Study on the selection of mobile service providers: Special reference to the students at Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya.

Abstract

Mobile service providers are important in the rapid development of telecommunication and information technology. Major mobile service providers in Sri Lanka are Dialog, Mobitel, Airtel, Etisalat and Hutch. The aim of this study is to understand the selection of mobile service providers in Sri Lanka by students of the Faculty of Science. The objectives are to identify the most popular mobile service provider among the students of the Faculty of Science and reason for it, categorize the most popular mobile service provider by gender, year of study and relationship type of students and measure the satisfaction on available facilities of service providers. A survey was conducted during the period of September – December 2016. Among the 1670 students registered in the Faculty of Science, 181 respondents were randomly selected using simple random sampling method (without replacement). An appropriate questionnaire was developed in order to gather data and achieve the objectives. After the initial pilot survey was conducted, a questionnaire was administered in person and online (for unavailable students) while personal interviews were also conducted to improve the response rate from students who had not responsed due to their heavy workload. The analysis reveals that the majority of students (67%) of the Faculty of Science preferred to use Mobitel, whereas 21% of the students preferred Dialog and only 5% of the students, used Airtel. Most of the female students (55%) preferred to use Mobitel as their mobile phone provider whereas 74% of male students preferred to use the same network. The main reason for their selection was cited as the providers’ wider coverage. The results remained the same for majority of students studying in the first, second, and third year. The results remained the same irrespective of the stuts, i.e. single, in a relationship or married category. When considering individual service providers, only Hutch users were 100% satisfied with their service. In conclusion, this survey discloses important findings about the selection of mobile service providers by students of the Faculty of Science.