PwC has warned that sentiment towards SA’s telecom operators continues to slip, driven by issues such as customer service and network availability.
The firm suggests technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and investment in financial services as ways to help narrow the gap.
This is according to PwC’s latest SA Telecommunications Sentiment Index, done in partnership with DataEQ.
On Thursday, the audit and consulting company said the local telecommunications industry continues to face significant challenges in consumer sentiment, lagging behind other industries such as banking, insurance and retail, with a net sentiment score of -18.8%.
Net sentiment is an aggregated customer satisfaction metric used to measure public opinion towards a brand, product, person or concept. The index is compiled from social media data. The study analysed 1,617,345 public mentions of Cell C, MTN, Rain, Telkom and Vodacom during 2023 to benchmark consumer sentiment “to provide data-driven insights on how to improve customer experience”.
The PwC/DataEQ team found that Rain was the only telco with a net positive score, taking the top spot in both operations and reputation. Engaging campaigns are said to have played an important role in this result, helping to boost Rain’s net sentiment by more than 16 percentage points.
A significant share of negative sentiment is being driven by telecom companies’ inability to meet basic customer service needs
According to Elmo Hildebrand, Africa telecommunications leader at PwC, while complaints over network quality are often affected by external factors such as load-shedding, a significant share of negative sentiment is being driven by telecom companies’ inability to meet basic customer service needs.
He said customer service accounted for 27.7% of all industry conversation, with “an overwhelming negative sentiment” of 87.7%. “Customers are left dissatisfied by a lack of efficient feedback and issue resolution, particularly when contacting call centres.”
Hildebrand said providers should adopt AI solutions to better meet customer demands, empower employees and reduce total costs to serve and grow revenue.
“There is an opportunity to reduce the strain on these channels. This can be done through the implementation of AI-powered services, which would aid with efficiently resolving large volumes of low-touch queries and streamlining the back-office operations — such as billing — through hyper-automation to reduce manual intervention and rework.”
The interventions would free up service agents to focus on inquiries and complaints that require a human touch, leading to more efficient and effective customer service.
In addition, the report found that financial services offered by telecom “exhibited varying performances”, with mobile money driving positive interest, while insurance drove risk and complaints. “Overall, financial services remain a key area for growth and should be a future focus for telecom. The industry was flooded with campaigns which contributed to the positivity,” Hildebrand said.
He said campaigns such as #JustMoMoIt, #DoMore and #AllYouNeedIsMoMo from MTN’s mobile payments unit were particularly popular. “Telecoms are doing their bit to solve digital and financial inclusion, and it is clear that customers respond well when their most pressing problems are solved.”
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