Telecommunication Infrastructure Condition and Consumers’ Brand Loyalty in Smart Cities: The Case of Metropolitan Lagos (Published)
Smart cities are compact in nature and largely driven by technology especially information communication technology (ICT). The availability of telecommunication service in a smart city is a ‘conditio sine qua non’ for efficient development of the city and the utilization of urban resources for optimal production with less stress. However, efficient telecommunication service depends on robust telecommunication infrastructure. This study examined the state of telecommunication infrastructure and the relationship between the condition of telecommunication infrastructure and telecommunication brand loyalty among global services mobile (GSM) consumers in Lagos State, Nigeria. Relevant data was gathered through the use of questionnaire, interviews and observations from four GSM telecommunication operators in Lagos State, Nigeria. This cross-sectional survey used multi-level sampling technique involving: (a) Non-Probability Purposive Sampling Technique to select respondents Station Managers, and Engineers from GSM service provider companies, and (b) Systematic Random Sampling Technique to select the service consumers (GSM users). Descriptive statistics of frequency count, mean, standard deviation, and ranked mean item score were used to obtain the availability and condition of telecommunication infrastructure, while Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to test hypotheses of this study. This study concludes that telecommunication infrastructure condition positively correlates with GSM consumers brand loyalty, and recommends increased government funding for the provision and improvement of the state of public electricity and general security infrastructure in Lagos State and other states of Nigeria for cheaper telecommunication business operation costs in support of smart city aspirations.
Keywords: consumers’ brand loyalty, metropolitan lagos, smart city, telecommunication infrastructure.