Preface
On March 20, China Mobile announced that the number of mobile business customers decreased by 510,000 in February.
China Mobile has always been the leader in the domestic communications industry, with a huge user base, but now a large number of users are lost.
Is there a change in the market, or is there something wrong with China Mobile itself?
The user experience is worrying
According to the data released by China Mobile, China Mobile lost as many as 510,000 users in February, and there has been such a large-scale loss of users in just one month, which means a lot of loss for any operator.
As one of the three giants of China's communications, China Mobile has a large number of users, so there are many complaints of various types every day.
Therefore, let's take a look at some cases to understand why China Mobile caused a large number of subscribers to lose in February, whether it is a market change or a problem of China Mobile itself.
Therefore, some phenomena have been found through some complaint cases in Hunan.
A user said that he applied for mobile broadband online five years ago, but he was going to move at the end of 2023, so he planned to contact mobile customer service to apply for a return of broadband.
The user described that he could not handle his unsubscription business in the several mobile business halls he was looking for to unsubscribe offline, and could only go to a business hall 20 kilometers away to handle it, and reported that since it can be handled online, why can't he unsubscribe.
After that, the mobile customer service needs the user to provide the code of the equipment (optical modem router set-top box) installed in the current year, which needs to be returned, but the user feedback that when he installed these devices, he did not sign other contracts, and if he wants to return the broadband, he needs to pay 500 yuan.
After the user felt that it was very unreasonable, so he continued to communicate, so far it has been 2 and a half months, during this period, the mobile customer service every time said that he would contact him after the feedback, but it was also over, and the broadband he was useless, but it could not be refunded, and it has been in the billing state.
This user reported that the attitude and efficiency of mobile service are difficult to describe, and the problem of easy unsubscription has not been solved.
Not only that, but there is also a user feedback, on January 19, he applied to China Mobile to reduce the package, and China Mobile's handling process was extremely complicated, and he made seven or eight rounds of phone calls to ask for a package upgrade, but the user refused, and finally complained to 12345 out of helplessness, asking for a package reduction.
The user said that although the matter was solved, it was only after a few months, and calling 10086 could not be solved at all, but there was a return call, one every two days, and a return visit for a month, and it was not solved yet, so he had to complain, saying that China Mobile's service is getting worse and worse.
Therefore, by asking some cases in Hunan, and there are some problems that are easy to unsubscribe, or the quality of service is not good, and the efficiency is low, the People's Daily also said that China Mobile does have hidden cases of arbitrary deductions.
Therefore, we found that China Mobile's service quality does need to be improved, and there are some phenomena that affect the consumer experience.
Of course, this is only one of the reasons, but the main thing is that the market is also changing.
Is the decline in a large number of subscribers of China Mobile related to market changes?
The market is changing
With the development of the times, the rise of various short video software such as Douyin Kuaishou, people's demand has gradually increased from the demand for traffic.
Whether it is China Telecom or China Unicom, they have launched a lot of packages with large traffic and very affordable tariffs, and there are no routines.
Not only that, China Telecom and China Unicom are also constantly increasing the intensity of preferential promotions, and have been trying to seize market share as much as possible to enhance their brand value and the core competitiveness of their products.
After all, the core of the industry and market competition lies in healthy competition, compared with the high tariff packages that often start at 100 yuan, China Unicom and Telecom have successively launched a series of low-cost and large-scale traffic 5G packages such as 29 yuan and 39 yuan.
However, China Mobile has also launched a similar package, but the competition among peers is too fierce, and the big three are fighting a price war to further expand their own markets.
Such competition is certainly good for consumers.
Not only that, since it was not possible to port numbers before, since November 11, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has issued the "Regulations on the Administration of Number Porting Services", which stipulates that number portability will be implemented from December 1, 2019.
The full implementation of number porting allows some old users who do not want to change numbers to change operators at will, so it is convenient for consumers to a large extent, and it also makes the competition between Chinese communication companies more motivated, so the implementation of this regulation is very beneficial to consumers!
Therefore, because it is more convenient to port the number to the network, it is inevitable that because a communication company has come up with a very affordable package, it will snatch away a large number of customers, although it is not obvious in a city, but if it is enlarged to the whole country, it will definitely not be less.
Therefore, the market environment has a great impact on Chinese communication companies, and it is also because the competition is becoming more and more fierce, so consumers are becoming more and more choices, and users have become very picky.
China Mobile has been unable to adapt to market changes by relying on its previous service model, and not only that, from the frequent harassing calls to the troubles of various business handling, these problems have gradually affected the user's goodwill towards China Mobile.
The immutable service model can no longer keep up with the pace of the times, the times have been changing, the market has been changing, and the service model has to change with it.
So, what changes does China Mobile need?
Movement needs to change
The simplest point is to first improve the service quality of China Mobile, and to give more training to China Mobile's customer service personnel and offline business personnel to improve their own service quality.
The traditional telephone promotion model should be less, or even canceled, and more offline or online platforms should be said to do more publicity, and launch some real affordable packages that make consumers shine.
Mainly because China Mobile now offers a lot of different packages, which seem to meet various needs, but in fact, many packages are not very cost-effective.
Because for most users, users are actually more concerned about whether they can get enough traffic and airtime at a reasonable price, rather than those seemingly "cheap" value-added services in the package, which are many things that are not needed in the first place, and the way of imposing them on users is very undesirable.
So, if these basic needs aren't met, it's no surprise that users choose to leave.
Therefore, these aspects must be changed, and more importantly, in the above case, the problem of "easy to handle and difficult to unsubscribe".
We must solve this problem well, and we can't make consumers trouble because they unsubscribe from a certain service of China Mobile, so that consumers will only become more and more prejudiced against this communication company and feel that the service quality is poor.
Since some business can be handled online, it is necessary to provide some channels for online handling when it is safe enough.
Because some users may be far away from offline service points, or users are physically inconvenient to go offline, it is necessary to implement the service concept of "let users run less errands and let data run more errands".
Moreover, it is also necessary to provide discounts or benefits to old mobile users, such as sending some traffic or call time from time to time, and don't mess up the threshold restrictions.
As an operator, we must know that under such fierce competition, consumers have a lot of power to choose, and only from the perspective of consumption can we truly retain customers.
We can't sacrifice the consumer experience because of a small profit, and in the end we will only end up in a vicious cycle and become a cocoon.
In addition, as a user of an operator, it is also necessary to defend its legitimate rights and interests as a consumer, which will also make the operator less routine.
So, how can consumers protect their rights?
Consumer Rights
As a consumer, if we encounter a situation of indiscriminate charges on mobile phones, we can first communicate with customers to understand the reasons for the deduction, and first see if we or our relatives have opened some value-added services.
If not, you can also go offline to solve the problem, such as going to the nearby mobile business hall to find the relevant responsible person for feedback, and ask to solve the problem on the spot.
If some local operators or some mobile sales outlets infringe on your consumer rights, for example, if you have not opened any value-added services, but there are them in the package, or other arbitrary deductions, you can also directly call the operator's complaint number to complain.
For general problems, most of the problems can be solved by calling the service number of the operator, if the negotiation is not successful.
Then you can complain through the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as the regulatory department of the communications industry, one of the main responsibilities of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is to supervise the arbitrary charging of the communications industry.
Therefore, it is a very effective way for consumers to call 12381 and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will generally be processed quickly.
Not only that, but you can also file a complaint in other ways, because consumers and China Mobile have a consumer relationship, as long as their interests as consumers are infringed by communication companies.
Then you can complain about the problem of mobile through the 12315 (consumer complaint reporting telephone) Internet platform, and you can find it by searching for "12315" through the applet.
Therefore, in addition to rejecting some messy routines and thresholds of communication companies, consumers should also choose the most suitable phone package according to their own needs and avoid some routines.
In addition to these, consumers should learn how to protect their legitimate rights and interests, which is enough to promote the healthy development of communication operators, and operators will have fewer routines and more discounts.
epilogue
All in all, this "user exodus" of China Mobile is not only a signal, but also an opportunity.
For enterprises, it is an opportunity for self-innovation, and for the market, it is an opportunity for survival of the fittest, to improve service quality and user experience from the root, and to continuously optimize their own operating models and service concepts to ensure that users are not passing.
For our users, it is an opportunity to choose a better service.
Only by continuous progress can we not be eliminated by the times, and users must learn to make choices according to their own needs.
Resources:
Ask Politics Hunan|Ask Politics Hunan
Provincial Company News Announcement_About China Mobile_China Mobile Communications
Provincial Company News Announcement_About China Mobile_China Mobile Communications
China Mobile (00941) net loss of 510,000 customers in February