Cable bosses admit room for improvement

NEWS The heads of the UK's big three cable operators were talking up the future of their industry yesterday, emphasising the growing importance of the Internet. However, when questioned about customer service levels, all three men - Graham Wallace, chairman of Cable & Wireless Communications (C&WC), Barclay Knapp, president and CEO of NTL, and Tony Illsley, Telewest's chief executive - admitted improvements in service quality are needed. Speaking at European Cable Communications '98, Knapp summed up the mood, saying: "The Internet and interactivity are the future of our business." The bosses said the digital pie will be big enough to be divided among all types of providers. But they recognise standards have to improve. C&WC has been criticised from several quarters recently for shoddy customer service. Wallace explained: "We have spent £50m connecting three call centres into one 'virtual' call centre. Most of our customers get a good experience, but we get one million calls a month, and the challenge is making them all good calls. We'll see significant improvements from now on." Illsley, who has been in his post at Telewest barely two months, said his company has "a long, long way to go," and was prioritising customer service, reducing churn, and sorting out a digital platform for TV. Knapp commented: "On average, the system we've got does better than BT, which is not saying much, but that's the case."