Indian Telecommunication Project

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LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT
An Empirical Study of Service Gap b/w
Major Telecom Companies and their Customers of
Punjab GSM Circle
Submitted to Lovely Professional University
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Submitted by: Supervisor:
Sahil Kumar Miss Malika
2020070068 Lecturer
MBA – R1705
PHAGWARA
(2009)
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TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN
This is to certify that the project report titled “An Empirical Study of Service Gap b/w Major
Telecom Companies and their Customers of Punjab GSM Circle” carried out by Mr. Sahil
Kumar, S/o Sh. Jaspal Kandhari has been accomplished under my guidance & supervision as a
duly registered MBA student of the Lovely Professional University, Phagwara. This project is
being submitted by him/her in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the
Master of Business Administration from Lovely Professional University.
His dissertation represents his original work and is worthy of consideration for the award of the degree of
Master of Business Administration.
___________________________________
(Name & Signature of the Faculty Advisor)
Title: ______________________________
Date: ______________________________
Date:
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DECLARATION
I, "Sahil Kumar”, hereby declare that the work presented herein is genuine work done originally
by me and has not been published or submitted elsewhere for the requirement of a degree
programme. Any literature, data or works done by others and cited within this dissertation has
been given due acknowledgement and listed in the reference section.
_______________________
(Student's name & Signature)
_______________________
(Registration No.)
Date:__________________
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
An individual cannot do project of this scale. I take this opportunity to express my

acknowledgement and deep sense of gratitude to the individuals for rendering valuable
assistance and gratitude to me. Their inputs have played a vital role in success of this project.
I express my sincere thanks to my project guide Miss Malika, Lecturer for his generous
support, constant direction and mentoring at all stages of training.
I am also indebted to Mr. Mandeep Hyar and Dr. Harpreet Singh who was a real source of
help and assistance to me during the course of project.
I take this opportunity to thank all dealers, customers who spared their precious time to provide
me with valuable inputs for project without which it would have not been possible.
I firmly believe that there is always a scope of improvement. I welcome any suggestions for
further enriching the quality of this report.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
CONTENTS Page No.
- TITLE PAGE 1
- WHOM TO CONCERN 2
- DECLARATION 3
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 4
- TABLE OF CONTENT 5
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6-8
- NEED, OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE 9
- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 10
CHAPTER -1 15-22
1.1 Introduction To Subject

1.1.1 Indian Telecommunication
1.1.2 Evolution of the Industry
1.1.3 Major Players in the Industry
1.1.4 Companies Market Share
CHAPTER -2 Introductions to Companies 22-29
2.1 Vodaphone
2.2 Airtel
2.3 Bsnl
2.4 Idea
CHAPTER -3 Review of Literature 29-37
CHAPTER -4 Gap b/w Consumer Expectation and Companies Performance 38-52

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CHAPTER -5 Summary, Recommendation, Limitations, Conclusion 53-56
CHAPTER -6 Bibliography 57-61
CHAPTER -7 Appendix 62-66

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Executive Summary
This study will help those researchers who are doing a research on service gaps between
customers and companies of telecom brands. Study will examine what company thinking about
customer perception and what actually is delivered by the customer. A gap between company’s
promises and delivery can be seen easily in telecom sector. Level of gap and its reasons will be
analyzed by various methods. In this study I have consider some factor like Price, Network
Service, Brand Image and various Value Added Services that influence a consumer behavior
toward a particular brand. I have prepared a structured questionnaire in which different questions
will be asked from respondents in order to know most influencing factors that led to their
preferable behavior for a particular brand. The scope of study is limited to four major players of
Telecom industry that are Aitel. Vodaphone, Bsnl, Idea.
Study objective is to examine various factors that led to customer’s preferable behavior and
further their buying behavior for various telecom products and services. My study will consider
rural and urban area of Ferpzepur Distt. Now my study purpose is to know consumer behavior
for these various telecom brands. Consumers have various choices available to them with
different features and services. Now how consumers select a particular brand is a question of our
study. Which factors influence there buying behavior and how they perceive various factors like
price, network service, brand image and VAS while their purchasing decision.
I have studied about all the marketing aspects and all other expenses of the company. The first
few pages talk about the introduction of the subject and also of the organization. This is followed
by literature review followed by the objectives of the study and research methodology. Then
comes real part of the study in which I have written all what I had analyze through my 100
questionnaire filled by various users of different telecommunication brand. The last part consists
of findings, recommendations, limitations, conclusion and bibliography.
The objectives of the study which I undertook is To study consumer perception regarding major
Telecom Brands w.r.t Price, Network Service, Brand Image and Value added services, for this I
have used the statistical method of Chi Squire and presenting it in very effective manners by
tables. One of my another objective was to study and analyze the level of service recovery
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provided by major telecom brands, for this I have made structure questionnaire and interpretation
for the same has been done and also in order to make it more effective I have used tables and bar
charts.
From my study I have found that Airtel is the most excellent and good service provider as 19 out
20 responded believes that the service of the company is excellent. Then vodaphone has also
good rate of excellence as 16 out of 18 respondents rated Vodaphone as a good service provider.
But the idea and Bsnl are not under good ratings. 8 respondents of BSNL and 5 of Idea have
rated their service provider as Poor. BSNL is found to be worst service provider from all above
as 12 respondents rate it as a average service provider and 8 as a poor service provider. It has
been also found that Airtel is being preferred because of its best network service and Brand im-
age as well. Where Vodaphone is preferred because of its good pricing strategy, network service,
brand image and the most Value Added Services of the company. And Idea is preferred because
of all above factors. Where Bsnl is preferred the most because of its low price as compare to its
competitors and because of its value added services as well. BSNL has to concentrate on its cus-
tomer care service as most of the respondents are found dissatisfied with company service. Even
some of them have called it the worst customer care service provider in the market. But it is also
rated as best company for value of money. So company can be competitive in the market by just
investing in their customer care service. BSNL users also found not satisfied with the network
service to some extent. So it can also improve it. I hope that my experience with this project will
not only help me in my future in marketing field but also in my current studies.
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NEED OF THE STUDY
This study will help those researchers who are doing a research on service gaps between
customers and companies of telecom brands. Study will examine what company thinking about
customer perception and what actually is delivered by the customer. A gap between company’s
promises and delivery can be seen easily in telecom sector. Level of gap and its reasons will be
analyzed by various methods. In this study I have consider some factor like Price, Network
Service, Brand Image and various Value Added Services that influence a consumer behavior
toward a particular brand. I have prepared a structured questionnaire in which different questions
will be asked from respondents in order to know most influencing factors that led to their
preferable behavior for a particular brand.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
• To study consumer perception regarding major Telecom Brands w.r.t Price, Network
Service, Brand Image and Value added services.
• To study and analyze the level of service recovery provided by major telecom brands.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The scope of study is limited to four major players of Telecom industry that are Aitel.
Vodaphone, Bsnl, Idea. Study objective is to examine various factors that led to customer’s
preferable behavior and further their buying behavior for various telecom products and services.
My study will consider rural and urban area of Ferpzepur Distt.
Now my study purpose is to know consumer behavior for these various telecom brands.
Consumers have various choices available to them with different features and services. Now how
consumers select a particular brand is a question of our study. Which factors influence there
buying behavior and how they perceive various factors like price, network service, brand image
and VAS while their purchasing decision.
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1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
SOURCES OF DATA
The study undertaken there to be mainly based on the primary data i.e. structured questionnaire
is designed. The study also contains secondary data i.e. data from authenticated websites and
journals for the latest updates just to gain an insight for the views of various experts.
METHODOLOGY & PRESENTATION OF DATA
The data collected is then coded in the tables to make the things presentable and more effective.
The results are shown by tables which will help me out in easy and effective presentation and
hence results are being obtained.
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES USED FOR ANALYSIS
In this study the technique used for interpreting the results is CHI SQUARE test. It is used as
because sample size is 100.
RESEARCH DESIGN
The design for this study is Exploratory and Random sampling.
DATA COLLECTION
The data is collected randomly irrespective of the category of the people in the form of
questionnaire and the sample size is 100 respondents. Because it is a pilot study and due to time
constraint the sample size is small.
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HYPOTHESIS
First Objective Null Hypothesis
1. H0: Price is the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom service and
products.
2. H0: Network Service is the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom service
and products.
3. H0: Brand Image is the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom service and
products.
4. H0: Value Added Services are the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom
service and products.
Second Objective Null Hypothesis
1. H0: The level of service quality and recovery of AIRTEL is much better than other
three players.
2. H0: The level of service quality and recovery of VODAPHONE is much better than other
three players.
3. H0: The level of service quality and recovery of IDEA is much better than other three
players.
4. H0: The level of service quality and recovery of BSNL is much better than other three
players.
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Findings of the Study
 Airtel is the most excellent and good service provider as 19 out 20 responded believes
that the service of the company is excellent. Then vodaphone has also good rate of excel-
lence as 16 out of 18 respondents rated Vodaphone as a good service provider. But the
idea and Bsnl are not under good ratings. 8 respondents of BSNL and 5 of Idea have rated
their service provider as Poor. BSNL is found to be worst service provider from all above
as 12 respondents rate it as a average service provider and 8 as a poor service provider.
 Airtel is being preferred because of its best network service and Brand image as well.
Where Vodaphone is preferred because of its good pricing strategy, network service,
brand image and the most Value Added Services of the company. And Idea is preferred
because of all above factors. Where Bsnl is preferred the most because of its low price as
compare to its competitors and because of its value added services as well.
 Airtel is being preferred because of its internet service. And vodaphone because of its
Concession calls rates and full talk time VAS. Where Idea the most because of its Con-
cession Call Rates and SMS pack. But BSNL because of its SMS pack mainly and then
concession rates also.
 The most of the users are using their telecom service from last one year. Some of the
users are also using it from last 3 year, where majority of the users are BSNL connection
holders. Most of the users of the Vodaphone are using it from last 6 months. Very few re-
spondents are new users of their services.
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 The satisfaction rate of network service is leaded by Airtel as not a single user of service
is neutral or dissatisfy. And vodaphone network service satisfaction rate is also good. And
it can be also found that BSNL network service is not good as compare to others compet-
itors as 14 respondents are found to be not satisfied with the company network service.
And last Idea is not good enough to compete with Airtel and Voda.
 BSNL has the highest rating of Value for money as 33 persons out 34 has rated it as an
excellent and good service provider. Then Idea Company is following Bsnl as a best ser-
vice provider for value for money. Other two players Airtel and Voda have similar per-
formance approximately. Both have been rated good and excellent, where good has been
rated more as compare to other options.
 The most of the users of telecommunication contact to their customers care for activation
and deactivation of various services. Then they also contact for information about various
value added services provider by companies like validity, call rates, sms pack, caller
tones etc. Network service has been found a problem of mainly BSNL users and to some
extent of Idea users as well.
 Airtel is the best service provider of customer care service. As it has been also found in
some of the article that Airtel is expending more on its customer care service as compare
to other competitors in the market. The Vodaphone service is also satisfactory as most of
the users have rated it as satisfied service provider. But Bsnl is to be found as not a satis-
factory service provider. Most of the users said that they have not talk to their customer
care service provider even for a single time. Idea Pre-Paid users are not satisfied with the
customer care service as they said it can be found busy most of the times.
 The most of the users, who are satisfied with their customer care service, are also satis-
fied with the process of getting their queries resolved. Airtel again has been rated as the
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best service provider for getting queries resolved. Results are similar approximately as
the 10th question analysis.
 The users of all companies found their customer service provider courteous. But the res-
ult of BSNL is not good as the users say that they have not talk to their customer care ser-
vice provider even for a single time. Some of them have talk but after a lot of waiting
time. So they are found not satisfied and rated this question also as dissatisfied. So after
studying their views with a personal discussion we can not say that the customer care
representatives of BSNL are not courteous.
 The most of the users of all companies found their customer service provider knowledge-
able. But the result of BSNL is again not good as the users say that they have not talk to
their customer care service provider even for a single time. Some of them have talk but
after a lot of waiting time. So they are found not satisfied and rated this question also as
dissatisfied. So after studying their views with a personal discussion we can not say that
the customer care representatives of BSNL are not knowledgeable. But one more finding
is there in that question that Idea is not perfect in hiring best personnel for customer care
representatives as 8 users are neutral for this question reply.
 The most of the users of all companies are found satisfactory with the waiting time their
queries resolved. But the result of BSNL is again not good as the users say that they have
not talk to their customer care service provider even for a single time. Some of them have
talk but after a lot of waiting time. So they are found not satisfied and rated this question
also as dissatisfied and neutral. So after studying their views with a personal discussion
we can not say that the customer care representatives of BSNL are not able to solve their
customer queries in a satisfactory time.
 These are four recommendations to major market players in the industry. These are the
Gaps between customer’s expectations and then performance of the company. Some so
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the companies are found performing well as per their customer expectations, but still they
are not perfect. A lot of improvements are required in each company service delivery
after studying their customer’s behavior and expectations through feedback.
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CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION TO THE SUBJECT
1.1 INTRODUCTION TO SUBJECT

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1.1.1 Indian Telecommunications:
It has been zooming up the growth curve at a feverish pace, emerging as one of the key sectors
responsible for India's resurgent economic growth. It is the fastest growing telecommunication
market in the world, and with 353.66 million telephone connections (at the end of September
2008, include both the wire line as well as the wireless subscribers) is the third largest telecom
market. Simultaneously, overall tele-density has increased to 30.64 percent. While the subscriber
base for wireless services has increased to 315.31 million. The subscriber base of the wire line
service has declined to 38.35 million from 38.92 million at the end of September 2008. (Source:
Corporate Bureau 2009-01-14).
The stupendous growth of the telecommunication companies in India over

the last fifteen years can be attributed to the liberal government of India, economic policy. The
economic renaissance affected in the early 1990s brought around a paradigm shift on the overall
business scenario of India. The telecommunication companies in India went through a huge
make-over during the implementation of the open-market policy of India. The erstwhile closed
market policy was replaced by a more liberal form of economic policy. A whole new form of
Indian Telecommunication Policy was drafted to compliment the change effected in the
economic policy of India. The amendment affected the new telecommunication policy of India
made huge changes with respect to investments and entry of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI)
and Foreign Institution Investors (FII) respectively, into the virgin Indian telecommunication
market. This resulted entry of private, domestic and foreign telecommunication companies in
India. The economic contribution made by these newly formed telecommunication companies of
India is really mentioned worthy and this industry witnessed highest growth after the Indian
Information Technology industry. The robust growth of Indian economy after the economic
liberalization in the 1990s induced massive change in the telecom policy and new draft was
framed and implemented by the 'Telecom Regulatory Authority of India' (TRAI) and
'Department of Telecommunication' (DOT), under the Ministry of Telecommunication
government of India.
1.1.2 Evolution of the Industry:

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The important milestones achieved by the telecommunication industry have been shown in the
following table:
Table 1.1: Important Milestones of Telecommunication Industry
Year Important Milestones

1851 First operational land lines were laid by the government near Calcutta (seat of British
power)
1881 Telephone service introduced in India

1883 Merger with the postal system
1923 Formation of Indian Radio Telegraph Company (IRT)
1932 Merger of ETC and IRT into the Indian Radio and Cable Communication Company
(IRCC)
1947 Nationalization of all foreign telecommunication companies to form the Posts,

Telephone and Telegraph (PTT)
1985 Department of Telecommunications (DOT) established, an exclusive provider of

domestic and long-distance service that would be its own regulator (separate from the
postal system)
1986 Conversion of DOT into two wholly government-owned companies: the Videsh
Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) for international telecommunications and Mahanagar
Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) for service in metropolitan areas.
1997 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India created.

1999 Cellular Services are launched in India. New National Telecom Policy is adopted.
2000 DoT becomes a corporation, BSNL
(Source: By Consulting Club, IIM Calcutta)
1.1.3 Major Players

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

BPL Mobile, Spice Communications)
BSNL
On October 1, 2000 the Department of Telecom Operations, Government of India became a

corporation and was renamed Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). BSNL is now India’s
leading telecommunications company and the largest public sector undertaking. It has a network
of over 45 million lines covering 5000 towns with over 35 million telephone connections. The
state-controlled BSNL operates basic, cellular (GSM and CDMA) mobile, Internet and long
distance services throughout India (except Delhi and Mumbai). BSNL will be expanding the
network in line with the Tenth Five-Year Plan (1992-97). The aim is to provide a telephone
density of 9.9 per hundred by March 2007. BSNL, which became the third operator of GSM
mobile services in most circles, is now planning to overtake Bharti to become the largest GSM
operator in the country. BSNL is also the largest operator in the Internet market, with a share of
21 per cent of the entire subscriber base.
BHARTI
Established in 1985, Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts
and innovations to its credit, ranging from being the first mobile service in Delhi, first private
basic telephone service provider in the country, first Indian company to provide comprehensive
telecom services outside India in Seychelles and first private sector service provider to launch
National Long Distance Services in India. Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited was incorporated on
July 7, 1995 for promoting investments in telecommunications services. Its subsidiaries operate
telecom services across India. Bharti’s operations are broadly handled by two companies: the
Mobility group, which handles the mobile services in 16 circles out of a total 23 circles across
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the country; and the Infotel group, which handles the NLD, ILD, fixed line, broadband, data, and
satellite-based services. Together they have so far deployed around 23,000 km of optical fiber
cables across the country, coupled with approximately 1,500 nodes, and presence in around 200
locations. The group has a total customer base of 6.45 million, of which 5.86 million are mobile
and 588,000 fixed line customers, as of January 31, 2004. In mobile, Bharti’s footprint extends
across 15 circles. Bharti Tele-Ventures' strategic objective is “to capitalize on the growth
opportunities the company believes are available in the Indian telecommunications market and
consolidate its position to be the leading integrated telecommunications services provider in key
markets in India, with a focus on providing mobile services”.
MTNL
MTNL was set up on 1st April 1986 by the Government of India to upgrade the quality of
telecom services, expand the telecom network, introduce new services and to raise revenue for
telecom development needs of India’s key metros – Delhi, the political capital, and Mumbai, the
business capital. In the past 17 years, the company has taken rapid strides to emerge as India’s
leading and one of Asia’s largest telecom operating companies. The company has also been in
the forefront of 5 technology induction by converting 100% of its telephone exchange network
into the state-of-the-art digital mode. The Govt. of India currently holds 56.25% stake in the
company. In the year 2003-04, the company's focus would be not only consolidating the gains
but also to focus on new areas of enterprise such as joint ventures for projects outside India,
entering into national long distance operation, widening the cellular and CDMA-based WLL
customer base, setting up internet and allied services on an all India basis. MTNL has over 5
million subscribers and 329,374 mobile subscribers. While the market for fixed wireline phones
is stagnating, MTNL faces intense competition from the private players—Bharti, Hutchison and
Idea Cellular, Reliance Infocomm—in mobile services. MTNL recorded sales of Rs. 60.2 billion
($1.38 billion) in the year 2002-03, a decline of 5.8 per cent over the previous year’s annual
turnover of Rs. 63.92 billion.
HUTCH
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Hutch’s presence in India dates back to late 1992, when they worked with local partners to
establish a company licensed to provide mobile telecommunications services in Mumbai.
Commercial operations began in November 1995. Between 2000 and March 2004, Hutch
acquired further operator equity interests or operating licences. With the completion of the
acquisition of BPL Mobile Cellular Limited in January 2006, it now provides mobile services in
16 of the 23 defined licence areas across the country. Hutch India has benefited from rapid and
profitable growth in recent years. it had over 17.5 million customers by the end of June 2006.
IDEA
Indian regional operator IDEA Cellular Ltd. has a new ownership structure and grand designs to
become a national player, but in doing so is likely to become a thorn in the side of Reliance
Communications Ltd. IDEA operates in eight telecom “circles,” or regions, in Western India, and
has received additional GSM licenses to expand its network into three circles in Eastern India --
the first phase of a major expansion plan that it intends to fund through an IPO, according to
parent company Aditya Birla Group .
RELIANCE INFOCOMM
Reliance is a $16 billion integrated oil exploration to refinery to power and textiles conglomerate
(Source: http://www.ril.com/newsitem2.html). It is also an integrated telecom service provider
with licenses for mobile, fixed, domestic long distance and international services. Reliance
Infocomm offers a complete range of telecom services, covering mobile and fixed line telephony
including broadband, national and international long distance services, data services and a wide
range of value added services and applications. Reliance IndiaMobile, the first of Infocomm's
initiatives was launched on December 28, 2002. This marked the beginning of Reliance's vision
of ushering in a digital revolution in India by becoming a major catalyst in improving quality of
life and changing the face of India. Reliance Infocomm plans to extend its efforts beyond the
traditional value chain to develop and deploy telecom solutions for India's farmers, businesses,
hospitals, government and public sector organizations. Until recently, Reliance was permitted to
provide only “limited mobility” services through its basic services license. However, it has now
acquired a unified access license for 18 circles that permits it to provide the full range of mobile
services. It has rolled out its CDMA mobile network and enrolled more than 6 million
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subscribers in one year to become the country’s largest mobile operator. It now wants to increase
its market share and has recently launched pre-paid services. Having captured the voice market,
it intends to attack the broadband market.
TATA TELESERVICES
Tata Teleservices is a part of the $12 billion Tata Group, which has 93 companies, over 200,000
employees and more than 2.3 million shareholders. Tata Teleservices provides basic (fixed line
services), using CDMA technology in six circles: Maharashtra (including Mumbai), New Delhi,
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Karnataka. It has over 800,000 subscribers. It has
now migrated to unified access licenses, by paying a Rs. 5.45 billion ($120 million) fee, which
enables it to provide fully mobile services as well. The company is also expanding its footprint,
and has paid Rs. 4.17 billion ($90 million) to DoT for 11 new licenses under the IUC
(interconnect usage charges) regime. The new licenses, coupled with the six circles in which it
already operates, virtually gives the CDMA mobile operator a national footprint that is almost on
par with BSNL and Reliance Infocomm. The company hopes to start off services in these 11 new
circles by August 2004. These circles include Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala,
Kolkata, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East) & West and West Bengal.
1.1.4 Companies Market Shares

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Company Million Subs(Nov 2003) % share
BSNL 40.3 58.8
Reliance 6.1 8.9
Bharti 5.7 8.3
MTNL 4.9 7.2
Hutchison 2.9 4.2
Idea Cellular 2.1 3.0
BPL 1.4 2.1
Tata Teleservices 1.3 1.9
Spice 1.0 1.4
Escotel 0.8 1.1
Fascel 0.8 1.1
Aircel 0.9 1.4
Hexacom 0.2 0.3
Shyam Telelink 0.1 0.2

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CHAPTER-2
INTRODUCTION TO COMPANIES
2. Introduction to Companies
2.1 Vodafone Essar

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Vodafone Essar, previously Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India that covers 23 telecom
circles in India. Despite the official name being Vodafone Essar, its products are simply branded
Vodafone. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India
with good presence in the metros. Vodafone Essar provides 2.75G services based on 900 MHz
and 1800 MHz digital GSM technology, offering voice and data services in 23 of the country's
23 license areas. It is among the top three GSM mobile operators of India.
Ownership
Vodafone Essar is owned by Vodafone 52%, Essar Group, 33% and other Indian nationals, 15%.
On February 11, 2007, Vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest of 67% held by Li Ka
Shing Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion, pipping Reliance Communications, Hinduja
Group, and Essar Group, which is the owner of the remaining 33%. The whole company was
valued at USD 18.8 billion. The transaction closed on May 8, 2007.
Previous brands
In December 2006, Hutch Essar re-launched the "Hutch" brand nationwide, consolidating its
services under a single identity. The Company entered into agreement with NTT DoCoMo to
launch i-mode mobile Internet service in India during 2007. The company used to be named
Hutchison Essar, reflecting the name of its previous owner, Hutchison. However, the brand was
marketed as Hutch. After getting the necessary government approvals with regards to the
acquisition of a majority by the Vodafone Group, the company was rebranded as Vodafone Essar.
The marketing brand was officially changed to Vodafone on 20 September 2007. On September
20, 2007 Hutch becomes Vodafone in one of the biggest brand transition exercises in recent
times. Vodafone Essar is spending somewhere in the region of Rs 250 crores on this high-profile
transition being unveiled today. Along with the transition, cheap cell phones have been launched
in the Indian market under the Vodafone brand. The company also plans to launch co-branded
handsets sourced from global vendors as well. A popular daily quoted a Vodafone Essar director
as saying that "the objective is to leverage Vodafone Group's global scale in bringing millions of
low-cost handsets from across-the-world into India. During the Indian Premier League (IPL),
Vodafone commercialised Zoozoos, a white, ghost-like creatures with ballooned bodies and egg
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heads through their advertisements. These ads though look animated are in real humans in the
Zoozoo costumes. Ogilvy & Mather, the agency that handles Vodafone advertisements, wanted
to make real people look as animated as possible and hence employed Bangalore-based Nirvana
Films to shoot these ads in Cape Town, South Africa, just in time for IPL.
2.2 Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel, formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is India's largest cellular
service provider with more than 92 million subscribers as of February 2009. It also offers fixed
line services and broadband services. It offers its TELECOM services under the Airtel brand and
is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. The company also provides telephone services and Internet
access over DSL in 14 circles. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance
communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which
connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.
The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units
(SBU’s) - 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
27
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 FY07).
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.
2.3 Idea Cellular
Idea Cellular is a wireless telephony company operating in various states in India. It initially
started in 1995 as a joint venture among the Tatas, Aditya Birla Group and AT&T by merging
"'Wings Cellular'" operating in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (UP) West, Rajasthan and Tata
Cellular as well as Birla AT&T Communications.
Initially having a very limited footprint in the GSM arena, the acquisition of Escotel in 2004
gave Idea a truly pan-India presence covering Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh (East and West), Haryana, Kerala, Rajasthan and
Delhi (inclusive of NCR).
The company has its retail outlets under the "Idea n' U" banner. The company has also been the
first to offer flexible tariff plans for prepaid customers. It also offers GPRS services in urban
28
areas. Idea Cellular won the GSM Association Award for "Best Billing and Customer Care
Solution" for 2 consecutive years.
Holding
Initially the Birlas, the Tatas and AT&T Wireless each held one-third equity in the company. But
following AT&T Wireless' merger with Cingular Wireless in 2004, Cingular decided to sell its
32.9% stake in Idea. This stake was bought by both the Tatas and Birlas at 16.45% each.
Tata's foray into the cellular market with its own subsidiary, Tata Indicom, a CDMA-based
mobile provider, cropped differences between the Tatas and the Birlas. This dual holding by the
Tatas also became a major reason for the delay in Idea being granted a license to operate in
Mumbai. This was because as per Department of Telecom (DOT) license norms, one promoter
could not have more than 10% stake in two companies operating in the same circle and Tata
Indicom was already operating in Mumbai when Idea filed for its licence.
The Birlas thus approached the DOT and sought its intervention, and the Tatas replied by saying
that they would exit Idea but only for a good price. On April 10, 2006, the Aditya Birla Group
announced its acquisition of the 48.18% stake held by the Tatas at Rs. 40.51 a share amounting
to Rs. 44.06 billion. While 15% of the 48.14% stake was acquired by Aditya Birla Nuvo, a
company in-charge of the Birlas' new business initiatives, the remaining stake was acquired by
Birla TMT holdings Private Ltd., an AV Birla family owned company. Currently, Birla Group
holds 49.1% of the total shares of the company.
2.4 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

29
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (known as BSNL, India Communications Corporation Limited)
is a public sector telecommunication company in India. It is India's largest telecommunication
company with 24% market share as on March 31, 2008. Its headquarters are at Bharat Sanchar
Bhawan, Harish Chandra Mathur Lane, Janpath, New Delhi. It has the status of Mini Ratna, a
status assigned to reputed public sector companies in India.
BSNL is India's oldest and largest Communication Service Provider (CSP). Currently has a
customer base of 90 million as of June 2008. It has footprints throughout India except for the
metropolitan cities of Mumbai and New Delhi which are managed by MTNL. As on March 31,
2008 BSNL commanded a customer base of 31.55 million Wireline, 4.58 million CDMA-WLL
and 54.21 million GSM Mobile subscribers. BSNL's earnings for the Financial Year ending
March 31, 2007 stood at INR 397.15b (US$ 9.67 b) with net profit of INR 78.06b (US$ 1.90
billion). BSNL has an estimated market value of $ 100 Billion. The company is planning an IPO
with in 6 months to offload 10% to public in the Rs 300-400 range valuing the company at over
$100 billion.
Services
• Universal Telecom Sevices : Fixed wireline services & Wireless in Local loop (WLL)
using CDMA Technology called bfone and Tarang respectively. As of December 31,
2007, BSNL has 81% marketshare of fixed lines.
• Cellular Mobile Telephone Services: BSNL is major provider of Cellular Mobile

Telephone services using GSM platform under the brand name CellOne[2]. Prepaid
cellular services of BSNL are know as Excel. As of March 31, 2007 BSNL has 17% share
of mobile telephony in the country.
• Internet: BSNL provides internet services through dial-up connection (Sancharnet) as

Prepaid, (NetOne) as Postpaid and ADSL broadband (DataOne). BSNL has around 50%
market share in broadband in India. BSNL has planned aggressive rollout in broadband
for current financial year.
30
CHAPTER-3
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
31
3. Review of Literature
1. Rick (2008) This study finds that companies with sound customer strategies can use that
ultimate loyalty program as a differentiator in an increasingly muddled market. In an
increasingly competitive market, customer loyalty efforts can play a major part in the
attraction of new customers and the retention of current ones. Marketers dealing in the
telecommunications arena are established in an exciting era of industry growth. As
consumers' choices expand, the importance of a sound customer relationship strategy
becomes more and more important for the success of the company.
2. Inger (2008), This study aims at deepening understanding of the role of emotion in
customer switching processes and identifying the relative frequency of negative discrete
emotions in terms of different triggers. The main finding was that the identified emotions
were located in the trigger part of the relationship, and was expressed by the respondents
during the switching process in form of annoyance, anxiety, disappointment,
dissatisfaction, distress, depression, rage, stress and tension. Mainly study is trying to
find one answer that do customers return rather quickly to the switched-from operator
when the trigger was influential/stress-related, or do they become stable at the switched-
to-operator.
3. Gamie (2008), undertook a research to explore the challenges of reaching low-income

customers in developing markets. The whole study is just one interview based in which
Anderson is asking question from Gurdeep Singh Operations Director with Hutchison
Essar India. Now that discussion concludes that managers need to go beyond traditional
approaches to serving the poor, and innovate by taking into account the unique
institutional context of developing markets. In most cases, MNOs have served the poorest
consumers through shared-use models such as GrameenPhone's Village phone concept in
Bangladesh, due to the commonly held belief that reaching these consumers is difficult
due to two key challenges – affordability and availability. This paper demonstrates that
MNOs can deliver availability and affordability to achieve increased individual or
household penetration through business model innovation.
32
4. Thomas (2008) Empirical findings of the study showed that the respondents attended the
event mainly for business and networking opportunities. Overall, they were satisfied with
Hong Kong as the location for the ITU Telecom World 2006. Additionally, there were no
significant differences in perception between overseas and local attendees in all but two
attributes. This study showed that location, infrastructure and safety did not seem to
influence attendees' decision for attending the event. Moreover, attendees considered
traveling to or visiting the destination would have a low influence on their decision to
attend the event.
5. Shankar (2006) This article examines the emergence of innovation and value creation for
enhancing customers' experience, as a result of increasing competition in the Indian
telecom industry during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The report provides a detailed
account of the evolution of the Indian telecom industry. It traces various developments in
the industry before, during and after the liberalization of the Indian telecom sector. It also
provides information about the increasing popularity of cellular services which led to the
emergence of several private telecom operators like Bharati Tele Ventures, Hutchison
Telecom, Idea Cellular Ltd, Reliance Telecom Ltd, etc.
6. Gustafsson (2005) The purpose of this study is to enhance understanding of the club's
role in the customer relationships of a telecommunications company by re-considering
the concepts of frequency and commitment in a telecom-customer club. Study found an
umbrella concept for the club regarding loyalty: A keeping function, which divided the
customer club in two ways,: the affective role makes the customer stay with the company
and the calculative role with a more inferred loyalty function. The expressions that were
not connected to loyalty are the attracting function. So it seems obvious that customers
do not merely look at certain parts of the club offering where loyalty is concerned: they
evaluate the club and their relationship with the service provider according to different
criteria.
33
7. Robins (2008) This paper is about marketing the next generation of mobile telephones.
The study is about third generation of cell phone technology, what is usually known as
“3G” for short. There are various issues about that new innovative. One is how to price
3G handsets and services at a level which will enable telephone operating companies to
recoup the high prices they have already paid to governments for operating licenses.
Second the technology is not yet complete, there are no agreed international standards
and companies do not yet know what new services the technology will prove capable of
delivering effectively. All variants of 3G remain dependent on largely unproven
technology. Marketing 3G is going to be about services which are new and in many
cases, yet to be designed. At the same time, it will involve services which can also be
obtained by computer and other means. It follows that the marketing task will be high
risk. First, 3G has no obviously unique selling proposition to build on except, perhaps,
the combination of live video and easy portability. Second, the potential customers have
not yet had adequate opportunity to signal their service likes and dislikes. Third, the cost
and complexity of service provision leave doubt about the market’s reaction to price.
8. Debnath (2008) This study explain that the prime focus of the service providers is to
create a loyal customer base by benchmarking their performances and retaining existing
customers in order to benefit from their loyalty. With the commencement of the economic
liberalization in 1991, and with a view to expand and improve telecom infrastructure
through the participation of the private sector, the Government of India permitted foreign
companies holding 51 percent equity stake in joint ventures to manufacture telecom
equipment in India. The Indian Government has announced a new policy, which allows
private firms to provide basic telephone services. There had been a monopoly of the
state-owned department of telecommunications. However, several companies are
expected to benefit from the policy change.
34
9. Bhatt (2008), in his study titled “A Study of Mobile Phone Usage Among the Post
Graduate Students” analyzed that it is important for mobile carriers, service providers,
content developers, equipment manufacturers, as well as for parents and young people
alike that the key characteristics of mobile technology is well understood so that the risks
associated with its potentially damaging or disruptive aspects can be mitigated. This
paper has tried to compare the usage difference by gender with respect to the difference
manufacturing and service provider companies.
10. Jha (2008), in his study analyzed that it is the youth which is the real growth driver of the
telecom industry in India. Considering this fact, the paper is an attempt to give a snapshot
of how frequently young people use their mobile phones for several embodied functions
of the cell phones. Data was collected from a sample of 208 mobile phone owners, aged
between 20 and 29. The study sheds light on how gender, monthly voucher amount and
years of owning mobile phones influence the usage pattern of this device. Findings of the
study would be helpful for the telecom service providers and handset manufacturers to
formulate a marketing strategy for different market segments.
11. Kalavani (2006) in their study analyzed that majority of the respondents have given
favourable opinion towards the services but some problems exist that deserve the
attention of the service providers. They need to bridge the gap between the services
promised and services offered. The overall customers’ attitude towards cell phone
services is that they are satisfied with the existing services but still they want more
services to be provided.
35
12. Kumar (2008), in their study titled “Customer Satisfaction and Discontentment vis-a-vis
BSNL Landline Service: A Study” analyzed that at present, services marketing plays a
major role in the national economy. In the service sector, telecom industry is the most
active and attractive. Though the telecom industry is growing rapidly, India's telecom
density is less than the world's average telecom density as most of India's market is yet to
be covered. This attracts private operators to enter into the Indian telecom industry, which
makes the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) more alert to run its business and
survive in the market.
13. Seth et al (2008), in their study titled “Managing the Customer Perceived Service Quality
for Cellular Mobile Telephone: an Empirical Investigation” analyzed that there is relative
importance of service quality attributes and showed that responsiveness is the most
importance dimension followed by reliability, customer perceived network quality,
assurance, convenience, empathy and tangibles. This would enable the service providers
to focus their resources in the areas of importance. The research resulted in the
development of a reliable and valid instrument for assessing customer perceived service
quality for cellular mobile services.
14. Sundaram (2008) in their study titled “Marketing Mix Strategies Adopted By Selected
Indian Business Outsourcers” analyzed that Indian business process outsourcers are
mostly marketing through the web advertisement as a promotional strategy to provide
accounting and form processing service to Asian and North American customers and
price them on the basis of slab rate. Smart sourcing can be best explained as the tactical
use of specialized external resources to perform core and non core activities, which were
originally carried out by internal staff and resources. Business process outsourcers in
India are marching towards knowledge process and value added outsourcing.
36
15. Fernandez (2007) in their study titled “Understanding Dynamics in an Evolving Industry:
Case of Mobile VAS in India” analyzed that Mobile Value Added Services (VAS) is a
rising star in the fast growing wireless business. In the paper, attempt is made at
understanding the strategic dynamics of the evolving environment within which the
Indian players are operating, the challenges and structure of the same. Our literature and
industry review indicates that - while the value chain of industry is complicated yet one
can observe the bipolar nature of bargaining powers between mobile network operators
and content aggregators.
16. Kaliyamoorthy and Kumar (2007) in their study titled “Influence of Demographic
Variables on Marketing Strategies in the Competitive Scenario” analyzed that
Demographic variables have much significance in marketing. They are used as bases for
segmenting the market, and their role in consumer's buying decision is notable and vital.
Even when the target market is described in non-demographic terms (say, a personality
type), the link back to demographic characteristics is needed in order to estimate the size
of the target market and the media that should be used to reach it efficiently. So,
identifying the demographic profile of the target consumers is very important for the
marketers. The paper, with a strong backing of literature, explains why the marketers
must give much importance to the changing demographic trends while evolving
marketing strategies in the prevailing competitive business environment.
17. Bismut (2006) in his study titled “Competition in European Telecom Markets” analyzed
that in recent years the European telecommunications market has witnessed major
developments, with rapid expansion in access to telecommunications networks and a
surge in the number of available services and applications. While many factors have
contributed to the transformation of the telecommunications industry, competition has
played a key role in driving telecom players to invest in new technologies, to innovate
and to offer new services.
37
18. Kalpana and Chinnadurai (2006) in their study titled “Promotional Strategies of Cellular
Services: A Customer Perspective” analyzed that the increasing competition and
changing taste and preferences of the customer’s all over the world are forcing companies
to change their targeting strategies. The study revealed the customer attitude and their
satisfaction towards the cellular services in Coimbatore city. It was found that
advertisement play a dominant role in influencing the customers but most of the
customers are of opinion that promotional strategies of cellular companies are more sale
oriented rather than customer oriented.
19. Batra (2006) In this “ICFAI journal of Consumer behavior” has discussed that India's
economic prosperity and maturity has also helped to shape the world of advertising agen-
cies in India, enabling the latter to reach global standards. Advertising has become seri-
ous and big business in India, with its worth being estimated at Rs. 13,200-crore, by
those in the know. This can only mean one thing that apart from the quality of work, the
volume of the work has increased. Companies are using different media to persuade the
customer. All most all marketing and advertising agencies in India believe in the concept
of 360 degree branding. Agencies are creating, sharing and managing stories and brand
experiences in a manner that involves and engages, rather than interrupts and alienates.
20. Fredric (2008) analyzed the importance of yield management and discrimination pricing
in telecommunication sector. Yield management is the process of allocating the right type
of capacity or inventory unit to the right kind of customer at the right price so as to
maximize revenue or yield. Yield management and dynamic pricing strategies could be
usefully applied to preserve and increase profitability. Yield management techniques can
help telecom operators and similar companies to optimize the benefits they can derive
from a subtle management of information networks and partnerships. However, such an
approach is more difficult to implement in the telecommunications industry than in the
airlines sector because of the difficulty to control (and sometimes to refuse) network
access to customers.
38
21. Ray (2007), in his article study has concluded that the most important character of spoke
character is the control over the character. The spoke character’s appearance can be
altered according to the marketers need and objective. The spoke character has distinct
personality; it reflects on the brands and gives the brand a unique personality. But
sometime spoke character become so entangled with brand that removing spoke character
may lead to negative impact on the image of the brand. This is the another factor which is
impacting the advertisement.
22. Chris (2003) has analyzed ‘Telecom advertising in print media.’ This research attempted
to investigate why Telecom theme are used in advertisement, and the motives that lead
companies and advertisers to use sport celebrities and sport concept in advertisements.
From study it has been revealed that the appearance of sport celebrities in advertising
endorsement occurred more often in Telecom magazines than in other magazines,
because their target group is more acquainted with athletes. The sport celebrities that
dominated each printed media are related with their target group characteristics.
23. Surrender (2004), undertook a research to evaluate the impact of advertising on both the
rural and urban consumers, in term of improving the sales of products, to analyze the
differences between rural and urban consumers. The study examined different media
habits of the rural and urban consumers with regard to the purchase of the selected luxury
items and also effectiveness and usefulness of advertising to the society in general and in
rural consumers.
39
CHAPTER-4
GAP BETWEEN CONSUMER

EXPECTATIONS
&
COMPANIES PERFOMANCE
40
Gap b/w Consumer Expectations and Companies Performance of Telecommunication
Q1: - Which mobile connection do you have?
Particular No. of respondents

AIRTEL 20
VODAPHONE 18
IDEA 36
BSNL 26
40
35
30 Airtel
25
Vodaphone
20
Idea
15
10 Bsnl
5
0
No. of respondents
Interpretation: - As the area of the study is ferozepur of Punjab, where the market leader is
Spice that is now known as Idea after taker over of spice by idea. That’s why majority of the
questionnaire I got filled by Idea users. Above data analysis shows that majority of the market
that is approximately 50% is covered by two market leaders IDEA and BSNL.
Q2:- What kind of service you have?

41
Particular No. of respondents

Pre-Paid 84
Post-Paid 16
Pre-Paid
Post-Paid
Interpretation: - Above data shows that most of the respondents in the area have pre-paid
connections. And I got only 16% questionnaire filled by post-paid users.
Q3:- Overall, how would you rate your service provider?

42
Brands Excellent Good Avg Poor Terrible Not Sure
Airtel 7 12 1
Vodaphone 5 11 2
Idea 1 10 12 5
Bsnl 14 12 8
14
12
10
Airtel
8
Vodaphone
6
Idea
4 Bsnl
2
0
Excellent Good Avg Poor Terrible Not Sure
Interpretation:- From the graphic it depict that Airtel is the most excellent and good service
provider as 19 out 20 responded believes that the service of the company is excellent. Then
vodaphone has also good rate of excellence as 16 out of 18 respondents rated Vodaphone as a
good service provider. But the idea and Bsnl are not under good ratings. 8 respondents of BSNL
and 5 of Idea have rated their service provider as Poor. BSNL is found to be worst service
provider from all above as 12 respondents rate it as a average service provider and 8 as a poor
service provider.
Q4:- Rank the following factors which influenced you the most to buy the service of your
choice?
H1: -Price factor is not the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom service.
43
H0: - Price factor is the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom service.
Brands Price Network Brand VAS Expected

Service Image values
Airtel 16 4 25
Vodaphone 7 4 3 6 25
Idea 6 7 3 10 25
Bsnl 22 10 25
Chi square value: 6.035 Table value: 5.991
Interpretation of Chi: - As the 95% level of confidence Chi square value 6.035 is more than the
table value 5.991, so the null hypothesis is rejected, it means Price factor is the most influencing
factor for the purchase of Telecom service.
Interpretation:- Above data analysis shows that Airtel is being preferred because of its best
network service and Brand image as well. Where Vodaphone is preferred because of its good
pricing strategy, network service, brand image and the most Value Added Services of the
company. And Idea is preferred because of all above factors. Where Bsnl is preferred the most
because of its low price as compare to its competitors and because of its value added services as
well.
Q5- Rank the following VAS which attracted you the most to buy or retain the mobile
service:
Particular Airtel Vodaphone Idea Bsnl

44
SMS Pack 4 9 16
Concession Call Rates 3 6 15 11
Internet Service 12 1
Full Talk Time 5 7 4 7
16
14
12
10 SMSPack
8 Concession Call Rates
6 Internet Service
4 Full Talk Time
2
0
Airtel Vodaphone Idea Bsnl
Interpretation: - Above data analysis shows that Airtel is being preferred because of its internet
service. And vodaphone because of its Concession calls rates and full talk time VAS. Where Idea
the most because of its Concession Call Rates and SMS pack. But BSNL because of its SMS
pack mainly and then concession rates also.
Q6:- How long have you used the service of that company?
Brands >1 Month 1-6 Month 6 M– 1 Year < 1 Year < 3 Year
Airtel 2 7 9 2
45
Vodaphone 1 3 11 3
Idea 2 3 7 13 3
Bsnl 2 5 3 18 6
18
16
14
12
10 Airtel
8 Vodaphone
6 Idea
4
Bsnl
2
0
>1Month 1-6 6M– 1 <1Year <3Year
Month Year
Interpretation:- Above table analysis depicts that most of the users are using their telecom
service from last one year. Some of the users are also using it from last 3 year, where majority of
the users are BSNL connection holders. Most of the users of the Vodaphone are using it from last
6 months. Very few respondents are a new users of their services that let our study not vague.
Q7:- Overall, how satisfied are you, with network service of your company?
Brands Very Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfy Very

Satisfied Dissatisfy
Airtel 7 13
46
Vodaphone 3 14 1
Idea 2 23 2
Bsnl 2 18 8 6
25
20
Airtel
15
Vodaphone
10 Idea
Bsnl
5
0
Very Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfy
Interpretation: - Above table data analysis shows that the satisfaction rate of network service is
leaded by Airtel as not a single user of service is neutral or dissatisfy. And vodaphone network
service satisfaction rate is also good. And it can be also found that BSNL network service is not
good as compare to others competitors as 14 respondents are found to be not satisfied with the
company network service.
Q8:- How would you rate the service's value for money?
Brands Excellent Good Fair Poor Not Sure
Airtel 6 14
Vodaphone 3 10 5
47
Idea 2 20 6
Bsnl 9 24 1
30
25
20 Airtel
15 Vodaphone
Idea
10
Bsnl
5
0
Excellent Good Fair
Interpretation: - Above data and chart analysis depicts that BSNL has the highest rating of
Value for /money as 33 persons out 34 has rated it as a excellent and good service provider. Then
Idea Company is following Bsnl as a best service provider for value for money. Other two
players Airtel and Voda has similar performance approximately. Both has been rated good and
excellent, where good has been rated more as compare to other options.
Q9:- What kind of problems occurs the most for which you need to contact customer
care/service department of your service provider?
H0: - People do not contact customer care mostly for activation and deactivation of the service
H1: - People contact customer care mostly for activation and deactivation of the service
48
Brands Billing Activation/ Informatio Network Expected

Related Deactivation n of VAS’s Problem values
Airtel 1 8 10 25
Vodaphone 18 7 25
Idea 6 12 5 3 25
Bsnl 6 11 13 25
Interpretation of Chi:- As the 95% level of confidence Chi square value 9.351 is more than the
table value 7.815, so the null hypothesis is rejected, it means People contact customer care
mostly for activation and deactivation of the service.
Interpretation: - From the above data analysis it has been found that most of the users of
telecommunication contact to their customers care for activation and deactivation of various
services. Then they also contact for information about various value added services provider by
companies like validity, call rates, sms pack, caller tones etc. Network service has been found a
problem of mainly BSNL users and to some extent of Idea users as well.
Q10:- In thinking about your most recent experience with that company, how much
satisfied are you with the customer care service?
H0: - Airtel is not the best service provider of customer care service.
H1: - Airtel is the best service provider of customer care service.

49
Airtel 14 6
Vodaphone 3 12 3
Idea 1 11 6 3 7
Bsnl 2 3 7 22
Interpretation of Chi:- As the 95% level of confidence Chi square value 11.143 is more than
the table value 9.488, so the null hypothesis is rejected, it means Airtel is the best service
provider of customer care service in the industry..
Interpretation:- From the above data interpretation we can conclude that Airtel is the best
service provider of customer care service. As it has been also found in some of the article that
Airtel is expending more on its customer care service as compare to other competitors in the
market. The Vodaphone service is also satisfactory as most of the users has rated it as satisfied
service provider. But Bsnl is to be found as a not satisfactory service provider. Most of the users
said that they have not talk to their customer care service provider even for a single time.
Q11:- How satisfied are you with the process of getting your queries resolved?

Airtel 12 8
Vodaphone 2 12 3
Idea 1 11 8 6 2
50
Bsnl 3 3 9 19
20
15
Airtel
10 Vodaphone
Idea
5
Bsnl
0
Very Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfy Very
Interpretation: - From above data analysis we can say that most of the users, who are satisfied
with their customer care service, are also satisfied with the process of getting their queries
resolved. Airtel again has been rated as the best service provider for getting queries resolved.
Results are similar approximately with the 10-question analysis.
Q12:- The customer service representative was very courteous.
Brands Strongly Somewhat Neutral Somewhat Strongly

Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
Airtel 7 13
Vodaphone 8 10
Idea 2 12 14
51
Bsnl 20 12 2
20
15
Airtel
10 Vodaphone
Idea
5
Bsnl
0
Strongly Somewhat Neutral Somewhat Strongly
Interpretation: - Above data analysis shows that most of the users of all companies found their
customer service provider courteous. But the result of BSNL is not good as the users say that
they have not talk to their customer care service provider even for a single time. Some of them
have talk but after a lot of waiting time. So they are found not satisfied and rated this question
also as dissatisfied. So after studying their views with a personal discussion we can not say that
the customer care representatives of BSNL are not courteous.
Q13:- The customer service representative was very knowledgeable.

Airtel 3 17
Vodaphone 1 17
Idea 8 5 15
52
Bsnl 20 12 2
20
15
Airtel
10 Vodaphone
Idea
5
Bsnl
0
Strongly Somewhat Neutral Somewhat Strongly
Interpretation: - Above data analysis shows that most of the users of all companies found their
customer service provider knowledgeable. But the result of BSNL is again not good as the users
say that they have not talk to their customer care service provider even for a single time. Some of
them have talk but after a lot of waiting time. So they are found not satisfied and rated this
question also as dissatisfied. So after studying their views with a personal discussion we can not
say that the customer care representatives of BSNL are not knowledgeable. But one more finding
is there in that question that Idea is not perfect in hiring best personnel for customer care
representatives as 8 users are neutral for this question reply.
Q14:- The waiting time for having my questions addressed was satisfactory.

Airtel 2 18
Vodaphone 3 15
Idea 8 5 15
53
Bsnl 20 12 2
20
15
Airtel
10
Vodaphone
Idea
5
Bsnl
0
Strongly Neutral Strongly
Disagree Agree
Interpretation: - Above data analysis shows that most of the users of all companies are found
satisfactory with the waiting time their queries resolved. But the result of BSNL is again not
good as the users say that they have not talk to their customer care service provider even for a
single time. Some of them have talk but after a lot of waiting time. So they are found not
satisfied and rated this question also as dissatisfied and neutral. So after studying their views
with a personal discussion we can not say that the customer care representatives of BSNL are not
able to solve their customer queries in a satisfactory time.
CHAPTER-5
54
LIMITATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS
&
CONCLUSION
Recommendations
 BSNL has to concentrate on its customer care service as most of the respondents are
found dissatisfied with company service. Even some of them have called it the worst cus-
tomer care service provider in the market. But it is also rated as best company for value
of money. So company can be competitive in the market by just investing in their cus-
tomer care service. BSNL users also found not satisfied with the network service to some
extent. So it can also improve it.
55
 Airtel performance of network service is the best in the market. It has been also rated the
best customer care service provider. But it has been found a little costlier than others
competitors in the market as not a single customer preferring it because of its pricing
strategies. So company should rethink on its pricing strategies. All the companies in the
industry have entered into a pricing war in the industry. So Airtel should also provide
some of its product and services competitive in the market.
 Vodaphone again rated best network service provider, best Value added services provider
and customer care service provider as well. Overall the performance of the company is
best in the industry. Company is also very competitive in the industry as well. But it can
improve more by providing more good value added services. Company SMS pack
weekly service is no more attractive in these days. And that is one of the most preferred
factors by youngsters for the purchase of a telecom service.
 Idea is the market leader of the area according to our survey as most of our respondents
are using idea services. Company is also providing a good network service. But company
users does not found satisfied with the customer care service as they found it busy most
of the times. And some of also said that customer care representatives are not knowledge-
able and courteous as well. So company should improve its Pre-Paid customer care ser-
vice.
Limitations of the Study
Carrying the survey was a general learning experience for us but we also faced some problems,
which are listed here:
 The market of Telecommunication is too vast and it is not possible to cover each and
every dealer, manufacturer and seller in the available short span of time.
56
 Generally the respondents were busy in their work and were not interested in responding
rightly.
 Respondents were reluctant to discover complete and correct information about them-
selves and their organization.
 Most respondents were not maintaining proper knowledge of various services provided
by their company, so they were unable to provide exact information.
 Most of the respondents don’t want to disclose the information about the various other
companies’ which they have experienced before.
 Some of the respondents were using the service first time of their company and they were
not able to properly differentiate among their product.
 Due to human behavior information may be biased. Mainly in BSNL case.
Conclusion
After doing that all study we can conclude that yes the Gap exist there in telecommunication
industry. Consumers have a lot of expectations from their service provider that are not performed
57
or deliver by their companies. As we know that consumer expect from BSNL to improve its
customer care service that can be found busy most of the times.
Now users of BSNL have rated it as a best company for value of money but still they are not
satisfied with some of company’s strategies. So this is the Gap between BSNL users and
company performance.
Then we have example of Punjab market leader Idea. Users of Idea are not satisfied with
company customer care service as it is a difficult process because one has to wait a lot or call
again and again to talk with a customer care representative.
Vodaphone performance is good but Gap exists not just with Voda, but with all the companies in
the industry. Various VAS (Value Added Services) provided by company does not seems to be
satisfying their users. Customers are not satisfied with SMS pack that is perceived costlier as
compare to others companies SMS packs by Voda users. Users also found monthly low call rate
pack costlier as well.
Airtel is to be found the best service provider of network service and customer care service as
well. This is one company in the industry that can be found delivering as per their customer
expectations. That’s why customers have rated it not as satisfactory but excellent. But one has to
pay more for superior service and Airtel is one example of such service. It is the costlier service
in the industry. Users of airtel paying more for validity and other value added services. And they
expect from company to offer some of the VAS at some of the competitive prices. Price is the
only Gap exists in Airtel between company and users.
58
CHAPTER-6
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERANCES
1. Kaushal, Rajeev & sinha. “Tele Communication “, Indian brand equity foundation, Dec,
2008
59
2. Bauer, Thomas, “Motivation and satisfaction of mega-business event attendees”, 2008

(http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=236E2B6B45C
F101465D540FD4401AEB9?contentType=Article&hdAction=lnkhtml&contentId=1718
193&history=true>) [Viewed 10/3/09]
3. Jallet, Frederic, “Yield management, Dynamic pricing and CRM in telecommunications”,

4. Ferguson, Rick, “Telecom's search for the ultimate customer loyalty platform”, 2008
5. Roos, Inger, “Emotional experiences in customer relationships – a telecommunication

study” 2008
6. Debnath, Roma Mitra, “Benchmarking telecommunication service in India”, 2008

7. Anderson, Gamie, “Developing a route to market strategy for mobile communications in

rural-India”2008
159&history=true> [Viewed 10/3/09]
60
8. Shankar, Ravi, “Innovation in the Indian Telecom Industry”, Feb, 2006

(http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=4128386147394
7BDB028FACA82763465?contentType=Article&hdAction=lnkhtml&contentId=873964
&history=true>) [Viewed 28/3/09]
9. Gustafsson, Anders, “The role of customer clubs in recent telecom relationships”, vol 16,
2005
10. Robins, Fread, “The marketing of 3G”, vol 21, no 6, 2008

11. Ramman, S.Raghu, “People Management issues in Indian KPOs”, 2007

12. Kalwani, Banumathy, “Consumer’s Attitude towards Cell phone Services”, 2006
13. Sundram, Geetha, “Marketing Mix Strategies Adopted By Selected Indian Business
Outsourcers”, 2008
14. Fernandez, Fronnie, “Understanding Dynamics in an Evolving Industry: Case of Mobile
VAS in India”, 2007
(http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=2086527F0757
A565F9A6CBAC8800F658?contentType=Article&hdAction=lnkhtml&contentId=88158
61
15. Kumar, Kaliyamoorthy, “Influence of Demographic Variables on Marketing Strategies in

the Competitive Scenario”, 2007
A565F9A6CBAC8800F658?contentType=Article&hdAction=lnkhtml&contentId=88158
16. Chinnadurai, Kalpana, “Promotional Strategies of Cellular Services: A Customer

Perspective”, 2006
A565F9A6CBAC8800F658?contentType=Book&hdAction=lnkhtml&contentId=175866
17. Seth et, Etal, “Managing the Customer Perceived Service Quality for Cellular Mobile
Telephone: an Empirical Investigation”, 2008
18. Tecor, Jha, “Understanding Mobile Phone Usage Pattern among College-Goers”, 2008
19. Bhatt, Andre, “A Study of Mobile Phone Usage Among the Post Graduate Students”,
2008
20. Chris, Kambitsis, “Telecom advertising in print media”, 2003

Journal
• The Indian Telecom Industry, IIM Calutta, Vatsal Goyal, 2007
• Investment Surge in the Indian Telecom Space, Times Global, Issue 2, 2008
• A multiple-perspective model for technology assessment, vol 3, 2008
• The marketing of 3G, Vol 21, no. 6, 2003
62
Books
• Zeithaml, Valarie (2008), Service Marketing, 4th Ed. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill
Publishing Company Lmt.
63
CHAPTER-7
APPENDIX
1.6 ANNEXURE
Questionnaire
Q1:- Which mobile connection do you have?

64
a) Airtel b) Vodaphone c) Idea d) Bsnl
Q2:- What kind of service you have
a) Pre-paid b) Post-paid
Q3:- Overall, how would you rate your service provider?
a) Excellent b) Good c) Average d) Poor e) Terrible f) Not Sure
Q4:- Rank the following factors which influenced you to buy the service of your choice?
a) Price
b) Network Service
c) Brand Image
d) Value Added Services (Rel to Rel Free after 11PM)
Q5- Rank the following VAS which attracted you the most to buy or retain the mobile service:
a) SMS pack 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent --1 2 3 4 5 -- Poor
b) Concession Call Rates 1 2 3 4 5
c) Internet Service 1 2 3 4 5
d) Full Talk Time 1 2 3 4 5
Q6:- How long have you used the service of that company?
a) Less than one month b) 1 to 6 months c) 6 months to a year
d) 1 to 3 years e) Over 3 years

65
Q7:- Overall, how satisfied are you, with network service of your company?
a) Very satisfied
b) Satisfied
c) Neutral
d) Dissatisfied
e) Very dissatisfied
Q8:- How would you rate the service's value for money?
a) Excellent b) Good c) Fair d) Poor d) Not sure
Q9:- What kind of problems occurs the most for which you need to contact customer
care/service department of your service provider? Rank them.
a) Billing related
b) Activation/deactivation related
c) Information about VAS’s
d) Network problem
Q10:- In thinking about your most recent experience with that company, how much satisfied are
you with the customer care service?
a) Very satisfied
b) Satisfied
66
c) Neutral
d) Dissatisfied
f) N/A
Q11:- How satisfied are you with the process of getting your queries resolved?
a) Very satisfied
b) Satisfied
c) Neutral
d) Dissatisfied
Q12:- The customer service representative was very courteous.
a) Strongly Disagree
b) Somewhat Disagree
c) Neutral
d) Somewhat Agree
e) Strongly Agree
Q13:- The customer service representative was very knowledgeable.
c) Neutral
67
d) Somewhat Agree
e) Strongly Agree
Q14:- The waiting time for having my questions addressed was satisfactory.
c) Neutral
d) Somewhat Agree
e) Strongly Agree
If you were not totally satisfied with the customer service, will you please describe the reasons
for your dissatisfaction?
--
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1

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

An Empirical Study of Service Gap b/w

Major Telecom Companies and their Customers of

Punjab GSM Circle

Submitted to Lovely Professional University

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Submitted by: Supervisor:

Sahil Kumar Miss Malika

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN

(Name & Signature of the Faculty Advisor)

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

(Student's name & Signature)

An individual cannot do project of this scale. I take this opportunity to express my

CONTENTS Page No.

1.1 Introduction To Subject

CHAPTER -2 Introductions to Companies 22-29

CHAPTER -3 Review of Literature 29-37

CHAPTER -4 Gap b/w Consumer Expectation and Companies Performance 38-52

CHAPTER -5 Summary, Recommendation, Limitations, Conclusion 53-56

CHAPTER -6 Bibliography 57-61

CHAPTER -7 Appendix 62-66

NEED OF THE STUDY

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

METHODOLOGY & PRESENTATION OF DATA

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES USED FOR ANALYSIS

The design for this study is Exploratory and Random sampling.

First Objective Null Hypothesis

Second Objective Null Hypothesis

Findings of the Study

INTRODUCTION TO THE SUBJECT

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO SUBJECT

1.1.1 Indian Telecommunications:

The stupendous growth of the telecommunication companies in India over

1.1.2 Evolution of the Industry:

Table 1.1: Important Milestones of Telecommunication Industry

Year Important Milestones

1881 Telephone service introduced in India

1947 Nationalization of all foreign telecommunication companies to form the Posts,

1985 Department of Telecommunications (DOT) established, an exclusive provider of

1997 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India created.

2000 DoT becomes a corporation, BSNL

(Source: By Consulting Club, IIM Calcutta)

1.1.3 Major Players

There are three types of players in telecom services:

• -State owned companies (BSNL and MTNL)

• -Private Indian owned companies (Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices,)

• -Foreign invested companies (Hutchison-Essar, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Escotel, Idea Cellular,

On October 1, 2000 the Department of Telecom Operations, Government of India became a

1.1.4 Companies Market Shares

Company Million Subs(Nov 2003) % share

BSNL 40.3 58.8

Reliance 6.1 8.9

Bharti 5.7 8.3

MTNL 4.9 7.2

Hutchison 2.9 4.2

Idea Cellular 2.1 3.0

BPL 1.4 2.1

Tata Teleservices 1.3 1.9