1.1    Background of the Study

The history of mobile telecommunication dates back to 1886, when Adegboyega (2008), noted that a cable connection was established between Lagos and London, by the colonial administration. Bakare and Gold (2013), also said that from the onset it was clear that the introduction of telephone services in Nigeria was not induced by commercial or economic motives, but rather to serve the interest of the colonial administrators. Telephone connections to other parts of the country continued gradually, and at independence in 1960, and with a population of about 45million people, the country only had 18,724 phone lines in use (Bakare et al, 2013).

However, between 1960 and 1985, telecommunication services became commercialized. The old Department of Post and Telecommunications (P & T) under the Ministry of Communications was removed from the Ministry and Nigeria External Communication (NET) was created to take care of external telecommunications services, while the old Post and Telecommunications (P&T) handled internal networks (Salawu 2012). By January 1985, the Post and Telecommunication (P&T) divisions, merged with Nigeria External Telecommunication (NET) to form Nigeria Telecommunication Limited (NITEL). The objective of establishing NITEL was to harmonize the planning and coordination of the Post and Telecommunication (P&T) and Nigeria External Telecommunication (NET) services rationalize investments in Telecoms development and provide accessible, efficient and affordable service. NITEL thereafter, the only national monopoly operator in the sector, was synonymous with epileptic services and bad management, which made telephone then to be unreliable, congested, expensive and customer unfriendly. Ajayi et al (2012). This was actually the state of affairs in NITEL before the deregulation of the Telecom sector in 2001.

Deregulation started with the granting of license to three companies to provide wireless Telecommunication services using the Global system for mobile (GSM). Though four GSM licenses were initially auctioned, three were actually issued- Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN), Mobile Telecommunications services (MTEL) and Econet Wireless Nigeria, now Airtel. In subsequent years, more licenses were approved for GLOBACOM, ETISALAT and some other mobile telecommunication service providers to render similar services.

Nowadays, due to competition, the telecommunication service providers offer innovative services as well as competitive prices also. The nature of the competition today in the Global telecommunications industry seems to centre on market activities that aim at gaining competitive advantages through strategic combinations of resources and presence in multiple services and geographical areas (Chanolmsted and Jamison, 2013).  In a competitive market, service providers are expected to compete on both price and quality of services and also it is necessary for the service providers to meet the customer’s requirements and expectations in price and service quality (Melody 2011).

As competition is increasing among the companies, it is necessary  for them to know about the consumers perception about the price, promotion, product, service quality and other important attribute that are playing a vital role to choose the telecommunication service provider. Service is a form of attitude which is related to satisfaction and also leads to consumer loyalty (Johnson and Sirikit, 2002) and future purchase. In particular, consumers prefer service quality when the price and other cost elements are held constant (Boyer and Hult, 2012). Service quality is essential and important for a telecommunication service provider company to ensure the quality service for establishing and maintaining loyal and profitable customer (Zeithaml, 2013, Leisen and Vance, 2012). Conversely, Johnson and Sirikit (2002) stated that service delivery systems have the ability to allow managers of company to identify the real customer feedback and satisfaction on their telecommunication service since; quality reflects the customer’s expectations about a product or service. (Love lock 2000)

Generally, service and product quality is in the mind of the consumers. So it is necessary for the mobile telecommunication service providers to talk with the consumers for measuring quality. Since, quality reflects the extent to which a service meets or exceeds consumer expectations   (Wal et al, 2012). Service quality has significant influence on consumer’s preference for mobile telecommunication.