Mobile phones are the gateway to the digital economy for the majority of the world. This creates rich opportunities for economic development, but also raises new risks such as fraud, hidden fees, or unreliable service. Complaint records of mobile network operators (MNOs) and other mobile financial service providers are rich sources of insight on the types of challenges consumers experience in the digital economy, and how well providers address their concerns. In partnership with the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), IPA analyzed complaints data from MNOs between 2019 and 2020. Using demographic segmentation and predictive modeling tools, the research provides evidence on the consumer protection issues most prevalent in mobile services, as well as the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on customer care.

In this webinar on November 25, 2020—the second in our Consumer Protection Practitioner’s Forum series—Matthew Bird (Universidad del Pacífico) shared several methods for analyzing customer care logs from digital financial service providers to expand the possible uses of complaints data for market monitoring. Kenneth Tweheyo (Uganda Communications Commission) provided comments and reactions, followed by an interactive Q&A session, moderated by Rafe Mazer (IPA).

Watch the webinar recording below:

Panelists

• Matthew Bird, Associate Professor, Universidad del Pacífico
• Kenneth Tweheyo, Head, Competition and Consumer Affairs, Uganda Communications Commission
• Rafe Mazer (Moderator), Consumer Protection Initiative Director, Innovations for Poverty Action