“TRASH” is how one of five subscribers describes services provided by Malaysian mobile phone operators, according to a survey of 674,910 online posts. 

“Digi, Celcom and Maxis, semua sama, trash. All telcos are trash,” read the main topic of discussion highlighted in Eastern Analytica Sdn Bhd’s Malaysian Telco Industry Report.

The post, which saw the most discussion among top mobile service posts, at 19.87%, also took the lead in terms of top mobile service negative sentiments, at 30.31% of all posts.

The report measured customers’ perception of and sentiments regarding their mobile service providers – Maxis, Digi, Celcom and U Mobile – based on pricing, customer service, speed and coverage.

It also used emoji graphs – icons for joy, anger, sadness, fear, surprise and disgust – along with a perception graph to depict customer sentiments.

Eastern Analytica managing director Nor Zachy Fernandez told The Malaysian Insight that the survey was based on posts gathered from platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and blogs. The data on the posts was compiled between November 8 last year and January 7.

“If this is not an indication of whether they (telcos) should improve…I don’t know what is.

“At the end of the day, these are the people who bring them revenue, not the government. Their subscribers are bringing them revenue, so they should listen to what their customers want.”

He said there is room for telcos to improve their services in the four aspects.

While Digi fared well in meeting customer expectations in terms of pricing, and Celcom in terms of customer service, all four telcos were below par when it came to speed and coverage.

“When it came to speed, nobody was happy with their telcos. Period. So now, the measurement is, who is the best among the worst. Digi turned out to be the best among the worst,” said Fernandez.

Regarding speed, Digi generated the least negativity, at 38.5% anger, and the most joy, at 27.4%. The telco’s overall sentiment score was also the lowest compared with the others.

Maxis generated the highest anger sentiment (63.7%) when it came to speed. However, when it came to overall sentiment, it was Celcom that fared the poorest.

U Mobile appeared to have “strangely” won the coverage perception, with its message of continuously expanding coverage and constantly addressing customer complaints resonating well with people.

Digi generated the highest sadness perception (43%) due to customers wanting more from the telco, which appeared to be lagging behind Maxis and Celcom in terms of footprint.

From the price point of view, Digi led the pack, being consistent from a “price for value” perception. It also generated a high joy perception (18.4%) despite also recording a high level of anger (59.8%) during the period under review.

Asked what gave Digi the upper hand over U Mobile, which also offers affordable packages, Fernandez said customer perception is not solely driven by how low prices are, but also how well the plan caters to users’ needs.

“(It is) not necessary that the cheapest one has the highest sentiment. Maybe, they couple it with free calls, value-added services, different data rate plans. Whatever it is, Digi’s plan is resonating well with people because after signing up, they are talking about it more, and they are talking about it in a positive manner.

“Based on what we see currently, Digi’s price plan works for them. They have a set demographic that they are after, and that demographic is very happy with Digi.” 

The worst performer was Maxis, which generated a mere 3.6% joy when it came to pricing.

Digi appeared to have the best perception when it came to geographic region, recording the highest positive sentiments in the central (25.35%), northern (26.88%), southern (26.75%), and Sabah and Sarawak (26.98%) regions. Maxis recorded the highest in the eastern region of the peninsula (26.14%), an area previously dominated by Celcom.

Maxis seemed to have one of the highest levels of awareness, but trended in negative territory when it came to motivation to purchase its products.

On the other hand, Digi recorded a lower awareness level compared with U Mobile and Maxis on involvement and motivation, but the survey indicated that people were likely to purchase the Digi brand.

Eastern Analytica, a social media analytics firm, embarked on the research to understand subscribers’ perception and sentiments towards Malaysia’s four main mobile phone operators. – February 5, 2019.