A BRIEF COMPARATIVE STUDY ON

AIRTEL
B.Tech Civil Engineering 2010-11

Submitted by:Sunil Yadav-090107146 Shivam Singh-090107137 Shivam Dwivedi-090107136 Ashutosh mishra-090107034

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT CASE STUDY ISSUES BHARTI AIRTEL BRAND COMPANY PROFILE ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE BUSINESS DIVISIONS PRODUCTS AND SERVICES LATEST DEVELOPMENTS PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT OF THE COMPANY BALANCE SHEET OF THE COMPANY MERGERS DISTRIBUTION CASE ANALYSIS - SWOT ANALYSIS COMPARISON WITH COMPETITORS PROMOTION PRICE COMPARISONS REFERENCES

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
There are few people who have been of enormously help in the preparation of this project on Airtel positioning and repositioning. We are specially thankfull to Dr.Mohd.Rumzi Tausif, our faculty at School of Engineering And Technology who have given us this opportunity to undertake this project. We are thankful to one another for giving equal contribution and specially thanks to Dr.Mohd Rumzi Tausif, our faculty who not only explained the topics very well but all have thrown a good insight at the practical aspect too.

CASE STUDY

AIRTEL POSITINING AND REPOSITIONING

This case examines the brand repositioning exercises undertaken by Bharti Cellular Ltd., a leading cellular service provider in India. It also provides an insight into the trends into the cellular market. The case discusses how Bharti constantly repositioned its Airtel brand to expand its market and meet the challenges posed by the changing trends in the Indian Cellular market during the late-1990s and early 2000s. It also critically discusses the rationale behind Bhartis repositioning and restructuring efforts and the effectiveness of these initiatives.

ISSUES
To discuss the repositioning and restructuring strategies adopted by Bharti Cellular Ltd.

With these launches , we will create an Airtels user community that will have a better depth of service availability than all competition. -Sunil mittal, Bhartis CMD, commenting on the launch of Airtels logo, in june 2002.

BHARTI AIRTEL
The businesses at Bharti Airtel has always been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBUs) - Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles while the Airtel Telemedia Services business offers broadband & telephone services in 95 cities and has recently launched a Direct-to-Home (DTH) service, Airtel digital TV. The company provides end-to-end data and enterprise services to the corporate customers through its nationwide fiber optic backbone, last mile connectivity in fixed-line and mobile circles, VSATs, ISP and international bandwidth access through the gateways and landing station. Globally, Bharti Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom. In India, the company has a 24.6% share of the wireless services market, followed by 17.7% for Reliance Communications and 17.4% for Vodafone Essar.

Brands
Airtel
Airtel is a brand of telecommunication services in India and Sri Lanka owned and operated by Bharti Airtel. It is the largest cellular service provider in India in terms of number of subscribers. Services are offered under the brand name Airtel: Mobile Services (using GSM Technology), Broadband & Telephone Services (Fixed line, Internet Connectivity(DSL) and Leased Line), Long Distance Services and Enterprise Services (Telecommunications Consulting for corporates). It has presence in all 23 circles of the country and covers 71% of the current population (as of Financial Year 2007).

Airtel Sri Lanka

In December 2008, Bharti Airtel rolled out third generation services in Sri Lanka in association with Singtel. SingTel, is a major player in the 3G space in Asia. It operates third generation networks in several markets across Asia. It had been largely criticised in recent times on its inability to start operation even two years after its certification and proposed date of launch. Airtel's operation in Sri Lanka, known as Airtel Lanka, commenced operations on the 12th of January 2009. Airtel has also launched 16Mb/s broadband plans in India, making it the first ISP to do so.

Touchtel
Until September 18, 2004, Bharti provided fixed-line telephony and broadband services under the Touchtel brand. Bharti now provides all telecom services including fixed-line services under a common brand "Airtel"

BlackBerry
On 19 October 2004 Airtel announced the launch of a BlackBerry Wireless Solution in India. The launch is a result of a tie-up between Bharti TeleVentures Limited and Research In Motion (RIM).

Digital TV
Main article: Airtel Digital Tv On 9 October 2008, Airtel joined the DTH bandwagon in India with Airtel Digital TV, a Direct-to-Home Television service.

iPhone 3G
The Apple iPhone 3G rolled out in Indian Market on 22nd August 2008 via Airtel & Vodafone. Airtel & Vodafone are planning to launch the newly released Iphone 3GS (16GB & 32GB) in August 2009 in India. Due to the high retail price of INR 32,000 (8GB) and INR 37,000 (16GB), and unavailability of 3G services, iPhone 3G has not seen success in India despite the sky-touching craze among youngsters.

Airtel 3G
Airtel plans to roll out 3G services in India in the next 6 months. Airtel's 3G speed is rumoured to be around 400Kb/s. The main reason to roll out 3G is the competition from BSNL rolling out 3G in India. The other main reason being to promote the iPhone which, otherwise, has not yet seen success in India.

COMPANYS PROFILE

We are one of Asias leading providers of telecommunication services with presence in all the 22 licensed jurisdictions (also known as Telecom Circles) in India, and in Srilanka. We served an aggregate of 105,195,762 customers as of June 30, 2009; of whom 102,367,881 subscribe to our GSM services and 2,827,881 use our Telemedia Services either for voice and/or broadband access delivered through DSL. We are the largest wireless service provider in the country, based on the number of subscribers as of June 30, 2009. We also offer an integrated suite of telecom solutions to our enterprise customers, in addition to providing long distance connectivity both nationally and internationally. We have recently forayed into media by launching our DTH and IPTV Services. All these services are rendered under a unified brand Airtel. The company also deploys, owns and manages passive infrastructure pertaining to telecom operations under its subsidiary Bharti Infratel Limited. Bharti Infratel owns 42% of Indus Towers Limited. Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers are the two top providers of passive infrastructure services in India. Company shares are listed on The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) and The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE).

PARTNERS

The company has a strategic alliance with SingTel. The investment made by SingTel is one of the largest investments made in the world outside Singapore, in the company. The companys mobile network equipment partners include Ericsson and Nokia. In the case of the broadband and telephone services and enterprise services (carriers), equipment suppliers include Siemens, Nortel, Corning, among others. The Company also has an information technology alliance with IBM for its group-wide information technology requirements and with Nortel for call center technology requirements. The call center operations for the mobile services have been outsourced to IBM Daksh, Hinduja TMT, Teletech & Mphasis.

BHARTI ENTERPRISE- ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

BUSINESS DIVISIONS PRODUCTS

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.

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 Indias best direct to home (DTH) service digital TV in more than 150 cities.

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.

OUR BRANDS
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, CANADA through our callhome service.

Latest developments
Airtel To Start DTH Service In India
After Tata, Zee, Reliance and Sun TV, it is the turn of Airtel to come out with its direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television service 'Airtel digital TV'. The telecom service company has announced this plan on October 7, 2008. According to company official, the DTH service of Airtel will be available in 62 cities from October 9. The managing director of Airtel, Manoj Kohli feels that it is the perfect time to start the DTH service. He is also hopeful of company's success in this sector. Talking about the features of the new DTH service, Manoj Kohli informed that Airtel's service will enable the viewers to use the same remote control for both the set top box (STB) and television set. Besides this, it will offer interactive operation, onscreen games and more efficient battery life. The launch of Airtel digital TV is a part of company's three screens strategy that is to be present across mobile phone, computer and TV screens, stated Kohli. Bharti Airtel is one of the leading telecom service providers in the country. Its business is spread across different international destinations including UK, US, Singapore and Canada. By launching DTH service, the company is trying to enter into multi-business operation in India. As far as Indian telecom market is concerned Airtel possess a massive chunk of market share, enough to compete with other major service providers of the company.

Airtel Introduces Calling Card Services Airtel CallHome In Canada

Targeting the Non Resident Indians (NRIs) and students in Canada the leading telecom service provider of India Bharati Airtel has launched its virtual calling card services in Canada on October 6, 2008. It is estimated that there are about 1.5 million NRIs and students in Canada. The service called 'Airtel CallHome, will help the subscribers in Canda to make call to

India at 5.9 cents per minute on a toll-free access number. The users of Airtel service can also make calls to other international countries. Besides Canada, Bharti Airtel also provides its telecom services in UK, US and Singapore. According to David Nishball, President of Enterprise Services, the company's entry in Canada will help to capture its prospective market as there is large population of NRI. The Company is hopeful of providing good services to its consumers in Canada thereby helping the Indian community to connect with friends and family back in India. With this, Canada becomes the fourth international destinations where one can avail Airtels services.

Bharti Airtel & Infosys Technologies Ltd Tie Up For Digital TV Service
India's most successful telecom service provider Bharti Airtel has decided to enter into a strategic partnership with IT major Infosys Technologies Ltd. The new deal is aimed at providing digital TV viewing on a DTH (direct to home) platform. Under the new deal, Airtel will be getting all the technical support from Infosys Technologies. The IT company is likely to offer devices, application servers and interactive applications with the help of which the Airtel can enhance the quality digital viewing on DTH. Besides these, the deal will enable Airtel to provide its subscribers certain services like iCity, iNet and tPortal on its DTH service, Airtel Digital TV. According to Airtel Telemedia Services president, Atul Bindal, this is a new experience for the people. The subscribers can enjoy internet like television viewing with online shopping, personalized stock quotes, news, local events and traffic updates on Airtel digital TV, he added. Bharti Airtel has recently launched its DTH service under the name of Airtel Digital Television. Besides Airtel, there are four companies who are also operating the service in India. The partnership with Infosys is likely to reap great profit for Airtel. Apart from this, it will help Airtel to keep itself ahead of other DTH service providers of India. The deal is also going to benefit Infosys as it will get a medium to expose its presence.

PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT OF THE COMPANY

Mar ' 09 Mar ' 08 Mar ' 07 Mar ' 06 Mar ' 05

Income
Operating income 34,048.32 25,761.11 17,851.61 11,259.12 8,142.44

Expenses
Material consumed Manufacturing expenses Personnel expenses Selling expenses Adminstrative expenses Expenses capitalised Cost of sales Operating profit Other recurring income Adjusted PBDIT Financial expenses Depreciation Other write offs Adjusted PBT Tax charges Adjusted PAT Non recurring items Other non cash adjustments Reported net profit Earnigs before appropriation Equity dividend Preference dividend Dividend tax Retained earnings 12.41 8,627.13 1,397.54 2,210.43 8,608.03 20,855.54 13,192.78 235.99 13,428.77 434.16 3,206.28 178.82 9,609.50 321.78 9,287.72 -1,497.74 -46.15 7,743.84 19,541.05 379.65 64.52 19,096.89 33.85 7,339.01 1,297.88 1,842.51 4,588.53 15,101.78 10,659.34 266.91 10,926.24 393.43 3,166.58 266.07 7,100.16 632.43 6,467.73 -162.87 -60.67 6,244.19 11,778.12 11,778.12 22.08 5,017.27 1,076.95 1,126.34 3,351.31 10,593.96 7,257.65 101.70 7,359.35 282.07 2,353.30 137.80 4,586.17 566.79 4,019.39 3.92 9.92 4,033.23 5,489.61 5,489.61 67.40 3,299.73 734.20 804.15 2,315.91 7,221.40 4,037.72 40.75 4,078.47 236.81 1,432.34 127.39 2,281.93 273.68 2,008.25 -13.81 17.64 2,012.08 1,225.65 1,225.65 72.10 2,365.51 475.86 828.20 1,403.09 5,144.77 2,997.67 18.93 3,016.61 317.00 1,019.36 161.34 1,518.90 353.60 1,165.30 -1,726.88 22.23 -539.35 -538.55 -538.55

BALANCE SHEET OF THE COMPANY

Mar ' 09 Mar ' 08 Mar ' 07 Mar ' 06 Mar ' 05

Sources of funds
Owner's fund Equity share capital Share application money Preference share capital Reserves & surplus 1,898.24 1,897.91 1,895.93 116.22 57.63 30.00 25,627.38 18,283.82 9,515.21 1,893.88 12.13 5,437.42 1,853.37 2.72 2,675.38

Loan funds
Secured loans Unsecured loans Total 51.73 52.42 266.45 2,863.37 3,959.88 7,661.92 6,517.92 5,044.36 1,932.92 1,034.41 35,355.48 26,809.71 16,751.95 12,139.72 9,525.76

Uses of funds
Fixed assets Gross block Less : revaluation reserve Less : accumulated depreciation Net block Capital work-in-progress Investments 37,266.70 28,115.65 26,509.93 17,951.74 13,240.63 2.13 2.13 2.13 2.13 2.13 12,253.34 9,085.00 7,204.30 4,944.86 3,475.64 25,011.23 19,028.52 19,303.51 13,004.75 9,762.86 2,566.67 2,751.08 2,375.82 2,341.25 994.46 11,777.76 10,952.85 705.82 719.70 931.90

Net current assets

Current assets, loans & advances 10,466.63 8,439.38 5,406.81 3,338.88 2,486.31 Less : current liabilities & provisions 14,466.89 14,362.33 11,042.67 7,272.80 4,708.12 Total net current assets -4,000.26 -5,922.95 -5,635.86 -3,933.92 -2,221.80 Miscellaneous expenses not written 0.09 0.20 2.66 7.94 58.35 Total 35,355.48 26,809.71 16,751.95 12,139.72 9,525.76

Notes:
Book value of unquoted investments Market value of quoted investments Contingent liabilities Number of equity sharesoutstanding (Lacs) 9,898.56 9,379.62 580.43 476.52 460.83 1,887.76 1,574.29 125.85 243.99 472.71 4,104.25 7,140.59 7,615.04 4,740.34 3,017.26 18982.40 18979.07 18959.34 18938.79 18533.67

MERGERS

VALUE CHAINBHARTI AIRTEL

TELECOM PROCESS DETAILED

PORTERS GENERIC STRATEGY

5 FORCE MODEL

THREAT FROM COMPETITION

DISTRIBUTION

SIPOC BHARTI AIRTEL

Strategic Issues in Distribution

Flow of information in channel members. Availability of products on required time frame. Control over the channel. Availability of promotional items to the channel. Claim settlement should be solved within the committed time. Conflict between the channel members should be taken care by the company.

PRODUCTS

SIM (Subscribers Identification Module) The base product of company, required for new subscriber. Now Airtel provides this SIM with 64kb memory. Recharge Voucher Airtel PCO LAPU A SIM is provided to retailers from the company at free of cost for providing easy recharge service. Only regular retailers have this facility. This SIM has a memory of 128kb and specially designed for easy recharge purpose. A retailer has minimum 5 easy recharge customers per month, failing this target the SIM will be automatically deactivated. This SIM has also Rs 300 talk time free Airtel to Airtel.

CASE ANALYSIS
From Touch Tommorrow to Live Every Moment In late 2002 Bharti Cellular Ltd, Indias largest cellular telephone company released a television commercial, which despite using the oft-repeated celebrity endorsement was unusual in terms of its celebrity selection.

Instead of using the usual movie stars/sports celebrities, it chooses the worlds most famous music composer A.R RAHMAN to promote its brand. The campaign attracted considerable media attention because this was for the first time Rahman had agreed to do the television commercial and also because Rahman had been paid Rs.10 million for the campaign, a sum usually unheard of, for celebrity endosers in India. The campaign received brickbats as well as bonquets in the media, both for the selection of Rahman and the TVCs execution. However, Bharti clainmed to have scored an ace in terms of getting Rahman to compose five exclusive symphonies downloadable as ring tones for Airtel users.

The TVC was a part of the brand repositioning and restructuring efforts for Airtel, as a part of which, Bharti changed the brands tagline in early-2002 from touch tomorrow to live every moment. The company also decided to undertake a comprehensive brand building program for the company and chose the slogan Unlimited Freedom for the same. Commenting on these changes, company sources said, Airtels brand identity and campaign will now have a new younger and international look and feel that builds on the earlier positioning. Bharti's massive media expenditure plans were no surprise, considering the fact that it was the largest cellular telecom company in the country reaching over 600 million people in 16 (out of 29) states of India. The company posted revenues of Rs 8.48 billion and a net loss of Rs 1 billion in the financial year 2000-01. The Airtel brand (and the pre-paid card service brand, Magic) had top-of-the-mind recall amongst cellular phone users and enjoyed a leadership position in most markets. Industry observers primarily attributed it to Bharti's strong brand building and positioning strategies.

ANALYSIS SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTH WEAKNESS

 Very focused on telecom. Leadership in fast growing

cellular segment. Pan India footprint. The only Indian operator, other than VSNL, that has an international submarine cable.

Price competition from MTNL and BSNL. Untapped rural market.

The fast expanding IPLC market. Latest technology and low cost advantage. Huge market.

Competition from other cellular and mobile operators. Saturation Point in Basic telephony service.

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

COMPARISON WITH COMPETITORS

CLASSIFICATION OF TELECOM SECTOR

Fixed line telephony

Mobile Telephony

Internet

Telecom equipments

BSNL and MTNL account for 90% revenue for basic services.

25 private companies There is no providing cellular restriction on the services in 19 telecom number of internet circles and 4 metro companies and cities, covering 1500 more than 185 towns across the country. companies are operational.

Growth in the telecom equipment market resulted in increasing demand for telecom services.

Private sector available in 18 circles Presently, there are five Growing demand Key players like BSNL, and collectively account for 10% of private service operators of corporate for BHARTI, RELIENCE, revenue. in each area, and an state applications such TATA, BPL and operator as electronic HUTCHISON will drive commerce, Internet equipment market leased lines, ISDN, growth. VPN etc is driving the growth of the internet services market.

KEY INDIAN COMPANIES

VITAL COMPARISONS
1. Subscriber Base

2. Place

It has wide and extensive presence even in the remotest areas Airtel Customer Care Touch Points Distributors like E.g. Paan shops, grocery stores, chemists, outlet etc. Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited

The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three strategic business units (SBU's) - Mobile services, Broadband & Telephone services (B&T) & Enterprise services. First private telecom service provider to connect all states of India . Covers 23 telecom circles of the country, has 21 million customers Highly successful brand in India.

PRODUCT-SERVICE COMPARISONS
Product Pre-Paid Post-Paid BlackBerry Handheld Value-Added Services
Instant Balance Enquiry 24Hr recharge Facility Caller line identification Call divert, Call wait & Call Hold Multimedia Messaging Service Live Portal SMS based Information Service Hello Tunes & Ring Tones Voice Mail Service Easy Post-paid bill collection Gifting of Ring Tones & Hello Tunes GPRS

Airtel

Vodafone

Reliance

BSNL MTNL Idea

Spice

Aircel

PROMOTIONS

Criteria Logo

Airtel

Vodafone

Reliance

BSNL

MTNL

Idea

Spice

Aircel

Brand Ambassadors Sachin

Irfan Khan

Hritik Roshan

Priety Zinta

A.R.Rehman Saif Ali Khan Kareena Kapoor

Deepika Abhishek Katrina MS.Dho -Padukone -Bacchan Kaif Yuvraj H.Singh

Print Video Advertisement Internet and Radio

Large scale print and video advertising. Big celebrities like SRK and Sachin are roped in to endorse the product.

In 2002 Airtel got its Signature tune from A.R. Rehman, this signature tune is perhaps the most downloaded tune in India. Provides innovations such as Bollywood movie premiers, music services such as ring back tones & many more.

PRICE COMPARISONS

Customer based pricing strategies. Flexible pricing mechanism Controlled by TRAI.

GPRS Tariff for BSNL Option-I Cellone portal. WAP sites. Browsing on internet. Activation charges 50/-(Initially free for 3 months) Monthly Rental 199/Usage charges 10paisa/KB Services Free units MMS Charges 5MB 3/- per MMS Option-II Portal access Cellone portal. Cellone portal. WAP sites. Browsing on internet. Prepaid Cellone portal. WAP sites. Browsing on internet.

50/-(Initially free for 3 Nil months) 349/Nil Nil Nil (Only content is 10paisa/KB charged if downloaded) Unlimited WAP browsing 3/- per MMS 150 MMS free for 525 5/- per MMS plan. 100 MMS free for 325 plan. rest 3/- per MMS. GPRS Tariff for IDEA

WAP Idea fresh WAP portal, All WAP sites, Internet connectivity to computer. Activation charges Nil Monthly Rental Nil Usage charges 20paisa/KB Services Free units MMS Charges Nil 5/- per MMS

MWA-250 MWA-500 Prepaid Idea fresh WAP portal, Idea fresh WAP portal, Idea fresh WAP All WAP sites All WAP sites, Internet portal, All WAP sites, connectivity to Internet connectivity to computer. computer. Nil Nil Nil 99/250/500/Nil After free units, Nil 10paisa/KB Unlimited WAP 25MB free Unlimited WAP and browsing DATA Browsing 5/- per MMS 5/- per MMS 5/- per MMS GPRS Tariff for Airtel

Services Activation charges Monthly Rental Usage charges Game download

Prepaid WAP sites. Browsing on internet. Nil Rs 5/- per day Unlimited browsing 50,60,150,200 depending on complexity of

Postpaid WAP sites. Browsing on internet. Nil Rs 150/- per month Unlimited browsing

game. 5/- per MMS Charger mentioned on screen before downloading Ringtones / Wallpaper Rs 10/- per download (depends) MMS Charges MMS (Download)

5/- per MMS Charger mentioned on screen before downloading Rs 10/- per download (depends)

REFERENCES
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/search/1,293876,sid7,00.html? query=airtel&x=0&y=0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_rate_interface http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Business %20Strategy/Bharti%20Airtel%20Limited%20and%20the%20Indian %20Telecom%20Sector.htm http://www.india-server.com/news/airtel-to-start-dth-service-in-india4205.html http://www.slideshare.net/G2Mi/indian-telecoms-market http://www.slideshare.net/vineshsorathia/airtel-marketing-presentation http://www.slideshare.net/manikguptas/airtel-branding-a-case-study http://www.aajkideals.com/Mobile.php www.google.com http://www.bhartiairtel.in http://money.rediff.com/companies/bharti-airtel-ltd/15200022/balance-sheet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtel