Airtel A Case Study

Introduction
Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, Indias largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units Mobile services, Telemedia services and Enterprise services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology. Airtel was voted as the Best Cellular Service in the country for four consecutive years.

Cellular Market Analysis Early 2000

International Telecom Union (ITU), EMC Cellular mobile telephony tariffs in India lowest in the world in 2002. 300-minute basket for cellular service rates India - USD 16/month China - USD 21/month Thailand - USD 29/month Malaysia - USD 40/month Indonesia - USD 42/month Average monthly rental and airtime for cellular services: Rs. 202 and Rs. 1.99 per minute respectively. Prepaid services introduced by all operators at an extremely affordable tariff of Rs. 300 per month.

Magic launch-2002 Porters Five forces

Prepaid Cellular Competition Analysis 51 Cellular networks in 2002 Major Competitors in 2002 Hutchinson BATATA-BPL Aircel Koshika Spice Communication Reliance Telecomm BSNL MTNL

Entry Reasons for Success

Easy Usage
Easy to acquire connection Pre-activated SIM Instant connectivity No rental hassles No security deposits

Easy Recharge
International scratch system for Magic Cards

Reasons for Success

Effective Distribution
Easily available in departmental stores, gift shops, kirana shops, retail outlets, telephone booths etc Doorstep delivery in 2002

Customer Satisfaction
Affordable Easily accessible Strong customer relationship

Features
STD/ISD Facility Voice Mail Short Message Services Free CLIP Balance Enquiry

Bharti Magic 3 Cs
Leading Competitors Hutchinson and BATATA-BPL Competitive price, distribution and customer satisfaction strategies Top moves to target customers Airtel Connect showrooms Home Delivery First player to launch roaming cellular services and Smart Mail, Web Message, Call hold etc Attractive pricing strategies Focus on Youth

Competitor

Customer

Company

Bharti Airtel, is Asias leading integrated telecom services provider with operations in India and Sri Lanka. Services are offered under the brand name Airtel: Broadband & Telephone Services Long Distance Services Enterprise Services Mobile Services using GSM

Bharti Magic -Product Levels 2002

Augmented Product

Expected Product

Core Product
SIM Incoming Calls Outgoing Calls

Easy Distribution

SMS

Affordability

Voicemail

Customer Service

Brand Magic
New Celebrity endorsers (Sachin Tendulkar & SRK) who projected a fresh and youthful image were chosen to reflect Magics brand values of energy, hope, optimism and achievement. Special features for Magic Subscribers like free caller line identification, and innovative services like balance on screen. Bharti came up with many ad specific taglines like: Kabhi bhi, Kahin bhi, Jahan Chaho, Airtel Magic Pao

Brand Magic

Conducting contests for its subscribers through SMS. For Instance the Khulja Sim Sim contest launched in April 2002.
Bharti Airtel, Asias leading integrated telecom service provider, announced the launch of the Magic Dekho, Talktime Pao offer on its DTH service digital TV last month. This is an exclusive offer for Airtel Prepaid Mobile customers across the country where on buying a digital TV connection at Rs. 2000 with 3 months of Super Value Pack, the Airtel Prepaid Mobile customer receives 1000 minutes of local Airtel to Airtel talktime.

Marketing Revamp Need 2002

Sources of new product development Radical transformation in cellular industry Intensifying competition in light of immense market potential To retain its position as market leader Forecast of higher market growth Estimated number of subscribers to reach over 25 million by the year 2004 Customers exposure to media, raised expectations

Target Customer
Magic was positioned as friendly, mass-market brand Targeted the youth, stood for simplicity and attitude anything is possible Aimed at attracting infrequent and non-interested users of the mobile phones Cellular services dropped in prices and target new customer segments As the category developed with prices going down sharply, Airtel began talking to a wider spectrum of potential users

The aim is to be relevant to the masses and make all their dreams, hopes and desires come true at Rs 300 per month Hemant Sachdev, Director, Marketing

Identifying the success factor

Concept development The idea demanded a high brand image. Magic was brought under the umbrella brand Airtel, renamed as Magic Airtel. The name Airtel brought positive associations to the mind of the customer. Bharti changed the logo, the new logo reflected the new brand values of energy, hope, optimism, achievement and friendliness. Old logo New logo
New celebrity endorsers (Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor) projected a fresh and youthful image

Identifying success factor

Rediffussion DY&R, which is the ad agency that took charge of revamping Airtels brand image by giving a better tagline which caught some emotional appeal. SIGNIFICANCE -- This was the first time A R Rehman had agreed to work for any brand, anywhere in the world. The music from the commercial became the most downloaded ring tone in the history of telecommunications. -- Tagline denotes that each and every person in India live every moment (emotions, feelings etc.) of the life with Airtel. Magic was successfully relaunched taking the ownership of the entire space of communication and strengthening the emotional bond Airtel enjoys with its customers

CRM at Airtel
Vision To provide Airtel services anywhere and at any time. A customer should get the same quality of service no matter which call centre he contacts. The implementation of CRM also helped Bharti in having a unified workflow and unified processes across the country. Benefits Understand and segregate customer needs - With the help of CRM, they are able to provide customers different schemes and services depending on airtime usage. The CRM strategy at Airtel revolves around two aspects: Operational CRM - Helping call centers with workflow and dayto-day activities. Analytical CRM - Provides staff with the required information on customers; this is used for business development activities.

The differentiation factor

Offered many special features for subscribers Free caller identification, services like balance on screen and balance on demand Doorstep delivery of Magic cards Regional roaming network launched in Asia for the subscribers, regional roaming facility offered to customers within the country as well

Waiver of airtime charges on incoming calls between Airtel cellular customers

Ease of operation, affordability and ready availability

Airtel- Future prospects:

According to market researches, after China, India would be the fastest growing mobile telephony market in Asia Pacific with revenues slated to increase at a CAGR of 18.4% to reach $25 billion in 2011 from current $9 billion. Cellular penetration would increase to 38.6% in 2011 with 58% of rural families and 95% of urban families possessing mobile phone. The market will be driven by prepaid connections, which will account for more than 93% connections. It is expected that the penetration will be driven by an increased focus on rural market, cheap handsets, aggressive promotions and handset bundle offers. This penetration of 2% represents an immense opportunity for cellular players.

Airtel- Future prospects:

In the current scenario, as the Indian telecom market attracts huge funds of several global telecom giants, Bhartis higher profitability and strong liquidity position serves as a twin-edged weapon to expand the market & combat the growing competition. In the wireless segment, a further gain in market share appears well within Bhartis scope, given its aggressive pace of net adds, till the time Idea and RCOM go full throttle on their pan-India GSM roll-outs. In the non-wireless segment, the Company is looking for new growth opportunitiesits entry in the media space by launching the DTH service is one such example.