Customer-centric network upgrade strategy: maximizing investment benefits for enhanced service quality

Abstract

With the ever increasing demand for network resources, network operators and Internet service providers are under constant pressure to accommodate more network bandwidth and offer better service quality via periodic network upgrades, Given a budget constraint, a sound network upgrade decision should maximize investment benefit which is contingent on the degree of customer satisfaction. This paper presents a customer-centric approach in making network upgrade decisions, where customer satisfaction is the key evaluation criterion. Network performance is related to customer's perceived service quality and component upgrades are assessed based on their profitability. As demonstrated using a case scenario, our approach results in effective upgrade decisions that enhance service quality, improve customer satisfaction, and maximize revenue.