Satisfaction of individual mobile phone users in Spain

Consumer satisfaction is a key determinant of consumer retention, consumer welfare, and is also a strategic variable for competition and international comparisons. Spain's mobile customer satisfaction is the lowest in the European Union. The focus of this paper is to identify the determinants of residential mobile phone users' satisfaction among private consumers of mobile telecommunications in Spain. Two innovative aspects of this paper are the focus on a nationwide representative sample of residential consumers in Spain, and the usage of rich individual data to convey high quality statistical information. The correlation of each of the aspects to the overall satisfaction are measured. Also, relationships between different aspects of satisfaction and its determinants are formulated. The paper specifies econometric models and estimates them using a survey of 4249 mobile phone users. The results indicate that customers are less satisfied with larger carriers, and are more satisfied with smaller and newer operators. Policy recommendations are suggested to improve customer satisfaction, contribute to customer retention and improve the position of the country in the international rankings.