5% respondants are using Idea, 36% Airtel, 39.5% Vodafone, 9% cell one. From this we come to know

that largest segment of respondents are of Vodafone then comes Airtel, Idea and Cell one. Hence, The

majority of the market share is captured by Vodafone.

Table 1: Subscribers preferring the type of service provider S. No Category Prepaid Postpaid

1 Air Tel 767 169

2 Vodafone 689 338

3 Idea 364 39

4 Cell One 00 234

Total 1820 780

Table 1 showed that 70% respondents are using pre paid, 30% respondents are using post paid. From this we can

conclude that most of the respondents prefer pre-paid service than to post paid. Exept respondants of Cell one

that prefer post paid service only.

Table 2: How do you find the services of your provider? S. No Category Excellent Good Average Poor Total

1 Air Tel 442 403 91 00 936

2 Vodafone 91 676 130 130 1027

3 Idea 39 312 00 52 403

4 Cell One 00 195 00 39 234

Total 572 1586 221 221 2600

Table 2 showed that 47.23% of respondents of Air Tel expressed that the service offered by Air Tel are

Excellent; and 65.82% of respondents of Vodafone expressed that the service offered by Vodafone is Good; and

77.42% of respondents of Idea expressed that the service offered by Idea is Good; and 83.33% of respondents of

Cell One expressed that the service offered by Cell One is Good. Totally, 61% of respondents of service

providers expressed that the service offered is Good.

Customers Attitude Toward Mobile Service Providers In Hyderabad

www.iosrjournals.org 86 | Page

Table 3: Why did you opt for this service provider?

S. No Category Advertisement Self

Decision

Many users in

Friend Circle Total

1 Air Tel 91 403 442 936

2 Vodafone 169 416 442 1027

3 Idea 169 169 65 403

4 Cell One 143 39 52 234

Total 572 1027 1001 2600

Table 3 showed that 47.22% of respondents of Air Tel are using Air Tel because of many users in their friend

circle; 47.22% of respondents of Vodafone are using Vodafone because of many users in their friend circle;

42% of respondents of Idea opt for Idea by seeing an advertisement, and 42% of them on their self decision; and

61.11% of respondents of Cell One opt for Cell One by seeing an advertisement. Totally, 39.5% of respondents of service providers opt them on their self decision.

Table 4: How do you find the packages offered by the service provider? S.no Category Excellent Good Average Poor Total

1 Air Tel 273 494 169 0 936

2 Vodafone 0 663 273 91 1027

3 Idea 39 273 0 91 403

4 Cell One 0 143 52 39 234

Total 312 1573 494 221 2600

Table 4 showed that 52.77% of respondents of Air Tel expressed that the packages offered by Air Tel is Good;

and 64.55% of respondents of Vodafone expressed that the packages offered by Vodafone is Good; and 67.74%

of respondents of Idea expressed that the packages offered by Idea is Good; and 61.11% of respondents of Cell

One expressed that the packages offered by Cell One is Good. Totally, 60.5% of respondents of service

providers expressed that the packages offered are Good

Table 5: Do you try new packages offered? S. No Category Yes No Total

1 Air Tel 533 403 936

2 Vodafone 624 403 1027

3 Idea 312 91 403

4 Cell One 143 91 234

Total 1612 988 2600

Table 5 showed that 57% of respondents of Air Tel expressed that they will try the new packages offered by Air

Tel; and 60.75% of respondents of Vodafone expressed that they will try the new packages offered by

Vodafone; and 77.4% of respondents of Idea expressed that they will try the new packages offered by Idea; and

61.11% of 18 respondents of Cell One expressed that they will try the new packages offered by Cell One.

Table 6: Do you use any other service provider’s service parallel with current provider? S. No Category Yes No Total

1 Air Tel 91 845 936

2 Vodafone 130 897 1027

3 Idea 91 312 403

4 Cell One 39 195 234

Total 351 2249 2600

Table 6 showed that 9.72% of respondents of Air Tel and Idea are using other service providers parallel to the

current service provider; and 12.65% of respondents of Vodafone are using other service providers parallel to

the current service provider; and 16.67% of respondents of Cell One are using other service providers parallel to

the current service provider. Totally, 13.5% of respondents are using other service providers parallel with the

current service provider.

Table 7: How do you find the network of your service provider? S. No Category Excellent Good Average Poor Total

1 Air Tel 533 221 182 0 936

2 Vodafone 39 585 169 234 1027

3 Idea 39 312 52 0 403

4 Cell One 0 143 91 0 234

Total 611 1261 494 234 2600

Table 7 showed that 56.94% of respondents of Air Tel expressed that the Network of Air Tel is Excellent; and

56.96% of respondents of Vodafone expressed that the Network of Vodafone is Good; and 77.4% of

Customers Attitude Toward Mobile Service Providers In Hyderabad

www.iosrjournals.org 87 | Page

respondents of Idea expressed that the Network of Idea is Good; and 61.11% of respondents of Cell One

expressed that the Network of Cell One is Good.

Table 8: How is the customer care service of your service provider?

S. No Category Excellent Good Average Poor Total

1 Air Tel 169 494 273 0 936

2 Vodafone 91 624 169 143 1027

3 Idea 91 234 78 0 403

4 Cell One 0 143 91 0 234

Total 351 1495 611 143 2600

Table 8 showed that 52.77% of respondents of Air Tel expressed that the Customer Care of Air Tel is Good; and

60.75% of respondents of Vodafone expressed that the Customer Care of Vodafone is Good; and 58% of respondents of Idea expressed that the Customer Care of Idea is Good; and 61.11% of respondents of Cell One

expressed that the Customer Care of Cell One is Good. Totally, 57.5% of respondents expressed that the

Customer Care of service providers are Good.

Table 9: Do you advice people to opt for service you are using? S. No Category Yes No Total

1 Air Tel 806 130 936

2 Vodafone 624 403 1027

3 Idea 312 91 403

4 Cell One 143 91 234

Total 1885 715 2600

Table 9 showed that 86.11% of respondents of Air Tel, 60.75% of respondents of Vodafone, 77.41% of

respondents of Idea, and 61.11% of respondents of Cell One expressed that they will advice people to opt for the

service they are using.

Table 10: How much do you spend every month for your mobile?

S .No Category 200-300 300-500 500-800 800-1000 Total

1 Air Tel 130 169 364 273 936

2 Vodafone 169 507 169 182 1027

3 Idea 273 52 39 39 403

4 Cell One 91 143 0 0 234

Total 663 871 572 494 2600

Table 10 showed that 38.88% of respondents of Air Tel are spending between 500-800 Rs monthly, and 49.36% of respondents of Vodafone are spending between 300-500 Rs monthly; and 67.74% of respondents of Idea are

spending between 200-300 Rs monthly; and 61.11% of respondents of Cell One are spending between 300-500

Rs monthly.

VI. Discussion: This study showed that the level of satisfaction of customers towards “service providers in Hyderabad city

was good.

The main criteria of selecting the service provider is the network and the friend circle if many uses in their

friend circle people are going to that service provider.

The packages are playing vital role in choosing a particular service. In this area packages offered by Vodafone are comparatively better than the other service providers that’s the reason market share of

Vodafone is more than the others.

The network of Vodafone is poor in rural areas they have to improve the network if they want to increase

their subscriber base. The customer care of Vodafone is good.

The network and packages of Air Tel is good so, it occupies the second place in the market share of

customers.

The majority subscribers of Air Tel are business people the packages and services are more beneficial to

them. If Air Tel wants to increase their subscriber base they have to give more attracting packages. The

customer care of Air Tel is good.

Idea occupies third place in the market share of customers. The network and packages are average. The

customer care of Idea is poor.

Cell one occupies fourth place in the market share of customers. The network of Cell one is excellent in every part of India but the packages and the customer care of Cell one is very poor.

Customers Attitude Toward Mobile Service Providers In Hyderabad

www.iosrjournals.org 88 | Page

VII. SUGESSTIONS 1. The Air Tel network is good compare to the other service providers in rural and urban areas of Andhra

Pradesh. The packages are also good but the packages are attracting business people and the jobbers only. If

Air Tel wants to capture the customers they have to give more attracting packages. 2. The Vodafone network is good in the urban areas but it is poor in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh. The

majority subscribers of Vodafone are in urban areas only. If they want to increase their subscriber base they

have to increase their network in the rural areas. The market share of Vodafone is good when compare to

the other players in the market.

3. The network of Idea is good in the urban areas but it is poor in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh. The

market share of Idea is also good but the services and packages offered by Idea are not attracting the

customers. The market share of Idea is poor. If they want to increase their subscriber base they have to

increase their network and they have to give more attracting packages.

4. The network of Cell one is excellent in every part of India. But the packages are very poor. The market

share is also less when compare to the other players. If they want to increase their market share in the

student community they have to give more attracting packages. 5. Customers want more improvement in service.

Author Information Yousef Mehdipour is a Ph.D. Scholar in Education, the Institute of Advanced Study in Education,

Osmania University, Hyderabad, India and also he is a faculty member in ZUMS; And Hamideh Zerehkafi is a

student in Master of business Administration, College of Commerce and Business Management, Osmania

University, Hyderabad, India.

References [1]. Carman, J.M. (1990). Consumer perceptions of service quality: an assessment of the SERVQUAL dimensions. Journal of Retailing,

66, 33-55.

[2]. Churchill, G.A. & Suprenant, C. (1992). An investigation the determinant of customer satisfaction. Journal of Marketing Research,

19, 491-504.

[3]. Fecikova, I. (2004). An index method for measurement of customer satisfaction. The TQM Magazine, 16(1), 57-66.

[4]. Gustafsson A., Johnson, M.D. & Roos, I. (2005). The effects of customer satisfaction, Relationship Commitment Dimensions, and

Triggers on Customer Retention. American Marketing Association, ISSN: 0022-2429 (print), 1547-7185 (electronic).

[5]. Ho, C.C. (1998). Using customer satisfaction to plan work. Proceedings of Taiwan’s Quality Society’s 34th Annual Meeting and

Forth National Quality Management Conference, Taiwan, 495-503.

[6]. http://www.airtel.in/QuarterlyResult/Quarterly_report_Q3_11.pdf

[7]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Statistics_in_India

[8]. Kotler, Ph. (2003). Marketing Management. Pearson Education, Inc. Fifth edition& 10th edition.

[9]. Kreitner, R. and Kinicki, A. (2007). Organizational behavior. Arizona: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.

[10]. Le Roux, J. (1994). The Black child in crisis. A socio-education perspective Volume 2. J L Van Schaik.

[11]. Lord, C. G. (1997). Social psychology. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Momentum Research Group. Retrieved

November 03, 2004, from: http://www.momentumresearchgroup.com/glossary.php

[12]. Morris, C. G. and Maisto, A. A. (2005). Psychology: An introduction, 12th Ed. New Jersey: Pearson, Prentice Hall.

[13]. Parker, C. & Mathews, B.P. (2001). Customer satisfaction: contrasting academic and consumer interpretations. Marketing

Intelligence and Planning, 19(1), 38-44.

[14]. Salomon, M.R. (1991). Consumer behavior: Buying, Having, and Being. Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA.

[15]. Van Riel, A.C.R., Lilijander, V. & Jurriens, P. (2001). Exploring consumer’s evaluations of e-services: a portal site. International

Journal of Service Industry Management, 12(4), 77-359.

[16]. Vodafone Essar Ltd: Vodafone India — Mobile Communications worldwide. Vodafone.in. 2009-03-31. Retrieved 2009-05-01.