KUALA LUMPUR, 18 FEBRUARY 2009 -- Mobile Internet in Malaysia is set to surge with more than half a million regular users currently, and more subscribers setting their sights on it, according to market research firm Nielsen.
Nielsen Malaysia’s consumer research director Vinod Paul said: “Our latest Mobile Insights Report shows that generally it is men who tend to score higher on wanting emerging technology features in their handsets, but when it comes to mobile Internet, both genders are equal. This shows that this emerging technology is fast gaining mainstream acceptance.”
Paul said the survey is the largest of its kind conducted on the Malaysian telecommunications market, covering more than 3,000 subscribers in Peninsula and East Malaysia. “The survey measures the mobile landscape in terms of brand performance, reported market share, purchasing habits, reported usage and preference as well as satisfaction and loyalty for Telco operators and handset devices among Malaysian citizens, expats and migrant workers.”
Disconnect between brand and market share
Paul added that another interesting insight that surfaced is the apparent disconnect between Malaysian telco operators’ brand equity among customers and their actual market share, through an analysis of the Telco’s’ Brand Equity Indices (BEI), Nielsen’s leading management tool for measuring brand equity performance.
“The Nielsen BEI barometer gives telcos a reality check,” he said. “It is a very useful and powerful tool for operators, allowing them to benchmark their actual market shares against consumers’ perceptions and satisfaction levels and help identify existing gaps and implement effective marketing and operational strategies to align both aspects. Nielsen’s BEI is calculated based on preference, recommendation of a brand and willingness to pay more for a brand.”
The big three: Maxis, Celcom, Digi
Paul said mobile vendor Maxis’ strong BEI share was reflected in its current dominance of the market. “While Celcom is a key challenger, ranking the second most preferred brand, it appears to be under-leveraging its brand strength with consumers, considering that the company currently outperforms Maxis on major network considerations such as network quality, coverage and pricing. It would also indicate that Maxis’ current market share over-indexes on its present brand equity.”
“The third most preferred service network, Digi, appeared to be slightly under-leveraging its brand equity with consumers, but to a lesser degree than Celcom,” added Paul.
Local impact of MNP
“We expect the recent launch of mobile number portability to have a limited impact on subscribers in a mature market like Malaysia, where anyone who is really unhappy with their service provider would have gradually moved to other networks,” said Paul.
“However, it does mean that telcos cannot afford to rest on their laurels as their service levels will be placed under intense scrutiny,” he said. “We foresee that the telcos will have to step up their investments in customer relationship management efforts as they face increasing competitive pressure in a level playing field to defend their market share.”
