Forty-five percent of Malaysians have spoken negatively to others about their mobile network operator (MNO) in the past six months, said Taylor Nelson Sofres Malaysia.

The market research and market information group said the negative  word-of-mouth, from the findings of the ‘Cracking the Customer Code - Telco’ study, could lead to a significant reputational impact as 29 percent of internet users write about brands online.

“In a market with a mobile penetration rate of 143.6 percent, equivalent to 43 million mobile subscriptions, this underperformance is putting the MNOs’ subscriptions at significant risk,” managing director Asia Pacific, customer experience, Graham Tocher said in a statement.

He said with the mobile playing such an important role in the lives of Malaysians, who spend 2.7 hours a day with their phone in their hand, it is essential that the operators get their service right if they are to retain their customers and grow revenue.

Tocher also said mobile network operators are still struggling to get the basics right, including waiting for customer service (25 percent), poor connection quality (14 percent), and poor customer service when they do receive it (8 percent).

The study of 500 personal mobile phone subscribers also shows that only 41 percent feel their MNOs are performing well and a quarter are likely to switch providers.

- Bernama