South African Telecommunications Sentiment Index

Telcos looking to expand into financial services must improve customer service to be successful

Johannesburg, 31 May 2023 — As South African telecommunications operators (telcos) continue the fight to differentiate their product offerings in a saturated market, many have their sights set on financial services as the next growth opportunity. To effectively compete with local financial services companies, however, telcos need to put immediate measures in place to improve their customer service and support capabilities.

This is reflected in data from the latest South African Telecommunications Sentiment Index conducted by PwC South Africa in collaboration with DataEQ. It reveals that the telco industry ranked last in terms of consumer sentiment for the third consecutive year when compared to the banking, insurance, and food retail industries.

The South African Telecommunications Sentiment Index is compiled from social media data and reflects the Net Sentiment of local consumers toward their telecommunications service providers. The index includes data and analysis for MTN SA, Vodacom SA, Telkom, rain and Cell C.

MTN holds onto first-place ranking

While all five telcos included in the index scored negatively overall, MTN obtained the highest Net Sentiment of -5.2%, largely due to positivity driven by brand campaigns. Despite a small improvement from last year, MTN’s Net Sentiment lead narrowed. 

Vodacom stands strong during load shedding

Load shedding continued to cause havoc with signal reliability, but Vodacom stood out for receiving the lowest proportion of complaints and even some praise around their uninterrupted coverage. This indicates that Vodacom’s investment in backup batteries is yielding positive outcomes for customers.

From telco to tech-co

Looking at the industry as a whole, Elmo Hildebrand, PwC Africa Telecommunications, Media and Technology Leader, says that South African telco providers are transforming their business models, looking to use their scale and customer relationships to diversify into a range of digital lifestyle services.

Putting the customer first

One such business basic is customer service, which accounted for 43.7% of telcos’ industry conversation — the vast majority (95.1%) of which was negative. In analysing these conversations, staff behaviour came through as a strong theme in customer service complaints, along with issues around unresponsiveness and a lack of feedback.

As seen in previous years, a large percentage (65.4%) of these complaints originate from engagements that customers have with the call centres, emphasising the importance of having competent and well-resourced support teams. This suggests that, despite the growing availability of digital channels, telco customers continue to rely heavily on telephonic support, often with disappointing results.

51.1% of actionable conversation goes unanswered

Unfortunately, data shows that reaching out to telcos on social media is likely to only compound consumers’ frustrations, with response rates to priority conversations sitting at 48.9%. Priority conversations refer to customer interactions or queries that relate to: reputational or operational risk (risk); acquisition opportunities (purchase); retention improvement or churn risk reduction (cancel); and customer service feedback and requests (service).

Echoing Klopper’s sentiment, Riaan Singh, PwC South Africa Experience Consulting Lead, urges telcos to take the necessary steps in addressing customer service inefficiencies.