A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION BETWEEN NTC AND NCELL IN NEPAL

Nepal Telecommunication (NTC) and Ncell are the two main telecom players in Nepal at the moment. Ncell has been primarily focused on offering Global System for Mobile (GSM) mobile lines, while NTC offers all types of phone services. Although NTC remains the countrys leading provider of total subscribers, Ncell recently overtook NTC as the countrys leading provider of GSM mobile lines. This study aims to assess customer satisfaction in two highly competitive Nepalese telecom industries and make a comparison based on service quality. Descriptive and inferential tools are used to draw the comparative analysis. The research identifies the security service quality dimension as the major dimension of both telecommunication networks. It also locates reliability service quality of the NTC network is highly correlated with customer satisfaction whereas the security of the Ncell network is highly correlated with customer satisfaction. Tangibles are a high effect on customer satisfaction of NTC whereas security highly affects customer satisfaction of Ncell network. This study will aid the telecommunications industry in general, as well as the service quality, in better understanding their main areas of strength and, as a result, better framing their decision-making strategies to increase customer satisfaction and gain a competitive advantage.