Airtel

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CONTENTS S No.

Headings

1)

Acknowledgement

2

2)

Executive Summary

3

3) 4) 5) 6) 7)

Page Nos.

Introduction(Industry ) Introduction(Compan y) Types of Business Environment Micro Environmental Factors Macro Environmental Factors

4 5-8 9 10-12 13-16

8)

Marketing Strategy

16-19

9)

SWOT Analysis

20-23

10)

BCG Matrix of Airtel

24

11)

Ansoff Matrix

25

12)

Porter’s Model

13)

Conclusion

27

14)

Bibliography/ References

28

5

Force

1

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We extend our special vote of thanks to Prof. A. Srikant (Member of Faculty, Marketing) for giving us the opportunity to work on this project by providing us with the basic guidelines of doing this project and have also highlighted its importance and relevance in the current day scenario. He has been instrumental in guiding us from time to time throughout the project by squeezing out time from his hectic schedule. We also like to thank the library co-coordinators for supplying us with appropriate material. We thank all the authors, journalists, and columnists, whose work we have referred to as a secondary data. The various websites from which information was acquired have proved to be very helpful and valuable sources of information in our project. In all it was a wonderful learning experience which helped us in gaining useful insights about Airtel and the Micro and Macro Environment attached to it. We apologize for any minor mistakes, which we might have committed. Last but not the least we would further like to acknowledge the efforts of our supportive group members for their indispensable support to make this project a success.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report on Bharti Airtel elaborates & tries to find out its objectives & means regarding the strategic approach adopted to hold a strong position in the competitive telecom market. Airtel’s marketing strategies are analyzed using various models like SWOT Analysis, BCG Matrix, Ansoff’s Matrix, and Porter’s Five Forces etc. The outcomes of these models are properly analyzed to find out the various aspects like companies position and competitors position in the market. SWOT analysis of Airtel helps to find out the weak points of the company and to find out the way to overcome this problem. Similarly with the help of Ansoff matrix it can be finding that what are the different strategic options available to the company under the different market condition and to find the answer that why company is looking for overseas market like Nigeria and Seychelles. This report on Bharti Airtel not just gives a description about the company but it also talks about various marketing strategies adopted by the company.

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INTRODUCTION INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

The Indian telecommunications industry is the world's fastest growing telecommunications industry, with 671.69 Million telephone (landlines and mobile) subscribers and 635.51 Million mobile phone connections as of June 2010. As the fastest growing telecommunications industry in the world, it is projected that India will have 1.159 billion mobile subscribers by 2013. The industry is expected to reach a size of 344,921 crore (US$ 74.85 billion) by 2012 at a growth rate of over 26 per cent, and generate employment opportunities for about 10 million people during the same period. Telephony Subscribers (Wireless and Landline) Land Lines Cell phones Yearly Cell phone Addition Monthly Cell phone Addition Teledensity Projected Teledensity

621.28 million (Mar 2010) 36.96 million (Mar 2010) 617.53 million (May 2010) 178.25 million (Jan-Dec 2009) 20.31 million (Mar 2010) 52.74% (Mar 2010) 1 billion, 84% of population by 2012.

Telecom sector accounts for 1 percent of India’s GDP and is likely to double in 2-3 years. Telecom services contribute 30 percent to India’s total service tax revenue and the Indian telecom sector gives direct employment to more than 4, 00,000 people. This has helped spread the benefits of a booming Indian economy to beyond metros and large cities, and wealth creation is happening in tier-2 cities.

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COMPANY OVERVIEW Incorporated on July 7, 1995, Bharti Airtel Limited is a division of Bharti Enterprises. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel Limited formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is an Indian company offering telecommunication services in 19 countries. Airtel's journey to leadership began in Delhi in 1995. Since then, Airtel has established itself across India in sixteen states covering a population of over 600 million people. The businesses of Bharti Airtel are structured into two main strategic groups - Mobility and Infotel. The Mobility business provides GSM mobile services in all 23 telecommunications circles in India, while the Infotel business group provides telephone services and Internet access over DSL in 15 circles. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with more than 140 million subscriptions as of July 2010. Bharti Airtel is the world's third largest, single-country mobile operator and fifth largest telecom operator in the world with a subscriber base of over 180 million. Bharti provides a range of telecom services, which include Cellular, Basic, Internet and recently introduced National Long Distance. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve Cisco Gold Certification. The company also provides land-line telephone services and broadband Internet access (DSL) in over 96 cities in India. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore. The company is structured into four strategic business units - Mobile, Telemedia, Enterprise and Digital TV. The mobile business offers services in 18 countries across the Indian Subcontinent and Africa. The Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone services in 89 Indian cities. The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home TV services across India. The Enterprise business provides endto-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to customers. On August 11, 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire 100% stake in Telecom Seychelles taking its global presence to 19 countries. Airtel also offers a wide array of 'postpaid' and 'prepaid' mobile offers, with a range of tariff plans that target different segments. A comprehensive range of value-added, customized services are part of the unique package from Airtel. The company's products reflect a desire to constantly innovate. Some of these are reflected in the fact that Airtel was the first to develop a 'single integrated billing system'. It has over 21 million satisfied customers. Globally, Bharti Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom. In India, the company has a 30.7% share of the wireless services market. The equity shares of Bharti Tele-Ventures are currently listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) and the Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE). Bharti has many joint ventures with world leaders like Singtel (Singapore Telecom); Warburg Pincus, USA; Telia, Sweden; Asian infrastructure find, Mauritius; International Finance Corporation, USA and New York Life International, USA. 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. With a presence in over 1,400 towns, Airtel today has the largest network capacity in the country.

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` In the last nine years Airtel has achieved many firsts and unique records:  It was the first to launch nationwide roaming operations  It was the first to cross the one million and the five million customer marks  It was also the first to launch services overseas Airtel innovates in almost everything that it presents to the market. An excellent example is Easy Charge - India's first paperless electronic recharging facility for prepaid customers. As evidence of its fine record, Airtel has also been conferred with numerous awards. It won the prestigious Techies Award for “Being the Best Cellular Services Provider” for four consecutive years between 1997 and 2000, a record that is still unmatched. And in 2003, it received the “Voice & Data Award” for being 'India's largest cellular service provider', amongst others. As part of its continuing expansion, Airtel has invested over Rs. 1,065 billion in creating a new telecom infrastructure. In 2003/04, Bharti Tele-Ventures earned a gross profit of Rs. 16 billion on revenues of Rs. 50 billion. The market share of Airtel in Indian Telecom market can be easily seen in the following Pie Chart.

MARKET SHARE OF MAJOR PLAYERS IN INDIA

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Global Business Network of AIRTEL

Segment Wise Revenue Break-up

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Year wise Growth of License Area in India

CORPORATE STRUCTURE

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Types of Business Environment

Macro Environment The macro-environment includes all factors that can influence an organization, but cannot be directly controlled. For eg. Any company does not generally influence laws but just accept them since it is a part of a trade organization. It is continuously changing due to aggressive competition or rivalry in the market and Globalization. There is always a threat of substitute products and new entrants. The company needs to be flexible to adapt. There may be aggressive competition and rivalry in a market. The wider environment is also ever changing, and the marketer needs to compensate for changes in culture, politics, economics and technology, demographics, socio-cultural, environmental factors. Micro-environment This environment influences the organization directly. It is also know as Stakeholder Analysis. It includes suppliers that deal directly or indirectly, consumers and customers, and other local stakeholders. Micro tends to suggest small, but this can be misleading. In this context, micro describes the relationship between firms and the driving forces that control this relationship. It is a more local relationship and the firm may exercise a degree of influence. The term micro-environment denotes those elements over which the marketing firm has control or which it can use in order to gain information that will better help it in its marketing operations. In other words, these are elements that can be manipulated, or used to glean information, in order to provide fuller satisfaction to the company’s customers. The objective of marketing philosophy is to make profits through satisfying customers. This is accomplished through the manipulation of the variables over which a company has control in such a way as to optimize this objective.

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Micro Environmental Factor of AIRTEL

SUPPLIERS The suppliers are one of the most important factors which affect a company directly. The suppliers can be labor suppliers who have their own specific demands and internal factors such as quality of labor available, quantity of labor available, turn over rate etc. In the case of Airtel, as Airtel has its major business in India. In India there huge supply of both skilled and unskilled labor so Airtel has access to quality labor which is pre requisite for growth in today’s world. As far as Airtel is concerned it is one of the major players in the telecom industry attracting large pool of talented human resource and retention rate of employees is also high compared to industry average of 20% to 25%. The compensation expectation is in accordance with the industry expectations which are 15000- 20000 at entry level. Suppliers also include material suppliers, which affect the company’s performance directly. Some of the factors which are of key concern while thinking of suppliers are quality, quantity and price of the supplies, delay in supply of material and competition among the suppliers. In the case of Airtel we can see that it is well placed in telecom industry or we can say that it is one of the top players in the industry. The suppliers of materials are ready to supply at a negotiable price on a regular basis which makes the supply steady. The competition among the suppliers to supply material to Airtel also plays a very important role in determining the bargaining power of buyer i.e. Airtel.

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` In telecom industry which is basically a service providing industry, so service providers also need certain services such as information technology and other related services. The service industry in India is booming, so service infrastructure is also good. So Airtel as a company doesn’t find it difficult to have quality services at competitive prices. Airtel has such supplier relations that it can arrange for special requirements which makes company proactive. STAKEHOLDERS Stakeholders are also one of the most important factors which affect company at micro level or at the organization level. The stakeholders include the lobbyists, shareholders, employees and partners. In case of Airtel which is a large private company which has to encounter lobbyists, lobbying sometimes in their favor and sometimes against. The shareholders or the owners of the company also affect the company internally. The managers of the company have to take into account the shareholders wealth maximization. In a company like Airtel the interests of the share holders are also taken in consideration and satisfied. The employees are also one the most important stakeholders of the company because they are the human resource of the company. In case of Airtel the diverse and the rich human resource is well satisfied and thus retention rate is high and attrition rate is low. CUSTOMERS The most important internal environment affecting an organization is customers. The customers can be classified as businesses, individuals and households, government, retailers and international clients. In case of Airtel we can say that the customers are the most vital as they can switch to other competitors if they are not satisfied with the services. Airtel has a customer base in billions and it is very difficult to satisfy and maintain such huge customer base. Airtel has large corporate clients who have corporate connections of Airtel, millions and millions of individuals who use Airtel connections. The retailers and wholesalers who sell company’s products are also customers to the company. Airtel as a company has ventured into international businesses so it needs to maintain its international clientele too. COMPETITORS Every company has to face competition from its competitors. The company has to come up with strategies to face the competition and have an impact in the market. In short we can say that every company is affected by competition directly or indirectly so every company needs to adjust and formulate its strategies according to competitors. In a market where there is huge competition and customers switch products, the company needs to study its competitors in order to survive and maintain its market share. In case of Airtel the company operates in telecom industry which is highly competitive and in order to survive and maintain its market share company has to go environment scanning and the most important of it is competitors. The players in the telecom market have huge potential and players like Vodafone essar, Reliance communications, Tata Docomo and Idea are some the players which pose huge threat to Airtel. The

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` price war between the major players and all the operators coming up with new schemes to attract customers has heated the market. PUBLIC Every company has an image to maintain because a lot depends upon the image of the company in the eyes of the public. Any information about the company which is not good is not healthy for the company’s point of view. By public we mean financial public and media public. The financial public is mainly concerned about the finances of the company because they are investors or potential investors in the company. By media public we mean that any news about the company either positive or negative affects the company and market of the company. In case of Airtel we can say that the financial public is the investors or the potential investors in the company and any financial activity affects them and their action. The media public is the common public and any action may trigger their negative or positive action. That is the reason why company goes for various social goals and publicity to maintain its public friendly image. MARKET INTERMEDIARIES Market intermediaries affect the company directly as they are in the direct contact with the company and can affect the performance of the company positively or negatively. The market intermediaries can be of various types like middlemen and distributors, or marketing research firms or financial intermediaries. In the case of Airtel it has to maintain relations with lots of middlemen and distributors who sell their products. They also need to maintain good relations with marketing research firms who gather information about their products and to market research for their products, the advertising agencies and other marketing consultancies also play a major role in company’s actions. Airtel also needs to maintain good relations with financial intermediaries such as banks, credit institutions and insurance companies for their financial and other requirements.

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Analyzing Effects of Macro Environment “It is useless to tell a river to stop running; the best thing is to learn how to swim in the direction it is flowing” Successful companies do recognize, respond & strategize according to the trends & unmet needs. Enterprising individuals & companies manage to create the solutions for the same, and being a success story in its own self, Bharti Airtel did the same. This section of our report describes different influencing macro environment factors. DEMOGRAPHIC ENVIRONMENT The main demographic force monitored by marketers is population as people make the markets. Therefore, size & growth rate of population in cities, regions & nations interests marketers. A demographic profile (often shortened to "a demographic") provides enough information about the typical member of this group to create a mental picture of this hypothetical aggregate. The world population is growing at an annual rate of 1.711%. It is currently estimated to be 6,86,55,00,000 by United States Census Bureau & is expected to reach 7,00,00,00,000 by 2011. The population growth though has been a major concern since population growth is highest in countries & communities which can least afford it. The Goldman Sachs BRIC report projected that India might grow up to world’s third largest economy in the world. The market size for products & services in the region has become very attractive keeping in mind the economic progress & increase in purchase power. India's mobile market is defined by increasing ubiquity as subscribers reach the 250 million mark, with net additions of nearly eight million subscriptions per month. It is also a very diverse market, where the bottom of pyramid (BOP) consumers co-exists with the sophisticated consumers commanding 10 times the mobile spend. Explosive population growth has major implications for business but it doesn’t mean growing markets unless these have sufficient purchasing power. Major opportunities are found by analyzing the markets. Population Age Mix National Populations vary in their age mix. Median age of India is 25.1 years. As the youth group currently constitutes a significant portion of the population, marketers consider its potential. Their attitudes, perceptions & aspirations are different from the older section of the population which is reflected in their orientation as well. This is used by companies to craft their strategies & action plans.

AgeMix 0 - 14 yrs 15- 64 65 +

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` Literacy Levels of Population Literacy in India is a key for socio-economic progress, and the Indian literacy rate grew to 68% in 2007 from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947. India currently has the largest illiterate population of any nation on earth. In India statistics say that literacy levels vary with age groups. About 76% of people in 15-24 are literate which falls sharply to 64.5% in the age group of 25-34. Literacy level is least evaluated in the age group of 65+ which is about 35.6%. It also varies according to gender. Female population in any age group has much lower literacy levels than male population. All this plays an important role in a marketer’s decision. Again, high literacy levels in young generation highlights its importance as consumers. As observed they also influence family consumption decisions. Therefore, marketers can’t miss any opportunity to attract this bracket of population & hence use attractive advertisements, endorsements by celebrities, schemes etc. ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT Markets depend highly on purchasing power of an economy. But data on income distribution of households is insufficient in determining market size for different consumer products in India due to lack of homogeneity of the consuming class and the varying prices of a single product in different parts of India. In other words, purchasing power is location-specific, not income specific. Consumption habits of households are therefore better determinants of consumer market size than income distribution. Earlier Inflation rates were high but now great economic growth and continued development of India’s economy registered a growth of 21%. Identifying a plausible market size for a consumer product is therefore a hazardous task in a heterogeneous country like India. Yet, the marketer needs some data to come as close to the real picture as possible. For this purpose, it can be cautiously assumed that purchasing power is proportional to income despite variables such as location, taste etc. Companies are therefore advised to plan their consumer product marketing strategies on an area-by-area basis, rather than on an all-India basis. The prime market for consumer products in India is aware of the cost-benefit or value for money, aspect. Their concept of value incorporates socio-cultural benefits in addition to product utility. The prime consumer market in India therefore is not a market for absolute premium products, but for something between the "high end popular brands" to the "premium brands." GDP of India has increased at a rate 7% from 2008 to 2009 (from 3297.338 to 3528.614). This motivates marketers to target & position their products & services to increase their consumer base & make maximum profits. SOCIAL CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT Consumer preferences & tastes are defined by beliefs, values & norms. Since India has a huge diversity in topography, languages, cultures & religions, a marketer has to keep in mind these specific elements while making marketing decisions. Airtel perceived itself as a brand of successful people thus giving a higher social status by using the word of mouth advertising. This suggests the need to conduct customized research on consumption behavior & attitudes. No generalizations can be drawn from the macro level data about consumer’s needs that show distinct preferences & habits across segments.

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TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT It is one of the most dramatic forces shaping people’s lives. But every new technology is a force for “creative destruction”. Therefore, instead of moving into the new technologies, many old industries fought or ignored them which finally led to their decline. Thus it is the essence of market capitalism to be dynamic & balance the trade off between the creative destruction & price of progress. New technologies also affect the economy’s growth rate. But it doesn’t arise evenly through time. An economy can get stagnated between two major innovations where in minnow innovations fill the gap. Long run consequences from a new technology can’t be easily foreseeable. Technologies also compete with each other. Marketers should monitor four trends in technology: the accelerating pace of change, unlimited opportunities for innovation, varying R & D budgets & increased regulation of technological change. Airtel was the 1st cellular service to provide roaming services and other value added services. It also has an efficient customer care service and has introduced E-commerce portal for he benefit of its customers. It has introduced and involves broadband services, long distance services and internet services. Airtel is equipped with new technology thus helping it to launch new services very fast. It advanced technology serves high quality fixed line and broadband services. The strong NLD optical fiber network differentiates the company form its competitors.

POLITICAL & LEGAL ENVIRONMENT

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` It consists of laws, government agencies & pressure groups influencing & limiting various organizations & individuals. They can in turn also create new opportunities for new businesses. In telecom industry, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI established in 1997 is the independent government regulator which regulates the telecommunications business in India. Its main responsibility is to make recommendations on request from licensor on matters like terms & conditions of license and manage competition. In the year 1985- Department of Telecommunications (DOT) was established to grow telecom industry. Earlier Tariff rates were high due to high taxes but now it become lowest in the world. The government has also replaced license fee with revenue sharing scheme and extended the license period from 10 to 20 years. Airtel is a dominating brand as far as regulation is concerned in India. It has got a First mover advantage and also infrastructure is complementing to it.

MARKETING STRATEGY

FOUR PRODUCT LEVELS  Core Product: Communication;  Basic Product: Mobile telephony  Expected Product: Strong network coverage  Augmented Product: Caller tunes, Wallpaper, Ring tones, WAP, SMS alerts, Voice SMS

PRODUCT

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`  Product Variety: 

Prepaid

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Postpaid

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Value added services

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Blackberry

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Business solutions

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PRICE 

Easy payment options. Anytime Anywhere

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Easy billing

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Flexible Credit limit

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Happy recharge ( full talktime everytime)

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Operating in 23 circles in India

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Strong distribution network with approximately 160,000 family of retailers

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Over 500 exclusive outlets

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Operation in foreign countries

PLACE

PROMOTION 

Celebrity endorsements ( Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachhan, Shahrukh Khan, AR Rehman, Madhavan,Kareena Kapoor)

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Loyalty rewards and Lower tariffs

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Discount coupons and Talk time schemes

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Special season offers

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Innovative advertisement campaigns

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Mass promotion campaigns

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Setting up of exclusive stalls to promote existing and new products.

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Corporate Social Responsibility: “Satya Bharti School” providing primary education for underprivileged children in rural areas.

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SEGMENTATION 

Geographic Segmentation : 23 telecom circles (different tariff for different circles)

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Demographic Segmentation :

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Age : Senior citizen.

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Gender : Women.

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Occupation : Students ( Youth Plan) , Corporate .

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Income: All income groups ( Different plans for various income groups)

TARGETING 

Earlier elite class was to be considered above age group of 25 years. Now people and business men are targeted. Now Airtel has targeted youth by introducing YOUTOPIA Plan. It targeted women and senior citizens by introducing post paid plans.

POSITIONING & REPOSITIONING STRATEGIES 

Tagline- “Express Yourself”

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Airtel positions itself in the market as a very reliable, effective and consumer savvy brand.

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Positioning as a brand which people can trust in terms of quality and performances. 

It plans to position itself as complete telecom service provider with a strong presence in global network.

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It want to be perceived as aspirational and lifestyle brand. 

Airtel decided that the brand should always connote leadership- be it in network, innovations, offering or services.  Started to capture mass market.

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New look and the feel of the brand logo indicated the core values of the brand i.e. leadership, performance and dynamism and gave more energetic and younger look.

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`  Use of Brand ambassadors-Sachin Tendulkar, Sharukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, A.R. Rehman and advertising in Regional Languages.

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SWOT ANALYSIS of AIRTEL

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STRENGTHS VERY FOCUSED ON TELECOM Bharti Airtel is largely focused on the telecom, around 93% of the total revenue comes from telecom (Total telecom revenue Rs 3,326).

Leadership in Fast Growing Cellular Segment Airtel is holding leadership position in cellular market. Bharti Airtel is one of India's leading private sector providers of telecommunications services based on an aggregate of 27,239,757 customers as on August 31, 2009, consisting of 25,648,686 GSM mobile and 1,591,071 broadband & telephone customers.

Pan India Footprint Airtel offers the most expansive roaming network. Letting you roam anywhere in India with its PanIndia presence, and trot across the globe with International Roaming spread in over 240 networks. 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 92 cities.

The only operator in India other than VSNL having International submarine cables 22

` Airtel, the monopoly breaker shattered the Telecom monopoly in the International Long Distance space with the launch of International Submarine cable Network i2i jointly with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. in the year 2002. This has brought a 13 huge value to the IPLC customers, delivering them an option besides the incumbent carrier, to connect to the outside world.

WEAKNESS Price Competition from BSNL and MTNL Airtel is facing tough competition from the operators like BSNL and MTNL as these two operators are offering services at a low rate.

Untapped Rural market Although Airtel have strong Presence throughout the country but still they are far away from the Indian rural part and generally this part is covered by BSNL so indirectly Airtel is loosing revenue from the rural sector.

OPPORTUNITIES The Fast Extending Iplc Market An IPLC (international private leased circuit) is a point-to-point private line used by an organization to communicate between offices that are geographically dispersed throughout the world. An IPLC can be used for Internet access, business data exchange, video conferencing, and any other form of telecommunication.

Latest Technology and Low Cost Advantage

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` The costs of introducing cellular services for Airtel are marginal in nature, as it needs only to augment its cellular switch/equipment capacity and increase the number of base stations. The number of cities, towns and villages it has covered already works to its advantage as putting more base stations for cellular coverage in these areas comes with negligible marginal cost. Besides such cost advantages, it has also other cost advantages for the latest cellular technology

Huge Market The cellular telephony market is presently expanding at a phenomenal rate every year and there is still vast scope for Airtel to enter /expand in this market. Besides there is a vast rural segment where the cellular services have not made much headway and many customers are looking towards Airtel for providing the service to them. With its wide and extensive presence even in the remotest areas, Airtel poised to gain a big market share in this segment when it expands cellular services into the rural areas.

THREATS Competition from Other Cellular Fierce and cut-throat competition is already in place with the markets ever abuzz with several tariff reductions and announcement of attractive packages, trying to grab most of the ‘mind share’ of the ‘king’ - ‘the consumer’, whose benefits are increasing with passing of everyday. The launch of WLL services by Reliance Infocomm has aggravated the situation.

Market Maturity in Basic Telephony Segment Although Airtel entered in the basic telephony market it’s a biggest there for the company as the basic telephony market has reached.

BCG MATRIX of AIRTEL

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` BCG Matrix is used to find out the relative growth prospects of the product line. Within the Airtel product line leased, private, circuit are among star. Airtel is going to have a submarine cable between Singapore and Chennai with the collaboration of singtel. This adds Airtel to maintain its position in IPLC market. Now in India only VSNL have such cables.

ANSOFF MATRIXX

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` To portray alternative corporate growth strategies, Igor Ansoff conceptualized a matrix that focused on the firm’s present and potential products and markets /customers. He called the four product-market strategic alternatives.  Market penetration [existing market + existing product]  Market development [existing product + new market]  Product development [existing market + new product] and  Diversification [new product + new market] The company should follow all four strategies depending on the demand and product as indicated in the matrix. The company perhaps needs to focus more on the comparatively neglected area of diversification.

MARKET PENETRATION: Airtel entered in broadband and fixed phone line market. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: IPLC products MARKET DEVELOPMENT: Airtel is now looking for overseas market. Company has already make his presence in Nigeria and Seychelles DIVERSIFICATION: Airtel has now outsourcing sum of its services like customer services with IBM

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PORTER’s FIVE FORCE MODEL The industry structure has become relatively unfavorable compared to earlier monopolistic times. The earlier pattern used to be that the national telecom company used to own every segment of the value chain till the international gateway. With liberalization there was competition in virtually every segment. There are companies that provide local connectivity, those that function as long distance carriers, and those that provide only gateway links. Some integrated players operate in all segments. The intensity of competitive pressures across the chain is reflected in the downward spiral being witnessed in tariffs and prices to customer. The value chain for cellular mobile service and Internet Service Providers (other than cable based net connections) is similar in as much as the calls reach the destination through similar local mode, long distance and international gateway.

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CONCLUSION Bharti Airtel is the most successful brand in India with largest market share. Success is based on three pillars- connectivity, affordability and innovation. The core is connectivity, i.e. the wide and dense network. The effect of the Micro and Macro environment is there but the company is flexible enough to make necessary changes and knows that “Change is Essence of Life and Change is Constant”, so it makes necessary changes accordingly. According to the analysis done, there can be some areas where Bharti Airtel can focus upon to strengthen its position in the market.     

Airtel should consider acquisition of domestic and local GSM service providers, thereby increasing its market share. E.g. Acquisition of Spice. It has to be quick to adapt to and bring new emerging technologies like 3G and 4G in India at affordable cost. It should start Mobile Bill Payment Van services. It should focus more on entering into new countries and establishing itself as a global brand. It should expand its rural network coverage to widen its customer base.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCES

1. http://www.airtel.in 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtel 3. http://myiris.com/shares/research/firstcall/BHATELEE_20091113.pdf 4. http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199296378/01student/additional/page_10.htm 5. http://www.marketingteacher.com/swot/bharti-airtel-swot.html 6. http://www.marketingteacher.com/lesson-store/lesson-pest.html 7. http://www.bharti.com/about-us/changing-lives.html 8. www.airtelworld.com 9. www.airtel-broadband.com 10. www.trai.gov.in 11. www.hindustantimes.com 12. Pre-paid WirelessBuy Now, Talk Later, www.commercetimes.com, April 12, 2001. 13. Cellular Operators at War Consumers Set to Win, http://server1.msn.co.in,

14. www.blonnet.com 15. http://cal.airtelworld.com 16. www.airtelworld.com 17. www.spicetele.com 18. www.spicecorpltd.com 19. www.coai.com 20. http://inventors.about.com 21. www.geocities/mabaalaji/awn2001.html 22. http://www.geocities.com/mabaalaji/wn2.html 23. www.deccanherald.com 24. Marketing Management, Dr. S.L. Varshney and Dr. R.L. Gupta, Third Revised

Edition, Sultan Chand and Sons.

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