173 Seth, Momaya, Gupta

AN EXPLORATORY INVESTIGATION OF CUSTOMER LOYALTY AND RETENTION IN CELLULAR MOBILE COMMUNICATION
Anita Seth Kiran Momaya H.M. Gupta
Cellular mobile industry has undergone rapid changes as a result of liberalization and globalization. In such a ever changing scenario, expansion and maintaining the loyal customer base seems to be a great challenge for the mobile service providers. As a result of increased competition, customer loyalty and retention have become important goals for mobile service operators. Reacting to the pressures, most of the cellular mobile service providers are trying to attract subscribers by not only reducing their tariff rates but also giving attention to the quality of services delivered. In this context the present paper focuses on the customer loyalty and retention in cellular mobile communication. Literature review was carried out covering the theoretical and empirical work on the subject and exploring the relations with service quality. Exploratory interviews were conducted in order to gain practical insights of the subject. Based on the literature review and findings from the interviews, this paper presents a rich research agenda for further research.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

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he forces of liberalization and globalization of telecommunication market have pressurized the companies to maintain their market share by focusing on retaining their current customers. They are being increasingly confronted with challenges to attract their subscribers by providing high quality services. With the increase in the cost of acquisition of new customers, cellular mobile companies continually seek new ways to acquire, retain and increase their subscriber base. Thus the ability to retain existing subscribers is increasingly crucial in this industry. In this scenario, the role of customer loyalty and retention becomes critical in