We send an SMS to customers who sign a contract in one of our shops or have their personal data changed asking them to give an assessment of their experience when they visited our shop by allocating scores ranging from 1 (excellent) to 6 (very poor). We ring up customers giving negative feedback (grades 4-6) in order to ask about the reason for their poor assessment and solve their problem.

Starting in 2010, we will establish a new procedure with the Customer Feedback Dialogue in order to measure the level of satisfaction expressed by our customers with respect to the quality of service and advice provided on the hotline. We will then make further improvements. We request all customers who call at a particular time of day to assess their satisfaction with the call by allocating grades ranging from 1 (excellent) to 6 (very poor). In autumn 2009, we tested the Customer Feedback Dialogue in a pilot phase over a period of several weeks. More than 80 percent of our customers assessed the telephone advice provided by O₂ with a score of very good or good.

Positive test results also demonstrate that we are already successful in meeting the expectations of many of our customers. The experts from the German Consumers' Association Stiftung Warentest tested the quality of advice given in the shops of seven mobile phone providers at the beginning of 2009: "Only O₂ achieved the quality assessment of 'Good' because the employees recommended the right tariffs in virtually all cases."

Apart from tariffs, service quality is a key factor determining customer satisfaction:

1. Reliable network coverage: We are continually extending our network, in order to be in a position to offer our customers high-quality network coverage for mobile phones. In recent years up to 2009, we invested some three billion euros in expanding the network in Germany and we had a completely independent network for the first time on 5 January 2010. We are not the only people satisfied with this result: Europe's biggest telecommunications magazine "connect" assessed our network as 'good' in November 2009, before the expansion of the network had even been completed.

2. Unambiguous quality promise: Our products and services are continually being reviewed. Hundreds of test calls each day, thousands of kilometres covered by our mobile testing vehicles, uninterrupted 24/7 monitoring of all technical components and regular maintenance work on the network guarantee smooth operation. We have also appointed a Quality Manager for each product and each service that we are marketing.

Our customers can contact O₂ and express their criticisms, complaints or problems to us - by phone, letter, fax, email, or in our shops. We handle every complaint individually, irrespective of how it reaches us. Problems are dealt with as rapidly as possible because we want to reach solutions quickly.

Most inquiries are related to the transparency of invoices. That's why we worked hard to present the information in a more structured way last year. Since the end of 2009, all customers have received their invoices in the new format. This format is based on

a project study carried out in collaboration with the Chair of Organisation and Business Psychology at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich designed to optimise the layout of the invoice,

a comprehensive evaluation of all enquiries concerning invoices in our Customer Care department and

an online survey in which different invoice formats were submitted to customers for assessment.

In 2010, we want to further enhance invoice transparency. This objective is going to be implemented by proactively informing customers of the amount and due date for the next invoice at the customers' request and sending them an SMS with the invoice data one or two days before receipt of the invoice.

We already retired voice computers in 2008. When customers call our hotline, they are now greeted by a human voice. Our support agents are well trained and have the appropriate knowledge. They are therefore in a position to assist customers quickly. The positive response from callers has also confirmed our decision. In February 2009, Connect magazine awarded us the sector winner award for speed and expertise.

Since spring 2009, we have also been providing the hotline free of charge for loop and online customers so that even more customers can benefit from our personal service on the phone. This service for prepaid customers is unique in Germany. We are also committed to a process of continuous improvement over the coming year for direct and personal processing of customer complaints.

Our customers are increasingly making use of the Internet and email to contact us. At the close of 2009, 35% of our postpaid customers had already registered on the customer portal for services like My O₂. This portal allows them to change addresses online, switch tariff options or take out a new contract. This is convenient and cuts down waiting time. We save costs as a result and we can pass this benefit on to our customers with attractive online offers, such as SMS packages free of charge if contracts are taken out on the Internet.

More than 50 percent of all invoices for private customers were processed online in 2009. This saves paper, toner and dispatch costs. It conserves resources and reduces expenditure at the same time. The online invoice means additional benefits for our customers. We were the first company in the sector to offer customers an interactive online invoice at the beginning of 2010 which permits graphical evaluation of telephony behaviour with the assistance of invoice analysis. This provides valuable support in keeping a check on costs and also helps customers to select the right options and an appropriate new tariff.

Last year, 60 percent of employees completed a new training course focused on handling complaints at Customer Touch Points (i.e. in customer service or in shops). The exchange between employees from the shops and call centres - for example by a one-day change in workplace - has been part of the action we have been taking since 2002 to help our employees have a better understanding of customers and their needs.