Customer Service and Telecom Operations
What this domain covers
The operational side of telecom: how a fault or request moves through the system, what service levels mean, and how subscriber records and billing are handled.
Core rules
- A complaint becomes a docket with an ID, category, timestamp, SLA and owner; it is closed only after customer confirmation and a root-cause note.
- SLA is the promised service level (for example 99.5% availability or repair within 24 hours); MTTR is the average time actually taken to restore service. Meeting SLA does not guarantee a healthy MTTR.
- First-call resolution and repeat-complaint rate measure quality; churn measures lost subscribers; ARPU = revenue divided by average subscribers for the period.
- KYC is mandatory before activation: verified identity, address, photograph and customer application form. Number portability (MNP) and DND are subscriber rights handled through defined codes.
- Escalation matrix: L1 call centre to L2 technical to L3 specialist/manager, each with a time limit.
- Quote only the tariff and charges on record; never promise a credit or timeline outside policy.
Worked example
A link was down for 43 minutes in a 30-day month. Total minutes = 30 × 24 × 60 = 43,200. Availability = (43,200 − 43) ÷ 43,200 = 0.9990, that is 99.90%, which meets a 99.5% SLA. Reasoning: convert the outage and the period to the same unit, subtract, then express as a percentage.
Traps
- Reporting ARPU as total revenue.
- Closing a ticket without customer confirmation.
- Mixing up SLA (the promise) with MTTR (measured performance).
- Confusing DND (blocks marketing calls) with MNP (keeping your number when changing operator).