49231349-AIRTEL

Summer Training Project Report ON

“MARKET ANALYSIS OF AIRTEL TELECOM ”

TRAINING SUPERVISOR

SUBMITTED BY

SUNIL KASHYAP

NAVNEET SINGH

MARKETING MANAGER

ENROLLMENT NO: 05820601711

SUBMITTED AT:

TRINITY INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES, DWARKA, DELHI (AFFILIATED FROM GURU GOBIND SINGH INDRAPRASTHA UNIVERSITY, NEW DELHI.)

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DECLARATION

I NAVNEET SINGH student of BBA GENERAL, do hereby declare that the project report submitted by me on ‘MARKET ANALYSIS OF AIRTEL TELECOM’ is absolutely original and consists of true facts.

Arun Kumar Singh

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The reports on the research work of “MARKET ANALYSIS OF AIRTEL TELECOM” in the following pages are the outcome of my research study done chiefly at NEW DELHI. I am extremely grateful to all the employees Bharti Airtel who have helped me in completing my training here. Their Guidance has helped me in completing my training here and enabled me to gain knowledge about the marketing strategy of organization. I would like to express sincere gratitude to Mr. SUNIL KASHYAP (Zonal Business Manager) who given me a chance to be a part of such a prestigious organization. He had been a constant source of inspiration all throughout my project work been able to complete my project successfully.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. PREFACE--------------------------------------------------------------------5 2. INTRODUCTION-----------------------------------------------------------6 3.STRATEGY------------------------------------------------------------------24 4.AIRTEL SERVICES--------------------------------------------------------34 5.OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY-------------------------------------------49 6.LITERATURE REVIEW--------------------------------------------------50 7.RESEARCH METHDOLOGY-------------------------------------------51 8.DATA ANALYSIS AN INTERPRETATION-------------------------55 9.FINDINGS------------------------------------------------------------------66 10.CONCLUSIONS----------------------------------------------------------69 11. RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS-------------------70 12. LIMITATIONS-----------------------------------------------------------73 13. SWOT ANALYSIS------------------------------------------------------74 14. BIBLIOGRAPHY--------------------------------------------------------76

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PREFACE

In its broadest sense project report is necessary to make the students of business school familiar with the industrial environment prevailing in the world. To be competitive and work aggressive, students need to know the policies, procedures and the trends going on in the present industrial world. The purpose and objective of this project report is to find out the main objective of the study is this project report has been painstakingly and thoroughly prepared to cover extensively various facets – both micro as well as macro – of the field of telecommunication marketing. Its coverage is broad and up to date and it is balanced in terms of concept and application. Since customers are the most important asset of any organization, there is increased emphasis on the need for understanding people in a manner to satisfy them through quality of services. The language of the presentation is highly communicative so that it becomes interesting and comprehensible. This project is intended for a wide audience. It will be useful to not only the students of management, marketing management and consumer behavior, but also to the people in any other field and management practitioners who want to understand and enrich their understanding of consumer trends & effectively manage their sales.

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COMPANY PROFILE

Bharti Airtel is one of India's leading private sector providers of telecommunications services based on an aggregate of 66,689,943 customers as on April 30, 2008, consisting of 64,370,434 GSM mobile and 2,319,509 Bharti Telemedia subscribers. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU’s) mobile services, telemedia services (ATS) & enterprise services. The mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while the ATS business group provides broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The enterprise services group has two sub-units - carriers (long distance services) and services to corporates. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Company shares are listed on The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) and The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE). The company has a strategic alliance with SingTel. The investment made by SingTel is one of the largest investments made in the world outside Singapore, in the company. The company’s mobile network equipment partners include Ericsson and Nokia. In the case of the broadband and telephone services and enterprise services (carriers), equipment suppliers include Siemens, Nortel, Corning, among others. The Company also has an information technology alliance with IBM for its group-wide information technology requirements and with Nortel for call center technology requirements. The call center operations for the mobile services have been outsourced to IBM Daksh, Hinduja TMT, Teletech & Mphasis

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MILESTONE OF COMPANY

1

Mobile phone operator, Bharti Airtel, became the first Indian telecom company to serve 50 million customers last month, and is now the world’s tenth largest wireless carrier.

2

Bharti has doubled its user base in the past 14 months alone, and hopes to reach 100 million subscribers by 2010, according to company executives.

3

“Our next 50 million will largely come from rural India as our plan is to reach 5,200 census towns and over five lakh villages, covering 96 per cent of the Indian population,” said Bharti Airtel president and CEO, Manoj Kohli, at a news conference this week.

4

Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecommunication services provider, today announced that it had crossed the 50 million customer mark. With this, Bharti Airtel has achieved the distinction of becoming the fastest private telecom company in world to achieve this landmark in a single country within 143 months of start of operations. The 50 million customer base covers mobile as well as broadband & telephone customers.

5

Commenting on this major global landmark, Mr. Akhil Gupta, Joint Managing Director, aBharti Airtel said, “We are delighted to have achieved this major landmark, which puts Bharti Airtel amongst the top telecom companies in the world. It underlines the strength of our unique business model and our vision to provide affordable services like lifetime prepaid to customers across the length and breadth of the country. I would like to thank our partners for having shared our vision. This milestone highlights the emergence of India as one of the top telecom markets in the world and we are proud to have been at the forefront of this growth. Going forward, we believe this growth momentum will remain intact and we are gearing towards the 100 million customers mark.”

6

Bharti Airtel crossed the 10 million customer mark in November 2004. In July last year, it crossed the 25 million customer mark.

7

The company added the next 25 million customers in just 14 months. This is amongst the fastest rate of customer additions by any telecom company in the world.

8

Mr. Manoj Kohli, President & CEO, Bharti Airtel added, “This is a very proud moment for us and I would like to thank our 50 million customers for believing in Airtel. It is a tribute to our commitment -8-

to provide best-in-class services to our customers and lead the market with exciting innovations. We are committed to create a world-class organization and benchmark it with the best in the world. As the market gets ready for the next wave of growth, we are committed to expanding our telecom networks wider and deeper across the country and partner India’s growth story.” 9

In the mobile business, Bharti Airtel plans to make considerable investments in Network expansion to establish presence in all census towns and over 500,000 villages across India by 2010, thereby covering 95% of the country’s total population. The company’s strategic focus will be on further strengthening the Airtel brand through best-in-class customer service, which is backed by wide national distribution.

In the Enterprise business, Bharti Airtel will invest substantially in the long distance business to achieve the scale of a global carrier within next 2-3 years. It is also strengthening the corporate business towards becoming a preferred managed services partner for the top 2000 corporations. In Broadband & Telephone SBU, Bharti Airtel will initiate large-scale deployments of broadband network infrastructure in 94 towns, with a sharp focus on the home and SME segments. It is readying to

offer

triple

play

to

its

customers

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with

the

launch

of

its

IPTV

service .

Bharti Tele-Ventures Bharti Tele-Ventures is one of India's leading private sector providers of telecommunications services based on an aggregate of 28,692627 customers as on September 30, 2006, consisting of 27,061,349 GSM mobile and 1,631,278 broadband & telephone customers. The businesses at Bharti Tele-Ventures have been structured into three individual strategic units (SBU’s) – 1. mobile services 2. broadband and telephone services (B&T) 3. enterprise services The Mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while B&T business group provides broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise Services group has two sub-units – carriers (long distance services) and services top corporates. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Bharti Enterprises has been at the forefront of technology and has revolutionized telecommunications with its world class products and services. Established in 1976, Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts and innovations to its credit. 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 is the leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 16 states covering all four metros. It has over 12 million satisfied customersBharti Enterprises has successfully focused its strategy on telecom while straddling diverse fields of business. From the creation of 'Airtel', one of India's finest brands, to becoming the largest manufacturer and exporter of world class telecom terminals under its 'Beetel' brand, Bharti has created a significant position for itself in the global telecommunications sector. Bharti TeleVentures is today acknowledged as one of India's finest companies, and its flagship brand 'Airtel', has over 12 million customers across the length and breadth of India.

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While a joint venture with TeleTech Inc., USA marked Bharti’s successful foray into the Customer Management Services business, Bharti Enterprises’ dynamic diversification has continued with the company venturing into telecom software development. Recently, Bharti has successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild Group owned ELRO Holdings India Ltd., to export fresh Agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA "What other operators have achieved in one to two years, Bharti has done in just over a month. In July 2002, one out of every two people buying a mobile across India chose AirTel. We are truly proud to be spearheading the mobile revolution in the country." -Sunil Bharti Mittal (Chairman,Bharti Tele-Ventures in 2002)

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Vision

“To be globally admired for telecom Services that delight customers”

1. LOVED BY MORE CUSTOMERS. 2. TARGETED BY TOP TALENT. 3. BENCHMARKED BY MORE BUSINESS.

.

MISSION

Customer service focus Empowered employees Innovative services Cost efficiency

Airtel comes to you from Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited - a part of the biggest private integrated telecom conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. A consortium of giants in the telecommunication business. In its six years of pursuit of greater customer satisfaction, AirTel has redefined the business through marketing innovations, continuous technological up gradation of the network, introduction of new generation value added services and the highest standard of customer care. Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with an all India footprint covering all 23 telecom circles of the country. It has over 12 million satisfied - 12 -

customers.Cellular telephony was introduced in India during the early 1990s. At that time, there were only two major private players, Bharti (Airtel) and Essar (Essar) and both these companies offered only postpaid services. Initially, the cellular services market registered limited growth. Moreover, these services were mostly restricted to the metros. Other factors such as lack of awareness among people, lack of infrastructural facilities, low standard of living, and government regulations were also responsible for the slow growth of cellular phone services (India). Although the cellular services market in India grew during the late 1990s (as the number of players increased and tariffs and handset prices came down significantly) the growth was rather marginal. This was because the cellular service providers offered only post-paid cellular services, which were still perceived to be very costly as compared to landline communications. Following this realization, the major cellular service providers in India, launched pre-paid cellular services in the late 1990s. The main purpose of these services was to target customers from all sections of society (unlike post-paid services, which were targeted only at the premium segment).

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Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of the Company has an optimum mix of Executive and Non-Executive Directors, which consists of three Executive and fifteen Non-Executive Directors. The Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, is an Executive Director and the number of Independent Directors on the Board is 50% of the total Board strength. The independence of a Director is determined on the basis that such director does not have any material pecuniary relationship with the Company, its promoters or its management, which may affect the independence of the judgment of a Director. The Board members possess requisite skills, experience and expertise required to take decisions, which are in the best interest of the Company. The composition of the Board is as under: o

Sunil Bharti Mittal

o

Rajan Bharti Mittal

o

Akhil Gupta

o

Rakesh Bharti Mittal

o

Chua Sock Koong

o

N. Kumar

o

Kurt Hellstorm

o

Donald Cameron

o

Paul O’Sullivan

o

Professor V.S. Raju

o

Pulak Chandan Prasad

o

Bashir Abdullah Currimjee

o

Gavin Darby

o

Syeda Imam

o

Ajay Lal

o

York Chye Chang

o

Paul Donovan - 14 -

o

Arun Bharat Ram

AIRTEL MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED

Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited was incorporated on July 7, 1995 for promoting investments in telecommunications services. Its subsidiaries operate telecom services across India. Bharti Tele-Ventures is India's leading private sector provider of telecommunications services based on a strong customer base consisting of 7.42 million total customers, which constitute, 6.76 million mobile and 657,000 fixed line customers, as of April 30, 2004.

Bharti Tele-Ventures vision for its mobile business is “To make mobile communications a way of life and be the customers first choice”. The mission is to meet the mobile communication needs of the customer through 1) error free service 2) Innovative products and services and 3) cost efficiency. The Company’s strategic objective is to consolidate its leadership position amongst the mobile service providers in India. The Indian mobile market, according to the COAI, has increased from approximately 1.2 million subscribers as of March 31, 1999 to approximately 29.21 million subscribers as of June 30, 2004. Despite this rapid growth, the mobile penetration rate in India, at approximately 2.8% as of June 30, 2004, is significantly lower than the average mobile penetration rate in other Asian and international markets. The number of mobile subscribers in India is expected to show rapid growth over the next four years. By 2006 it is projected at 50 million by COAI and 44 million by Gartner. Bharti Tele-Ventures believes that the demand for mobile services in India will continue to grow rapidly as a result of the following factors: ⇏

Lower tariffs and handset prices over time;

⇏

Growth in pre-paid customer category;

⇏

Greater economic growth and continued development of India's economy;

⇏

Higher quality mobile networks and services; and

⇏

Greater variety and usage of value added services. - 15 -

Bharti Tele-Ventures, through its subsidiary has the licenses to provide GSM services in all the twentytwo telecom circles in India. It proposes to consolidate all its subsidiaries providing mobile services under Bharti Cellular Limited. As of June 30, 2004, approximately 92% of India's total mobile subscriber market resided in the Company's sixteen mobile circles, which collectively covered only 56% of India's land mass.

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AIRTEL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

A proper distribution system is very important for every company because now a days the customer wants full service without any pain. Airtel has a deep penetration in the market of prepaid cards, coupons, easy recharge and postpaid cards. I also seen in the market the happy faces of customers and retailers of Airtel because of the easy availability of Airtel cards and coupons.

BENEFITS OF GOOD DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

1.

Easy availability

2.

Satisfied customers

3.

Competitive advantage

4.

Better market reputation

5.

Saves time

DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM OF AIRTEL 1. Organisation (C&FA's) 2. Distributor 3. Retailer 4. Customer

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O r g a n is a tio n C & FA

D is tr ib u to r S e v e ra l F O S FOS

FOS

FOS

D iffe r e n t D iffe r e n t D iffe r e n t R e ta ile r s R e ta ile r s R e ta ile r s

D is tr ib u to r - 18 -

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE Organisation of AIRTEL provides services through FSO (Full Service Outlets) and DSA (Direct Sales Agent)

“MANAGEMENT HIERARCHY AT AIRTEL”

"M A N A G E M E N T H IE R A R C H Y " C H IE F S A L E S A N D M A R K E T IN G O F F IC E R V IC E P R E S ID E N T M A R K E T IN G S T R A T E G Y

V IC E P R E S ID E N T S A L E S P L A N N IN G

C H IE F G E N E R A L M A N A G E R

C IR C L E S A L E S & M A R K E T IN G H E A D D IS T R IC T O P E R A T IO N H E A D

P R E P A ID H E A D C IR C L E

C H A N N E L O P E R A T IO N M A N A G E R

P R E P A ID M A N A G E R

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M A R K E T IN G H E A D M A R K E T IN G S U P P O R T M A N A G E R -A

M A R K E T IN G S U P P O R T M A N G E R -B

Airtel AllOver

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MOBILE FOOTPRINT The map below depicts the location of, and provides certain information for, Bharti TeleVentures' existing mobile circles in India:

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BUSINESS & MARKETING STRATEGIES

Some Marketing And Business Tools Adopted By AIRTEL As To Promote Its Activities: Seminars: seminars are conducted at different places by the expert time by time to make people aware. Publicity: publicity is done through various media. Stalls at famous places: they conduct their stall after a particular period of time on the famous and public place to attract them towards themselves. DSA (Direct Sales Agency) Print media Hoarding Banners Advertisement Leaflets •

Follow ups

•

By KNOP

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Mobile Strategy

Capture maximum telecommunications revenue potential with minimum geographical coverage to maximise its revenues and margins. Build high quality mobile networks by deploying state-of-the-art technology to offer superior services. Use the experience it has gained from operating its existing mobile networks to develop and operate other mobile networks in India and to share the expertise across all of its existing and new Circles. Attract and retain high revenue generating customers by providing competitive tariffs, offering high quality customer support, proactive retention programs and roaming packages across all of its mobile circles. Provide affordable tariff plans to suit each segment of the market with a view to expand the reach, thereby increasing the mobile customer base rapidly.

“TRENDS IN MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS” The growth and penetration of sophisticated digital communication systems, infrastructures, and services, has been increasing constantly over the last decade. Examples of these services are the Internet, electronic mail, multimedia, pagers, PDA's, and mobile telephony. From marginal penetration 15 years ago, these systems and services are becoming a commodity in both professional and consumer markets worldwide. The developments in these fields are still going strong. In particular, rapid advances - both in technology and services - can currently be observed in wireless and mobile systems that support the communication of different media, such as data, speech, audio, video and control. Current wireless network and mobile phone services roll-out is centered around four available technologies, namely WAP, UMTS, Bluetooth, and mobile positioning systems. The wireless application protocol (WAP), initially carried by second generation GSM and in the future by third generation UMTS wireless networks, will turn the mobile phone into a networked smart-phone capable of low to medium data rate Internet functionalities. Bluetooth will allow for short-range data communication between consumer appliances in a domestic environment. Positioning systems will become integral part of mobile phones such that services can be made dependent on the location of the user in the network. When projecting the progress in mobile networks and services into the future, three developments are of importance. In the first place, we can observe that more and more mobile phone-like devices start to - 23 -

include accessories such as a small keyboard, a display, and a speech interface. Such communication and information-oriented systems are emerging as hybrids between the mobile phone and the wireless laptop personal computer. With higher bit rates supporting more advanced services, the integration of the personal computer and personal communication devices will be pushed even further. In the second place, we observe that computing resources are becoming ubiquitously - that is everywhere and at all time - available. We will soon live in an environment that supports us by providing ubiquitous Computing for a wide variety of tasks and services. Daily life consumables, durable products and services already contain an ever-increasing number of sensors, actuators, processing units, and (embedded) software. The personal computer has entered daily life as a necessary commodity, and the development of sophisticated communication systems in today's society relies heavily on the availability of computation resources. Finally, we observe that communication and computing is becoming increasingly personal. The device (and therefore the user) is always on-line, the user is identifiable, the device can be personalized, and the system knows about the user’s position.

“CELLULAR MOBILE PRICING STRUCTURE AND TRENDS”

Successful growth and diffusion of mobile communication services is focusing greater attention on how mobile relates to fixed networks. Accordingly, it is necessary for regulatory authorities to review current frameworks in those instances where regulation might impede the offering of certain pricing structures, such as calling party pays. This issue is critical in putting fixed and mobile networks on an equal footing, so the potential for competition between networks can be exploited. Testing the demand for new pricing structures can be left to the market. Successful growth and diffusion of mobile communication services is focusing greater attention on how mobile communication relates to the Internet and electronic commerce. This report reviews and benchmarks the pricing of emerging services such as short message services. These services are the harbingers of ? Third generation ? Information services over mobile networks, and policy makers need to review current regulatory frameworks to enhance pricing innovation and competition in the provision of these services.

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INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMIZATION

An important trend in our society is agility or mass individualization. Consumer behaviour is much more volatile, much less predictable and increasingly concerned with instant gratification. The expectation is that in due course this trend towards individualization will become a more important factor in the emerging markets too, particularly in the urban areas. As well as setting quality standards for products, this attitude also demands delivery at the right time and in the right place. At any moment, wherever the consumer may be, it has to be possible to satisfy his or her requirements; it is a question of the consumer as a "moving target" and how we can increase our chances of "scoring a hit". In modern thinking about categories of consumers, every consumer has something of this instant consumer in his or her make-up, alongside other possible descriptions, such as "rational", "social" and "responsible". What's more, this can vary according to the product category. One moment, moreover, this instant consumer will be demanding products on the basis of flavour, convenience or cheapness, and in the next breath will be voicing concerns about the environment, animal welfare or his or her own health. The likelihood is that in the long term health, the environment and animal welfare will be significant factors in the concept of quality, as safety already is. Changes in consumption patterns are an important factor in this development. While the retail trade is evolving from supermarket to household service provider in response to mass individualization, consumers are increasingly also obtaining their food through other outlets: company canteens, take-away meals, snack bars, old people's homes etc. "Young couples" in Europe are rapidly moving towards the situation that already exists in the United States, where 50% of the food consumed is prepared outside the home. This places different demands on products in terms of keeping qualities (shelf life), convenience and presentation.

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Consumer-driven technology development

These trends in the market and among consumers generate a demand for a more differentiated and more rapidly changing product range and also call for a different approach to technology development (dedicated production systems). In the future there will have to be product development that takes the dynamic of the market and the divergent wishes of the consumers as its starting point and uses the technologies of the future: biotechnology, separations technology, sensor technology and modern information technology (IT). To achieve this, product development will have to be tackled in a more structured way, and knowledge deriving from different areas of research will have to be integrated more effectively. The development of sensor technology in the agro sector, for instance, requires the integration of materials technology, biotechnology and process technology. New scientific developments also provide interfaces through which the sector may respond to wishes relating to health: both the information about genetic aspects and the new insights into bioactive components - substances that, in low concentrations, affect human health - offer interesting prospects of made-to-measure food! In the future, "made-to-measure food" will also mean "food produced in a way that the public finds socially acceptable". Such aspects as the environment, animal welfare etc. will play a major role. This will have to be specifically taken into account in the development of technology.

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PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY

After the liberalization of the Indian Telecom Sector in 1994, the Indian cellular market witnessed a surge in cellular services. By 2005, there were a total of 12 players in the market with the five major players being Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited (Bharti), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Hutchinson-Essar limited (Hutch), Idea Cellular limited (Idea) and Reliance India Mobile (RIM) (Refer Exhibit I). All the players except RIM offered services based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) technology. RIM provided services based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

technology

as

well

as

GSM.

As competition in the telecom arena intensified, service providers took new initiatives to woo customers. Prominent among these were - celebrity endorsements, loyalty rewards, discount coupons, business solutions and talk time schemes. The most important consumer segments in the cellular industry were the youth segment and the business class segment.

The youth segment was the largest and fastest growing

segment and was therefore targeted most heavily by cellular service providers.

Bharti Tele-Ventures adopted celebrity endorsement as its chief promotional strategy. By 2004 it emerged the unprecedented leader commanding the largest market share in the cellular service market. (Refer Exhibit II). Hutch implemented the celebrity endorsement strategy partially, relying primarily on its creative advertising for the promotion of its brand. BSNL, on the other hand, attracted the consumer through its low cost schemes. Being a state owned player, BSNL could cover rural areas, and this helped it increase its subscriber base. Reliance was another player that cashed on its innovative promotional strategies, which included celebrity endorsements and

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attractive talk time schemes. Idea, relied heavily on its creative media advertising sans celebrities.

AirTel: Appropriating the value of 'expression'

Over the last couple of years, the market has grown considerably, with deeper penetration and wider usage of voice and data services, accompanied by much higher competitive intensity," Atul Bindal, chief marketing officer, Bharti TeleVentures, expands on this. "In this context, differentiating merely on network, coverage and SMS is just not enough. You need to go beyond all the rational identifiers - which are prerequisites in any case - and connect at a deeper level. We needed a strong differentiator in an increasingly commoditized and crowded market. We found this differentiator in a core human truth that defines our category - which is that there are moments when you need to make your point, when you need to be heard. Expressing and communicating are perhaps two of the most basic emotions. AirTel enables you to make your point in the most expressive way, anytime, anywhere. The campaign is towards owning this through 'Express yourself.' We believe 'Express yourself' allows us to connect at a deeper level and create a long-term platform

for

the

brand."

For AirTel, the challenge also lay in presenting a unified 'face' to the consumer. This assumes significance when viewed in the light of the company's pre- and post-paid communication, which, in the past, had been treated very differently. Brand image, as a result, was being driven in two different dimensions. "Brand AirTel is a category leader straddling completely different market segments such as consumer, business and corporate, as well as different voice, data and payment platforms," says Bindal. "'Express yourself' enables the brand to unify and connect across the entire base of our existing and prospective customers."

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One of the most obvious benefits of owning a property such as 'candid expression' (and 'Express yourself') is the expansive nature of the thought. "The moment you have as broad a canvas as 'Express yourself', it becomes easy for anyone working on the brand to come up with new ideas and executions. That's what makes a good campaign idea," observes Rediff's Prashant Godbole, who, along with creative partner Zarvan Patel, conceived the campaign. This is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg, Patel adds. "We will be taking the idea forward in many different ways in the forthcoming work," he informs. Patel also credits his creative team for "fleshing out the idea"

In

October 2002, Magic led the market, with 30% of the market share. Bharti claimed that its strategies were one of the most ambitious experiments ever in the Indian prepaid cellular telephony market. However, given the increasing competitive pressure, doubts were being expressed regarding the ability of Bharti's marketing initiatives to help Magic retain its 'Magic' in the future.

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AIRTEL’s ENTERPRISE SERVICES The company is a part of Bharti Enterprises, and is India's leading provider of telecommunications services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU’s) - mobile services, broadband & telephone services (B&T) & enterprise services. The mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while the B&T business group provides broadband & telephone services in 90 cities. The Enterprise services group has two sub-units - carriers (long distance services) and services to corporates. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.

Our Services: •

Voice Services

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•

Mobile Services

•

Satellite Services

•

Managed Data and Internet Services

•

Managed e-Data Service

Bharti Televentures is the fixed line operator business of Airtel. In the recent branding exercise, all the services have been offered under the Airtel brand. Data is the next driver for growth. This is clear to the operators who have belatedly realized the implications for having a pie in all the segments of telecommunications. Hence Bharti ventured in the broadband market. However, the main contention in the broadband market is the price offering which includes the bandwidth costs as well as the cost of laying down the copper wire. Typically, in the mentality of the profit making exercise, Airtel has so far focused only in those areas where it perceives that a huge market is present. However, I still hold that their thrust should be in smaller towns and cities where BSNL would ultimately usurp their potential customer base. It seems that their fancily paid MBAs haven’t really understood the success of BSNL who focused on the B and C class

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cities where it has drawn unparalleled support despite the lousy customer experiences. This is because of the absence of any other operator. The current offerings by Airtel does not really enthuse a potential customer who is looking at sustained data transfer. It is the classic case of having something better than nothing. Add to the lousy customer care that Airtel is slowly perfecting, it is staffed with people who usually land up in their jobs with little idea of their job profile. The socalled Tech engineers have often been unable to help a customer who is facing issues with the connectivity.

Corporate Plans’

PREPAID PLANS Are you wary of committing yourself to a date for making your bill payments? Is it too much of a bother for you to remember dates for bill payments? Do you often end up paying late fees against your monthly utility services bills? Do you end up spending too much if you have the option to pay the bill later? Think over for if one of these represents you, we have a solution for you. Start thinking prepaid is our advise! So what exactly is this prepaid! It is simply a way of going cellular by paying for the talk time in advance. For e.g. if you feel that you need Rs. 300 worth of talktime for a month, you can buy a recharge coupon which gives you that much talktime on your cell phone. Once that money gets exhausted you can buy another recharge coupon for the same or different denomination depending on your future need.

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Prepaid allows you to be in control of your cellular expenses even while you are spending. You will be surprised that today In India, Prepaid connections account for almost 60 to 70 percent of the total new entrants into cellular telephony. That’s because almost every one of us wants to be in control of our cellular expense.

POST-PAID PLAN Airtel welcomes you to a 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 to your special people in your special way.

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Airtel News

Bharti Airtel inks USD 400 million network expansion contract with NOKIA •

Bharti Airtel limited: Q2 cash profit exceeds Rs. 1,600 crores, PBT crosses Rs. 1,000 crores.

•

Bharti Airtel is amongst India’s Most Admired Knowledge enterprises in 2006.

•

Sunil Bharti Mittal receives ‘The Honorary Fellowship’ from IETE.

•

Notice of postal ballot for seeking consent of the shareholders on scheme of amalgamation of Satcom Broadband Equipments Limited and Bharti Broadband

•

Limited

with

Bharti

Airtel

Bharti Airtel to Observe Silent period from October 1, 2006.

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Limited.

ACHIEVEMENTS

•

First to launch Cellular service on November 1995.

•

First operator to revolutionaries the concept of retailing with the inauguration of AirTel Connect (exclusive showrooms) in 1995.

•

First to introduce push button phone in India.

•

First to expand it's network with the installation for second mobile switching center in April, 1997 and the first to introduce the Intelligent Network Platform First to provide Roaming to its subscribers by forming an association called World 1 Network.

•

First to provide roaming facility in USA. Enjoy the mobile roaming across 38 partner networks & above 700 cities Moreover roam across international destinations in 119 countries including USA, Canada, UK etc with 284 partner networks.

•

BHARTI announces aggrement with VODAFONE marking the entry of the World's Largest Telecom Operator into India

•

Bharti Enterprises and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited announce Partnership for a life insurance joint venture in India

•

Airtel Launches future factory - Centres of Innovation to Incubate Pioneering Mobile Applications

•

16 states, 600 million people. Only India's leading mobile service offers you the truly 'freedom-packed' Prepaid!

•

It is also the first company to export its products to the USA.

BHARTI announces agreement with VODAFONE marking the entry of the World's Largest Telecom Operator into India

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•

Vodafone to invest approximately Rs. 6,700 crores (approx. USD 1.5 bn.) to acquire around 10% in Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd.

•

Bharti Enterprises, SingTel and Vodafone to take Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. to unassailable leadership position in India

•

The largest single foreign investment ever in the history of India

•

The largest investment in the Indian telecom sector

•

Bharti establishes its supremacy in the Indian telecom market, having attracted Asia’s best – SingTel, and now world’s best – Vodafone.

•

Bharti set to gain global leadership in the telecom sector

•

Bharti Enterprises continues to hold shareholding and management control in Bharti Tele-Ventures.

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Awards for the year 2007-2008

o

BHARTI AIRTEL DRAWS TOP HONORS AT THE MIS ASIA IT EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2006

o

BHARTI AIRTEL AMONG THE TOP 10 BEST PERFORMING COMPANIES

IN

THE

WORLD

ACCORDING

TO

BUSINESSWEEK IT 100 LIST. o

SUNIL BHARTI MITTAL IS THE “CEO OF THE YEAR” AT THE FROST AND SULLIVAN ASIA PACIFIC AWARDS 2006 AND BHARTI AIRTEL BAGS “WIRELESS SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR” AND “COMPETITVE SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR”.

o

BHARTI TELE-VENTURES IS THE “BEST INDIAN CARRIER” AT THE TELECOM ASIA AWARDS 2006.

- 37 -

Literature Review Airtel comes to you from Bharti Cellular 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 is the leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 15 states covering all four metros and more than 7 million satisfied customers Bharti Tele-Ventures believes that the demand for mobile services in India will continue to grow rapidly as a result of the following factors: ⇏ ⇏

Lower tariffs and handset prices over time Growth in pre-paid customer category

⇏

Greater economic growth and continued development of India's economy

⇏

Higher quality mobile networks and services and

⇏

Greater variety and usage of value added services

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RESEARCH OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

o To study the consumer trends in telecommunication sector.

o To study consumer decision-making & preferences.

o To study marketing strategies adopted by Airtel.

o To study the level of customer satisfaction in Airtel

o To understand the needs of different consumer segments.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Research problem: To study consumer trends, behaviour, preferences and level of satisfaction in Airtel communication Ltd. The study was conducted in New Delhi with sample size of 50 and sample units were and consumer and mobile connection.

Research Design The following methodology was adopted for the study purpose:

Type of research: Descriptive and qualitative research design were used while conducting the project. Sampling Design was taken by the researcher as the Research design. The major purpose of the study is to describe the state of affairs as it exists at present. The study was based on the facts or information already available, & analysis of this available information make a critical evaluation of the material.

Research Method/Technique: In the project report following techniques were used for conducting study: •

Analysis of documents

•

Survey Method: A market survey was done on customers of mobile services.

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•

Interview (Personal): Both open and closed ended (unstructured) questions were asked while taking some information from the users of the cellular at NEW DELHI.

•

Questionnaire

(Structured):

A

structured

designed

comprehensive

questionnaire was framed and pretested for data collection from the customer of mobile

- 42 -

Data Collection

Data is the key activity of marketing research. The design of the data collecting method is backbone of research design. Data constitute the foundation of statistical analysis and interpretation. Hence the first step in statistical work is to obtain data. Data can be obtained from two important sources, namely: 1.

Primary Data

2.

Secondary Data

Primary Data: Primary data are gathered for the specific purpose or for a specific research project, consist of original information for the fulfilment of project objective. When the data are required for the particular study can be found neither in the internal record of the enterprises nor in published sources. In some cases it may become necessary to collect original data. In the present Research Project Primary Data has been collected through Survey method. Survey was done through Structured Questionnaire

. Secondary Data: Secondary data are the data, which already exists somewhere. Secondary data provide starting point for research and after that the advantage of low cost and ready availability. Secondary data can be divided into two types: 1. Internal data

- 43 -

2. External data When researcher uses the data that has already been collected by other data are called secondary data. Secondary data can be obtained from journals i.e. internal sources report, government publication and books, professional bodies etc. Internal data are reports and memos generated within an organisation to facilitate its operations and annual report. External data are those specially produce for outside consumption. Sources from which the researcher has taken the secondary data are as under 1. Airtel website 2. Books for marketing management 3. Surveys and customer data & report 4. Airtel’s customers care office 5. Airtel’s Brouchers

- 44 -

SAMPLE DESIGN

Area of Sample: The areas covered up in this survey was New Delhi.

Selection of units under study Sampling Units from New Delhi were Consumer of mobile connection

Sample size: 50

Sampling Procedure: Non Probability Sampling (Simple Convenience Sampling)

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SAMPLING INSTRUMENT (QUESTIONNAIRE)

SURVEY OF AIRTEL:NAME…………………………………. ADDRESS…………………………….. OCCUPATION:……………………….. CELLULARSERVICE USED:……………………………………………. If AIRTEL than proceed further 1. How did you know about AIRTEL cellular service? a) Friends

b) Advertisements c) Other Sources

2. Which feature of AIRTEL forced you to used AIRTEL? a)Advertisements

b) Connectivity

c) Schemes

d) Goodwill 3. Which was your first choice of cellular service when you want to use mobile phone? a) AIRTEL

b) vodafone c) IDEA

d) RELIANCE e)TATA INDICOM

f) OTHERS

4. Which feature of AIRTEL is better than your previous cellular service? a) Advertisements

b) Connectivity

c) Schemes

5. How many AIRTEL users in your phone book?

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a) Less than 30% 30% - 70% b) More than 70% 6. Which type of advertisement you most like in AIRTEL? a) Audiovisual b) Print c) Audio 7. Which celebrity you like very much in AIRTEL? a) Sachin

b) Shahrukh c) Kareena d) A.R. Rehman

8. Have you take benefits of any scheme offered by AIRTEL? a) YES

b) NO

10. Which service you like most in AIRTEL? a) AIRTEL missed you service b) Free Ringtones c) Free Hello tunes 11. Do you participate contest offered by AIRTEL like KBC-2 & Indian Idol-2? YES / NO 12.Which type of recharge cards you like most? a) More talk time b) More validity c) Both (i.e. Postpaid) 13. According to you is AIRTEL is #1 in India? a) Yes b) no

- 47 -

- 48 -

“DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRATION” (1)

Which kind of phone you would like use?

(a) Mobile

(b) Landline

(c) WLL

- 49 -

The data shows that the total sample size of 50 people taken for research out of which 50% of persons like to use MOBILE and 30% person like to use LANDLINEPHONE and rest 20% person like to use WLL.

Sample size - 50 CONNECTION MOBILE LANDLINE WLL

Respondent 25 15 10

- 50 -

(2) What is important for you in mobile service?

Connectivity Coverage Roaming Local Call All Total

In Number

Percentage

6 13 10 8 13 50

12 25 21 15 27 100

Graphical Representation:

12%

27%

Connectivity

25% Coverage Roaming

Local call All

15% 21%

The data show that the total sample size of 50people teken for research out of this 12% connecttivity, 25% coverage, 21% Roaming, 15%local call, 27%all services impartent for users.

(3) Which age group you belong to? (a) 15-20 (b) 20-25

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(c) (d)

25-35 35- above

The analysis shows that 14% people from 15- 20 age group, 8% persons from 20-25 age group, 36% persons from 25-35 age group, and 42% of people from 35-above age group keep mobile with them. Sample size - 50 Respondent 7 4 18 21

Age 15-20 20-25 25-35 35-above

- 52 -

(4) What occupation do you have? (a) Business (b) Professional (c) Government Employee (d) Student

The data shows that 50 persons are from, 23 persons are professionals, 16 persons are Private and 5 persons are found retirement 6 person are government employee to consume mobiles. Sample size - 50 Respondent 23 16 5 6

Occupation Professional Private Retirement Government

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(5) You would like to take prepaid connection or Post paid connection? a. Prepaid b. Post paid

The research study shows that almost people from the selected segment give priority to Post Paid connection, because of the flexibility and attractive plans for this market segment. Sample size: 50 Connection Pre paid Post paid

Respondent 40 10

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(6) which Feature of AIRTEL forced you to use AIRTEL ? (a) advertisement (c) schemes

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

(b)connectivity (d) goodwill

18

17 10 5

Advertisment Connectivity

Schems

Goodwill

Values shown in Percentage

The data shows that 50 persons are from, 18 persons are like advertisment, 10 persons are like conectvity and 5 persons are like schems 17 person are like goodwill whice feature force to use airtel. Sample size - 50 Feature Advertisment Conectvity Schems Goodwill

Respondent 18 10 5 17

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(7) Which type of advertisement mostly like by you in AIRTEL? (a) (b)

audio visual

(c)

print

(d)

audio-visual

Audio Visual 85%

Audio 13%

Print 2%

The data shows that the total sample size of 50 people taken for research out of which 85% of persons like to see audiovisual advertisement and 13% person like to see audio advertisement and rest 2% person like to see print advertisement. Sample size - 50 Advertisement AUDIO-VISUL AUDIO PRINT

Respondent 42 6 2

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(8) Which celebrity liked by you very much in AIRTEL? (a)Sachin

(b) Shahrukh (c) Kareena (d) Rehman

Sachin 55% A.R.

Shahrukh 38% Kareena 2%

Rehman 5%

The data shows that the total sample size of 50 people taken for research out of which 55% of persons like to see Sachin and 38% person like to see Shahrukh and 5% 0f person like to see Rehman rest 2% person like to see Kareena . Sample size - 50 Celebrity SACHIN SHAHRUKE REHMAN

Respondent 27 19 3

KAREENA

2

- 57 -

(9) Benefits of schemes taken by you in AIRTEL?

People take benifits of Schemes offered by AIrtel

13%

2%

Yes(85%) No(13%) Cann`t say(2%)

85%

The research study shows that almost people (85%) from the selected segment give the answer in YES, because of providing reguler information and

flexibility and attractive

plans for this market segment. Sample size: 50

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10. Which service you like most in AIRTEL? a) AIRTEL missed you service b) Free Ringtones c) Free Hello tunes

The data shows that the total sample size of 50 people taken for research out of which 60% of persons like to airtel missed you servics and 22% person like to free ringtones and 18% 0f person like to free hello tunes

Sample size - 50

Celebrity Missed you service Free ring tones Free hello tunes

Respondent 30 11 9

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FINDINGS

Airtel FSO – (Full Service Outlet) Basically for providing customer services in terms of their queries to build good relation with customers to reach a point of customer satisfaction. Building good customer relation does not only help in expanding sales but also helps in knowing the customer better and knowing the customer further leads to acknowledgement of tastes & preferences of the customer. One of the various ways to reach the customer is through franchisee. It helps the customer to be in touch with a particular business. The franchisee should be at many places to build a strong relation with all segments of customer. It must also have many customer executives so that there are enough people to attend all customers and time can be saved. It leads to instant help to the consumer to be happy and satisfied and the sole purpose of marketing "Customer Satisfaction is achieved.

OUTLOOK OF THE FRANCHISEE: The franchisee was having transparent glasses outside so that anybody can look in that its open from outside from inside the franchisee was beautifully furnished with furniture. Most of the things there was of Red, black and white colour which are colours of Airtel. The franchisee was centrally air-conditioned and have all the necessary things which customer needs like sufficient number of seats, drinking water etc.

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INTERACTING WITH THE CUSTOMER'S All the customer's were treated well, when they enters the franchisee the executives greets them. All the executives there listens the customer query very patiently and try there level best to solve it they send the customer to the floor manager. For eg.: For the new connection - The executives first listening to the customer patiently (his needs and preferences) than tell them post paid and prepaid connection plans which most suited to the customer and helps them to choose the best for them, on the basis of their budget, for what purpose they are buying, how often he will use it etc.

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OBSERVATION: The executives there were not fully aware of all plans. For eg. the executives was not aware that Rs. 2,000 prepaid Connection in which the customer's get two years incoming validity was still going on, he come to know about it when the customer said that he got a message from Airtel today about this plan. Customer's of new connection were very unhappy that there connection will be activated after a weak. Customer's were not satisfied with the Airtel services. Customer care number doesn't connects easily, it takes a lot of time to connect some-times a day to speak with executive. Many fraud cases were coming. Most of the people are opting for postpaid connection instead of prepaid connection postpaid and prepaid connection plans which most suited to the customer and helps them to choose the best for them, on the basis of their budget, for what purpose they are buying, how often he will use it etc. Most of the people were opting for Rs. 1399 advance rental plan of 2 years. Many customers were demanding for corporate connection but the executives said that individual connection of corporate is not possible; they should be atleast five connections. People were very happy with add-on scheme of postpaid and also opting for it. The franchisee sells 7 to 9 postpaid and 3 to 5 prepaid connection daily. Many customer's were coming for making adjustment in their bill plan or amount. Many customer's were coming with the problem that the plan they are assigned was not opted by them. Radio-connectivity of their system was getting very slow again and again by which the customer's were getting irritated. The customer's who need prepaid connection were getting less preference in comparison to the customer's who need post paid connection. The customers were very happy with Airtel scheme in which the customer can make the payment through bank automatically every month by filling ECR form.

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“CONCLUSION”

“Good services is the way to retain the clients”

 AIRTEL CONNECTIONS ARE SELLING BECAUSE OF BEST NETWORK COVERAGE.

 GOOD

RELATIONSHIP OF FOS. & REATILER IS BEING HELPFUL IN

SELLING.

 LARGE MARKET COVERAGE, EASY AVAILABILITY OF COUPONS. CUSTOMER CARE NUMBER DOES NOT CONNECTS EASILY AND EXECUTIVES THERE WERE ALSO NOT AWARE OF THE SCHEMES

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RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS

The company should go ahead with aggressive marketing. They should light competition on 1. Awareness level. 2. Pricing strategy. Thus, the recommendations for these are as follows:

1. AWARENESS (a)

The company should sponsor local programs.

(b)

The company should arrange briefing sessions at prominent clubs such as LIONS CLUB and ROTARY CLUBS etc.

(c)

The company should organize awareness quizzes through Newspapers, Magazines & announce suitable rewards accordingly.

(d) The company should distribute, l eaflets of AIRTEL Cellular in posh colonies of New Delhi

2. PRICING STRATEGY (a) The company should look the strategies of the competitive companies.

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(b) The company should try its level best to keep the price low as compare to competitors. (c) The schemes should be updated as per the needs and occasions

SUGGESSTIONS

(a)

As the company have captured the western market they should retain the customers

(b)

Try to capture the nearest other markets nearby

(c)

Occasional offers

(d)

Proper billings to the post-paid users

(e)

Proper response to the customers on the helpline no. Or toll free nos.

(f)

Roaming deposits should be reduced

FURTHER SUGGESTIONS

 MATCH COMPETITORS SCHEMES.  COMMUNICATE THE SCHEMES TO Fos. AND RETAILERS DAILY.  BETTER NUMBERS IN PRE – PAID AS CUSTOMER REQUIRES CHOICE.  ENHANCE THE SERVICE IN AREAS WITH WEAK NETWORK.

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 COORDINATION BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS MUST BE IMPROVED.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

While working on this project I have to face some difficulties while conducting the survey. People were not interested in giving there actual information about their family income and airtime, as they were extremely scared about the income tax some people have difficult to take them in confidence so that they can give correct information. Some of the limitations are:

Not at home Refusal to co-operate Respondent bias

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SWOT ANALYSIS OF AIRTEL

Strengths INVESTOR’s FAITH: Investor’s faith in Airtel that causes huge monetary support. STRONG ADMINISTRATION: Under the leadership of Bharti Cellular Ltd Airtel proved themselves as an well-organized & administrative company. BRAND NAME: Airtel as a brand is the synonym of success. It is the largest private limited organization of India.

Weakness Lack in Co-Ordination Between Deptt. Lack of Choice of Good Pre-paid numbers like XXYY numbers like others providing.

Opportunity Favourable TARRIFS: Newly issued tariffs are suitable for Airtel so they can easily modify their tariff plans according to it and gain customer attraction.

68

Threats Tough COMPETITION: Airtel has to face a tough competition with existing market leaders like Reliance (Reliance is providing Free Outgoing also) Hutch, Idea, .

69

BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS Marketing Management by Philip Kotler 9th Edition Research Methods for management by Dr. S. Shajahan 2nd Edition Principal & Practice of Management by L.M. Prasad, 4th Edition.

REFRENCES AIRTEL’s reports Books & magazine on mobile communication WEBSITES & SEARCH ENGINE www.airtelworld.com www.bhartiteleventures.com www.researchandmarket.com www.info-shop.com www.smartmobs.com www.yahoosearch.com www.search.google.com www.wikipedia.org\bhartigroup\airtel

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