Consumers of telecommunications services measure value for money and preference for networks by service quality and affordable tariff rates, according to a recent poll conducted by NOI Polls, a leading opinion polling and research organization.

NOI Poll also found that Nigerians would like to see telecom regulators show more firmness in mandating the telecoms operators to improve on the quality of their services.

The opinion poll which was conducted from October 19 – 22 involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample involved 758 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country.

According to the poll, majority of the respondents asked for sanctions for operators that are not adhering to service quality standards.

Oge Funlola Modie, MD/CEO, NOI Polls Limited said that with  a sample of this size, “we can say with 95 per cent confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise – within a range of plus or minus 5 per cent of what they would have been if the entire population had been surveyed”

The poll is part of an ongoing exercise conducted by NOI Polls to rapidly assess public sentiment following various social, political or economic events.

NOI Polls is a Nigeria based opinion research organization which works in technical partnership with Gallup (USA), to conduct periodic opinion polls on various socioeconomic issues in Nigeria.

In usage of the mobile networks, the result from the poll revealed that the majority of respondents (45 per cent ) use dual lines, while the minority (26 per cnet) either use a line or multiple lines(29 per cent :more than 2 lines).

Modie said that probing further, the need for dual or multiple lines was essential for the following key reasons:  the lack of network reliability on all networks tied to the ease of switching to another line in the event of a network failure;  and affordable tariffs on competing networks that allow for longer talk time.

The poll further found that for the respondents that use only one line (26 per cent of the total); MTN clearly leads the market with 89per cent subscribers and is followed by Airtel 5per cent, Glo 4 per cent and Etisalat 2per cent.

For majority that use dual lines, majority of this group (34 per cent) use a combination of MTN and Etisalat Lines whilst 31per cent use MTN and Glo and 29 per cent use MTN and Airtel lines respectively.

On mobile netwok frequently used; the respondents sampled, majority rooted for MTN as with 78 per cent while 9 per cent use Airtel. Glo and Etisalat were tied at 6 per cent.

A look at the ratings of the mobile network operators along main lines used showed a majority of subscribers (31 per cent) to the Etisalat  rating their network very good versus a majority of MTN subscribers (40per cent) rating their network average on performance.

Airtel came second with 43per cent of their subscribers rating their performance as good whilst a majority of Glo subscribers (45per cent) rate their network operator as average.

Results indicated that Etisalat subscribers rate their MNO higher than other subscribers of other MNOs. Again this was tied to perceived value received from the MNOs.

When respondents were asked if they felt they were getting value for money from their main network provider, the majority (55per cent) expressed satisfaction. Interestingly though, from the respondents that use MTN as their main lines, only 53per cent affirmed that they were getting for money, while those using Etisalat 76per cent,  Airtel 62per cent and Glo 55 per cent also answered yes.

These results indicate that across the four major GSM network providers, subscribers of Etisalat and Airtel are more of the opinion that they are getting value for their money with Etisalat getting majority nods.

For the worst service; MTN’s network service was perceived to be the worst with 13 per cent of respondents while Glo and Airtel came  second at 6 per cent.

A key point to note is that no respondent noted Etisalat as having the worst service.