As 2017 starts, I try to capture my thoughts and hopes as a consumer
of telephony services. There is a
plethora of services in offer by different service providers. But what do I expect
as an end user of a service which is now seemingly an un-detachable part of my
life? The mobile has become so much a pervasive
part of me not only because I am immersed in the industry but also to do with the
fact that it has become a basic necessity in today’s world. Here are 10 areas that I as a user hopes gets better in this year.
1.
No buffering and good speeds available in
mobiles for data sessions in home, in the market place and the roads and
highways. Although voice network is extensive in the country but as far as data
is concerned, issues still persist firstly on coverage and secondly on the quality
of the data sessions.
2.
Security and privacy of data for whatever
is uploaded, shared or downloaded among friends, colleagues and acquaintances.
Currently an average user does not know whether his or her data is safe or has
fallen prey to someone’s prying eyes. To a naïve user it may never cross his
mind that his personal details are available to others till he or she becomes a
victim of some fraud.
3.
Healthy competition between service
providers so that the consumer gets a rich choice of service bouquet and affordability for mobile telephony services.
4. Tariffs remain transparent and affordable. This is applicable for both mobile as well as fixed services. For fixed broadband tariffs, wherever competition is not there, tariffs on offer can vary a lot. If we take the example of Delhi, where there are multiple service provider choices, one can get unlimited broadband plans @1000 (US$ 15) rupees approximately per month, while in Gurgaon an adjacent city and logically a part of Delhi the range can go to around 1500 rupees (US$ 22) due to the fact that in many areas there is only one or two providers and the service provider tries to exploit the monopoly situation. This situation is more so when one moves beyond the major cities and towns.
4. Tariffs remain transparent and affordable. This is applicable for both mobile as well as fixed services. For fixed broadband tariffs, wherever competition is not there, tariffs on offer can vary a lot. If we take the example of Delhi, where there are multiple service provider choices, one can get unlimited broadband plans @1000 (US$ 15) rupees approximately per month, while in Gurgaon an adjacent city and logically a part of Delhi the range can go to around 1500 rupees (US$ 22) due to the fact that in many areas there is only one or two providers and the service provider tries to exploit the monopoly situation. This situation is more so when one moves beyond the major cities and towns.
5. Easy to use and maneuver portals of Service
Providers. If one goes to any service provider’s portal, the number of
schemes that are displayed creates more confusion than clarity of what the user
wants. Time for some simplification!
6.
Regulator plays a more active role in
preventing unwanted marketing calls and SMSs from banks, insurance companies
and real estate agencies in ungodly times and days. The regulator monitors the
network quality, subscriber data and the like but it seems that the end consumer
experiences are not captured in a way it should be. It would be unrealistic to expect the regulator
to get to the individual consumer but some process through which it can gauge
the user experiences along with the network performance would help.
7.
Resolving financial transaction issues -
For financial transactions done through the mobile, there are a number of
players in action in the chain- starting with the mobile operator, the app, the
payment gateway and the bank. The situation gets further complicated when the
user is traveling and carries out a failed transaction in a roaming network.
In case of a dispute, two things need to be addressed. First who
will resolve the dispute and second how much time will the complaint get
resolved? Time is the essence.
8.
Battery life of the mobile phone remains enough
to last for the whole day to do voice calls and data sessions without looking
for a recharge point or battery bank to carry along.
9.
App options get simplified and integrated.
Multiple app options are available for a smart phone and it is increasing day by day. When using an app, it sometimes asks for permission to access
the phone book, SMS, call history and other such details. One does not know
whether to give the app the permission and if given, how exactly the app is using
that information? Is the app
going beyond what is required to function effectively? If there is one
integrated procedure by which such permissions are given for the apps it would
make life simpler.
10.
Customer care access gets easier. The
multiple automated voice menus on calling customer care numbers leads the
caller hopping from one menu option to the other. To top the labyrinth of the
menus, the service provider sometimes will first play a long advertisement and
then one gets to go inside the menu. Getting to a real live human voice is a
long and patience testing option.
I collate these 10 areas of expectations from a user
perspective and that too in a situation when a human is using the services. In
coming times when AI, M2M and IOT becomes more prevalent with forecasts suggesting IOT/M2M devices set to cross the human users by many multitudes, the
needs of an “end user” will see modification. Why so? Because the type of users
will be much more. As technology, business and user landscape changes, this
list will no doubt get updated to incorporate newer and varied needs. Meantime, hope that the human consumer gets more choices, more transparency, better quality and better services. I guess I am not asking too much.
Wishing you dear readers a happy new year.
