By Dominic Maher, 18 July 2000 19:29
NEWS Mobile phone operators wanting to offer value-added services in the future are suffering from a customer crisis of confidence over network coverage and voice quality, according to pollsters NOP. NOP spoke to 300 business managers in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK to gauge mobile phone usage now and in the future on behalf of communication services company CMG. In an exclusive interview with silicon.com, Mike Richardson, associate director, telecommunications and ebusiness division at CMG, warned the problem would become more serious when mobile phones are being used for such things as personal banking. Richardson said: "I think network coverage is an issue and people perceive a problem with coverage and reliability of the calls. It's less of a problem with voice calls because it's more of an irritant than anything else. But the survey shows people are expecting to use phones for banking transactions in the future and it's going to be a lot more serious if your calls drop out when you're making those transactions." However, Stuart Newstead, general manager wireless data division at BT Cellnet, said this apparent user perception would not hold back the development of value added services. He said: "It's critical that operators get the basics, such as network coverage and quality, right so confidence will continue to grow. It won't hold things back but confidence needs to be there for value added services to succeed."
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