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Trends 2016: The continuing fight against call drops

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VoicenData Bureau
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By Umang Shah

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If you were an Indian mobile service consumer in 2015, there wasn't a lot to cheer for. The overall smartphone experience across the country was average with an improvement in data and video experiences over the previous years.

There was considerable activity in 2015 on the 3G rollout front as well with the new spectrum auctions. Airtel became the first operator to launch 4G services in multiple cities. However, the year saw an increased focus on voice quality and call drop problems that are plaguing all operators.

Call drop rates remained high

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We surveyed over 20 top cities across the country and found that call drop rates across India are over twice the 2% threshold benchmark prescribed by TRAI. The problem of call drops is not a simple case of lack of mobile towers.

We found that 78% of the urban areas have good network coverage. This shows that while there may be pockets of poor coverage which can be improved by adding more towers, they are not the leading cause for call drops.

We also found that network focus has been shifting from voice to data with 3G technology available in over 94% of urban areas.

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The focus needs to be back on solving voice quality issues by investing in network optimization, to have an impact on call drops.

Data and video experiences have improved

Overall, data experience saw an improvement over 2014 with average download speeds on 3G networks rising to over 3Mbps. Video experiences have also become better with a 4 second average buffer time - which means that most video play is seamless on mobile networks in urban areas.

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However, while data speeds have improved on 3G networks, they still lag behind the global average download speeds available on 3G networks worldwide (4.3 Mbps).

With Reliance Jio’s much awaited entry into the already crowded telecom space, Data ARPUs are expected to fall in spite of increasing data usage because of tariff wars, along with already declining Voice ARPUs. The urge to protect margins and distinguish themselves from the competition will put pressure on mobile operators to focus on providing better customer experience.

In a way it is ironic that the technology that is driving the Digital India movement has taken this long to shift focus from roll-outs and margins to customer experience. However, like any good idea whose time has come, the focus on customer experience is here to stay.

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With more and more operators rolling out 4G services, 2016 will see a new push towards managing and improving customer experience on mobile devices, as it will be an essential strategy to maintain and grow subscriber base as well as the uptake of key services.

Here are two key advances we see becoming drivers of consumer experience on mobile devices in 2016…

  1. Streamlined complaint resolution for call drops - With TRAI mandating a compensation for call drops, we can expect to see a more streamlined network customer complaint resolution process being implemented in the coming year. No more calling customer care to complain about network problems - operators will have to implement an application-based proactive mechanism that resolves customer experience issues faster and more efficiently.
  2. Content-driven experience design - With 4G networks being rolled out, focus will shift from providing faster data speeds to providing the best experience for various services such as e-commerce, mobile money, mobile gaming, video streaming, video and music on demand to function seamlessly on data networks.
Umang Shah, is co-founder & head, Innovation and Marketing,RedMango Analytics

(The author, Umang Shah, is co-founder & head, Innovation and Marketing, RedMango Analytics)

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