Known as subscriber churn, the loss of a current customer to a competitor is something that all mobile phone service providers would avoid, if at all possible. In the highly competitive industry where a significant segment of subscribers are looking for a better deal, any insight about those most inclined to leave would be valuable.
According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, mobile network operators worldwide are set to gain from a significant reduction in subscriber churn through the adoption of Big Data and analytics techniques.
What's the incentive? This one particular service provider application will be equivalent to an increase in revenues of almost $4 billion a year by 2018.
Juniper found that the implementation of analytics platforms was enabling network operators to anticipate the likelihood of customers to churn, to take preventative action and thereby reduce revenue loss.
Analytics Can Identify Priority Subscribers
According to the study findings, a number of leading mobile network operators have already seen significant reductions in consumer churn levels -- following the implementation of analytics platforms.
Juniper cited MTN South Africa, which in 2012 deployed a Big Data program combining subscriber information and social network analysis to determine priority users and customer networks and subsequently saw annualized churn decline by more than 20 percentage points.
"Although the scope for churn reduction varies by country and by operator, mobile network operators with high numbers of Pre-Pay subscribers are likely to realize the greatest benefits," said Keith Breed, associate analyst at Juniper Research.
By gaining control of structured & unstructured customer data for the first time, operators in emerging markets can gain far greater consumer insight than was previously the case.
They also found that, while churn reduction was the primary benefit for operators in emerging markets, players in more developed markets -- such as C Spire Wireless in the U.S. market -- were increasingly coupling analytics with a customer loyalty program to improve user retention.
Other findings from the market study include:
According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, mobile network operators worldwide are set to gain from a significant reduction in subscriber churn through the adoption of Big Data and analytics techniques.
What's the incentive? This one particular service provider application will be equivalent to an increase in revenues of almost $4 billion a year by 2018.
Juniper found that the implementation of analytics platforms was enabling network operators to anticipate the likelihood of customers to churn, to take preventative action and thereby reduce revenue loss.
Analytics Can Identify Priority Subscribers
According to the study findings, a number of leading mobile network operators have already seen significant reductions in consumer churn levels -- following the implementation of analytics platforms.
Juniper cited MTN South Africa, which in 2012 deployed a Big Data program combining subscriber information and social network analysis to determine priority users and customer networks and subsequently saw annualized churn decline by more than 20 percentage points.
"Although the scope for churn reduction varies by country and by operator, mobile network operators with high numbers of Pre-Pay subscribers are likely to realize the greatest benefits," said Keith Breed, associate analyst at Juniper Research.
By gaining control of structured & unstructured customer data for the first time, operators in emerging markets can gain far greater consumer insight than was previously the case.
They also found that, while churn reduction was the primary benefit for operators in emerging markets, players in more developed markets -- such as C Spire Wireless in the U.S. market -- were increasingly coupling analytics with a customer loyalty program to improve user retention.
Other findings from the market study include:
- Analytics will generate almost $9 billion of savings and incremental revenues worldwide for mobile operators by 2018.
- Over-the-Top (OTT) players and digital content providers need to deploy analytics solutions to improve customer segmentation and thereby increasing targeting and up-selling opportunity.