Anatel sees unacceptably low numbers in customer satisfaction survey

Only about seven out of ten telephone users are satisfied with the services they?re getting, according to a survey whose results were released by Anatel on Wednesday, February 12. The first-ever such survey performed in Brazil shows approval ratings of 72% for residential subscribers to wireline service and 69.7% for non-residential subscribers. Public payphones were approved by only 61.2%. The rating was similar for subscribers to pay-as-you-go wireless service (71.4%) but significantly higher for prepaid (77.5%). The findings show that much remains to be done, Anatel Director José Leite Pereira noted. The international standard is that telephone services can?t be considered acceptable unless they?re approved by at least 85% of users, he said.
Anatel commissioned the survey from the University of São Paulo (USP) and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRS), working in a consortium. Interviews were conducted with 84,246 users in the second half of 2002. A parallel study of pay-TV subscribers is currently under way and should be completed in about four months? time.
Best and worst ratings

Users of fixed-line service were asked to rate call quality, quality of service in general, maintenance, customer care, information provided by telcos, billing, terms of payment, and prices or tariffs. Call quality got the best ratings, with 79.4% of residential users and 78.2% of non-residential users approving. The worst ratings were for prices, which were approved by only 57.6% and 55.3% respectively. According to José Pereira Leite, the only way to reduce tariffs is to continue fostering competition between services.
Users of wireless service were asked to rate billing, collection, terms of payment, handsets, outlets, customer care including reporting and other services, call quality, and prices. Handsets got the best ratings, with 81.5% of prepaid users approving. The strong points for postpaid subscribers were billing and collection methods as well as payment terms, approved by 77.4%. Here too the worst ratings were for prices, approved by only 58.2% of prepaid and 49.1% of postpaid users.
The survey samples comprised subscribers earning 4.3 times the minimum wage on average for residential wireline, five times the minimum for prepaid wireless, and 13 times for postpaid. The sample for payphones comprised users earning four times the minimum. (The minimum wage is 200 Brazilian Reals, currently about 55 US Dollars per month). According to the findings, the following percentages earned less than twice the minimum wage: residential wireline users 20%, payphone 20%, wireless prepaid 39%, wireless postpaid 3%.