Marketing Strategies of Airtel

PROJECT REPORT ON MARKETING STRATEGIES OF AIRTEL SUBMITTED UNDER PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR TRAINING SUPERVISOR:

PROJECT ADVISOR:

SUBMITTED BY:

SESSION:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I acknowledge the sincere assistance provided to me from several rather unexpected quarters during

the course of

execution of this study. It would be a mammoth task to place on record my gratitude to each and every one of them but a whole hearted attempt would be made nevertheless, least I be branded ungrateful. I

am

extremely

thankful

to

Mr.Abhishek

Yadav,

(Unit

Advisor) for giving me an opportunity to undergo training in BHARTI AIRTEL MARKETING and making my stay at AIRTEL MARKETING a memorable learning experience. Where the emotions are involved words cease to work. I am deeply indebt to ---------------------- for her encouragement, affections, valuable advice and guidance that helped me to complete this project successfully.

2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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

3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.

TELECOMMUNICATION MARKET IN INDIA

7

2.

GSM MARKET IN INDIA

11

3.

INTRODUCTION

23

4.

TARIFF STRUCTURE

39

5.

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY

48

6.

MARKET SITUATION

50

7.

COMPETITIVE SITUATION

8.

MARKETING STRATEGY ADAPTED BY BHARTI

60

9.

OBJECTIVE

69

10.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

70

11.

LIMITATION

71

12.

SWOT ANALYSIS

79

13.

CONCLUSION

81

14.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

82

15.

QUESTIONNAIRE

83

51

4

TELECOMMUNICATION MARKET IN INDIA

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

three

years.

Accordingly,

India

requires

incremental

investments of USD 20-25 bln for the next five years. Private operators have made mobile telephony the fastest growing (over 164% p.a.) in India. With more than 33 million users (both CDMA and GSM), wireless is the principal growth engine of the Indian telecom industry. Given the current growth trends, cellular connections in India will surpass fixed line by late 2004/early 2005. Intense competition between the four main private groups - Bharti, Vodafone, Tata and Reliance and with the State sector incumbents-BSNL and MTNL has brought about a significant drop in tariffs. There has been almost 74% in cell

5

phone charges, 70% in ILD calls and 25% drop in NLD charges, resulting in a boom time for the consumers. The Government has played a key enabling role by deregulating and liberalising the industry, ushering in competition and paving the way for growth. While there were regulatory irregularities earlier, resulting in litigation, these have all been addressed now. Customs duties on hardware and mobile handsets have been reduced from 14 percent to 5 percent. The Indian government has merged the IT and Telecom Ministries

to

Communication

speed

up

reforms

Convergence

Bill

and to

decision

enable

the

on

the

common

regulation of the Internet, broadcasting and telecoms will be taken after the new Government assumes responsibilities in may this year. An independent regulatory body (TRAI) and dispute settlement body (TDSAT) is fully functional.

INDIAN CELLULAR MARKET The Bharti Group, which operates in 23 circles, continues to be the country's largest cellular operator, with 50 lakh subscribers. BSNL, which operates in 22 circles, has a subscriber base of 37 lakh subscribers. Thus BSNL stands second largest cellular operator in terms of subscriber base at the end of the fiscal

6

ending March 31, 2007, displacing Vodafone from the second position. Vodafone, which operates in only eighteen circles, is the third largest operator with a subscriber base of 32 lakh. Unlike fellow public sector undertaking, MTNL, which operates in Mumbai and Delhi, BSNL has been a very aggressive player in the market. "Cellular operators who expected BSNL to go the MTNL way, were taken by surprise and did not take effective steps to counter it, till it was too late in the day," said a telecom analyst. Belying fears of a slowdown in cellular subscriber acquisitions, the cell club has reported a 7.92% growth, the highest growth in any month so far, during March 2005. Year-on-year, the cellular subscriber base in the country has almost doubled in March 2005, and is expanding at the rate of 25% per year thereafter. The cellular subscriber club expanded by 21.31 lakh last month. This is much higher than 5.9 lakh subscribers added in February 2005 and 2.13 lakh in January 2005. Idea, which operates in Seven circles, is the fourth largest operator with a subscriber base of 17.80 lakh, higher than BPL's 11.31 lakh subscribers across four circles. The subscriber numbers per operator drop sharply with the sixth largest operator, Spice Communications, having a subscriber base of 9.40 lakh, followed by Reliance

7

Telecom's 8.9 lakh subscribers. MTNL is the ninth largest operator, with a base of 8.32 lakh subscribers. While the subscriber base-jumped by 3.38% to 44.39 lakh in the metros, subscriber base of category A circles of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu jumped by 10.18 % to reach 43.64 lakh. Category B circles of Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West), Uttar Pradesh (East), Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal recorded a jump of 10.69%, with a total base of 33.74 lakh subscribers. Circle C has reported 12.74 % growth with subscriber numbers jumping to 5.08 lakh. Among the metros, while Mumbai added 1,63,180 subscribers, higher than the 1,58,646 added by Delhi, the Capital's cellular subscriber base of over 80 lakh is still higher than Mumbai's 66.89 lakh. While the cellular industry has been on roll for the first three quarters of the previous financial year with an average of 16.75 lakh monthly additions in the third quarter, the first two months of 2007 had seen the growth slowing down.

8

GSM MARKET IN INDIA Regional Interest Groups - GSM India

With a population of around 1.1 billion growing at roughly 1.7 per cent a year, India is potentially one of the most exciting GSM markets in the world. After two rather difficult years, the past 12 months have seen the region's promise beginning to come to fruition.

Much

of

this

success

can

be

attributed

to the

stabilisation of the licensing and regulatory environment.

India's

telecommunications

have

undergone

a

steady

liberalisation since 1994 when the Indian government first sought private investment in the sector. More significant liberalisation followed in 1996 with the licensing of new local fixed line and mobile service providers. However, it has been the 9

government's New Telecom Policy (1999) that has had the most radical impact on the development of GSM services. 'The policy's mission statement is 'affordable communications for all', There is a genuine commitment to creating a modern and efficient communications

infrastructure

that

takes

account

of

the

convergence of telecom, IT and media. In addition, the policy places significant emphasis on greater competition for both fixed and mobile services.'

Competition in the mobile sector has already had a visible impact on prices with calls currently costing less than 9 cents per minute. This means that service costs have fallen by 60 per cent since the first GSM networks became live in 1995. It also helps explain why a recent Telecom Asia survey revealed that more than 70 per cent of Indian mobile subscribers felt that prices were now at a reasonable level. One of the challenges facing GSM operators in India is the diversity of the coverage regions -from remote rural regions to some of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the world. India has more than 40 networks, which cover the seven largest cities, over 7000 towns and several Lacs villages. Such depth of coverage has required enormous investment from India's operators. It is estimated that more than Rs200 billion

10

had been invested in India's GSM industry by mid-2000, a figure that is set to be supplemented by a further Rs. 300 billion over the next five years.

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

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

11

Globally, the GSM market reached 1 billion users in February 2005, he said, adding GSM accounted for 80 per cent of the new subscriber growth in 2005."Almost every Latin American operator has chosen GSM. In North America GSM growth is bigger than CDMA (code division multiple access)," he said. Commenting on the raging debate over GSM versus CDMA in mobile services arena, Hadden said: "GSM is the world's most successful mobile standard with over 1 billion users, and is an open mobile standard. It also supports automatic international roaming, which is a major contributor to business plans."

India’s GSM mobile firms’ revenue up 30 pct India’s

private

telecoms

firms

offering

GSM-based

mobile

services reported a 24 percent rise in revenue in the year to March 2007 but said future growth rates could slow because of heavy taxes on the nascent industry. Although India’s mobile sector is the world’s fastest growing major wireless market, it is amongst the highest taxed industries in the country. Mobile carriers pay as much as 25 percent of their revenue as licence fee, spectrum charges and other taxes. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said revenue for fiscal 2003/04 stood at 83.08 billion rupees ($1.86 billion) compared with 64 billion rupees a year earlier. According to T.V. Ramachandran, director

12

general at COAI,

“These revenue growth rates cannot be

maintained unless there is a concerted effort by the government to cut excessive levies and allow sharing of infrastructure”

“But the potential to do much better exists as there is still huge demand in the sector.” Ramachandran said the sector was still losing money but declined to elaborate. Sales jumped because of

a

doubling

Communications)

of

the

GSM

(Global

user base as more

System people

of

Mobile

entered the

flourishing market thanks to one of the lowest call rates in the world. But the monthly average revenue per user, a key measure of profitability, declined 17.4 percent to 432 rupees in the fourth quarter compared with 523 rupees in the first quarter due to a cut in tariffs and excessive competition among companies. Growth slowing, demand untapped: The association has not included the financial performance and the GSM-user base of state-run firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, the second-ranked player, and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, Ramachandran said. There are 150 million GSM customers and more than 96 million users of the rival CDMA-based mobile services in the country. The pace of growth in monthly additions is slowing after just 1.25 million users took up the service in April compared with

13

1.9 million in the previous month and 1.63 million in February. Ramachandran blamed the slowdown on a majority of small GSM operators being unable to expand networks into rural swathes where demand remained largely untapped. “Our surpluses are not enough to cover costs of network expansion and financing charges on loans. We are making money only to cover operating expenses,” he said. Carriers are now

subsidising

handset

costs

to

woo

users

into

the

underpenetrated industry forecast to have more than 250 million customers by 2007. Roughly three percent of Indians own a mobile phone compared with about 20 percent in China. About a dozen firms such as Bharti Airtel Ltd, 28 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications, Reliance Infocomm Ltd and the Indian

GSM-unit

of

Vodafone

competitive sector.

14

group

battle

in

the

hotly

DOES GSM HAVE THE EDGE?

GSM operators are not the only ones who are worried about the rapid strides made by CDMA mobile players Reliance Infocomm and Tata Indicom in the Indian cellular market? The GSM suppliers – both handset and equipment - who incidentally also have their other foot firmly placed in the CDMA pie, are beginning to lose some sleep over what was earlier termed as `niche’ and `minuscule’ data carriage market by the operators Apart from the strong success of the two CDMA operators whose networks are based on code division multiple access (CDMA), the miserable showing of the four global standard for mobile (GSM)

15

based networks that launched general packet radio service (GPRS) service for data connectivity in last three years, has the vendors worried. Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) now believes that even though India will primarily remain a voice traffic-led market in next two-three years, the data traffic component will grow by 25-30 per cent, an optimism that it’s trying to make GSM operators feel as well.

THE CDMA CHALLENGE CDMA players had launched their services with CDMA 2000 1Xbased networks, which can give hi-speed, always-on connectivity to the Internet, and other data services. GSM operators, on the other hand, have had to migrate from the frustrating experience of WAP (wireless application protocol) to GPRS, which has not

16

significantly improved the subscriber’s experience of surfing the Net on/from mobile. The top brass of GSA, an organisation comprising Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Alcatel and Lucent Technologies - met on Tuesday in the capital to persuade the operators to adopt EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) and leave GPRS behind as a dream gone sour. Only Airtel, Vodafone, BPL Mobile and Idea Cellular had launched GPRS, but the data transfer speeds of GPRS have been abysmal. The field trials gave a speed of around 54 kbps, but the actual speeds have not exceeded 14-18 kbps, a major reason why GPRS growth has been so slow. As against the total GSM cellular base of 5.61 crore, the country has between 2,80,000 lakh GPRS users only. In comparison, the two CDMA operators have about 120 lakh connections. All these sets are data compliant. Though no figures are available as to how many use these for data services, the figure is believed to be respectable as a percentage ratio for CDMA. Bharti is almost there But first, the EDGE! Bharti Cellular is close to commercially launching its EDGE service in Delhi and Mumbai by end May or early June, sources said. The company was the first to conduct field trials in November with its equipment supplier Ericsson. Idea

17

too held EDGE field trials in February this year with its vendor Nokia. Vodafone and BPL are yet to hold the trials. The two companies would eventually migrate to EDGE, but perhaps after seeing the response to Bharti’s service.

EDGE holds the promise of delivering data speeds of around 170180 kbps (as against the theoretical speed of around 380 kbps) which,

if

achieved,

promises

the

launch

of

many

data

applications. The scalable cost of migrating from GPRS to EDGE is not too high and mainly comprises software upgrades in case of a modern network such as Bharti and Hutch, claimed chairman of GSA India chapter Rakesh Malik.

Will GSM maintain its headstart? At the GSM Evolution Forum held in New Delhi, GSA president Alan Hadden predicted that GSM growth will far outstrip CDMA as was happening globally. He felt India could have as many as 200 million GSM subscribers by 2007-2008, up from nine million in December 2004. According to GSA, there are over 1.1 billion GSM subscribers worldwide as against 250 million CDMA customers. The revenue of top 25 global operators from data averages 18 per cent and 22 of these operators run GSM

18

networks. Overall, there are 76 operators in 50 countries that have committed to deploy EDGE. Almost every country has a GSM-based network and even those US operators, which operated on now-defunct TDMA technology, were migrating gradually to GSM, not CDMA, pointed out Hadden at the GSM Evolution Forum. The Forum is a global GSA program to assist the operators for evolution to third generation (3G) technologies. “People are using their phones for much more than voice. Fifteen networks have commercially launched EDGE as it can run 3G like services in the existing spectrum for the operators without needing a 3G license. Even the migration to a full-fledged 3G level of Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) will be smooth with EDGE,” said Hadden. “Besides, the automatic roaming provided by GSM networks in almost 200 countries is a power that CDMA doesn’t give you. We know for sure that almost 20-25 per cent of the revenue for some GSM operators comes from roaming customers,” he added. But CDMA is no pushover with Korea and Philippines as the shining jewels in its crown. The first CDMA 2000 1X was commercially deployed in October 2000.

Already, 81 operators have launched 77 CDMA 2000 1X networks whereas nine have launched services based on 1xEV-DO

19

platform across Asia, the Americas and Europe. At least, 16 new 1X and six 1xEV-DO networks are scheduled to be deployed in 2004, according to CDMA Development Group. EV-DO and EV-DV are the next level of evolution on the CDMA 2000 1X platform, capable of delivering services comparable to 3G WCDMA.

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

End sum game When the networks deploy EDGE, subscribers can expect the delivery of advanced mobile services such as easy downloading of video and music clips, full multimedia messaging, besides high-speed Internet and e-mail access, provided their handset supports all this. But the real cruncher will be the migration at a later stage to 3G technologies such as WCDMA, EV-DO or EV-DA as and when the government decides what to do with the 3G licences. WCDMA for

20

example promises delivery of a phenomenal 2 megabytes per second (mbps), equivalent to what a leased line in many middle level corporates gives.

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

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

21

INTRODUCTION

Airtel (Bharti Airtel Ltd.)

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

private

integrated

telecom

conglomerate,

Bharti

Enterprises. Bharti provides a range of telecom services, which

22

include Cellular, Basic, Internet and recently introduced National Long Distance. Bharti also manufactures and exports telephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being the largest manufacturer of telephone instruments in India, it is also the first company to export its products to the USA. Bharti has also put its footsteps into Insurance and Retail segment in collaboration with Multi- National giants. Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 23 states covering all four metros and more than 50 million satisfied customers. SERVICES Airtel Prepaid Airtel Prepaid, the Ready Cellular Card from Airtel comes to you from Bharti Enterprises, India's leading integrated telecom service provider. Going mobile with Airtel Prepaid is a new way of life. With a host of great features, also simple to use, Airtel Prepaid makes everything that you dreamt and believed, possible. Total Cost Control You can control your Airtel Prepaid like never before. No more rentals or deposits – simply recharge as much as you need to from as low as Rs. 10, to as high as Rs. 10,000/-.

23

Pre activated STD/ISD without deposits or rentals You can now enjoy a pre-activated STD/ISD on your Airtel Prepaid. No more paying deposits or having a minimum balance in your account to make an STD/ISD call. Hassle-free calls are here to stay! Strong Network Coverage Enjoy complete clarity when calling with Airtel’s world-class technology and unbreakable network coverage that spans over 23 circles across the country. Instant Balance and Validity Enquiry Your account balance is updated on the screen of your handset at the end of each chargeable call. You can also call 123 from your mobile phone and listen to the voice announcement or simply dial *123#, press 'OK' or 'YES' button and your account balance will be displayed on the screen of your handset.

Recharge your Airtel Prepaid Recharging is Easy. The calling value on your card keeps reducing as you make calls or use any other chargeable service. Choose the Airtel Prepaid Recharge Coupon that’s right for you, from a variety of tailor– made recharge coupons with different

24

denominations, which are available at a number of outlets across your city. Simply follow the procedure mentioned below, to recharge your phone.

Prepaid Roaming Airtel Prepaid comes preactivated with 'National Roaming', so you stay connected no matter wherever you are. You can also send or receive MMS, check your email and access other GPRS services while roaming in India as you would in your own city. While traveling abroad you can receive calls & send or receive SMS. Other Services Airtel brings you, a wide range of Services that will change the way you communicate. Try them and discover a whole new world of fun and excitement. Call management Services Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification Presentation – all with your Airtel prepaid connection. Voice Mail

25

When your handset is switched off, or you’re too busy to answer the phone, Airtel Voicemail will answer your calls and record a message. The best part is that there's no extra monthly cost for setting up Voicemail - you just pay for the phone call when you use the service. SMS (Short Messaging Service) Send messages quickly and easily using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you don't have much time. It's the way to share those interesting one-liners, important reminders and rib-tickling jokes, with anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world. Subscription Alerts Get regular alerts on news, jokes, business, health and films on your Airtel mobile phone with Subscription Services. SMS to 3333 for News, for Jokes, for Business News, for Sports Alerts & for Vaastu tips. MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service): Jazz up your messages with pictures, images and video clippings, with MMS from Airtel! To activate MMS on your phone, SMS 'MMS' to 56465 and save service settings. Airtel Live!

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Make your mobile the most happening entertainment destination with Airtel Live! Airtel brings you the latest in entertainment and information services, right on your phone! Airtel Live! WAP Services: Download the latest ring tones, games, wallpapers, videos and much more. You can also get news clips, watch live TV and download full songs on you phone. To get Airtel Live! settings on your phone, SMS 'Live' to 56465 and save the settings that you receive as your preferred connection. Airtel Live! Portal can be accessed from you GPRS enabled phone, by sending a SMS 'FUN' to 56465. Airtel Live! Voice Services: Just Dial 56465, and name the service. For e.g. say ring tones to download your favorite ring tones. You can also choose a variety of content options like Live Cricket Commentary, latest National / International News, Movie Reviews or Stock Market Updates. Airtel Live! SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting services like cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few buttons with Airtel Live! SIM based Services on your SIM card menu. To download new services on your Airtel SIM, choose the "What's new" option under the "Airtel services" menu. Airtel Live! SMS Services: You can enjoy a host of services by sending a keyword as an SMS to 56465! Choose Astrology /

27

Horoscope, Cricket, Bollywood / Hollywood / Indi Pop Ring tones. In case you need assistance SMS, Help to 56465.

28

Hello Tunes Tired of that boring old ‘tring tring’ on your phone? Well now when a friend calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up the music charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of songs in the Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly. What's more you can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g. call 678005 for English New and 678001 for Hindi New. This would directly take you to your favorite artist's Hello Tunes listing. Copy a Hello Tune Get the tune you want, all you have to do is call 55055 and follow the simple voice instructions to copy your favorite Hello Tunes. Once inside the copy feature, just key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number you want to copy the Hello Tune from and you get the same Hello Tune assigned to your number. Gift a Hello Tune Forget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. Say it with a song instead! Gift a Hello Tune to that special someone. Just call 55055 and choose the song that you want to gift. Follow the simple voice instructions and key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number that you want to gift the Hello Tune to. You will get an SMS notification upon successful receipt of that gift. 29

Buy Music - Airtel Music Shops Buying your favorite Hello Tune or Ring tone is as simple as recharging your phone with talk time. Simply walk into your nearest Airtel Shop and walk out with your favorite song. Choose from Bollywood Hits to Indipop Remixes, Hard Rock to Gujrati Garba, Bhajans to Jazz, Bhangra Beats to foot tapping Tamil Hits from a list of more than 18000 songs. Reach us Anytime Anywhere In case you need assistance, dial '121' - our toll-free number, accessible from anywhere in the country, even while roaming. You

can

also

send

us

an

SMS

to

121

or

mail

us

at

[email protected]. *In case of email, mention your mobile no. like, 9810012345, in the subject of the mail for a quicker response. Airtel Postpaid 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.

30

Easy Billing Enjoy a host of rich features only with Airtel e-bill. Register free on ‘My Airtel’ section and view your monthly bill with call details for last three months. Sort your calls between personal and official or analyze your usage, at the click of a button. To change your tariff plan call our IVR at 121 and leave a request. Easy Payment Options. Anytime Anywhere You can choose from a host of convenient payment options only with Airtel. Walk into any Airtel relationship centre and make your payments by cash or credit card. Drop a cheque at any of the drop boxes for making payments or simply log on to My Airtel section and pay instantly through your credit card. You can also opt for easy payment options like: Standing Instructions You can give us standing instructions to debit your credit card account for your monthly Airtel bills. All you have to do is fill the Standing Instruction Form and mail, fax it to us or drop it any of our relationship centres.

31

Electronic Clearing System Fill an ECS form and mail, fax it to us or drop it any of our relationship centres to directly debit your bank account for your monthly Airtel bill. Pay while roaming Airtel has introduced 'Anywhere payment' that offers you the convenience of making payments while you roam. Walk in to any Airtel Relationship Centre in the country, make payments by cash or credit card and enjoy uninterrupted Airtel Services. Credit limit Your pre-set credit limit mentioned on your monthly bill helps you keep your mobile charges in control, keeps track of your usage and ensures that your mobile phone is not misused. Should you exceed your credit limit, you will be informed via a voice or a non-voice message to make an interim payment and reduce your account balance below your credit limit. You may also choose to pay us an additional refundable deposit to enhance your credit limit or opt for our convenient payment method of Credit Card Standing instruction .You can also make use of ECS facility.

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Strong Network Coverage Enjoy complete clarity when calling with Airtel .It offers you world class technology and unbreakable network coverage that spans over 23 circles across the country. Long Distance Calling Facility Call long distance calls in India and Overseas with STD / ISD facility on your Airtel phone. Widest Roaming - National and International Airtel's roaming service allows you to stay connected and use your mobile phone to make or receive calls from almost anywhere in India and also over 160 countries, abroad. GPRS - Roaming Use Airtel Postpaid's GPRS services, while roaming, to access the internet and office mails (eg. BlackBerry services), from almost anywhere in India and abroad. Say it. In more than just words, with Services from Airtel Airtel brings you a wide range of Services that will change the way you communicate. Try them and discover a whole new world of fun and excitement.

33

Call management Services Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification Presentation, help you do more with your Airtel Postpaid connection! Conference call You can hold a teleconference with 5 people simultaneously with Call Conferencing service from Airtel. In fact, you can set up a conference even when the other five are using a landline phone. To know more, call customer service at 121. Missed call alert A missed call alert is a SMS that you will receive for all the calls that you missed. The SMS will detail the CLI and the time when the call was made. To activate, dial *135*2# then press the call button and wait for the request to be completed. Voice Mail When your handset is switched off, or you’re too busy to answer the phone, Airtel Voicemail will answer your calls and record a message. The best part is that there's no extra monthly cost for setting up Voicemail - you just pay for the phone call when you use the service.

34

SMS (Short Messaging Service) Send messages quickly and easily, using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you don't have much time. It's the way to Share those interesting one-liners, important reminders and rib-tickling jokes, with anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world. Subscription Alerts Get regular alerts on news, jokes, business, health and films on your Airtel mobile phone with Subscription Services. SMS for News, for Jokes, for Business News, for Sports Alerts & for Vaastu tips to 3333. MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service): Jazz up your messages with pictures, images and video clippings, with MMS from Airtel! To activate MMS on your phone, SMS 'MMS' to 56465 and save service settings. Airtel Live! Make your mobile the most happening entertainment destination with Airtel Live! Airtel brings you the latest in entertainment and information services, right on your phone!

35

Airtel Live! WAP Services: Download the latest ringtones, games, wallpapers, videos and much more. You can also get news clips, watch live TV and download full songs on you phone! To get Airtel Live! settings on your phone SMS 'Live' to 56465 and save the settings that you receive as your preferred connection. Airtel Live! Portal can be accessed from you GPRS enabled phone, by sending a SMS 'FUN' to 56465. Airtel Live! Voice Services: Just Dial 56465 and say the name of the service. For e.g. say ‘Ring tones’ to download your favourite ring tones. You can also choose a variety of content options

like

Live

Cricket

Commentary,

latest

National

/

International News, Movie Reviews or Stock Market Updates. Airtel Live! SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting services like cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few buttons with Airtel Live! SIM based Services on your SIM card menu. To download new services on your Airtel SIM, choose the "What's new" option under the "Airtel services" menu. Airtel Live! SMS Services: You can enjoy a host of services by sending a keyword as an SMS to 56465 ! Choose Astrology / Horoscope, Cricket, Bollywood / Hollywood / Indi Pop Ring tones. In case you need assistance SMS ‘Help’ to 56465.

36

GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) Log on to the internet, with GPRS that allows data transmission at a higher speed. Access e-mails and internet across Airtel's pan-India presence using 'Mobile Office' with your phone or a phone and laptop both. Get the EDGE Browse the internet on your mobile phone with Airtel's EDGE services. Enjoy live TV, enhanced WAP experience and Airtel Data Cards on our high speed network. Hello Tunes Tired of that boring old ‘tring tring’ on your phone? Well now when a friend calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up the music charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of songs in the Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly. What's more, you can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g. call 678005 for ‘English New’ and 678001 for ‘Hindi New’. This would directly take you to your favourite artist's Hello Tunes listing.

37

Copy a Hello Tunes Like a tune you want, all you have to do is call 55055 and follow the simple voice instructions to copy your favourite Hello Tunes. Once inside the copy feature, just key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number you want to copy the Hello Tune from and you get the same Hello Tune assigned to your number. Gift a Hello Tunes Forget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. Say it with a song instead! Gift a Hello Tune to that special someone. Just call 55055 and choose the song that you want to gift. Follow the simple voice instructions and key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number that you want to gift the Hello Tune to. You will get an SMS notification upon successful receipt of that gift. Buy Music - Airtel Music Shops Buying your favourite Hello Tune or Ringtone is as simple as recharging your phone with talktime. Simply walk into your nearest Airtel Shop and walk out with your favourite song. Choose from Bollywood Hits to Indipop Remixes, Hard Rock to Gujrati Garba, Bhajans to Jazz, Bhangra Beats to foot tapping Tamil Hits from a list of more than 18000 songs.

38

Reach us, Anytime Anywhere In case you need assistance, dial '121' - our toll-free number, accessible from anywhere in the country, even while roaming. *In case of email, mention your mobile no. like 9810012345 in the subject

of

the

mail

for

a

quicker

response.

TARIFF

STRUCTURE Prepaid Tariffs

Airtel Prepaid Ready Cellular Card and Recharge Cards are available, all over the city at over retail outlets including 24-hour outlets. Airtel Prepaid Ready Cellular Card and Recharge Cards are available, all over the city at over retail outlets including 24hour outlets.

39

Airtel Prepaid Regular 449 SUK Pulse Rate

60 sec

Price of Pack (Rs.)

Rs.449

Free Airtime on Pack (Rs.)

Nil

Incoming Calls (Rs.)

Free while in home network Airtel

GSM / CDMA (10 Digit)

Landline / WLL

LOCAL RATES (Rs./min)

Rs.1.20

Rs.2.00

Rs.2.40

STD RATES (Rs./min)

Rs.2.75

Rs.2.75

Rs.2.75

ISD (Rs./min) USA, Canada, Europe (Fixed Line), Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand.

Rs.6.40

Gulf, Europe (Mobile), SAARC countries, Africa & Rest of the world

Rs.9.20

Cuba, Sao Tome & Principe, Guinea Bissau, Diego Garcia, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Norfolk Island, Sakhalin

Rs.40.00

SMS (Rs.) Local

Rs.1.20

National

Rs.2.00

International

Rs.5.00

Other Details

*Rs 50 Local Airtel-Airtel Mobile talktime per month for 6 months * First month Airtel-Airtel credit within 72hrs of activation & balance credit by 1st week of eve month) *The SMS charge as applicable is per 160 characters * Validity- 24 months.

40

POSTPAID Airtel Postpaid allows you to choose from a variety of affordable talk plans, convenient payment options and host of rich features. So get set to enjoy a world of limitless possibilities! Reference Tarif Packages (RTP) ON TIME CHARGES Activation Charges Rs. 250 Membership Fee Rs. 250 Security Deposit NA MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) Rs. 524 Bill plan Charge Rs. 444 Monthly Rental Rs. 150 Clip NA MONTHLY CHARGES (OPTIONAL) Clip Rs. 99 Airtel

GSM

/ Landline /

CDMA (10 WLL Local Rates Rs. 1.99 STD RATES 50 – 200 Km 200 – 500 Km 500 + Km ISD USA, Canda, Europe (Fixed Line), Rs. 7.20 Austalia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, new Zealand Gulf, Europe

(Mobile),

SAARC Rs 9.99

Countries, Africa & Rest of the world Cuba, Guinea

Sao

tome

Bissau,

& Diego

Principle, Rs. 40.00 Garcia,

Nauru, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu,

41

Digit) Rs 1.99

Rs 1.99

Cook

Island,

Tuvalu,

Tokelau,

Norfolk Island, Sakhalin SMS Local National International Value Added Services (Rs.)

Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs.

1.00 2.00 5.00 3.00

Airtel One Standard 150 ONE TIME CHARGES Activation Charges Membership Fee

Rs 250 Rs 250 (Converts into security

after 24 months) Security Deposit NA MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) Rs. 150 Bill Plan Charge Rs. 50 Monthly Rental Rs. 150 Clip NA MONTHLY CHARGES (OPTIONAL) Clip Rs. 50 Bissau, Diego Garcia, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Norfolk Island, Sakhalin SMS Local National Intentional VAS 

Rs 1.00 Rs 2.00 Rs. 5.00 Rs. 3.00

This Bill Plan is also available under Advance Rental of Rs. 799 for 2 years.

Local Pack Airtel to other local mobiles (non Airtel) At Rs 1 / min 

Monthly rental Rs 25 per months/-



STD Pack

42

Airtel to other mobiles (non Airtel) & fixed lines nos. at Rs 2 / min. 

Monthly rental Rs 75 per month/-



Special offer for Airtel Telephone service customers

for availing Airtel Mobile services If you already have Airtel Telephone service, you can buy a new Airtel Mobile connection under Airtel One Standard 150 Plan.

Benefits: 

Non security deposit.



No membership / activation fee



Enjoy calls to your Airtel fixed line no. at just 50 P / min.



Monthly rent of Rs 25 for reduced call rates to your Airtel

fixed line has been waived off for 1 year.

For details, call us 516-12345 Advance Rental benefits (1year scheme) Pay an advance rent of Rs 499 and enjoy Airtel One Standard 150 plan at Zero monthly rental for one year. Advance rental of Rs 499 gives you a rental discount of Rs 150 every month for the next 2 months. All other options and charges are as per the existing Airtel One Standard 150 Plan.

43

Airtel one Standard 299 ONE TIME CHARGES Activation Charges Membership Fee

Rs 250 Rs 250 (Converts into security after 24 months) NA Rs 299 Rs. 150 Rs. 299 NA

Security Deposit MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) Bill Plan Charge Monthly Rental Clip MONTHLY CHARGES (OPTIONAL) Clip Rs. 50 Airtel

GSM

/ Landline /

CDMA (10 WLL LOCAL RATES STD RATES 50-200Km 200 – 500 Km 500 + Km ISD USA, Canda, Europe (Fixed Line),

Re. 1.00

Digit) Rs. 1.00

Rs. 1.00

Rs. 2.00 Rs. 2.00 Rs. 2.00

Rs. 2.40 Rs. 2.40 Rs. 2.40

Rs. 2.40 Rs. 2.40 Rs. 2.40

Rs. 7.20

Austalia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, new Zealand Gulf, Europe

(Mobile),

SAARC Rs 9.99

Countries, Africa & Rest of the world Cuba, Guinea

Sao

tome

Bissau,

& Diego

Principle, Rs. 40.00 Garcia,

Nauru, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Cook

Island,

Tuvalu,

Tokelau,

Norfolk Island, Sakhalin SMS Local National

Rs. 1.00 Rs. 2.00

44

International Value Added Services (Rs.)

Rs. 5.00 Rs. 3.00

You also enjoy 25 FREE local mobile to mobile SMS

45

Senior Citizen Plan ONE TIME CHARGES Activation Charges Membership Fee

Rs. 250 Rs. 250 (Concerts into security

Security Deposit MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) Bill Plan Charge Monthly Rental Clip Cuba, Sao Tome & Principle, Guinea

Bissau,

Diego

deposit after 24 months) NA Rs. 150 Rs. 51 Rs. 99 NA

Garcia,

Nauru, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Cook

Islands,

Tuvalu,

Tokelau,

Norfolk Island, Sakhalin SMS Local National International VAS

Rs. 1.50 Rs. 2.00 Rs. 5.00 Rs. 3.00

With Senior Citizen Plan

46

You can take 3 Friends and Family numbers:



Airtel to Airtel (1local no.) – Rs. 0.5 / min.



Airtel to Airtel (1 STD no.) – Rs 1.5 / min



ISD calls to US / Canada / South East Asia / Australia / New

Zealand) – Rs. 9.99 / min

You also get FREE alert subscription worth Rs 30 / alert or 3 months on:



News



Astrology



Health Tips

The SMS charges as applicable is per 160 Characters.

47

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY Airtel to “Touch Tomorrow” with a new brand vision The Bharti Mobile promoted AirTel cellular service will go in for repositioning of its brand image. The new brand ethos is portrayed in two distinct fashions - the tag line "Touch Tomorrow", which underscores the leading theme for the new brand vision, followed by "The Good Life", which underscores a more caring, more customer centric organization. Aimed at reengineering its image as just simply a cellular service provider to an all out information communications services provider, Touch Tomorrow is meant to embrace the new generation of mobile communication services and the changing scope of customer needs and aspirations that come along with it The new communication is about a new dimension in the cellular category that goes beyond the Internet, SMS, roaming, IVRS, etc but which engulfs the whole gamut of wireless digital broadband services that will constitute tomorrows cellular services. The new campaign is in two phases - the first of which will communicate overall brand philosophy and the second products and services. According to Mr. Jagdish Kini, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Mobile Limited, Karnataka "We are adopting a new brand-

48

platform - Touch Tomorrow - not only to reflect our corporate ethos but also business strategy". The new identity will have the logo in Red, Black and White colours along with lower case typography to convey warmth. AirTel

will

incorporate

the

latest

branding

in

all

of

its

communication and will soon be going in for an enhanced promotional drive to establish the brand's presence. LIFE TIME PLAN PRE-PAID card users need not worry anymore about recharging their coupons every month. Company has launched a plan that allows users to take a pre-paid connection with lifetime validity for a one time payment of Rs. 999. Subscribers availing themselves of this scheme will also get full talk time for the recharge coupon they purchase and also have the option to buy Taiwanese manufactured Bird mobile handsets for as low as Rs. 1,399. The move is aimed at stopping the churn in the pre-paid subscriber base. Once a subscriber takes this plan, he will always be an Airtel subscriber whether the mobile is being used or not.

49

MARKET SITUATION

At the time of launch The first mover in the market was Airtel which launched its services in Delhi in Aug 1995 (Informal launch). Essar Cellphone followed by launching its services informally in Oct 95. At this point of time, the market was at a nascent stage, awareness level was low and both operators independently tried to spread awareness and educate the people Once the networks were commercially launched, it became a number game with a multitude of schemes being offered to woo customers Initially the cellphone was perceived as a status symbol and utility took a back seat The target segment in Delhi were corporate and the high income group.

The average

capacity installed was for 1.5 lakh subscribers. This coupled with the steep license fee paid to DOT put pressure on the operators to break-even by rapidly expanding their markets.

In the first

two years, this led to a number of schemes being offered and prices crashing.

50

COMPETITIVE SITUATION Airtel launched its services before Essar and skimmed the market picking up the bulk of the high usage premium clients. This is a very competitive industry with the two companies differentiating either on value-added services or price. Airtel is perceived as the high quality provider and has a premium image. Essar, on the other hand, is perceived as the lower end service provider. Airtel positions itself as the market leader on the basis of the number of subscribers. Essar is trying to counter this by emphasising on the reach of its network and the quality of its service. However, Essar is somewhat not been very successful largely due to the inconsistency in advertising To promote themselves, both the players have been dependent on tactical advertising However, they have restrained from using comparative advertising Hoardings have been a very popular medium for carrying the advertisements Airtel has also been advertising on television using the Bharti Telecom name. SALES DEPARTMENT AND STRATEGY A.

Major Accounts (Direct Channel) •

Handles corporate (named and famed) accounts

•

Forecasting of sales

•

Mapping the accounts

•

Providing after sales support to the subscribers.

51

•

Maintaining call reports for records.

•

Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the requirement of the market.

B. IDC (indirect Channel) •

Handling distribution

•

Maintaining records and level check of the channel partner

•

Liaisoning between the channel partner and the company.

•

Target achievement

•

Training the executives of the channel

C.

Distribution Support 1.

Logistics •

Monitor handset and SIM card requirements of channel partners and co-ordinate with stores

•

Settle areas of concerns such as incentive claims of channel partners

2.

Rental •

Provide cellular services (SIM cards) on rent.

•

Provide cellular phones on rent

•

Useful for people visiting Delhi for a short interval.

3

Telesales •

Call customers and generate sales lead.

•

Follow up with the customers, if they need any assistance

52

• 4

Pass on the sales lead to the channel department. Audit

•

Consultant to the AirTel showrooms.

•

Monitor the operations at the AirTel distribution outlets Organize training.

5.

Retail •

Locate shops to open retail counters.

•

Monitor the retail counters.

MARKET SEGMENTATION Segmentation is beneficial because of better predictability of the target consumer group, minimization of risk exposure, better ability to fine-tune a product / service to the requirement of target buyer and the resultant ease in designing a proper designing marketing mix strategy In this case segmentation is on the bade of income. In evaluating different market segments the company looks at two factors The overall attractiveness of the segments and the company's objectives & resources The present market for Cellular phones, pagers and conventional phones is as follows

Cellular Phones Pager Conventional Phones

Premium Upper Lower X X X X X X

53

Middle Upper X X X

Lower X X

Economy Upper Lower X -

X Market Segment Targeted

TARGET MARKET SEGMENT Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The rationale behind it is that only those segments should be targeted who value time and have the paying capacity. It Is also planning to target the business tourists during their stay in the capital About 60% of the clientele are top executives of corporate houses. About 15% are foreign organisations and the rest are professionals and small businessmen.

During the introduction

stage there was intense pressure to get consumers across to hook up with their brand, because getting them to switch brand loyalty later would be hard So far Airtel marketers have been concentrating totally on the business executive class but now that the basic viable volumes has beer) built up and prices have declined to a certain extent they are planning to venture further a field.

POSITIONING The product is sought to be positioned as a business efficiency tool. a lifestyle revolution and a status symbol The emphasis is to remove misconception that the cellphone is an expensive means

54

of communication and drive home the point that the cellphone is actually a day-to-day utility

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

Airtel's main

marketing strategy is to be a first mover all the time.

It has

recognised the significance of making the first move-- because in the field of Communication & Information Technology changes occur at a tremendous pace. Effective product segmentation has to be carried on continuously because basic services can be and will be copied and in time become expected component of the product. Airtel seeks to carry out this segmentation through provision of new information services and making new facilities available. The product policy and planning depends on the stage of the product life cycle. At present the cellular phone market has reached the maturity stage.

Since, the premium segment is nearing saturation the

company targeting the upper middle and middle-middle class. In order to do so Airtel is trying to optimise the price performance package by offering suitable "product bundling".

55

This involves the selection of the suitable hardware (handset) and its software (its services.) with reasonable price in order to deliver maximum price performance to its customers.

In

addition, it offers free Airtime services and other concessions to make the prices and thus the product more attractive.

It has

also opened a 24 hours customer service. Only price doesn't serve as an effective differentiator, value added services become the effective differentiator. The "Value Added Services" provided from Airtel are:1). Voice Mail service This system is similar to the answering machine - if the user is not able to answer a call for some reason the caller can leave messages in the voice mail box which can be later retrieved by the user

ii) Short Message Service The short message service is like a two-way pager. It gives an option of sending and receiving text messages directly from one mobile phone to another without the intervention of an operator.

iii) Mobile Fax 1 Data Service

56

This service helps the subscriber to send and receive Faxes, access E-mail, download computer files from other systems and remotely log on to another computer and surf the Internet.

iv) Cash Card The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the buyers to buy air time in advance.

All it requires is the

payment of an initial amount. This is a useful service for people who travel to Delhi often and those who want to control the expenses on their calls. v) Caller ID Displays calling person's number. vi) Outgoing call restriction To prevent or limit outgoing calls, for example, in peak hours. Also possible to exclude one or several countries, or any geographical region, to permit only local calls, or to limit the outgoing calls to a listed number. viii) Call forward Incoming calls can be forwarded to another fixed or mobile phone. Besides these some other services provided by Airtel are - Call conferencing, Call Broadcast et cetera.

57

It is in the operators -Interest that they not only get many subscribers but also get them to use the mobile facility frequently.

In the early stages getting increases to subscribe

may be easier than getting them to talk since they will find it costlier to use the mobile phone as compared to a conventional phone [if is believed that initially cellphones would be used buy] viii) Roaming Facility Roaming facility is available while the subscriber is travelling. The billing is done in the home network (Delhi). Roaming facility is available manually* as well as semi-automatically.

Once a

subscriber is In any other city or country, where a GSM network is available, simply insert the SIM card of the local operator Into your handset and start talking. *

Manual Roaming means a separate SIM card is provided for each city

**

Semi automatic roaming means one card has the facility for different cities.

AIRTEL'S MARKETING ORIENTATION. Since this is a high-involvement expensive product, the service provider has to fully take care of the customers. a)

They take personal responsibility to "get" the answer for any problem faced by the customer

58

b)

They anticipate customers' problems and take pro-active steps to prevent them

c)

They give answers to the questions & requests, quickly & efficiently.

d)

They have a positive tone & manner while interacting with customers.

e)

They end the interaction on a positive or a humorous notemaking the last 30 seconds count.

Airtel realises that attracting people 'Is easy but converting them into loyal customers is hard, hence emphasis is on maintaining a 'Smiling and a Friendly Atmosphere' to please and retain the customer.

PRICE AND PRICING POLICY AIRTEL has realised that the Indian market is price sensitive. Therefore it care of the has come up with various innovative tariff schemes to take needs of different category of customersGenerally, the cellular services are more expensive than the land line based telephone services. This is due to the reason that the operating

companies

are

required

government for using airtime.

59

to

pay

a

fee

to

the

MARKETING STRATEGY ADOPTED BY BHARTI Bharti has spent a considerable amount on advertising its mobile phone service, Airtel.

Besides print advertising, the company

had put up large no of hoardings and kiosks in and around Delhi. The objective behind designing a promotion campaign for the ‘Airtel’ services is to promote the brand awareness and to build brand preferences. It is trying to set up a thematic campaign to build a stronger brand equity for Airtel. Since the cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also the fact that a Cellular phone is a high involvement product, price doesn't qualify as an effective differentiator. The image of the service provider counts a great deal. Given the Cell phone category, it is the network efficiency and the quality of service that becomes important.

What now

the buyer is looking at is to get the optimum price-performance package. This also serves as an effective differentiator Brand awareness is spread through the' campaigns and brand preference through brand stature.

Airtel's campaign in the

capital began with a series of 'teaser' hoardings across the city,' bearing just the company's name and without explaining what Airtel was. In the next phase the campaign associated Airtel with Cellular only thereafter was the Bharti Cellular connection 60

brought up. Vans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing out brochures about the company and its services to all consumers. About 50,000 direct callers were sent out. When the name was well entrenched in the Delhiites’s mind, the Airtel campaign began to focus on the utility of Cellphone.

In the first four

months alone Airtei's advertisement spend exceeded Rs. 4 crores. As of today the awareness level Is 60% unaided.

This implies

that if potential or knowledgeable consumers are asked to name a Cellular phone service provider that is on the top of his/her mind 60% of them would name Airtel. As for aided it -is 100% (by giving clues and hints etc.). Brand strength of a product or the health of a brand is measured by the percentage score of the brand on the above aided and the unaided tests. The figures show that Airtel is a healthy and a thriving brand. Every company has a goal, which might comprise a sales target and a game plan with due regard to Its competitor.

Airtel 's

campaign strategy is designed keeping in mind its marketing strategy. The tone, tenor and the stance of the visual ads are designed to convey the image of a market leader in terms of its market share.

It tries to portray the image of being a "first

mover every time" and that of a "market leader".

61

The status of the product in terms of its life cycle has just reached the maturity stage in India. It is still on the rising part of the product life cycle curve in the maturity stage. The diagram on the left hand side shows the percentage of the users classified into heavy, medium and low categories.

The

right hand side shows the revenue share earned from the three types of users. Airtel, keeping in mind the importance of the customer retention, values its heavy users the most and constantly indulges in service innovation.

But, since heavy users comprise only 15 -

20% of the population the other segment cannot be neglected. The population which has just realised the importance of cellular phones has to be roped in. It is for this reason that the service provider offers a plethora of incentives and discounts. Concerts like the "Freedom concert" are being organised by Airtel in order to promote sales. The media channel is chosen with economy in mind. The target segment is not very concrete but, there is an attempt to focus on

those who can afford.

The print

advertisements and hoarding are placed in those strategic areas which most likely to catch the attention of those who need a cellular phone. The product promise (which might cost different 1 higher) is an important variable in determining the target audience.

62

Besides this, other promotional strategies that Airtel has adopted are . (i)

People who have booked Airtel services have been treated to exclusive premiers of blockbuster movies. Airtel has tied up with Lufthansa to offer customer bonus miles on the German airlines frequent flier's programs.

(ii)

There

have

campaigns,

been pre

advertisements,

educational launch

campaigns,

advertisements,

congratulatory

image launch

advertisements,

promotional advertise-ments, attacking advertisements and tactical advertisements.

63

DISTRIBUTION Company

Franchisee

Distributor

Dealers

Dealer

Customer

Customer

The- company whose operations are concentrated in and around Delhi. It 27 Franchisees and 15 Distributors- They also have 8 'instant access cash card counters- Each franchises or distributor can have any number of dealers under him as long as the person is approved by the Airtel authority. Each franchises has to invest Rupees Ten Lakhs. to obtain a franchise and should employ an officer recruited by Airtel. This person acts as an liaison between the company and the franchises.

The franchises can it any

number of dealers as long as their territories do not overlap. But unfortunately Airtel has not been very successful in controlling territorial overlaps of dealers. The franchises can carry out his 1 her own promotional strategy. For this the. company contributes

64

75% of the money and the franchises contributes 25% of the money.

The dealers under the franchisee receive the same

commission. The franchises and the dealer obtain the feedback from the customers and they are sent through the liaison officer on a day-to-day basis to Airtel. The dealer has to invest Rupees. One Lakh as an initial investment. The dealer of Airtel are not allowed to provide any other operators' service. Target set for distributors and the dealers is 100 -150 activations per month.

Hence the dealers can also go for their own

promotions like banners and discounts on festivals etc. dealer provides service promptly.

The

The consumer on providing

the bill of purchase for the handset and proof of residence has only to wait an hour before getting connected. The staff of the dealers and the franchisees are provided training by the Airtel personnel. The complaints encountered by the franchisees and dealers are either handset being non-functional or the SIM Card not getting activated. Anything more complicated is referred to the main Airtel office in Delhi.

65

WHAT DOES AIRTEL OFFER? With Airtel, the subscriber wouldn't just get a personal phone that lets him/her be in touch, always, but also gets a host of benefits that let him/her manage his/her time like never before. An Airtel subscriber is provided with a Subscriber Identity Module Card (SIM card) - that is the key to operating his/her cellular phone. His card activates Airtel cellular services and contains a complete micro-computer chip with memory to enable one to enjoy one's cellular phone thoroughly. Each SIM card contains a PIN code (Personal Identity Number) which may be entered by one. Just plug your SIM card into your cellular phone, enter the PIN code and it becomes 'your' personal phone'. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE The pattern of cellphone subscriber growth observed elsewhere in the world reveals that the growth in the market is Initially slow followed by a sharp acceleration, but so far that has not happened in India. As far as the Product Life Cycle is concerned. Indians are at the beginning of the maturity stage.

66

Introduction

Growth

Maturity

MARKETING OBJECTIVES Create product

Maximise market

Maximise profits

awareness and trial

share

whole defending market share

Strategies Product

Offer a basic

Offer value

Increase in

product/

added services

number of

service.

value added services.

Price

Distribution

Charge cost-

Price to

Price to match

plus

penetrate

or best

market

competitors

Build selective

Build Intensive

Build more

distribution

distribution.

intensive distribution.

Advertising

Build product

Build

Stress brand

awareness

awareness and

differences and

among early

interest in the

benefits.

adopters and

mass market

dealers. Sales

Use heavy sales Increase to

67

Increase to

Promotion

promotion to

build and

encourage

entice people

maintain

brand-

to subscribe.

relationships

switching.

with customers.

68

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Objectives: To

study

the

importance

and

development

of

tele

–

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

69

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The methodology adopted for this project is exploratory in nature since there is no hypothesis that has to be tested. The conclusions have been drawn by exploratory research work. There have been two sources of information collected: a) Primary Sources I have met retailers of the Airtel of the company and have been able to get first hand information regarding the product, its features and the buying patterns of the product. Their input has been valuable. b) Secondary Sources Secondary source has played a vital role to play in this report. A good amount of data has been collected from various published articles and reports found in magazines and journals. Another vital source has been the Internet and particularly the companies own website.

70

LIMITATIONS Every attempt will be taken to obtain the error free and meaningful result but as nothing in this world is 100% perfect I believe that there will still the chance for error on account of following limitations(1)

Respondent’s unavailability.

(2)

Time pressure and fatigue on the part of respondents and interviewer.

(3)

Courtesy bias.

71

FINDINGS 1. Do you believe that India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile service providers in the world? Company Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

Yes 4 4 4 4

No 1 1 1 1

As according to the above table 16 (80%) out of the total 20 interviewed people in all the above four specified Indian mobile service providers are of belief that India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile service providers in the world, whereas some 4 (20%) of them do not agree to this view.

1

1

4

6 AirTel

8

10

Vodafone

72

Idea

4

2

4

0

4

4

Yes

1

1

No

12 MTNL

14

16

18

2. Do you find that the government’s telecom policy has had the most radical impact on the development of mobile service providers? Company Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

Yes 4 3 3 5

No 1 2 2 --

As according to the above table 15 (75%) out of the total 20 interviewed people in all the above four specified Indian mobile service providers find that the government’s telecom policy has had the most radical impact on the development of mobile service providers, whereas some 5 (25%) of them deny this.

5 4.5 4 3.5

AirTel

3

Vodafone

2.5

Idea

2

MTNL

1.5 1 0.5 0 Yes

No

73

3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators in India is the diversity of the coverage regions? Company Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

Yes 2 3 3 2

No 3 2 2 3

As according to the above table 10 (50%) out of the total 20 interviewed people in the mobile service providers are of belief that one of the challenges facing mobile operations in India is the diversify of the coverage regions, whereas interestingly another 10 (50%) of them deny this.

3 2.5 2

AirTel Vodafone

1.5

Idea MTNL

1 0.5 0 Yes

No

74

4. To what extent, does you find that mobile service providers is a very complex standard? Company

To some extent

To great extent

Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

(1-5) 3 2 2 3

(6-10) 2 3 3 2

As according to the above table 10 (50%) out of the total 20 interviewed people in all the above four major the mobile service providers in Indian Cellular industry find only to some extent that GSM is a very complex standard, whereas the another 10 (50%) respondents find to great extent that mobile service providers is a very complex standard.

3 2.5 AirTel

2

Vodafone

1.5

Idea

1

MTNL

0.5 0 To some extent

To great extent

75

CONSUMER LEVEL 1. Do you believe that mobile service providers comes close

to

fulfilling

the

requirements

for

a

personal

communication system? Company Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

Yes 9 8 8 5

No 1 2 2 5

As the above shows 30 (75%) out of total 40 respondents are of the belief that mobile service providers comes close to fulfilling the requirements for a personal communication system, whereas 10 (25%) of them are in no way to this belief.

3 2 No

2 2

MTNL Idea Vodafone

2

AirTel 3

Yes

3 3

76

2. Do you find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and satisfying mobile standard? Company Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

Yes 9 7 8 8

No 1 3 2 2

As the above shows 32 (80%) out of total 40 respondents find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and satisfying mobile standard, whereas the remaining 8 (10%) respondents deny this.

2

2

10 AirTel

15

20

Vodafone

Idea

77

8

5

8

0

7

9

Yes

3

1

No

25 MTNL

30

35

3. Do you believe that your service provider has a genuine commitment to creating a modern and efficient communications? Company Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

Yes 10 8 10 8

No -2 -2

As the above shows 36 (90%) out of total 40 respondents are of the

belief

that

their

service

providers

have

a

genuine

commitment to creating a modern and efficient communications whereas the remaining 4 (10%) respondents deny this.

2 0 No

2 0

MTNL Idea Vodafone 8

AirTel 10

Yes

8 10

SWOT ANALYSIS

78

STRENGTHS •

Cost advantage

•

Current leaders in quality service

•

Largest distribution network

•

Ability to constantly innovate

•

Highly skilled workforce

•

Entrepreneurial zeal

•

Airtel’s increased equity and market cap.

WEAKNESSES •

To prove credibility

•

Price pressures

•

Need for Government support

•

Awareness

•

Sales and Marketing

79

OPPORTUNITIES •

To sustain passion and commitment

•

Airtel’s market share increasing at other service provider expense. Thus opportunity to wipe it out.

•

Attain higher value services

•

Collaborative business needs to be explored

•

Vertical repeatable solutions.

•

Low penetration level in rural markets.

THREATS

• Foreign investment •

Global trends moving from GPS to WLL.

•

Lack of global parity in telecom tariff

• Other competition

80

CONCLUSION

From above the details I conclude that 70% Airtel users preferred to remain with Airtel. Also good no. of users who were willing to switch from their respective subscribers showed interest in Airtel. Hence, these statistics imply a bright future for the company. Also the company is now providing more services like the door to door services which is you dial the Airtel customer care and would like to send someone flowers the Airtel company delivers those flowers to the person concerned. Also Airtel is providing free text messaging service and free voice mail service. Call conferencing is also another feature Airtel provides.

81

BIBLIOGRAPHY •

Bernard J. T. Mallinder. Specification Methodology Applied to the GSM System. In EUROCON 88, June 2005.

•

Seshadri Mohan and Ravi Jain. Two User Location Strategies for

Personal

Communication

Services.

IEEE

Personal

Communications. 1(1), 1994. •

Moe Rahnema. Overview of the GSM System and Protocol Architecture. IEEE Communications Magazine. April 1993.

•

C. Watson. Radio Equipment for GSM. In D.M. Balston and R.C.V Macario, editors, Cellular Radio Systems, Artech House, Boston, 1993.

•

Robert G. Winch. Telecommunication Transmission Systems. McGrawHill New York, 1993.

•

Vodafone

•

Airtel

•

Idea

•

MTNL

82

QUESTIONNAIRE NAME: ____________________________________ ADDRESS: ____________________________________ OCCUPATION: ____________________________________

1.

Do you believe that India is potentially one of

the most exciting mobile service providers in the world? Company Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

Yes

No

2. Do you find that the government’s telecom policy has had the most radical impact on the development of mobile service providers? Company Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

Yes

No

3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators in India is the diversity of the coverage regions? Company Airtel Vodafone

Yes

No

83

Idea MTNL 4. To what extent, does you find that mobile service providers is a very complex standard? Company

To some extent

To great extent

(1-5)

(6-10)

Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

84

CONSUMER LEVEL 1. Do you believe that mobile service providers comes close

to

fulfilling

the

requirements

for

a

personal

communication system? Company Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

Yes

No

2. Do you find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and satisfying mobile standard? Company Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

Yes

No

3. Do you believe that your service provider has a genuine commitment to creating a modern and efficient communications? Company Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL

Yes

85

No