"It comes down to customer service -- you need to treat high-spending customers differently -- meet with them and talk to them. These customers tend to be business users, so offer quality business packages with VIP treatment included -- like the fast track queues offered to business class customers at airports," James adds.

Driving revenues

There is much mobile operators can do to boost revenues from their customers. Persuading people to talk more may be tricky, but research by Ericsson shows that 20 percent to 30 percent of calls made are not even completed due to the other party being unavailable or busy on the line. Simple services, such as voice mail and call waiting, ensure that calls are not missed, which benefits both customers and operators.

"SMS has taken off in Europe and SA, but we see that it has not been as widely adopted in Africa, where the culture is towards oral communication. Operators need to educate users as to the services that are on offer, how to use them and what benefits they offer. Additionally, if users' phones are not preconfigured for more advanced services, most will not bother even trying to access them. Operators in Africa are now seeing the benefits of automatic (over the air) handset configuration, which drives usage and saves money by reducing the number of calls to the call center."

The cellular industry has been a phenomenal success throughout the world, and will undoubtedly continue to be so. But mobile operators must start to become much more customer-oriented if they are to retain their privileged position. James concludes with a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, who said: "We are not doing our customers a favor by serving them; they are doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so."