lower prices, and aggressive advertising campaigns will follow. Each time the regulatory environment shifts, another round of shopping will occur. This regulation-based shopping cycle, however, is not the only one. Another major source of pressure to change carriers comes from competitors in the marketplace. When competitors sponsor large, well-funded promotions, consumers often respond. This is an advertising-based churn cycle. In many ways, the wireless industry is more like the retail industry than the telecommunications industry. eXcellence in Telecommunications The Telco Churn Handbook MODERN TELCO SHOPPING CYCLE BEHAVIOR EXAMPLES Over the past several years, the nature of the consumer/provider relationship has been changing. A new model of how the consumer and phone company relate is being developed. Now there is competition. Now there are options. Now, negotiation is possible. Shopping is possible. The phone company can no longer simply dictate terms. It is indeed interesting how this change of options has altered people's perceptions. As with most cases where significant and radical change occurs, consumers are reacting in various ways to the situation. We already find the development of several alternative telecommunications shopping cycles. The Incumbent Do-or-Die Cycle There is clearly a significant part of the population that will continue to do and see things the way they always have no matter how much change happens around them. This is also true in the case of phone companies. There is a distinct and sometimes significant percentage of any market that continues to cling to the incumbent telco that served them for years as their one and only service provider option. For whatever reasons, it is as if these consumers neither know nor care about the fact that competition has come to the telecommunications industry. These people continue to consider their long-time incumbent provider as the only option for services. Not only do these consumers continue to use the incumbent to provide the traditional ser