Abstract:
The landscape of the telecommunication industry in Sri Lanka has been changed
drastically since the deregulation of telecommunication sector in early 1990s. Number of
service providers has been increased from one, i.e state monopoly, to more than 70 within
a short period of time. With the increased competition telecom service providers find it
difficult to retain the existing customers. In that context the objective of this research
explanatory study was to identify the main factors that determine the customer loyalty of
corporate telecommunication customers. A questionnaire survey done among 131 users
of corporate sector revealed that the most important factor determining the customer
loyalty was the ability of the service provider to add value to customer’s business
process, contrary to the common belief that the low price keeps the customer with the
same provider. However, it was found that relative importance of the factors is not the
same between two different groups, i.e. IT personnel and Non-IT personnel. Therefore,
the findings of this research provide a guideline for service providers in designing
customer loyalty programmes.
