AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwired - January 11, 2016) - Because the overall number of mobile subscribers is no longer growing in the saturated U.S. mobile market, service providers must lure subscribers away from another provider if they want to grow their subscriber base, and when a subscriber moves from Operator A to Operator B, the churn rate of Operator A obviously suffers. Churn rates, which indicate the percentage of subscribers that end their service, are an important metric used to rate the performance of U.S. mobile operators and are regularly reported in mobile operators' quarterly results.
As churn rates are very important, many in the industry want to know why mobile subscribers churn. iGR, a market research consultancy focused on the wireless and mobile industry, has released a new market study that analyzes the possible causes of churn, including advertising and promotions, price, customer service, network quality, and other non-mobile services offered by a provider.
As part of the study, iGR focused on network quality and how it can affect subscribers' likelihood to stay with or leave their mobile service provider. The analysis looked at how all mobile consumers rank the network quality of the major mobile operators in the U.S. and how important network quality is to the subscribers of individual mobile service providers. Furthermore, the study identified which aspects of a 'good' network might increase the likelihood of a subscriber staying with his current provider, as well as the number of specific network issues, such as slow file downloads, video streaming buffering, poor voice quality and dropped voice calls, that might cause a subscriber to churn.
"Consumers' impressions of mobile network quality is a critical factor impacting churn," said Iain Gillott, president and founder of iGR. "One of the goals of this study was to quantify the importance of network quality by analyzing mobile consumers' past churning behavior and identify the network issues that might cause churn in the future. Improving mobile network quality is not easy, but this study shows that doing so can have a huge impact on an operator's ability to retain, and attract, subscribers."
iGR's new market study, U.S. Mobile Consumers and Churn: Who churns and why? provides an analysis of the causes of churn, a comparison of the major U.S. mobile operators' churn rates, and an overview of the current behaviors of U.S. mobile consumers, such as how long they have been with their current and previous providers. The study also identifies U.S. consumers' perceptions of the network quality, pricing and customer service of the major operators and analyzes how these perceptions might affect their likelihood to churn. The data in the study is based on a web-based survey of more than 1,000 U.S. mobile consumers that iGR fielded in November, 2015.
The following key questions are addressed in the new research study:
- What are the churn rates of the major U.S. mobile operators?
- What percentage of U.S. mobile consumers have been with their current service provider for less than one year? More than one year? More than two years?
- What percentage of U.S. mobile consumers have been with only one service provider?
- How do advertising and promotions affect U.S. mobile consumers' likelihood to switch providers?
- How do bundled services, such as AT&T U-Verse and DirecTV, and Verizon FiOS, affect U.S. mobile consumers' likelihood to switch providers?
- How do U.S. mobile consumers perceive the network quality, pricing and customer service of the major U.S. mobile operators? How could this perception affect their likelihood to churn from their current provider?
- Why did U.S. mobile consumers who switched operators in the last year do so?
- Why do U.S. mobile consumers who have stayed with their operator for more than one year do so, and is there anything that might make them change in the future?
The information in this market study will be valuable for:
- Mobile network operators
- Wireless and Mobile advertising agencies
- Mobile service retailers and distributors
- Financial analysts and investors.
The new report can be purchased and downloaded directly from iGR's website at www.iGR-inc.com.
About iGR
iGR is a market strategy consultancy focused on the wireless and mobile communications industry. Founded by Iain Gillott, one of the wireless industry's leading analysts, in late 2000 as iGillottResearch, iGR is now in its sixteenth year of operation. iGR continuously researches emerging and existent technologies, technology industries, and consumer markets. We use our detailed research to offer a range of services to help companies improve their position in the marketplace, clearly define their future direction, and ultimately improve their bottom line.
iGR researches a range of wireless and mobile products and technologies, including: smartphones; tablets; mobile wearable devices; connected cars; mobile applications; bandwidth demand and use; small cell and het-net architectures; mobile EPC and RAN virtualization; DAS; LTE; VoLTE; IMS; NFC; GSM/GPRS/UMTS/HSPA; CDMA 1x/EV-DO; iDEN; SIP; macro-, pico- and femtocells; mobile backhaul; WiFi and WiFi offload; and SIM and UICC.
A more complete profile of the company can be found at www.igr-inc.com.
Contact Information:
Contact iGR
Iain Gillott