Nature, Telness Tech and Ofcom reports tell truth about brands
Britain’s flagship telco, BT (AKA British Telecom) has announced a shift in brand focus to its recently acquired mobile network operator, EE. It has begun to remove BT as a customer facing telco. However, the outdated twisted pair copper cables on which BT delivers its ‘super fast fibre’, as exposed in a study by Nature magazine, will remain.
Brand and deliver
Marc Allera, CEO of BT Consumer said begin was starting a new chapter in its transformation and talked of finding a ‘deeper relationship’ with the customers and BT’s ‘iconic’ brands. “Like any business, we need to keep evolving to be successful,” said Allera. In future it will concentrate of introducing new products and services and changing the way it brings brands to market. Does this mean anything to the man shouting into his Nokia on the Clapham Omnibus or teenagers filming him with their iPhone? Some say that nobody cares about telco brands.
Fail to adapt
BT is one of many telcos that failed to adapt to the modern market, said Sara Rasmussen, CCO at PBX specialist Telness Tech, “Putting BT in the back office doesn’t mean its lack of innovation won’t impact customer experience. This has to be so much more than a name change,” said Rasmussen, “Digitalisation, customer experience and value for money must be a priority to drive forward the telecoms renaissance and allow for innovation within this severely outdated tech space.” According to Telness, telco executives believe consumers are loyal to their brand, but its own data suggests otherwise.
Talk to the brand!
Meanwhile, UK regulator brought all the telcos down to earth with its latest league tables of complaints. This is a compilation of the complaints it receives about the UK’s major home phone, broadband, mobile and pay-TV firms. The latest quarterly report reveals the number of complaints made to Ofcom between October and December last year. The overall volume fell slightly over this period and nearly all providers across all sectors reduced or maintained the same level of complaints from the previous quarter.
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BT is second top in the league table of complaints about Pay-TV but Virgin Media remains far and away the most complained about company. But does this hurt Virgin Media’s profitability? Ofcom seemed impressed that complaints are down. However, that could be because it’s very difficult to get through to Ofcom. “It’s encouraging that overall complaints remain at record lows, but that doesn’t mean customer service is where it should be across the board,” said Fergal Farragher, Ofcom’s Consumer Protection Director.
You are 96th in the queue
Shell Energy generated the most broadband complaints, and also shared first place with TalkTalk as the most complained-about landline providers. Virgin Mobile and Vodafone were the most complained-about mobile operators and Virgin Media attracting the most complaints about Pay-TV. Farragher did not seem to think there is any brand loyalty. “There are still big differences in performance between some providers” said Farragher, “so it’s definitely worth shopping around and voting with your feet, if you’re not happy with the service you’re getting.”