O2 tops the bill for UK mobile users

O2 has been named the mobile service provider with the highest level of customer satisfaction in the UK.

The mobile phone company took the prize for both the pre-pay and contract sectors, its first time winning both in the JD Power and Associates 2006 UK Mobile Study. Last year it won for pre-pay but Orange topped the contract category.

In the pre-pay sector, O2 was followed by Vodafone and Virgin Mobile, while in contract Orange came second with customers.

Overall mobile phone users are more satisfied with their providers than last year, with satisfaction up eight points for pre-pay and six points for contract providers. The biggest improvements are in call quality and coverage for pre-pay providers and in customer service for contract providers.

Incentives such as free call time or handset upgrades are key to making customers happy, according to Gunda Lapski, director of European telecom and utilities services at JD Power and Associates.

More than one-third of mobile customers receive incentives from providers and those providers who do offer freebies consistently scored higher in the study than those that did not.

The research is based on the opinions of 2,000 UK mobile phone users who judged mobile providers on criteria such as image, cost, call quality/coverage, offerings/promotions, handsets and customer service.

In a 2005 survey O2 was also rated as having the best retail shops.