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立 政 治 大 學
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5. Statement of the Problem
The main goal of this thesis project is to gain a better understanding of mobile users in Taiwan, to identify the customers’ preferences, their satisfactions toward the current carriers, and their willingness to pay more for better services. The project also analyzes the customers’
expectation of their future carriers – 4G LTE, their purchase intension, and their preferable carriers. Apart from that, the project also analyzes mobile users’ carrier switching patterns, and attempts to identify important factors that make the mobile users decide to stay with their current carriers or switch to other carriers. In addition, the project also discusses users’
behavior, attitudes and expectations of 4G LTE by comparing between heavy mobile internet user group and light mobile internet user group. It is crucial for mobile operators to monitor the preference and behavior of their customers especially because the market is becoming saturated so that they can effectively respond and identify new opportunities in the marketplace, 4G LTE.
6. Methodology
The approach of the thesis project included two phases. In the first phase, the author studied the current mobile phone carrier industry in Taiwan, and conducted a focus group by discussing with few Taiwanese friends about their attitudes towards their current carriers, as well as their knowledge on 4G LTE. After that, the questionnaire survey was developed based on the collected data.
In order to study satisfactions of mobile users and other related issues, 11 important features of mobile carriers were defined. The mobile carriers features used in this thesis project are listed below:
Network coverage
Voice call quality
Data/Internet service quality and speed
Video call quality
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Reliability of SMS & MMS
Helpful customer service and support
Value-added services (e.g. Voicemail service, Selective ring back tone service, etc.)
Customer loyalty program (e.g. 1hr free parking in department store, Birthday gift, Personal assistant hotline for VIP customers, etc.)
Choices of available handsets
Discounted price handsets with contract
Rate plan / Monthly subscription fee
To perform service price testing of 4G LTE, the survey participants were randomly separated to two groups to answer different survey questionnaire form. The questions in the two forms are identical. Only the price shown in the product descriptions are different. Details can be found in the following section.
The survey questionnaire was comprised of three parts. Full questionnaire can be found in Appendix B.
6.1. Questionnaire
- Part 1 (Form A) The questions in this part of the questionnaire asked about the carrier that participants are currently using, and their attitudes towards the current carriers.
o Currently using mobile network carrier o Yeas of using this carrier
o Reasons for selecting this carrier
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o Importance of each basic services, including voice call, video call and SMS o Importance of the 11 defined mobile carrier features
o Satisfaction with the current carrier on the 11 defined mobile carrier features o Willingness to pay more on the 11 defined mobile carrier features
o Hours of using mobile internet in typical week o Activities on internet-enable mobile phone
- Part 2 (Form B and Form C) In this part, the participants were randomly separated into two cells – Cell I and Cell II. They are asked to answer to the two separated questionnaire forms – Form B and Form C. The questions in both forms were identical.
At the beginning of both forms, the participants were given the product descriptions of 4G LTE network and its main features as well as the monthly subscription plan. The difference of these two forms was the monthly subscription plan shown on the product descriptions. This was done for price acceptance testing purpose. The following are the product descriptions of 4G LTE shown in the questionnaire forms.
4G LTE is the next generation of telecom technology, which can deliver significantly faster, more consistent mobile broadband speeds. It can offer superfast mobile internet at speeds typically FIVE times faster than 3G speeds today.
- With superfast 4G LTE mobile, customers will be able to:
- Access the web on the go without waiting
- Connect with your friends on social network quicker and easier - Download high-definition movies in minutes
- Watch live TV on the move without buffering - Play live multiplayer games on the go
- Download large email attachments quicker than ever
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- Make crystal clear audio quality phone through Voice over LTE (Available in the near future)
- Make high quality video calls on the move
- Enjoy superfast service on your computer, or your other peripheral by connecting through the 4G LTE handset.
Form B (For Cell I participants)
Monthly Fee: 888 NT (Low price package)
Data / Internet service: Free for 800 MByte ; If you use over 800 Mbyte, we will charge 0.00061 NT/Byte; Upper limited charge is 2,000 NT
Voice Call: Free 100 minutes; If you call over 100 minutes, we will charge 3.5 NT/minutes
Text message: Free 100 SMS Form C (For Cell II participants)
Monthly Fee: 1,888NT (High price package)
Data / Internet service: Free for 2,000 MByte ; If you use over 2,000 MByte, we will charge 0.00041 NT/Byte; Upper limited charge is 2,200 NT)
Voice Call : Unlimited for intra-network ; Free 100 minutes for inter-network; if you call over 100 minutes, we will charge 3.5 NT / minutes for inter-network calls.
Text message: Free 500 SMS
After providing the product descriptions of 4G LTE, the participants were asked to answer the questions about their purchase intension and expectations of their future mobile carriers.
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o Value for money of 4G LTE o Reason for subscribing to 4G LTE
o Intension to recommend the 4G LTE service to others o Preferable carrier or top of mind carrier of 4G LTE o Preferable substitute if 4G LTE is not available o When to subscribe
o Importance of the 11 defined mobile carrier features
- Part 3 (Form D) In this part, the participants were asked to provide demographic information such as nationality, hometown, gender, age, profession, income range, current mobile phone, and other gadgets.
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