GSM Users Research Articles

BRAND CHOICE INFLUENCING FACTORS AND CUSTOMER PREFERENCE LEVEL OF MOBILE NETWORK SERVICE PROVIDERS

As customers switch from one network to another, researchers argue over the propelling factors behind their switching behaviour. Most people in other zones of the country believe that an average Igbo man does not joke with money, to the extent that other factors are considered inconsequential. With this in view, one begins to wonder if tarrif is the major factor that an average subscriber in the south east zone considers to switch brands. This work, therefore, examined brand choice influencing factors and customer preference level of mobile network service providers, and adopted descriptive research design. Three hundred and ninety-one copies of questionnaire were administered on GSM users spread over the Southeastern parts of Nigeria to make possible the testing of three hypotheses formulated. Using SPSS, multiple regression was run to ascertain the effect of each of the independent variables: network quality, tariff level and complaint management on the dependent variable, customer brand preference level. Findings revealed that the three variables had significant relationships with customer brand preference. However, network quality made the highest contribution to Customer Preference Level, followed by tariff level and finally, complaint management, which made the least contribution. Since Network Quality made the greatest contribution to customer preference level, the researchers recommended that GSM service providers in Nigeria should creatively and innovatively apply the model developed by this work to enhance the quality of their service delivery.

Social and Environmental Accountabilities of the Nepalese Cell Phone Operators

Background: Social and environmental accountabilities are the ideas of individuals/organisations working for society to maintain economic and environmental equilibrium. Society's perception of organizations is shaped by how they report on their social and environmental effects.
 
 Objective: This study aimed to examine the impression of social and environmental indicators concerning organizational performance from the perspective of the customers of Nepalese mobile phone service providers.
 
 Materials and Methods: The study employed a stratified non-probability sampling technique and collected primary data from 329 GSM users of the Nepalese cell phone operator companies with an organised survey questionnaire. The survey questionnaire contained 17 questions about demographic and general information, social and environmental impressions, and organisational performance. The study variables' questions were organised with a 6-point Likert-type scale and employed structural equation modelling and path analysis to get the study's objective.
 
 Results: Two observed variables out of five within the social performance (β = 0.812, p < 0.01) and all four observed variables within the environmental performance (β = 0.972, p < 0.01) significantly contributed to social and environmental performance. The social and environmental performance with six observable and two latent variables had a substantial influence (β = 0.877, p < 0.01) on organisational performance.
 
 Conclusions: The study presents a new subjective lens and an approach for recognising, analysing, and spreading social and environmental impacts. It expands the scope of performance evaluation by focusing on social and environmental variables generally overlooked by businesses, particularly in Nepal.
 
 Limitations/Recommendations: This analysis was limited to GSM service and based on primary data by covering a single-dimensional performance metric. The study's outcomes can generate opportunities for building more appropriate non-financial performance metrics impacting organisational performance.
 
 Originality: This paper has not been published elsewhere.

Development Communication Programs and Communications Security Capability by Improving the Cellular Networks Radio Layer

The GSM is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The number of GSM users is estimated at 80% of the world's population, or a total of five billion in over 200 countries. The advent of mobile terminals and the proliferation of their uses (including in sectors where they are used for communicating between machines) ensure compliance with robust security requirements. The topic of mobile security is vast as it includes radio access, network infrastructure, terminals, as well as the applications running on it. This article focuses on the first two themes. Since 2002, different independent projects have elicited interest in the security principles that were implemented in second and third generation mobile telephony networks. This presentation provides an overview of the objectives and concomitant impacts of these projects on the overall security of mobile networks. In addition to mentioning principles of security, the paper also identifies the challenges associated with geolocation.

An Investigation Of The Influence Of Femtocells Network On A Small Size Indoor Environment Using Itu-R And Winner Ii Path Loss Models

The rapid integrations of wireless controls in mechatronics, the broadening applications of wireless radio communications in aviation, and the exponential increase in the growth of mobile phone users in the last decade have made it necessary to expand the capacity of GSM users and ultimately increase the system performance. It has also become imperative for service providers to ensure adequate coverage is provided for all mobile users in areas with poor or no service. Even though many solutions such as distributed antenna system, relays, macrocells, and picocells were developed but they could not proffer the needed solution to indoor users. In this perspective, researchers were of the opinion that femtocells have a gifted technology to enhance indoor coverage because of properties such as short power, short coverage area, reduced distance between device and user and being a plug and play device. It was however discovered that research findings on large deployment of femtocells does not corroborate when a handful is deployed. This study therefore examines the influence of femtocells network on a small size indoor environment using ITU-R and WINNER II path loss models. To accomplish this, femtocells were modeled in six apartments of a building and parameters such as path loss, received power and signal to interference plus noise ratio were determined to ascertain the performance of a particular femtocell under the influence of co-tier interference. Results show that the ITU-R model was found to experience lower path losses which produced higher received powers than WINNER II (-57.0445dBm on the average).

Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Brand Image: A Survey of GSM Users in Umuahia Urban, Abia State

This study focuses on the influence of celebrity endorsement on brand image among GSM users in Umuahia Urban. In other to achieve the objective of this study, two research hypotheses were formulated and the generated data were analyzed and tested using the Pearson moment correlation analysis with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS .22). Data for the study were collected through questionnaire administered on 200 respondents which constituted the sample size. The study found a positive and significant relationship between celebrity endorsement and all the metrics of brand image considered in the study. Significantly, the study showed a strong and positive correlation between celebrity endorsement and brand awareness, while the relationship between celebrity attractiveness and brand personality is found to be moderate. The paper therefore concluded that celebrity endorsement is a needful communication strategy for building a strong brand image, and recommends that marketers must be careful enough to ensure a good brand ambassador is chosen so as to raise the unique selling proposition of the firm to new heights.

Socio-Technological Factors Influencing the Use of GSM in Communication and Sustainable Development in Nigeria

The study investigates the influence of social and technological problems/factors and the use of GSM in communication towards ensuring sustainable development in Nigeria. The multi-stage sampling technique is used for this study. The local governments are divided into two major strata, and from each stratum, one local government is selected randomly. From the Ibadan-lesscity, Akinyele local government is selected, and from Ibadan urban, it is Ibadan North East. Also, since the population of GSM users are unknown, a convenientsampling technique is deployed to select 200 respondents. The result reveals that although GSM users are satisfied with the reliability of the communication by mobile phones, some problems exist. Those problems are network issues, inability to perceive what the person at the other end is doing, and mistrust and distrust among speakers. Those problems have affected the satisfaction and use of GSM. In addition, some personal, social, and technological factors influence the efficient and nonefficient use of GSM (p < 0:05). As a result, users deploy various strategies to ameliorate these problems. Finally, GSM use among mobile users has a significant effect on users development (p < 0:05), which can bepersonal or communal. It is recommended that telecommunication should upgrade the system to encourage good interpersonal communication among GSM users and also consider some personal and social factors to enhance theefficiency use of GSM that will have sustainable impact on lives.

ANALISIS PEMILIHAN KARTU GSM PRABAYAR DI KALANGAN MAHASISWA DENGAN PENDEKATAN RANTAI MARKOV (Studi Kasus pada Mahasiswa Universitas Bunda Mulia, Jurusan Manajemen, Semester 8)

<p>The many variety of GSM card and services enables the customers to change brands easily. This has caused a tighter competition between the brands. In order to face the competition, GSM operators need to understand the customers’ perception and judgment on the preference scale toward the atribute of the products and services. GSM card operators also need to understand the brand switching pattern and its competitior position in analysing the market today or in the future. By the analyses, the operator hopes to acquired some description of their position and product situation among the tight competition between4 operators. The description can then be used as input in determining the marketing strategies for the future. The objects in this research are analyzed using Markov’s chain method on brand switching. The analysis on customer’s judgments on the product attributes and services is aided by the use of descriptive statistics. The case study is performed on the 8th semester students of Bunda Mulia University, majoring in Management. The population is 105 students. The research method is by using survey and the type of research is descriptive research. The data collecting technique is through the use of questionnaire and literary review. The results shows that the source of reference of the customer’s choice which is 3.81% from the event, 12.38% from families, 29.52 from commercials, 45.71% from friends, and 8.57% from other unspecified sources. The prediction of the market from the five operators in consequential orders are (0.0695, 0.6401, 0.0295, 0.1207, 0.1402), and the prediction of equilibrium moment are (0.0218, 0.5805, 0.0264, 0.117, 0.2543).The biggest market share is owned by XL which is 64.01%, and the smallest is by mentari with the share of 2.95%. The biggest sorce of reference for the students in choosing operators is from promotion events with the percentage of 30.81% and from friends is only 19.88%. Looking at this result it can be suggested that operators should increase their services and increase their promotion events in gaining the market share of GSM users.</p><p> </p><p>Keyword : GSM cards, brand switching, Markov’s chain, market share</p>

Güven, iletişim ve empati bağlamında ilişkisel pazarlamanın tüketici temelli marka değerine etkisi: GSM operatör kullanıcıları üzerinde bir uygulama

Firms aim to create a strong connection with the customer to decrease customer losses in order to have a sustainable competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive environment. A firm’s target with this strategy is to have long term relationship which will bring a greater profit, rather than short term. With relationship marketing; trust, empathy, commitment in the minds of customers and communication factors create an effective communication between customers and the firm. This relationship created by the firm, not only makes the firm essential for the customer, but also motivates the customer. As a result of this, brand awareness, association of the brand, loyalty to the firm and quality perception will improve. This uniformity of the brand and the firm will affect perceived brand equity and therefore will create brand loyalty. Thanks to brand loyalty, attractiveness of the other alternatives against the brand will decrease, therefore costs of being a customer will decrease as customer creates a uniformity with the brand which is perceived as high brand equity. In addition to this, customer will share their positive experiences about the brand with their kith and kin and will help the brand to gain new customers. In this regard, the data obtained from 267 GSM users studying at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences of Dumlupınar University were analyzed and it was tried to determine to what extent the relationship marketing applications a ffected the brand equity perceived by customers. The results show that empathy has a significant effect on brand associations and perceived quality, while communication has a significant effect on brand associations, brand loyalty and perceived quality which are the dimensions of brand equity. However, trust has been reached that there is no meaningful effect on brand equity dimensions.

Measuring Impact of Service Quality Dimensions on Customers Satisfaction: Case of GSM Users in Poland

The aim of this study is to determine the impact of service quality dimensions on telecommunication service users’ satisfaction. For this reason, a survey that was adopted from ServQual was conducted to 267 people those are using one of the telecommunication services. First of all, explanatory factor analysis and reliability analysis were conducted. Secondly, the coefficient values of each dimensions on satisfaction was determined via proposing structural equation modeling (SEM). Furthermore, total variance explained by the five dimensions which were in survey was 90%.

English

Poverty amid plenty is one of the greatest challenges confronting Nigerian economy. Government at all levels had initiated various forms of poverty reduction strategies in an attempt to reduce the incidence of poverty in Nigeria. Using data obtained through the administration of questionnaires on the operators of GSM purposively selected within the study area, the paper examined the extent to which evolution of GSM has been able to reduce poverty in Ilorin metropolis. A research question was raised. A hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The data obtained from the field were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi- square. The findings reveal that GSM has contributed immensely to poverty reduction through income generated because of employment provision. The paper therefore concluded that GSM has the potentials to reduce poverty in the study area if proper policies such as an enabling environment were created for more operators to strive. Based on this, the paper recommends among others that government should create a technical ICT (GSM) training centre such that the trainee will be based on salaries and wages with the view that they will be able to provide services to GSM operators or users. Key words: Poverty, Global System for Mobile Communication, ICT, poverty alleviation, food and shelter.

Profiling Y Generation GSM Users in Turkey According to Consumer Confusion, Perceived Risk and WOM

The research is conducted to find out the components of consumer confusion perceived risk, switching intention and word of mouth in the Turkish GSM sector for Y generation. In addition, the research aims to explore the mediating effect of word of mouth on the perceived risk, consumer confusion and switching intention in the GSM sector by dividing the samples into three subgroups. Along with this objectives, the research aims to understand the main differences of these subgroups by means of demographic, GSM attitude, confusion, risk perception and switching intention. A questionnaire is administered to 664 GSM users in Istanbul. Then the data tested with factor and cluster analysis. Three clusters were defined as “contented”, “switchers” and “young &high”. Besides, GSM Tariff confusion found to be a specific factor in the Turkish GSM sector for Y generations. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n21p169

Improving GSM Services in Nigeria Through Interference Mitigation

Since the early days of wireless communication till today, there has been the simple dipole (oneelement) antenna which functions by radiating and receiving radio frequency (RF) energy equally well in all directions. This rather unfocussed/indiscriminate approach of radiating RF signals is just adequate for simple RF environments where no specific knowledge of the whereabouts of the gsm user is available. It is very clear that as huge amounts of RF power is radiated into the environment, only a small portion of it is received. Given this limitation therefore, this present and obsolete technique attempts at overcoming its challenges by simply boosting the power levels of the signal which it pushes blindly into the atmosphere. Unfortunately, all the gsm operators in Nigeria and indeed in many countries, have continued to deploy obsolete antenna systems (Omnidirectional and Sector antennas) which are characterized by colossal waste in RF energy and interference. This paper presents the result of an investigation and combination of two techniques of Direction of Arrival (DOA) Estimation and Beam Pattern Synthesis (BPS) for suitable implementation in antenna system, the combination of which will ensure that (a) RF energy is not available in areas where gsm users are non-existent (b) RF energy is available in only the areas where there is at least one gsm user with wireless device turned on. The DOA estimation technique proposed in this paper is the Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC). For the BPS, the Least Mean Square (LMS) technique is used. Validation of the workings of these two applications, which form the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithm for the antenna system, was carried out using the Matlab as the simulation tool. In the case of the MUSIC technique, the simulation was run for four different signals originating from different directions (or angles) using a fixed number of antenna elements. The results show clearly the ability of the system to identify each gsm signal and its direction of arrival. In the case of LMS technique, simulation was run for two signals, one desired and the other undesired (interferer). The results for the pair of signals are displayed graphically, where the unwanted signal is seen mitigated by the system. The combination of DOA and BPS for implementation in gsm networks ensures that the huge waste in RF energy and interference will be a thing of the past as the energy will be available only in the area needed. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n4p121

THE ANALYSIS OF DEPENDENCE OF NUMBER OF CELLULAR NETWORKS SUBSCRIBERS FROM THE POPULATION INCOME

A study on implementation technology LTE in the world and in Ukraine in particular is given. The method of forecasting demand for advanced telecommunications systems, and predicted possible number of LTE network users in Ukraine are given. Forecast is based on correlation and regression analysis and takes into account statistics of the number of GSM users in previous years. Method allows to determine the demand for LTE network resources, based on the age structure of potential users and their income.

Study of Wireless Sensor Network in SCADA System for Power Plant

In this paper, study of wireless SCADA system which is powerful setup for monitoring and controlling the various applications from remotely placed is presented. All communication between GSM modem and user are wireless based, this translates into lowest cost compared to all other systems. Wireless based solutions have universally accepted, familiar and user friendly system. Real-time logging would allow warnings to be flagged to the relevant personnel (e.g. an SMS warning message to the supervisors) and allow corrective action to be taken before the quality and value of the catch is degraded.

Green radio: Energy efficiency in wireless networks

Rarely have technical innovations changed everyday life as fast and profoundly as the massive use of personal mobile communications. In the past two decades mobile wireless services grew from niche market applications to globally available components of daily life: The first GSM phone call took place in 1991 in Finland and only 15 years later there were over two billion GSM users. Today there are already more than 4 billion mobile phone subscribers in the world, more than half the population of the planet, and there are expected to be more than 1.2 billion mobile broadband subscribers by 2012. For the first time in history, worldwide mobile data traffic exceeded voice traffic in December 2009, a point which had already been reached in WCDMA networks in 2007.

Self Observing Systems: the future of reliability engineering?

In a number of recent editorials I have addressed the problem of (reliability) modeling. Developing adequate, usable, models is a process that depends on two conflicting parameters: the (dynamics of) the influx of new technology and the time required to develop adequate models of this technology. The first aspect is strongly related to the rate at which technology innovates, while the second is currently strongly related to the time that is required to obtain sufficient data to form the (often statistical basis) of new models. This last process in particular has, over the recent years, become increasingly complicated. Finding a statistical basis to form models of products that are predominantly hardware based is already becoming more and more complex due to the increasing complexity of the hardware; developing models for products that are predominantly software based is even more complicated, as the (increasingly) large state space is further complicating things. I have not yet seen a reliability model of a computer as a function of the use of MSWord‥‥. It could very well be, however, that the problem created by these increasingly complex systems also carries the solution. The computing power of many modern devices, as well as their connectivity, is such that it is at this moment quite possible that a product continuously observes the interaction with the user and, in case of a problem, not only sends an error code but also a very detailed history that may contain valuable clues that can lead to new knowledge on what happened in the field relating or leading to a field failure. On an experimental level we are currently working here at Eindhoven University on so-called Self Observing Systems that, more or less in real time, report detailed use cases/user problems/field failures. Without revealing any confidential data on this project I can share with you that the data obtained are unusually detailed, rich and allow very fast model development. We are not the only ones following this approach; people who have recently used a Microsoft product and have encountered a problem with it have certainly come across a screen requesting them to allow the sending of a detailed error report/trace back to Microsoft. I expect that these data will be very valuable for a company like Microsoft. Using this approach it is certainly possible to create very rich data sets that contain a lot of information that can help us to create better and more accurate reliability models even for very complex systems as a function of wide ranges of product use. From the research perspective it creates, however, a new problem. Whereas in the past reliability engineers have been struggling to get meaningful models from very sparse and information-poor data sets, they now have to bring the structure to extremely large and information-rich data sets. So far I have only seen a very few of such models. Another issue here is the legal perspective. The data obtained can be so rich that they contain information that an end-user may not want to share. In this context I can imagine very well why a company like Microsoft asks for explicit approval from an end-user before any failure report is sent back to them. Similarly, telephone companies have the ability to track the whereabouts of every individual GSM user by tracing the signals of their phone. How to balance between obtaining, also for end-users, valuable models that create opportunities for improving the reliability of their products and services and, on the other hand, ensuring their privacy is a matter still unresolved. Therefore, I warmly appreciate your reactions!

Privileged Treatment of UMTS Subscribers in GSM Networks

Different user segments have various requirements and expectations towards the performance of mobile networks. Subscribers having experienced the high quality of UMTS networks desire to maintain high speech quality and excellent data throughput also in areas of missing UMTS but existing GSM coverage. In GSM networks a privileged treatment of UMTS subscribers by means of proper resource allocation provides a substantial quality improvement with respect to standard GSM subscribers. This strategy allows network operators to reduce the performance gap between both network areas experienced by UMTS subscribers. A detailed study on the performance of circuit switched speech and packet data services has been performed based on system level simulations. The results show significant speech quality advantages for users with dual-RAT terminals compared to standard GSM users as well as notably higher data throughput rates.

Interaction Between GSM Handset Helical Antenna and User's Head: Theoretical Analysis and Experimental Results

The performance of a cellular phone commercial helical antenna at 900~MHz band, both in free space and in the presence of a human head phantom was studied. Numerical simulation of the phone model for the latter case has been performed giving 3D radiation diagrams. The effect of the phantom head on radiation diagrams is presented. The relative amount of the EM power absorbed in the head was obtained for several distances of the phone. Measurements were carried out in a RF anechoic chamber using standard horn antennas and a calibrated measuring system. Absolute radiation patterns of the antenna gain were obtained in the three principal planes. Significant reduction of the absorbed power could be achieved just by moving the phone 1 cm away from the head.

A simulation environment for GPRS traffic in an advanced travellers information system (ATIS)

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)—a bearer service to GSM—has been deployed worldwide, and is widely considered a technology precursor to the evolving third generation (3G) wireless networks. The general conception has been that while users will be exposed to faster wide-area wireless data access, experience gained from GPRS could well prove useful for 3G, and also for systems beyond 3G deployment. In this paper, we present a comprehensive simulation study for different traffic scheduling algorithms for Quality of Service (QoS) in GPRS at the IP level. We first study the correlation between GSM and GPRS users, and show how a dynamic channel allocation scheme between GSM–GPRS can give substantially better performance than the static ones. We then extend our study by taking into account users requirements for different QoS profiles, based on seven different scheduling algorithms in GPRS. By simulating traffic related to an ATIS (Advanced Travellers Information System) at the IP level, we show how traffic scheduling algorithms perform by taking into account different performance parameters such as the average traffic, average waiting time in the scheduler, packet loss probabilities in the scheduler based on static and dynamic channel allocation schemes, packet priorities as well as average throughput per-GPRS user. The study gives a comparative analysis for various scheduling

Critical issues for roaming in 3G

Roaming for voice, the ability for a user to make and receive calls when visiting another country, is taken for granted by GSM users today. Currently GSM mobile operators are introducing packet-based data networks (also known as General Packet Radio Service) that bring a huge variety of services. However, this new network also introduces new complexity in the support of the packet-based roaming scenario. Due to the number of services, operators, and users envisaged, it will be impossible for operators to test all services for roaming in all partner networks for GPRS; instead, the capabilities of the network have to be tested. Furthermore, mobile data service developers must be aware that the network capabilities of a visited (GPRS) network might differ from the home network; thus, consideration is required to ensure service continuity. This is especially true as mobile operators start offering 3G networks and support roaming agreements from 3G to 2G networks. In the continuing development of the mobile network, 3GPP (the international standardization body developing the UMTS standards) has defined the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) as an evolutionary path for basic 3G networks (developing on the already defined Release 99 and Release 4 capabilities). The IMS provides an overlay architecture on top of the basic 3G architecture and implies roaming outside the basic 3G architecture. The resulting 3G-IMS network creates a two-layered roaming architecture, potentially resulting in issues related to optimal routing, QoS, and support of local services. The challenge for the industry cannot be pointed out as one difficult technical issue that needs to be solved to ensure 3G roaming. Instead there many smaller issues with many alternative solutions that need to be solved. Only when operators have a clear view of these issues and their roaming requirements can all issues be solved and roaming agreement negotiations run smoothly. As it looks today, it will be time consuming to establish and conclude the roaming agreements for 3G; thus, delays in the roaming service are expected. When IMS arrives, new addendums will be needed to the roaming agreements, and the same risk for delays exists if the demand issues are not properly addressed before the negotiations.