Report on Customer Service of Grameen Phone Limited

The main objective is to discuss about the customer service in GrameenPhone Limited. Other objectives are explain the customer service units in GrameenPhone and their working area. Report also analysis to understand the products and services and also value added services given by GrameenPhone Ltd. Finally discuss about the automated tools used in GrameenPhone to serve customers.

Objectives of the study:

The objective of this report is as follows:

The main objective is to discuss about the customer service in GrameenPhone Ltd. In order to this, I had to,

examine the customer service units in GrameenPhone Ltd. and their working area.
know about the payment and recharge method in GrameenPhone Ltd.
understand the products and services and also value added services given by GrameenPhone Ltd.
learn and discuss about the automated tools used in GrameenPhone Ltd. to serve customers.

Methodology:

For the purpose of the study data and information have been collected from both primary and secondary sources. The relevant information collected from primary sources is collected in an informal way. Our work experience in GP helped us a lot. Besides this, regular conversations with many GP employees and we have interviewed and taken some suggestions orally from the personnel of GrameenPhone Ltd. The secondary sources for data collection were published annual reports, monthly financial newsletters of GP and monthly newsletters of GrameenPhone Ltd.

GRAMEENPHONE LTD.

HISTORY

November 28, 1996: GrameenPhone was offered a cellular license in Bangladesh by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications;

March 26, 1997: GrameenPhone launched its service on the Independence Day of Bangladesh;

June 1998: GP started its services in the port city of Chittagong, the second largest city in the country. Cell to cell coverage in the Dhaka-Chittagong corridor also enabled GP to introduce its service in a number of other districts along the way;

September 1999: GP started its service in the industrial city of Khulna. Once again, a number of other districts came under coverage of GP because of the cell to cell coverage between Dhaka and Khulna. Earlier in September 1999, it introduced the EASY pre-paid service in the local market. It also introduced the Voice Mail Service (VMS) and the Short Message Service (SMS) and other Value Added Services (VAS);

June 2000: GrameenPhone started its services in Sylhet, Barisal and Rajshahi, bringing all six divisional headquarters under the coverage of its network. The service in Barisal region was started after the microwave link between Khulna and Chittagong was completed;

August 2003: After six years of operation, GrameenPhone has more than one million subscribers;

November 2005: GrameenPhone continues to being the largest mobile phone operator of Bangladesh with more than 5 million subscribers;

November 16, 2006: After almost 10 years of operation, GrameenPhone has over 10 million subscribers.

GrameenPhone has built one of the most extensive infrastructures of Bangladesh and is a major contributor to the development of the national economy. GrameenPhone is one of the largest private sector investments in the country with an accumulated investment of BDT 5200 crore up to December 2005. GrameenPhone is also one the largest taxpayers in the country, having contributed nearly BDT 5000 crore in direct and indirect taxes to the Government Exchequer over the years of which is amount, BDT 1670 crore was paid in 2005 alone.

GP was also the first operator to introduce the pre-paid service in September 1999. In addition to core voice services, GrameenPhone offers a number of value-added services, in each case on both a contract and prepaid basis. It established the first 24-hour Call Center, introduced value-added services such as VMS, SMS, Fax & Data Transmission Services, International Roaming Service, WAP, SMS – based Push-Pull Services, EDGE, personal ring back tone and many other products and services.

GrameenPhone nearly doubled its subscriber base during the initial years while the growth was much faster during the later years. It ended the inaugural year with 18,000 customers, 30,000 by the end of 1998, 60,000 in 1999, 193,000 in 2000, 471,000 in 2001, 775,000 in 2002, 1.16 million in 2003, 2.4 million in 2004 and it ended 2005 with 5.5 million customers.

GrameenPhone offers the widest coverage in Bangladesh. The population coverage has increased from approximately 85% in 2005 to above 90% in 2006. In addition, GrameenPhone also offers GPRS in most of the country and EDGE in urban areas.

From the very beginning, GrameenPhone placed emphasis on providing good after-sales services. In recent years, the focus has been to provide after-sales within a short distance from where the customers live. There are now more than 600 GP Service Desks across the country covering nearly all sub-districts of 61 districts. In addition, there are nine GP Customer Centers in all the divisional cities and they remain open from 8am-8pm every day including all holidays.

GrameenPhone has generated direct and indirect employment for a large number of people over the years. The company presently has more than 4,500 full-time, part-time and contractual employees. Another 70,000 people are directly dependent on GrameenPhone for their livelihood, working for the GP dealers, retailers, scratch card outlets, suppliers, vendors, contractors and others.

In addition, the Village Phone Program, also started in 1997, provides a good income-earning opportunity to more than 200,000 mostly women Village Phone operators living in rural areas. The Village Phone Program is a unique initiative to provide universal access to telecommunications service in remote, rural areas. Administered by Grameen Telecom Corporation, it enables rural people who normally cannot afford to own a telephone to avail the service while providing the Village Phone operators an opportunity to earn a living.

The Village Phone initiative was given the “GSM in the Community” award at the Global GSM Congress held in Cannes, France in February 2000. GrameenPhone was also adjudged the Best Joint Venture Enterprise of the Year at the Bangladesh Business Awards in 2002.

GrameenPhone considers its employees to be one of its most important assets. GP has an extensive employee benefit scheme in place including Gratuity, Provident Fund, Group Insurance, Family Health Insurance, Transportation Facility, Day Care Centre, Children’s Education Support, Higher Education Support for employees, In-House Medical Support and other initiatives.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY; AN INTEGRAL PART OF GP

GrameenPhone started its journey 10 years back with a believe that- “Good development is good business”. Since its inception, GrameenPhone has been driven to be inspiring and leading by example, when it comes to being involved in the community. GrameenPhone believe that, sustainable development can only be achieved through long term economic growth. Therefore, as a leading corporate house in Bangladesh GP intend to deliver the best to their customers, business partners, stakeholders, employees and society at large by being a partner in development.

GrameenPhone defines Corporate Social Responsibility as a complimentary combination of ethical and responsible corporate behavior as well as a commitment towards generating greater good in society as a whole by addressing the development needs of the country.

To interact effectively and responsibly with the society and to contribute to the socio-economic development of Bangladesh, GrameenPhone has adopted a holistic approach to Corporate Social Responsibility, i.e. Strategic & Tactical. Through this approach GP aims to, on the one hand involve itself with the larger section of the society and to address diverse segments of the stakeholder demography, and on the other remain focused in its social investment to generate greater impact for the society.

GrameenPhone focuses its Corporate Social Responsibility involvement in three main areas – Health, Education and Empowerment. They aim to combine all their CSR initiatives under these three core areas to enhance the economic and social growth of Bangladesh.

Health

Helping and caring for the community is an essential component of GrameenPhone’s Corporate Social Responsibility; therefore they endeavor to make a positive contribution to the underprivileged community of Bangladesh by helping in improvement of the health perils in the country as much as possible.

Healthcare is still inaccessible for many Bangladeshis. Almost half of the country’s population live below the poverty line and cannot even afford basic healthcare. Only 35% of the rural population use adequate sanitation facilities and 72% have access to clean drinking water. Moreover the people of the flood-prone areas suffer from many waterborne diseases.

The major problem in this sector is the significant gap between healthcare knowledge and practice and availability of the healthcare services. Therefore, all possible sources, be it public or private, should mobilize their efforts to make healthcare services available to the people who need it most, and thus help in achieving the MDG goals. GP’s plan is to engage in programs, especially in the rural areas, that will assist in creating awareness about healthcare and healthcare services and help improve the overall quality of life.

Keeping their vision in mind – We are here to help; GrameenPhone aim to extend their contribution to the development of the healthcare system and work to provide a brighter and healthier future for the people of Bangladesh.

Education

Education is the key to prosperity and good life. Every human being should have the opportunity to make a better life for him or herself. One of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for Bangladesh is to achieve universal primary education; unfortunately too many children in Bangladesh today grow up without this opportunity, because they are denied their basic right to even attend primary school. The country’s low literacy rate of 41% (2004 UNESCO Report), may indicate that we are far away in pursuit of sustainable development, but at the same time the gradual increase in the adult literacy rate gives us the hope that our nation has the potential to improve in this sector.

The marginalized and disadvantaged groups in general – particularly the rural and urban-poor of Bangladesh – have significantly less access to education than other groups. Though initial enrollment in primary school is high, the completion rate is notably low; approximately 65% (World Bank Report 2004) and a smaller percent of that even complete secondary school. Bangladesh government has provided lot of incentives, such as, free distribution of textbooks in primary schools, secondary stipend program for 100% of the girls, Food for Education project, to encourage and improve the educational sector of the country, which has helped in improvement in the literacy rate. But still we have a long way to go to make our country illiteracy free, thus GP look forward to support this sector, which will eventually help to build a developed country.

Providing access to education, especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds who might not otherwise get the opportunity, is the main goal of GrameenPhone’s CSR education initiatives. Many people in Bangladesh still lack the basic technological knowledge and marketable skills, thus GP plan to focus further to develop an educated and skilled workforce through creating opportunity in capacity development; skilled workforce would in turn be able to create and share knowledge and contribute to the economy of Bangladesh.

Empowerment

Lack of empowerment and poverty is a chronic and complex problem for Bangladesh. According to UNDP HDI Report 2006, which measures the average progress of a country in human development, in terms of, life expectancy, adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), etc., Bangladesh ranks 137^th among 177 countries. Moreover, 50% of the total population of Bangladesh lives below the poverty line, defined by less than a dollar a day.

Some of the major factors contributing to this situation are inequality in income distribution, lack of access to resources, lack of access to information and inadequate infrastructure. The rural people of Bangladesh especially are deprived of these facilities, which is a major issue to break out from the shackles of poverty prevailing in the country.

Empowerment is a key constituent towards poverty reduction, and it is a key driver for sustainable economic development. Empowerment is a process of enhancing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes, which in turn helps them to secure a better life.

GP acknowledge that development and poverty reduction depend on holistic economic prosperity; therefore their aim is to increase development opportunities, enhance development outcomes and contribute towards development of the quality of life of the people through their CSR initiatives and innovative services. They would like to facilitate empowerment opportunities to the vulnerable people of Bangladesh, so that it enables them to better influence the course of their lives and live a life of their own choice.

CUSTOMER SERVICE AT GRAMEENPHONE

With the increased importance being laid on customer satisfaction in today’s business climate, many companies today are focusing on the notion of customer satisfaction and loyalty as the key to increasing market share and enhancing bottom line results. A company that enjoys a high customer satisfaction and thus a higher customer loyalty also enjoys a competitive advantage and a corporate profitability. Today, companies need to hold on to every customer. It is a lot easier to retain and expand existing relationships than acquire new business. Customer satisfaction and loyalty management systems not only point out customer problems but lead the way towards solutions.

As GrameenPhone is a service oriented company, it always aims to retain it’s customers through quality customer service. Even though customer loyalty is possible through customer relationship management, there is always room for customer dissatisfaction, which hampers customer loyalty. Hence, in order to maintain loyalty it is very important to maintain a good relationship with the customer.

The telecommunication industry is becoming more and more competitive in Bangladesh and customer service is the main player in this fast growing industry. Mobile companies are also giving highest priority in the customer service area. Call rates and SIM prices are reducing dramatically because of the increasing competition among the operators. At present all the operators have wide network coverage throughout the country and the call rate they are offering is also more or less the same. Under the above circumstances customer service is the most distinguishing factor for the mobile companies in order to survive in the competition.

The Customer Service Department of GrameenPhone Ltd. provides a full range of after-sales service customized to the needs of the valued customers. Efforts are made to offer complete service through all the contact points dedicated for GrameenPhone customers at every opportunity through Call Management Center, Customer Centers, GrameenPhone Service Desks (GPSD), GrameenPhone Centers (GPC) and Customer Communication. The trained team of Customer Service Department strives to ensure service with an aim to content the subscribers through “You First” attitude and solution. Their strategy is to connect Bangladesh with “Ease & Care” at every contact through professional and pro-active service.

CALL MANAGEMENT CENTER

The centralized Call Management Center in Dhaka is manned by trained professionals and is open round-the-clock, responding to subscribers’ queries from all over the country where GrameenPhone has its coverage. GrameenPhone Ltd has recently introduced a single dedicated hotline number 121 for all of its subscribers to provide instant service. At present there are more than 450 dedicated and energetic employees are working to provide instant over phone service to the subscribers. Call Management Center is well equipped with state of the art software’s and other important tools through which most of the problems of the subscribers can be solved instantly. Call Management Center remains open 365 days a year and 24 hours a day.

Recently GrameenPhone introduced dialect based hotline for the first time in the region, to provide more customized service to its subscribers. Through this innovative service GP subscribers can communicate with the Customer Managers at their own dialect. At present GP provide services through all the major dialects of the country- Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna and Barisal.

CUSTOMER CENTER

The Customer Centers offer various after-sales service like SIM Replacement, Reconnection, Bill Payment, Address Change, Migration, Ownership change etc that requires physical presence of the subscriber. At present the eight (8) centers are conveniently located in the 6 divisional cities where the valued subscribers have easy accessibility to walk-in and get personalized and pro-active service. The Customer Centers of Grameen Phone remains open 7 (seven) days a week from 8 AM to 7 PM.

GRAMEENPHONE CENTER (GPC)

GrameenPhone Center (GPC) is the most recent innovation of GrameenPhone with the aim to provide all kinds of mobile phone related services to its subscribers. For the first time in Bangladesh subscribers will get both SIM and handset related services from the GrameenPhone Centers. So far Grameen Phone introduced 39 well decorated GPC in the country. All these GPC are not only providing after sales services but also working as the main sales channel of the company. Within each GPC there is a separate section allocated for selling and repairing handsets at an affordable cost. GrameenPhone Centers are open from 08:00 AM to 07:00 PM everyday.

GRAMEENPHONE SERVICE DESK (GPSD)

Previously people at the rural areas had to come in the major cities to get customer service, which is a real hassle and time consuming process for them. To solve this problem GrameenPhone introduced Service Desk with a vision to provide service at the rural and remote areas. At present GrameenPhone have total 607 Service Desk around the country through which it provide service at grass root level. All these GPSD remain open from 09:00 AM to 05:00 PM in five days a week.

CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION

The centralized Customer Communication located in Dhaka, handles written requests of subscribers, both verbally and in writing 7 (seven) days a week from 8 AM to 8 PM. Customer Communication deals with all sorts of written complain received through fax, letter by post and e-mail. It also builds relationship with the valued subscribers on a regular basis. The major responsibility of the unit is to maintain relationship with the high users and ensure that the present subscribers are not going to switch to other operator.

TRAVELERS TO CUSTOMER

“Travelers to Customer” is another recent addition of service in Customer Service Department which is also the first time of its kind in the country. The major responsibility of this unit is to provide service at the customer’s doorstep with the slogan of “Let’s not expect the customers to travel to get the service rather let service travel to the customers”. Currently it’s providing service in the major cities of the country and to the high volume users of GrameenPhone. OUTBOUND CALLING CENTER

Outbound Calling Center is another addition of innovative service of Customer Service Department. A group of young, energetic and well trained employees are working in Outbound Calling Center and they are responsible to call back the subscriber to get feedback about the service quality. One of the major responsibilities of the unit is to identify all the dissatisfied customer and try to bring them back so that they stay with GrameenPhone. Moreover the unit is also responsible to provide service to all those subscribers who have repeatedly accessed hotline, with the same kind of problem. In this way outbound calling center plays a major role in holding the existing subscribers.

CORPORATE CUSTOMER CENTER

The Corporate Customer Center aims to provide quality customer service to the country’s preferential business customers. A professionally trained team is dedicated to provide After Sales Services and Solutions customized to the need of the business customers and initiate pro-active visits as a part of routine contact to look into the needs with an aim to build long-term professional relationships. Their professional customer care team is available to help seven days a week, 365 days of the year – whether for general queries, or to assist with any problems subscribers may possibly face. Their dedicated relationship managers are assigned to provide personalized service right from the beginning of the relationship.

PRODUCTS & SERVICES GRAMEENPHONE

GrameenPhone offers a wide range of products and services based on the demand of the subscribers. Currently GrameenPhone is offering seven different products which are designed to fulfill the demand of the various customer segments. Moreover they frequently modify their product offerings and add more attractive features according to the customer expectations. In this regard, GrameenPhone recently offered four brand new products named- Smile M2M, Smile PSTN, Xplore P1 and Xplore P2, to fulfill the changing expectation of the subscribers. All the existing Easy Pre-Paid, Easy Gold, GP National and GP Regular subscribers were automatically migrated to Smile M2M, Smile PSTN, Xplore P1 and Xplore P2 respectively.

At present there are seven different GP products which are available in the market. The whole product line of GrameenPhone is divided in to two broad categories. These are: Pre-Paid & Post Paid. Among these two categories Pre-Paid products are more popular than the Post-Paid products. Currently in total 12,071,319 subscribers are using GrameenPhone’s Pre-Paid products and the rest of 576,462 subscribers are using the Post-Paid products.

COMMUNITY INFORMATION CENTER (CIC)

Set up with technical assistance from the GSM Association, the GrameenPhone Community Information Centers (GPCICs) are equipped with the minimum of a computer, a printer, a scanner, a web cam and an EDGE-enabled modem to access the Internet using the EDGE connectivity.

The GPCICs are designed to be run independently as small businesses by local entrepreneurs. The GPCICs are set up on shared premises in select rural areas around the country. The computers in the 16 centers of the pilot phase were used by an average of 30 people a day, who pay a small fee to access E-mail or Web pages. Currently there are 80 CICs operating in as many Upazilas of the country.

Beneficiaries use the centers for a wide variety of business and personal purposes, from accessing health and agricultural information to using government services to video conferencing with relatives overseas. GrameenPhone trains the entrepreneurs so that they become aware of the full potential of business through GPCIC.

To help the entrepreneurs to earn more Community Information Centers also provide local people with other GrameenPhone services, such as payphones (again using GrameenPhone’s mobile network) and electronic recharges for prepaid mobile accounts.

Through GPCIC from the Government websites, access to passport forms, birth and death certificates forms and other related information are available. Market prices of agricultural produce are also available through the website of the Agricultural Extension Department.

The GPCICs are also of help to students and professionals for gathering reports and news suiting their requirements. Information relating to local and foreign job search sites is available at the centers. Many services which would continue to remain beyond the reach of an individual in rural areas would now be available at the GrameenPhone Community Information Centers.

Health and medical information will also be made available through the GPCICs soon. In addition, other useful content will also be added gradually. The ranges of services that are available at GPCICs include:

Internet surfing and E-mailing;
Chatting with Voice, Picture;
Video Conferencing;
Computer Composing;
Scanning, Printing, Fax & CD Writing;
Commercial Mobile Call;
E-governance Services;
GP Value Added Services such as FlexiLoad, Ring Tones Downloading etc;
Telemedicine Services;
Content on Health & Agriculture;
Multimedia Education for Children;
Directory Services

GrameenPhone is rolling out Community Information Centers across rural Bangladesh, giving up to 20 million people the chance to use the Internet and E-mail for the first time. GrameenPhone is teaming up with local entrepreneurs to set up approximately 500 centers in communities throughout the country by the end of 2007.

GrameenPhone has delivery partners such as Grameen Telecom Corporation and Society for Economic & Basic Advancement (SEBA); that are involved in site and entrepreneur selection. GrameenPhone takes care of training, marketing and logistic support. GrameenPhone also provides the GSM infrastructure and the initial services. The micro-financing partners, if required, provide small loans to entrepreneurs who render the services to the local rural community. It takes around USD 1000 to establish a GPCIC. An expected revenue of USD 6-7 per day would make a GPCIC financially viable and it would reach break-even in about a year’s time.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF GRAMEENPHONE

STRENGTHS

Market leader in Bangladeshi mobile market for a long period;
Strong global reputation of the mother company-Telenor AS;
Collaboration with internationally acclaimed Nobel Piece Prize winner Dr. Younus and Grameen Bank;
Good Human Resource and Infrastructure Installation all over the country through Bangladesh Railway and Grameen Bank;
Highest tax paying company of the country;
Availability of Fiber Optic Backbone Network;
Largest Geographical Coverage;
The first and only company which crossed the 10 million subscribers mark; at present their total subscriber is near about 13 million which is more than the total of other 4 operators subscriber base;
GrameenPhone is the only company which operates in rural areas of the country through the Village Phone Program;
Access to the widest rural distribution network through Grameen Telecom;
Wide operating span; all geographic segments are currently availing the products of GrameenPhone because of wide-uninterrupted network coverage and best customer service;
Double digit growth rate are targeted every year and attained;
The only company of the country which provides customer service 365 days of the year through hotline (121) and GrameenPhone Center (GPC);
Innovation has been a primary factor accounting for GrameenPhone’s success so far. GP has a wide range of products and services to fulfill the demand of different age, sex and class of people. Moreover, the company has a strong reputation for offering innovative products and services;
The only operator which has service desk in almost every Upazilas (or Sub Districts) of the country;
GrameenPhone’s market share is more than double of its nearest competitor;
Strong nationwide marketing and distribution channels; GP has an active presence throughout the country;
Strong Brand Image and Awareness;
Loyal and large dealer base;
Strong employee bonding and belongingness is one of the major assets of the company. GrameenPhone employees have strong positive reputation in the society. They have strong sense of commitment towards organization and also feel proud and a sense of belonging towards GrameenPhone;
Comprehensive Knowledge of the local market and customers;
Ready to meet the challenges posed by the changing scenario in the cell phone industry and globalization of economies through effective succession plan; which has proven to be successful over the years. It’s a learning company where structures, systems and processes consistently evolve and are adapted to meet the changing requirements of the market;
GrameenPhone’s “Health Line Service” has recently awarded by the GSM Association for using mobile phone as an important tool of social development. GP is the only operator in the country which provides health line services through mobile phone.
The human resource of GrameenPhone is extremely well planned and perfectly managed. GP believes in empowering employees and the top management refuses to put their finger in every part of the pie. This empowered environment makes GP one of the best working places for the employees. Moreover, as GP is a multinational company, employees don’t want to leave their jobs because of the reputation outside and thus, the employee turnover rate is very low. The employees are not suffocated with authority but are able to grow as the company matures;
Excellent relationship with media, government and regulatory bodies (BTRC).

WEAKNESSES

Poor interconnection with BTTB is one of the great weaknesses of GP. 80% subscribers of GP are Smile M2M and Djuice user. But GrameenPhone is still unable to provide BTTB connectivity in these two popular products while other existing operators are providing BTTB accessibility to the majority of their subscribers;

Complicated price structure of the products is another weakness for the company;

Recent conflict with Dr. Younus regarding the share of GrameenPhone created negative impression about the company among Bangladeshi people.

Lack of consistency and short duration of the promotional offers creates dissatisfaction among the customers;

GrameenPhone’s call rate and price of the products are relatively higher than the competitors. Since Bangladeshi people are more price sensitive therefore GP’s high tariff plan influencing huge number of existing customer to switch in other operator;

Although GrameenPhone serving all the geographic segments, but they are mostly concentrating on the market of major cities of the country.

OPPORTUNITIES

Huge growth of the telecommunication industry will help GP to capture more market share in upcoming years;
Activities in most of the rural areas are very little; to increase substantial market share GP can focus on this segment and reduce threat of new entrance in the industry.
GP has the opportunity to diversify in the corporate segment. They can focus on to capture the market share of the corporate segment by using their competitive advantages and good reputation;
Declining price of the handset will increase the number of cell phone user in upcoming years. GrameenPhone can offer various handsets based promotional offer to utilize the opportunity;
The giant handset manufacturer Nokia is planning to establish their production plant in Bangladesh. GrameenPhone can offer their various offer in collaboration with Nokia;

Introduction of cell phone dependent projects like “Community Information Center (CIC)” and “Bills Pay” opened up massive opportunities for the company to earn huge revenues in the near future. Moreover the CIC project has already been considered as an important contribution to the rural and social development of the country.

THREATS

The entrance of world’s third largest telecommunication company “Warid Telecom” in the Bangladeshi market is a big threat for GrameenPhone. Warid Telecom has entered into the market with a huge amount of investment in order to capture the market share of GP and become the leading cell phone company of the country;
Strict policy and monitoring of the government regulatory bodies are threatening the companies to operate efficiently;
Recent price war and aggressive marketing of the competitors;
Warid Telecom’s presence will generate more intense competition among the operators which ultimately may lead the company’s to merge in future;
Government’s continuous pressure to introduce share in the stock market;

Until last few weeks, getting a mobile phone connection was not a problem for anyone as the mobile phone companies did not ask for much information from their customers. Now the government has ordered all the mobile companies to enlist their existing subscribers with detailed information so that the government can keep track if terrorists mobile phone for their destructive purposes. The government has also ordered the companies to follow this system for the new subscribers too. Since GrameenPhone’s subscriber base is higher than the total of all other operators’ subscriber therefore it has become a tough job for GP to enlist all the existing subscribers.

Findings:

Working in Grameenphone Customer Service I have found that there are lots of work load on each and every customer manager as customers increasing a lot, comparing with that customer managers are not increasing. Another finding is at present more than 20 automated tools are running in customer service to support different activities and some of them are used in same functionalities.

Recommendations:

Need to increase employee in customer service.
It is necessary to find a single tool for a single function rather than using two or more automated tools for the same function.
All the 20 automated tools may be combined as a single tool and only one window may be used for customer service.

CONCLUSION

Competition is increasing in cellular market day by day as there are mainly six companies are operating this business in Bangladesh. All of them are trying to increase their market share giving lots of facilities. In future as a market leader GrameenPhone Ltd. should focus more on customer service area to keep customers loyal. After a certain period the sale may decrease but importance on customer service will increase day by day.