J.D. Power and Associates Reports: Cincinnati Bell Ranks No. 1 in Customer Satisfaction in Nationwide Residential Local Telephone Service Providers Study

Business Wire, August 1, 2001

Business Editors

NOTE TO MEDIA: Slide Show is available in a Smart News Release(TM)

on Business Wire's Home Page at

www.businesswire.com and at www.newstream.com

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 1, 2001

Bundling of Local and Long Distance Services Increases Sharply in 2001

Cincinnati Bell, which provides telecommunication services to parts of Ohio and Kentucky, ranks No. 1 in customer satisfaction among U.S. local telephone service providers, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2001 Residential Local Telephone Customer Satisfaction Study(SM) released today.

Of the companies included in the study, Cincinnati Bell's customer satisfaction improved the most compared to its 2000 results. This performance was spurred by significant improvements in all seven factors of overall satisfaction, which include: customer service; billing; call quality; cost of service/value; calling card; operators; and corporate image.

Cincinnati Bell ranked highest in customer service, cost of service/value, corporate image, billing and call quality. Rounding out the top five in terms of overall customer satisfaction are SNET and McLeod USA, with AT&T and BellSouth in a tie.

"For the first time, we see a decrease in customer problems with local telephone service, and a decrease in the average number of calls a customer must make to resolve a problem," said Grady Gibbs, senior analyst of the telecommunications practice at J.D. Power and Associates. "Cincinnati Bell customers reported fewer problems and were less likely to contact customer service than the industry average," said Gibbs.

The study shows that overall satisfaction with local telephone service has improved slightly compared to 2000 study results. In part, this improvement can be attributed to a decrease in the number of customers reporting a problem, from 70 percent to 64 percent -- and a reduction in the average number of contacts needed to resolve these problems (from 1.85 to 1.72), according to the study.

"One important market development is the increase in the number of households that bundle local and long distance services with one carrier," said Steve Kirkeby, senior director of the telecommunications practice at J.D. Power and Associates. "Just under one-quarter of households (23 percent) currently bundle services -- up from 14 percent in 2000.

"In addition, nearly one-half (46 percent) of households surveyed have at least some interest in bundling. Of these, slightly less than one-half (45 percent) name a local carrier as their desired service provider, which is significantly more often than other types of carriers, such as cable TV and long distance telephone service providers."

Other key highlights from the study include:

-- Customer service, cost of service/value and corporate image are the dominant
factors determining overall customer satisfaction with local service providers;


-- Household Internet access continues to increase: 56 percent of households
report accessing the Internet at home for personal use -- up from 47 percent in
2000 and 35 percent in 1999; and

-- The incidence of high-speed Internet access (cable modem, DSL or ISDN)
increased dramatically to more than 15 percent, up from only 2 percent in 2000.
Demand is expected to continue to be strong, with 28 percent stating that they
are at least somewhat likely to subscribe to high-speed Internet access within
the next 12 months.

The 2001 Residential Local Telephone Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from more than 12,000 households nationwide. This study is part of the firm's continuing analysis of the U.S. telecommunications market. Forthcoming studies will include customer satisfaction results for cable/satellite TV, Internet service providers, small-business telecom providers and wireless providers.

Other companies covered by this study include ALLTEL, Ameritech, AT&T, BellSouth, CenturyTel, Citizens, Frontier, MCI Worldcom, McLeod USA, Pacific Bell, Qwest, Southwestern Bell, SNET, Sprint and Verizon.

With headquarters in Agoura Hills, J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services firm operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, consulting, training and customer satisfaction. The firm's quality and satisfaction measurements are based on actual responses from millions of consumers annually.

J.D. Power and Associates can be accessed through the Internet at www.jdpower.com. Media e-mail contact: michael.greywitt@jdpa.com or john.tews@jdpa.com.

Note to Editors: This news release is provided for editorial use only. No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release or J.D. Power and Associates survey results without the express prior written consent of J.D. Power and Associates.

Note: A Photo is available at URL: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.080101/bb3