Customer Service Quality Perception and Expectation of GSM Companies in Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

The huge demand for telecommunication services, and the liberalization of the telecommunications sub-sector of the Nigerian economy, brought with it very keen competition among the major players in the GSM segment of the industry. Propelled by oligopolistic features, these Service Providers adopted various advertising and sales promotion strategies to defend their market shares and maximise sales, seemingly at the expense of their teeming customers who have experienced poor service delivery from the GSM providers. This work was therefore an attempt to evaluate the amount of discord or gap between customers' perception or experience and their expectations of the service delivery by the GSM service providers in Benin City. This cross-sectional study, which was driven by a structured questionnaire that examined seven service quality dimensions, involved30 questions. The responses from 429 respondents were subjected to gap analysis. The study revealed that the dimensions of Network Quality and Reliability had the highest gaps while Tangibles and Convenience had the least. It is thus suggested that the GSM Service Providers should enhance their network quality and improve on customers' convenience and access to GSM services.