Mobile-Carrier Choice Behavior Analysis Using Supervised Learning Models

The number of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) customers is increasing in Japan, though the mobile phone market in Japan was mainly shared by three Major Mobile-Carriers (3MMC): docomo, au and SoftBank. The purpose of this study is to understand the preference for 3MMC vs. MVNO considering the current mobile-phone market. We analyze the difference between 3MMC customers and MVNO customers from various points of view in this paper. This paper presents the results based on the original market research survey data conducted in January 2017. We classify customers in two segments: 3MMC customers and MVNO customers. Furthermore, we classify these customer segments in two segments: stable customers and unstable customers. We show the characteristics of four customer segments from the viewpoints of decision-making factors and satisfaction levels for mobile carriers. We propose new supervised learning models to create differential descriptions of the customer segments. We show the differences among four customer segments by using the estimated model.