A Comparative Analysis of Service Quality of Cellular Service Operators in Kashmir Valley

Cellular services have become an increasingly needed service with a very high penetration rate in most of the countries. With the extensive mobile telecommunications usage, the cellular services market is now recognized as most competitive which has also led to lower prices, resulting in the widespread usage with greater variety with service operators finding it difficult to maintain a competitive advantage in their own target markets. Thus, in order to survive in future, cellular service operators have to attract, encourage and create strong corporate image and maintain strong relationships with their customers which can be ensured through service quality only. All telecommunication companies have realized the necessity of providing better quality services as the only viable service strategy for developing and maintaining a loyal customer base. In view of the strategic and growing importance of service quality for company.s success and growth, an attempt has been made in the present paper to measure service quality in cellular service companies operating in Kashmir Valley. Based on data gathered from four cellular service companies, with the help of a self-developed and statistically-tested research instrument, from four hundred (400) respondents, the study concludes that respondents are overall satisfied with the cellular services but an overall improvement is needed in all the dimensions of cellular services in order to make the overall cellular services more effective and efficient.