German Mobile Consumers May Not Stomach Price Hikes

The ability of German carriers to introduce inflation-matching price increases may be met by high customer churn, a nationally representative survey of German mobile consumers by Bloomberg Intelligence conducted in early September shows. Contrasting with an expected inflation rate of 8% this year in Germany, a 6% to 10% price increase without any commensurate change in services provided would prompt at least 47% of survey respondents to consider switching carriers, according to the survey. Deutsche Telekom may be best-placed among mobile-network operators to introduce mobile-tariff hikes, based on BI’s survey findings on customer satisfaction.