CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The Indian telecommunications Network is the second largest in the world

860.9 million telephone connections based on the total number of telephone
users (both fixed and mobile phone).It has one of the lowest call tariffs in
the world enabled by the mega telephone networks and hyper-competition
among them. It has the world‟s third-largest Internet user-base with over
137 million as of June 2012. Major sectors of the Indian telecommunication
industry are telephone, Internet, and television broadcasting. Today it is the
fastest growing market in the world with 8.35 million monthly additions.
Telephone density in the country which is in an ongoing process of
transforming into next generation network, employs an extensive system of
modern network elements such as digital telephone exchanges, mobile
switching centre‟s, media gateways and signaling gateways at the core,

interconnected by a wide variety of transmission system using fibre-optics

or Microwave radio relay networks. The access network which connects the
subscriber to the core, is highly diversified with different copper-pair,
opticfibre and wireless technologies. DTH, a relatively new broadcasting
technology has attained significant popularity in the Television segment.
The introduction of private FM has given a fillip to the radio broadcasting
in India. Telecommunication in India has greatly been supported by the
INSAT system of the country, one of the largest domestic satellite
systems in the world. India possesses a diversified communications
system, which links all parts of the country by telephone, Internet, radio,
television and satellite. Indian telecom industry underwent a high pace of
market liberalization and growth since 1990s and now has become the
world's most competitive and one of the fastest growing telecom markets.

The Industry has grown over twenty times in just ten years, from under 37
million subscribers in the year 2001 to over 846 million subscribers in the
year 2011. India has the world's second-largest mobile phone user base with
over 929.37 million users as of May 2012. It has the world's third-largest

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Internet user-base with over 137 million as of June 2012. The total revenue
of the Indian telecom sector grew by 7% to 283207 crore (US$48 billion)
for 2010–11 financial year, while revenues from telecom equipment
segment stood at 117039 crore (US$20 billion). Telecommunication has
supported the socioeconomic development of India and has played a
significant role to narrow down the rural-urban digital divide to some
extent. It also has helped to increase the transparency of governance with
the introduction of e-governance in India.

The government has pragmatically used modern telecommunication

facilities to deliver mass education programs for the rural folk of India.
Indian Tele-density, which was languishing at 2% in 1999, has shown an
amazing jump to 47.89 in 2010 and is set to increase by 20% in the next
five years. Accordingly, India requires incremental investments of USD 20-
25 billion for the next five years.

Private operators have made mobile telephony the fastest growing (over
164%p.a.) in India. With more than 930 million users (both CDMA and
GSM),wireless is the principal growth engine of the Indian telecom
industry. Intense competition between the four main private groups -
Bharti, Vodafone, Tata andReliance and with the State sector incumbents-
BSNL and MTNL has broughtabout a significant drop in tariffs. There has
been almost 74% in cell phonecharges, 70% in ILD calls and 25% drop in
NLD charges, resulting in a boomtime for the consumers.

The Government has played a key enabling role by deregulating and

liberalizingthe industry, ushering in competition and paving the way for
growth. Whilethere were regulatory irregularities earlier, resulting in
litigation, these have allbeen addressed now. Customs duties on hardware
and mobile handsets havebeen reduced from 14 percent to 5 percent.

The Indian government has merged the IT and Telecom Ministries to speed
upreforms and decision on the Communication Convergence Bill to enable
thecommon regulation of the Internet, broadcasting and telecoms will be
takenafter the new Government assumes responsibilities in may this year.
Anindependent regulatory body (TRAI) and dispute settlement body
(TDSAT) is fully functional.

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INDIAN CELLULAR MARKET

The Bharti Group, which operates in 23 circles, continues to be the

country's largest cellular operator with over 191 million subscribers. RIM,
which operates in 23 circles, is the second largest operator with a subscriber
base of 150 million. Vodafone, which operates in 23 circles, has a
subscriber base of 142 million subscribers.

Thus VODAFONE stands third largest cellular operator in terms of

subscriber base at the end of the fiscal ending March 31, 2011, displacing
BSNL from the third position. Unlike fellow public sector undertaking,
MTNL, which operates in Mumbai and Delhi, BSNL, has been a very
aggressive player in the market. "Cellular operators who expected BSNL to
go the MTNL way, were taken by surprise and did not take effective steps
to counter it, till it was too late in the day," said a telecom analyst. Belying
fears of a slowdown in cellular subscriber acquisitions, the cell club has
reported a 8.92% growth, the highest growth in any month so far, during
March 2011. Year-on-year, the cellular subscriber base in the country has
almost doubled in March 2012, and is expanding at the rate of 20% per year
thereafter.

The cellular subscriber club expanded by 17.46 million last month. This is
much higher than 15 million subscribers added in June 2013 and. Idea,
which operates in 22 circles, is the fifth largest operator with a subscriber
base of 91 million, higher than BSNL‟S 98 million subscribers across 22
circles. The subscriber numbers per operator drop sharply with the sixth
largest operator, TataDocomo, having a subscriber base of 43 million,
followed by Uninor Communications with 26 million subscribers and
Aircel. MTNL is the ninth largest operator, with a base of 11 million
subscribers. While the subscriber base-jumped to 229 million in the metros,
subscriber base of category A circles of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu jumped by 30.18 %. Category B circles
of Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West), Uttar Pradesh (East),
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal recorded a jump of 26 %.
Circle C has reported 19.74% growth. Among the metros, while Mumbai
added 3 million subscribers, higher than the 1.9 million added by Delhi, the

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Capital's cellular subscriber base is still higher than Mumbai. While the
cellular industry has been on roll for the first three quarters of the previous
financial year with an average of 30 lakh monthly additions in the third
quarter, the first two months of 20011 had seen the growth slowing down.

GSM MARKET IN INDIA

Regional Interest Groups - GSM India

With a population of around 1.3 billion growing at roughly 1.9 per cent a
year, India is potentially one of the most exciting GSM markets in the
world. India's telecommunications have undergone a steady liberalisation
since 1994 when the Indian government first sought private investment in
the sector. More significant liberalisation followed in 1996 with the
licensing of new local fixed line and mobile service providers. However, it
has been the government's New Telecom Policy (1999) that has had the
most radical impact on the development of GSM services. 'The policy's
mission statement is 'affordable communications for all‟; There is a
genuine commitment to creating a modern and efficient communications

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infrastructure that takes account of the convergence of telecom, IT and
media. In addition, the policy places significant emphasis on greater
competition for both fixed and mobile services.'

Competition in the mobile sector has already had a visible impact on prices
with calls currently costing less than 9 cents per minute. This means that
service costs have fallen by 60 per cent since the first GSM networks
became live in 1995. It also helps explain why a recent Telecom Asia
survey revealed that more than 70 per cent of Indian mobile subscribers felt
that prices were now at a reasonable level. One of the challenges facing
GSM operators in India is the diversity of the coverage regions -from
remote rural regions to some of the most densely populated metropolitan
areas in the world. India has more than 40 networks, which cover the seven
largest cities, over 7000 towns and several Lacs villages. Such depth of
coverage has required enormous investment from India's operators. It is
estimated that more than Rs200 billion had been invested in

India's GSM industry by mid-2000, a figure that is set to be supplemented

by a further Rs. 300 billion over the next five years. The good news is that
subscriber growth is beginning to look healthy. With India's low PC
penetration and high average Internet usage -at 14-20 hours a month per
user it is comparable to the US -the market for mobile data and mcommerce
looks extremely promising. WAP services have already been launched in
the subcontinent and the first GPRS networks are in the process of being
rolled out. In the year ahead, GSM India will work with its members to
realise the potential of early packet services in anticipation of the award of
3GSM licences.

India fastest growing GSM market

The Cellular Operators Association of India (which includes most of

India‟s GSM telecom operators), has reported an addition of 3.50 million
GSM connections in April 2013, closing in at 664.4 million subscribers, a
0.53% increase from 660.9 million subscribers in the previous month.

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Globally, the GSM market reached 3.9 billion users in February 2013,
adding GSM accounted for 80 per cent of the new subscriber growth in
2012."Almost every Latin American operator has chosen GSM. In North
America GSM growth is bigger than CDMA (code division multiple
access)," he said. Commenting on the raging debate over GSM versus
CDMA in mobile services arena, Hadden said: "GSM is the world's most
successful mobile standard with over 2 billion users, and is an open mobile
standard. It also supports automatic international roaming, which is a major
contributor to business plans."

India’s GSM mobile firms’ revenue up 30 percent India‟s private telecoms

firms offering GSM-based mobile services reported a 21 percent rise in
revenue in the year to March 2012 but said future growth rates could slow
because of heavy taxes on the nascent industry. Although India‟s mobile
sector is the world‟s fastest growing major wireless market, it is amongst

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the highest taxed industries in the country. Mobile carriers pay as much as
25 percent of their revenue as licence fee, spectrum charges and other taxes.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said revenue for fiscal
2003/04 stood at 83.08 billion rupees ($1.86 billion) compared with 64
billion rupees a year earlier. According to T.V. Ramachandran, director
general at COAI, “These revenue growth rates cannot be maintained unless
there is a concerted effort by the government to cut excessive levies and
allow sharing of infrastructure” “But the potential to do much better exists
as there is still huge demand in the sector.” Ramachandran said the sector
was still losing money but declined to elaborate. Sales jumped because of a
doubling of the GSM ( Global System of Mobile Communications ) user
base as more people entered the flourishing market thanks to one of the
lowest call rates in the world. But the monthly average revenue per user, a
key measure of profitability, declined 17.4 percent to 432 rupees in the
fourth quarter compared with 523 rupees in the first quarter due to a cut in
tariffs and excessive competition among companies.

Growth slowing, demand untapped: The association has not included the
financial performance and the GSM-user base of state-run firms Bharat
Sanchar Nigam Ltd, the second-ranked player, and Mahanagar Telephone
Nigam Ltd, Ramachandran said. There are 650 million GSM customers and
more than 96 million users of the rival CDMA-based mobile services in the
country.

The pace of growth in monthly additions is increasing after just 8.25 million
users took up the service in April compared with 6.9 million in the previous
month. Ramachandran blamed the slowdown on a majority of small GSM
operators being unable to expand networks into rural swathes where
demand remained largely untapped.

“Our surpluses are not enough to cover costs of network expansion and
financing charges on loans. We are making money only to cover operating
expenses,” he said. Carriers are now subsidising handset costs to woo users
into the underpenetrated industry forecast to have more than 750 million
customers by 2016.

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THE CDMA CHALLENGE

CDMA players had launched their services with CDMA 2000 1X-based
networks, which can give hi-speed, always-on connectivity to the Internet,
and other data services. GSM operators, on the other hand, have had to
migrate from the frustrating experience of WAP (wireless application
protocol) to GPRS, which has not significantly improved the subscriber‟s
experience of surfing the Net on/from mobile. The top brass of GSA, an
organisation comprising Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Alcatel and Lucent
Technologies - met on Tuesday in the capital to persuade the operators to
adopt EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) and leave GPRS
behind as a dream gone sour.

Only Airtel, Vodafone, BPL Mobile and Idea Cellular had launched GPRS,
but the data transfer speeds of GPRS have been abysmal. The field trials
gave a speed of around 54 kbps, but the actual speeds have not exceeded
14-18 kbps, a major reason why GPRS growth has been so slow. As against
the total GSM cellular base of 40 crore, the country has between 9 crore
GPRS users only. In comparison, the two CDMA operators have about 23
crore connections. All these sets are data compliant. Though no figures are
available as to how many use these for data services, the figure is believed
to be respectable as a percentage ratio for CDMA.

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Will GSM maintain its headstart?

At the GSM Evolution Forum held in New Delhi, GSA president Alan
Hadden predicted that GSM growth will far outstrip CDMA as was
happening globally. He felt India could have as many as 600 million GSM
subscribers by 20122013 . According to GSA, there are over 2.7 billion
GSM subscribers worldwide as against 1.3 billion CDMA customers. The
revenue of top 25 global operators from data averages 18 per cent and 22 of
these operators run GSM networks. Overall, there are 76 operators in 50
countries that have committed to deploy EDGE.

Almost every country has a GSM-based network and even those US

operators, which operated on now-defunct TDMA technology, were
migrating gradually to GSM, not CDMA, pointed out Hadden at the GSM
Evolution Forum. The Forum is a global GSA program to assist the
operators for evolution to third generation (3G) technologies. “People are
using their phones for much more than voice. Fifteen networks have
commercially launched EDGE as it can run 3G like services in the
existing spectrum for the operators without needing a 3Glicense. Even
the migration to a full-fledged 3G level of Wideband CDMA

(WCDMA) will be smooth with EDGE,” said Hadden. “Besides, the

automatic roaming provided by GSM networks in almost 200 countries is a
power that CDMA doesn‟t give you. We know for sure that almost 20-25
per cent of the revenue for some GSM operators comes from roaming
customers,” he added. But CDMA is no pushover with Korea and
Philippines as the shining jewels in its crown. The first CDMA 2000 1X
was commercially deployed in October 2000.

Already, 81 operators have launched 77 CDMA 2000 1X networks whereas

nine have launched services based on 1xEV-DO platform across Asia, the
Americas and Europe. At least, 16 new 1X and six 1xEV-DO networks are
scheduled to be deployed in 2004, according to CDMA Development
Group. EV-DO and EV-DV are the next level of evolution on the CDMA
2000 1X platform, capable of delivering services comparable to 3G
WCDMA.

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Where are the models?

What will matter a lot in this war will be the availability of EDGE
compliant handsets at affordable rates. While the two CDMA operators
have been giving out handsets that can give hi-speed data transfer, same has
not been the case with GSM. Even now, GPRS handsets have not become
commonplace and GPRS feature is found only in mid and high-end segment
handsets. End sum game When the networks deploy EDGE, subscribers
can expect the delivery of advanced mobile services such as easy
downloading of video and music clips, full multimedia messaging, besides
high-speed Internet and e-mail access, provided their handset supports all
this.

But the real cruncher will be the migration at a later stage to 3G

technologies such as WCDMA, EV-DO or EV-DA as and when the
government decides what to do with the 3G licences. WCDMA for example
promises delivery of a phenomenal 2 megabytes per second (mbps),
equivalent to what a leased line in many middle level corporates gives.

More importantly, WCDMA will spawn a whole new range of full motion
audiovideo applications, including video telephony. GSM lobby may
continue to remain gung ho over the future of their technologies over that
boosted by the American firms Qualcomm and Motorola, but Indian market
could well throw an interesting scenario that industry experts will do well to
watch. In the coming months, Reliance plans to offer its CDMA subscribers
much more than what GSM players intend to deliver through their EDGE
for their subscribers.

Who succeeds in this battle for mobile customer‟s eyeballs is most difficult
to predict. A Korea and Japan may not be waiting to happen in India, but
India will probably be more like the Chinese market with both standards co-
existing. For now, GSM rules!

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Airtel (Bharti Airtel Ltd.)

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with

operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New
Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers
globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings
include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line
services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services
including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the
rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G,4G wireless services and mobile
commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 269 million customers across its
operations at the end of March 2013.

Airtel comes to us from Bharti Airtel Limited - a part of the biggest private
integrated telecom conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. Bharti provides a
range of telecom services, which include Cellular, Basic, Internet and
recenttelephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being the largest
manufacturer of telephone instruments in India, it is also the first company
to export its products to the USA. Bharti has also put its footsteps into
Insurance and Retail segment in collaboration with Multi- National giants.
Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 23 states
covering all four metros and more than 50 million satisfied customers.

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SERVICES

Mobile Services

Airtel Prepaid, the Ready Cellular Card from Airtel comes to you from
Bharti Enterprises, India's leading integrated telecom service provider.
Going mobile with Airtel Prepaid is a new way of life. With a host of great
features, also simple to use, Airtel Prepaid makes everything that you
dreamt and believed, possible.

3G

Airtel 3G services are available in 200 cities through its network and in 500
cities through intra-circle roaming arrangements with other operators. Airtel
had about 5.4 million 3G customers of which 4 million are 3G data
customers as of September 2012.

4G

Airtel launched 4G services using TD-LTE technology in Kolkata,

becoming the first company in India to offer 4G services. Airtel had 20,000
4G subscribers as of March 2013.

WiFi

Airtel has plans to launch WiFi services in India. It intends to start offering
WiFi services in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore in initial phase. All
plans will be on secure wireless broadband internet with unlimited usage
and will be session or time based. Users can use the service by finding a
hotspot, selecting airtel WiFi Zone', activating the voucher and then login to
start browsing. Airtel intends to partner with establishments to set up
hotspots which will be termed WiFi Hangout for an establishment owner
and WiFi Partner for the cafe and restaurant owners. Airtel WiFi Partners
can offer services at zero investments and can earn commission on every
WiFi session sold.

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Airtel Money

Airtel has started a new mCommerce platform called Airtel Money in

collaboration with Infosys and SmartTrust (now Giesecke & Devrient). The
platform was launched on 5 April 2012, at Infosys' headquarters in
Bangalore. Using Airtel Money, users can transfer money, pay bills and
perform other financial transactions directly on the mobile phone.

Smart Drive

SmartDrive is navigation app exclusive to Airtel customers. The app

features voice-based turn by turn navigation, real time information update
on traffic, approximate time of the travel on the basis of the traffic situation
on the various routes and also lets uers see their location on the map and
plan the journey accordingly. It also suggests the subscriber an alternate
route in case of traffic congestion on the normal route.

Network Experience Centre

Airtel has a Network Experience Centre (NEC) which observes end to end
customer experience, in near real time, along with the standard network
elements on Airtel's operations. The NEC is located in Manesar, Haryana
and

went live on 31 October 2012. It is the first such facility in India and will be
able to monitor Airtel's network performance across mobile, fixed line,
broadband, DTH, M-Commerce, enterprise services, International Cable
Systems and internet peering points from a single location. It will monitor
all Airtel and partner NOCs. In case of an emergency, the NEC will enable
the operator to prioritize actions to restore normalcy and reduce resolution
time.

iPhone

The iPhone 3G was rolled out in India in 2008 by Airtel. However, high
prices and contract bonds discouraged consumers and it was not as
successful as the iPhone is in other markets of the world. Airtel introduced
the iPhone 4 on 27 May 2011 and the iPhone 5 on 2 November 2012.

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Strong Network Coverage

Enjoy complete clarity when calling with Airtel‟s world-class technology

and unbreakable network coverage that spans over 23 circles across the
country. Instant Balance and Validity Enquiry Your account balance is
updated on the screen of your handset at the end of each chargeable call.
You can also call 123 from your mobile phone and listen to the voice
announcement or simply dial *123#, press 'OK' or 'YES' button and your
account balance will be displayed on the screen of your handset.

Recharge your Airtel Prepaid

Recharging is Easy. The calling value on your card keeps reducing as you
make calls or use any other chargeable service. Choose the Airtel Prepaid
Recharge Coupon that‟s right for you, from a variety of tailor– made
recharge coupons with different denominations, which are available at a
number of outlets across your city. Simply follow the procedure mentioned
below, to recharge your phone.

Prepaid Roaming

Airtel Prepaid comes pre activated with 'National Roaming', so you stay
connected no matter wherever you are. You can also send or receive MMS,
check your email and access other GPRS services while roaming in India as
you would in your own city. While traveling abroad you can receive calls &
send or receive SMS.

Other Services Airtel brings you, a wide range of Services that will change
the way you communicate. Try them and discover a whole new world of
fun and excitement.

Call management Services

Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification
Presentation – all with your Airtel prepaid connection.

Voice Mail

When your handset is switched off, or you‟re too busy to answer the phone,
Airtel Voicemail will answer your calls and record a message. The best part

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is that there's no extra monthly cost for setting up Voicemail - you just pay
for the phone call when you use the service.

SMS (Short Messaging Service)

Send messages quickly and easily using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you
don't have much time. It's the way to share those interesting one-liners,
important reminders and rib-tickling jokes, with anyone, anytime, anywhere
in the world.

Subscription Alerts Get regular alerts on news, jokes, business, health and
films on your Airtel mobile phone with Subscription Services. SMS <SUB
NEWS> to 3333 for News, <SUB JOKE> for Jokes, <SUB BIZ> for
Business News, <SUB SPO> for Sports Alerts & <SUB VAASTU> for
Vaastu tips. MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service): Jazz up your
messages with pictures, images and video clippings, with MMS from
Airtel! To activate MMS on your phone, SMS 'MMS' to 56465 and save
service settings.

Airtel Live!

Make your mobile the most happening entertainment destination with Airtel
Live! Airtel brings you the latest in entertainment and information services,
right on your phone! Airtel Live! WAP Services: Download the latest ring
tones, games, wallpapers, videos and much more. You can also get news
clips, watch live TV and download full songs on you phone. To get Airtel
Live! Settings on your phone, SMS 'Live' to 56465 and save the settings
that you receive as your preferred connection. Airtel Live! Portal can be
accessed from you GPRS enabled phone, by sending a SMS 'FUN' to
56465.

Airtel Live! Voice Services: Just Dial 56465, and name the service. For e.g.
say ring tones to download your favorite ring tones. You can also choose a
variety of content options like Live Cricket Commentary, latest National /
International News, Movie Reviews or Stock Market Updates. Airtel Live!
SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting services like
cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few buttons with Airtel
Live! SIM based Services on your SIM card menu. To download new

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services on your Airtel SIM, choose the "What's new" option under the
"Airtel services".

Airtel Live! SMS Services

You can enjoy a host of services by sending a keyword as an SMS to

56465! Choose Astrology / Horoscope, Cricket, Bollywood / Hollywood /
Indi Pop Ring tones. In case you need assistance SMS, Help to 56465.

Hello Tunes

Tired of that boring old „tring tring‟ on your phone? Well now when a
friend calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up
the music charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of
songs in the Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly.
What's more you can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g.
call 678005 for English New and 678001 for Hindi New. This would
directly take you to your favorite artist's Hello Tunes listing.

Copy a Hello Tune

Get the tune you want, all you have to do is call 55055 and follow the
simple voice instructions to copy your favorite Hello Tunes. Once
inside the copyfeature, just key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number you
want to copy the Hello Tune from and you get the same Hello Tune
assigned to your number.

Gift a Hello Tune

Forget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. Say it with a song
instead! Gift a Hello Tune to that special someone. Just call 55055 and
choose the song that you want to gift. Follow the simple voice instructions
and key in the 10- digit Airtel mobile number that you want to gift the Hello
Tune to. You will get an SMS notification upon successful receipt of that
gift.

Buy Music - Airtel Music Shops

Buying your favorite Hello Tune or Ring tone is as simple as recharging

your phone with talk time. Simply walk into your nearest Airtel Shop and
walk out with your favorite song. Choose from Bollywood Hits to Indipop

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Remixes, Hard Rock to Gujrati Garba, Bhajans to Jazz, Bhangra Beats to
foot tapping Tamil Hits from a list of more than 18000 songs.

Reach us Anytime Anywhere

In case you need assistance, dial '121' - our toll-free number, accessible
from anywhere in the country, even while roaming. You can also send us an
SMS to 121 or mail us at 121@airtelindia.com. *In case of email, mention
your mobile no. like, 9810012345, in the subject of the mail for a quicker
response.

Airtel Postpaid

Airtel welcomes you to a vibrant world of unlimited opportunities. More

exciting, innovative yet simple new ways to communicate, just when you
want to, not just through words but ideas, emotions and feelings. To give
you the unlimited freedom to reach out to your special people in your
special way.

Easy Billing

Enjoy a host of rich features only with Airtel e-bill. Register free on „My
Airtel‟ section and view your monthly bill with call details for last three
months. Sort your calls between personal and official or analyze your usage,
at the click of a button. To change your tariff plan call our IVR at 121 and
leave a request. Easy Payment Options. Anytime Anywhere You can
choose from a host of convenient payment options only with Airtel. Walk
into any Airtel relationship centre and make your payments by cash or
credit card. Drop a cheque at any of the drop boxes for making payments or
simply log on to My Airtel section and pay instantly through your credit
card. You can also opt for easy payment options like:

Standing Instructions

You can give us standing instructions to debit your credit card account for
your monthly Airtel bills. All you have to do is fill the Standing Instruction
Form and mail, fax it to us or drop it any of our relationship centre‟s.
Electronic Clearing System Fill an ECS form and mail, fax it to us or drop it
any of our relationship centres to directly debit your bank account for your
monthly Airtel bill.

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Pay while roaming

Airtel has introduced 'anywhere payment' that offers you the convenience of
making payments while you roam. Walk in to any Airtel Relationship
Centre in the country, make payments by cash or credit card and enjoy
uninterrupted Airtel Services.

Credit limit

Your pre-set credit limit mentioned on your monthly bill helps you keep
your mobile charges in control, keeps track of your usage and ensures that
your mobile phone is not misused. Should you exceed your credit limit, you
will be informed via a voice or a non-voice message to make an interim
payment and reduce your account balance below your credit limit. You may
also choose to pay us an additional refundable deposit to enhance your
credit limit or opt for our convenient payment method of Credit Card
Standing instruction .You can also make use of ECS facility.

Long Distance Calling Facility

Call long distance calls in India and Overseas with STD / ISD facility on
your Airtel phone. Widest Roaming - National and International Airtel's
roaming service allows you to stay connected and use your mobile phone to
make or receive calls from almost anywhere in India and also over 160
countries, abroad.

GPRS - Roaming

Use Airtel Postpaid GPRS services, while roaming, to access the internet
and office mails (e.g. BlackBerry services), from almost anywhere in India
and abroad.

Say it. In more than just words, with Services from Airtel Airtel brings you
a wide range of Services that will change the way you communicate. Try
them and discover a whole new world of fun and excitement.

Call management Services

Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification
Presentation, help you do more with your Airtel Postpaid connection!

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Conference call

You can hold a teleconference with 5 people simultaneously with Call

Conferencing service from Airtel. In fact, you can set up a conference even
when the other five are using a landline phone. To know more, call
customer service at 121. Missed call alert

A missed call alert is a SMS that you will receive for all the calls that you
missed. The SMS will detail the CLI and the time when the call was made.
To activate, dial *135*2# then press the call button and wait for the request
to be completed.

Voice Mail

When your handset is switched off, or you‟re too busy to answer the phone,
Airtel Voicemail will answer your calls and record a message. The best part
is that there's no extra monthly cost for setting up Voicemail - you just pay
for the phone call when you use the service.

SMS (Short Messaging Service)

Send messages quickly and easily, using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you
don't have much time. It's the way to Share those interesting one-liners,
important reminders and rib-tickling jokes, with anyone, anytime, anywhere
in the world.

Subscription Alerts

Get regular alerts on news, jokes, business, health and films on your Airtel
mobile phone with Subscription Services. SMS <SUB NEWS> for News,
<SUB JOKE> for Jokes, <SUB BIZ> for Business News, <SUB SPO> for
Sports Alerts & <SUB VAASTU> for Vaastu tips to 3333. MMS (Multi-
media Messaging Service): Jazz up your messages with pictures, images
and video clippings, with MMS from Airtel! To activate MMS on your
phone, SMS 'MMS' to 56465 and save service settings.

Airtel Live!

Make your mobile the most happening entertainment destination with Airtel
Live! Airtel brings you the latest in entertainment and information services,
right on your phone! Airtel Live! WAP Services: Download the latest

19 | P a g e
ringtones, games, wallpapers, videos and much more. You can also get
news clips, watch live TV and

download full songs on your phone! To get Airtel Live! Settings on your
phone SMS 'Live' to 56465 and save the settings that you receive as your
preferred connection. Airtel Live! Portal can be accessed from you GPRS
enabled phone, by sending a SMS 'FUN' to 56465. Airtel Live! Voice
Services: Just Dial 56465 and say the name of the service. For e.g. say
„Ring tones‟ to download your favorite ring tones. You can also choose a
variety of content options like Live Cricket Commentary, latest National /
International News, Movie Reviews or Stock Market Updates.

Airtel Live! SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting
services like cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few
buttons with Airtel Live! SIM based Services on your SIM card menu. To
download new services on your Airtel SIM, choose the "What's new" option
under the "Airtel services" menu.

Airtel Live! SMS Services: You can enjoy a host of services by sending a
keyword as an SMS to 56465! Choose Astrology / Horoscope ,
Cricket, Bollywood / Hollywood / Indi Pop Ring tones. In case you need
assistance SMS „Help‟ to 56465.

GPRS (General Packet Radio Services)Log on to the internet, with GPRS

that allows data transmission at a higher speed. Access e-mails and internet
across Airtel's pan-India presence using 'Mobile Office' with your phone or
a phone and laptop both.

Get the EDGE

Browse the internet on your mobile phone with Airtel's EDGE services.
Enjoy live TV, enhanced WAP experience and Airtel Data Cards on our
high speed network.

Hello Tunes

Tired of that boring old „tring tring‟ on your phone? Well now when a
friend calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up
the music charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of
songs in the Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly.

20 | P a g e
What's more, you can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g.
call 678005 for „English New‟ and 678001 for „Hindi New‟. This would
directly take you to your favorite artist's Hello Tunes listing.

Copy a Hello Tunes

Like a tune you want, all you have to do is call 55055 and follow the simple
voice instructions to copy your favorite Hello Tunes. Once inside the copy
feature, just key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number you want to copy the
Hello Tune from and you get the same Hello Tune assigned to your number.

Gift a Hello Tunes

Forget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. Say it with a song
instead! Gift a Hello Tune to that special someone. Just call 55055 and
choose the song that you want to gift. Follow the simple voice instructions
and key in the 10digit Airtel mobile number that you want to gift the Hello
Tune to. You will get an SMS notification upon successful receipt of that
gift.

Buy Music - Airtel Music Shops

Buying your favorite Hello Tune or Ringtone is as simple as recharging

your phone with talk time. Simply walk into your nearest Airtel Shop and
walk out with your favorite song. Choose from Bollywood Hits to Indi pop
Remixes, Hard Rock to Guajarati Garba, Bhajans to Jazz, Bhangra Beats to
foot tapping Tamil Hits from a list of more than 18000 songs. Reach us,
Anytime Anywhere In case you need assistance, dial '121' - our toll-free
number, accessible from anywhere in the country, even while roaming. *In
case of email, mention your mobile no. like 9810012345 in the subject of
the mail for a quicker response. TARIFF

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY

Airtel to “Touch Tomorrow” with a new brand vision

The Bharti Mobile promoted AirTel cellular service will go in for

repositioning of its brand image. The new brand ethos is portrayed in two
distinct fashions - the tag line "Touch Tomorrow", which underscores the

21 | P a g e
leading theme for the new brand vision, followed by "The Good Life",
which underscores a more caring, more customer centric organization.
Aimed at re-engineering its image as just simply a cellular service provider
to an all out information communications services provider, Touch
Tomorrow is meant to embrace the new generation of mobile
communication services and the changing scope of customer needs and
aspirations that come along with it

The new communication is about a new dimension in the cellular category

that goes beyond the Internet, SMS, roaming, IVRS, etc but which engulfs
the whole gamut of wireless digital broadband services that will constitute
tomorrows cellular services. The new campaign is in two phases - the first
of which will communicate overall brand philosophy and the second
products and services. According to Mr. Jagdish Kini, Chief Operating
Officer, Bharti Mobile Limited,

Karnataka "We are adopting a new brand- platform - Touch Tomorrow - not
only to reflect our corporate ethos but also business strategy".

The new identity will have the logo in Red color along with lower case
typography to convey warmth. AirTel will incorporate the latest branding in
allof its communication and will soon be going in for an enhanced
promotional drive to establish the brand's presence.

MARKET SITUATION

At the time of launch

The first mover in the market was Airtel which launched its services in
Delhi in Aug 1995 (Informal launch). Essar Cell phone followed by
launching its services informally in Oct 95. At this point of time, the
market was at a nascent stage, awareness level was low and both operators
independently tried to spread awareness and educate the people

Once the networks were commercially launched, it became a number game

with a multitude of schemes being offered to woo customers Initially the
cell phone was perceived as a status symbol and utility took a back seat The
target segment in Delhi were corporate and the high income group. The
average capacity installed was for 1.5 lakh subscribers. This coupled with

22 | P a g e
the steep license fee paid to DOT put pressure on the operators to break-
even by rapidly expanding their markets. In the first two years, this led to a
number of schemes being offered and prices crashing.

COMPETITIVE SITUATION

Airtel launched its services before Essar and skimmed the market picking
up the bulk of the high usage premium clients. This is a very competitive
industry with the two companies differentiating either on value-added
services or price. Airtel is perceived as the high quality provider and has a
premium image. Essar, on the other hand, is perceived as the lower end
service provider. Airtel positions itself as the market leader on the basis of
the number of subscribers. Essar is trying to counter this by emphasizing
on the reach of its network and the quality of its service. However, Essar is
somewhat not been very successful largely due to the inconsistency in
advertising

To promote themselves, both the players have been dependent on tactical

advertising However, they have restrained from using comparative
advertising Hoardings have been a very popular medium for carrying the
advertisements Airtel has also been advertising on television using the
Bharti Telecom name.

SALES DEPARTMENT AND STRATEGY

A. Major Accounts (Direct Channel)

 Handles corporate (named and famed) accounts

 Forecasting of sales
 Mapping the accounts
 Providing after sales support to the subscribers.
 Maintaining call reports for records.
 Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the
requirement of the market.

23 | P a g e
B. IDC (indirect Channel)

 Handling distribution
 Maintaining records and level check of the channel partner
 Liaisoning between the channel partner and the company.
 Target achievement
 Training the executives of the channel

C. Distribution Support

1. Logistics

 Monitor handset and SIM card requirements of channel partners

and co-ordinate with stores
 Settle areas of concerns such as incentive claims of channel
partners

2. Rental

 Provide cellular services (SIM cards) on rent.

 Provide cellular phones on rent
 Useful for people visiting Delhi for a short interval.

3 Telesales

 Call customers and generate sales lead.

 Follow up with the customers, if they need any assistance
 Pass on the sales lead to the channel department.

4 Audit

 Consultant to the AirTel showrooms.

 Monitor the operations at the AirTel distribution outlets Organize
training.

5. Retail

 Locate shops to open retail counters.

 Monitor the retail counters.

24 | P a g e
MARKET SEGMENTATION

Segmentation is beneficial because of better predictability of the target

consumer group, minimization of risk exposure, better ability to fine-tune a
product / service to the requirement of target buyer and the resultant ease in
designing a proper designing marketing mix strategy In this case
segmentation is on the bade of income.

In evaluating different market segments the company looks at two factors

The overall attractiveness of the segments and the company's objectives &
resources The present market for Cellular phones, pagers and conventional
phones is as follows:

TARGET MARKET SEGMENT

Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The rationale
behind it is that only those segments should be targeted who value time and
have the paying capacity. It Is also planning to target the business tourists
during their stay in the capitalAbout 60% of the clientele are top executives
of corporate houses. About 15% are foreign organisations and the rest are
professionals and small businessmen. During the introduction stage there
was intense pressure to get consumers across to hook up with their brand,
because getting them to switch brand loyalty later would be hard So far
Airtel marketers have been concentrating totally on the business executive
class but now that the basic viable volumes has beer) built up and prices
have declined to a certain extent they are planning to venture further a field.

25 | P a g e
POSITIONING

The product is sought to be positioned as a business efficiency tool. a

lifestyle revolution and a status symbol The emphasis is to remove
misconception that the cell phone is an expensive means of communication
and drive home the point that the cell phone is actually a day-to-day utility.

PRODUCT POLICY AND PLANNING

The product or service is the heart of the marketing mix. Without a product
or a service customers' needs cannot be satisfied. The basic product promise
by Airtel is mobility. Airtel's main marketing strategy is to be a first mover
all the time. It has recognized the significance of making the first move--
because in the field of Communication & Information Technology changes
occur at a tremendous pace.

Effective product segmentation has to be carried on continuously because

basic services can be and will be copied and in time become expected
component of the product. Airtel seeks to carry out this segmentation
through provision of new information services and making new facilities
available. The product policy and planning depends on the stage of the
product life cycle. At present the cellular phone market has reached the
maturity stage. Since, the premium segment is nearing saturation the
company targeting the upper middle and middle-middle class. In order to
do so Airtel is trying to optimize the price performance package by offering
suitable "product bundling". This involves the selection of the suitable
hardware (handset) and its software (its services.) with reasonable price in
order to deliver maximum price performance to its customers. In addition,
it offers free Airtime services and other concessions to make the prices and
thus the product more attractive. It has also opened a 24 hours customer
service. Only price doesn't serve as an effective differentiator, value added
services become the effective differentiator.

The "Value Added Services" provided from Airtel are:-

26 | P a g e
1). Voice Mail service

This system is similar to the answering machine - if the user is not able to
answer a call for some reason the caller can leave messages in the voice
mail box which can be later retrieved by the user.

ii) Short Message Service

The short message service is like a two-way pager. It gives an option of

sending and receiving text messages directly from one mobile phone to
another without the intervention of an operator.

iii) Mobile Fax 1 Data Service

This service helps the subscriber to send and receive Faxes, access E-mail,
download computer files from other systems and remotely log on to another
computer and surf the Internet.

iv) Cash Card

The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the buyers
to buy air time in advance. All it requires is the payment of an initial
amount. This is a useful service for people who travel to Delhi often and
those who want to control the expenses on their calls.

v) Caller ID

Displays calling person's number.

vi) Outgoing call restriction

To prevent or limit outgoing calls, for example, in peak hours. Also

possible to exclude one or several countries or any geographical region, to
permit only local calls, or to limit the outgoing calls to a listed number.

27 | P a g e
vii) Call forward

Incoming calls can be forwarded to another fixed or mobile phone. Besides

these some other services provided by Airtel are - Call conferencing, Call
broadcast et cetera. It is in the operators -Interest that they not only get
many subscribers but also get them to use the mobile facility frequently. In
the early stages getting increases to subscribe may be easier than getting
them to talk since they will find it costlier to use the mobile phone as
compared to a conventional phone [if is believed that initially cell phones
would be used by]

viii) Roaming Facility

Roaming facility is available while the subscriber is travelling. The billing

is done in the home network (Delhi). Roaming facility is available
manually* as well as semi-automatically. Once a subscriber is In any other
city or country, where a GSM network is available, simply insert the SIM
card of the local operator Into your handset and start talking.

* Manual Roaming means a separate SIM card is provided for each city

** Semi automatic roaming means one card has the facility for different
cities.

AIRTEL'S MARKETING ORIENTATION.

Since this is a high-involvement expensive product, the service provider has

to fully take care of the customers.

a) They take personal responsibility to "get" the answer for any problem
faced by the customer

b) They anticipate customers' problems and take pro-active steps to prevent

them

c) They give answers to the questions & requests, quickly & efficiently.

d) They have a positive tone & manner while interacting with customers.

28 | P a g e
e) They end the interaction on a positive or a humorous note-making the last
30 seconds count.

Airtel realizes that attracting people 'Is easy but converting them into loyal
customers is hard, hence emphasis is on maintaining a 'Smiling and a
Friendly Atmosphere' to please and retain the customer.

PRICE AND PRICING POLICY

AIRTEL has realized that the Indian market is price sensitive. Therefore it
care of the has come up with various innovative tariff schemes to take needs
of different category of customers- Generally, the cellular services are
more expensive than the land line based telephone services.

MARKETING STRATEGY ADOPTED BY BHARTI AIRTEL

Bharti has spent a considerable amount on advertising its mobile phone

service, Airtel. Besides print advertising, the company had put up large no
of hoardings and kiosks in and around Delhi. The objective behind
designing a promotion campaign for the „Airtel‟ services is to promote the
brand awareness and to build brand preferences.

It is trying to set up a thematic campaign to build a stronger brand equity

for Airtel. Since the cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also the
fact that a Cellular phone is a high involvement product, price doesn't
qualify as an effective differentiator. The image of the service provider
counts a great deal. Given the Cell phone category, it is the network
efficiency and the quality of service that becomes important. What now the
buyer is looking at is to get the optimum price-performance package. This
also serves as an effective differentiator

Brand awareness is spread through the' campaigns and brand preference

through brand stature. Airtel's campaign in the capital began with a series
of 'teaser' hoardings across the city,' bearing just the company's name and
without explaining what Airtel was. In the next phase the campaign
associated Airtel with Cellular only thereafter was the Bharti Cellular

29 | P a g e
connection brought up. Vans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing out
brochures about the company and its services to all consumers. About
50,000 direct callers were sent out. When the name was well entrenched in
the Delhiites‟s mind, the Airtel campaign began to focus on the utility of
Cell phone. In the first four months alone Airtel's advertisement spend
exceeded Rs. 4 crores. As of today the awareness level is 60% unaided.
This implies that if potential or knowledgeable consumers are asked to
name a Cellular phone service provider that is on the top of his/her mind
60% of them would name Airtel. As for aided it -is 100% (by giving clues
and hints etc.).

Brand strength of a product or the health of a brand is measured by the

percentage score of the brand on the above aided and the unaided tests. The
figures show that Airtel is a healthy and a thriving brand. Every company
has a goal, which might comprise a sales target and a game plan with due
regard to its competitor. Airtel‟s campaign strategy is designed keeping in
mind its marketing strategy. The tone, tenor and the stance of the visual ads
are designed to convey the image of a market leader in terms of its market
share. It tries to portray the image of being a "first mover every time" and
that of a "market leader".

The status of the product in terms of its life cycle has just reached the
maturity stage in India. It is still on the rising part of the product life cycle
curve in the maturity stage.

The diagram on the left hand side shows the percentage of the users
classified into heavy, medium and low categories. The right hand side
shows the revenue share earned from the three types of users. Airtel,
keeping in mind the importance of the customer retention, values its heavy
users the most and constantly indulges in service innovation. But, since
heavy users comprise only 15 - 20% of the population the other segment
cannot be neglected.

The population which has just realized the importance of cellular phones
has to be roped in. It is for this reason that the service provider offers a
plethora of incentives and discounts. Concerts like the "Freedom concert"
are being organized by Airtel in order to promote sales. The media channel
is chosen with economy in mind. The target segment is not very concrete

30 | P a g e
but, there is an attempt to focus on those who can afford. The print
advertisements and hoarding are placed in those strategic areas which most
likely to catch the attention of those who need a cellular phone. The
product promise (which might cost different 1 higher) is an important
variable in determining the target audience.

Besides this, other promotional strategies that Airtel has adopted are .

(i) People who have booked Airtel services have been treated to exclusive
premiers of blockbuster movies. Airtel has tied up with Lufthansa to offer
customer bonus miles on the German airlines frequent flier's programs.

(ii) There have been educational campaigns, image campaigns, pre launch
advertisements, launch advertisements, congratulatory advertisements,
promotional advertise--ments, attacking advertisements and tactical
advertisements.

DISTRIBUTION

The- company whose operations are concentrated in and around Delhi. It

27 Franchisees and 15 Distributors- They also have 8 'instant access cash

31 | P a g e
card counters- Each franchises or distributor can have any number of
dealers under him as long as the person is approved by the Airtel authority.
Each franchise has to invest Rupees Ten Lakhs. To obtain a franchise and
should employ an officer recruited by Airtel. This person acts as a liaison
between the company and the franchises. The franchises can it any number
of dealers as long as their territories do not overlap. But unfortunately
Airtel has not been very successful in controlling territorial overlaps of
dealers. The franchises can carry out his/her own promotional strategy. For
this the. company contributes 75% of the money and the franchises
contributes 25% of the money. Thedealers under the franchisee receive the
same commission. The franchises and the dealer obtain the feedback from
the customers and they are sent through the liaison officer on a day-to-day
basis to Airtel. The dealer has to invest Rupees. One Lakh as an initial
investment. The dealer of Airtel are not allowed to provide any other
operators' service.

Target set for distributors and the dealers is 100 -150 activations per month.
Hence the dealers can also go for their own promotions like banners and
discounts on festivals etc. The dealer provides service promptly. The
consumer on providing the bill of purchase for the handset and proof of
residence has only to wait an hour before getting connected. The staff of the
dealers and the franchisees are provided training by the Airtel personnel.

The complaints encountered by the franchisees and dealers are either

handset being non-functional or the SIM Card not getting activated.
Anything more complicated is referred to the main Airtel office in Delhi.

WHAT DOES AIRTEL OFFER?

With Airtel, the subscriber wouldn't just get a personal phone that lets
him/her be in touch, always, but also gets a host of benefits that let him/her
manage his/her time like never before. An Airtel subscriber is provided with
a Subscriber Identity Module Card (SIM card) - that is the key to operating
his/her cellular phone. His card activates Airtel cellular services and
contains a complete micro-computer chip with memory to enable one to
enjoy one's cellular phone thoroughly. Each SIM card contains a PIN code
(Personal Identity Number) which may be entered by one. Just plug your

32 | P a g e
SIM card into your cellular phone, enter the PIN code and it becomes 'your'
personal phone'.

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

The pattern of cellophane subscriber growth observed elsewhere in the

world reveals that the growth in the market is initially slow followed by a
sharp acceleration, but so far that has not happened in India. As far as the
Product Life Cycle is concerned. Indians are at the beginning of the
maturity stage.

MARKETING OBJECTIVES

Strategies

Product Offer a basic Offer value Increase in

product/ added services number of value
service. added services.

Price Charge cost- Price to Price to match

plus penetrate or best
market competitors

Distribution Build selective Build Intensive Build more

distribution distribution. intensive
distribution.

33 | P a g e
Advertising Build product Build awareness Stress brand
awareness and interest in differences and
among early the mass benefits.
adopters and market
dealers.

Sales Promotion Use heavy sales Increase to Increase to

promotion to build and encourage
entice people to maintain brand
subscribe. relationships switching.
with customers.

Airtel is the world’s 3rd largest mobile telecommunication Indian MNC

operating in 20 countries across Asia & Africa. Airtel has presence in 22
telecom circles across India & is India’s largest integrated telecom service
provider.

Segmentation, targeting, positioning in the Marketing strategy of Airtel

Airtel uses mix of segmentation strategies to segment its offerings like basic
Call /SMS plans, prepaid / Post-paid plans, VAS – Data, caller tunes etc.
Apart from geographically segmenting the market in East, West, North,
South & central, the market is also segmented in each region on the basis
of demographic variables like age, Income, Social groups.

Different geographic regions are handled independently and different

campaigns are run according to the preferences of people in each region.
Airtel has targeted the generation Z of 15-25 ages, generation X & baby
Boomers by using different campaigns over the period of time i.e. campaign
like “Har Ek friend Jaruri hota hai”/ “Jo tera hai wo mera hai ” to target Gen
Z and recently launched campaign of “one touch internet” targeting Gen X
& baby boomers.

Airtel has been successful in top-of-the-mind recall amongst cellular phone

users and is enjoying a leadership position in most markets. After changing

34 | P a g e
its logo it has repositioned itself as Young, Energetic & International brand.
It has evolved itself as a torch bearer of the telecom industry in India.

Mission –“Hunger to win customers for life.”

Vision- “Our vision is to enrich the lives of our customers. Our obsession is
to win customers for life through an exceptional experience.”

Competitive advantage in the Marketing strategy of Airtel –

With the formation of Indus tower & partnering with Idea & Vodafone for
Indian Operations, Airtel has extended its infrastructure in the extreme parts
of the country for nationwide penetration, creating competitive edge over
other players in terms of low operational cost, better network connectivity,
coverage, low call drops & better customer service.

Airtel developed a sustainable advantage through its excellent network of

telecom towers. In many locations, newer entrants found it cheaper to rent
Airtel’s existing infrastructure rather than setup new towers.Also spending
extensively on advertising & promotions helped it to become a market
leader. Word of mouth is one of the strongest forms of promotions & Airtel
has completely leveraged that. Airtel is always known for its innovation and
some of its products were thelifetime prepaid, Airtel live, Hello tunes, My
Plans, M-check are pioneer strategies & the list is never ending.

BCG Matrix in the Marketing strategy of Airtel-

Airtel have 4 SBU’s (Strategic business unit) which occupies different
places in BCG matrix namely

Mobile services are stars, as it is operating in 22-telecom circles of India

and is the largest mobile service provider in the country, based on the
number of customers & (22.7 %) market share.

Tele-media services – fixed-line services are dogs since there is a

phenomenal decrease in the services in the industry as a whole.

High-speed broadband which is question mark since it has best in class

network with 126,357Rkm of fibre laid down but still they have presence in

35 | P a g e
only 87 metros & tier-1 city further investment can increase their market
share & will help it to move to stars.

Airtel business to large enterprise is question mark, although it provides a

broad portfolioof services to large Enterprise, Government, Small &
Medium businesses and carrier customersbut the services offered by Airtel
are expensive as compared to other players.

Digital TV services are stars, Airtel have 18% market share in the DTH
services second to only Dish TV & have head on competition
with TATA sky.

Distribution strategy in the Marketing strategy of Airtel –

It has wide spread simple and effective channel structure. Company uses 2-
Tier & 3-tier distribution network system.

Under 2-tier distribution network, company appoints UD (urban

distributors) & RS (Rural Suplliers). UD distribute the items to retailers
according to the demand & transfer easy balance to retailer through FOS
(Field officer Sales) SIM who work under UD’s.

Under 3-tier distribution RS (rural supers) distributes the items to RD

(Rural Distributors) & transfer easy balance into RD’s SIM, who then
distribute it to Retailers.

Apart from all these company also uses Airtel Relationship centres under
franchised model & company officials for corporate sales.

Brand equity in the Marketing strategy of Airtel –

High TOMA (Top of mind awareness), ARPU (average revenue per user),
and extensive distribution system & as high as 300+ million subscribers has
helped Airtel in crafting market leader position for itself over the years.
Also Airtel has shifted from a technological brand to a communication
brand through its continuous evolving branding & marketing efforts. It has
rechristened its logo to make it more of international, young & Energetic
brand.

36 | P a g e
Competitive analysis in the Marketing strategy of Airtel–
Being the torchbearer of the telecom industry in India it has reshaped the
telecom industry over the years. From tele-density of just 18.3 % in FY’07
to 75.2 FY’14 (DOT data), industry has seen a high growth
momentum. Reliance which initially targeted the B & C customer segments,
lost its market share to new & existing players like Idea, Vodafone, Tata-
Docomo, and BSNL etc. due to Network & customer service issue. In
wireless data services players like MTS, TATA Indicom have high market
share in the selected circles whereas Airtel is still figuring out to establish
itself due to High data charges.

Market analysis in the Marketing strategy of Airtel –

In the highly competitive telecom market where each company is trying
hard to retain their customers & increase ARPU (Average return per user),
Airtel is facing stiff competition from small & local players like Uninor,
Aircelwho are present in few circles. Also players like Vodafone who are
fighting head on to emerge as a market leader possess a serious threat to the
company.

Connectivity, data services & VAS(Value added services) will be the

driving force of the telecom industry.

Customer analysis in the Marketing strategy of Airtel –

Customers group consist of all 3 segments A, B & C with their
distinctive needs but majorly it is targeting B segment which is Middle class
with aspirational needs & is the fastest growing segment. To cater the
corporates clients & A-class they have dedicated workforce. Airtel deals in
both B2C & B2B customers.

37 | P a g e
 CHAPTER 2

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective behind this research project is to study about the importance
and development of telecommunication industry in today‟s scenario. To
understand the Marketing strategies which are used by Bharti Airtel to
Survive in highly competitive cell phone market and different services
which are offered by Bharti Airtel. An overview of the Indian
telecommunication market is also given, along with the growing GSM
market and challenges before the CDMA market in India. A brief
introduction about Bharti Airtel has also been given, covering all the
services provided by Bharti Airtel.

It also includes Indian market study, Bharti Airtel Corporate Study. Under
this research project following points about Bharti Airtel are covered:

 Promotional Strategy
 Market Situation
 Competitive Situation
 Market segmentation
 Positioning Pricing Policy

Objectives:

 To study the importance and development of telecommunication

industry in today‟s scenario.
 To understand the various Marketing Strategies which Airtel has
adopted to survive in highly competitive cell phone industry.
 To make a comparative study of the major players in Indian Service
Provider.

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 CHAPTER 3

LITERATURE REVIEW

The growth in demand for telecom services in India is not limited to basic
telephone services. India has witnessed rapid growth in cellular, radio
paging; value added services, internet and global communication by satel
item (GMPCS) services. The agents of change, as observed from
international perspective, have been broadly categorized into economic
structure, competition policy and technology. Economic reforms and
liberalization have driven telecom sector through several transmission
channels of which these three categories are of major significance.

The effective research cannot be accomplished without critically studying

what already exists in the form of general literature and specific studies.
Therefore, it is considered as an important pre-requisite for actual planning
and execution of research project. This helps to formulate hypotheses and
framework for further investigation. In this research, the survey of
literature has been classified into two parts - studies related to telecom
sector and studies related to marketing strategies of airtel.

STUDIES RELATED TO GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENTS IN

INDIAN TELECOM SECTOR

Muller (1990) in his a research focuses that the success of the mobile
commerce can be attributed to the personal nature of wireless devices.
Adding to this are its unique features of voice and data transmission and
distinct features like localization, feasibility and convenience. The
sustained growth of the mobile commerce around the world has been more
because of the transfer of technology according to the needs of local
geography.

National Telecom Policy (1999) projected a target 75 million telephone

lines by the year 2005 and 175 million telephone lines by 2010 has been
set. Indian telecom sector has already achieved 100 million lines. With
over 100 million telephone connections and an annual turnover of Rs.
61,000 crores, our present teledensity is around 9.1%. The growth of Indian
telecom network has been over 30% consistently during last 5 years.

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According to Wellenius and Stern (2001) information is regarded today
as a fundamental factor of production, alongside capital and labor. The
information economy accounted for one-third to one-half of gross domestic
product (GDP) and of employment in Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in the 1980s and is
expected to reach 60 percent for the European Community in the year 2000.
Information also accounts for a substantial proportion of GDP in the newly
industrialized economies and the modern sectors of developing countries.

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) 16th Annual Report (2002)

India like many other countries has adopted a gradual approach to telecom
sector reform through selective privatization and managed competition in
different segments of the telecom sector. India introduced private
competition in value-added services in 1992 followed by opening up of
cellular and basic services for local area to competition. Competition was
also introduced in National Long Distance (NLD) and International Long
Distance (ILD) at the start of the current decade.

World Telecommunication Development Report (2002) explains that

network expression in India was accompanied by an increase in
productivity of telecom staff measured in terms of ratio of number of main
lines inoperation to total number of staff.

Indian Telecommunication Statistics (2002) in its study showed the long

run trend in supply and demand of Direct Exchange Lines (DEL). Potential
demand for telecom services is much more than its supply. In eventful
decade of sect oral reforms, there has been significant growth in supply of
DEL.

Economic Survey, Government of India (2002-2003) has mentioned two

very important goals of telecom sector as delivering low-cost telephony to
the largest number of individuals and delivering low cost high speed
computer networking to the largest number of firms. The number of phone
lines per 100 persons of the population which is called teledensity, has
improved rapidly from 43.6 in March 2001 to 4.9 in December 2002.

Adam Braff, Passmore and Simpson (2013) focus that telecom service
providers even in United States face a sea of troubles. The outlook for US
wireless carriers is challenging. They can no longer grow by acquiring new
customers; in fact, their new customers are likely to be migrated from other
carriers. Indeed, churning will account for as much as 80% of new

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customers in 2005. At the same time, the carrier‟s Average Revenue per
User (ARPU) is falling because customers have.

Dutt and Sundram (2011) studied that in order to boost communication

for business, new modes of communication are now being introduced in
various cities of the country. Cellular Mobile Phones, Radio Paging, E-mail,
Voice-mail, Video, Text and Video-Conferencing now operational in many
cities, are a boon to business and industry. Value- added hi-tech services,
access to Internet and Introduction of Integrated Service Digital Network
arebeing introduced in various places in the country.

A study by Jeanette Carless on and Salvador Arias (2012) wireless

substitution is producing significant traffic migration from wire line to
wireless and helping to fuel fierce price competition, resulting in margin
squeezes for both wire line voice tariffs in organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development Countries have fallen by an average of three
percent per year between 1999 and 2003.

T.V. Ramachandran (2016) analysed performance of Indian Telecom

Industry which is based on volumes rather than margins. The Indian
consumer is extremely price sensitive. Various socio-demographic factors-
high GDP growth, rising income levels, booming knowledge sector and
growing urbanization have contributed towards tremendous growth of this
sector. The instrument that will tie these things together and deliver the
mobile revolution (airtel) to the masses will be 3 Generation (3G) services.

Rajan Bharti Mittal (2015) explains the paradigm shift in the way people
communicate. There are over 1.5 billion mobile phone users in the world
today, more than three times the number of PCOs. India today has the sixth
largest telecom network in the world up from 14th in 1995, and second
largest among the emerging economies. It is also the world‟s 12th biggest
market with a large pie of $ 6.4 billion. The telecom revolution is propelling
the growth of India as an economic powerhouse while bridging the
developed and the developing economics.

ASEAN India Synergy Sectors (2005) point out that high quality of
telecommunication infrastructure is the pillar of growth for information
technology (IT) and IT enabled services. Keeping this in view, the focus
oftelecom policy is vision of world class telecommunication services at
reasonable rates. Provision of telecom services in rural areas would be
another thrust area to attain the goal of accelerated economic development
and social change. Convergence of services is a major new emerging area.

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Aisha Khan and Ruche Chaturvedi (2005) explain that as the competition
in telecom area intensified, service providers took new initiatives to
customers. Prominent among them were celebrity endorsements, loyalty
rewards, discount coupons, business solutions and talk time schemes. The
most important consumer segments in the cellular market were the youth
segment and business class segment. The youth segment at the inaugural
session of cellular summit, 2005, the Union Minister for Communications
and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran had proudly stated that
Indian telecom had reached the landmark of 100 million telecom
subscribers of which 50% were mobile phone users. Whereas in African
countries like Togo and Cape Verde have a coverage of 90% while India
manages a merely mobile coverage of 20%.

In overview in Indian infrastructure Report (2015) explains India‟s

rapidly expanding telecom sector is continuing to witness stiff competition.
This has resulted in lower tariffs and better quality of services. Various
telecom services-basic, mobile, internet, national long distance and
international long distance have seen tremendous growth in year 2005 and
this growth trend promises to continue electronics and home appliances
businesses each of which are expected to be $ 2.5 bn in revenues by that
year. So, driving forces for manufacturing of handsets by giants in India
include-sheer size of India market, its frantic growth rates and above all the
fact that its conforms in global standards. Marine and Blanchard (2005)16
identifies the reasons for the unexpected boom in mobile networks.
According to them, cell phones, based on Global System for Mobile
Communication (GSM) standard require less investment as compared to
fixed lines. Besides this, a wireless infrastructure has more mobility,
sharing of usage, rapid profitability. Besides this, usage of prepaid cards is
the extent of 90% simplifies management of customer base. Moreover, it is
suitable to people‟s way of life-rural, urban, and sub-urban subscribers.

Illustrating the lead achieved by Gujarat. According to Business and

Economy (2015) the catalyst for Indian mobile operators in the future will
undoubtedly be increased marketing and advertisement expenditure, along
with better deals for mobile phone users like the previously mentioned full
talk time Rs. 10 recharge card, will go a long way in not only retaining
customers but also acquiring the vast market of lowered customers who are
extremely sticky about value for money and have extremely low loyalties
and almost non-existent switching costs.

According to Oliver Stehmann (2015) the telecommunications industry is

characterized by rapid innovation in the service and the transmission

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market. The legally protected public or private monopolist does not have
the same incentive to foster innovation that would exist in a competitive
environment. Thus, state intervention based on the natural monopoly
argument neglects dynamic aspects, which are crucial in the
telecommunications sector.

Marketing Whitebook (2015) explains with support of detailed data that

bigger players are close to 20% of the market each. In CDMA market, it is
Reliance Infocom and Tata Teleservices are dominating the scene
whereasAirtel is lead in GSM operators. Between 2003 and 2004, the total
subscriber base of the private GSM operators doubled. It rose from 12.6
million subscribers at the end of March 2003 to 26.1 million by the end of
March 2004. And yet that 100% growth rate notwithstanding, total industry
revenue for 2003-04 was around Rs. 8308 crores. Compared to Rs. 6400
crores that industry grossed in 2002-2003, that is an increase of 30%.

According Economic Times (2015) Indian mobile phone market is set to

surge ahead since urban India has a teledensity of 30 whereas rural India
has a teledensity of 1.74. It indicates that the market is on ascent, with more
than 85000 villages yet is come under teleconnectivity.

According to a paper released by the Associated Chambers of

commerce and Industry of India (2015), it is stated that 30% of the new
mobile subscribers added by the operators worldwide will come from India
by 2009.10% of the third generation (3G) subscribers will be from India by
2011, Indian handset segment could be between US $ 13 billion and US $
15 billion by 2016.It offers a great opportunity for equipment vendors to
make India a manufacturing hub. Indian infrastructure capital expenditure
on cellular equipment will be between 10 to 20% of the investment that will
be made by international operators by 2015. The other proposals included
setting up of hardware manufacturing cluster parks, conforming to global
standards and fiscal incentives for telecom manufacturing among others.

Virat Bahri (2016) explains the viewpoint of Sam Pitroda the Chairman of
Worldtel that identifies opportunities for investments in
telecommunications. He analyses that there is an increasing role for
telecom in e-governance in India. According to him, technology can be
leveraged to take India‟sdevelopment to next level.

According to Snyder (2016) Communications is a process that allows

information to pass between a sender and one or more receivers and. the
transfer of meaningful information or ideas from one location to a second

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location. Communications is a human process; humans communicate by
sending information between themselves. Whereas, telecommunication is
the transmission of data or information over a distance. Tele is a Greek
word meaning at a distance, far off. Thus, it classifies smoke signals,
semaphore flags, lanterns and signal flares, telegraph systems, televisions,
telephones, written letters, and hand signals as capabilities that support
telecommunications. The problems with these communications forms
include reliability, speed of transmission, and comprehension purposes.

According to Rohit Prasad & V.Sridhar (2017) this is one of the first
such attempt to analyse the tradeoffs between low market power and
economics of scale for sustained growth of mobile services in the country.
Our analysis of the data on mobile services in India indicates the existence
of economies of scale in this sector. We also calculate the upper bound on
the optimal number of operators in each license service area so that policies
that make appropriate tradeoffs between competition and efficiency can be
formulated.

Narinder K Chhiber (2015) the mobile telecommunication technology is

evolving rapidly in the world as more people demand mobile services with
longer bandwidth and new innovative services like connectivity anywhere,
anytime for feature like T.V., Multimedia, Interoperability and seamless
connectivity with all types of protocols and standards, while the 3Gservices
are yet to fully come up. Serious discussion on 4G has started .WLAN hot
spot have made inroads along with 3G to offer an alternative form of mobile
access.

STUDIES RELATED TO TECHNOLOGY UPGRADATION IN

TELECOM SECTOR

Uehara (1990); King (1990); Glynn (1992); Mutoh (1994) emphasized

that technological changes in the telecom and computers have radically
changed the business scenario. In turn, the new demands of business have
spurred many telecom based technological innovations. In order to exploit
these innovations for competing in global markets, business community has
been putting pressures on governments to revise the policy, regulation and
structure of the telecom sector. Several countries across the world have
responded by restructuring the state controlled telecom provider, increasing
private participation and deregulating service provisions.

Business Today (1992) pointed out that due to lack of technical and
financial resources especially foreign exchange, the DOT generally lagged

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behind in its level of technology. India‟s indigenization program in the
switching segment carried out by C-DOT was successful in the introduction
of rural exchanges designed especially for Indian conditions characterized
by dust, heat and humidity.

According to Economic Commission for Europe (2000) this transition of

the telecommunication area is mainly technology driven. The borderline
between computers and electronics, on the one hand, and
telecommunications, on the other, is disappearing. This convergence of
technologies has led to the acceleration of the innovation process, which is
constantly bringing forward new products and services. Besides expanding
the market potential, this innovation process has also given rise to major
changes in industry and the institutional structure.

E Pedersen and Methlie (2002) studied the technology aspect and

explained a comparative view. According to them, a comparison of the
slow adoption of WAP services in Europe with the successful adoption of
comparable I-mode services in Japan and technological y simple SMS
based services in Scandinavian suggest that aggregate and technology based
models are insufficient to explain the mobile service. Thus, technological
models of the supply side need to be supplemented with the views and
impact of perceptions from the demand side of the mobile commerce end
user.

World Telecommunication Development Report (2002) technologies of

mobile telecommunications and internet are going to set the contours of
further technological progress in the current decade. The most recently
initiatives aims at convergence of voice and data received from multiple
sources both web based and real time video streams in mobile handsets and
calling cards have virtual presence possible almost everywhere overcoming
the barriers of distance, topography and remoteness.

Prithipal Singh (2004) with the convergence of technologies, data services

are expected to grow exponentially in the years to come. Broadband is
likely to take a lead in the development of Indian Telecom Sector.
Broadband is growing market and offers immense possibilities for
investment. In Broadband policy, India has envisaged a target of 40 million
Internet subscribers and 20 million broadband subscribers by 2010.

P.S. Saran (2004) the telecom technology in India has transformed from
manual and electro-mechanical systems to the digital systems. India has
stepped into new millennium by having 100% electronic switching system.

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The technological changes have made way for new services and economics
in the provision of telecom services.

According to Mather (2005) the challenge, of course, is that a competitor

can show up in one of your established markets with new technology, better
people, a better network of companies for support and a better management
style and steal huge chunks of your business before you can respond.
Staying at the forefront of all these issues will be the only way to stay
successful.

STUDIES ON INVESTMENT POLICY OF TELECOM SECTOR

Moto (1990) researched the need of separate policy, regulation and

operation which require changes in legislation - for example the
restructuring the Japanese Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public
Corporation and Kokusai Denshin Dewwa was preceded by appropriate
changes in legal framework.

Melody (1990) points out that the Indian Government had not addressed the
basic requirement necessary for reform and there was no pre-planned
sequence of structural changes which are basic determinants of reform.
Therefore, the government, investors and subscribes could expect only
marginal benefits from the reform process.

MTNL Report (1991) explains that international bodies had supplemented

government resources and funded expansion and technology up gradation
programmes.

Akwule (1992) researched that in comparison Kenya, which had almost the
same level of gross domestic investment as percentage of GDP from
198189 raided the telecom investment as a share of GDP from 3.28% to
8.67 in 1978.The effect of under investment in these sectors was
compounded by the diffusion of these scarce resources over a number of
areas where no specific area in telecom was developed.

Jain and Chhokar (1993) points out the limitations of capital and
manpower as key constraints. The Athreya‟s Committee‟s report may be
viewed as an initiation of a process of examining organizational options.
Management incentives which would allow these organizations to increase
profitability and the structural mechanisms which would allow then to raise
capital from markets had been sketchily outlined.

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STUDIES RELATING TO COMPETITION IN INDIAN TELECOM
SERVICE SECTOR

Melody (1990) points out various concerns for the telecom sector covering
competition as important one. Competition is considered more important
factor than ownership in introducing efficiency. Further the order in which
structural adjustments take place determine the effectiveness.

Donaldson(1994), Jussawala (1992); Jain, (1995); Wellenius (1995),

recognize that developing countries feel the important role a responsive,
business oriented, and technologically advanced telecom sector plays in the
growth of the economy. Many developing countries accept the limitations
of a monolith state monopoly in responding to the twin challenges of
spurring internal growth and competing in global economy.

According to Stephen Y. Walters (2003) the telecommunications industry

is being rocked by change fueled by the advent of the tremendous success
of the internet and its technologies.. For quite some time, there has been
competition in the telephony business. Long-distance rates have seen
continuous decreases for two decades as new carriers sought to capture
greater and greater market share. Local carriers have seen competition for
interconnecting the networks of large corporate customers and for providing
them access to long-distance services. So, competition and change are not
new issues in telecommunications. But the internet has forced an entirely
new set of changes on the phone business. There are new carriers, new
business scenarios, new technologies, and new ways of thinking about end
users and the services they seek.

Shyamal Ghosh (2003) mentions that the most significant development

since 1999 has been the progressive reduction in tariffs which has been
facilitated by competition through multi operator environment. The most
dramatic reduction in tariff has been from very high Rs. 16 per minute to
Rs. 2 per minute.

N.M. Shanthi(2005) throws light on the factors that contributed to the

growth of telecom sectors. The studies various initiatives take by
government in lien of liberalization, privatization and de-monopolization
initiatives. The trend is expected to continue in the segment as prices are
falling as a result of competition in the segments. The beneficiaries of the
competition are the consumers who are given a wide variety of services.

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Kushan Mitra (2005) analyses various factors contributing to competition
to Indian Telecom Industry. Besides lowering of prices, increased
efficiency, greater innovation, highly tech industry better quality services
are some of the reasons which are boosting competition amongst various
telecom service providers.

Michael Meltzer (2005) explain that in electronic age, the need to manage
customer relationships for profit is a marketing dilemma that many
telecommunication companies face.

Arindham Mukherjee (March, 2006) takes out various case studies like
Vodafone, Maxis, Telekopm Malaysia, Tatatele etc. to study the rising
interest of foreigners for investment in Indian telecom industry. Various
reasons of stemming growth can be rising subscriber base, rising
teledensity, rising handset requirements, saturated telecom markets of other
countries, stiff competition, requirement of huge capital, high growth curve
on telecom, changing regulatory environment, conducive FDI limits in
telecom sector.

OECD (2007) by increasing competition uptake can be mainly realized by

then following incentives ; (1) bundling of services, such as offering
telephone line plus broadband access to internet ADSL at significantly
reduced price, introducing triple play services on the subscriber line and
promoting digital T.V. as a revenue source for the fixed line operator. These
would however depend on the distance of the subscriber line from the local
exchange and the quality of the copper line. Reducing cost for the second
line would also be effective. This would lead to reduce prices for the
consumer and reduce churn. (2) Increasing competition between broadband
service providers. (3) Reducing the monthly rates of increased speed
internet access using ADSL. (4) increasing awareness of the benefits of
ADSL to the society.(5) increasing the local content on the internet so to
attract more users in attempt to find killer application that would attract user
to indispensable ADSL experience.(6) adopting convergence between
wireless or mobile and fixed services.

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 CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

The methodology adopted for this project is exploratory in nature since

there is no hypothesis that has to be tested. The conclusions have been
drawn by exploratory research work.

There have been two sources of information collected:

a) Primary Sources

I have met retailers of the Airtel of the company and have been able to get
first hand information regarding the product, its features and the buying
patterns of the product. Their input has been valuable.

b) Secondary Sources

Secondary source has played a vital role to play in this report. A good
amount of data has been collected from various published articles and
reports found in magazines and journals. Another vital source has been the
Internet and particularly the companies own website.

Research problem:

Defining the research problem is an important step in research. The research

problem of this proposal is to study “An empirical study on marketing
strategies of airtel India.”

Hypothesis of study:

H1: There is significant impact of various marketing mix element on

purchasing decision of consumer.

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H2: There is no significant difference in service or product pricing among
telecom service provider.

H3: There is service charges are depends on telecom service providers.

H4: There is no significant difference on availing of services by subscribers

and telecom service providers.

H5: There are usage of services depends on telecom service providers.

H6; There is significant influence of service quality on customer

satisfaction.

H7: There is significant influence of people & process on level of customer

satisfaction.

H8: There is no significant relationship between marketing strategy and

demographic variables.

H9: There are no significant challenges in telecom sector.

Sample design:

For meeting the first objective, the tool used to collect data is structured
questionnaires. the questionnaire was used to elicit information on element
of marketing strategy like, marketing communication mix, promotion mix,
product mix, channel avaibility, price, service quality etc. Six major
telecom service provider in India, Bharti telecommunication ltd (AIRTEL),
Idea ltd , Vodafone ltd. Through random systematic sampling.

The main sources of secondary data was published research papers/reports

of DoT & World telecommunication development , Indian telecom policy,
journal of marketing management , journal of service marketing, journal of
advance management , magazines like advertising express, business world,
Book and various websites of telecom operators.

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 CHAPTER 4

ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION OF DATA

The data obtained in the present study were analysed using suitable tools
study the impact of marketing mix on overall telecom sector and to study
the impact of product and service quality on customer satisfaction. The
following statistical treatments were used for interpretation of data.

1. Do you believe that India is potentially one of the most exciting

mobile service providers in the world?

As according to the above table 16 (80%) out of the total 20 interviewed

people in all the above four specified Indian mobile service providers are of
belief that India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile service
providers in the world, whereas some 4 (20%) of them do not agree to this
view.

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2. Do you find that the government’s telecom policy has had the most
radical impact on the development of mobile service providers?

As according to the above table 15 (75%) out of the total 20 interviewed

people in all the above four specified Indian mobile service providers find
that the government‟s telecom policy has had the most radical impact on
the development of mobile service providers, whereas some 5 (25%) of
them deny this.

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3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators in
India is the diversity of the coverage regions?

As according to the above table 10 (50%) out of the total 20 interviewed

people in the mobile service providers are of belief that one of the
challenges facing mobile operations in India is the diversify of the coverage
regions, whereas interestingly another 10 (50%) of them deny this.

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4. To what extent, does you find that mobile service providers is a very
complex standard?

As according to the above table 10 (50%) out of the total 20 interviewed

people in all the above four major the mobile service providers in Indian

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Cellular industry find only to some extent that GSM is a very complex
standard, whereas the another 10 (50%) respondents find to great extent that
mobile service providers is a very complex standard.

CONSUMER LEVEL

1. Do you believe that mobile service providers comes close to fulfilling

the requirements for a personal communication system?

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As the above shows 30 (75%) out of total 40 respondents are of the belief
that mobile service providers comes close to fulfilling the requirements for
a personal communication system, whereas 10 (25%) of them are in no way
to this belief.

2. Do you find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and
satisfying mobile standard?

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As the above shows 32 (80%) out of total 40 respondents find that mobile
service providers as the most exciting and satisfying mobile standard,
whereas the remaining 8 (10%) respondents deny this.

3. Do you believe that your service provider has a genuine commitment

to creating a modern and efficient communications?

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As the above shows 36 (90%) out of total 40 respondents are of the
belief that their service providers have a genuine commitment to
creating a modern and efficient communications whereas the
remaining 4 (10%) respondents deny this.

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  Analysis of Occupation wise composition of subscribers.

Whereas above figures explains occupation wise distribution of

subscribers, most of students prefers Airtel and idea significantly,
professional prefers Reliance and Idea significantly, Govt. Employee
prefers Tata and BSNL Significantly, Pvt. Employee prefers Reliance and
Vodafone mostly, Self employee prefers Bsnl and Vodafone mostly.
Overall composition shows Pvt. Employee and Self employed (51%) more
subscribers then professionals and Govt. Employee (22%).

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  Analysis of Gender wise composition of subscribers

Its shows service provider wise and overall more then (89%) telecom
subscribers are male. In Indian context male education and social

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domination is more, so there is basic need in family or individual is more in
male subscribers.

 Analysis of Age-Wise Composition of Subscribers

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Above figures explain age group of 18 plus-25 yr (45%)are most
subscribers in telecom services, then follow by 25 – 40 age (34%) and its
shows 75 % average subscribers in all telecom company are belongs to this
two age group.

 Analysis Education-Wise Composition of Subscribers.

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Above figures explain that reflect education significant percentage value of
various telecom service subscribers. Maximum graduates (53%) using
telecom service followed by post graduates (22%) and Matriculations
(17%).

 Analysis of Income-Wise Composition of Subscribers (In Rs.)

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Whereas in income profile, most of the users are in income group of more
than 5000 (57%) as compare to other income classes. Same direction shows
in all telecom service providers, follows by more than 3000 and less than
5000 (23%) income group.

 Analysis of Services uses Composition of Subscribers.

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Above figures reflect services used by subscribers as significant percentage
value of service user is prepaid mobile (70%), followed by post paid mobile
(14%). Its reflect very small percentage value of subscribers are avail
internet, basic wire lines and broadband. As compare to other country
internet and broad band uses rate is very law at present, so in future three is
huge scope in this service area.

 Experience-Wise Composition of subscribers.

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Above figures shows experience of telecom services reflect maximum
subscribers having more than 2 years (53%) in same telecom service
provider company there is significant value in BSNL (77%), followed by 1
to 2 year (31%) in same telecom service provider company there is
significant value in Idea and Tata. followed by less than 1year (16%) in
same telecom service provider company there is significant value in
Reliance, Vodafone and Airtel.

 Analysis of services connection composition of subscribers.

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Above figures reflect services connections used by subscribers as
significant percentage value of service user is prepaid (72%), followed by
post paid (14%). Its reflect very small percentage value of subscribers
have connections of internet, basic wire lines and broadband.

 Analysis of Place-Wise Usage of Subscribers

The above figures explain the results with regard to places where calls are
generally made. Average 68% of the respondents use mobile phones for

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making local calls. 30% percent subscribers use mobile phones for making
national calls and around 2 % are using phones for making international
calls.

 Analysis of Time-Spent on Mobile-Usage of during the day

Subscribers.

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The figure explains the time spent on usage of mobile during the day. Most
of the subscribers (40%) are using mobile phones for more than 15 and less
than 30 minutes. Around (34%) customers are spending more than 30
minutes on usage. Around (24%) customers are spending more than 5 and
less than 15 minutes on usage.

 Analysis of uses of Telecom services of subscribers (in Rs.).

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Above figure explain that around 61% customers spend up to Rs.500 per
month on telecom services. Followed by 32% customers spend more than
Rs.500 but less than Rs.1000 per month. Around 7% customers spend more
than Rs.1000 per month on telecom services.

 Evaluation of charges of selected telecom service providers.

Local call

Ho: There is no significant difference on rating of local calls between

companies

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H1: There is significant difference on rating of local calls between
companies α = 0.05, Here Ftab=1.83E-08 < Fcrit = 2.71089

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is accepted and we can say that local call
charges are same for all the companies.

Ho: Local Call Charges rating is independent of service providers.

H1: Local Call Charges rating is not independent of service providers. α =

0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 tab = 310.8136
> χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that rating local call charges and service provider are not independent

STD Call

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Ho: There is no significant difference on rating of STD calls between
companies.

H1: There is significant difference on rating of STD calls between

companies α = 0.05, Here Ftab=1.14E-08< Fcrit = 2.71089

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is accepted and we can say that STD call
charges are same for all the companies.

Ho: STD Call Charges rating is independent of service providers.

H1: STD Call Charges rating is not independent of service providers. α =

0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 tab = 344.95 >
χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that rating STD call charges and service provider are not independent.

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ISD Call

Ho: There is no significant difference on rating of ISD calls between

companies

H1: There is significant difference on rating of ISD calls between

companies α = 0.05, Here Ftab=2.48E-08< Fcrit = 2.71089

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is accepted and we can say that ISD call
charges are same for all the companies.

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Ho: ISD Call Charges rating is independent of service providers .

H1: ISD Call Charges rating is not independent of service providers. α =

0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 tab = 197.21 >
χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that rating ISD call charges and service provider are not independent.

Roaming charges

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Ho: There is no significant difference on rating of Roaming calls between
companies

H1: There is significant difference on rating of Roaming calls between

companies α = 0.05, Here Ftab=4.34E-08< Fcrit = 2.71089

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is accepted and we can say that Roaming call
charges are same for all the companies.

Ho: Roaming Call Charges rating is independent of service providers .

H1: Roaming Call Charges rating is not independent of service providers. α

= 0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 tab = 125.04
> χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that rating Roaming call charges and service provider are not
independent.

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Value added services

Ho: There is no significant difference on rating of Value Added Services

between companies

H1: There is significant difference on rating of Value Added Services

between companies α = 0.05, Here Ftab=5.49E-08< Fcrit = 2.71089

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is accepted and we can say that Value Added
Services are same for all the companies.

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Ho: Value Added Services rating is independent of service providers.

H1: Value Added Services rating is not independent of service providers. α

= 0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 tab =115.48
> χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that rating Value Added Services and service provider are not
independent.

GPRS

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Ho: There is no significant difference on rating of GPRS Charges between
companies

H1: There is significant difference on rating of GPRS Charges between

companies α = 0.05, Here Ftab=5.51E-08< Fcrit = 2.71089 Hence our null
Hypothesis Ho is accepted and we can say that GPRS charges are same for
all the Companies.

Ho: GPRS Charges rating is independent of service providers .

H1: GPRS Charges rating is not independent of service providers. α = 0.05,

degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 tab = 100.43 > χ2
crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that rating GPRS charges and service provider are not independent.

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Internet

Ho: There is no significant difference on rating of Internet charges between

companies

H1: There is significant difference on rating of Internet charges between

companies α = 0.05, Here Ftab=3.04E-08< Fcrit = 2.71089 Hence our

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null Hypothesis Ho is accepted and we can say that Internet charges are
same for all the companies.

Ho: Internet Charges rating is independent of service providers.

H1: Internet Charges rating is not independent of service providers . α =

0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 tab = 174.99 >
χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that rating Internet charges and service provider are not independent.

Talktime Scheme

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Ho: There is no significant difference on rating of Talk time Scheme
between companies

H1: There is significant difference on rating of Talk time Scheme between

companies α = 0.05, Here Ftab=2.76E-08< Fcrit = 2.71089

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is accepted and we can say that Talk time
Scheme call charges are same for all the companies.

Ho: Talk time rating is independent of service providers (Companies)

H1: Talk time rating is not independent of service providers (Companies) α

= 0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 tab = 172.79
> χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that rating of talk time and service provider are not independent.

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  Evaluation of Effectiveness of preferred buying channels.

Above figures reflects most preferred convenience place to buy telecom

services there is significant value or most preferred channels is franchise
(40%), others (21%) and online. There is less preferred channels are
customer care centers and company outlets.

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  Evaluation of influences most the decision to purchase telecom
services

Above figures reflects most influence source to make decision for purchase
telecom services there is significant value or most influence is self (41%),
friends (34%) and sales person (16%). There is less influence source are
children’s (5%), parents (2%) and spouse(2%).

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  Evaluation of Effectiveness of Source of Information.

Above figures reflects advertising media which influence most to choose

telecom service provide there is significant value or most influence
advertising media is Television (34%), Print media (36%) and Word of
mouth (16%). There is less influence advertising media are Road side
hoarding (3%),Radio (3%)

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  Evaluation of effectiveness of fault booking medium

Above figures reflects most preferred medium for fault booking and
grievance address which uses most, there is significant value or most
preferred medium is Telephone (34%), service provider visit to your place

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(21%). There is less preferred medium are visit to service provider office
(9%), SMS complaint (10%) and online(7%).

Evaluation of Various Purposes of Usage

1.1 To stay in touch

Ho: Reason to stay in touch is independent of service providers.

H1: Reason to stay in touch is dependent of service providers α = 0.05,

degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 cal = 89.26275 > χ2
crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that need of stay in touch and service providers are dependent.

1.2 For business or professional uses

Ho: Reason for professional uses is independent of service providers.

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H1: Reason for professional uses is dependent of service providers α =
0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 cal = 89.26275
> χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that need for business or professional uses and service provider are
dependent.

1.3 As a status symbol

Ho: Reason for as a status symbol uses is independent of service providers.

H1: Reason for as a status symbol uses is dependent of service providers α

= 0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 cal =
89.26275 > χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that need for as a status symbol uses and service provider are
dependent.

1.4 It is advantageous over land line

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Ho: Reason for advantageous over land line uses is independent of service
providers.

H1: Reason for advantageous over land line uses is dependent of service
providers α = 0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2
cal = 89.26275 > χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that need for advantageous over land line uses and service provider are
dependent.

1.5 It is add to mobility

Ho: Reason of add to mobility uses is independent of service providers.

H1: Reason of add to mobility uses is dependent of service providers α =

0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 cal = 89.26275
> χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that need for add to mobility and service provider are dependent.

1.6 Convenience of calling any time

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Ho: Reason of Convenience of calling any time is independent of service
providers.

H1: Reason of Convenience of calling any time is dependent of service

providers α = 0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2
cal = 89.26275 > χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that need for Convenience of calling any time and service provider are
dependent.

1.7 Makes you easily accessible

Ho: Reason of easily accessible is independent of service providers.

H1: Reason of easily accessible is dependent of service providers α = 0.05,

degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 cal = 89.26275 > χ2
crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that need for easily accessible and service providers are dependent.

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1.8 Overall

Ho: Reason to need mobile is independent of different service providers

H1: Reason to need mobile is dependent of different service providers α =

0.05, degree of freedom (df) = (7-1)*(4-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=24 χ2 cal =
1974.557 > χ2 crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say reason to need mobile is dependent of different service providers.

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1.8 Evaluation of effectiveness of the factors in a telecom product
before making purchase decision.

Above figures reflects most affecting factors for making purchase decision,
there is significant value or most affecting factors is value for money (32%),
price and discount (29%). There is less affecting factors are brand
credibility (22%), after sales service(15%),vehicle performance(1%) and
add on features(1%)

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1.9 Evaluation of Different Services of subscribers

1.9.1 Short message services

Ho: There is no significant difference on availing of SMS services among

companies

H1: There is significant difference on availing of SMS services among

companies α = 0.05, Here Ftab=0.00015< Fcrit = 2.71089

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is accepted and we can say that availing of
SMS services are same for all the companies

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Ho: Usage of SMS services is independent of service providers.

H1: Usage of SMS services is not independent of service providers. α =

0.05, degree of freedom (df)= (r-1)*(c-1)=(6-1)(5-1)=20 χ2 tab =85.97 > χ2
crit. = 31.4

Hence our null Hypothesis Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted. So, we can

say that usage of SMS services and service provider are not independent.

RELIABILITY FOR DATA COLLECTED FROM SUBSCRIBERS

Prior to analysis of the results, the research instrument was tested for its
reliability. Several measures of reliability can ascertain the reliability of a
measuring instrument. These include test-retest method, equivalent forms,
split halves method and internal consistency method. Of all the above
methods, the internal consistency method requires only one administration
and consequently is supposed to be most effective, especialy in field
studies. Moreover, this method is considered to be the most general form of
reliability analysis. In this method, reliability is operationalised as internal
consistency, which is the degree of inter correlation among the items that
constitute a scale. Internal consistency is estimated using a reliability
coefficient called Cronbach’s alpha. An alpha value of 0.60 and 0.70 or
above is considered to be the criterion for demonstrating internal
consistency of new scales and established scales respectively. Reliability of
the measurements was determined using Cronbach’s Coefficient alpha. In
this research, following are the research for the data collected from
subscribers: R E L I A B I L I T Y A N A L Y S I S - S C A L E (A L
P H A)

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 Reliability Coefficients

N of Cases = 1200.0

N of Items = 16

Alpha = .8114

AIRTEL

In order to find out the key reasons for opting telecom service provider, a
factor analytic technique has been used.

Here Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (MSA) for

individual variables was found to be sufficiently high for all variables.
Overall KMO-MSA = 0.692 which indicates that the sample was

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goodenough for sampling. Bartlett’s test of spherity showed statistically
significant number of correlations among the variables (Appx. Chi square =
833.934, df = 120, significance=.000). Principal component analysis was
employed for extracting factors. The number of factors to be extracted was
finalized on the basis of Eigen values i.e. Eigen values > 1. All factor
loadings greater than 0.30 (ignoring signs) have been considered for
further analysis.

Component number

Factor Name of Factor (% of Statement Factor Loading

Number Variance)
Factor 1 Service Quality  Special attention to
(20.75%) coverage
 Consideration to call
tariff Service quality
 Reliability of service
provider Network
connectivity
Factor 2 Promotional activities  Advertisement
(14.80%)  Sales promotion offers
Value added services

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Factor 3 Call facility (12.15%)  Roaming facility
 Accessing speed
Rebate and discount
on calls
Factor 4 Customer care  Ease of availability
(08.52%)  Customer care services
Brand image
Factor 5 Assurance (06.93%)  Voice clarity
 Transparency in
billing

There is significant effect of Service Quality (20.75%), Promotional

activities (14.80%) and call facility(12.10%) then other factors in prior
purchase decision of subscribers in Airtel.

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ANALYSIS OF DATA COLLECTED FROM TELECOM SERVICE
DEALERS

2.1 Dealership of Telecom Company’s

The above table and figure, explains the results of dealers’ preference for s
ervices for various telecom service providers. Out of the total sample size
of 60, most of the dealers (55) preferred the dealership of Airtel as compare
to Tata (36), Reliance (33) and BSNL (27),Reliance(24),Vodafone (18)

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2.2 Evaluation Of Service Provider Company’s with to Dealer

In the above figure and table, various areas in which dealer’s get directions
from companies have been explained. Most of the telecom service
providers are focused on sales target (42), discount and schemes (28),
customer services (27). Lesser weightage is given to other areas like
consumer satisfaction (15), advertisement planning (9), areas to be covered
(4).

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2.3 Dealers Participation in Marketing Decision

The above figure explains dealers’ participation in marketing decision.

Most of the dealers (30) agreed that they participate in marketing decisions
sometimes followed by occasionally (8) and regularly (16).

2.4 Evaluation of Dealers

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Above table explain results with regard to evaluation of dealers for best
channel margins and best channel penetration. For best channel margins
and best channel penetration, Airtel , BSNL and Vodafone are preferred
telecom service providers as compare to Reliance ,Tata ,and Idea. In context
of best channel delivery and best channel support, Airtel and Tata and Idea
have shown significant results as compare to BSNL, Vodafone and
Reliance. For best quality of the product results are more significant for
Airtel, Tata and Reliance as compare to BSNL,Idea and Vodafone..

2.5 Customer Feedback and After Sale Service

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The above figure explains dealer’s opinion that feedback from the customer
after the sale of product is important one and most of them agree that this
feedback is forwarded to company.

2.6 Effectiveness of Product Strategy

The above figure explains various aspects of product strategy in the current
market scenario. Quality of the product (37) has significant role to play as
compare to any other aspect for product strategy.

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2.7 Effectiveness of Price Strategy

In figure various aspects of price strategy are taken into account. Price cuts
(39) play most significant role of price strategy as compare to cost cuts (5),
payment and credit terms (3).

2.8 Evaluation of Promotional Strategy

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For promotional strategy, advertisement, discounts and dealer incentives
have equal role to play.

2.9 Compensation and seller support

Fig 2.9.1

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The above graph explains the dealer’s response for the satisfaction of
compensation the company for seller support. Various parameters for
dealers’ satisfaction studied are gross margin and overhead contribution,
Promotional allowance and below-the line benefits, Distribution
Exclusivity, Continuity of Supply, Market Development and credit.
Continuity of supply (30) promotional allowance (25), gross margins (24)
distribution exclusively (23),and market developments (23)have more
significance as compare to credit and other support aspects.

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

 Cost advantage
 Current leaders in quality service
 Largest distribution network
 Ability to constantly innovate
 Highly skilled workforce
 Entrepreneurial zeal
 Airtel‟s increased equity and market cap.

WEAKNESSES

 To prove credibility
 Price pressures
 Need for Government support
 Awareness
 Sales and Marketing

OPPORTUNITIES

 To sustain passion and commitment

 Airtel‟s market share increasing at other service provider expense.
Thus
 opportunity to wipe it out.

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  Attain higher value services
 Collaborative business needs to be explored
 Vertical repeatable solutions.
 Low penetration level in rural markets.

THREATS

 Foreign investment
 Global trends moving from GPS to WLL.
 Lack of global parity in telecom tariff
 Other competition

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 CHAPTER 6

FINDINGS

Major findings of the study is summarized in this section.

Growth and Development of Telecommunication in India and the

Contribution of Airtel

 The Subscriber base in wireline sector is 41.54 million in 2005-2006,

which is decreased to 34.73 millions in the year 2010-11.
 BSNL and MTNL have lost their wireline subscriber base from 2005-
06 to 2010-11.
 In Subscribers’ base market share PSUs’ such as BSNL and MTNL
are the market leaders during the year 2012-14.
 The total subscriber base of wireline stood at 36.96 million during the
year 2009-10. Out of which Bharti Airtel (21.03 per cent) is the
leading operator in terms of Market share. The PSU operator BSNL
(15.66 per cent) placed fourth in terms of Market share.

 The total subscriber base of wireline stood at 34.73 million during the
year 2010-11. Out of which Bharti Airtel (19.56 per cent) is the
leading operator in terms of Market share, it is followed by Reliance,
Vodafone and BSNL have recorded at 16.18 per cent, 15.90 per cent
and 13.80 per cent respectively.
 The subscriber base of wireless service is 98.78 million in 2005-06
which is increased to 811.59 millions in 2010-11.
 Bharti Airtel has maintained its first position in terms of Market
Share with the wireless subscribers’ base from 2005-11, except in the
year 2009-10 in which BSNL occupied the first position.
 In the wireless sector also BSNL got fourth position in terms of
market share in the year 2010-11.

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Socio- Economic Status

 69 per cent of the respondents were male and the remaining 31 per
cent of them were female, 50.60 per cent of the respondents were
unmarried and 37 per cent of the respondents were below 25 years.
 35.20 per cent of the respondents have completed Diploma/
graduation. Further it has been observed that 41.80 per cent of the
respondents were business men, who have purchased Airtel services.
 20.20 per cent of the respondents family income ranges between
Rs.10, 001 to Rs.20,000 and 26.60 per cent were using the Airtel
services for more than 5 years and above.
 42 per cent of the respondents have taken their own decision to avail
Airtel services, 25 per cent of respondents’ were influenced by their
friends and 41.20 per cent of the respondents were using landline
services.

Awareness on Airtel

 The level of familiarity of Airtel services among the sample

respondents was quite considerable as 54.60 per cent of the
respondents were very familiar as they were using the Airtel services
on regular basis.
 The level of satisfaction on the various tariff plans provided by the
Airtel Broad Band (Home plan), Broad band (business plan), Airtel,
Sulabh plan, Airtel schemes have secured the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and
5th ranks with an average mean of 2.19, 2.12, 2.10, 1.95, 1.86
respectively.
 With the help of F-test it has been concluded that: Gender, Age,
Marital status and Family income of customers directly influences
customers’ level of awareness towards Airtel services.
 62.60 per cent of respondents gathered information about Airtel on
India plans, 60.80 per cent on Broad band-home plan, 58.20 per cent
are aware of Broad band-business plan.

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Promotion of Airtel

 Newspaper & Magazines performed significant role in attracting and

being good source of information to various categories of customers.
It has secured the 1st rank with an average mean of 4.03.
 With the help of Reliability analysis it has been concluded that there
are no similarities in the customers' perception towards
media/medium for Airtel advertisements.
 4.18 per cent of the respondents have opined that advertisements for
Airtel services are more useful to them.
 From the result drawn from the ANOVA test it has been concluded
that customers perception on promotional strategies of Airtel services
are different among different category of users. However, it has been
observed that landline, mobile and broadband service users have
similar perception on attraction of promotional schemes, customer
group targeting and assurance for brand image.

Scope for Further Research

The outcome of this research shows a comprehensively integrated

framework for us to understand the vibrant relationships among several
dimensions of service quality, price, product quality and availability, and
promotion to have a handful of ideas on the customers’ perception.
However, we still predict that further research efforts are being needed to
examine these factors with additional samples before generalization can be
made.

 Study the different types of innovative products/services launched by

a telecom company and comment on their usefulness to the
consumer.
 Analyze how the future of the Indian telecommunications industry is
going to shape up, given the increasing involvement of customers in
helping the companies innovate new telecom products/services
technologies.

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 CHAPTER 7

SUGGESTION/RECOMMENDATION

The researcher has been able to list out following suggestions and
recommendations in the light of findings of the study.

 The service providers should ensure superior delivery of the basic

core service benefits of mobile telecom services such as voice clarity,
geographical network coverage, and congestion free networks to have
a lead role in the mobile telecom services market.

 The service providers should ensure excellent roaming facility to

attract and retain the segment of travelling customers outside the
State. The roaming services of Airtel can be taken as a model for
other service providers.
 The service providers would like to attract the internet savvy
customers, especially youngsters should provide easy to activate
mobile internet services. The internet services of Airtel can be taken
as a model for other service providers.
 The new mobile connection - the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module)
card and recharge facility of private sector mobile telecom service
providers are easily available at customers’ convenient locations. The
private service providers extend adequate support for their retailers.
This in turn reflected to the customers as helpful support of retailers.
In practice the multi brand retailer outlets become the customer
support centers of private sector telecom service providers. The
exclusive customer care centers of Airtel are far behind the reach of
this effective retail network of private providers. The Airtel should
strengthen their retail network through the widely available multi
brand retailer outlets. The Airtel should simplify the process and
procedures toward customers at all interfaces. The Airtel should
develop and nurture a customer and retailer friendly and supportive
approach.
 The post-paid customers are the premium segment of mobile telecom
services. The service provider Vodafone’s style of treatment of post-

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 paid customers can be taken as a model for other service providers.
They support the post paid customers with easy to get mobile
connection, customer convenient bill payment facilities, and special
care. The private telecom service providers extend continued service
to their post-paid customers even at non-payment of bills due to delay
or oversight. The Airtel should introduce this facility for all of their
genuine post-paid customers. The Airtel should take utmost care to
improve their support services towards post paid customers. The
service providers should segment the high value customers in post-
paid and prepaid category and support them with special
consideration, care and attention.

CONCLUSION

From above the details I conclude that 70% Airtel users preferred to remain
with Airtel. Also good no. of users who were willing to switch from their
respective subscribers showed interest in Airtel. Hence, these statistics
imply a bright future for the company. Also the company is now providing
more services like the door to door services which is you dial the Airtel
customer care and would like to send someone flowers the Airtel Company
delivers those flowers to the person concerned. Also Airtel is providing free
text messaging service and free voice mail service. Call conferencing is also
another feature Airtel provides.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Robert G. Winch. Telecommunication Transmission Systems.

McGraw-Hill New York, 1993.

 Bernard J. T. Mallinder. Specification Methodology Applied to the

GSM System. In EUROCON 88, June 2005.

 Moe Rahnema. Overview of the GSM System and Protocol

Architecture. IEEE Communications Magazine. April 1993.

 Seshadri Mohan and Ravi Jain. Two User Location Strategies for
Personal Communication Services. IEEE Personal Communications.
1(1), 1994.

 C. Watson. Radio Equipment for GSM. In D.M. Balston and R.C.V

Macario, editors, Cellular Radio Systems, Artech House, Boston,
1993.

 Vodafone
 Airtel
 Idea
 MTNL

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 Annexure

QUESTIONNAIRE

NAME: ____________________________________

ADDRESS: ____________________________________

OCCUPATION: ____________________________________

1. Which Among The Following is potentially one of the most exciting

mobile service providers in the world?

2. Do you find that the government’s telecom policy has had the most
radical impact on the development of mobile service providers?

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3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators in
India is the diversity of the coverage regions?

4. To what extent, does you find that mobile service providers is a very
complex standard?

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CONSUMER LEVEL

1. Do you believe that mobile service providers comes close to fulfilling

the requirements for a personal communication system?

2. Do you find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and
satisfying mobile standard?

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