1

Professor & Head Department Of Information Technology And Management BVU- AMPLIFY PUNE-411043

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Internship Project Report titled Marketing Strategies Of Bharti Airtel is an original work by Mr. Himanshu Chawla PRN NO. 1000002287 of PGDITM(MM) 2010-12 Batch as part of his study.

This Report has not been submitted for award of any other Degree/Diploma.

Date: 14th Nov 2011 Station: Pune

Supervisor & Guide

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I acknowledge the sincere assistance provided to me from several rather unexpected quarters during the course of execution of this study. It would be a mammoth task to place on record my gratitude to each and every one of them but a whole hearted attempt would be made nevertheless, least I be branded ungrateful.

I am extremely thankful to Mr. Bhoopendra Singh Rajawat, (Zonal Sales Manager) for giving me an opportunity to undergo training in BHARTI AIRTEL and making my stay at AIRTEL a memorable learning experience.

Where the emotions are involved words cease to work. I am deeply indebt to Mr. S Mukherjee for his encouragement, affection, valuable advice and guidance that helped me to complete this project successfully.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The project aims at understanding the Marketing Strategies at Airtel and its impact on the perception of Airtel Cellular Services.

Research has demonstrated conclusively that it is far more costly to win a new customer than it is to maintain an existing one. And there is no better way to retain a customer than to exceed his expectations. For this purpose it is essential to know the level of customer satisfaction. The focus of my research was the measurement of customer satisfaction level for the services provided by Bharti Airtel. The research was done for the corporate/youth clients of Bharti Airtel. My job was not only to represent the Corporate Sales Dept, and collect the feedback from the clients but also to get the major complaints resolved through internal counseling. There can be no better opportunity to interact with the external as well as the internal customers of an organization. Finally, the results of the research verify the fact that keeping the customer satisfied is the best strategy to not only retain the existing customers but also to expand the business to new horizons.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xi. xii. xiii. xiv. INTRODUCTION TELECOMMUNICATION MARKET IN INDIA GSM MARKET IN INDIA PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY MARKET SITUATION COMPETITIVE SITUATION MARKETING STRATEGY ADAPTED BY BHARTI OBJECTIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY LIMITATION SWOT ANALYSIS CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY QUESTIONNAIRE 6-10 11-12 13-20 21-22 23 24-30 31-36 37 38 39 40-41 42 43 44-54

INTRODUCTION
Airtel (Bharti Airtel Ltd.)

Bharti Airtel Limited was incorporated on July 7, 1995 for promoting investments in telecommunications services. Its subsidiaries operate telecom services across India. Bharti Airtel is Indias leading private sector provider of telecommunications services based on strong customer base consisting of 50 million total customers, which constitute, 44.6 million mobile and 5.4 million fixed line customers, as of March 31, 2007.

Airtel comes to us from Bharti Airtel Limited a part of the biggest private integrated telecom conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. Bharti provides a range of telecom services, which include Cellular, Basic, Internet and recently introduced National Long Distance. Bharti also manufactures and exports telephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being the largest manufacturer of telephone instruments in India, it is also the first company to export its products to the USA. Bharti has also put its footsteps into Insurance and Retail segment in collaboration with Multi National

giants. Bharti is the leading cellular service provider with a footprint in 23 states covering all four metros and more than 50 million satisfied customers.

SERVICES

Airtel Prepaid Airtel Prepaid, the ready cellular card from Airtel comes to you from Bharti Enterprises, Indias leading telecom service provider. Going mobile with Airtel Prepaid is a new way of life. With a host of great features, also simple to use, Airtel Prepaid makes everything that you dreamt and believed, possible.

Total Cost Control You can control your Airtel Prepaid like never before. No more rentals or deposits simply recharge as much as you need to from as low as Rs. 10 to as high as Rs. 10,000/-.

Pre activated STD/ISD without deposits or rentals You can now enjoy a pre activated STD/ISD on your Airtel Prepaid. No more paying deposits or having a minimum balance in your account to make an STD/ISD call. Hassle free calls are here to stay!

Strong Network Coverage Enjoy complete clarity when calling with Airtels world class technology and unbreakable network coverage that spans over 23 circles across the country.

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

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

SMS (Short Messaging Service) Send messages quickly and easily using text, if its too noisy to talk or you dont have much time. Its the way to share those interesting one liners, important reminders and rib-tickling jokes, with anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world.

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

Easy Billing Enjoy a host of rich features only with Airtel e bill. Sort your calls between personal and official or analyze your usage, at the click of a button. To change your paln call our IVR at 121 and leave a request.

Standing Instructions You can give us standing instructions to debit your credit card account for your monthly Airtel bills. All you have to do is fill the Standing Instructions Form and mail, fax it to us or drop it any of our relationship centers.

Credit Limit Your pre set credit limit mentioned on your monthly bill helps you keep your mobile charges in control, keeps track of your usage and ensures that your mobile phone is not misused. You may also choose to pay us an additional refundable deposit to enhance your credit limit or opt for your convenient payment method of Credit Card Standing instruction.

Widest Roaming National and International Airtels roaming service allows you to stay connected and use your mobile phone to make or receive calls from almost anywhere in India and also over 160 countries, abroad.

Conference Call You can hold a teleconference with 5 people simultaneously with Call Conferencing service from Airtel. In fact, you can set up a conference even when the other five are using a landline phone.

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

10

TELECOMMUNICATION MARKET IN INDIA

The Indian Telecommunications Network with 250 million telephone connections is the fifth largest in the world and is the second largest among the emerging economies of Asia. Today it is the fastest growing market in the world and represents unique opportunities for UK companies in the stagnant global scenario. Tele- density, which was languishing at 2% in 1999, has shown an impressive jump to 9.5% in 2006 and 10.5% in 2007 and is set to increase to 20% in the next five years beating the Govt, target by three years. Accordingly, India requires incremental investments of USD 20-25 bin for the next five years.

Intense competition between the four main groups Bharti, Vodafone, Tata and Reliance and with the State sector incumbents BSNL and MTNL has brought about a significant drop in tariffs. There has been almost 74% in cell phone charges, 70% in ILD calls and 25% drop in NLD charges, resulting in a boom time for the consumers.

The Government has played a key enabling role by deregulating and liberalizing the industry, ushering in competition and paving the way for growth. While there were regulatory irregularities earlier, resulting in litigation, these have all been addressed now. Customs duties on hardware and mobile handsets have been reduced 14% to 5%.

11

INDIAN CELLULAR MARKET

The Bharti Group, which operates in 23 circles, continues to be the countrys largest cellular operator, with 50 lakh subscribers. BSNL, which operates in 22 circles, has a subscriber base of 37 lakh subscribers. Thus BSNL stands second largest cellular operator in terms of subscriber base at the end of the fiscal ending March 31, 2007, displacing Vodafone from the second position. Vodafone , which operates in only 18 circles, is the 3rd largest operator with a subscriber base of 32 lakh.

While the subscriber base jumped by 3.38% to 44.39 lakh in the metros, subscriber base of category A circles of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu jumped by 10.18% to reach 43.64 lakh. Category B circles of Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh(West), Uttar Pradesh(East), Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal recorded a jump of 10.69%, with a total base of 33.74 lakh subscribers. Circles C has reported 12.74% growth with subscriber numbers jumping to 5.08 lakh.

Among the metros, while Mumbai added 1,63,180 subscribers, higher than the 1,58,646 added by Delhi, the capitals cellular subscriber base of over 80 lakh is still higher than Mumbais 66.89 lakh. While the cellular industry has been on roll for the first three quarters of the previous financial year with an average of 16.75 lakh monthly additions in the third quarter, the first two months of 2007 had seen the growth slowing down.

12

GSM MARKET IN INDIA

Regional Interest Groups GSM India

With a population of around 1.1 billion growing at roughly 1.7% a year, India is potentially one of the most exciting GSM markets in the world. After two rather difficult years, the past 12 months have seen the regions promise beginning to come to fruition. Much of this success can be attributed to the stabilization of the licensing and regulatory environment.

Competition in the mobile sector has already had a visible impact on prices with calls currently costing less than 9% per minute. This means that the service costs have fallen by 60% since the first GSM networks became live in 1995. It also helps explain why a recent Telecom Asia survey revealed that more than 70% of Indian mobile subscribers felt that prices were now at a reasonable level.

13

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

India fastest growing GSM mart India is expected to have 145 million GSM (global system for mobile communications) customers by 2007-08 compared to 26 million subscribers as on March 2005, according to the Global Mobile Suppliers Association. "For GSM, India is a success story. It is one of the fastest growing markets with its subscribers base doubling in 2005. At this pace, the target of 150 million subscribers by 2007- 2008 is definitely achievable, Alan Hadden, president of GSA, said at a news conference in New Delhi.

14

DOES GSM HAVE THE EDGE?

GSM operators are not the only ones who are worried about the rapid strides made by CDMA mobile players Reliance Infocomm and Tata Indicom in the Indian cellular market? The GSM suppliers both handset and equipment - who incidentally also have their other foot firmly placed in the CDMA pie, are beginning to lose some sleep over what was earlier termed as `niche and `minuscule data carriage market by the operators

15

Apart from the strong success of the two CDMA operators whose networks are based on code division multiple access (CDMA), the miserable showing of the four global standard for mobile (GSM) based networks that launched general packet radio service (GPRS) service for data connectivity in last three years, has the vendors worried. Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) now believes that even though India will primarily remain a voice traffic-led market in next two-three years, the data traffic component will grow by 25-30 per cent, an optimism that its trying to make GSM operators feel as well.

THE CDMA CHALLENGE CDMA players had launched their services with CDMA 2000 1X-based networks, which can give hi-speed, always-on connectivity to the Internet,

16

and other data services. GSM operators, on the other hand, have had to migrate from the frustrating experience of WAP (wireless application protocol) to GPRS, which has not significantly improved the subscribers experience of surfing the Net on/from mobile.

The top brass of GSA, an organisation comprising Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Alcatel and Lucent Technologies - met on Tuesday in the capital to persuade the operators to adopt EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) and leave GPRS behind as a dream gone sour.

Only Airtel, Vodafone, BPL Mobile and Idea Cellular had launched GPRS, but the data transfer speeds of GPRS have been abysmal. The field trials gave a speed of around 54 kbps, but the actual speeds have not exceeded 14-18 kbps, a major reason why GPRS growth has been so slow. As against the total GSM cellular base of 5.61 crore, the country has between 2,80,000 lakh GPRS users only. In comparison, the two CDMA operators have about 120 lakh connections. All these sets are data compliant. Though no figures are available as to how many use these for data services, the figure is believed to be respectable as a percentage ratio for

17

CDMA.

BHARTI is almost there But first, the EDGE! Bharti Cellular is close to commercially launching its EDGE service in Delhi and Mumbai by end May or early June, sources said. The company was the first to conduct field trials in November with its equipment supplier Ericsson. Idea too held EDGE field trials in February this year with its vendor Nokia. Vodafone and BPL are yet to hold the trials. The two companies would eventually migrate to EDGE, but perhaps after seeing the response to Bhartis service.

EDGE holds the promise of delivering data speeds of around 170-180 kbps (as against the theoretical speed of around 380 kbps) which, if achieved, promises the launch of many data applications. The scalable cost of migrating from GPRS to EDGE is not too high and mainly comprises software upgrades in case of a modern network such as Bharti and Hutch, claimed chairman of GSA India chapter Rakesh Malik.

18

Where are the models? What will matter a lot in this war will be the availability of EDGE compliant handsets at affordable rates. While the two CDMA operators have been giving out handsets that can give hi-speed data transfer, same has not been the case with GSM. Even now, GPRS handsets have not become commonplace and GPRS feature is found only in mid and high-end segment handsets.

End Sum Game When the networks deploy EDGE, subscribers can expect the delivery of advanced mobile services such as easy downloading of video and music clips, full multimedia messaging, besides high-speed Internet and e-mail access, provided their handset supports all this.

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

19

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

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

20

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY

Airtel to Touch Tomorrow with a new brand vision The Bharti Mobile promoted AirTel cellular service will go in for repositioning of its brand image. The new brand ethos is portrayed in two distinct fashions - the tag line "Touch Tomorrow", which underscores the leading theme for the new brand vision, followed by "The Good Life", which underscores a more caring, more customer centric organization. Aimed at re-engineering its image as just simply a cellular service provider to an all out information communications services provider, Touch Tomorrow is meant to embrace the new generation of mobile communication services and the changing scope of customer needs and aspirations that come along with it.

LIFE TIME PLAN PRE-PAID card users need not worry anymore about recharging their coupons every month. Company has launched a plan that allows users to take a pre-paid connection with lifetime validity for a one time payment of Rs. 999. Subscribers availing themselves of this scheme will also get full

21

talk time for the recharge coupon they purchase and also have the option to buy Taiwanese manufactured Bird mobile handsets for as low as Rs. 1,399.

The move is aimed at stopping the churn in the pre-paid subscriber base. Once a subscriber takes this plan, he will always be an Airtel subscriber whether the mobile is being used or not.

MARKET SITUATION

22

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

Once the networks were commercially launched, it became a number game with a multitude of schemes being offered to woo customers Initially the cellphone was perceived as a status symbol and utility took a back seat The target segment in Delhi were corporate and the high income group. The average capacity installed was for 1.5 lakh subscribers. This coupled with the steep license fee paid to DOT put pressure on the operators to break-even by rapidly expanding their markets. In the first two years, this led to a number of schemes being offered and prices crashing.

COMPETITIVE SITUATION

23

Airtel launched its services before Essar and skimmed the market picking up the bulk of the high usage premium clients.

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

To promote themselves, both the players have been dependent on tactical advertising However, they have restrained from using comparative advertising Hoardings have been a very popular medium for carrying the advertisements Airtel has also been advertising on television using the Bharti Telecom name. SALES DEPARTMENT AND STRATEGY

A. Major Accounts (Direct Channel)

24

Handles corporate (named and framed) accounts Forecasting of sales Mapping the accounts Providing after sales support to the subscribers Maintaining call reports for records Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the requirement of the market B. IDC (Indirect Channel) Handling distribution Maintaining records and level check of the channel partner Liaisoning between the channel partner and the company Target achievement Training the executives of the channel C. Distribution Support 1. Logistics Monitor handset and SIM card requirements of channel partners and co-ordinate with stores. Settle areas of concerns such as incentive claims of channel partners 2. Rental

25

Provide cellular services (SIM cards) on rent Provide cellular phone on rent Useful for people visiting Delhi for short interval 3. Telesales Call customers and generate sales lead Follow up with the customers, if they need any assistance Pass on the sales lead to the channel department 4. Audit Consultant to the AirTel Showrooms Monitor the operations at the AirTel distribution outlets organize training 5. Retail Locate shops to open retail counters Monitor the retail counters

MARKET SEGMENTATION

Segmentation is beneficial because of better predictability of the target

26

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

TARGET MARKET SEGMENT

Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The rationale behind it is that only those segments should be targeted who value time and have the paying capacity. It Is also planning to target the business tourists during their stay in the capital.

About 60% of the clientele are top executives of corporate houses. About 15% are foreign organisations and the rest are professionals and small businessmen. During the introduction stage there was intense pressure to get consumers across to hook up with their brand, because getting them to switch brand loyalty later would be hard.

So far Airtel marketers have been concentrating totally on the business

27

executive class but now that the basic viable volumes has beer) built up and prices have declined to a certain extent they are planning to venture further field.

POSITIONING The product is sought to be positioned as a business efficiency tool. a lifestyle revolution and a status symbol The emphasis is to remove misconception that the cellphone is an expensive means of communication and drive home the point that the cellphone is actually a day-to-day utility.

PRODUCT POLICY AND PLANNING The product or service is the heart of the marketing mix. Without a product or a service customers' needs cannot be satisfied.

The basic product promise by Airtel is mobility. Airtel's main marketing strategy is to be a first mover all the time. It has recognised the significance of making the first move-- because in the field of Communication &

28

Information Technology changes occur at a tremendous pace.

Effective product segmentation has to be carried on continuously because basic services can be and will be copied and in time become expected component of the product. Airtel seeks to carry out this segmentation through provision of new information services and making new facilities available. The product policy and planning depends on the stage of the product life cycle. At present the cellular phone market has reached the maturity stage. Since, the premium segment is nearing saturation the company targeting the upper middle and middle-middle class. In order to do so Airtel is trying to optimise the price performance package by offering suitable "product bundling".

This involves the selection of the suitable hardware (handset) and its software (its services.) with reasonable price in order to deliver maximum price performance to its customers. In addition, it offers free Airtime services and other concessions to make the prices and thus the product more attractive. It has also opened a 24 hours customer service.

29

PRICE AND PRICING POLICY AIRTEL has realised that the Indian market is price sensitive. Therefore it care of the has come up with various innovative tariff schemes to take needs of different category of customers.

Generally, the cellular services are more expensive than the land line based telephone services. This is due to the reason that the operating companies are required to pay a fee to the government for using airtime.

MARKETING STRATEGY ADAPTED BY BHARTI

30

Bharti has spent a considerable amount on advertising its mobile phone service, Airtel. Besides print advertising, the company had put up large no of hoardings and kiosks in and around Delhi. The objective behind designing a promotion campaign for the Airtel services is to promote the brand awareness and to build brand preferences.

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

Brand awareness is spread through the' campaigns and brand preference through brand stature. Airtel's campaign in the capital began with a series of 'teaser' hoardings across the city,' bearing just the company's name and

31

without explaining what Airtel was. In the next phase the campaign associated Airtel with Cellular only thereafter was the Bharti Cellular connection brought up. Vans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing out brochures about the company and its services to all consumers. About 50,000 direct callers were sent out. When the name was well entrenched in the Delhiitess mind, the Airtel campaign began to focus on the utility of Cellphone. In the first four months alone Airtei's advertisement spend exceeded Rs. 4 crores.

As of today the awareness level Is 60% unaided. This implies that if potential or knowledgeable consumers are asked to name a Cellular phone service provider that is on the top of his/her mind 60% of them would name Airtel. As for aided it -is 100% (by giving clues and hints etc.).

Brand strength of a product or the health of a brand is measured by the percentage score of the brand on the above aided and the unaided tests. The figures show that Airtel is a healthy and a thriving brand.

Every company has a goal, which might comprise a sales target and a

32

game plan with due regard to Its competitor. Airtel 's campaign strategy is designed keeping in mind its marketing strategy. The tone, tenor and the stance of the visual ads are designed to convey the image of a market leader in terms of its market share. It tries to portray the image of being a "first mover every time" and that of a "market leader".

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

Airtel, keeping in mind the importance of the customer retention, values its heavy users the most and constantly indulges in service innovation. But, since heavy users comprise only 15 - 20% of the population the other segment cannot be neglected.

Besides this, other promotional strategies that Airtel has adopted are . (i) People who have booked Airtel services have been treated to exclusive premiers of blockbuster movies. Airtel has tied up with

33

Lufthansa to offer customer bonus miles on the German airlines frequent flier's programs. (ii) There have been educational campaigns, image campaigns, pre launch advertisements, launch advertisements, advertise-ments, congratulatory attacking

advertisements,

promotional

advertisements and tactical advertisements.

DISTRIBUTION
Company

Franchisee

Distributor

Dealer

Dealers

Customer Customer

The- company whose operations are concentrated in and around Delhi. It 27 Franchisees and 15 Distributors- They also have 8 'instant access cash card counters- Each franchises or distributor can have any number of dealers under him as long as the person is approved by the Airtel authority.

34

Each franchises has to invest Rupees Ten Lakhs. to obtain a franchise and should employ an officer recruited by Airtel. This person acts as an liaison between the company and the franchises. The franchises can it any number of dealers as long as their territories do not overlap. But unfortunately Airtel has not been very successful in controlling territorial overlaps of dealers. The franchises can carry out his 1 her own promotional strategy. For this the. company contributes 75% of the money and the franchises contributes 25% of the money. The dealers under the franchisee receive the same commission. The franchises and the dealer obtain the feedback from the customers and they are sent through the liaison officer on a day-to-day basis to Airtel. The dealer has to invest Rupees. One Lakh as an initial investment. The dealer of Airtel are not allowed to provide any other operators' service.

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

35

The staff of the dealers and the franchisees are provided training by the Airtel personnel.

The complaints encountered by the franchisees and dealers are either handset being non-functional or the SIM Card not getting activated. Anything more complicated is referred to the main Airtel office in Delhi.

OBJECTIVE

Objectives of the study:

To study the importance and development of tele

36

communication industry in todays scenario To understand the various Marketing Strategies which Airtel has adopted to survive in highly competitive cell phone industry To make a comparative study of the major players in Indian Service provider

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The methodology adopted for this project is exploratory in nature since there is no hypothesis that has to be tested. The conclusions have been

37

drawn by exploratory research work.

There have been two sources of information collected: a. Primary Sources:I have met retailers of the Airtel of the company and have been able to get first hand information regarding the product, its features and the buying patterns of the product. Their input has been valuable. b. Secondary Sources:It has played a vital role to play in this report. A good amount of data has been collected from various published articles and reports found in magazines and journals. Another vital source has been the Internet and particularly the companies own website.

LIMITATIONS

Every attempt will be taken to obtain the error free and meaningful result but as nothing in this world is 100% perfect I believe that there will still the

38

chance for error on account of following limitations-

1. Respondents unavailability 2. Time pressure and fatigue on the part of respondents and interviewer 3. Courtesy basis

SWOT ANALYSIS

1. STRENGTHS Cost Advantage

39

Current leaders in quality service Largest distribution network Ability to constantly innovate Highly skilled workforce Entrepreneurial zeal Airtels increased equity and market cap 2. WEAKNESSES To prove credibility Price pressures Need for Government support Awareness Sales and Marketing

3. OPPORTUNITIES To sustain passion and commitment Attain higher value services Vertical repeatable solutions

40

Low penetration level in rural markets Collaborative business needs to be explored 4. THREATS Foreign Investments Global trending moving from GPS to WLL Lack of global parity in telecom tariff Other competition

CONCLUSION

From above the details I conclude that 70% Airtel users preferred to

41

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

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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

42

GSM System. In EUROCON 88, June 2005. Seshadri Mohan and Ravi Jain. Two user location strategies for personal communication services. IEEE Personal Communications. 1(1), 1994. Moe Rahnema. Overview of the GSM System and Protocol Architecture. IEEE Communications Magazine. April 1993. C. Watson. Radio Equipment for GSM. In D.M Balston and R.C.V Macario, editors, Cellular Radio Systems, Artech House, Boston, 1993. Robert G. Winch. Telecommunication Transmission Systems. McGrawHill New York, 1993. Vodafone Airtel Idea BSNL

QUESTIONNAIRE

This questionnaire is formed to get to know about the youth preference in the telecom industry and also to know about the expectation from the

43

telecom company.
Name: Contact No: Age: Address: Education: Gender:

1. What kind of connection are you currently on? Prepaid Postpaid 2. When talking about telecom, which company comes 1st to your mind? Airtel Vodafone Idea Aircel Reliance Tata Docomo Bsnl/Mtnl Others

3. Which telecom company is your current primary service provider?

44

Airtel Vodafone Idea Aircel

Reliance Tata Docomo Bsnl/Mtnl Others

4. Which telecom network is used the most in your friend circle? Airtel Vodafone Idea Aircel Reliance Tata Docomo Bsnl/Mtnl Others

5. What is your current friend circle size? <5 6 10 11 20 >21

6. If you are given the choice to use an additional phone which network will you prefer? Airtel Vodafone Reliance Tata Docomo

45

Idea Aircel

Bsnl/Mtnl Others

7. Who influences you in selecting the provider? (Rank according to influencer) Self Parents Friends Others

8. Which company handset you are currently using? Nokia Motorola Samsung 9. What is the price range of your handset? <2500 10001<20000 Sony Ericsson Others

46

2501<5000 5001<10000

>20001

10.How many sims do you currently have? 1 2 3 4 >5

11.

Name the service providers whose sim you have.(Tick all

the provider name) Airtel Vodafone Idea Aircel Reliance Tata Docomo Bsnl/Mtnl Others

12. Map sim according to your usage: Provider Name Local on net Local SMS off STD Internet Social networking VAS Download

47

net Airtel Reliance Idea Bsnl Vodafone Docomo Aircel

13. How frequently do you recharge & what is the amount?

48

Recharge
Weekely Monthly 0-25 SMS Voice STD VAS 25-50 50-100

Range
100-200

14.

Which type of tariff/ plans you use the most? Full Talk Value Message Plans Small Recharge Others Night Chat Plans Internet Plans STD tariff

15.

What kind of expectation youth have from the provider in

following attributes?(Scale according to your preference from 1 to 5) 1= Very Imp., 2= Imp., 3= Neutral., 4= Not Imp., 5= least imp Parameters Scale Rating

49

Customer Care Call Rates Network Value Added Services(VAS) Availability coupons Schemes Talk Time & Validity 3G Services (Faster Internet, Social calling) Networking, Video Of Recharge

16.

Which telecom company do you think is the:

50

Leader Innovator Slow Movers Adapters 17. Which telecom company comes to your mind when we talk

about following attributes: Plans Services Call Rates Network Value Added Services(VAS) AvailabilityOf Coupons 3G Services Overall Recharge

51

18.

What are your views about Bharti Airtel?(Tick according to

your choice) Customer Friendly Wide Coverage None of these 19. Yes No 20. What is your purpose of using mobile internet? Surfing Chatting Social Networking Downloading Playing Online Games Cheaper Brand Telecom Leader Any Other

Do you use Mobile Internet?

Others

21.

What is your approx current spending on mobile internet? <50 151-500

52

51-150 22.

>501

How many times do you recharge your phone in a

month(for mobile internet)? 1 2 23. 3 4 How much you are willing to pay for mobile internet? <50 51-150 24. Yes No 25. Yes No 26. Yes Are you looking forward to use this service? Are you aware of 3G service? 151-500 >501

Are you satisfied with the speed of your mobile internet?

53

No

54

55