Three things we’ve learnt from Malaysia’s spectrum reallocation: Page 2 of 3

 
2) Putting customers first
 

 
Every five years or so, wireless technology goes through an evolution of sorts. Before we could even get comfortable saying ‘Long Term Evolution’ or ‘4G’ as some call it, we are already hearing terms like LTE-A or Long Term Evolution Advanced and even Fifth Generation or 5G.
 
In between all these major technology breakthroughs, there are new features being added: VoLTE (Voice over LTE), WiFi Calling, and High Definition Voice being just some of them.
 
The thing is, operators are always victims of their own marketing. In order to market something, they generate hype. To keep this hype going, they usually resort to a lot of superlatives and over-selling (or exaggerations).
 
This why operators are fond of running ad campaigns that claim they are ‘the widest ...,’ ‘the fastest ...,’ and so on.
 
The truth is, none of this matter. As I’ve argued many times before in previous columns, operators must focus on the customer and give them the best value in terms of pricing and features.
 
And now with the new spectrum reassignments, they do have a chance to put customers ahead of their marketing campaigns and truly serve their interests.
 
For example, operators shouldn’t tout VoLTE unless they ensure that they have contiguous 4G/ LTE coverage, or else the experience would be compromised. Some are testing VoLTE, but none have launched it yet commercially, which is actually a good thing.
 
Meanwhile, U Mobile recently rolled out WiFi Calling. I haven’t tested it, but is the service all that it is touted to be?
 
If so, bravo U Mobile. If no, the poor experience would certainly cause customers to be disillusioned.
 
Operators must put the customer first in the wake of new spectrum becoming available to them, everything else will follow.
 
Next Page: It’s crunch time, folks!