or by dialing up a special long distance access number. The SIM card formats the handset SO that it works with the network of the carrier that provides the card, and the prepaid access number lets the consumer access long distance service that is automatically deducted from the deposited amount. If a consumer wants to gain access to three different carriers, it is not a problem. Buying three SIM cards or purchase three different prepaid long distance plans will do the job. The consumers can make their buying decisions every time they run out of minutes and they can switch carriers any time they want to. This shopping cycle is very much like that of the retail customer, and the provider ends up competing much in the way that the sellers of consumer products compete. Not surprisingly, the churn rates in Chapter 5 these highly volatile prepaid markets are extremely high, oftentimes three to five times greater than in the more traditional wireless markets. The Hybrid Model In most markets, however, the regulatory and competitive forces have created environments where management has to deal with a unique combination of these three different models. The coexistence of SO many contract types forces companies to get extremely creative in the way they manage the differing shopping. THE CONSUMER/PROVIDER RELATIONSHIP To help us understand how companies and consumers react to each other in churn situations, it may help to look at the history of the relationship between these two groups over time. In fact, it is impossible to consider the relationship between consumers and providers as it exists today without taking into account the history of that relationship over the last hundred years. The relationship has been a long-standing one with many ups and downs along the way. Until just a few years ago, telcos were protected monopolies in the majority of countries around the world. This fact defined many of the characteristics of the relationship that still operate in the background of people's thinking about what that relation