J.D. Power and Associates Reports: O2 Ranks Highest in Customer Satisfaction With Pre-Pay Mobile Phones in the UK; Virgin Mobile Ranks Highest in Satisfying Pay-Monthly Customers

LONDON - O2 ranks highest in customer satisfaction with pre-pay mobile phone service, and Virgin Mobile ranks highest among pay-monthly mobile phone customers, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 UK Mobile Phone Customer Satisfaction Study(SM) released today.

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Now in its 12th year, the study measures customer satisfaction with pre-pay and pay-monthly plans among the leading UK mobile network service providers. Overall satisfaction with pre-pay providers is based on performance across six factors: call quality/coverage; offerings and promotions; cost of the service; billing or topping up (replenishing or paying for minutes and texts in a pay-as-you-go plan); customer service; and handset.

Among pre-pay providers, O2 ranks highest with a score of 734 on a 1,000-point scale and performs particularly well in four of six factors: call quality/coverage; billing/topping up; handset; and offerings and promotions. Tesco Mobile follows O2 in the ranking with a score of 710, while Virgin Mobile ranks third with 691.

Virgin Mobile ranks highest in the pay-monthly segment for a third consecutive year, receiving a score of 718 and performing particularly well in five of six factors: cost of the service; offerings and promotions; billing; customer service; and handset. Following Virgin Mobile in the segment rankings are O2 (698) and Orange (673).

The study also finds that several of the high-ranking providers perform particularly well in offering incentives and rewards. For instance, 75 percent of all O2 pre-pay and pay-monthly customers report receiving rewards, compared with an industry average of 60 percent. Among pre-pay customers who receive rewards, satisfaction is much higher (712 points on average) than among those who do not receive rewards (653 points on average). Additionally, among pay-monthly customers who receive rewards, the average satisfaction score is 702, compared with 618 among those who receive no rewards.

“As the mobile phone market matures and experiences increasing convergence with other communications technology, customer expectations of their mobile phone provider are growing, and these customers expect more services and features from their providers,” said Stuart Crawford-Browne, senior manager of service industries at J.D. Power and Associates. “Customers appreciate simplicity, rewards for spending and the benefits of bundled services. Providers that take care of their customers with ease of use, good value and loyalty incentives are more likely to prevail in this difficult economic environment - not only maintaining their core business but likely increasing business through loyalty and recommendations as well.”

The study also finds several key mobile phone usage patterns: - The average monthly expenditure on mobile phone service in the pay-monthly segment has declined from 31.45 pounds Sterling in 2008 to 26.87 pounds Sterling in 2009, while pre-pay customers are spending approximately the same amount as the previous year, with the average monthly expenditure at 12.09 pounds Sterling in 2009. - With regard to switching intent, 17 percent of pay-monthly customers say they intend to switch phone providers, while only 12 percent of pre-pay customers say the same. - Customers continue to have low satisfaction with the cost of using their mobile phone abroad, particularly pay-monthly customers. Pay-monthly customers who used their phone abroad in the past 12 months spent an average of 27.10 pounds Sterling on the last occasion, while pre-pay customers spent an average of 13.98 pounds Sterling.

The 2009 UK Mobile Phone Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 3,325 pre-pay and pay-monthly mobile phone customers throughout the UK. The study was fielded in March and April 2009.

Customer Satisfaction Index Scores (Based on a 1,000-point scale) Pre-Pay Segment Mobile Provider Overall Satisfaction Score ————— ————————– O2 734 Tesco Mobile 710 Virgin Mobile 691 Industry Average 686 T-Mobile 674 Vodafone 669 Orange 665 3 663 Pay Monthly Segment Mobile Provider Overall Satisfaction Score ————— ————————– Virgin Mobile 718 O2 698 Industry Average 675 Orange 673 T-Mobile 670 Vodafone 670 3 635

About J.D. Power and Associates

The European headquarters of J.D. Power and Associates is located in Guildford, UK. With world headquarters in Westlake Village, California, U.S.A., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services company operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement, Web intelligence and customer satisfaction. The company’s quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor’s, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2008 were US$6.4 billion. Additional information is available at www.mcgraw-hill.com.

J.D. Power and Associates Media Relations Contacts:

Stuart Crawford-Browne; Guildford; Surrey; UK; +44-1483-207600; stuart.crawford-browne@jdpa.com

John Tews; Troy, Mich.; USA; +1-248-312-4119; media.relations@jdpa.com

No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release without the express prior written consent of J.D. Power and Associates. www.jdpower.com/corporate

Source: J.D. Power and Associates

UK, Stuart Crawford-Browne, +44-1483-207600, stuart.crawford-browne at jdpa.com, or USA, John Tews, +1-248-312-4119, media.relations at jdpa.com, both of J.D. Power and Associates / Logo: https://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050527/LAF028LOGO-a