Service quality key criteria for selecting ISPs - customers prepared to pay extra for guaranteed service quality

STOCKHOLM, STOCKHOLM, SVERIGE, June 15, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- SUBTONOMY, the leading Customer & Network Experience Platform provider, has revealed the findings of a new study – State of Mobile & Broadband customer support – it has conducted on the mobile and broadband market in Sweden.

Sweden is a highly advanced digital economy, ranking 3rd out of 27 EU Member States In 2021, 89% of Swedes aged 16–85 years (or 7.3 million people), used the internet every day (Statistics Sweden). But what were they using it for?

Households are now smart workspaces
Post-Covid, a large proportion of Swedes have continued to work from home, with 54% of Swedish households now having at least one resident homeworking some of the time and 13% having multiple residents working from home for more than 2 days each week.

This has driven a massive uptake in the use of complex business applications over suburban broadband connections – with more than 65% of Swedish respondents reporting they are now using videoconferencing applications to keep in touch with colleagues, family and friends. Such applications are highly sensitive to service quality and require a reliable broadband connection but, despite this, 8 out of 10 Swedes (81%) do not want a second business broadband line into their home and another 15% said they would only have one if their employer paid for it. This suggests that what customers actually want is to be offered higher tiers of service quality over their existing broadband connection.

Households are also smart lifespaces
Swedes are using their broadband connections for an ever-increasing range of entertainment, social and essential services. 9 out of 10 (88%) are streaming their favorite films and shows, 90% use social media - including video or photo-based social media such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram – and 34% are using home broadband for online gaming. A massive 97% pay bills, check the news or send emails using their home broadband.

These applications have driven a massive increase in demand for broadband along with high expectations of customer service – with average broadband speeds of 164Mbit/s in 2021 it’s unsurprising that 81% of Swedish broadband customers are happy with the service being provided. But satisfaction with coverage in rural areas, as well as for cars and boats, lags behind that for homes.

Customer support when things go wrong
Only a third of Swedish customers (33%) needed customer support in 2021, but when they did they used a range of channels to try to fix their problems. Contact centers were still the channel of choice for a third of customers (32%), and particularly for older age demographics. But digitally-savvy Swedes searched their ISP’s website for answers (34%), or online (31%), while 6% even looked for YouTube videos to help them solve their problems.

“What we’re seeing is increasingly complex behaviour by customers,” comments Fredrik Edwall, EVP Sales & Marketing at Subtonomy, “which makes it essential that ISPs are able to offer seamless omnichannel support – ensuring their customers are able to access the same, accurate and up-to-date information about their problems whichever channel they use.” Edwall warns that the ability to provide omnichannel technical support across a wide range of network types and ever-more complex services is set to become a huge challenge for ISPs in the next 5 years, as they roll out gigabit fiber and 5G networks, but is essential for successful monetization of these services.

Premium service quality is essential for successful monetization and differentiation
Subtonomy’s research revealed that not only do customers expect a better support experience to keep them connected, but this is becoming a point of differentiation between providers. It’s also revenue accretive – with 45% willing to pay more to get higher service quality.

“Faster networks are great, but customers also expect those networks to be reliable,” notes Edwall. “Customers tell us that the quality of service, as well as the quality of support, influence their decisions as to which provider to select. But perhaps even more tellingly, 45% of Swedish customers now value their broadband connection so highly that they’re willing to pay a premium to get guaranteed service quality and support.”


NOTES FOR EDITORS:

Key Swedish demographics

• Swedish population 10.4 million
• Average size of household 2.4 people
• Average number of mobile subscriptions 2.44
• Average number of broadband subscriptions 1.34,
• 84% of Swedish households had fixed broadband (2020)
• 88% of Swedes accessed government services online (2020)6
• 60% of Swedes subscribe to at least one paid video streaming service (Q1 2022)
• A typical Swedish SVOD household pays approximately SKr220/EUR20.89 per month7

About Subtonomy
Subtonomy’s AI-driven Customer & Network Experience Platform provides unprecedented real-time insight into the experience of customers on any network (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G NSA, 5G SA, broadband and gigabit fiber). Its easy-to-use applications utilize this rich data to enable customer support teams to isolate and resolve problems faster; operational teams to prioritize fault fixing and network build according to actual customer need; business teams to up-sell to both business customers and consumers; and wholesale teams to understand the service they’re delivering to MVNO clients. Founded in Sweden in 2012, Subtonomy’s technology helps network operators deliver more personalized support and more proactive care to help its clients deliver a premium network experience.

Tina Rosén
Subtonomy
73 530 25 44
tina.rosen@subtonomy.com
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