report on customer satisfaction of aktel

Report

On

AKTEL

1

Prepared For: Nusrat Jahan

Lecturer,

School of Business,

Independent University Bangladesh

Prepared By: Abu Naser Mohammad Moinuddin #0720350 Ajoy Bhomik #0631055

Md. Tamjid Rahman #0631024Tazverul Ameen #0631052Md. Tariq Hasan #0631031

Date of Submission: December 6, 2009

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December 06.12. 2009

Nusrat jahanLecturer,School of Business,Independent University Bangladesh.

Sub: submission of report on Customer Satisfaction regarding Products and Services of AktelDear Madam,

It is a great pleasure for us to submit our report on the topic “Customer Satisfaction regarding Products and Services of Aktel”

We have prepared this report, as a fulfillment of the course requirement. To make this report up to the standard, we have tried our level best to fulfill the requirements. We hope that this will help us in our future practical life.

We believe that you will be pleased to see my work. We also believe that this report will be able to fulfill your expectation.

Sincerely yours,

………………….Abu Naser Mohammad Moinuddin #0720350

………………….Ajoy Bhomik #0631055

…………………Md. Tamjid Rahman #0631024

…………………Tazverul Ameen #0631052

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…………………Md. Tariq Hasan #0631031

Acknowledgement

At the very beginning we must be grateful to “The Almighty” who has sent

us on this globe and given us the ability to work on such a project. After

that we must offer my gratitude to a number of persons who guided me to

successfully complete the project.

We would like to thank our supervisor Ms. Nusrat Jahan, Lecturer, School

of Business, who has provided us an attention grabbing course that

exposed one more transparently to know customer satisfaction regarding

products and services of Aktel. We are also thankful to those respondents

who filled up the questionnaire, which helped us to make this paper.

Without their help, collecting primary data for user’s reaction would have

been difficult. We extend our thanks to the personal working in Aktel

customer satisfaction to provide us some important information. We again

thankful to our Suspected teacher of IUB from whom, we have been

learning continuously.

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Table of Contents

Topics Page No.

Executive Summary 6

1.Introduction 2.Background of the study 7

3.Problem statement 4.Problem definition 8

5.Literatutre Review 9

6.Research methodology 17

Findings on analysis 34

Recommendation and conclusion 35

Limitation of the study 36

References 37

Gantt Chart 40

Sample qestionnaire1 41

Sample questionnaire2 42

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Executive Summery

As a market leader, Aktel is continuously coming up with new ideas regarding its products and

services. Recently, the company is mainly focusing on the non-voice services. Because, the

company knows in near future, voice based services will reach to the maturity stage, which will

make the business growth constant to some extents. Hence, the company is trying to maintain

the leading position in non-voices services as well like SMS, Push-Pull, and Information related

services at the early growing stage. These services are working as a building block to increase

Aktel’s service value.

Coming up with innovative service is easier than making subscribers aware of services. Hence

through this report we have tried to analyze the present situation of the cellular phone industry

in Bangladesh and Aktel’s position there in, find out the services that Aktel phone is presently

providing to its valued customers & their satisfaction level. 10 million people out of 140 million

total citizen of Bangladesh are presently using cell phone; it means that out of every 14 people

one is using cell phone. In the third world country like Bangladesh the amount of users is

amazing. Aktel holds almost 41% market share of telecom industry that is out of every 10 users

4 belongs to Aktel. So Aktel marketing strategy should be “Profitable growth & expanding

market share through satisfying existing customers”. We have drawn some valuable

recommendation to Aktel to be the market leader in future in this competitive market.

A comprehensive survey was conducted to know about Aktel’s present position in the market

and its present service condition that is providing to its valued customers. The survey report

shows that Aktel is still a market leader in this industry but as it is becoming more competitive

day by day so Aktel should revise its service packages, quality with more conveniently for the

customers.

Among the other cellular phone companies Aktel has some unique competitive advantages in

this industry in Bangladesh so if it is possible for Aktel to provide better services with

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continuous innovative products it will add value to the company. Otherwise, in the long run

new innovation services will not give its ultimate success.

1.Introduction

Aktel is a dynamic and leading countrywide GSM communication solutions

provider. It is a joint venture company between Axiata and NTT DoCoMo, Japan.

Aktel was officially commenced its operations in 1997 among the pioneers GSM

mobile telecommunications provider in Bangladesh. In this research, We want to

know the customer satisfaction regarding the product and service of AKTEL.

2.Background of the study

It has started its commercial operation in Dhaka as a Global system for

mobile communication (GSM) 900 cellular operators on 15 th November 1997.

Moreover, Aktel has commenced its operation in Chittagong on March 26, 1998.

Aktel is the market follower in telecommunication service in Bangladesh having

more than 1 million subscribers and is controlling approximately 23% of the

market share. The market share of Aktel is now decreasing at a great extent as

the customer satisfaction level is decreasing. As the socioeconomic status of the

country does not provide further possibilities to enhance the growth of the

industry, as a market follower, Aktel should strive to retain its existing subscribers

and penetrate other operator’s subscriber. Therefore, there is an emergence of

studying the related facets of the customer loyalty in the context of Bangladesh

GSM telecommunication system for Aktel to retain and increase its market share.

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Hence, in the current study, the researcher try to examine whether there

are relationships between products and service quality, customer satisfaction in

Aktel in Bangladesh or not.

3.Problem Statement Customer satisfaction are positively related with product and service quality. In

the recent study, Aydin, Ozer, and Arasil (2005) have investigated the relationship

between customer satisfaction and trust with product and service quality in the context

of Global System for Mobile Telecommunication (GSM) mobile phone service providers

in Turkey. They have utilized customer satisfaction and trust as dependent variables

while products and services are as independent variable. Moreover, the study of Aydin

et al. (2005) suggested that overall service quality, corporate image, and attractiveness

of the company could be take into account to investigate further research.

The present study will investigate the relationship among product and service

quality, customer satisfaction in the context of Aktel in Bangladesh.

4.Problem DefinitionThe problem definition is to know the customer satisfaction regarding service and product of AKTEL as well as analyze the whole data.

Objective

To determine the level of satisfaction regarding different products of Aktel To determine the level of satisfaction regarding different services of Aktel To evaluate the reasons behind dissatisfaction regarding products and

services of Aktel

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5.Literature Review

Service quality

Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982) defined service quality in terms of physical

quality, interactive quality and corporate (image) quality. Physical quality relates

to the tangible aspects of the service. Interactive quality involves the interactive

nature of services and refers to the two-way flow that occurs between the

customer and the service provider, or his/her representative, including both

automated, and animated interactions. Corporate quality refers to the image

attributed to a service provider by its current and potential customers, as well as

other publics. Lewis and Booms' (1983) definition clearly states that service

quality is a measure of how well the service level delivered matches customer

expectations and delivering quality service means conforming to customer

expectation on a consistent basis. In some earlier studies, researchers define

service quality as the extent to which a service meets customers' needs or

expectations (Lewis & Mitchell, 1990; Dotchin & Oakland, 1994; Asubonteng,

McCleary, & Swan, 1996; Wisniewski & Donnelly, 1996). Zeithaml (1987)

defined that service quality is the consumer's judgment about an entity's overall

excellence or superiority. It is a form of attitude, and results from a comparison

of expectations to perceptions of performance received. Zeithaml, Berry, and

Parasuraman (1990) on the other hand, have chosen to define service quality as

the extent of the discrepancy between customers' expectations or desires and

their perceptions. Service quality has been also defined as the consumers

overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the organization and

services (Zeithaml et al., 1990; Taylor & Baker, 1994).

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Christopher, Payne, and Ballantyne (1993) have defined service quality as

the ability of the organization to meet or exceed customer expectations. Service

quality is believed to depend on the gap between expected and perceived

performance (Anderson, Fornell, & Lehmann, 1994). Gitlow, Oppenheim, and

Oppenheim (1989) also stated that service quality is the extent to which the

customer or users believe the service surpasses their needs and expectations.

Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988) proposed that service quality is

a function of the differences between expectation and performance along the

quality dimensions. Service quality is also defined as a consumer attitude

reflecting the perceived overall superiority and excellence in the process and

outcome of a service provider (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Gronroos (2001)

recently defined service quality as a mixture of three elements: quality of the

consumption process itself, the quality of the outcome of the process; and image

of the provider of the service.

Service quality has become an increasingly important factor for success and

survival in the service sectors. Provision of high quality service aids in meeting

several requirements such as customer satisfaction and its consequent loyalty

and market share, soliciting new customers, improved productivity, financial

performance and profitability (Collet, Lancier, & Olliver, 1990; Julian &

Ramaseshan, 1994; Lewis, 1989, 1993). For service organization, Service

quality has become an important factor in determining market shares and

profitability (Andereson et al., 1994; Spathis, Kosmidou, & Doumpous, 2002).

Responsiveness

Responsiveness is defined as the willingness to help customers and

provide prompt service (Parasuraman et al., 1988). It concerns the willingness or

readiness of employees to provide services. Responsiveness involves timeliness

of service like posting a transaction slip immediately, returning a phone call 10

quickly, giving prompt service, setting up appointments quickly. According to

Zeithaml et al. (1990), responsiveness refers to the motivation to help (internal)

customers and provide prompt service to them.

Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is becoming an increasingly salient topic in many

firms and in academic research (Söderlund, 1998). Anderson et al. (1994)

affirmed that satisfaction is a post consumption experience which compares

perceived quality with expected quality. Correspondingly, Oliver (1996) defines

satisfaction as an emotional post-consumption response that may occur as the

result of comparing expected and actual performance (disconfirmation), or it can

be an outcome that occurs without comparing expectations

On the other hand, some previous researchers have explained customer

satisfaction in terms of expectation. They define if expectations are exceeded by

performance; satisfaction is generated (Churchill & Surprenant, 1982; Bearden &

Tell, 1983; LaBarbera & Mazursky, 1983). Equally, Buswell (1983) identified

customer satisfaction as a combination of five key attitudes. Those are

knowledge of staff, communications, expertise of staff, willingness to lend and

branch design. Consequently, Berry, Zeithaml, and Parasuraman (1985) argued

that customer satisfaction can be defined as the attributes of search, experience,

and credence. Yi (1990) believes customer satisfaction should mean evaluation,

symbolizing a type of consuming experience. Avkiran (1994) recognized

customer satisfaction by customer conduct, credibility, communication, access to

teller services.

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Simultaneously, according to Anderson and Fornell (1994), customer

satisfaction is the term which may lower the chance of customers being driven

away due to the poor quality of products or services. Fornell (1992) noted that

the more satisfied customers are the one that are greater in their retention while,

Anderson and Sullivan (1993) added that satisfied customer would intend to

repeat purchase which would enhance organizations’ profitability. In association

with this Jones and Sasser (1995) acknowledged that completely satisfied

customers are those who are much more loyal than merely satisfied customer

Spreng, MacKenzie, and Olshavsky (1996), alternatively, defined

satisfaction as the emotional reaction to a product or service experience. Oliver

(1997) defined satisfaction as the customer's fulfillment response. It is a

judgment that a product or service feature, or the product or service itself,

provides a pleasurable level of consumption- related fulfillment.

The most common interpretations reflect the notion that satisfaction is a

feeling which results from a process of evaluating what was received against that

expected, the purchase decision itself and the fulfillment to needs or want

(Armstrong & Kotler, 1996: Berkowitz, Kerin, Hartley, & Rudelius, 1999). Kotler

(1999) also noted that satisfaction is a function of perceived performance and

expectations which identifies feelings of a person resulting from comparing a

products perceived performance in relation to his or her expectations.

Wong (2000) believes that a customer’s total satisfaction is an emotional

perception. Evaluation is based on the customer’s reaction from using the

product or service. Customer satisfaction then is a total satisfaction that leaves a

good perception. The perception of this wholeness is very similar to the meaning

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of customer value package brought up by Fredericks and Salter (1995). The

customer value package includes: price; product quality; service quality;

innovation; and corporate image. Moreover, Martensen, Grùnholdt, and

Kristersen (2000) also discovered that expectation, product quality, and

corporate image are three facilitating factors in ensuring customer satisfaction.

Hackl and Scharitzer (2000) have identified customer satisfaction as

economic goals and have considered customer satisfaction as a prerequisite for

customer retention and loyalty, and obviously that tend to help in realizing

economic goals like profitability, market share, return on investment.

Sureschandar et al. (2002) introduced different approach of customer satisfaction and defined customer satisfaction as multidimensional construct. According to Bitner and Zeithaml (2003), satisfaction is the customers’ evaluation of a product or service in terms of whether that product or service has met their needs and expectations. The researchers reveal that satisfaction can as well be viewed as contentment, pleasure, delight, and relief. Thus they noted customer satisfaction as a dynamic and moving target that may evolve over time, influenced by variety of factors.

Guenzi and Pelloni (2004) use the following definition of satisfaction in their study: “Overall satisfaction is the consumer’s dissatisfaction or satisfaction with the organization based on all encounters and experiences with that particular organization” (Bitner & Hubbert, 1993). Fe and Ikova (2004) added that the perception of the word satisfaction influences the activities which we conduct to achieve customer satisfaction.

Boselie, Hesselink, and Wiele (2002) defined satisfaction as a positive,

affective state resulting from the appraisal of all aspects of a firm’s working

relationship with another firm. This definition purported that satisfaction

(understood as affective) can be contrasted with an objective summary

assessment of outcomes – thereby forming a target-performance comparison

mechanism. Therefore, the appropriate definition of customer satisfaction for this

study would be the one by Boselie et al. (2002).

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Customer Loyalty

The importance of loyalty has been widely recognized in the marketing

literature (Oliver, 1999; Samuelson & Sandvik, 1997; Howard & Sheth, 1969).

According to Duffy (2003), loyalty is the feeling that a customer has about a

brand which ultimately generates positive and measurable financial results.

Soderlund (1998) drew on the concept of loyalty as the extent to which the

customer intends to purchase again from the supplier who has created a certain

level of satisfaction. Loyalty, in one or more of the forms noted above, creates

increased profit through enhanced revenues, reduced costs to acquire customers

(Sharp & Sharp, 1997), lower customer-price sensitivity (Krisnamurthi & Raj,

1991), and decreased costs to serve customers familiar with a firm's service

delivery system (Reicheld & Sasser, 1990).

Customer loyalty represents the repeat purchase and referring the

company to other customers (Heskett, 1994). Improvements in retention and

increasing in the share of the company are the obvious economic benefit of

customer loyalty. According to Feick and Lee (2001), customer loyalty has been

measured as the long term choice probability for a brand or as a minimum

differential needed for switching. Loyal customers are less likely to switch

because of price and they make more purchases than similar non-loyal

customers (Reichheld & Sasser, 1990). Oliver (1997) viewed customer loyalty as

a deeply held commitment to rebuy or repatronize a preferred product or service

consistently in the future, despite situational influences and marketing efforts

having the potential to cause switching behavior.

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Customer loyalty reduces marketing costs and that the relative costs of

customer retention are substantially less than those of acquisition (Fornell &

Wernerfelt, 1987). Hallowel (1996) characterize customer loyalty as the

relationship a customer maintains with the seller after the first transaction.

Customer loyalty is often referred to as a purchase behavior (Griffin, 1996).

On the other hand, customer loyalty is approached as an attitudinal construct.

Attitude denotes the degree to which a consumer’s disposition towards a service

is favorably inclined (Azjen & Fishbein, 1980). In addition to attitude, it has been

argued that loyalty may also be based on cognition (Lee & Zeiss, 1980). In its

cognitive sense, customer loyalty is frequently operationalised as a conscious

evaluation of the price/quality ratio or the willingness to pay a premium price, or

alternatively price indifference (Fornell, 1992; Zeithaml et al., 1996).

Jacoby and Kyner (1973) elaborated that the definition of loyalty includes

six necessary conditions – that loyalty is the biased (that is, nonrandom),

behavioural (that is, purchase) response, expressed over time, by some

decision-making unit (a person or group of persons), with respect to one or more

alternative brands out of a set of such brands, and is a function of psychological

processes (decision-making, evaluative).

On the contrary, Oliver (1999) argues that customer loyalty is a condition

of strong involvement in the repurchase, or reuse, of a product or brand. This

involvement is strong enough to overcome the situational and competitive

influences which might drive a variety seekers or a switching behavior. This

condition of customer loyalty is reached through four sequential stages:

cognitively loyal (direct or indirect knowledge about the brand), affective loyalty

(repeated confirmations of his expectations), conative loyalty (high involvement

that is a motivating force), and action loyalty (‘desire to overcome’ every possible

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obstacle that might come in the way of the decision to buy the brand to which the

person is loyal).

On the word of Gremler and Brown (1996) customer loyalty is noted by the

degree to which a customer exhibits repeat purchasing behavior from a service

provider, possesses a positive attitudinal disposition towards the provider, and

considers using only those providers when a need for the service arises.

Correspondingly, Kandampully (2000) stated that a loyal customer is a customer

who repurchases from the same service provider whenever possible, and who

continues to recommend or maintains a positive attitude towards the service

provider. In relation with this, Pong and Yee (2001) is defined as the willingness

of customer to consistently re-patronize the same service provider/service

company that may be the first choice among alternatives, thereby complying with

actual behavioral outcomes and attaching with favorable attitude and cognition,

regardless of any situational influences and marketing efforts made to induce

switching behavior.

Zeithaml (2000) affirmed that loyalty is repeated transactions (or

percentage of total transactions in the category, or total expenditures in the

category) and can sometimes be measured quite simply with observational

techniques. Furthermore, a briefer and more specific definition is provided by

Anderson and Srinivasan (2003), who define loyalty in contest of electronic

business as the customer’s favorable attitude toward an electronic business,

resulting in repeat purchasing behavior. Loyalty deals with specific behaviors

related to repurchasing the service or product (Durvasula, Lynoski, Mehta, &

Tang, 2004).

Wong (2004) suggested customer loyalty as a key mediating variable in

explaining customer retention (Pritchard & Howard, 1997) which is concerned

with the likelihood of a customer returning, making business referrals, providing 16

strong word-of-mouth, as well as providing references and publicity (Bowen &

Shoemaker, 1998).

Pearson (1996) defines customer loyalty in term of those customers who

hold favorable attitudes toward the company, commit to repurchase the

product/service, and recommend the product/service to others. Hence, the

researchers of the current study will use the definition of Pearson (1996) to

define customer loyalty.

6. Research Methodology

Research Design

This is Descriptive reseach. The present study will investigate the

relationship between products and service quality, customer satisfaction within

the context of Aktel in Bangladesh. Here customer service quality is being

considered as independent variables and customer satisfaction is being

considered as a dependent variable.

Research ApproachTo investigate research questions, the researchers will gather information from

the post-paid subscribers of Aktel who will visit the Aktel service center during the

data collection period of this study. All the participants will be given a letter from

the researchers explaining the context of the research focus. All participation will

be voluntary. If the participants want to withdraw, they will be free to do so at any

time.

Population

The study will be conducted only in Chittagong city due to time and budget

constraints. The population would be all the subscribers of Aktel in Chittagong

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city. The sampling frame for the subscribers would be the official register list for

all subscribers, which will be provided by Aktel. Based on the study’s focus,

samples will be taken only from the service centers of Aktel. According to the

Aktel’s official subscriber register list, currently approximately 100,000 post paid

subscribers exist. So, the target population is 100,000 thousands and sample

size is 100.

Sample and Sampling Technique

It obvious from the definition of the population above that a census is not

feasible in this study. Accordingly, the researcher will adopt the survey type of

research in which a sample from the target population will be used for the study.

Hence, the sample size of the current study would be 100.

To gather data, the researchers will use questionnaires. The questionnaire

survey is the most effective method for this study to collect the data for the

following reasons-

Respondents anonymity can be maintained

The researchers will conduct survey on 320 respondents. It will not be

possible to conduct personal interview because of time limitation.

Therefore, a questionnaire survey will be the most appropriate one for the

current study.

The postal system of the country is very slow. Hence, mail survey will be

time consuming for this study.

The Internet facility is not widespread in our country. Therefore, online

survey will also be inappropriate for the study.

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The data gathered through questionnaire is easy to put in quantitative

analysis.

It takes less time to fill up a questionnaire. Therefore, the customers will not be reluctant in providing accurate data.

Data collection

The present research is a unique one for Aktel. As a result, a secondary

source of data will not be available for the present study. Therefore, the

researchers will require primary data to investigate research questions. To

collect data from the primary sources, the researchers will use the questionnaire

survey method. This method is commonly used in consumer surveys to collect

data from primary sources. That means the questionnaire will be distributed

among the customers through the researchers’ friends and relatives. Numerous

reasons accounted for the choice of this research method. First, it allows large

amounts of information to be obtained at a relatively low cost. Second, more

accurate responses are obtained because interviewer bias is avoided. Finally,

the number of non-usable questionnaires is reduced since the personal contacts

tend to make respondents more cooperative in completing the questionnaires.

Data collection Instruments

In the data collection instruments there will have some questionnaire, choose some sample. The questionnaire will be structured, formed and build demographic profile. We will also divided the questionnaire like A,B and C.

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CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

The Customers are in the mainstream of sales oriented services. The success of such

companies largely depends on the satisfaction of the customers .The buyers are happy

if the product and/or the services meet their expectations. If their requirements do not

meet the expectations the buyers become discontented, they are delighted when the

performance fulfils their requirements.

Customers’ past buying experiences, the opinion of friends, associates, marketer,

competitor information and promises lead to the expectations. Marketer must be careful

to set the right level of expectations. If they set expectations too low, they may satisfy

those who buy but fail to attract enough buyers. In contrast, if they raise expectations

too high, buyers are likely to be disappointed. Dissatisfaction can arise either from a

decrease in product and service quality or from an increase in customer expectations. In

either case, it presents an opportunity for companies that can deliver superior customer

value and satisfaction.

To-day most successful companies have taken the strategy of are raising expectations

and delivering performance to match. Such companies track their customers’

expectations, perceived company performance, and customer satisfaction. Highly

satisfied customers produce several benefits for the company. Satisfied customers are

fewer prices sensitive remain customers for a longer period and talk favorably to others

about the company and its products and services.

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Although the customer centered firm seeks to deliver high customer satisfaction relative

to its competitors, it does not attempt to maximize customer satisfaction. A company

can always increase customer satisfaction by lowering its price and increasing its

services, but it may result in lower profits. Thus, the purpose of marketing is to generate

customer value profitably.

Now, we have a very good idea regarding the importance of customer satisfaction. So, it

is also important for the company to know about the satisfaction level of the customers.

When any problem is identified, it becomes easier to solve the problem.

The next part of this paper has focused on the “Customer Satisfaction Factors of

Aktel”. It is done through a research survey to find out the customer satisfaction level of

Aktel.

Customer Satisfaction Factors of Aktel:

Aktel is a fast growing mobile company. In mobile telecommunication industry, there are

direct and indirect factors that influence customer satisfaction. Here focus on the most

important factors that influence customer satisfaction at Aktel which relates with after

sales services.

Airtime:

Air time is the core offering of Aktel, So, quality of communication network availability,

etc, are the most important customer satisfaction factors, quality of airtime depends on

the ratio of subscribers and transmission base station. It the numbers of subscribers are

increased without developing the network, quality of airtime goes down

After Sales Services:

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After sales services is very important in the mobile telecommunication industry. Aktel

has extensive after sales customer care tools. Here foucus on these step by step.

1. Helpline:

Aktel is the first company that introduced 24hours helpline in Bangladesh. In this part of

my paper I tried to focus on the existing operations of the helpline service of Aktel which

will enable us to understand the importance of the helpline service.

Aktel subscriber needs to dial 123, 01819400400 to reach Aktel Phone Helpline. It is a

computer aided information base to afford immediate access to the information about

the subscribers, but the operations are done manually. After dialing 123, 01819400400

subscribers are first welcomed by an automated and standardized process. Then he

needs to wait for few seconds. After that the subscriber reaches the Customer Manager.

CM starts the conversation with a greeting. The subscriber explains his/her problems to

the CM

If the inquiry is regarding general information, the customer relations officer does not

need to take help of information system. She/he just provides the information and the

subscriber keep the phone.

2 Interactive Voice Responses (IVR):

This newly introduced service by Aktel. This is automated helpline service. A Aktel

subscriber needs to dial 123, 01819400400 to reach this service. After that she/he can

get information regarding the bill, usage, credit policy, bank name that receives GP’s bill

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and so on by choosing different options. It is free of charge for the first minute, from the

second minute the subscriber needs to pay tk.2 per minute.

3. Information Centers:

Most of the problems of the subscribers are solved by the helpline service. But there

are some problems that can not be solved there. Subscriber need to come physically to

deal with that problems. Aktel Phone has seven customer relation centers and 260

AktelSDs which provide services all over the country.

These Customer Relation Centers are situated in the prime divisional head quarters like

Dhaka, Chittagone, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Khulna and AktelSDs situated all most

everywhere in Bangladesh. In these information centers the subscribers can come

directly with their problems like billing, address change, SIM change, handset problems,

etc.

These after sales services are very crucial to keep subscribers satisfied regarding Aktel.

Survey Findings:

In order to measure the satisfaction of the customers a series of questions were asked

to the customers with the help of a questionnaire, the data from these questions are

tabulated below. For clear understanding, the overall satisfaction has been divided into

satisfaction with the package and satisfaction with the after sales service. As already

mentioned, the survey was conducted among 100 Aktel subscribers, it was conducted

in the information center as subscribers from different areas in Chittagong come to this

center

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Interpretation of Survey Data:

a. I useAktel because it is the best:

Strongly Agree 25%

Agree 55%

Neither Agree nor Disagree 15%

Disagree 5%

Strongly Disagree 0%

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b. I use Aktel mobile as it has additional features in comparison to other operators.

Strongly Agree 29%

Agree 63%


Disagree 0%


c. Price of Aktel’s different package is affordable.

Strongly Agree 4%

Agree 49%


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Disagree 23%


d. I am satisfied with the service (quality of airtime and network availability) of Aktel.

Strongly Agree 9%

Agree 26%


Disagree 30%


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e. Whenever I want to have a Aktel connection, I can get it.

Strongly Agree 23%

Agree 28%


Disagree 19%


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f. Aktel helpline is very helpful in meeting my queries and other needs

Strongly Agree 10%

Agree 35%


Disagree 15%


g. Aktel helpline is very helpful in meeting my queries and other needs

Strongly Agree 9%

Agree 40%


Disagree 15%


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h. Billing rate of Aktel is low:

Strongly Agree 3%

Agree 18%


Disagree 37%


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i. Criteria’s important while purchasing any cellular service

Criteria No. of subscribers

Network Coverage 68

International Roaming 11

Value added Services 12

After Sales service 16

Easy Bill Payment System. 37

As we can see from the above table and the chart, maximum number of subscribers would

purchase a cellular service which has a good network coverage, apart from that the other

criteria which is they consider after network coverage is easy bill payment system.

j. Criteria’s which were considered while purchasing Aktel

Criteria No. of subscribers

Network Coverage 68

International Roaming 8

Value added Services 7

24 hrs customer service 48

Pre-paid facility and bill

payment facility

37

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From the chart and the table above it can be seen that most of the subscribers

purchased Aktel due its network coverage. Also by looking at the figures the bill

payment system and the 24 hrs customer service were the other common attributes

which attracted the subscribers to purchase Aktel

k. Are the Aktel employees able to solve your problem regarding the following criteria’s?

Criteria’s Always Sometime

s

Never N/A Total

Billing 32 25 4 39 100

Bar/ unbar line 29 22 2 47 100

After sales service 49 31 5 15 100

Special service

(International roaming)

17 21 2 60 100

Value Added services 60 22 18 18 100

Total 187 121 31 179 100

From the table above it can be seen that regarding almost every criteria, the Aktel

Phone employees are able to solve the problem most of the time.

But at the same time there is quite a large number who always do not get a solution to

their problem this occur because for certain queries a subscriber has to go to the

information center and Aktel has only one information center, due to this shortage a

customer is made to wait long hours in a queue. Also many times when the line takes

more than a day to be reconnected.

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l. Subscribers’ perception of the different Aktel Phone package

What is your perception of Aktel?Excellent, I am fully satisfied

Good, but the

services could be improved

Alright, I use Aktel because

no other company

offers

Bad, I am looking for alternative

Total

Which Aktel prepaid

6 34 14 0 54

Aktel Aktel regular

3 9 1 0 13

Phone Ak-Ak 1 12 2 1 16Package do you use?

Regular Ak-Ak

0 14 1 3 17

Total 10 69 18 3 100

It can be seen from the above table that most of the subscribers from every package

perceive their respective packages as good packages but they feel that the services can

be improved. According to the four faces of customer loyalty by Smart Loyalty, we could

consider the 10% to fall under truly loyal customers as highly satisfied, 69% of the

subscribers could be considered as accessible because they feel that the services can

be improved, these subscribers want to give a chance to Aktel to earn their loyalty. 18%

could be considered as trapped because they use Aktel as no other company offers

them the services and only 3% fall under High-risk as these subscribers do not like the

Aktel services and are looking for alternatives.

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Negative attributes: Neither agree or disagree + disagree =33+20 = 53

Positive attributes: agree + strongly agree = 28+19 =47

m. Opinion whether Aktel subscribers would remain loyal if another company came up with packages of similar features.

Disagree Neither agree or disagree

Agree Strongly agree

Total

WhichAktel

Phonepackage do you use?

Aktel prepaid

9 17 20 8 54

Aktel regular

3 3 3 4 13

Ak-Ak 5 5 3 3 16Regular Ak-

Ak3 8 2 4 17

Total 20 33 28 19 100

Some Representative “Additional Comments”:

Helpline is not so easy to reach.

Behavior of helpline officers is quite rough.

Helpline gives support to solve our problem.

Info Centers take a whole day to solve a small problem.

In Chittagong city, there should be more info centers, especially in old side.

Prepaid connections are very difficult to avail.

Billing rate should be reduced, it is too high.

Aktel does not think about the subscribers, their main intensions are to make

money.

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Finding on Analysis

Several frequency distribution have been constructed to find the answers

regarding the customers perspective of Aktel line users. By the analysis.

Some limitation of Akel have been identified. The most important finding of

the analysis is customers have claimed some problem on their network

system. It is found that some of the customer of Akel hardly got connected

after calling more then 4 or 5 times. This problem happens especially in

case of connecting outside Chittagong . It is found from the analysis on

customers occupation that the Aktel is being more used by the students.

Also the have been frequently changing their choices regarding mobile

service providers. By proper customer care, once they catch this group for

long time, they can better perform in the market. Analysis shows that 80%

of the customers use prepaid lines. One of the significant finding from the

analysis is that customer who use Aktel , use the line because of minimum

call charge compared to other. So further study is needed to understand

the related problems and the company should offer more facilities to the

competitors to increase their customer and present users satisfaction.

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RECOMMENDATION & CONCLUSION

Analysis of the Results:

It is already discussed that Aktel is one of the leading company in the mobile

telecommunication industry in Bangladesh. This has been possible because it has a created a

superior image in comparison to the other operators. In other words, Aktel has a clear

advantage over competitors.

Aktel has some additional advantageous features in comparisons to its competitors. There is

easier access to person to person contract. Another important thing is that Aktel users are

mostly satisfied with the initial price of Aktel connections and handsets. Before Aktel’s

introduction to the market, mobile phones were virtually out of reach to the major part of the

current market. Moreover, Aktel subscribers are happy with the country wide network.

However, there is dissatisfaction among the Aktel users with the service of the company. Many

important factors are acting as reasons behind this overall dissatisfaction. Quality of airtime and

network availability is not satisfactory. Aktel Phone connections are difficult to reach

sometimes. It so happens that the subscribers used to pay extra money to get the access. This is

especially true for prepaid service. It is encouraging that very recently situation has improved to

a certain extent bases on the findings in this report.

Most of the subscribers are not happy with the billing rate of Aktel. They think it is too high in

the context of Bangladesh, But they are still using the service as Aktel is still more easily

accessible. Many newer companies are coming up with the lower price; it is thus a great

challenge to GP to face,

Another significant dissatisfaction of the Aktel users is that most of the Aktel connections are mobile to mobile. Access to BTTB is rare. Wider access with BTTB will boast the subscribers. Most alarming thing is that most of the Aktel users are not loyal towards the company. If BTTB or any other company comes up with same sort of services, the Aktel subscribers might switch to that company

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Limitations of the Study:

Aktel basic strategy is widening its market through its emerging countrywide network.

As a result of this strategy, the subscribers are from different segments or from different

income levels. Moreover, the subscribers are scattered all over the country.

The time constraint confined the study mostly on the data collected in Chittagong zone.

Moreover, it was not possible to get all required internal information of the company as

these are treated as confidential to the company.

36

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Website www.msn.comwww.google.comwww.wikipedia.comwww.aktel.comwww.globaloneness.comwww.ask.com

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Annual Report of Aktel

Gantt Chart20/10 24/10 26/10 29/10 04/11 6/11 7/11 8/11 9/11Start Preparation

Making plan for the Research

Making the research Design

Collect Secondary Data

Analyze the Secondary data

Collect data for some people who are doing job in AKTEL

Making a draft of Research Proposal

Finalyzing the research proposal

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Sample Questioner-1

1. User’s Name:……………………………………………………

2. Age:………………………………………………………………

3. Occupation:…………………………………………………………

4. Length of phone use:……………………………………………….

5. Type of sim card: Pre-Paid Post-Paid

6. Reason for using the line: Minimum call charge

Good network

Minimum pulse

Special Bonus

Others

7. Per month Expense: 100 – 500 501 -1000

1001 -2000 More than 2000

8. Location of user’s: Chittagong Out side Chittagong

9.Problems from Aktel use: Bad network

No network in village

Others

No problem

10. Do you want to change your line? Yes No

If yes why- Often network problem faced No voice SMS

Sometime charged more Others

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Sample Questionnaire-2

A. I use Aktel because it is the best:

1.Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Neither Agree nor Disagree 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree

B. I use Aktel mobile as it has additional features in comparison to other operators.


C. Price of Aktel’s different package is affordable.


d. I am satisfied with the service (quality of airtime and network availability) of Aktel.


e. Whenever I want to have a Aktel connection, I can get it.


f. Aktel helpline is very helpful in meeting my queries and other needs


g. Aktel helpline is very helpful in meeting my queries and other needs


h. Billing rate of Aktel is low:

1.Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Neither Agree nor Disagree 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagreei. Criteria’s important while purchasing any cellular service

1. Network Coverage 2. International Roaming 3. Value added Services 4. After Sales Service 5. Easy bill payment System

j. Criteria’s which were considered while purchasing Aktel

1. Network Coverage 2. International Roaming 3. Value added Services 4. 24-hours customer Service 5. Prepaid facility and bill payment facility.

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report on customer satisfaction of aktel

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