RANKING AND SELECTION CRITERIA OF MOBILE SERVICES USING ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS

Mobile services in Malaysia have shown tremendous growth in subscribers since 2000. Based on previous studies, mobile services play a significant role in consumers’ decisions and access to consumers’ needs. Each mobile operator offers different packages and value-added services; therefore, there is huge competition among mobile service provider. The objective of this study is to propose mobile services that give the most value-added based on a range of criteria. An Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach is adopted to solve the multi-criteria decision making. A questionnaire was distributed to 101 mobile phone users between the ages of 20 to 29, who were subscribers, and had experience using mobile services. Four criteria associated with mobile services are payment mode, functionality, value-added and perceived value. The results indicated that the payment mode criterion ranked top, followed by functionality, value-added and perceived value criteria, respectively. The rankings for related sub-criteria are also shown in this study. Mobile service operators may use the results as guidelines to produce better services in order to remain competitive.