The best telecom in Singapore, according to what is said online

We use insights from Latent App to survey the telecommunications (telecom) industry in Singapore. Reviewing a large scale of users comments on the web and using sentiment analysis, we find out which telecom companies Singaporeans are loving and which ones aren’t ranking in their eyes. Social listening technology such as Latent App allows businesses to monitor sentiment online and translate this intelligence into brand management and consequently, outbound sales.

Singapore’s telecom infrastructure

The telecommunication (telecom) structure in Singapore has 4 major operators (Singtel, Starhub, M1, TPG), 5 mobile virtual network operators (Circles.Life, Zero1, Zero Mobile, MyRepublic Mobile and GIGA Mobile) and 1 niche operator (GRID Communications). As a consumer, there are a variety of networks, plans and deals to choose from. For the purpose of this case study, we will analyse Singtel, M1, Starhub, Circles.Life, Zero1 and TPG to find out the best and worst telecom brand in Singapore. It will be interesting to see if mobile virtual network operators are better according to Singaporeans than the operators who own the network they are on.

Our Process

Latent App is a SaaS that analyses opinionated user comments with sentiment analysis at a large scale. It can monitor online chatter regarding specific keywords, such as brand names, and measure the sentiment of what is being said. It computes large quantities of information online and processes this information. Members on our insight platform can measure how often their company or keyword is mentioned, the topic differences of said mentions, related sentiments and associated profanity counts.

In this case study, we use insights from our app to analyse user comments regarding each telecom brand before cross-referencing this to other competitors in the telecom market.

Our Criteria

We will be evaluating the best telecom brand with the following criteria:

1. Popularity (indicated by the amount of times a brand is mentioned online)
2. Customer Management (indicated by how quickly negative sentiment becomes positive sentiment)
3. Bad Reputation (indicated by the use of profanity in user comments related to a brand)

Mention counts of each Telecom Brand

In the last year (July 2018 to July 2019), there were 25732 mention counts in total of Singaporean telecom brands. M1 has the most mention counts with Singtel second and Starhub following a close third.

The total sum of mention counts over this time frame is at follows:

• M1: 7952
• Singtel: 4892
• Starhub:4677
• TPG: 4111
• Zero: 3619
• Circles.Life: 481

Why are we looking at how much (or little) was spoken of a brand? Why is this useful to businesses? Well, firstly, it reveals how much buzz is surrounding a company. Released a new product and spent millions on its marketing? If you’re not seeing any online chatter, the communication and marketing behind that product is not translating well to consumers in the market. This is one application of how big data can be used. Secondly, in marketing as they say “even bad publicity is good publicity”. Furthermore, as it will be shown later, this seemingly basic data is useful to understand sentiment data values from online comments.

To answer our first criteria, based on popularity, M1 is the most popular and Circles.life is the least popular telecom brand.

Sentiment of user comments regarding each telecom brand

Firstly, we monitor sentiment regarding each brand. For specificity, we will be narrowing down our time frame to the past 100 days.

Singtel:

As seen in the chart below, sentiments regarding Singtel, while mostly positive, fluctuate. The biggest dip in sentiment value was on 16.06.2019. Unsurprisingly, this correlates with Singtel’s faulty internet across its network which resulted in many netizens expressing dissatisfaction (an understatement).

Now let us look at M1, Starhub, Circles.life, Zero1 and TPG in comparison during the last 100 days.

M1:

The dip in sentiment value on 23.06.19, similar to Starhub, can be explained by the M1 service being down. It is interesting to note how the large decrease in sentiment on the 23rd is followed by the high increase in sentiment the following dates. This suggests that the customer service and crisis management of M1 is more than satisfactory at appeasing their customers.

Starhub:

Similar insights to customer service are seen with Starhub. Like M1, after a decrease in sentiment values from user comments (from giving negative reviews and feedback most likely because of a service or product fault), there is an increase in sentiment the next following days. This is a very strong indicator of good brand and customer management.

Unfortunately the same trend is not observed from Circles.life, Zero1 nor TPG.

Circles.Life

Zero1

TPG

Based on this data, for our second criteria of customer management, Starhub, Singtel and M1 are the front runners.

Sentiment Values 2018–2019

The previous data served as an indication of customer satisfaction levels and the response rate of each telecom brand over the past 100 days. Now let us scope this out a bit further and compare the sentiment values of the telecom brands over the past year.

This chart maps out the fluctuating sentiments of user comments over a one year period. It shows us a few things. Firstly, that Starhub has the highest sentiment values. Secondly, that Zero1 has the lowest sentiment values. Looking at the average of these sentiment values, we can gain insights into what the Singaporean public think of these telecom companies. Based on this, Starhub has the best average (mean) sentiment, with Singtel following a close second and M1 coming in third. This information supports our previous conclusion that Starhub, Singtel and M1 are the front runners in customer management.

Mean Sentiment (rounded to 3 significant figures):

• Singtel: 0.234
• M1: 0.182
• Starhub: 0.235
• Circles.Life: 0.114
• Zero1: 0.091
• TPG: 0.102

Profanity use in comments about each telecom brand

Our final criteria will look at the profanity in user comments, which the Latent App can track on our social listening insights platform.

Below are some examples of the use of profanity:

User: @coffeedcrescent | Sentiment Value: -0.9201 | “SINGTEL U BLOODY TRASH INCOMPETENT PIECE OF SHIT FUCK YOU”

User: @asimplebloke | Sentiment Value: -0.5423 | “Who the fuck knocks on the fucking windows? You fucking knock on the door. Singtel sales reps, that is who. pic.twitter.com/CBkOTS8nWy”

User: @htngwilliam | Sentiment Value: -0.451 | “Seriously Starhub really treat their customers as carrot head or ****…Force us to change then give us all this shitty deals.”

User: @mynxs| Sentiment Value: -0.5719 | “No shit, they already say there’s no signal underground. That’s a small trade-off for free 2GB a day”

The chart below shows the profanity count in relation to each brand.

Singtel has the most related profanity count and Circles.life has the least in comparison to other telecom brands. However, it must be noted that the chart above may be misleading as it does not specify the ratio of profanity counts per mention counts. Thus our other criteria must be used in conjunction to make a fair evaluation of the best telecom brand according to Singaporeans via their user comments.

In conclusion

This case study has evaluated the popularity (mention counts), customer management (sentiment value) and reputation (profanity count) of Singaporean telecommunication companies based on user comments over a one year period. We can observe how M1 performed well in every criterion and thus, according to Singaporeans, is the best telecom brand.

This case study serves as an example of how telecom companies can use the insights from Latent App. The Latent App can collect data from any sector and customise a pipeline for you to receive this intelligence and improve outbound sales. Our App is useful for brand management and being made aware of crisis so that you can react and maintain customer satisfaction accordingly. Sentiment is just one dimension of the app that can be used. Addressing individual user comments is another possibility available via our app which will also benefit a company’s customer service relations.

Use our social listening tech for brand management. Increase your current or potential customer satisfaction. Retain current customers. Acquire new ones. For more information on our product and service visit our website and contact us.

This post was originally posted on July 25th 2019 on https://www.latentapp.com/2019/07/25/the-best-telecom-according-to-singaporeans/ . For more posts like this, visit Latent App’s blog.