Telefónica's Movistar, Spain's largest mobile operator, announced a revamp to its service offerings in an effort to boost customer relationships.
Luis Miguel Gilperez, president of Telefónica Spain, said that the operator plans to start this initiative by focusing on its existing customers via the launch of new promotions and an overhaul to its smartphone portfolio.
Of note, Gilperez said it was nonsense to offer potential subscribers better products and services than those available to existing users in an attempt to persuade them to become customers. "We [the operators] are mistreating our subscriber base with such commercial strategies," Gilperez said, according to a Telecom Paper report. "The [customer] satisfaction rates in Spain are below those of other countries in our area, that's why it is essential to change this strategy."
One of the first actions has seen Telefónica cut the price of its DSL service to Movistar mobile voice subscribers ,which saw an immediate surge in uptake for the broadband service. "To me it doesn't seem honest or serious to sell DSL for €15 per month for the first three months and then increase [the price] to €30," said Gilperez, adding that the company's new goal was for customers not to "have to check their bill at the end of the month."
Separately, the Spanish mobile phone market declined 10 per cent in 2011 with only 20 million handsets being sold, according to Spanish research firm Ametic. Nearly 10 million smartphones were shipped in this period, bringing the total in use in Spain to 18 million units.
For more:
- see this Telecom Paper article (sub. req.)
- see this El Eleconomista article (translated via Google Translate)
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