Impact of Quality of Service on Customer Loyalty: A Critical Study of Cellular Mobile Broadband Sector in Pakistan

: Quality of Service (QoS) is the degree to which a service provided by an operator promotes customer satisfaction. In telecommunications sector service quality is a set of specific parameters provided by service providers to their customers, which are necessary for achieving the required functionality of the requested service. In current global competitive telecommunication business market, the quality of a service is being considered as a differentiator for users if service features or price of services of service providers are similar. The potential of growth and scope for telecommunication services in general and mobile broadband services in developing countries like Pakistan is encouraging. The objective of this research work is to analyze the impact of service quality gaps with customer loyalty in the mobile broadband sector of Pakistan. The cellular mobile operators in Pakistan are facing issue of declining customer loyalty and increasing churn rate of customers in search of their expected quality of service. In this research the service quality gaps will be considered as independent variables while customer loyalty as dependent variable. The SERVQUAL model proposed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1988) will be used to probe the effects of five dimensions of service quality viz. tangibility, assurance, responsiveness, reliability, and empathy on consumer loyalty. Data of 200 current LTE broadband consumers using mobile service of four cellular mobile operators of Pakistan (Jazz-PMCL, Ufone-PTML, Zong-CMPak and Telenor) will be collected through structured questionnaires. The response received from end users of broadband services through these questionnaires will be analyzed through SPSS to determine the causal relationship of service quality dimensions and customer loyalty. The results of analysis will depict that the service quality dimensions will have significant and positive impact on customer loyalty.


Introduction
Quality of service (QoS) is described by the International Union of Telecommunication (IUT) just as the unified impact of service conduct which estimates the extent of customer loyalty.However, the term QoS has been used by many scientific reports [1].Additionally, it has been reported that quality of service is the extent of network excellence that followed the service availability and the quality of the network's transmission.Hence, the quality of service can be represented as a traffic policy in which limitations of transmission rates; by that attestation of a specific amount of bandwidth, will be accessible to operations.Moreover, quality of service shall be considered as traffic shaping, which includes techniques to utilize bandwidth for operations Imran Khan et al.: Impact of Quality of Service on Customer Loyalty: A Critical Study of Cellular Mobile Broadband Sector in Pakistan but not secure availability [1].Moreover, QoS represents data path operations, physical layer determinations, and control and essential switch components for supporting QoS, just as end host asset support for QoS [2].Furthermore, it is a conventional and scientific fact that the degree of QoS can only be estimated by Customer loyalty which is illustrated as a viable source for the origination of income similarly loyal Customers tend to be the best choice for services and marketing of different products [4].Moreover, loyalty is the most important condition of marketing capacity however, Customer detention is more crucial than customer retention [3].
Further, Customer satisfaction is one of the key aspects of customer loyalty which is supported by many kinds of literature [4,5].Additionally, customer satisfaction is the estimation of the practice of collaborating with a service provider and is utilized by customers to conclude upcoming estimations [4].Thus, satisfaction is an enormous phenomenon that is influenced by the QoS, the product itself, its price, and personal factors.Scientific studies proposed that quality of service is composed of three basic dimensions namely product, environment, and delivery, although, quality is delivered over the physical environment, interaction, and outcome [6].However, all these aspects are devoted to customer loyalty.Adversely quality of service is determined through five elements, such as: empathy, responsiveness, reliability, tangibility, and assurance [8].
The globalization of telecommunications has reformed efficiently just as we invade the time of confluence among wireless networks, the content sector, and broadband networks.However, the consequences of telecommunication are obvious just as it has been enforced in numerous fields for the enhancement of services.Furthermore, in the context of Pakistan undergoing the efficient business of portable broadband is considered one of the important elements in assisting economic growth.Broadband automation can enlarge the quality of service in health and education provided to society [9].
Broadband contributes improvement of organizations to their maximum efficiency, access against certain operations, and connections which leads to extensively new strategies in designing a business model.Hence, the trait of mobile trivia is extending at considerable rates.Therefore, in Pakistan convention of cell phones increases day by day whereas the use of landlines facing extinction [9].Broadband is generally described to assimilate a selection of transmission advancements, including a link, 3G and 4G portable, digital subscriber loop (DSL), fiber, satellite, Wi-Fi and Wi-Max, etc. with the fact that they convey data at a normal transfer speed.Be that as it may, the extent of these advancements is not steadily identical, nor do they give similar abilities.Moreover, the reported limit of transmission capacity to meet the content of broadband has changed after some time [10].
Additionally, it has been revealed that customers may undergo sensations differently to the same content of video although looking it on TVs, PCs, cell phones, and tablets, which may undergo exceptional modifications in the evaluation of QoS [12].Thus, these federations are emphasizing offerings improved by applications and administration to their applicants.Moreover, the considerable challenge in Pakistan among the peculiar telecom operators has incensed the least in the costs of call rates.It encourages clients to choose the efficient framework that best fascinates their requirements and demands [11].
In Pakistan telecom sector is expanding expeditiously and is an efficient source among the most probable sectors that undergo most of the contribution to the achievement of the nation's GDP.Additionally, elements of the comprehensive industry rapidly tend to be adjusted against the five operators as (Jazz-PTML Ufone-PMCL, Zong-CMPak, and Telenor) for all acceptance and requirements.Therefore, customers seeking for improved quality at the same prices which is paid by them to certain organizations.In this aspect, the quality of the network is the most crucial and demanding perspective before administrations.Thus, different organizations are emphasizing the demand for quality that is provided by them to their customer to attain customer satisfaction.Furthermore, quality of service is a crucial aspect to attain an endless flow of clients [13,14].It has been reported that advancements in Pakistan's media transmission allocation have been challenging during the last four years.
Globalization and progression undergo rapid modifications in the cell versatility industry of Pakistan.Now as days telecom organizations face significant difficulties due to rapid advancements and deliberate challenges, customer satisfaction, and overseeing high rates.Customer satisfaction can be achieved by identifying the most extensive incomegenerating customers and dealing with the customer experience for such progressive customers.QoS is considered to be a multifaceted composite that undergoes numerous scopes which have been revealed by many scientific studies during the last twenty-five years [14].
The present study is to elaborate on the indicating factors which influence customers to describe client loyalty in broadband correspondence.In this exploration, customer loyalty is considered as mostly the result of consumer satisfaction which truly is brought about by the quality of Service and customer perceived Value [7].

Research Objectives
i.The reason for the research is to discover the gap between the expected service of customers and what they are bearing in the telecom part of Pakistan and the interrelations of service quality properties with client trustworthiness.ii.The study expects to distinguish the different components influencing customer satisfaction and their job in creating customer loyalty in crowd broadband access.iii.The study plans to build up a model clarifying the connection between service quality, customer perceived value, customer satisfaction, switching cost, Inertia, and customer loyalty.iv.The study likewise centers on switching costs and Inertia as arbitrators of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty interface.

Research Purpose
The primary focus of this research is to find out a customer loyalty and customer satisfaction in Mobile Broadband service, as we all know that Mobile broadband users are increasing day by day and in this technological era mobile phone is not only for call and messaging purpose, we are using mobile for internet browsing, and we users requirement is fast broadband, in low rates, There is an increasing debate regarding the use and effectiveness of Mobile broadband services to increase the usage by the cellular subscribers and thereby support the declining average user revenue stream.
Critiques in the telecom industry argue that as Mobile broadband is getting commoditized and the consumers have become more demanding, the organizations that can provide a better value proposition to their customers in terms of service offerings and experience would only be able to survive and grow in the coming times of high competition.The success and survival of an operator hinge on the QoS it provides, as the low call charges or upfront costs of mobile are only baited to lure customers and only the QoS can ensure the retention capability for a service provider.It has become imperative for service providers to adopt such technologies and strategies which ensure their success in a dynamic situation.
We will also focus on GAPS basically, there are five gaps that we discussed in the Introduction, but here we will focus on gap no five which is satisfaction, this is very important because telecommunication companies depend on customers when customers satisfy then the customer will not switch the operator, and customer satisfaction is what they perceived from the telecom company, make his/her satisfy, if the customer will satisfy he/she will be loyal so customer satisfaction directly affects the customer loyalty.The satisfaction gap is a deep contrast between customer expectations and the experience delivered.This gap will be the deep cut on any customer-company relationship ever and would be a decisive factor in all things kept upon.

Questionnaire Design and Development
Since the study is consumer-centric, the primary data has been collected from 400 respondents using the field survey method.For this purpose, a structured questionnaire was developed, pre-tested, and personally administered to the target population of individual mobile Broadband subscribers.The initial questionnaire was based on SERVQUAL Model.And we target the 5 parameters of the SERVQUAL Model viz.tangibility, assurance, responsiveness, reliability, and empathy on consumer loyalty.The response received from end users of broadband services through these questionnaires will be analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to determine the causal relationship between service quality dimensions and customer loyalty.The results of the analysis will depict that the service quality dimensions will have a significant and positive impact on customer loyalty.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Facts & Figures
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has conducted quality of service (QoS) surveys jointly with cellular mobile operators (CMOs) where PTA focuses on data key performance indicators, voice key performance indicators, and SMS Key performance indicators but we will focus only on data key performance indicators which is conducted by PTA in four (04) cities of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan.The names of these cities are: [15] 1) Gilgit; 2) Skardu; 3) Kohat; 4) Khanewal.

Data -Key Performance Indicators
Data KPIs.The performance of data services of CMOs has been checked by measuring User Data Throughput and Signal Strength Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
User Data Throughput This KPI defines the user data rate (Internet speed) to be provided by Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) operators to mobile users across the coverage areas.The data throughput results of all NGMS licensees are as under:

Signal Strength
This KPI defines Received Signal Code Power (RSCP) for 3G and Reference Signal Receive Power (RSRP) for 4G and denotes the power measured by a receiver on a particular physical communication channel.It is used as an indication of signal strength, as a handover criterion, in downlink power control, and to calculate path loss".The Signal Strength for NGMS licensees is as under:        PTML 4G users are 2.628 Million while 3G users are 6.45 Million Subscribers.

Telecommunication Indicators
As per PTA Report.

Research Hypothesis
Telecommunication is emerging in a form that is more powerful than it has ever been witnessed before.It is so because two independent sectors viz.telecom and media have integrated, which has led to a change in the very basics of accessing media and communicating.This convergence had led to evolving of the telecom sector in a new direction, where voice has become a commodity and millions of people armed with mobiles wanted to be entertained indicating the size of the potential value-added services market value-added services bring five values to customers that are: time-critical needs and arrangements; spontaneous needs and decisions; entertainment needs; efficiency needs and ambitions; and mobility-related needs, thus proving to be new opportunities for service operators to provide higher value propositions to the customers.Therefore, pointing towards the fact that value-added services can be effectively used to increase revenue and be a strategic tool for service providers.
1) H1: Service quality has a significant positive impact on customer satisfaction.2) H2: The perceived price has a significant influence on the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction.3) H3: Customer satisfaction has a significant positive impact on customer loyalty.Cellular Mobile Broadband Sector in Pakistan 4) H4: Service quality has a significant positive influence on trust.5) H5: Customer satisfaction has a significant positive influence on trust.6) H6: Trust has a positive significant influence on customer loyalty.7) H7: Switching cost has a positive significant influence on customer loyalty.8) H8: inertia has a positive significant influence on customer loyalty.

Research Objectives
1) Service Quality is portrayed and various components impacting Service Quality are perceived.2) Perceived customer Value is described and measured.
3) Customer satisfaction is described and considered as an intervening variable between Service quality and customer perceived Value from one perspective and Customer Loyalty on the other.4) Switching costs and Inertia are moreover analyzed as coordinating variables changing the impact of Customer Satisfaction on customer loyalty.

Research Questions
Research questions help us to find out the results for subject topic, after filling the research questions we conclude the results, research questions basically specific inquiry with which i seeks research results, and it resides at the core of systematic investigation and help to clearly define a path for my research process.

Results and Discussions
The data was collected from 400 respondents each from Three Districts of Quetta Division i.e., District Quetta, District Pishin, and District Killa Abdullah from the subscribers of four major telecom players in these Districts viz: PMCL, PTML, CMPak, and Telenor who were using the Broadband services of their operators.After conducting survey from mentioned districts each telecom subscribers results are mentioned in tables separately more clarity of results.
Basically, I specified end users by their geographical area, by their educational background, by their professional background to point out the end users in light of mentioned tables so results may described specifically.

Demographical Profile
The section below presents the demographic profiles of the respondents of the study.As mentioned above, the data was collected from Three Districts of Quetta Division, and the districts wise distribution of valid responses has been given in table 1 below:

SERVQUAL MODEL Representation
Our main focus of this research is to find out the loopholes in Broadband operators, so we consider the negative answers, and also compare the results of each broadband operator t find out the loopholes of each one, and the best one, so maximum customers are satisfied, with information regarding their particular broadband operator provide them, but in the efficiency of services, there is the ratio of disagree and strongly disagree is available which means there are loopholes we identify via end users, respondents, while if maximum users, did not port there no but still there is the percentage who particular port their mobile broadband operators, maximum respondents ported their mobile broadband operators because of Low Quality of service & the price issue.While usage of end users in Quetta district is increasing day by day, but respondents' porting ratio is also increasing Mobile broadband users need to work on their Qos and price rates.

Recommendations for Mobile Broadband Operators
1) The regulator should focus on the KPIs of Mobile broadband operators.2) If any mobile operators will not follow the SOPs or threshold issues from PTA, then PTA Should cancel the license of said mobile broadband operators.3) PTS should look after the price lists, and services of all mobile brand band operators, quarterly, to make sure that the mobile broadband operators working properly as per PTA rules.

Conclusion
The focus and reason of this research work are to find out the Quality of service, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty.We find out the satisfaction gap of customers between the expected service of customs and what they are bearing in the telecom part of Pakistan.The primary reason for the examination is to break down the effect of service quality on consumer loyalty as far as client steadfastness and client turnover is concerned.We conduct this research in the Quetta Division of Baluchistan, Pakistan.We focus on three districts of Quetta division named Quetta district, Pishin district & Killa Abdullah District and then we target customers between the age group of 18 to 50 after which we focus on businesspersons, students, and Govt & private sector employees.
We get filled 400 questionnaires by our respondents from the Quetta division.Our research hypothesis is switching cost & intertie which has a very positive impact on customer loyalty & customer satisfaction.Customer satisfaction has a significant positive impact on customer loyalty.Service quality has a significant positive influence on trust.After concluding that we come up with the results that as per our respondent Jazz has quick and efficient services rather than other mobile broadband operators, customers are satisfied with jazz with the addition of having clear objectives & information they provide.Jazz's response capacity is also very efficient while in politeness behavior of Telenor is number one place and jazz is in number two customer rate Quality of service of Telenor is better than other mobile operators, while jazz is number two, as per our KPI our respondents rate Telenor as 1 st and jazz as 2 nd , in quality of service, with addition respondents rate as justified with services of jazz as Ist and Telenor as 2 nd , the portrayed no rate of jazz is very low compared to other mobile broadband operators, Zong users are satisfied with their mobile broadband operators, while in 2 nd jazz mobile broadband operators are satisfied as 2 nd no, the reason behind this Zong broadband is cheaper than other mobile broadband operators, plus Quality of service of jazz is far better than other mobile broadband operators as per our respondents.So Basically, Ufone and Telenor should work on QOS as well as their price rates, plus jazz should focus on behavior, and prices and Zong should focus on the quality of services.
As per PTA Website, updated till November 2019 the Mobile Users are 164 Million.While 74 Million users are belonging to 3G and 4G.while 76 Million are Broadband Subscribers.Individually calculations as per PTS Latest report published on the official website, the figures are mentioned under below.CMPAK Zong 4G users are 14.702Million while 3G users are 7.6 Million.PTML 4G Users are 14.505Million while 3G Users are 12.047 Million subscribers.

Table 1 .
Respondents in select cities.

Table 2 .
Gender profile of respondents.

Table 3 .
Age representation of respondents.

Table 4 .
Profession representation of respondents.

Table 5 .
Education representation of respondents.

Table 6 .
Language representation of respondents.

Table 7 .
Representation of respondents having nationality other than Pakistan.

Table 8 .
Representation of Respondents Using Ufone Mobile Broadband Operator.How would you rate, provider meet the level advertised broadband speed for the plan you subscribe?

Table 9 .
Representation of respondents using telenor mobile broadband operator.

Table 10 .
Representation of respondents using pcml (jazz) mobile broadband operator.How do you rate, the response time of mobile Broadband provider against the complaints you made?

Table 11 .
Representation of respondents using zong mobile broadband operator.