South African consumers are mostly fed up with mobile data service providers, according to the latest South African Consumer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi).

SAcsi 2016 says customer loyalty trends have shown a consistent decline over the past three annual indices, with the industry average declining from 71.1% in 2014 to 59.2% in 2016 – said to be one of the lowest SAcsi industry averages.

The 2016 SAcsi for Mobile Data Service Providers benchmarks customer satisfaction through an internationally recognised model to achieve an overall result out of 100. The index provides a weighted average of the various aspects of a customer's experience with the mobile data service provider, and the degree to which the product or service has met, fallen short of, or exceeded their expectations.

According to the Index MTN's customers show the lowest loyalty to their brand with a score of 54.7%, down almost 10% from 2015, followed by Telkom Mobile at 59.2% compared to 67.7% last year. Cell C and Vodacom compare well with the customer loyalty industry average (59.2%) with scores of 61% and 61.6% respectively, albeit low in comparison to other industries measured in the SAcsi.

"South Africans are limited to a handful of mobile data service providers who are among the most expensive in the world. This frustration is evident in the ongoing #DataMustFall movement that adds impetus to the views that South Africans have held for years: they feel ripped off by high data costs, and will move to a more cost-effective service provider without hesitation," says Professor Adré Schreuder, CEO of Consulta.

This is further indicated in the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which is calculated as the difference between the percentage of promoters or customers who recommended a brand, and detractors or customers who did not recommend a brand. The NPS yielded an industry average of 1%. Telkom received the lowest sentiment with a score of -9%, followed closely by MTN at -4% with Cell C narrowly above the industry average at 2%. Vodacom received a score of 9%.

Professor Schreuder says South Africa is by far more expensive than its continental counterparts.

He feels that while the #DataMustFall campaign reflects the level of frustration among customers who demand change, the campaign does not have the same revolutionary, political, human rights motivation behind it compared to other #MustFall campaigns.

Are mobile data service providers aware of the levels of dissatisfaction? Yes, says Professor Schreuder, but these service providers are reluctant to enter into a price war in tough economic times when margins are under pressure anyway.

"It must be also acknowledged that data prices have decreased drastically over the last few years. This is largely due to the competitive nature of the four major mobile data service providers. However, this decrease has come off a high base," he adds.

Professor Schreuder believes that service providers do care about customer satisfaction and it would be very short sighted of them not to.

He refers to a recent Gartner survey which stipulated that 89% of businesses indicated customer experience will be their primary differentiator by 2020. In America, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has been running a hedge fund where investors place their confidence in the top scoring Customer Satisfaction brands. This fund has outperformed even the S&P in terms of investment returns.

"The major network providers are very wary of the prices their competitors and adjust prices accordingly, however, we don't currently have an infrastructure in place for local rates to compete with those of some of our international counterparts," Professor Schreuder continues.

Not just price

However, dissatisfaction levels are not only because of price. Those behind the SAcsi 2016 say that network availability and speed are also foremost considerations.

"We pay higher fees for poorer network quality (slow internet speeds and reliability of connections). The SAcsi findings as well as the #DataMustFall campaign also reflects that networks need to deliver on promises and be wary of making promises they can keep. The social media debate that focused on Telkom's uncapped LTE packages is a great example of this," says Professor Schreuder.

The key message from Consulta is that South African customers are not spoilt for choice when it comes to mobile data service providers, as all providers offer similar deals.

"The mere fact that we have seen a three-year downward trend in loyalty from customers leads us to anticipate more customer churn which places tremendous pressure on margins of the service providers. We are only likely to see any significant changes in the landscape if a disruptor were to come along forcing the rest of the market to react," adds Professor Schreuder.