Assessment of after‐sales service behaviors of Ethiopia Telecom customers

Purpose - The primary purpose of this paper is to assess and review fixed‐line telecom customers' perception of the quality of after‐sales services provided by Ethiopian Telecom. Design/methodology/approach - The paper was conducted on telecom customers who are in Addis Ababa using self‐administered questionnaires sent to a sample of 450 respondents. In addition to this, interviews were conducted with managers and selected employees to provide supporting data. The data were processed, analyzed and interpreted using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Findings - The results show some degree of customer dissatisfaction, but not to the extent expected. Dissatisfied customers point at lack of clarities of bills and delays in making decisions on complaints as some of the main reasons for their dissatisfactions. Other reasons include telephone interruptions during rainy seasons, old cables and networks, and damaged and stolen cables, which combined, increase the frequency of faults and interruptions. Nearly 40 percent of respondents have negative assessments of the role of employees in delivering good quality after‐sales service. Practical implications - Despite the fact that some improvements have been shown in recent reports, Ethiopian Telecom has a long way to go in achieving its objectives with respect to customers' satisfaction. Originality/value - Previous studies on telecommunication in Africa have not focused on service delivery and customer satisfaction. The paper, therefore, contributes to filling a research gap in telecommunication studies in Africa in general and in Ethiopia in particular.