Canadian Wireless Carriers Are Focused on Improving Customer Service and Network Quality

Wireless carriers in Canada are constantly competing for your business, however, it has little to do with offering you the best or lowest prices. Instead, the big three Canadian carriers are focused on improving areas like customer service and network quality and reliability.

Improving customer service has certainly worked for Telus, which attracted 113,000 new subscribers in the last quarter, according to its quarterly results released on Thursday. Bell and Rogers also attracted 92,000 and 17,000 new customers respectively, during the past quarter.

Bell’s vice president of regulatory law Jonathan Daniels said that customers are attracted to networks that can provide a better service, making people choose quality over price. Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, said:

“Whether it’s perception or reality, this is a marketplace that offers very little choice, or at least very little differentiation other than on things like customer service. Some may well choose on that basis, but I do think … consumers would like to see more choice in terms of price.”

Joe Natale, the CEO of Telus, argues that a wireless carrier cannot only rely on low prices to succeed in the marketplace. If the customer experience, whether its through customer service or network quality, is not acceptable the customer will not stick around for a long time.

“Price alone will not get you success in the marketplace. Price is a fleeting advantage. We see that in so many other consumer categories. You may jump to a particular product because of price, but if the experience is horrible, if the interaction is lacklustre, you won’t stick around for long.”

Rogers CEO Guy Laurence, who was brought in late last year, has identified customer service as the main problem in the wireless industry. Laurence has developed a plan which will reportedly solve these issues over time. As a part of the Rogers 3.0 plan, the carrier acquired Google VP Deepak Khandelwal to help improve the customer service experience.

[via The Globe and Mail]