John Linton ....in Sydney with a cloudless light blue sky and a crispish temperature promising a warmer day.....spirit lifting and allowing a full option weekend.
I have quite a lot of work to get through before Monday but, for once, I don't intend to do more than the bare minimum which is a review of the Optus ADSL2 market approaches based on some possible changes to the pricing and offering of the current ADSL2 services. Because of the various 'difficulties' engendered by the Telstra 'win back' campaigns (now reported as stated by David Thodey as rising from 4,000 a month to 60,000 ADSL services per month = 720,000 per year if that is a true month on month figure) and therefore smaller ADSL suppliers reactions to that pretty massive pressure on their installed customer bases, it is difficult to keep up with the various changes to what is appealing most to the different types of ADSL market places.
We have constantly looked at how to improve our ADSL services since we first offered them in January 2004 and have made countless improvements and changes to the residential offerings every year since then. The inescapable pressures of Telstra's 'epiphany on the road to win back' some two and a half years ago has made life, at least for Exetel, very difficult since that time. From what the suppliers and carriers we deal with say - Exetel is not the only communications company that has 'suffered' from Telstra Retail's activities. But, that's normal commercial life - market leaders always react, eventually, to smaller companies chipping away at their customer base and in Telstra's case the huge 'marketing' program has produced huge results - even if it did so with as yet unknown future consequences for both themselves and many other retail market suppliers.
So it's difficult to predict what would be the best way, assuming there is one, to structure a residential communications offering in the short and medium term. While not related to ADSL this article pretty much defines the major issue with current residential communications customers:
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/overloaded-service-takes-smile-off-the-dial-20110506-1ec3y.html
This precious princess is offered 'the world' and expects to get it because he is entitled to it. However the current market place he, and Virgin, are operating in make user expectation and service delivery some considerable distance apart:
"....and is unable to download data while on a phone call."
?????????????????? This sort of expectation is the result of two decades of "everything is free" marketing by the mobile carriers that now ensures that customers like Mr Shmulow are dissatisfied with the amazingly good deal they got and blame every apparent issue (dialing the wrong number for goodness sake - boy, is that stretching credibility) on his supplier. Mind you printing this precious darling's wild accusations in my daily newspaper says very little for Fairfax's journalistic and editing standards. But, as I said, it does define the problems currently facing all residential communications suppliers - expectation has exceeded ability to supply a fair while ago.
So.....getting back to residential ADSL.....similar issues have to be dealt with. I wish I, or someone else within Exetel, knew how to do that.
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