ON

To study sales potential of Aircel

(Region - BAREILLY) FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE B.B.A PROGRAM OF M.J.P.ROHILKHAND UNIVERSITY, BAREILLY SESSION- 2008-2011

Submitted to:Ms. Sandhya Tripathi PROJECT GUIDE I.I.M.S, Bareilly.

Submitted By: Pramod Kumar B.B.A.- VI th Sem. (c) Roll no. 915586

INVERTIS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

PREFACE

Telecommunication is the assisted transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. Telecommunication typically involves the use of electronic devices such as the telephone, television, radio or computer.The Indian Telecommunications network with 110.01 million connections is the fifth largest in the world and the second largest among the emerging economies of Asia. In the last 3 years, two out of every three new telephone subscribers were wireless subscribers. Consequently, wireless now accounts for 54.6% of the total telephone subscriber base, as compared to only 40% in 2003. Wireless subscriber growth is expected to bypass 2.5 million new subscribers per month by 2007. The wireless technologies currently in use are Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). There are primarily 9 GSM and 5 CDMA operators providing mobile services in 19 telecom circles and 4 metro cities, covering 2000 towns across the country. Aircel is one amongst all mobile phone service providers in India. Aircel was founded by NRI businessman C Sivasankaran . It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout southern, north east India Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Mumbai, and is rapidly pervading throughout entire nation. It is promising to be Indias pioneer in mobile technology and mobile services To know the market potential for wireless industry is of prime importance, since many organizations for the sake to reach acme endeavoring their fullest effort, implementing new strategies and for sales potential it is important to know the promotional offers of an organization especially a newly launched firm, to frame according to the market, and I served for the same to determine the potential of the various offers as well as the concerned firm.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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This project report bears the imprint of many people who were either directly or indirectly involved in the successful completion of this project work. I expressed my sincere indebtedness to Mrs. Sandhya Tripathi (Faculty of IIMS) who provides me opportunity and under whose guidance; I was able to complete my project. It is with a deep sense of gratitude and thankfulness that I submit my research work. I convey my sincere thanks to Prof. Arpan Khstgir (Director of IIMS.) Ms. Prachi Pathak (Co-Ordinator of BBA)

For his able guidance & active association & constructive suggestions, this immensely helped in the preparation of this project at all stages. I shall always remember the valuable help given to me by all this associates.
(Pramod Kumar)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Executive Summary 2. objectives 3. Introduction 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Company profile Theoretical background Research Methodology Major Competition Literature Review Limitation Conclusion Bibliography

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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The objective of the project was to find out the sales potential of Aircel. By measuring various aspects of the services provided by Aircel, and accordingly preparing the competitive update, we can come to know what the new strategies and promotional techniques are, which the firm is using to increase it potential for sale since the potential can only be measured by comparing two or more industry of same segment or by comprehending the various policies regarding sales promotion, I taken a competitive glimpse in my research report.

The nature of the project involved a comprehensive market survey in which the customers of Aircel telecom service were given a structured questionnaire, and the distributors as well concerned for the accumulation of data and the responses form the customers. The type of sampling method adopted was convenience sampling, since the aspect which had to be measured, was an intangible one.

The sample size taken for the analysis of the project was 120. This was broken down into students, housewives, businessmen and regular employees as well as distributors, randomly. With the help of the questionnaire I was able to get the potential of Aircel to comptete with other telecommunication service provider that will leverage in gaining market shares, though Aircel is new to the market, It is not able to grasp clutch over the market sales but new strategies will accomplice it in larger extent. The project was carried out in the following sequence of steps:

Theoretical study of telecommunication industry in general. Understanding the product i.e. Aircel and the features/benefits. For detailing of the product features/benefits in comparison to the competitors. Preparing the questionnaire for the consumers to know the factors responsible for the selection of Aircel. Carrying out a market survey and studying their response.

 Compilation of the data. Comprehension of data to understand its probability to the market. Detailed analysis of the data collected Preparation of competition update. Outlining and formulating a set of suggestions to improve sales. Compilation of the report. A questionnaire was used to collect data regarding customer responses; therefore to sum-up the data and to count each category, data and was recorded and fed in computers for arithmetic operations to be done and to represent it in the form of easily understandable diagrams. Bar diagrams is used for proper analysis of the recorded data. And evaluation was made, on the basis of counted data, and percentage value calculated from the responses, and finally result shown with the help of diagrams, and statements. After collecting and analyzing the data, it was found that the most important factor of sales is the potential of that product that is the consequence of its promotional activity. Therefore the firm must provide better option in comparisons to its competitors and also promote its product by various schemes to promote its sales potential especially when a firm is new to the market.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

As we see that in present scenario there is a cutthroat competition in telecom sector. Each and every organization offering several facilities to their consumers related to convenience and improved satisfaction. Since Aircel is new to the market and it is just essential to measure the basis of this organization viz. its potential to, that will spontaneously lead the organization in improving its market share and well establishment as well. Therefore I have been assigned a research topic viz. To find out the sales potential at Bareilly region Bareilly.

My project objectives are -

To comprehend opportunities for Aircel that will depict a clear cut view about its potential. To know the facilities provided by Aircel that will provide an ease in Competition and helps in measurement of it potential for sales. To compare performance over a period of time, identify opportunities for change, and then assess the effectiveness of changes in the process as reflected in improved customer satisfaction. To compare satisfaction with a service or function across comparable aspects. To contribute to system wide accountability efforts.

Telecommunication forms an important base infrastructure for modern economies and has become an integral part of various activities of such economies. Telecommunication plays an important role in developing the modern economic order by eliminating distance and the associated time constraint. Modern economic activities, whether associated with business activities or consumer lifestyle, require transfer of large amounts of data and are made possible only by the tremendous growth of telecommunications in recent times. The advent of modern telecommunications began with telegraph. The inauguration of commercial telegraph service (by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone in England in 1839 and by Samuel Morse in the United States in 1844) was the first major technical undertaking using electricity. Thus, began the telecommunications era that revolutionized the way in which people communicated and continues to influence their personal and economic lives around the world. This was followed by the invention of the telephone by Alexander Bell and Elisha Gray in 1876. In 1832, James Lindsay gave a classroom demonstration of wireless telegraphy to his students. This theoretical beginning in wireless communication was further improved by people such as Hertz, Tesla, J.C. Bose and Guglielmo Marconi among others. Marconi established wireless communication between St. Johns, Newfoundland (Canada) and Poldhu, Cornwall (England), earning him the Nobel Prize in physics in 1909 (which he shared with Karl Braun). On March 25, 1925, John Logie Baird demonstrated what came to be known as the mechanical television that was able to transmit moving pictures. But this was soon replaced by televisions based on the cathode ray tube invented by Karl Braun. The computer networks and the transmission of data between computer networks began in 1940 with the advent of computing machines and networking such as arpanet. These types of networks came together to form what is called the internet.

INCEPTION

A replica of one of Chappe's semaphore towers

In the Middle Ages, chains of beacons were commonly used on hilltops as a means of relaying a signal. Beacon chains suffered the drawback that they could only pass a single bit of information, so the meaning of the message such as "the enemy has been sighted" had to be agreed upon in advance. One notable instance of their use was during the Spanish Armada, when a beacon chain relayed a signal from Plymouth to London. In 1792, Claude Chappe, a French engineer, built the first fixed visual telegraphy system (or semaphore line) between Lille and Paris. However semaphore suffered from the need for skilled operators and expensive towers at intervals of ten to thirty kilometres (six to nineteen miles). As a result of competition from the electrical telegraph, the last commercial line was abandoned in 1880. Homing pigeons have occasionally been used through history by different cultures. Pigeon post is thought to have Persian roots and was used by the Romans to aid their military.

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Frontinus said that Julius Caesar used pigeons as messengers in his conquest of Gaul. The Greeks also conveyed the names of the victors at the Olympic Games to various cities using homing pigeons. In the early 19th century, the Dutch government used the system in java and Sumatra. And in 1849, paul julius reuter started a pigeon service to fly stock prices between Aachen and Brussels, a service that operated for a year until the gap in the telegraph link was closed.

Telegraph and telephone

Sir Charles Wheatstone and Sir William Fothergill Cooke invented the electric telegraph in 1837. Also, the first commercial electrical telegraph is purported to have been constructed by Wheatstone and Cooke and opened on 9 April 1839. Both inventors viewed their device as "an improvement to the [existing] electromagnetic telegraph" not as a new device. Samuel Morse independently developed a version of the electrical telegraph that he unsuccessfully demonstrated on 2 September 1837. His code was an important advance over Wheatstone's signaling method. The first transatlantic telegraph cable was successfully completed on 27 July 1866, allowing transatlantic telecommunication for the first time. The conventional telephone was invented independently by Alexander Bell and Elisha Gray in 1876. Antonio Meucci invented the first device that allowed the electrical transmission of voice over a line in 1849. However Meucci's device was of little practical value because it relied upon the electronic effect and thus required users to place the receiver in their mouth to hear what was being said. The first commercial telephone services were set-up in 1878 and 1879 on both sides of the Atlantic in the cities of New Haven and London.

Radio and television

In 1832, James Lindsay gave a classroom demonstration of wireless telegraphy to his students. By 1854, he was able to demonstrate a transmission across the Firth of Tay from Dundee, scotland to Woodhaven, a distance of two miles (3 km), using water as the 11

transmission medium. In December 1901, Guglielmo Marconi established wireless communication between St. John's, Newfoundland (Canada) and Poldhu, Cornwall (England), earning him the 1909 Nobel prize in physics (which he shared with Karl Braun). However small-scale radio communication had already been demonstrated in 1893 by Nikola Tesla in a presentation to the National Electric Light Association. On 25 March 1925, John Logie Baird was able to demonstrate the transmission of moving pictures at the London department store Selfridges. Baird's device relied upon the Nipkow disk and thus became known as the mechanical television. It formed the basis of experimental broadcasts done by the British Broadcasting corporation beginning 30 September 1929. However, for most of the twentieth century televisions depended upon the cathode ray tube invented by Karl Braun. The first version of such a television to show promise was produced by Philo Farnsworth and demonstrated to his family on 7 September 1927.

Computer networks and the Internet

On 11 September 1940, George Stibitz was able to transmit problems using teletype to his Complex Number Calculator in New York and receive the computed results back at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. This configuration of a centralized computer or mainframe with remote dumb terminals remained popular throughout the 1950s. However, it was not until the 1960s that researchers started to investigate packet switching a technology that would allow chunks of data to be sent to different computers without first passing through a centralized mainframe. A four-node network emerged on 5 December 1969; this network would become ARPANET, which by 1981 would consist of 213 nodes. ARPANET's development centred around the request for comment process and on 7 April 1969, RFC 1 was published. This process is important because ARPANET would eventually merge with other networks to form the Internet and many of the protocols the Internet relies upon today were specified through the Request for Comment process. In September 1981, RFC 791 introduced the Internet Protocol v4 (IPv4) and RFC 793

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introduced the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) thus creating the TCP/IP protocol that much of the Internet relies upon today. However, not all important developments were made through the Request for Comment process. Two popular link protocols for local area networks (LANs) also appeared in the 1970s. A patent for the token ring protocol was filed by olof soderblom on 29 October 1974 and a paper on the Ethernet protocol was published by Robert Metcalfe and David Boggs in the July 1976 issue of Communications of the ACM.

Etymology
The word telecommunication was adapted from the French word tlcommunication. It is a compound of the Greek prefix tele- (-), meaning 'far off', and the Latin communicare, meaning 'to share'. The French word tlcommunication was coined in 1904 by French engineer and novelist douard Estauni.

Key concepts
A number of key concepts reoccur throughout the literature on modern telecommunication systems. Some of these concepts are listed below.

Basic elements
A basic telecommunication system consists of three elements:

a transmitter that takes information and converts it to a signal; a transmission medium that carries the signal; and, a receiver that receives the signal and converts it back into usable information.

For example, in a radio broadcast the broadcast tower is the transmitter, free space is the transmission medium and the radio is the receiver. Often telecommunication systems are two-way with a single device acting as both a transmitter and receiver or transceiver. For example, a mobile phone is a transceiver.

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Telecommunication over a telephone line is called point-to-point communication because it is between one transmitter and one receiver. Telecommunication through radio broadcasts is called broadcast communication because it is between one powerful transmitter and numerous receivers.

Telephone
Optical fiber provides cheaper bandwidth for long distance communication. In an analogue telephone network, the caller is connected to the person he wants to talk to by switches at various telephone exchanges. The switches form an electrical connection between the two users and the setting of these switches is determined electronically when the caller dials the number. Once the connection is made, the caller's voice is transformed to an electrical signal using a small microphone in the caller's handset. This electrical signal is then sent through the network to the user at the other end where it is transformed back into sound by a small speaker in that person's handset. There is a separate electrical connection that works in reverse, allowing the users to converse. The fixed-line telephones in most residential homes are analogue that is, the speaker's voice directly determines the signal's voltage. Although short-distance calls may be handled from end-to-end as analogue signals, increasingly telephone service providers are transparently converting the signals to digital for transmission before converting them back to analogue for reception. The advantage of this is that digitized voice data can travel sideby-side with data from the Internet and can be perfectly reproduced in long distance communication (as opposed to analogue signals that are inevitably impacted by noise).

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Mobile phones
Mobile phones have had a significant impact on telephone networks. Mobile phone subscriptions now outnumber fixed-line subscriptions in many markets. Sales of mobile phones in 2005 totalled 816.6 million with that figure being almost equally shared amongst the markets of Asia/Pacific (204 m), Western Europe (164 m), CEMEA (Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa) (153.5 m), North America (148 m) and Latin America (102 m).In terms of new subscriptions over the five years from 1999, Africa has outpaced other markets with 58.2% growth. Increasingly these phones are being serviced by systems where the voice content is transmitted digitally such as GSM or W-CDMA with many markets choosing to depreciate analogue systems such as AMPS. There have also been dramatic changes in telephone communication behind the scenes. Starting with the operation of TAT-8 in 1988, the 1990s saw the widespread adoption of systems based on optic fibres. The benefit of communicating with optic fibres is that they offer a drastic increase in data capacity. TAT-8 itself was able to carry 10 times as many telephone calls as the last copper cable laid at that time and today's optic fibre cables are able to carry 25 times as many telephone calls as TAT-8. This increase in data capacity is due to several factors: First, optic fibres are physically much smaller than competing technologies. Second, they do not suffer from crosstalk which means several hundred of them can be easily bundled together in a single cable. Lastly, improvements in multiplexing have led to an exponential growth in the data capacity of a single fibre. Assisting communication across many modern optic fibre networks is a protocol known as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). The ATM protocol allows for the side-by-side data transmission mentioned in the second paragraph. It is suitable for public telephone networks because it establishes a pathway for data through the network and associates a traffic contract with that pathway. The traffic contract is essentially an agreement between the client and the network about how the network is to handle the data; if the network cannot meet the conditions of the traffic contract it does not accept the connection. This is

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important because telephone calls can negotiate a contract so as to guarantee themselves a constant bit rate, something that will ensure a caller's voice is not delayed in parts or cut-off completely. There are competitors to ATM, such as Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), that perform a similar task and are expected to supplant ATM in the future.

MECHANISM Analogue or digital

Signals can be either analogue or digital. In an analogue signal, the signal is varied continuously with respect to the information. In a digital signal, the information is encoded as a set of discrete values (for example ones and zeros). During transmission the information contained in analogue signals will be degraded by noise. Conversely, unless the noise exceeds a certain threshold, the information contained in digital signals will remain intact. Noise resistance represents a key advantage of digital signals over analogue signals.

Networks
A network is a collection of transmitters, receivers and transceivers that communicate with each other. Digital networks consist of one or more routers that work together to transmit information to the correct user. An analogue network consists of one or more switches that establish a connection between two or more users. For both types of network, repeaters may be necessary to amplify or recreate the signal when it is being transmitted over long distances. This is to combat attenuation that can render the signal indistinguishable from noise.

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Channels
A channel is a division in a transmission medium so that it can be used to send multiple streams of information. For example, a radio station may broadcast at 96.1 MHz while another radio station may broadcast at 94.5 MHz. In this case, the medium has been divided by frequency and each channel has received a separate frequency to broadcast on. Alternatively, one could allocate each channel a recurring segment of time over which to broadcastthis is known as time-division multiplexing and is sometimes used in digital communication.

Modulation
The shaping of a signal to convey information is known as modulation. Modulation can be used to represent a digital message as an analogue waveform. This is known as keying and several keying techniques exist (these include phase-shift keying, frequency-shift keying and amplitude-shift keying). Bluetooth, for example, uses phase-shift keying to exchange information between devices. Modulation can also be used to transmit the information of analogue signals at higher frequencies. This is helpful because low-frequency analogue signals cannot be effectively transmitted over free space. Hence the information from a low-frequency analogue signal must be superimposed on a higher-frequency signal (known as the carrier wave) before transmission. There are several different modulation schemes available to achieve this (two of the most basic being amplitude modulation and frequency modulation). An example of this process is a DJ's voice being superimposed on a 96 MHz carrier wave using frequency modulation (the voice would then be received on a radio as the channel 96 FM).

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Society and Telecommunication

Telecommunication has a significant social, cultural and economic impact on modern society. In 2006, estimates placed the telecommunication industry's revenue at $1.2 trillion (USD) or just under 3% of the gross world product (official exchange rate).

ECONOMIC IMPACT: Microeconomics

On the microeconomic scale, companies have used telecommunication to help build global empires. This is self-evident in the case of online retailer Amazon.com but, according to academic Edward Lenert, even the conventional retailer Wal-Mart has benefited from better telecommunication infrastructure compared to its competitors. In cities throughout the world, home owners use their telephones to organize many home services ranging from pizza deliveries to electricians. Even relatively poor communities have been noted to use telecommunication to their advantage. In Bangladesh's Narshingdi district, isolated villagers use cell phones to speak directly to wholesalers and arrange a better price for their goods. In Cote d'Ivoire, coffee growers share mobile phones to follow hourly variations in coffee prices and sell at the best price.

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Macroeconomics
On the macroeconomic scale, Lars-Hendrik Rller and Leonard Waverman suggested a causal link between good telecommunication infrastructure and economic growth. Few dispute the existence of a correlation although some argue it is wrong to view the relationship as causal. Because of the economic benefits of good telecommunication infrastructure, there is increasing worry about the inequitable access to telecommunication services amongst various countries of the worldthis is known as the digital divide. A 2003 survey by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) revealed that roughly one-third of countries have less than 1 mobile subscription for every 20 people and one-third of countries have less than 1 fixed line subscription for every 20 people. In terms of Internet access, roughly half of all countries have less than 1 in 20 people with Internet access. From this information, as well as educational data, the ITU was able to compile an index that measures the overall ability of citizens to access and use information and communication technologies. Using this measure, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland received the highest ranking while the African countries Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali received the lowest.

Social impact
Telecommunication is playing an increasingly important role in social relationships. In recent years, the popularity of social networking sites has increased dramatically. These sites allow users to communicate with each other as well as post photographs, events and profiles for others to see. The profiles can list a person's age, interests, sexuality and relationship status. In this way, these sites can play important role in everything from organising social engagements to courtship.

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Prior to social networking sites, technologies like SMS and the telephone also had a significant impact on social interactions. In 2000, market research group Ipsos MORI reported that 81% of 15 to 24 year-old SMS users in the United Kingdom had used the service to coordinate social arrangements and 42% to flirt.

Other impacts
In cultural terms, telecommunication has increased the public's ability to access to music and film. With television, people can watch films they have not seen before in their own home without having to travel to the video store or cinema. With radio and the internet, people can listen to music they have not heard before without having to travel to the music store. Telecommunication has also transformed the way people receive their news. A survey by the non-profit Pew Internet and American Life Project found that when just over 3,000 people living in the United States were asked where they got their news "yesterday", more people said television or radio than newspapers. The results are summarised in the following table (the percentages add up to more than 100% because people were able to specify more than one source).

EVOLUTION: From walkie talky to cellular

Before World War II most radio transmitters and receivers were big, bulky, and extremely heavy. Each piece could weigh 15 kilograms or more. They were so heavy that equipment collectors call these old radios 'boat anchors.' The first step to make a radio truly portable was to reduce size and weight. The Galvin Manufacturing Company, now Motorola, combined a receiver and transmitter into a single hand-held unit. They called it the HandieTalkie. Weighing 2.3-kg, the Handie-Talkie had a range of 1.6 to 4.8 kilometers. The SCR536 was typical. Pulling out the antenna turned the radio on, pushing the antenna back in 20

turned it off. While the 1943 Handie-Talkie somewhat resembles a large radio-telephone of today, it was Motorola's backpack model, the Walkie-Talkie, that heralded a new era in personal, portable communications. The biggest change in radio from previous wars was personal communications, but the most significant wartime accomplishment for portability itself was frequency modulation or F.M. Reducing radio size was essential, but the transistor would be invented in a few years, making all electronics smaller. F.M. instead was the key development and many modern two-way radios and older cellular telephones use this technology today. As did Motorola's 1943 Walkie-Talkie. Known as the SCR-300, it weighed almost 16 kg. and had an average range of 16 to 32 km. It used 18 fragile glass tubes. Motorola chief scientist Daniel E. Noble designed it for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, which in turn deployed it to the different divisions of the armed forces. These early Handie-Talkies used conventional A.M. or amplitude modulation technology because F.M. was newer and field radios had not used it before. But, delayed as it was for hand-held radios during the War, larger F.M. sets were rushed into production and used throughout the U.S. military, a great many installed in tanks.

Frequency modulation, whereby the carrier wave is varied not by strength, as in A.M., but in proportion or frequency to the amplitude of the information signal. Interference from other radio signals, man-made electrical noise, and atmospheric disturbances, plague A.M. radios, problems amplitude modulation transmitters use high power to overcome. F.M radios use less power to transmit since they're not affected by this interference. That means lower power to operate which means longer battery life. Transmissions sound cleaner and arrives without static. F.M. also has a capture effect,

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whereby the receiver locks on to the strongest signal it picks up, eliminating fading and competing radio signals.

Part A:
In 1962 Motorola introduced a fully transistorized two-way radio. The Handie-Talkie HT200 weighed approximately 1 kilogram and was known affectionately by its users as "The Brick." Shortly thereafter, in 1965, the military got the PRR-9, the first all solid state portable for the armed forces. This VHF equipment received but did not transmit, it's companion, the FM PRT-4 transmitter did that. The PRR-9 clipped onto a soldier's helmet. I don't have a photograph of that model in action, but check out this well dressed warrior from 1963; the principle is the same. By 1968 the U.S. military was using many new portables in the Vietnam War, including tiny models called survival radios that provided communication between downed fliers and rescue services. The greatest change from previous wars was a decision to make voice and data communications secure if needed, hence all radios became encryption ready from that year on.

Part B:
In 1968 the F.C.C. re-considered the Bell System's ten year old request for 75 MHz of spectrum in the 800 MHz band. The F.C.C. considered it only when waiting lists for radiotelephone service were so backlogged that the government could not ignore them. Yet it would be another eight years before the F.C.C. granted additional spectrum and two years after that before the first trial of a cellular system. On October 17, 1973, Dr. Martin Cooper for Motorola filed a patent entitled 'Radio telephone system.' It outlined Motorola's first ideas for cellular radio and was given US Patent Number 3,906,166 when it was granted on September 16,1975. In the New York Times photograph above he shows off the earliest

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handheld model. But it was not until late 1984 that Motorola was allowed to field a commercial cellular telephone system.

Part C:
As their mobiles got smaller and smaller, Motorola cellular telephones featured three major design changes, leading up to the StarTac design of today. The bag, the brick, and the flip proved extremely popular. A transportable or luggable phone, the bag phone contained a heavy cellular transceiver with a large battery enclosed in a leather bag. Since battery life wasn't good, most people plugged the unit into a car's cigarette lighter and used it while driving. Power output was twice that of the brick, the hand-held cellular phone that borrowed its name from Motorola's first HandieTalkie. Dwarfing any present hand-held, except perhaps satellite phones, the brick's battery itself was larger than most cell phones on the market today. When the first digital networks were built Motorola introduced the flip phone, part of their Personal Digital Communicator Series. It could work in analog or digital mode. Many are still being used although the StarTac, introduced in 1996, and now the MicroTac, have since replaced the original flip phone.

We discussed how reducing radio size and weight in World War II was less important than the modulation technology hand-helds eventually used: F.M. Today, as every company produces smaller and smaller radios, the 23

technology used to transmit information is the most important development: C.D.M.A. or code division multiple access. Sometimes called spread spectrum or frequency hopping, C.D.M.A., puts bits and pieces of several calls on different frequencies. Spread spectrum was first used during World War II to prevent signals from being jammed. This immunity to interference is yet another reason for C.D.M.A.'s great popularity, indeed, the entire wireless world is embracing the new technology. Its GSM based systems and it be used by us as well as the next generation.

In-India:
The telecom network in India is the fifth largest network in the world meeting up with global standards. Presently, the Indian telecom industry is currently slated to an estimated contribution of nearly 1% to Indias GDP. The Indian Telecommunications network with 110.01 million connections is the fifth largest in the world and the second largest among the emerging economies of Asia. Today, it is the fastest growing market in the world and represents unique opportunities for U.S. companies in the stagnant global scenario. The total subscriber base, which has grown by 40% in 2005, is expected to reach 250 million in 2007. The radio telephone communications between England and India were opened in 1933, followed by radio communications with other countries. The telecommunications network continued to grow with major cities and towns getting connected over the years. The 1980s saw the first satellite earth station for communications being set up in the country in Secunderabad.

The 1990s saw the telecom revolution taking shape with the announcement of the National Telecom Policy (1994) and the setting up of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) subsequently. Several innovations have been introduced since then, with the most

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important one being the introduction of mobile cellular service. The telecom sector has grown tremendously over the years to become one of the largest in the world. Today, the Indian telecom sector is growing at a rapid pace (mobile phone connections in India are growing at the rate of six million per month, With the telecom towers coming up in the rural areas and extension of telecommunications into the rural vicinity.

Evolution of the industry-Important Milestones

Year 1851 First operational land lines were laid by the government near Calcutta (seat of British power) 1881 Telephone service introduced in India 1883 Merger with the postal system 1923 Formation of Indian Radio Telegraph Company (IRT) 1932 Merger of ETC and IRT into the Indian Radio and Cable Communication Company (IRCC) 1947 Nationalization of all foreign telecommunication companies to form the Posts, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT), a monopoly run by the government's Ministry of Communications 1985 Department of Telecommunications (DOT) established, an exclusive provider of domestic and long-distance service that would be its own regulator (separate from the postal system) 1986 Conversion of DOT into two wholly government-owned companies: the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) for international telecommunications 3 and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) for service in metropolitan areas. 1997 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India created. 1999 Cellular Services are launched in India. New National Telecom Policy is adopted. 2000 DoT becomes a corporation.

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Technological Innovations
There have been several new technologies introduced in telecommunications in the country. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is one of the technologies that have transformed the conventional telephony. VoIP encompasses all voice communications, which are carried on through the Internet. This includes pure PC-to-PC calling, the traditional phone-to-computer calling and vice versa and also communicating between two conventional phones which are linked to the internet behind the scene. VoIP is the convergence of voice, video and data. VoIP also brings in new entrants into the telecom world such as cable operators, enabling them to roll out cable telephony. Wi-Max is another technology that promises to revolutionize broadband connectivity in the country. This technology is particularly suited for people on the move and hence will be a direct competitor to the cellular services and the other promising technology of 3G (third generation) mobile services. In India, operators like Tatas VSNL, Reliance Infocomm and the state-owned BSNL are testing WiMAX services aggressively. These organizations are looking at WiMAX as a last mile wireless connectivity solution that can be used primarily in rural and other remote regions.

Benefits
The major players in the Indian telecom such as BSNL, Reliance Infocomm, Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone (Hutch) are aggresive and this competition has played a major role in the lowering of prices and introduction of new services. The rapid expansion of the telecom network even in the semi-urban and rural areas has done a lot of good for the country and its economy. For example, several new initiatives in bringing information and developments that are useful to the farming community are possible by rural teleconnectivity. Telecom reach also makes e-governance possible. The

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increasing teledensity has changed the lifestyles across the country and has been a positive factor in sustaining the economic growth in the country.

Telecom Policy Environment

Despite several hiccups along the way, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the independent regulator, has earned a reputation for transparency and competence. With the recent resolution of a major dispute between cellular and fixed operators (see below), Indian telecommunications, already among the most competitive markets in the world, appears set to continue growing rapidly. While telecom liberalization is usually associated with the post-1991 era, the seeds of reform were actually planted in the 1980s. At that time, Rajiv Gandhi proclaimed his intention of leading India into the 21st century, and carved the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) out of the Department of Posts and Telegraph. For a time he also even considered corporatizing the DOT, before succumbing to union pressure. In a compromise, Gandhi created two DOT-owned corporations: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), to serve Delhi and Bombay, and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), to operate international telecom services. He also introduced private capital into the manufacturing of telecommunications equipment, which had previously been a DOT monopoly. Over the years, TRAI has earned a growing reputation for independence, transparency and an increasing level of competence. Early on, however, the regulator was beleaguered on all fronts. It had to contend with political interference, the incumbents many challenges to its authority, and accusations of ineptitude by private players. Throughout the late 1990s, TRAIs authority was steadily whittled away in a number of cases, when the courts repeatedly held that regulatory power lay with the central government. It was not until 2000, with the passing of the TRAI Amendment Act, that the regulatory body really came into its own. Coming just a year after NTP-99, the act marks something of a watershed moment in the history of India telecom liberalization. It set the stage for several key events that have enabled the vigorous competition witnessed today. Some of these events include:

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The corporatization of the DOT and the creation of a new state-owned telecom company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), in 2000; The opening up of Indias internal long-distance market in 2000, and the subsequent drop in long-distance rates as part of TRAIs tariff rebalancing exercise; The termination of VSNLs monopoly over international traffic in 2002, and the partial privatization of the company that same year, with the Tata group assuming a 25% stake and management control;

The gradual easing of the original duopoly licensing policy, allowing a greater number of operators in each circle. The legalization, in 2002, of IP telephony (a move that many believe was held up due to lobbying by VSNL, which feared the consequences on its international monopoly).

The introduction in 2003 of a Calling Party Pays (CPP) system for cell phones, despite considerable opposition (including litigation) by fixed operators. And, more generally, the commencement of more stringent interconnection regulation by TRAI, which has moved from an interoperator negotiations-based approach (often used by the stronger operator to negotiate ad infinitum) to a more rules-based approach.

All of these events have created an impressive forward-momentum in Indian telecommunications, resulting in a vigorously competitive and fast-growing sector. Despite initially impressive results, the growth of Internet in the country has recently stalled, with only 8 million users. Broadband penetration, too, remains tiny. But perhaps the biggest and, until recently, most intractable regulatory problem has been the drawn-out battle over limited mobility telephony. This imbroglio began in 1999, when MTNL sought permission from TRAI to provide CDMA-based WLL services with limited mobility. GSM cellular operators were soon up in arms, arguing that limited mobility was simply a backdoor entry into their business.

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Higher acceptance for wireless services

Indian customers are embracing mobile technology in a big way (an average of four million subscribers added every month for the past six months itself). They prefer wireless services compared to wire-line services, which is evident from the fact that while the wireless subscriber base has increased at 75 percent CAGR from 2001 to 2006, the wire-line subscriber base growth rate is negligible during the same period. In fact, many customers are returning their wire-line phones to their service providers as mobile provides a more attractive and competitive solution. The main drivers for this trend are quick service delivery for mobile connections, affordable pricing plans in the form of pre-paid cards and increased purchasing power among the 18 to 40 years age group as well as sizeable middle class a prime market for this service. Some of the positive impacts of this trend are as follows. According to a study, 18 percent of mobile users are willing to change their handsets every year to newer models with more features, which is good news for the handset vendors. The other impact is that while the operators have only limited options to generate additional revenues through value-added services from wire-line services, the mobile operators have numerous options to generate non-voice revenues from their customers. Some examples of value-added services are ring tones download, coloured ring back tones, talking SMS, mobisodes (a brief video programme episode designed for mobile phone viewing) etc. Moreover, there exists great opportunity for content developers to develop applications suitable for mobile users like mobile gaming, location based services etc. On the negative side, there is an increased threat of virus spread through mobile data connections and Bluetooth technology in mobile phones, making them unusable at times. This is good news for anti-virus solution providers, who will gain from this trend.

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CONSTRAINTS:
Slow pace of the reform process. It would be difficult to make in-roads into the semi-rural and rural areas because of the lack of infrastructure. The service providers have to incur a huge initial fixed cost to make inroads into this market. The sector requires players with huge financial resources due to the above mentioned constraint. Upfront entry fees and bank guarantees represent a sizeable share of initial investments. While the criteria are important, it tends to support the existing big and older players. Problem of limited spectrum availability and the issue of interconnection charges between the private and state operators.

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The Aircel group is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia and Apollo Hospital Enterprise Ltd of India, with Maxis Communications holding a majority stake of 74%. Aircel commenced operations in 1999 and became the leading mobile operator in Tamil Nadu within 18 months. In December 2003, it launched commercially in Chennai and quickly established itself as a market leader a position it has held since. Aircel began its outward expansion in 2005 and met with unprecedented success in the Eastern frontier circles. It emerged a market leader in Assam and in the North Eastern provinces within 18 months of operations. Till today, the company gained a foothold in 17 circles including Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Assam, North East, Orissa, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Kolkata, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, UP(West), UP(East) and Mumbai. The Company has currently gained a momentum in the space of telecom in India post the allocation of additional spectrum by the Department of Telecom, Govt. of India for 13 new circles across India. These include Delhi (Metro), Mumbai (Metro), Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra & Goa, Rajasthan, Punjab, UP (West) and UP (East). Aircel has won many awards and recognitions. Voice and Data gave Aircel the highest rating for overall customer satisfaction and network quality in 2006. Aircel emerged as the top mid-size utility company in Businessworlds List of Best Mid-Size Companies in 2007. Additionally, Tele.net recognised Aircel as the best regional operator in 2008. With over 17 million customers in the country, Aircel the fast growing telecom company in India has revved up plans to become a full-fledged national operator by end of 2009.

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Aircel History
The idea for Aircel began in 1991 in a barbecue restaurant in Denison, Texas, where company founder Jimmy Ray first made sketches on a paper napkin for an affordable telephone system for airplanes. Rays subsequent investigation of the market and exploration of alternate technologies resulted in the formation of Aircel. Since then, Aircel has achieved a number of successes. We became (and still are) the only company authorized by the FCC and FAA to use cellular frequencies for inflight communications. We hold more than 30 patents on our innovations in airborne telecommunications. Our Satcom (satellite communications) telephone interface helped us increase our market penetration to more than 5,000 systems.

Aircel leadership
Aircel has grown to become the world's leading provider of air-to-ground telecommunications. Its products are offered as standard or optional equipment by virtually every aircraft manufacturer in business aviation, and are installed aboard the world's three largest fractional ownership fleets, NetJets, Flight Options and CitationShares. Since winning the FCCs exclusive air-to-ground broadband frequency license in a 2006 auction, Aircel has successfully developed a groundbreaking new wireless broadband service for domestic airlines, business aircraft and passengers. Aircel's Gogo Inflight Internet service keeps airborne commuters connected to the world below. Since winning the FCC & rescues exclusive air-to-ground broadband frequency license in a 2006 auction, Aircel has successfully developed a groundbreaking new wireless broadband service for domestic airlines, business aircraft and passengers. Aircel's Gogo Inflight Internet service keeps airborne commuters connected to the world below.

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ATLANTA & KUALA LUMPUR-- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Intec (LSE: ITL), a global provider of business and operations support systems (BSS/OSS), today announced that it has been selected by Aircel, one of the fastest growing telecom companies in India, to supply and implement its fully convergent service mediation solution. Aircel will deploy Intecs (Indias fastest growing operator selects Intec - Total Service Mediation) Total Service Mediation platform to support its pan-Indian expansion and business transformation strategy; the system will be implemented by Wipro, who are the systems integrator for the project.

By selecting Intecs Total Service Mediation solution, Aircel will benefit from Intecs proven, fully convergent, high volume post-event and active mediation process management capabilities to support the market-critical expansion of its next generation services. Aircel will use the technology to gather, process, validate and distribute usage data from its network in real-time. Using Intecs Total Service Mediation solution, Aircel will be able to implement its own business rules for mediation processing, enabling the company to rapidly launch new products and services that are essential for capturing a wider share of the market and supporting its medium to longer-term growth objectives. As Indian telecom subscriber growth rates accelerate and more new services are launched, operators need a technically superior mediation solution that can reliably cope with both substantial traffic volumes and the rapid launch of often complex new services, added Graeme Paynter, Intec VP for Asia Pacific. Intecs convergent solutions are proven in many of the worlds largest carriers, supporting hundreds of millions of events every day. We wholeheartedly support Aircels ambitious growth plans and look forward to working with the Aircel team to help deliver the competitive edge they need to succeed. Aircel recently installed its combined cellular and satellite telephone system, the AST 3500, in one of Frontier Airlines' Airbus A319 aircraft. Frontier will begin operational evaluation trials of the system by crew and passengers beginning in October. The system includes the company's new bulkhead-mounted handset cradle with integral credit card reader and wireless handset. 35

Aircel is the leader in global airborne telecommunications for the Business Aviation market. Its products are offered by virtually every fixed- and rotor-wing airframe manufacturer in business aviation, and are installed aboard the worlds four largest fractional ownership fleets. A single-source, turnkey provider of equipment, service, and technical support, Aircel simplifies airborne communications and keeps you In Touch, In Flight. Aircel is also pioneering a revolutionary new wireless broadband system for North America. Available only from Aircel, it will include robust Wi-Fi hotspots that enable airline passengers to surf the Internet, use e-mail, and log on to their corporate VPNs using their personal 802.11a/b/g-equipped Wi-Fi data devices. The system will also offer airline operational communications capabilities and provide a path to a wealth of future cabin services.

Mr. Jack Blumenstein is the chief executive officer (C.E.O) of the company and also serves as the chairman of board of members.

Mr. Robert L.Crandall is the senior advisor and also serves as the board of director in the company.Mr. Crandall currently serves on the Board of Directors of Anixter International Inc., Celestica Inc., the Halliburton Company, i2 Technologies, Inc. and serves on the Advisory Council for the American International Group.

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SALES POTENTIAL: WHAT IT ENCOMPASSES

During the 1980s, advertiser investments in sales promotion outpaced investments in major media advertising. Much of this surge in sales promotion investments was due to the fact that the very definition of sales promotion and the types of sales promotion activities expanded considerably. Traditionally, sales promotion activities centered on direct mail and "point-of-sale" materials. Today, sales promotion activities encompass such marketing strategies as premiums and incentives-including sweepstakes and contests--coupon redemption, meetings and conventions, trade shows and exhibits, promotion advertising and a wide range of print and audio visual aids.

PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES: THE REASONS FOR THE GROWTH

The share of marketing budgets allocated to sales promotion by manufacturers is at an alltime high. Most of this money is being spent on the kind of promotion that is seven times more expensive than advertising to maintain a market share over the long term.

The reasons for this growth in sales promotion include: 1. THE POWER OF THE RETAILER IS INCREASING: The retailer used to be a passive conduit for manufacturers' goods, but this is no longer the case. Thanks to checkout scanners and computers, retailers can routinely obtain detailed information on product movement and stock only those products that are proven revenue sources. This increased power by retailers has forced manufacturers to raise the promotion ante to obtain shelf space.

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2. MANY PRODUCT MANAGERS LOOK FOR THE QUICK SALES

BOOST: Under constant pressure to meet established sales goals, many product
managers resort to sales promotion activity which they hope will lead to product movement. This product movement is usually short-lived. 3. MANUFACTURERS ARE REACTING TO COMPETITION WITH

SHORT-TERM SOLUTIONS: The rise in promotional expenditures suggests

that instead of competing via a long-term image-building strategy for a specific brand, manufacturers are reacting to short-term challenges by using tools that employ price-off as their only appeal.

ADVERTISING: A SALES PROMOTION

A recent study by Information Resources, Inc., one of the pioneers in the field of test marketing, analyzed the results of over ten years of tests covering 360 packaged goods brands. The study focused on the effectiveness of media advertising as compared to sales promotion. Here are its findings, which overwhelmingly support media advertising's ability to better an advertiser's bottom-line results.

1. IMMEDIATE SALES IMPACT

Roughly half of television advertising plans have a measurable, immediate effect on sales. Sales promotion almost always has an impact on sales, but that impact is

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short term. Payout statistics on promotions are dismal. Roughly 16% of trade promotions are profitable based upon their incremental sales. For many of the promotions, the cost of selling an incremental dollar of sales was greater than one dollar!

2. MAINTAINING BRAND FRANCHISE

Advertising can play a significant role in building the long-term franchise of a brand. And television advertising, with its extraordinary wide reach and impact, is critical for the launch of any new product or service.

3. LONG-TERM SALES IMPACT

When advertising is successful in increasing sales, its impact lasts beyond the period of peak spending. Evidence shows the long-term positive effects of advertising lasting up to two years after peak spending. There is no doubt that certain sales promotion activities, when supported by television advertising, can be successful. Your local television station knows what sales promotion strategies can work to gain increased bottom-line revenues.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
What is Customer Satisfaction? Ever Since 1960s, Customer satisfaction has earned a great deal of interests and attention. Cardozo (1965) drew this concept to the marketing field, since then it has become a widely discussed subject in business practices Kotler (1996) defined customer satisfaction as the level of persons felt state resulting from comparing a products perceived performance or outcome in violation to his/her own expectations. As a result, customer satisfaction could be considered a comparative behavior between inputs beforehand and post obtainments.

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Scholars have different view points towards the measurement of customer satisfaction. Czepiel (1974) and gronholdt et al. (2000) Considered customer satisfaction a general and comprehensive concept that could be measured by one single item- overall customer satisfaction measure. Nevertheless, westbrook (1980) suggested that Customer satisfaction should be viewed as a multi-dimensional concept in order to lower measurement error. Nicholls et al (1998) proposed two aspects for measuring customer satisfaction. Service provided by personnel and the service environment where services are selivered. Customer satisfaction is a function of perceived quality and disconfirmation the extent to which perceived quality fails to match repurchase expectations.

Perceived Quality

Customer Satisfaction Perceived Value Customer Expectations

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Customers compare the perceived performance of a product (service, goods) with some performance standard. Customers are satisfied when the perceived performance is greater than the standard (positively disconfirmed), whereas dissatisfaction occurs when the performance falls short of the standard (negatively disconfirmed). Additionally, there is an extensive difference between the loyalty of merely satisfied customers and those who are completely satisfied. Customers who are just satisfied find it easy to switch suppliers when a better offer comes along. As a result, the significance of customer satisfaction is emphasized in markets where competition is intense (Kotler 2000; Jones and Sasser 1995). Nordic Journal of Surveying and Real Estate Research - Special Series Vol. 2, 2004, A company must periodically measure customer satisfaction in order to learn how satisfy ed its customers are. When companies know, which attributes of a service or product affect customer satisfaction, their challenge is to modify their current offering in a way that would lead to maximum customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is one of the key elements in total quality management (TQM), an approach that emphasizes overall satisfaction through the continuous improvement of products. Telecom companies are adopting TQM to improve their performance. However, Telecommunication has leaved other industries behind in implementing total quality management only because of its ability to accurately determine customer requirements and successfully transform these requirements into the completed facility (Ahmed and Kangari 1995). Understanding the customers requirements is essential in ensuring customer satisfaction, and the demand for the product must be viewed in relation to the intended use of the facility. Ahmed and Kangari (1995) suggest that customer orientation; communication skills and response to complaints all play an important role in the overall satisfaction of the customer in the Service (Telecom) industry. Customer satisfaction has become one of the key issues for companies in their efforts to improve quality in the competitive marketplace. It can be seen as either a goal of or a measurement tool in the development of Service quality. Customer satisfaction is considered to affect customer retention and, therefore, Profitability and competitiveness (Anderson and Sullivan 1993).

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RESEARCH STRATEGY

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Data Sources Mode of Collecting Data

: Secondary Data : INTERNET. The questions will then be asked in a predetermined sequence. The secondary data will be collected from books & journals.

Data Processing

i) A number of tables to be prepared to be preparing to bring out the main characteristics of the collected data. ii) Inferences to be drawn from the data collecte.

Research Methodology

Steps used in research methodology: Planning a research design Field work Collection of data From internet

Planning a research design

A research design is purely the framework or plan for a study that guides the collection and analysis of data. Keeping in view the objective of the research i.e. to find out the sales potential of AIRCEL, I did through exploratory research design.

Planning a sample design

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Sometimes, while carrying out the primary survey, it is not possible to interview and study each and every individual, which come under the scope of the survey. As it often happens if universe is wide large, so a relative small group of individual from the universe is selected which is able to represent the whole universe. This selected group is called sample. The sampling used for this study was random, convenience sample. The total population is divided according to convenience and then a random sampling was used. From random sampling we get more accurate results.

Collection of data:
secondry Data For the collection of data internet

Analysis and interpretation of Data

Analysis is based on the answers given to questions and information about process. It is important to have an analysis plan in mind even before going to field with questionnaire. Here the simple tabulation technique is used to find out the customer level of satisfaction. This Technique involves counting the number of responses in each category for a question. After finding the customer satisfaction level the main phase of research is started. It is the main work of this project to find out the promotional activities of the firm which provides an increment in the sales potential of the product.

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There are three types of players in telecom services: -State owned companies (BSNL and MTNL) -Private Indian owned companies (Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices,) -Foreign invested companies (Hutchison-Essar, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Escotel, Idea Cellular, BPL Mobile, Spice Communications)

BSNL
On October 1, 2000 the Department of Telecom Operations, Government of India became a corporation and was renamed Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). BSNL is now Indias leading telecommunications company and the largest public sector undertaking. It has a network of over 45 million lines covering 5000 towns with over 35 million telephone connections. The state-controlled BSNL operates basic, cellular (GSM and CDMA) mobile, Internet and long distance services throughout India (except Delhi and Mumbai). BSNL will be expanding the network in line with the Tenth Five-Year Plan (1992-97). The aim is to provide a telephone density of 9.9 per hundred by March 2007. BSNL, which became the third operator of GSM mobile services in most circles, is now planning to overtake Bharti to become the largest GSM operator in the country. BSNL is also the largest operator in the Internet market, with a share of 21 per cent of the entire subscriber base.

BHARTI

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Established in 1985, Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts and innovations to its credit, ranging from being the first mobile service in Delhi, first private basic telephone service provider in the country, first Indian company to provide comprehensive telecom services outside India in Seychelles and first private sector service provider to launch National Long Distance Services in India. Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited was incorporated on July 7, 1995 for promoting investments in telecommunications services. Its subsidiaries operate telecom services across India. Bhartis operations are broadly handled by two companies: the Mobility group, which handles the mobile services in 16 circles out of a total 23 circles across the country; and the Infotel group, which handles the NLD, ILD, fixed line, broadband, data, and satellite-based services. Bharti Tele-Ventures' strategic objective is to capitalize on the growth opportunities the company believes are available in the Indian telecommunications market and consolidate its position to be the leading integrated telecommunications services provider in key markets in India, with a focus on providing mobile services.

RELIANCE INFOCOMM
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Reliance is integrated telecom service provider with licenses for mobile, fixed, domestic long distance and international services. Reliance Infocomm offers a complete range of telecom Services, covering mobile and fixed line telephony including broadband, national and international long distance services, data services and a wide range of value added services and applications. Reliance IndiaMobile, the first of Infocomm's initiatives was launched on December 28, 2002. Reliance Infocomm plans to extend its efforts beyond the traditional value chain to develop and deploy telecom solutions for India's farmers, businesses, hospitals, government and public sector organizations. Reliance Infocomm: Ushering in a New Revolution in the Telecom Industry by Dhananjay Khanderao Keskar. The case focuses on the aggressive marketing strategy and promotional campaigns of Reliance Infocomm Limited. It also describes different promotional offers by Reliance Infocomm in order to increase the volume of sales by acquisition of new customers. The case explains Reliance Infocomms new initiative in product diversification (fixed telephone service area) to tap the new segments and its competitive advantage.

HUTCH

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Hutchs presence in India dates back to late 1992, when they worked with local partners to establish a company licensed to provide mobile telecommunications services in Mumbai. Commercial operations began in November 1995. Between 2000 and March 2004, Hutch acquired further operator equity interests or operating licences. With the completion of the acquisition of BPL Mobile Cellular Limited in January 2006, it now provides mobile services in 16 of the 23 defined licence areas across the country. Hutch India has benefited from rapid and profitable growth in recent years. it had over 17.5 million customers by the end of June 2006. The recent takeover of Hutch by Vodafone, has sent a chilling message to all telecom operators and probably the whole industry is waiting for a big shake-up. Vodafones presence in the Indian market can augur a new marketing statement for all telecom operators. Low price may be the key and consumerism may be the buzzword for all the telecom operators. Some of the low-profit or no-profit operators may very soon become extinct; 3G is on the anvil and a major technological reshuffle is on the cards. The big question is what would be the strategic intent of Vodafone in the Indian market? It has coughed up huge amounts of money for the Hutch takeover and now it has to strategize as to how to make its presence more relevant in the Indian market.

IDEA

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Indian regional operator IDEA Cellular Ltd. has a new ownership structure and grand designs to become a national player, but in doing so is likely to become a thorn in the side of Reliance Communications Ltd. IDEA operates in eight telecom circles, or regions, in Western India, and has received additional GSM licenses to expand its network into three circles in Eastern India -- the first phase of a major expansion plan that it intends to fund through an IPO, according to parent company Aditya Birla Group .

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SWOT ANALYSIS

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STRENGTH Wide customers range (million consumers existing). Competitive products. New to the markets. Innovative schemes / offers differentiating it from others. Good promotional schemes. Effective advertisements Quality appreciation from consumer. No. 1 mobile network in south India.

WEAKNESS Untouched rural market. Company in growth stage. Available in limited areas only. Less experienced employees appointed. New to the market. Paucity of advertisement at local level (FM and news papers).

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OPPURTUNITIES: Fine quality of product may increase sales Growth stage of the product. Price compatibility and competitiveness. Huge potential for both prepaid and post paid connections. Launched both CDMA and GSM services. Luring schemes may increase immense sales. Rural launch still awaited. Roaming facilities are very attractive.

THREATS High Competition. Unforeseen future. New product to consumers. Higher customer expectations due availability of many options.

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LIMITATION
Some customers in the area were not very helpful and refused to let go of any information. the product. In some cases the figures have been provided by the servants/attendants of the shops/houses due to unavailability of the owner. Therefore the authenticity of these figures can be doubted. The time allotted for the study was little insufficient. A bigger sample could have resulted in more accurate result. The sampling technique was the convenient sampling, which is not probabilistic one. in different location of the city. It was difficult to trap customers living There were few shopkeepers who had small shops and did not want a person to stand there and feel disturbed in telling about

The people were generally very busy and so, it was really very difficult to get time from them to fill-up the questionnaires. Also, they were very reluctant to provide information, which was very necessary for the purpose of the study. Every project comes with a new challenge. And what is a challenge without difficulties. I also faced many difficulties while doing the project. And those situations gave me a learning, which would help me throughout my life.

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1) Sales man should be given a form in which he has to show the status of all of the complaints. And report it to their team leader on the last day of the week. This will help in determining more customer perception. 2) As the company is new to the market, therefore endeavors should be made to provide customer more luring schemes by which the number and recognition may increase. 3) The company should assign few more actress for the advertisement purpose to attract more customer. 4) Telecallers should get feedback in time whether the complaints can be solved or not, because this step makes the customers happy, this make helpful for the company to promote the sales in the future. 5) Sales person should not make false promises for impressing customers which neither they can fulfill nor the company promises to. Due to false promise customers loose faith in the company. This makes the company image down and come as hurdle in the future sale. 6) Every customer want timely and regular services, but somehow it is not happening which is ultimately affecting the sales. There fore it is recommended that all the necessary steps should be taken to make sure that services are providing regularly. 7) There should be some schemes for free services at night or for whole day to capture reliance concerned market shares.

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Suggestions: Customers View

Do more and more advertisement to make your product more popular. Try to maintain your commitments. Provide extra facilities and new schemes to your existing customers. Provide Aircel-Aircel free calling like Reliance. Maintain your broadband connectivity. More concentrate in after sale service. Customer care facility should be improved. Provide Walky hand set like TATA and Reliance. Provide low rental schemes for postpaid.

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When I was assigned this topic I felt its is most difficult to accomplish since the firm is new to the market, and people would be seldom aware of it but when I reached market and got responses I come to know that it has much potential than what I had thought of it.. I was very inquisitive to know the strategy of this newly launched firm and spontaneously I come to know that the Aircel is number one company in southern India. Then I started my survey by asking questions from distributors to take a gist of the plans and the pricing strategy of the firm in the inception or most of the distributor doesnt want to consecerate, I also asked the reason but they refused. I then went to various distributors of bareilly and asked them to small small question and gradually I got the idea of the firms strategy, that is to build more potential by the promotional and pricing strategy in the inception to capture the market share. The company has nice image and that is the consequences of the advertisement and low rental plans for the services but few customer suggested they should assign an actress ( a famous one) to increase sales. Eventually there were very little number of customer who actually wished or shown interest in filling the questionnaire, it was seeming to me that I imposed it on them and filling of questionnaire is a superfluous activity which they compulsorily have to accomplish, though it is a little bit especially for those who is not using this service but I made my full effort in searching Aircel customer for better comprehension. As we can analyze the findings, depicting much about the sales potential of the Aircel customers in bareilly, but in my opinion it has good sales potential, only the firm must keep providing the same option regarding tariff and pricing plans to the customer, adding to it I also wann share that the rural area is untouched even now, we can only wait as the firm will continually change its strategy according to the area and also the firm has a vast area to

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pervade. It hopefully will establish it amongst the market leaders in telecomm sector but as it would to early to prognosticate about it.

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Books
1. Marketing notes from phillip kotler.

Reports
2. Newspaper HT. & TOI 3. Distributors 4. Magazines

Websites
www.theeconomicstimes.com www.moneycontrol.com www.thetimesofindia.com www.researchandmarkets.com www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunication www.trai.gov.in www.Aircel.com

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