SERVICE QUALITY ON THE PERCEIVED QUALITY OF MOBILE NETWORKS IN INDIA

The study attempts to analyse the gap in service quality of Telecom sector in terms of customers' expectations and perceptions regarding mobile phone services. It is important to explore and map the differences which indicate that there is scope for improvement on behalf of the mobile phone service providers. Services are deeds, processes and performances (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003). Broadly speaking, services include all economic activities whose output is not a physical product or whose construction is generally consumed at the time it is produced and which provides added value in forms (convenience, amusement, timeliness, comfort or health) that are essentially intangible for its first purchaser (Quinn, Baruch and Paquette, 1987). For service providers, the pursuit of service quality is essential for competitiveness and gaining momentum (Seth et al, 2007). Over the last few years, considerable research has been carried out on different aspects of service quality, leading to a sound conceptual base for both practitioners and researchers. Some authors (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985, 1988; Carman, 1990) agree that service quality is an abstract concept, difficult to define and measure. However, it may be regarded as the degree and the direction of discrepancy between consumers' perception and the expectations in terms of the different but relatively important dimension of service quality which can affect their future behavior (Parsasuraman, Zeithamal and Berry, 1985). Some of the contemporary views of service quality are listed in the literature overview. In this study, we are specially focusing on the ‘mobile phone service providers' as it has been the most buoyant in terms of its growth and reach in post 1997 New Telecom Policy period. In fact, mobile telecommunication has become one of the most effervescent service sectors in the country with its growing network coverage. The services have penetrated not only the urban but also the rural areas. The rapid growth of the mobile services market in the past years has resulted in a sector facing a fierce competition among companies, with mobile operators offering a wide range of services and offers to attract new customers and to retain the present customers. In this increasingly competitive scenario, the ability to provide a high level of customer satisfaction, along with a low defection intentions are key issues in order to differentiate from competitors. Investigating crucial factors that lead to customer loyalty in the mobile telephony sector are service quality and customer satisfaction.