Airtel, the countrys largest operator by both revenues and users, had a total of 83.

82 million rural subscribers

as of April 30, according to data collated by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).
In comparison, Vodafone India added 1.18 million users, taking a total of 83.42 million rural subscribers as of
April, according to the GSM operators body.
In March, Vodafone India, a subsidiary of the worlds largest telecom company Vodafone Plc, had emerged the
largest operator in rural India by amassing a total of 82.24 million users. The GSM operator had overtaken
Bharti Airtel for the first time, albeit by a thin margin, with the latters rural customer base at 82.16 million as
of March 31, 2013.
With the urban subscriber base for voice services, telecom companies are looking at rural India to bring in
subscribers, and in turn, revenues.
Vodafone India had rolled out an array of initiatives such as its Associated Distributor Vodafone Mini Stores
(ADVMS) to get a foothold in the rural market. ADVMS, commonly referred in rural India aslaal dukaan (red
stores), are touch points managed generally by a resident of the area, such as someone from the Panchayat.
At present, Vodafone India has about 5,500 mini stores across the country, out of a total of 7,800 exclusive
retail stores.
Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla group company, was in the third slot with a total of 66.64 million customers,
followed by Aircel and Uninor at 22.47 million and 10.07 million, respectively.

M-Advertising Airtel :
Bharti Airtel provides mobile advertising in India to equip advertisers in reaching out to their potential customers.

"Airtel's m-advertising platform will enable advertisers to land their message in a simple, effective manner in an increasingly complex
media environment," said K Srinivas, President Consumer Business, Bharti Airtel.

He said with the mobile advertising market poised to grow by more than 40 per cent over the next few years, Airtel is placed
uniquely to leverage this growing medium.

With this, Airtel will equip advertisers to connect with their potential customers in a targeted and personalised fashion via their
mobile phones, the company said in a statement.

Through the m-Advertising platform, advertisers will be able to leverage multiple communications outlets and tools such as mobile
internet (WAP), Messaging services and Airtel digital TV to engage their audiences, Bharti Airtel added.

"It will not only create opportunities for increasing brand saliency but also conversions using technologies such as mobile couponing
for segments such as youth, upper SEC, smartphone users etc," the company said.

With this platform, companies can also extend their access to the rural audience with voice solutions.


Airtel Bill Advertising

Airtel allows to advertise on the post paid bills of Airtel. It's a good way to reach out to corporate India, since it's
them who are mainly on post-paid. These bills are mailed / e-mailed to post-paid customers every month.


Advertise Using AdRBT

You can now advertise using AdRBT (ring back tone advertising) through The Media Ant. This is a very
interesting, unique and impactful form of advertising. Imagine if you called a friend and instead of hearing a ring
tone, you heard an ad of a brand. It's something a listener can't miss.
So, in this case, your friend would have opted in for Ad RBT (ad ring back tone) with his/her service provider.
The service provider will turn on ads instead of a ring tone for all incoming calls on the subscribers phone. In
return the subscribing person will receive some freebies from the service provider.
This media is unique in the sense that many consumers don't know about this and therefore are taken
aback when they hear an ad instead of a bollywood song or a regular ring tone.
The caller can't escape the ring tone and therefore has a very good recall value too.
The advertiser only pays for those impressions where the ad was heard for more than 8 seconds. So, if the
message is short and crisp, it can have a very good impact and a high likelihood to be heard by many.


Advertise With Airtel

Vodafone is the second largest telecom provider in rural India. It has many interesting media options that
advertisers can use to convey relevant brand messages. Marketers can access Vodafone's entire database for
marketing activities and use the entire gamut of advertising properties available with them. This is a great
method to reach out to regional customer segments.


Vodafones M-Pesa :

The service, which helps transfer of money over mobile, and is used to pay utility bills, mobile bills,
recharge phones and make DTH payments

Idea :

Idea cellular improves mobile advertising capabilities with Flytxt


Since mobile advertising is picking up in the Indian market, telecom service providers are
looking at this medium to not just ad a revenue stream but also to help brands connect with their
millions of subscribers. To facilitate brands and agencies and to engage with over 130 million
subscribers, Idea Cellular has recently tied up with Flytxt, a big data analytics powered solution
provider.