Propensity to Customer Switching in the Field of Mobile Phone Services in Sri Lanka.

Abstract

In Sri Lanka, telecommunications service industry is a high velocity industry in the current business context and the mobile phone usage has drastically increased during the last few years. As a result of that number of service providers entering the field has created an intensified competition. Due to this severe competition, the service providers face a huge challenge on how to retain their existing subscribers. This is because of high tendency of customer switching among different service providers. Therefore, this study was focused on addressing this major issue of customer switching in the mobile phones service industry in Sri Lanka. The survey method was used to conduct the study and the sample consisted of 280 respondents. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The study was conducted in Southern and Sabaragamuwa provinces in Sri Lanka at the mid of year 2010. The results show a high propensity of switching among the service providers in the mobile phone services industry in Sri Lanka. Most of the subscribers have shifted their first brand. Thus, it was reported that 259 subscribers out of 280 subscribers in the sample have changed their first brand for various reasons. It was identified that mobile phone subscribers are highly price sensitive. Therefore, the rates charged are the major concern for their switching decisions. Meanwhile, many mobile customers have shifted seeking more benefits and convenient services. Further, non-monetary switching cost plays a major role as a switching barrier over monetary switching costs.