A CP PROJECT REPORT ON SALES - PRAMOTION & STATERGY OF TELECOME INDUSTRY

SUBMITTED BY:

GUIDED BY:

SUBMITTED TO SHREE SAHAJANAND INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT GUJARAT TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR: - 2011-2013

PREFACE:

In the world, changing is the essence of time visiting an industrial unit is the golden opportunity for the student to know actual word of industry. As a student of 3rd Semester M.B.A. I have honor of having practical training under industrial visit. And it is necessary for students to take practical training to support the theoretical training to support the theoretical knowledge to expand the deep sense of practical training in students. In a business world the practical knowledge is very important as well as theoretical knowledge. This knowledge helps to solve the problem with practically. My training period is very good for me because I got a good opportunity to learn how to deal e=with business world and also chance to observe the daily activities of the firm. Its very important for me and also for my future life.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is really a matter of great pleasure for me to prepare Project Report. At this stage project report is an important part of learning, and every entrepreneur prepares it before he starts actual production. I would like to express my deep gratitude to MR. BIRJU JANI, Project in charge of our college. Without her helpful co-operation and guidance, my efforts would have never been materialized in such worth. His inspiration and encouragement has leaded me to come with a successful task.

I personally want to thanks My Parents & My Friends who have directly or indirectly had helped me in preparing the project report.

No serious & lasting achievement or success, one can ever achieve without the help & guidance and co-operation of so many people involved in the work.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The project assigned to me is to study the Marketing health of any organization in the country. I decided to choose one of Indias profitable manufacturing companies in a sector that has rapidly grown over the last few years. Through this report, I try and analyze the marketing environment in which SHASHI INDUSTRIES Limited is operating. Through a thorough marketing analysis, my aim is to understand the marketing factors that are influencing the company and its decision making. The marketing statements of last two years are identified, studied and interpreted in light of companys performance. Critical decisions of sales, advertising, consumer buying and other current news are analyzed and their impact on the bottom line of the company is assessed.

DECLARATION

I undersigned, Balwant vaniya and Pratik Boricha, a student of Shree Sahajanand Institute of Management, Bhavnagar do hereby declare that the project work presented in this report is my own contribution and has been carried out under the supervision of MR. BIRJU JANI of Shree Sahajanand Institute of Management . I precisely assure you that this work has not been previously submitted to any other University for any examination by any student.

Date: Place: Bhavnagar

___________________ SIGNATURE

PART I
GENERAL INFORMATION

Promotion
Promotion is a form of corporate communication that uses various methods to reach a targeted audience with a certain message in order to achieve specific organizational objectives. Nearly all organizations, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, in all types of industries, must engage in some form of promotion. Such efforts may range from multinational firms spending large sums on securing high-profile celebrities to serve as corporate spokespersons to the owner of a one-person enterprise passing out business cards at a local businesspersons meeting. Like most marketing decisions, an effective promotional strategy requires the marketer understand how promotion fits with other pieces of the marketing puzzle (e.g., product, distribution, pricing, target markets). Consequently, promotion decisions should be made with an appreciation for how it affects other areas of the company. For instance, running a major advertising campaign for a new product without first assuring there will be enough inventory to meet potential demand generated by the advertising would certainly not go over well with the companys production department (not to mention other key company executives). Thus, marketers should not work in a vacuum when making promotion decisions. Rather, the overall success of a promotional strategy requires input from others in impacted functional areas. In addition to coordinating general promotion decisions with other business areas, individual promotions must also work together. Under the concept of Integrated Marketing Communication marketers attempt to develop a unified promotional strategy involving the coordination of many different types of promotional techniques. The key idea for the marketer who employs several promotional options (well discuss potential options later in this tutorial) to reach objectives for the product is to employ a consistent message across all options. For instance, salespeople will discuss the same benefits of a product as mentioned in television advertisements. In this way no matter how customers are exposed to a marketers promotional efforts they all receive the same information. A promotion is an increase in rank which may also be accompanied by a raise in pay, benefits, and responsibility. Most people view promotions positively, as they indicate that the individual being promoted is successful, valuable, and useful. In many workplaces, people actively work towards promotion and its accompanied benefits. The term is also sometimes used to refer to a general change in status such as a graduation, which is why you may find yourself attending a fifth grade promotion instead of a fifth grade graduation. Typically, someone is rewarded with a promotion when he or she performs exemplary work, or shows aptitude for a position with more responsibility. This is usually a cause for celebration, as it indicates that the employee has a potential for development and long employment within the company. A promotion may include supervision responsibilities, as the promoted employee becomes responsible for administrative assistants and other

staff. These responsibilities should not be taken lightly, as most employees look to their supervisors for guidance and examples of appropriate workplace behavior. A promotion may also require more work, which goes along with general increases in responsibility. This work may be more complex or more interesting, however, so most employees are happy to take it on. In recognition of the increased workload and status of the employee, most employers offer a pay raise with a promotion, and employees may become eligible for additional benefits. In a ranked system like the military or a fire department, the promotion may be called an increase in rank or grade, and the employee's pay will be adjusted according to a rigid scale. Notification of a promotion and congratulations are usually offered by a supervisor or high ranking member of the company. If you have been selected for a promotion, be aware that this is an excellent time to make negotiations, such as a request for a change in hours, because your employer is indicating that you are valued as an employee. When you are promoted, you may have to sign paperwork indicating the type of promotion and noting any changes in pay. Not all people view promotions as cause for celebrations. Some people, for example, prefer to remain lower in rank so that they can stay in the field in professions like policing. Others enjoy jobs with light responsibilities, despite the lower pay. In some cases, it is possible to reject such a promotion, although an employer may be puzzled. In others, a promotion is not an option. Promotion and sales promotion are two terms that often create confusion in the advertising and marketing fields. As noted, promotion is an element of marketing by which firms communicate with their customers; it includes all the promotional-mix elements we have just discussed. However, many marketing and advertising practitioners use the term more narrowly to refer to sales promotion activities to either consumers or the trade (retailers, wholesalers). Sales Promotions are short-term incentives to encourage purchase or sale of a product or service. The next variable in the promotional mix is sales promotion, which is generally defined as those marketing activities that provide extra value or incentives to the sales force, the distributors, or the ultimate consumer and can stimulate immediate sales. Sales promotion is generally broken into two major categories: consumer-oriented and trade-oriented activities. Consumer-oriented sales promotion is targeted to the ultimate user of a product or service and includes couponing, sampling, premiums, rebates, contests, sweepstakes, and various point-of-purchase materials. These promotional tools encourage consumers to make an immediate purchase and thus can stimulate short-term sales. Trade-oriented sales promotion is targeted toward marketing intermediaries such as wholesalers, distributors. And retailers, promotional and merchandising allowances, price deals, sales contests, and trade shows are some of the promotional tools used to encourage the trade to stock and promote a companys products. Among many consumer packaged-goods companies, sales promotion is often 60 to 70 percent of the promotional budget. In recent years many companies have shifted the emphasis of their promotional strategy from advertising to sales promotion. Reasons for

the increased emphasis on sales promotion include declining brand loyalty and increased consumer sensitivity to promotional deals. Another major reason is that retailers have become larger and more powerful and more powerful and are demanding more trade promotion support from companies. PROMOTIONAL MIX: The promotional mix constitutes the specific group of marketing activities concerned with the communications aspect with existing or potential customers, and relevant public. An advantage of publicity over other forms of promotion is its credibility. Consumers generally tend to be less skeptical toward favorable information about a product or service when it comes from a source they perceive as unbiased it involves some important elements there are as follows. Advertising. Personal selling. Sales promotion. Direct marketing.

Sales Promotional Tools: Promotion and sales promotion are two terms that often create confusion in the advertising and marketing fields. As noted, promotion is an element of marketing by which firms communicate with their customers; it includes all the promotional-mix elements we have just discussed. However, many marketing and advertising practitioners use the term more narrowly to refer to sales promotion activities to either consumers or the trade (retailers, wholesalers). In this book, promotion is used in the broader sense to refer to the various marketing communications activities of an organization. Communication: They gain attention and usually provide information that may lead the customer to the product. The communication medium works phenomenon in the present market scenario.

Incentive:

They incorporate same concession, inducement, or contribution that gives value to the customers. Also for the promotion benefits are been attached with the product or service. IOCL promotes its petroleum product by providing benefits on every refilling fuel with cash, credit and debit

Invention: They include a distinct invention to encourage in the transaction now. Here the percentage of octane in the fuel is increased upto 91% so as to provide a close contest with in the competitors, the innovativeness in it approach to the customers like Xtra premium, Xtra Mile, Xtra care make the customers grab the attention towards the products and utilize them.

Some Methods of sales promotions: Sales promotion can be done in many forms to enhance the business prospects so its very essential that the companies focus more on the promotional activities thus the business finds some new ways of expanding its market share. The following are some of the promotional activities carried out in the present scenario.

Price deals Quality deals Discounts Coupons Trading stamps Premiums Packaged premium Branded premium Container premium Over-the-counter premium Free-in-mail premium Sampling Dealer sales contest etc.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ABOUT TELECOM SECTOR

History of reforms: The telecom sector reforms so far have been undertaken in three phases. The first phase began in the early 80s, when private manufacturing of customer premise equipment was given the go-ahead in 1984. A proliferation of individual STD/ISD/PCO networks also took place throughout the country, by way of private individual franchises. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) was created out of the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) to handle the sectors of Mumbai and Delhi respectively. A high-powered telecom commission was set up in 1989, and Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) was made the international service provider catering to all telecom services originating from India. The second phase of reforms in the telecom sector commenced in 1991 with the announcement of a new economic policy. To begin with, the government delicensed the manufacture of telecom equipment in 1991. It also opened up radio paging services in 1992. In 1994, basic telephony was opened to the private sector by granting six companies with operating licenses. These companies were Bharti Telenet, Essar Commvision, Shyam Telecom, Hughes Tele.com, Tata Teleservices and Reliance. The National Telecom Policy announced in 1994 was part of this second phase of reforms. It emphasized Universal Service and Qualitative Improvement in telecom services, among other objectives. An independent statutory regulatory was established in 1997, and pursuant to the policy intentions, Internet services were opened up. This was however only in 1998, rather belatedly in comparison to the rest of the world. Since then, more companies have been given the go-ahead to offer various telephony and other telecom services in the voice and data segments. The third phase of reforms began with the announcement of the New Telecom Policy in 1999. The underlying theme of NTP was to usher in full competition through unrestricted entry of private players in all service sectors. The policy favoured the migration of existing operators from the era of fixed license fee regime to that of revenue sharing. The policy further outlined the strengthening of the regulator, opening up of International Long Distance (ILD) and National Long Distance (NLD) services to the private sector and corporatisation of telecom services. Accordingly, the year 2001 witnessed the entry of private operators in offering basic telephony and NLD services and the introduction of additional players, in every cellular circle. This phase of reforms also saw VSNL's monopoly ending prematurely in April 2002, when the ILD sector was thrown open to the private sector to herald the era of unlimited competition in the industry. Outcome of reforms: With these reforms, the telecom sector began witnessing a trend of growth never seen before. Basic services have been opened for unlimited competition; more licenses have been issued to the private sector for cellular services. Tele-density, too, has increased from 1.07 in 1995 to 2.8 in 2000 and stood at 5.72 as of August 2003. While it is

expected to continue rising sharply in a very short period, the issue of telephone accessibility remains to be addressed satisfactorily. The telecom sector has thus completely changed, both in terms of coverage, and efficiency of services offered. Provision of landlines on demand in certain places, telephone exchanges going digital, and the acceptability of optic fibre and wireless technology are but a few instances of the change that swept the industry. In the area of cellular services, the number of licenses stood at four operators in each circle, with the services are being run in eighteen telecom circles and four metro cities. The state of Jammu and Kashmir was the nineteenth telecom circle to be made operational, although this was only in August 2003. The current subscriber base in the cellular market has risen to 183 lakh as of September 2003. The cellular service providers also providing a lot of value-added services such as SMS, location based services, etc, and these to now form an important constituent of the cellular service providers revenues. In the Internet Service Provider (ISP) business, 460 licenses have already been granted, more than 240 clearances have been issued to set up their own international data gateways. In the first quarter of 2003-04, around 194 ISPs were operational of which 40 ISPs were also providing Internet Telephony services. In the meantime, the private basic service providers have started a rollout of fixed wireless telephones. The rollout of these services along with the fast growth in the cellular subscriber base has affected the growth of the fixed line subscribers to a large extent. Current issues: However, technological advancements in a sector do not in any way guarantee a smooth ride for all the players in the industry. And the telecom sector in particular has seen more than its share of controversies. In fact, it may even be argued that the third stage of reforms took place only due to the problems faced by the sector at that point of time. The most recent spate of controversies took place as a result of the entry of more WLL operators on the scene with low costs. This threatened the survival of cellular players who entered at a peak time. The major worry for the cellular industry was that just like the advent of SMS saw the paging industry lose most of its business; the entry of WLL would have a similar effect on them. As a result, in January 2002, the legal wrangling between the cellular operators based on the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) and the basic operators providing limited mobility WLL services commenced. The first signs of the things to come was when the cellular operators threatened not to offer interconnectivity to WLL operators and block calls on those networks unless the government solved the issue of access charges. This was followed by a spate of other issues, which required clarifications, legal opinions, and delivery of judgements. Of all the issues, two specific grievances of the cellular operators stood out. Firstly, all cellular operators were made to pay an access charge of Rs 1.20 for every 3 minutes for any call terminated in the network of the basic operator. To provide interconnectivity between cellular and fixed services, basic phone operators asked cellular operators for an access charge for terminating calls on their network. On the other hand, for calls made

from a basic phone to a cellular phone, the basic operator paid nothing to cellular operators. The reason being that basic operators have to provide cheap telephonic services to far-flung areas, it could not be made more expensive by paying access charges. Their other grievance was with regards to fee. When cellular phone operators forayed into the telecom sector, they had to pay hefty fees of around Rs 3000 crore for getting their licenses. On the other hand, WLL firms providing limited mobility services, had to pay a measly Rs 500 crore. It is this hefty fee, combined with a levy of access charge, which has made cellular telephony more expensive. As a result, the Interconnect Usage Charges (IUC) regime was eventually ushered in. This also led to the system of the calling party paying for the calls made on all networks, whether basic, cellular, or wireless. However, the initial set of IUCs was not found to be efficient and easily implementable. This led to the announcement of new IUC by TRAI towards the fag end of October 2003. In addition to the IUC, TRAI also decided to impose an access deficit charge. The players have been given a free hand to decide their tariffs by TRAI, and it has announced its intention to interfere only in extreme cases. There was another controversy that surrounded the telecom sector in 2003, which was regarding the roaming facility being offered by limited mobility players. At the time of the introductory launch of its WLL services (Reliance India Mobile) in December 2002, Reliance Infocomm promised national roaming facility to its customers. As WLL services were designed only to offer limited mobility within a specific Short Distance Charging Area (SDCA), the advertisements put the cellular operators in a fix. According to them, the offering of roaming services was a clear breach of existing regulations. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) eventually moved the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) accusing WLL operators for violating license conditions by offering roaming facility. The clarification given by Reliance Infocomm that the company had planned to offer multiple subscription to customers, thereby making the roaming facilities being offered within the purview of the WLL license was eventually not found to be satisfactory by the authorities. The TDSAT verdict on the issues relating to the coverage provided by the WLL players was given in August 2003. A majority verdict of the TDSAT, while clearing the WLL limited mobility services directed the Government to restrict their mobility to a Short Distance Charging Area (SDCA). This decision meant that the surrogate roaming facilities offered by the WLL players were no longer permissible. Additionally, the TDSAT also asked the Government to look into the issue of providing a level playing field to all the interested parties. What the future holds: With two of the three major issues getting resolved, the only issue that remained was pertaining to the disparity in the entry fees paid by the cellular and basic operators. This gave further impetus to have unified licensing for basic, cellular, and wireless services, and eventually, in a landmark decision, the Group of Ministers constituted to look into the issue approved TRAIs recommendations on the same. The players have been given the option of migrating to a new agreement under the aegis of the unified license, or continuing under the previous agreements. The cellular license

has been broadened, and these players now have the option to commence basic telephony services. The basic service providers in order to avail of the unified license, now have to pay the difference between the license fees paid by them and the fourth cellular operator, doing which will permit them to offer full mobility services. This process of unified licensing will be completed in a period of six months, provided there are no hitches. This move is a positive step towards a license free environment in the telecom sector. And in all probability the future holds a unified license not merely a unified license in select telecom services, but instead for all the services offered in the sector. In November 2003, the Department of Telecommunications finally issued the order approving unified licencing. Reliance Infocomm had to pay a penalty of Rs 526 crore for offering roaming facilities. Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices, Shyam Telelink and Himachal Futuristic Communications are issued unified licences. Reliance Infocomm receives licences for 17 circles and Tatas for six circles, including two metros. However, the seemingly mild penalty imposed upon Reliance Infocomm continues to remain a bone of contention. And the cellular operators are not too happy with the new regime, and have approached the Supreme Court for relief.

@ WORLD MARKET OF TELECOM SECTOR

World telecom industry is an uprising industry, proceeding towards a goal of achieving two third of the world's telecom connections. Over the past few years information and communications technology has changed in a dramatic manner and as a result of that world telecom industry is going to be a booming industry. Substantial economic growth and mounting population enable the rapid growth of this industry.
The world telecommunications market is expected to rise at an 11 percent compound annual growth rate at the end of year 2010. The leading telecom companies like AT&T, Vodafone, Verizon, SBC Communications, Bell South, Qwest Communications are trying to take the advantage of this growth. These companies are working on telecommunication fields like broadband technologies, EDGE(Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution) technologies, LANWAN inter networking, optical networking, voice over Internet protocol, wireless data service etc. Over the last couple of years, world telecommunication industry has been consolidating by allowing private organizations the opportunities to run their businesses with this industry. The Government monopolies are now being privatized and consequently competition is developing. Among all, the domestic and small business markets are the hardest.

@ INDIAN MARKET OF TELECOM SECTOR

Telecom industry in India has a big market potentiality and is a fast growing sector. Government of India is eager to reconstitute this telecom industry by enacting effective policies for more investments from foreign companies, which results in a very competitive and deregulated market in the world. Telecommunication sector in India is primarily subdivided into two segments, which are Fixed Service Provider (FSPs) and Cellular Services. Telecom industry in India constitutes some essential telecom services like telephone, radio, television and Internet. Telecom industry in India is specifically emphasizing on latest technologies like GSM( Global System for Mobile Communications), CDMA(Code Division Multiple Access), PMRTS(Public Mobile Radio Trunking Services), Fixed Line and WLL(Wireless Local Loop ). India has a prospering market specifically in GSM mobile service and the number of subscribers is growing very fast. The history of telephone services in India found its beginning when a 50-line manual telephone exchange was commissioned in Kolkata in the year 1882 in less than five years after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. While India became independent in the year 1947, the country had about 82,000 telephone connections, which slowly rose up to 3.05 million by the year 1984. The telecom sector in India was a government monopoly until the year 1994 when liberalization was gradually unrolled. For the first time, cellular services were launched in India in Kolkata in the year 1995.

Today, India is the largest market in the world adding up a dramatic number of about 20 million mobile subscriber lines every month in an average. On the other hand, the number of landlines is found gradually decreasing. At the end of the first quarter in 2010, we find that the overall telecom subscriber penetration has gone up by more than 52 %. Though this might occur as a relatively low volume compared with a number of other nations, this comes as a quantum leap noting the figures recorded a few years back. Mumbai and Delhi (NCR) enjoy the status among a few other metro areas around the globe boasting of more than 25 m mobile subscribers in each of these regions. At present, The FDI cap in the telecom sector in India is 74 %. In a recent move, UKs Vodafone Group has purchased a 52 % stake in Hutchison Essar, the fourth largest mobile service provider in the country. Bharti Airtel has the credit of being the first Indian operator to cross a subscriber base of 50 million. It is predicted that mobile number portability (MNP) will be available throughout India by the second quarter of 2010, initially in the cities of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, the four metros of India. Also, 3G (third generation) mobile services are found being introduced in all the major cities across the nation. The country has auctioned three 3G spectrum slots to private bidders. However, the number of subscribers for broadband connections is increasing at a slow pace.

@ GROWTH OF TELECOM SECTOR

Two major factors responsible for the growth of telecommunications industry are use of modern technology and market competition. One of the products of modern technologies is optical fibers, which are being used as a medium of data transmission instead of using coaxial or twisted pair cables. Optical fibers can carry a high volume of data and are easier to maintain and install. Use of communication satellites make this telecommunications industry a booming industry. The use of mobile network has a crucial role behind the growth of an improved telecommunications industry. Leading companies are showing their interest to invest in this telecommunications industry. Telecommunications industry is going to be a digitized one. Use of ISDN (Inter Services Digital Network) makes this telecommunication industry a total digitalized system and eventually enhanced the speed and quality of digital communication. The introduction of these advanced technologies makes the telecommunications industry a competitive one, where a number of multinational companies have shown their interest to invest in this industry and consequently the prices are reduced, the quality is also improved. During the period of 1990, the telecommunication industry showed a speedy growth in terms of investment and eventually increased the competition. The competition between the companies led to the de Telecommunication industry has created immense employment opportunities. Most of the employees in this industry are engaged in large establishments, although there are some small establishments, where a large number of small contractors are involved. Fifty five percent of all workers are engaged in office and administrative support occupations. The other occupations of this industry relate to installation, maintenance, and repair .cline of revenues.

The telecom sector has registered tremendous growth over the years. As a result, India has become the third largest telecommunication network in the world. The subscriber base is increasing manifold and the country has emerged as the fastest growing telecom market in the world. Few decades ago having a telephone was a status symbol and owning a cell phone made one wealthy, but now, the prices of cell phones have come so down that even a rickshaw-puller can easily afford it. With its rapidly growing economy, India is making developments in all the sectors including the telecom. The telecom sector is gaining momentum with the advent of private players like Airtel, Reliance, Tata etc. in the field. Previously, telecom sector was monopolized by government-controlled BSNL (Bhartiya Sanchar Nigam Limited). After the Indian economy was liberalized, privatized and globalized, many private companies flooded the Indian market. The private operators not only provide cellular services but also landline. Some of the companies also provide WLL (Wireless Local Loop) services. Landline telephones have also changed their traditional nature; they are not only used for making calls but one can also send SMS or musical greetings by it.

India appeals to international market because of the low penetration levels of telecom services. Though, the number of subscribers is increasing day by day, it is still low compared to other countries. Strong economic growth has resulted in increase in the average income of the consumers thereby increasing their purchasing power is also one of the major factor behind the development of telecom sector in India. Another major reason is the easy availability of cheap and skilled labor which is beneficial for its expansion. BSNL is the largest telecom company in India. BSNL and MTNL leads in the landline services while Bharati Airtel is the most important player in the cellular services. Telecom companies are facing stiff competition entering of the new players. This has led to sharp decline in the call rates and price of mobile handsets has also become cheaper. One can buy a branded handset at Rs. 1000. Companies such as Reliance, Airtel, Tata and Idea are offering several schemes to attract consumers. Some of the schemes are call rates being Re.1 per second, making calls on the same network has become free or very nominal rate is charged. The monthly rentals have also decreased. Their ads are also very innovative and creative. Who can forget the Vodafones Zoozoo ads or Ideas social message ads endorsed by Abhishek Bachchan? Mobile companies are also providing best offers on musical ring tones downloading wallpapers etc. However, Indian market has still not reached to its saturation point. The telecom sector has to still make inroads in the rural areas. Companies should divert their attention to the rural areas to cater to the rural market. Government should also provide the companies secure environment so that they invest in India. This will ultimately benefit the consumers.

2. MAJOR COMPANY IN INDIA

Uninor is an Indian mobile network operator based in Gurgaon, India. The company holds Unified Access Service(UAS) licences to offer mobile telephony services in each of Indias 22 telecom circles, and has received spectrum to roll out services in 21 of these (excluding Delhi). The company is a joint venture between Telenor Group, a telecommunications company headquartered in Oslo, Norway, and Unitech Group, an Indian real estate company. Telenor owns a controlling majority stake in the company (67.25%), which has been branded Uninor in the Indian market. Uninor offers mobile voice and data services based on the GSM technology, currently on a 4.4 MHz spectrum. Uninor services are commercially available in 13 circles across India. With a value for money proposition in the market, Uninor targets youth and other communities within the Indian mass market. As of December 2011, Uninor has 36 million customers and a total workforce of 17,500 people. The company has more than 22,000 partners in India. Uninor products and services are available from a more than 375,000 retail outlets serviced by 1,900 distributors all over the country. The public interest litigation judgment in Feburary 2012 orders no stoppage of any services. Uninor services will not be interrupted. Both Uninor and Telenor Group are determined to ensure that Uninor will continue to remain a strong competitor in the Indian mobile market.

The Company was incorporated under English law in 1984 as Racal Strategic Radio Limited (registered number 1833679). After various name changes, 20% of Racal Telecom Plc capital was offered to the public in October 1988. The Company was fully demerged from Racal Electronics Plc and became an independent company in September 1991, at which time it changed its name to Vodafone Group Plc. Since then we have entered into various transactions which consolidated our position in the United Kingdom and enhanced our international presence. The most significant of these transactions were as follows: The merger with Air Touch Communications, Inc. which completed on 30 June 1999. The Company changed its name to Vodafone Air Touch Plc in June 1999 but then reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group Plc, on 28 July 2000. The acquisition of Mannesmann AG which completed on 12 April 2000. Through this transaction we acquired businesses in Germany and Italy and increased our indirect holding in SFR. Through a series of business transactions between 1999 and 2004 we acquired a 97.7% stake in Vodafone Japan. This was then disposed of on 27 April 2006. On 8 May 2007 we acquired companies with interests in Vodafone Essar for US$10.9 billion (5.5 billion), following which we control Vodafone Essar.

Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa. It operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or 3G services depending upon the country of

operation. Airtel is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world with over 230.8 million customers across 19 countries as of June 2011. Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephony and second largest provider of fixed telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve this Cisco Gold Certification. To earn Gold Certification, Bharti Airtel had to meet rigorous standards for networking competency, service, support and customer satisfaction set forth by Cisco. The company also provides land-line telephone services and broadband Internet access (DSL) in over 96 cities in India. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore. It is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource all of its business operations except marketing, sales and finance. Its network (base stations, microwave links, etc.) are maintained by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei, business support is provided by IBM, and transmission towers are maintained by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India). Ericsson agreed for the first time to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid up front. This enabled the company to provide pan-India phone call rates of Rs. 1/minute (US$0.02/minute). Call rates have come down much further. During the last financial year [200910], Bharti has negotiated for its strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the Telemedia Business.

In 2000, Tata Cellular was a company providing mobile services in Andhra Pradesh. When Birla-AT&T brought Maharashtra and Gujarat to the table, the merger of these two entities was a reality. Thus Birla-Tata-AT&T, popularly known as Batata, was born and was later branded as !dea. Then Idea set sights on RPGs operations in Madhya Pradesh which was successfully acquired, helping Batata have a million subscribers, and the licence to be the fourth operator in Delhi was clinched.

In 2004, Idea (the company had by then been rechristened) bought over the Escorts groups Escotel gaining Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West) and Kerala and licences for three more UP (East), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. By the end of that year, four million Indians were on the companys network. In 2005, AT&T sold its investment in Idea, and the year after Tatas also bid good bye to pursue an independent telecom business. And Idea was left only with one promoter, the AV Birla group. Rs 2,700 crore adding Punjab and Karnataka circles. Modis joint venture partner, Telekom Malaysia, invested Rs 7,000 crore for a 14.99% stake in Idea. Just around then, Ideas subsidiary, Aditya Birla Telecom sold a 20% stake to US-based Providence Equity Partners for over Rs 2,0000 crore. The company has its retail outlets under the "My Idea" banner. The company has also been the first to offer flexible tariff plans for prepaid customers[citation needed]. It also offers GPRS services in urban areas. Idea Cellular won the GSM Association Award for "Best Billing and Customer Care Solution" for 2 consecutive years[citation needed]. IDEA Cellular has been recognized as the 'Most Customer Responsive Company' in the Telecom sector, at the prestigious Avaya GlobalConnect Customer Responsiveness Awards 2010[citation needed].

nitially the Birlas, the Tatas and AT&T Wireless each held one-third equity in the company. But following AT&T Wireless' merger with Cingular Wireless in 2004, Cingular decided to sell its 32.9% stake in Idea. This stake was bought by both the Tatas and Birlas at 16.45% each. Tata's foray into the cellular market with its own subsidiary, Tata Indicom, a CDMAbased mobile provider, cropped differences between the Tatas and the Birlas. This dual holding by the Tatas also became a major reason for the delay in Idea being granted a license to operate in Mumbai. This was because as per Department of Telecommunications (DOT) license norms, one promoter could not have more than 10% stake in two companies operating in the same circle and Tata Indicom was already operating in Mumbai when Idea filed for its licence.

TATA DoCoMo, usually referred to as DoCoMo (not to be confused with NTT Docomo), is an Indian cellular service provider on the GSM and CDMA platform-arising out of the Tata Group's strategic joint venture with Japanese telecom giant NTT Docomo in November 2008. Tata Teleservices is the country's sixth largest operator in terms of subscribers (including both CDMA and GSM). Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) received a license to operate GSM telecom services in 19 telecom Circles and has been allotted spectrum in 18 of these circles, under the brand "TATA DoCoMo". Tata Docomo launched GSM services on 24 June 2009. It first launched in South India and currently operates GSM services in 18 of 22 telecom circles. It has licence to operate in Delhi but has not been allocated spectrum from the Government.[1] Docomo provides CDMA services throughout India. Tata DOCOMO offers both prepaid and postpaid cellular phone services. It has become very popular with its one second pulse especially in semi-urban and rural areas.

On 5 November 2010, Tata DOCOMO became the first private sector telecom company to launch 3G services in India . Tata DOCOMO had about 42.34 million users at the end of December 2010.[2] On 20 October 2011, Tata Teleservices brought its brands - Indicom, Photon, Walky under the Tata Docomo name. All subscribers to these services were migrated to the Docomo brand on 20 October 2011.[3]

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (abbreviated BSNL) is a state-owned telecommunications company headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is the largest provider of fixed telephony and fourth largest mobile telephony provider in India, and is also a provider of broadband services. However, in recent years the company's revenue and market share plunged into heavy losses due to intense competition in Indian telecommunications sector.[4][5] BSNL is India's oldest and largest communication service provider (CSP). It had a customer base of 90 million as of June 2008. BSNL then known as the Department of Telecommunications had been a near monopoly during the socialist period of the Indian economy. During this period, BSNL was the only telecom service provider in the country. MTNL was present only in Mumbai and New Delhi. During this period BSNL operated as a typical state-run organization, inefficient, slow, bureaucratic, and heavily unionised. As a result subscribers had to wait for as long as five years to get a telephone connection. The corporation tasted competition for the first time after the liberalisation of Indian economy in 1991. Faced with stiff competition from the private telecom service providers, BSNL has subsequently tried to increase efficiencies itself. DoT veterans, however, put the onus for the sorry state of affairs on the Government policies, where in all state-owned service providers were required to function as mediums for achieving egalitarian growth across all segments of the society.

The corporation (then DoT), however, failed to achieve this and India languished among the most poorly connected countries in the world. BSNL was born in 2000 after the corporatisation of DoT. The efficiency of the company has since improved, however, the performance level is nowhere near the private players. The corporation remains heavily unionised and is comparatively slow in decision making and its implementation, which largely acts at the instances of unions without bothering about outcome. Management has been reactive to the schemes of private telecom players.

The Reliance Group, founded by Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002), is India's largest private sector enterprise, with businesses in the energy and materials value chain. Group's annual revenues are in excess of US$ 58 billion. The flagship company, Reliance Industries Limited, is a Fortune Global 500 company and is the largest private sector company in India. Dhirubhai Ambani dreamt of a digital India an India where the common man would have access to affordable means of information and communication. Dhirubhai, who single-handedly built Indias largest private sector company virtually from scratch, had stated as early as 1999: Make the tools of information and communication available to people at an affordable cost. They will overcome the handicaps of illiteracy and lack of mobility. It was with this belief in mind that Reliance Communications (formerly Reliance Infocomm) started laying 60,000 route kilometres of a pan-India fibre optic backbone. This backbone was commissioned on 28 December 2002, the auspicious occasion of Dhirubhais 70th birthday, though sadly after his unexpected demise on 6 July 2002. Reliance Communications has a reliable, high-capacity, integrated (both wireless and wireline) and convergent (voice, data and video) digital network. It is capable of delivering a range of services spanning the entire infocomm (information and communication) value chain, including infrastructure and services for enterprises as well as individuals, applications, and consulting. Today, Reliance Communications is revolutionising the way India communicates and networks, truly bringing about a new way of life.

3. SERVICE PROFILE
Wireline Services The wireline segment includes basic wireline services rendered to households, commercial units and to service providers such as public call offices. While the incumbent PSUs have been the dominant players in wireline service, some private players have been gradually making their presence felt in this segment. As on March 31, 2008, 5 licensed private operator groups were providing wireline connections in addition to the incumbent BSNL and MTNL. Wireless Services Wireless services can be further divided into Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The WLL (F) is operated under the CDMA technology. The GSM services, which account for 73% of the total subscriber base of the wireless service, dominate the wireless segment. Wireless Subscriber Market Share: Service Wise (GSM & CDMA) The wireless services have witnessed significant growth in the past few years. India primarily follows the GSM mobile system, in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz band. The 900 MHz band has greater transmission characteristics, thereby enabling lower capital expenditure for expansion of coverage area as the number of towers and base stations required are lesser as compared to the 1800 MHz band. The wireless services segment of the telecom industry clocked an annual average growth of around 63.79% during FY05- FY09. India has overtaken the USA to become the second-largest wireless network in the world, and is second only to China, with the addition of about 8 million subscribers every month in the recent times. By end of FY09, the wireless industry had touched the 391.76-mn-subscriber-mark. This total subscriber base of FY09 comprise of 297.26 mn GSM subscribers and 94.50 mn CDMA subscribers. During FY09, around 130.69 mn subscribers were added in the wireless segment of the telecommunication industry.

Private sector players have played an important role in the rapid growth of the wireless segment. The private players account for around 86% of the total wireless subscriber base. While public sector has been instrumental in the development of the wireline service, the growth in wireless subscriber base for these entities has been relatively slower compared to the private players. Currently 12 wireless service providers (including 2 PSUs) exist and compete in different regions. However, only 2 private players, Bharti and Reliance Communications, have nationwide presence along with state-owned entities, MTNL and BSNL, which together represent an additional pan-India presence. Many players have been taking initiatives to expand operations across the country. The GSM sector is dominated by players such as Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, and Idea Cellular, while the CDMA sector is dominated by Reliance and Tata Indicom. Bharti Airtel is the largest GSM mobile operator in India and has a subscriber base of 93.92 million followed by Vodafone-Essar, BSNL and Idea Cellular with a subscriber base of 68.77 mn, 46.71 mn and 38.89 mn, respectively. Reliance Communication is the largest CDMA mobile operator with a subscriber base of 52.65 mn followed by Tata Teleservices and BSNL that have a subscriber base of 35.12 million and 5.44 million, respectively. Only Reliance Communication and Tata Teleservices offer both GSM and CDMA networks. Internet Services Internet services in India have witnessed significant growth in the last few years owing to increased presence of the private players and emergence of new technologies. A significant improvement has also been seen in the quality of internet services given the substantial upgradation of telecom infrastructure. The subscriber base of internet services reached 13.50 mn on March 31, 2009 as compared with 0.09 mn in 1997. During the last 5 years (FY05-FY09), the subscriber base of internet services registered an average annual growth of 24.46%, primarily driven by the rapid growth in subscriber base of the public sector players. The public sector players dominate the internet market accounting for almost 69.30% of the total internet subscriber base. Among the public sector players, BSNL rules the internet provision market with a market share of around 53.61% followed by MTNL that accounted for 15.69% as at end March 31, 2009. Among the private players, Bharti Airtel Ltd has the highest internet subscriber base of 1.08 mn followed by Reliance Communications Infrastructure Ltd, which has a subscriber base of 0.93 mn. In addition to the internet subscribers, around 117.82 mn wireless data subscribers also access the internet through wireless (GSM and CDMA) networks; in fact, broadband connections also have witnessed significant growth in the past few years. According to the Broadband Policy 2004, the broadband connection is an always-on internet access with a minimum speed of 256 Kbps from the Internet Service Providers (ISP) Node to the customer premises equipment (CPE). The broadband subscriber base has surged to around 6.20 mn by end March 09 as against 0.18 mn at end March 05, registering a CAGR of around 142% during this period.

Internet telephony Internet telephony is growing at a steady pace in India. According to the existing licensing policy, PC-to-PC internet telephony calls are allowed without any restriction. A PC or adapter can be used to call Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) / Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) abroad; however, Internet telephony calls from such devices to PSTN/PLMN in India are not permitted. The Internet telephony has been permitted to all ISPs with effect from August 24, 2007. A total of 34 ISPs provided Internet telephony services in India (as on the quarter-ended March 31, 2009). Public Mobile Radio Trunked Services Public Mobile Radio Trunking Service (PMRTS) is an easy-to-use two-way radio communication, mainly used for command and control and group talking while on the move. PMRTS is used mostly in hotels, tour agencies, airports and hospitals among other places. Sixteen operators provide PMRTS in India (as on March 31, 2009). Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) GMPCS services allow a subscriber to communicate from any point on earth through a handheld terminal. Under these services, the telephone numbers of users remain unchanged, irrespective of their location. GMPCS services have been operational in India since 1999. As on date, there is no licence for providing GMPCS service in India. Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) VSAT is a communication system in which the radio signals are received and transmitted through a satellite. VSAT has a less than 3 meter tall dish antenna that relays data to the satellites in the geosynchronous orbit, which then relays data from terminals on earth to other terminals and hubs located in various parts of the world. It is an economical and viable option to connect different geographical locations. It provides connectivity to the points where regular systems or wired lines fail to reach and last mile connectivity is difficult to achieve. VSATs are mostly used for various types of communications as well as to transfer broadband data such as VoIP, satellite Internet and video or narrowband data such as polling, SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), credit cards transactions and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). In India the VSAT services market is growing rapidly. Currently, 9 VSAT service providers are offering VSAT services in India. Mobile Value added Services (MVAS) Over the last few years, Mobile VAS has gained significance as it has been emerging as a potential alternative revenue stream. VAS enables the subscriber to use the mobile phone for a host of purposes such as for sending short messages, pictures, to surf the Internet, for mobile banking including mobile payments, to read news headlines, astrology, to listen to music, to play games and to seek various other types of information. Provision of VAS is either directly done by the telecom operators or by a third party VAS Provider (VASP). Services such as SMS, GPRS are provided directly by the telecom operators and others such as astrology, ring back tunes are provided by the VASPs. In most cases, the contents used for providing VAS are sourced from content providers/content developers or copyright owners known as content owners. Bulk of VAS services currently being

provided by the mobile operators in India are in the form of SMS, ringtone and caller ring back tones (CRBT).

PART II
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

Many studies have focused on the effects of promotion on brand switching, purchase quantity, and stockpiling and have documented that promotion makes consumers switch brands and purchase earlier or more. The consumers consumption decision has long been ignored, and it remains unclear how promotion affects consumption (Blattberg et al. 1995). There are some recent empirical papers addressing the promotion effect on consumer stockpiling behaviour under price or promotion uncertainty. Erdem and Keane (1996) and Gonul and Srinivasan (1996) establish that consumers are forward looking. Erdem et al. (2003) explicitly model consumers expectations about future prices with an exogenous consumption rate. In their model, consumers form future price expectations and decide when, what, and how much to buy. Sun et al. (2003) demonstrate that ignoring forward looking behaviour leads to an over estimation of promotion elasticity. Blattberg, Peacock and Sen (1976) define a purchase strategy as a general buying pattern which "incorporates several dimensions of buying behaviour such as brand loyalty, private brand proneness and deal proneness." A greater understanding of the different types of consumer responses to promotions can help managers to develop effective promotional programs as well as provide new insights for consumer behaviour theorists who seek to understand the influence of different types of environmental cues on consumer behaviour. Blattberg, Eppen, and Liebermann (1981), Gupta (1988), Neslin, Henderson, and Quelch (1985), Shoemaker (1979), Ward and Davis (1978), and Wilson, Newman, and Hastak (1979) find evidence that promotions are associated with purchase acceleration in terms of an increase in quantity purchased and, to a lesser extent, decreased inter purchase timing. Researchers studying the brand choice decision-for example, Guadagni and Little

(1983) and Gupta (1988)-have found promotions to be associated with brand switching. Montgomery (1971), Schneider and Currim (1990), and Webster (1965) found that promotion-prone households were associated with lower levels of brand loyalty. Throughout the world, consumer sales promotions are an integral part of the marketing mix for many consumer products. Marketing managers use price-oriented promotions such as coupons, rebates, and price discounts to increase sales and market share, entice trial, and encourage brand switching. Non-price promotions such as sweepstakes, frequent user clubs, and premiums add excitement and value to brands and may encourage brand loyalty (e.g., Aaker 1991; Shea, 1996). In addition, consumers like promotions. They provide utilitarian benefits such as monetary savings, added value, increased quality, and convenience, as well as hedonic benefits such as entertainment, exploration, and self expression (Chandon, Laurent, and Wansink, 1997). Promotions have increased in popularity during the past few decades. The positive shortterm impact of price promotions on brand sales is well documented. A price promotion typically reduces the price for a given quantity or increases the quantity available at the same price, thereby enhancing value and creating an economic incentive to purchase. However, if consumers associate promotions with inferior brand quality, then, to the extent that quality is important, a price promotion might not achieve the extent of sales increase the economic incentive otherwise might have produced. The literature on the effect of promotions on brand evaluations is equivocal. In their review of the sales promotion literature, Blattberg and Neslin (1990) observe that though "for years advertising executives have been warning marketing executives that promotions will destroy their brands image", "it is not clear that promotions do detract from a brand's consumer franchise". It was also concluded that price promotions unfavourably affect brand evaluations (Ogilvy 1963) with academic research, which has found mixed evidence of this effect. Specifically, though it is well documented that the likelihood of purchasing a brand after a deal retraction is lower if the prior purchase was a promotional one (Guadagni and Little 1983; Shoemaker and Shoaf 1977), it is debatable whether this decrease is due to lowered brand evaluations. One of the explanations offered for this finding is that there is an attitude change at the individual level (Dodson, Tybout, and Stemthal 1978; Doob et al. 1969; Scott 1976). Davis, Inman, and McAlister (1992) also examine the difference between pre and post promotion brand evaluations at the individual level but find no evidence that price promotions affect evaluations for frequently purchased branded packaged goods. Across three promoting brands in each of four different product categories, evaluators of promoted brands in the post promotional period are not found to be lower than in the pre promotional period, The studies by Scott and colleagues indicate that promotions have a damaging effect on post trial evaluations, whereas Davis, Inman, and McAlister's study suggests that the impact of promotions on brand evaluations in these packaged goods categories is, on average, nonexistent. Liefeld and Heslop (1985) state, "Perhaps the sale context is so overused that the intent of these practices is readily transparent to consumers leading them to distrust and greatly

discount the claims implied by such advertising practices". Blair and Landon (1981) found that reference price claims were consistently discounted by about 25 percent. Even when reference prices are not explicitly mentioned, consumers seem to discount the perceived savings level. Mobley et al. (1988) found that 25 percent and 50 percent discount claims elicited 21 percent and 45 percent perceived price reductions, respectively. Following Urbany et al. (1988), It has been suggested that discounting occurs when consumers doubt the credibility of the advertised savings, but instead of completely rejecting it they reduce it to a level deemed more reasonable. A promotion threshold is the minimum value of price discount required to change consumers' intentions to buy. The concept of a threshold can be related to the psychological process of discrimination in which a consumer would not react to stimuli unless the perceived changes were above a just noticeable difference (Luce and Edwards 1958). The concept of a threshold is widely recognized and acknowledged by both researchers and practitioners. In the context of advertising effectiveness, Eastlack and Rao (1986) showed that a minimum level of advertising is needed before advertising has any significant impact on sales. Kalwani and Yim (1992) found evidence in support of a region of relative price insensitivity around the reference price, such that only price changes outside this region had a significant impact on consumer brand choice. Many managers also believe that price reductions of about 15 percent are needed to attract consumers to a sale (Della Bitta and Monroe 1980). Therefore, Sunil Gupta and Lee G. Cooper (1992) proposed that promotion thresholds exist such that consumers do not change their intention to buy the product unless the price reduction is greater than some threshold value Sunil Gupta and Lee G. Cooper (1992) provide some interesting results about the effect of adverticements on consumers' perceptions of these discounts and consequently on changes in their intentions to buy the product. They find that consumers discount the price discounts; that is, consumers' perceptions of discounts are typically less than the adverticement. The discounting of discounts increases with the increase in adverticement. Each year, companies spend billions of dollars on trade promotion to induce retailers to offer stronger merchandising support (e.g., price reduction, feature, special display) for their brands. Though recent research has documented the success of pricing and promotion in stimulating immediate sales response ( Guadagni and Little 1983; Gupta 1988; Neslin, Henderson, and Quelch 1985), there is concern about the long run implications of such activity. James M. Lattin and Randolph E. Bucklin (1989) investigated that the reference effects of price and promotion on consumer choice behaviour. The model is based on the premise that consumers form expectations about the future marketing activity of a brand from their past exposure to such activity. The model reflects not only reference price, but also the consumer's promotional reference point for a brand. They further assumed that consumers use these points of reference in evaluating a brand at each purchase opportunity and that consumer response was influenced by the disparity between their

reference points and the actual price and promotional status of the brand. These assumptions enabled them to calibrate a brand choice model and test for the presence of reference effects. James M. Lattin and Randolph E. Bucklin (1989) proposed and tested a model of consumer response incorporating the reference effects of price and promotion. Their results supported the notion that consumers form expectations based on their exposure to promotional activity and that those expectations influence the patterns of brand choice. By including both price and promotional variables in the model of consumer response, they were able to characterize explicitly the differences between promotional and non promotional price elasticity and to separate these effects from the reference effects of price and promotion. They have provided a different rationale to explain the carryover effects of promotions on consumer response. Price and promotion strategies are closely related. It is very difficult to distinguish price variances which are caused by decisions derived from the prices policy from those produced as a result of the promotion policy. Thus, proposal has been developed by Cummins (1998), according to which sales promotion has to stop being a part of the communication mix to become an autonomous variable. Mela et al. (1998) confirm that long-term price promotions make the consumer more sensitive to price and therefore their effectiveness is reduced with the subsequent negative effect on benefits. These results are coherent with those obtained by Mela et al. (1997). Nevertheless, we must clarify that the effects provoked by promotions vary according to multiple factors: the type of incentive, the amount of discount provided or the type of product to which the promotion is applied, among others. Lan Xia and Kent B. Monroe (2008) have distinguished between consumers who have prior goals to buy the product relative to those who do not have such purchase goals. Further, they have added whether consumers responses to different promotion message framing and price presentations differ when they do or do not have pre-purchase goals. Since the same promotion information may lead to different perceptions as consumers goals vary (Shavitt et al., 1994), understanding how consumers with different purchase goals react to various promotion messages can help sellers design effective promotion programs. Lan Xia and Kent B. Monroe (2008) concluded how consumers with or without a specific pre-purchase goal respond differently to a price promotion. Not surprisingly, Lan Xia and Kent B. Monroe (2008) showed a consistent main effect of goal on participants willingness to buy. This main effect was not mediated by perceived value. This result is consistent with the intuition that consumers are responsive to information that matches their needs. Product or brand level price promotion information is less relevant when consumers do not have a pre-purchase goal. They observed a main effect of promotion format. Participants preferred discount over free gift and higher discount level over lower discount level regardless of the presence of a pre-purchase goal. These main effects were mediated by perceived transaction value.

Diamond and Abhijit (1990) found that a price discount was more likely to be chosen even when the discount was less than the retail value of the free product. As discussed earlier, if consumers who are planning to buy a product are more focused on the monetary sacrifice, they would prefer a price discount (reduced loss) over a free gift promotion (small gain). However, consumers who are not planning to buy may be more attracted by a small gain associated with the free gift. Nelson Oly Ndubisi and Chew Tung Moi (2006) concluded that Malaysian consumers respond more to free sample, price discount, in-store display, and bonus pack than coupon. A plausible explanation for the weak influence of coupon was poor knowledge of the tool. This research showed the linkages among various promotional tools and product trial, and thereby helped to better understand how Malaysian consumers respond to various promotional tools offered by marketers. Promotions that emphasize in-store display, free sample, price discount, and bonus pack are likely to be more effective than coupon. Nelson Oly Ndubisi and Chew Tung Moi ( 2006) added that in-store display proneness has the strongest effect on product trial compared to other sales promotional tools. Attractive instore display practices are necessary to gain the greatest sales from product trial. Bonus pack, free sample, and price discount significantly affect product trial, albeit the determinant power of bonus pack is the lowest among other promotional tools. Thus, one of the ways to improve the determinant power of bonus pack is to keep a regular pack along side with a bonus pack on the shelves, in order to enable consumers to make comparison. Such opportunity for a comparative observation will help to enhance the credibility of the tool and consumers confidence in it. With regard to free sample and price discount, sellers should continue to apply them because of their robust influences on product trial. Mariola Palazn-Vidal & Elena Delgado-Ballester (2005) adopted a consumer-based approach (Chandon & Laurent 1999; Chandon et al. 2000) to consider that sales promotions, as a part of marketing communications, also have an effect at a cognitive and emotional level, and provide the consumer with multiple hedonic and utilitarian benefits. sales promotions can develop meaningful points of difference to the brand (unique associations) if the promotional campaign is not attributed to another brand or is not seen as a generic promotion of the product category. They postulated that monetary and nonmonetary promotions were not equally effective in building brand equity because of the different effect they had on brand knowledge. One way of inferring the utilitarian or hedonic nature of the purchase decision is to examine the type of product being considered (Mao & Oliver 1993), therefore they focused on the moderator effect that product type exerts on the effectiveness of each type of promotion.

4.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT OF STUDY

An interest to know promotional activities of telecommunication companies. Though interest see various promotional schemes in website. Take guidance of faculty.

4.4 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

To know best promotion strategy among the rivals. To know the awareness about schemes of company among the customers. To know different schemes provided by telecommunication companies. To know effectiveness of promotion in sales. To know attractiveness of customers towards different schemes.

5. RESEARCH DESIGN
1.According to David J Luck and Ronald S Rubin, A research design is the determination and statement of the general research approach or strategy adopted for the particular project. It is the heart of planning. If the design adheres to the research objective, it will ensure that the clients needs will be served.

2. According to Kerlinger, Research in the plan, structure and strategy of investigation conceived so as to obtain answers to research questions and to control variance. 3. According to Green and Tull, A research design is the specification of methods and procedures for acquiring the information needed. It is the over-all operational pattern or framework of the project that stipulates what information is to be collected from which source by what procedures.

TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGN

Descriptive research
Descriptive research, also known as statastical research, describes data and characteristics about the population or phenomenon being studied. Descriptive research answers the questions who, what, where, when and how. The description is used for frequencies, averages and other statistical calculations. Often the best approach, prior to writing descriptive research, is to conduct a survey

investigation. Qualitative research often has the aim of description and researchers may boner follow-up with examinations of why the observations exist and what the implications of the findings are.

EXPLORATORY RESEARCH
Exploratory research is a type of research conducted for a problem that has not been clearly defined. Exploratory research helps determine the best research design, data collection method and selection of subjects. It should draw definitive conclusions only with extreme caution. Given its fundamental nature, exploratory research often concludes that a perceived problem does not actually exist. The results of exploratory research are not usually useful for decision-making by themselves, but they can provide significant insight into a given situation. Although the results of qualitative research can give some indication as to the "why", "how" and "when" something occurs, it cannot tell us "how often" or "how many". As my problem is concern, exploratory research is possible.

DATA COLLECTION

After identify research problem, The researcher has begin with task of data collection.

There are two types of data collection : Primary data collection Secondary data collection

Primary Data Collection :Primary data are those which are collected for the first time. These are original in character. Primary data is fresh data which collected directly from relevant persons.

Secondary data collection :Secondary data are those which have already been collected by someone else and have gone through the statistical devices etc. at least once. It might be used someone just we have to collect it.

For my problem, I have collected primary data.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD

Data Collection is an important aspect of any type of research study. Inaccurate data collection can impact the results of a study and ultimately lead to invalid results. Data collection methods for impact evaluation vary along a continuum. At the one end of this continuum are quantitative methods and at the other end of the continuum are Qualitative methods for data collection .

The Quantitative data collection methods, rely on random sampling and structured data collection instruments that fit diverse experiences into predetermined response categories. They produce results that are easy to summarize, compare, and generalize. Qualitative data collection methods play an important role in impact evaluation by providing information useful to understand the processes behind observed results and assess changes in peoples perceptions of their well-being.Furthermore qualitative methods can beused to improve the quality of survey-based quantitative evaluations by helping generate evaluation hypothesis; strengthening the design of survey questionnaires and expanding or clarifying quantitative evaluation findings. I used qualitative data collection method for my research. I taken personal interview for data collection.

POPULATION
A population can be defined as including all people or items with the characteristic one wishes to understand. Because there is very rarely enough time or money to gather information from everyone or everything in a population, the goal becomes finding a representative sample (or subset) of that population.

As in our research study, population are the number of all cell phone users who are use the SIM card of different company.

SAMPLING FRAME
A sampling frame is the source material or device from which a sample is drawn. It is a list of all those within a population who can be sampled.

Sampling frame which has the property that we can identify every single element and include any in our sample.The most straightforward type of frame is a list of elements of the population (preferably the entire population) with appropriate contact information. SAMPLE AREA : bhavnagar city (GUJRAT) SAMPLE SIZE : 105 Respondants

SAMPLING METHOD
Within any of the types of frame identified above, a variety of sampling methods can be employed, individually or in combination. A probability sampling scheme is one in which every unit in the population has a chance (greater than zero) of being selected in the sample, and this probability can be accurately determined. The combination of these traits makes it possible to produce unbiased estimates of population totals, by weighting sampled units according to their probability of selection. Probability sampling includes: Simple Random Sampling, Systematic Sampling, Stratified Sampling, Probability Proportional to Size Sampling, and Cluster or Multistage Sampling. Nonprobability sampling is any sampling method where some elements of the population have no chance of selection (these are sometimes referred to as 'out of coverage'/'undercovered'), or where the probability of selection can't be accurately determined. It involves the selection of elements based on assumptions regarding the population of interest, which forms the criteria for selection. Hence, because the selection of elements is nonrandom, nonprobability sampling does not allow the estimation of sampling errors. These conditions give rise to exclusion bias, placing limits on how much information a sample can provide about the population. Information about the relationship between sample and population is limited, making it difficult to extrapolate from the sample to the population. Nonprobability sampling methods include accidental sampling, quota sampling and purposive sampling. In addition, nonresponse effects may turn any probability design into a nonprobability design if the characteristics of nonresponse are not well understood, since nonresponse effectively modifies each element's probability of being sampled. As in our research, we used probability sampling method. We used simple random sampling for sample.