INTRODUCTION

PROJECT APPROACH:
In the start up of this project we will be working on “Reduction in Value added services
(VAS) and Balance depletion complaints”.
• Analyzing the Airtel branding.
• Measuring the awareness of VAS.
• Identify the root causes of VAS and Balance depletion complaints.
• Providing measures / solutions.
• Feedback/ Control

Define:

How to reduce the number of complaints related to VAS and Balance depletion.

Measure:

Step 1: Collection of data through Simple random sampling (Questionnaire)

Step 2: 3 months data fetching through PACS.

Step 3: Data collection through listening calls (600 calls).

Step 4: Data collection through Internet.

Step 5: Data collection through Airtel employees.

Analyze:

Step 1: Analyzing the root causes of VAS and Balance depletion complaints.

By using various techniques like

• Survey monkey
• House of quality(QFD)
• Trend analysis
• Call audit
• Comparison study of last 3mounth

Step 2: Analyze the way to eliminating the GAP between current status
(3months data through PACS) and desired level of performance.

Step 3: After determining the problem causes, identification of needed

improvements are to be made at critical areas.

Improve:

• Identify and analyze various improvements steps.

• Developing an implementation plan.

Control:
• Monitoring all VAS as well as Balance depletion complaints.
 • Taking corrective action that why the complaints are increasing.
• Providing measures for controlling and reducing the number of complaints in
VAS and Balance depletion.

OBJECTIVE:

The primary objective of this project is to provide the measures for reduction in Value
Added Services (VAS) and Balance depletion complaints in order to establish how to
maintain and sustain customer satisfaction and retain them for longer periods or permanently.

Secondary objective of the project is:

1. Investigating the causes of subscriber churning.

2. Exploring ways of controlling the high subscriber churning rate.
3. To build competitive advantage.
4. To increase Airtel’s revenue.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

To analyse Airtel branding and awareness of VAS services both primary and secondary
research were carried out.

Primary research is research that's tailored to a company's particular needs. By customizing

tried-and-true approaches - focus groups, surveys, field tests, interviews or observation - you
can gain information about your target market. It was carried out in the form of questionnaire.
Two different questionnaires for VAS and Airtel branding were prepared and were sent to
respondents online through survey monkey.

Secondary research is based on information gleaned from studies previously performed by

government agencies, chambers of commerce, trade associations, and other organizations.
This includes Census Bureau information and Nielsen ratings. We can find much of this kind
of information in local libraries or on the Web, but books and business publications, as well
as magazines and newspapers, are also great sources. It was carried out by collecting
information from Airtel employees, Web etc.

TO BE WRITTEN BY VISHWAS

CONTRIBUTION:double tagging case.complaints reduced from 9 lacs to 3 lacs.

TO BE WRITTEN BY VISHWAS
 COMPANY
PROFILE

The telecom industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. India has nearly 200
million telephone lines making it the third largest network in the world after China and USA.
With a growth rate of 45%, Indian telecom industry has the highest growth rate in the world.
Cellular services can be further divided into two categories: Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The GSM sector is
dominated by Airtel, Vodfone-Hutch, and Idea Cellular, while the CDMA sector is
dominated by Reliance and Tata Indicom. Opening up of international and domestic long
distance telephony services are the major growth drivers for cellular industry. Cellular
operators get substantial revenue from these services, and compensate them for reduction in
tariffs on airtime, which along with rental was the main source of revenue. The reduction in
tariffs for airtime, national long distance, international long distance, and handset prices has
drivendemand.

The telecom sector is also afflicted by a number of restraints. These include:

• Sluggish pace of reform process.

• Lack of infrastructure in semi-rural and rural areas, which makes it difficult to make
inroads into this market segment as service providers have to incur a huge initial
fixed cost.
• Limited spectrum availability.
But notwithstanding these constraints, telecom sector has undergone a revolution in the past
decade and has played a major part in bridging the rural-urban divide.

Bharti Enterprises is a pioneer in telecom sector and the group is widening its horizons by
entering new business areas such as insurance and retail. Bharti Enterprises has created a
vantage position for itself in the global telecommunications sector. Bharti Airtel Limited
occupies numero uno status in mobile telephony in India while its brand 'Beetel' is the largest
manufacturer and exporter of world class telecom terminals.

Founder of Bharti Group is Sunil Mittal. In 1983, Sunil Mittal entered into an agreement
with Germany's Siemens to manufacture the company's push-button telephone models for the
Indian market. In 1986, Sunil Bharti Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and
his company became the first in India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis
of Bharti Enterprises. This first-mover advantage allowed Sunil Mittal to expand his
manufacturing capacity elsewhere in the telecommunications market. By the early 1990s,
Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless
telephones. In 1992, Sunil Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In
1995, Sunil Mittal incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched
service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti
Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to Karnataka
and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell Communications, in
Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises
went public in 2002, and the company was listed on Mumbai Stock Exchange and National
Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone operations were rebranded under the
single AirTel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In
2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and Nicobar. Today, Airtel is the laegest
cellular service provider in India.

Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, one of Asia’s leading integrated telecom
services providers with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa. Bharti Airtel since
its inception, has been at the forefront of technology and has pioneered several innovations
in the telecom sector.

The company is structured into four strategic business units – Mobile Services, Telemedia,
Enterprise and Digital TV. The mobile business offers GSM services in India, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh. The Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone services in 89
Indian cities. The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home TV services across India.
The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and
national and international long distance services to telcos.
Business Divisions-
• Mobile Services-

Bharti Airtel offers GSM mobile services in all the 23-telecom circles of India and is
the largest mobile service provider in the country, based on the number of customers.

• Airtel Telemedia Services-

The group offers high speed broadband internet with a best in class network. With
Landline services in 94 cities we help you stay in touch with your friends & family
and the world. Get world class entertainment with India’s best direct to home
(DTH) service digital TV in more than 150 cities.

• Enterprise Services-

Enterprise Services provides a broad portfolio of services to large Enterprise and

Carrier customers. This division comprises of the Carrier and Corporate business
unit. Enterprise Services is regarded as the trusted communications partner to India's
leading organizations, helping them to meet the challenges of growth.

• Digital TV Services-

Discover the magical experience of digital enterainment with Airtel. From DVD
quality picture and sound,the best and widest variety of channels and programmes to
the best on-demand content on Airtel Live, your tv viewing experience change
forever with digital TV from Airtel.

Airtel was born free, a force unleashed into the market with a relentless and unwavering
determination to succeed. A spirit charged with energy, creativity and a team driven “to
seize the day” with an ambition to become the most globally admired telecom service.
Airtel, in just ten years of operations, rose to the pinnacle to achivement and continues to
lead.
As India's leading telecommunications company Airtel brand has played the role as a major
catalyst in India's reforms, contributing to its economic resurgence.

Today we touch peoples lives with our Mobile services, Telemedia services, to connecting
India's leading 1000+ corporates. We also connect Indians living in USA, UK and Canada
with our callhome service.
Airtel Vision and Promise-

By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India:

Loved by more customers

Targeted by top talent
Benchmarked by more businesses

We at Airtel always think in fresh and innovative ways about the needs of our customers and
how we want them to feel. We deliver what we promise and go out of our way to delight the
customer with a little bit more
VAS SERVICES-
In all there are 370 value added services provided by airtel. Some of them are
mentioned below:-

• Subscription Services
With Airtel's Subscription Services,one can subscribe for cool alerts at the click of a
button! What's better is that he/she can receive updates automatically on his/her Airtel
phone without the need of initiating a request everyday.

• Daily News Alerts

With Airtel News Alerts, be in touch with the latest happenings around the world, all
the time. Get two news bulletins sent to your Airtel phone, courtesy AajTak, the 24-
hour news channel from India Today Group. To subscribe to the News Alerts,
send SUB NEWS to 54321.

• Daily Astrology Alert

Your future lies in your Airtel phone. Literally! Get daily forecasts of each sun sign
from renowned astrologer, Ma Prem Usha. To subscribe to the Astrology Alerts,
send SUBfollowed by first 3 letters of the zodiac sign to 54321.

• Daily Joke Alert

Burst out with laughter with Airtel's daily joke alert. Get the funniest jokes that you can
forward to your friends to brighten up their day too. To subscribe to The Joke Alerts,
send SUB JOKE to 54321.

• Daily Business News

Now, for the latest buzz on the business scenario, you never have to look very much
further than the palm of your hand. Airtel brings you the daily business news and stock
alerts, courtesy, Business Today, the leading publication on business news & stories. To
subscribe to the Business News alerts, send SUB BIZ to 54321.
• Daily Health Tips
Begin your fitness regime with Airtel. Get tips on skin care, health, eating right and
much more . To subscribe to Health Tip alerts send SUB HEAL to 54321.

• Daily Filmi Gossip

Want the latest khabar on Lara, Salman, Cameron and Toby? You can tune into Airtel's
Filmi Gossip, with the latest buzz about your favourite Hollywood and Bollywood
stars. To subscribe to the Filmi gossip alerts, send SUB FILMI to 54321.

• Vaastu Alerts
Get daily Vaastu tips on the best directions, regarding plots, home renovations, buying
homes; doing up your house etc. at 8:15 PM. Daily alerts will be of 2 messages. To
subscribe to the Vaastu alerts, send SUB VAASTU to 54321.

• Daily Love Tip

This season say it with love and express yourself with Airtel Love Tips. Cute lovable
messages, which will touch your heart. Get a daily Love tip at 7: 30 PM. To subscribe
to the Daily Love alerts, send SUB LOVE to 54321.

• Sports & Daily News Alerts

You can now get the latest sports news on your Airtel . Get live cricket updates as it
happens . Get your update twice a day . To subscribe to sports news alerts , send SUB
SPO to 54321.

• Airtel Messenger
Airtel Messenger the ultimate chatting tool on ones mobile! Now get up, close and
personal with your PC or Mobile friends anytime, anywhere. Search and make new
friends with your kind of people from across the world. No more emailing just start
chatting instantly with all your Yahoo, MSN, ICQ friends! That's not all, u can also
invite people to join any of the 15 chatrooms and chat to your hearts content. Well now
you can do all this on your mobile phone - with Airtel Messenger.

• Voice SMS
Now add emotions to your sms by sending a Voice SMS. To send a Voice SMS to any
mobile number in India Just prefix * to the 10-digit mobile number and call. Record
your message after the beep. You can record your message maximum upto 30 sec. After
recording your message just press # or disconnect the call. The system records your
voice and sends it to the person for whom you have left a Voice SMS.

• Multimedia Messaging Service ( MMS )

Interesting things happen when you least expect them. Now whether you're travelling or
sitting on the beach, capture and share these unexpected moments with friends across
the country. With Airtel's picture messaging, you can take a photo, add text or sound
and send it to others right there from your mobile phone, just as you would a simple
text message (SMS). Of course you can receive and reply to MMS messages from your
friends.
PROJECT DETAIL

Problem Definition-
Reduction in VALUE ADDED SERVICES and BALANCE DEPLETION complaints and thus
increase Customer satisfaction.

Problem Statement-

In order to provide excellent Value Added Services at minimal cost. Airtel need a system that
is effective and efficient, which lead to increase in the customer satisfaction. Looking at the
present scenario the company is facing approx 80% of complaints related to VAS (Value
Added Services), 15% due to Balance Depletion and 5% due to other reasons.

If the company is not able to resolve these problems, then their overall service efficiency and
revenue generation will be affected. Also undue suffering could lead to decrease in the
satisfaction levels which will ultimately results to customer switch over to other Telecom
Operators.

The primary objective of this project is to provide the measures for reduction in Value Added
Services (VAS) complaints in order to establish how to maintain and sustain customer
satisfaction and retain them for longer periods or permanently.

Secondary objective of the project is to investigating the causes of subscriber churning,

exploring ways of controlling the high subscriber churning rate, increasing the revenue of the
firm and helping it in attaining competitive advantage.

Top 20 FTR Complaints- Baseline

Nature Row LabelsSub Type Description April'10 May'10
Complaint FTR
BDHT2 Balance Depletion HT C-FTR NA 172691
BDPA2 Bal Depleted-Wrong Charging ( CDR available)-C 113445
FTR 163678
BDOV2 Balance Depletion Other VAS C-FTR NA 121374
BALV2 VAS Rentals 934162 113477
BDCK2 Balance Depletion Cricket Alerts C-FTR NA 101793
BDMD2 Balance Depletion Music-on-Demand (MOD) C-FTRNA 80246
OGCL2 Outgoing Calls - Local-C FTR 50480 69221
WBAR2 Barred-Complete doc.s given-Dealer/ ARC-C FTR 62613 68537
BDJK2 Balance Depletion Jokes C-FTR NA 66909
BDFC2 Balance Depletion Friends Chat C-FTR NA 65524
BDSB2 Balance Depletion Subscription Alerts C-FTR NA 56396
BNRA2 Benefit Not Received/ Wrong Charging-C FTR 70515 49899
HTDE2 Difficulty in HT Deactivation C-FTR 41977 45240
BDLV2 Balance Depletion Love Alerts C-FTR NA 36034
SSDE2 Subscription Alert Deactivation-C FTR 202310 33219
BDAS2 Balance Depletion Astrology C-FTR NA 30540
GPSC2 GPRS Connectivity-C FTR 25824 26821
LSMS2 Local SMS-C FTR 26577 25347
BDNR2 Balance Depletion Night Radio C-FTR NA 23110
CKDE2 Difficulty in Cricket Alerts Deactivation C-FTR NA 16501
MDDE2 Difficulty in Music-on-Demand (MOD) Deactivation 46888
C-FTR 15016
BDSH2 Balance Depletion Shayari Alerts C-FTR NA 14849
HDST2 Handset related -C FTR 11073 13637
BDPP2 Balance Depletion Picture Post C-FTR NA 13402
GPCF2 GPRS/ NOP/ MMS Configuration-C FTR 8473 12268
BDCC2 Bal Depleted - Voice CDR Not Available-C FTR 11528 12144
FCDE2 Difficulty in Friends Chat Deactivation C-FTR 37093 11076
Complaint FTR 1642958 1458949
Complaint SRBDCC3 Bal Depleted - CDR Not Available-C SR 12552 18983
BNRA3 Benefit Not Received/ Wrong Charging-C SR 25349 11461
IVRP3 IVR Promotions-C SR 2840 3353
GPSC3 GPRS Connectivity-C SR 3130 2861
BDPA3 Bal Depleted-Wrong Charging ( CDR available )-C SR2078 1913
OGCL3 Outgoing Calls - Local-C SR 1183 1891
OVWC3 Without consent Other VAS-C SR 1463 1890
LSMS3 Local SMS Issue-C SR 1695 1857
HTWC3 Without Consent HT C-SR 976 1688
Complaint SR 51266 45897
Grand Total 1694224 1504846
VAS MAR’09 SEP’0 DEC’0 JAN’1 FEB’1 MAR’1 APR’1
9 9 0 0 0 0
HT 0.45 1.13 1.05 1.64 1.74 2.10 1.86
CRIC 0.81 1.43 1.17 1.25 3.08 1.33
MOD 0.17 0.43 0.17 0.63 0.66 0.80 0.71
ASTRO 0.02 0.05 0.63 0.08 0.08 0.10 0.09
FCHAT 0.15 0.38 0.06 0.55 0.58 0.70 0.62
MCA 0.06 0.16 0.31 0.23 0.25 0.30 0.27

High Balance Depletion : Product Mix

FINDINGS &
RECOMMENDATI
ONS
MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE PROJECT:-

After studying approx 500 subscribers, trend analysis and comparative study of Airtel
we found that :-

• Major contribution in complaint due to Hello tune, mobile radio, music on demand,
data downloading.
• Specially in Rural areas customers are not able to understand messages written in
English.
• The major reason for complaints in BALV2 is companies don’t send the deducted
amount in messages.
• Customers delete the message sent by Airtel without reading it.
• Approximate 7% of BALV2 data is incomplete. (improper information)
 • Approximate 9% of BALV2 data is of wrong tagging.
• Approximate 5% of BALV2 data is of repetitive calls.

Reason for increase in complains due to technical fault

• Bulk Upload Problem (wrong upload, few uploads)-Huge amount of data is uploaded
at the same time on the server leading to bulk upload problem.

• Wrong Communication (Message sent to wrong person)-Sometimes marketing team

send messages to wrong customers.

• Miscommunication by customer to customer-

• Wrong Information given by retailer to customer.

Call audit-

• More than 70% of complaints made by customer are not valid because charges
deducted from company’s end were right, but according to customer it was wrong.
• Customer care executive are not able to reply properly because of lack of
knowledge,skills and training.
• Wrong tagging is done by CSR which again lead to increase in complaints.
• CSR faced problem in understanding rural language while airtel has the largest rural
base.

SIM Testing-

• CDR takes more than 4 hour to update.

• Pre renewal massages are not received timely.
• Few services like share bazaar, friends chat does not contain deactivation code.
• Activation & Deactivation massages not received timely

High VAS Balance Depletion Complaints –

• Retry mechanism – No policy, hence endless retrials
• Fall back charging (10/20/30) – Mismatch in pre-renewal KCI amount and actual
charged
• Delayed VAS EMM charging
• Platform issues - CDR updation delays
• Wrong VAS charging : Double charging, Charging even after VAS disconnected

High VAS Deactivation : Product Mix

HT
• Staggered Charging (10/20/30)
 • Service active irrespective of continuous -ive balance or grace

• Frequent delayed Charging & no KCI

CRICKET

Cricket complaint mix

Cricket Deactivation Complaints Trend (Mn)

Cricket Activation w/o Consent

• Incomplete Charging KCI

 • Pre – renewal not sent

• Charging even after deactivation

• Product delivery issues

MOD

• Without consent activation complaints on a rise for last 2 months (proven instances :
WBO)

• Subscription at any random price point Rs 1, 2, 3, 4, … 9. as per balance available

FCHAT

• Charging after deactivation of service

• Double charging of service

• Without consent activation proven instance

• 22% base of service eligible for deletion (WIP)

Deactivation Complaints = Deactivation + Activation w/o Consent

Products and schemes complaints

Reasons-

• Magic de-assigning the PSO from the customers who are recharging
on last day
• CLM Issues
• Wrong charging for configuration issues
Recommendations-