What do Customers Think?
by Robert Bell
J.D. Powers is a US company that measures customer satisfaction with everything from travel to financial services, healthcare to automobiles. The famous Zagat guides, based solely on input from diners, rate restaurants around the globe. The Web has become such a powerful collector of consumer opinion that few of us buy an expensive product without checking the online reviews.
The public sharing of consumer reviews has become a worldwide phenomenon. Only when it comes to satellite communications, not so much.
That is why, in March, the World Teleport Association published Satellite Operator Benchmarks 2011. It is the first published study of satisfaction with the operational and commercial practices of satellite operators as seen by teleport operators. The opinions of teleport operators matter. In 2010, the total revenue of teleports was equal to 27% of a total $71.8 billion in satellite transmission revenues, according to our Sizing the Teleport Market study.
The study offers satisfaction ratings and feedback from 70 interviews conducted by a third-party research company with teleport executives around the world. On the commercial side, the interviews looked at satisfaction with sales and legal representatives, communication, pricing fairness, pricing consistency, commercial flexibility and a partnership approach to bidding.
Unfortunately, teleport operators were less than completely satisfied with the commercial performance of satellite vendors. Telesat was the satisfaction leader in overall commercial terms, with SES in the number two position. Scoring last, Intelsat and Eutelsat showed a similar profile of strengths and weaknesses, though Intelsat was rated higher overall.
Teleport operators recommended that their vendors take "an improved partnership approach to business" with teleports. That reflects concerns about competition with satellite operators that own teleports and have the opportunity to price their teleport services below market rates. Respondents identified Intelsat and Eutelsat as companies offering a competitive threat, while viewing SES and particularly Telesat as being more "teleport-friendly."
The operational picture, on the other hand, was mostly positive. Respondents rated satellite operators on availability, the communication and management of planned and unplanned outages, RF interference and frequency grooming. The Big Four scored well, receiving a “strong” rating on 80% of factors across all operators. Telesat was again the satisfaction leader, followed by SES, Intelsat and Eutelsat.
The report concludes that “WTA stands ready to promote a continuing dialogue between teleport and satellite operators to improve commercial and operational practices for the benefit of their mutual customers.” After all, that’s the purpose of consumer reviews, whether they are for restaurants or satellites: to help vendors do a better job at satisfying their customers year by year.
Satellite Operator Benchmarksis available free to WTA members and for sale to non-members from the WTA web site at www.worldteleport.org.
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Robert Bell is Executive Director of the World Teleport Association, which represents the world's most innovative teleport operators, carriers and technology providers in 20 nations. He can be reached at: rbell@worldteleport.org
