Unwavering commitment to investment in infrastructure and cutting-edge technology are paramount in 9mobile’s quest to raise the bar of excellent service delivery, innovation, and exceptional customer experience, writes Chuka Uroko.
Three critical tests are of utmost importance to users of telecommunication services, which service providers should pass. These are quality of service, innovation, and exceptional customer experience. Translating these values into efficiency and effectiveness across touch-points, including voice, data, and value-added services is something that would undoubtedly endear customers to a telco. Their absence would conversely repel them.
For instance, the service provider of Baba Ade of Ijaiye community in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State meets his expectation if he can make and receive clear, crisp calls to or from his children who live in Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja. Adamu in Anka, Zamfara State, also thumbs up for his service provider when he can call his customers in Ifo market in Ogun State to buy off his newly harvested yam tubers and grains.
For the army of arts and sports entertainment video-driven Nigerian youths, a network that offers them affordable and fast internet service to download e-books and study materials, pictures, music, videos, and stream live without any hindrance makes a great ally. And, for Emeka, a start-up entrepreneur, and for owners of large corporations, a network operator that offers them cost-effective and innovative solutions that empowers them to optimise efficiency, productivity, and profitability would be their ideal choice service provider.
However, several critical dependencies must fall into their proper places to enable telcos to deliver top quality experience in data, voice and associated services. For example, interconnectivity, power, general infrastructure deficit, multiple taxations, amongst many others, are long-standing challenges Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) face. Considering the close relationship between overall Customer Satisfaction and Quality of Service (QoS), Innovation and Customer Experience variables, it becomes obvious why telcos including 9mobile are pushing the frontiers of meeting and surpassing customer expectations.
A study by Benjamin Diaw and Gideon Asare Nanjing entitled ‘Effect of Innovation on Customer Satisfaction and Customer Retention in the Telecommunication Industry in Ghana: Customers’ Perspectives’, found a significant positive relationship between innovation and customer satisfaction and retention. The study also found that innovations introduced in recent years are a significant determinant in customer satisfaction and retention.
Another study, ‘An Empirical Examination of Customer Retention in Mobile Telecommunication Services in Australia’ by Hassan Shakil Bhatti, Ahmad Abareshi and Siddhi Pittayachawan, similarly found out that service quality has an impact on customer satisfaction and retention.
Aware of this nexus between Customer Satisfaction and the trio of Quality of Service, Innovation, and Customer Experience, 9mobile has committed to running a network that delivers high-quality voice and data services through consistent investment and deployment of infrastructure. 9mobile’s Acting Managing Director, Stephane Beuvelet, had reiterated that same commitment to excellence as the gold bar of operations in his 2019 New Year message to customers.
Months after that assurance, the company’s increased investment in, and deployment of cutting edge technology has further reflected on its quality of service and turned it into a toast of Nigerians who are happily getting value for their money. Between January and now, 9mobile has, amongst others, enhanced its network across the various RAN technologies to address congestions and improve user experience. The existing 4G LTE infrastructures were upgraded from 5MHz to 10MHz in cities including Abuja, Owerri, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, and Port-Harcourt to increase LTE network capacity and guarantee higher levels of quality and performance. In Lagos, for example, LTE User DL and UL throughputs improved by 156.06percent and 36.05percent respectively while total traffic grew by 19.03percent.
9mobile has further upgraded its equipment for additional capabilities by activating HD Voice on its 2G GSM network to enhance voice quality. This upgrade provides customers with high-quality, crystal-clear voice calls and reduced background noise. 9mobile has also optimised its IP network by reducing hops across the system, thereby reducing latency and allowing for a smooth experience in streaming services. The telco has additionally expanded its cache infrastructure, helping to deliver excellent quality of service to subscribers across popular platforms such as Google and Facebook services.
Between Q4 2019 and Q1 2020, 9mobile would be taking its LTE coverage to over ten new cities across the country including, Sokoto, Jos, Aba, Onitsha, Akwa, Enugu, Calabar, Zaria, Maiduguri, and Uyo while, at the same time, enhancing the existing six cities earlier mentioned.
In the realisation that a tree does not make a forest make, 9mobile has also entered strategic partnerships with industry-leading solution providers to offer bespoke enterprise offerings with services ranging from innovative broadband connectivity, M2M/IoT to Anything-as-a-service (XaaS).
Moreblaze, an innovative data package that enables data-reliant businesses and individuals to do more through reliable and consistent internet and Moreflex, are only two of the network’s unique offerings empowering businesses and individuals amongst several other offers and solutions. Moreblaze, in particular, has been hailed for allowing subscribers to enjoy a much more productive and faster online browsing experience.
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Besides investing in technology that makes its Quality of Service standout, 9mobile is also offering customers the best-in-class experience by investing in solutions to measure real user experience and better understand the customer’s journey. The telco has invested in a Customer Experience Management (CEM) solution that gives it the capability to acquire real-time network and customer intelligence. With this CEM solution, 9mobile can provide proactive care, better reactive support, and gain useful insights into customer network experience.
A retired diplomat, Job Oniwon, one of the two winners that won five million naira each at the grand finale of the Magic Hour Promo, a customer loyalty reward scheme by 9mobile in May attested to the superior customer experience on the brand. He disclosed that it was the network’s quality service that attracted him in the first instance but believed that he made the right choice when customer service personnel promptly resolved an issue he once had.
He narrated his experience this way: “I last worked at the Nigerian High Commission in London and returned to Nigeria about four years ago. It was after I returned to the country that I became a 9mobile customer. I realised that it was cheaper to call London with 9mobile and after observing for a while and being satisfied with the quality of service, I called all members of my family to switch to 9mobile. I’m an addict of anything called 9mobile. When the company changed its name, and people suggested I should drop my line for that of another network because they claimed 9mobile was going down, I said no. I remained with them and was further encouraged when I had an issue with my line. I went to the office at Cedi Plaza, Abuja and the people I met there were wonderful. They resolved the issue promptly while treating me courteously the whole time. They were wonderful!”
Oniwon’s experience is the same with millions of other 9mobile customers who are having a good time with the network’s quality data and voice services. However, despite the joy it is giving to subscribers through its quality service, the company is not resting on its oars.
According to the Acting Director, Marketing, 9mobile, Layi Onafowokan, the company recognises “that quality data and voice services are important in the day-to-day activities of Nigerians; therefore, we are passionately committed to providing the best services. We will not deviate from this commitment, and we reassure all new and existing customers that everyone has got a home on our network.”
