Study of Consumer Behavior Towards Internet Data Card

[2008]
Reliance Communication
Summer Project
A SUMMER TRAINING REPORT
ON
CONSUMER
CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR WITH
WITH A
FOCUS ON PERCEPTION TOWARDS
INTERNET DATA CARD
IN
RELIANCE COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION LTD
(7th July,2008-6th November, 2008)
SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

OF
REQUIREMENT OF
POST GRADUATE PROGRAM IN RETAIL MANAGEMENT
SUBMITTED BY
Pradipto Dey
2
1. CERTIFICATE OF THE GUIDE 10
2. STUDENT’ DECLARATION 11
3. ACKNOWLADGEMENT 12
4. EXECUTIVE SUMMERY 13
5. INTRODUCTION OF PROJECT 15
6. HISTORY OF RELIANCE COMMUNICATION 16
6.1. Foundation of Reliance Communication 17
6.2. The Vision 18
6.3. The Mission 18
7. AN ANALYSIS OF RELIANCE COMMUNICATION 19
7.1. Low-Cost Leadership Strategy 20
7.2. Differentiation Strategy 20
7.3. Organization Structure 21
7.4. External Environment 22
7.5. Global Expansion 23
7.6. Information as a Weapon 24
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7.7. Financial Performance and Analysis 26
7.8. Ethics & Culture 27
8. TELECOM SECTOR-AN OUTLOOK 28
8.1. Industry Analysis 28
8.2. Bharti Airtel 28
8.3. Tata- Indicom 30
8.4. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) 31
8.5. Vodafone -Essar (Erstwhile Hutchison Group) 32
9. RELIANCE NETCONNECT DIVISION 33
9.1. Introduction 33
9.2. RCOM’ products in Reliance Netconnect Department 33
9.2.1. Value Based Plan 34
9.2.2. Advance Rental Plan 35
9.2.3. Time based plan 35
9.2.4. Prepaid Options 36
9.3. Evaluation criteria & parameter of competitors 36
9.4. Reliance Data Card - an insight 37
9.5. Product 38
9.6. Packaging 39
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9.7. Price 40
9.8. Promotion 41
9.9. Bundling 41
10. MARKET RESEARCH 42
10.1. Overview of Research 42
10.2. Introduction 43
10.2.1. Problem or Opportunity 43
10.2.2. Background of the study 43
10.3. An overview of internet and wireless connectivity 44
10.3.1. Definition of internet 44
10.3.2. Common uses of the Internet 45
10.3.3. Driving growth of internet data card 46
10.3.4. The Deterrents 47
11. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR THEORIES 48
11.1. Consumer perception and consumer behaviour 48
11.2. Consumer decision process 49
11.2.1. Predispositions (Before Purchase) 49
11.2.2. Product Need 50
11.2.3. External Search 50
11.2.4. Evaluation of Alternatives 51
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11.2.5. Purchase Activity 51
11.2.6. Post Purchase Behaviour 52
11.2.7. Predispositions (After Purchase and Use) 52
11.3. CONSUMER PERCEPTION 53
11.3.1. Introduction 53
11.3.2. Factors in perception 53
11.4. Consumer behaviour towards internet data card 55
11.4.1. Problem recognition 56
11.5. Information Search 56
11.6. Product Evaluation 57
11.7. Purchase Activity 58
11.8. Post Purchase Activities 58
11.9. Perceived benefits of internet data card 59
11.9.1. Convenience 60
11.9.2. Time saving 60
11.9.3. Economical 60
11.10. Perceived risk of internet data card 61
11.10.1. Risk of internet connection speed 61
11.11. Research objective 62
11.12. Research question 62
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11.13. Research boundaries 62
11.14. Research design 63
11.14.1. Validity and Reliability test of the questionnaire 64
11.14.2. Validity Test 64
11.14.3. Reliability Test 65
11.14.3.1. Cronbach’s Reliability Test 66
11.15. Research tactics 66
11.15.1. The theoretical population 66
11.15.2. Sampling Frame 67
11.15.3. Sampling procedure 67
11.15.4. Implementation 68
11.15.5. Data Collection - Phase 1 68
11.15.6. Phase 2 Final Survey 69
11.15.7. Data Processing 70
11.15.7.1. Brand Recall 70
11.15.7.2. Fishbein Analysis 72
11.15.7.3. Factor Analysis 72
11.15.7.4. Perceptual Maps 72
11.15.7.5. Brand Loyalty 73
11.15.7.6. Cluster Analysis and Segmentation 74
12. Recommendation and conclusion 76

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12.1. Playing with the PLC 76
12.2. Recommendations 4 P’s 78
12.2.1. Product 78
12.2.2. Price 78
12.2.3. Promotions 78
12.2.4. Place 79
12.3. Continue with up gradation 80
12.4. Future Challenges 81
12.5. Store centric recommendations 81
13. Marketing strategy 83
13.1. Segmentation 83
13.2. Positioning 85
13.3. Real Positioning 87
13.4. Psychological Positioning 87
14. APPENDIX 88
14.1. Reliance communication- Timeline 88
14.2. SWOT Analysis 92
14.3. Product portfolio 95
14.4. Retail Revolution:-Reliance World 96
14.5. Customer survey questionnaire 97
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14.6. Age Profile of Sample Population 106
14.7. Internet Data Card Preference 106
14.8. Recall Pattern 106
14.9. User Preference 107
14.10. Respondents’ preference of Internet Connection 107
14.11. Brand Satisfaction of Reliance 108
14.12. Brand Loyalty 108
14.13. Price Sensitivity in Internet data card Market 109
14.14. Fishbein Analysis 109
14.15. Average attitude perception score of each brand 110
14.16. Factor Analysis 111
14.17. Cluster Analysis 112
14.18. References 115
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Session: 2007 - 09
CERTIFICATE OF THE GUIDE
This is to certify that the Project Work titled “(CONSUMER BUYING

BEHAVIOR WITH A FOCUS ON PERCEPTION OF INTERNET DATA
CARD)” is a bonafide work of Mr. /Ms Pradipto Dey. Carried out in partial
fulfillment for the award of diploma under my guidance. This project work is
original and not submitted earlier for the award of any degree / diploma or
associate ship of any other University / Institution.
PLACE: - KOLKATA
DATE: - 30/10/2008
Signature of the Guide:
Name and Official Address of the Guide:
Designation and Experience:
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Students’ Declaration
I, Mr. /Ms PRADIPTO DEY. hereby declare that the Project Work titled
Consumer Buying Behaviour with a focus on perception of internet data card is
the original work done by me and submitted to the NSHM, Kolkata in partial
fulfillment of requirements for the award of Post Graduate in Retail Management
(Area of specialisation) is a record of original work done by me under the
supervision of Dr/Mr. Sri. OZAIR QAMAR of RELIANCE COMMUNICATION
LTD. (Orgn. of the guide)
Date: 30/10/2008
Signature of the Student
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all I would like to thank the Management at Reliance Communication
Ltd. for giving me the opportunity to do my four-month project training in their
esteemed organization. I am highly obliged to Mr. RAHUL NAGARIA (HR,
Reliance Web Stores Limited) for granting me to undertake my training at
Reliance World, Place Kolkata
I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. OZAIR QAMAR (Area Sales
Manager), who has been provided me with guidance, inspiration, perspective
and stimulating discussion, throughout the writing of this report. His constant
review and excellent suggestions throughout the project are highly
commendable.
A study like this can not be completed without help from other persons and therefore I
would like to express my gratitude to Mr. G.M SAHA, (Ex. Dean of INDIAN
STATISTICAL INSTITUTE, KOLKATA ) to provide me crucial guidance in the
analytical part of this Project.
My heartfelt thanks go to all the executives who helped me gain knowledge
about the actual working and the processes involved in various departments.
Finally, we would like to thank our friends and family member for giving us
constant support and encouragement.
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4. EXECUTIVE SUMMERY
Growth on the Data Cards. Especially happen when business travelers,
academicians as well as other professionals need to access emails and corporate
applications as well as personal requirements during urgent trips and travels.
Now, what kind of a company enters an industry with competitors already
entrenched? Which ones actually succeed? The answer to both the questions is
Reliance Infocomm now known as Reliance Communication. Reliance Infocomm
is a confident and smart company that was able to enter a saturated and highly
competitive industry, and emerge at the top. The cut-throat competition in the
telecommunication sector of India posed a great threat to the development of
Reliance Infocomm. When Late Dhirubhai Ambani charted out the mission for
Reliance Infocomm in late 1999 he had a clear game plan to position itself on the
platform of affordable as well as world class information and communication
service highlighting unparalleled value to create customer delight and enhance
business productivity.
The project aims to identify the problems faced by Reliance Communication in
the internet data card market. Customers often feel that service providers do not
deliver what they promise. They feel players should present the terms and
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conditions and tariff plans/schemes in clear terms. The research we conducted
also supports this fact. We have suggested a marketing plan for Reliance data
card along with other suggestions for Reliance Communication to face the
competition in the near future and the long run.
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5. Introduction of Project
The objective of the study is to understand the consumer’ pre, post, during
perception of data card and consumer buying behaviour and attitude for
Reliance data card. To understand the former part, we created a focused group
questionnaire and conducted a focused Group Discussion (FGD) on data card;
we analyzed the questionnaire and the FGD to create an extensive questionnaire
understanding the buying behavior of consumers of Reliance data card and other
brands. We had a Fishbein analysis done on the 64 respondents from Kolkata to
identify how much of buying intension is due to attributes and how much due to
influence by referrals. We further extended the study to understand the
perceptual mapping of brands. Our analysis has revealed that the consumer is
satisfied with the brand Reliance data card and its attributes. However
Reliance has not performed well with the customers who are considerably
concerned about internet connection speed. This following detailed analysis is
presented in our assignment.
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6. History of Reliance Communication
6.1. Foundation of Reliance Communication
Dhirubhai Ambani (1932-2002) started the Reliance Commercial Corporation in a
350 Sq. Ft. room with a telephone, one table and three chairs. The primary
business of Reliance Commercial Corporation was to import polyester yarn and
export spices. He started his first textile mill at Naroda, in Ahmedabad in the
year 1966 (The Origin Of 2007). After success in the textile industry Reliance
slowly ventured into petroleum, petrochemicals, energy, finance, engineering
and telecommunication sectors. Reliance was the first Indian company to be
listed in the Fortune Global 500 list in 2003. RIL emerged featured in the 2007
Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest corporations at rank 269 (500 2007).
Dhirubhai Ambani charted out the mission for Reliance Infocomm in late 1999.
He saw that information technology had the capacity to accelerate the growth of
Indian economy leaving behind its backwardness and underdevelopment. From
1999 to 2002 Reliance Infocomm built the fiber backbone for India — 60,000
kilometers of fiber optic spreading across the entire country. Reliance Infocomm
was started on December 28, 2002 (Communications, Reliance Communications
2006).
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After the death of Dirubhai Ambani, there was a rift between his sons, Mukesh
and Anil Ambani. Finally the company was split between the two brothers. Anil
Ambani acquired Reliance Infocomm, which is now known as Reliance
Communications. Reliance Communication is now a part of Anil Dhirubhai
Ambani Group (ADAG).
Reliance Communications is the flagship company of the Anil Dhirubhai
Ambani Group of companies. Launched as Reliance India Mobile in December
2002, it started its commercial operations in May 2003 with one million
customers in 92 cities. This organization was the result of the dream of Dhirubhai
Ambani to – “Make the tools of information and communication available to
people at an affordable cost [and] they will overcome the handicaps of illiteracy
and lack of mobility”.
Currently, Reliance Communication spans the entire telecommunication services
covering mobile and fixed telephony. Apart from plain vanilla voice services, it
provides broadband, national and international long distance services and data
services along with an exhaustive range of value-added services and
applications. Further, the company sells communications and digital
entertainment products and services through its chain of Reliance Web World
retail outlets. Today, Reliance is a service provider of both CDMA and GSM
technologies.
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6.2. The Vision
The vision of the company is as follows:
We will leverage our strengths to execute complex global-scale projects to
facilitate leading-edge information and communication services affordable to all
individual consumers and businesses in India. We will offer unparalleled value
to create customer delight and enhance business productivity. We will also
generate value for our capabilities beyond Indian borders and enable millions of
India's knowledge workers to deliver their services globally. (Communication,
Reliance Communication 2006)
6.3. The Mission
The mission statement of the company was, “Karlo duniya muthi mein.” It is the
mission of the company to become number one in the field of telecommunication
and provide high quality products and services at the cheapest possible price.
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7. An analysis of Reliance Communication
Michael E. Porter studied a number of businesses and introduced a structure
enumerating three strategies: low-cost leadership, differentiation and focus (Daft
2007). According to Porter an organization either adopts low-cost or
differentiation strategy to compete and position them in the market. But it can be
seen Reliance have successfully adopted Porter’s both strategies.
7.1. Low-Cost Leadership Strategy
Reliance Infocomm launched into the market with a package called the
Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer Offer which provided with the lowest airtime rates
and value added services for free. Reliance Infocomm reduced the rates of
outgoing calls, while the competitors charged at rates as high as Rs.7 (US$0.15)
per minute. All incoming calls were free.
Three strategies helped in cutting call costs. Firstly, Reliance charged a higher
rental, Rs.600 (US$13.3) per month, compared to the rest of the providers. But
users received about 400 minutes of free talk time, while the competitors offered
none. Since the incoming calls were free the user could utilize the entire 400
hundred minutes to make calls. Secondly, Reliance Infocomm reduced the pulse
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rates to 15 seconds from the earlier one minute. For a user this meant more
control over the costs, while for Reliance, it meant higher volumes of calls. The
lower pulse levels allowed the low income users to pass on information through
short duration calls. Thirdly, Reliance Infocomm ensured that calls to any
Reliance phone in India were charged at Paise 40 (0.8 US cents) a minute, a rate
which people could not even imagine before that time. For Reliance Infocomm
this meant faster adoption of Reliance services across India, because of the very
low long distance rates, made possible by low costs, since the calls would be
carried entirely through the Reliance owned network, thus avoiding profit
sharing with any other carrier.
Value added services like voice mail, call waiting, call holding, call divert, call
identification and call conferencing were charged at a premium by all the other
players in the market. Reliance Infocomm offered all these services free of
charge. In addition all text messaging was offered free of charge.
7.2. Differentiation Strategy
Reliance Infocomm used exceptional service and new technology to distinguish
their services from the others. They were the first providers to use WLL, a lower
frequency band, and CDMA technology. Using CDMA helped Reliance
Infocomm to accommodate large number of users, which they would have not
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been able to do otherwise. Since they did not have to pay heavily for the license
for WLL they were able to charge low rates. Thus utilizing the new technology
helped them gain low costs.
When most other mobile operators focused exclusively on the provision of
mobile services, Reliance Infocomm started offering all the services which could
utilize their network and other resources optimally. Apart from the basic mobile
services, Reliance Infocomm currently offers landline, broadband Internet, leased
line, VPN (Virtual Private Network), IPLC (International Private Leased Circuit),
Centrex and IDC (Internet Data Centre) services.
Thus Reliance Infocomm was able to use innovation to reduce the cost of their
services. Differentiation and low-cost strategies went hand in hand for Reliance
Infocomm.
7.3. Organization Structure
Reliance in the beginning used the modular structure. Reliance Industries, the
parent company of Reliance Infocomm, is the largest private sector corporation
in India with stakes in petroleum, petrochemicals, engineering, and finance. This
scale of operations provided great leverage as the company ventured into
telecommunications. Reliance Infocomm, in the initial stages, shared all Reliance

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resources to ensure cost effectiveness in every service that it provided. Reliance
Infocomm operated out of existing Reliance Industries offices and utilized the
capital and personnel resources to the extent possible. Reliance Engineering
Associates Ltd, an associate company, made sure that the engineering and
manpower costs were maintained at the bare minimum. In developed countries
human resource costs account for 22 per cent of a companies’ operating cost as
against 5 per cent in India. But Reliance Infocomm utilizes all their internal
resources in large numbers which further reduces the cost.
Later Reliance Infocomm centralized most of its operations. 80 per cent of
Reliance Infocomm’s administration and operation is centralized. Compared to
the best telecom networks in the world they have deployed only half the number
of people per 1,000 lines making their human resources the highest productive
resource. Reliance also exploited the extensive petroleum distribution channels
that it had set up in promoting and distributing Reliance Infocomm services.
7.4. External Environment
By December, 2001 the user base of mobile users in India had grown to around 5
million. By the time Reliance Infocomm was launched it had grown to around 12
million. Two other service providers, who had entered the mobile market late,
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could not cope up with the competition, and were taken over by other global
service providers. Thus it can be seen that the mobile market in India before
Reliance Infocomm was growing at a rapid pace, but was highly competitive and
companies who could not keep up had to exit the market. Reliance Infocomm
entered such a market and emerged as India's largest mobile service provider,
within 7 months of commercial launch (Communication, Reliance
Communications 2006).
At present Reliance Communication is in a very unstable and complex
environment. Everyone in the market is seeking to expand and increase their
subscriber base. Service providers are adding at an average of a million
subscribers every month. New mobile technologies such as 3G, EDGE, and
WIMAX are being introduced in India. The providers try their best to incorporate
the new technologies in their services as soon as possible.
7.5. Global Expansion
Within the first year of launch Reliance Infocomm entered the world markets. Its
first step into global expansion was the purchase of UK based, Flag Telecom for
$207 million, on October 16, 2003 (Telecom 2003). Flag Telecom is a leading
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provider of international wholesale network transport and communications
services. By taking over Flag Telecom, Reliance Infocomm acquired its
established customer base of more than 180 leading operators, including all of
the top ten international carriers (Telecom 2003).
It entered the US markets by purchasing Yipes Holdings Inc. for 300 million
dollar cash on July 16, 2007. It bought 100% shares of Yipes Holdings Inc. by
cash. Yipes is based in San Fransisco. It is a provider of managed ethernet and
application delivery services, thus it offered Reliance an opportunity to tap a
fast-growing market. Yipes had coverage to 14 metro cities in the United States,
which Reliance plans to expand to 30 and also take it to Asia, Europe, Africa and
the Middle East (ANI 2007) .
7.6. Information as a Weapon
To understand the market better than its competitors and provide superior
service, all while growing at a swift pace Reliance Infocomm used information
technology as a strategic weapon. To start with, it laid 60,000 kilometers of
optical fiber network across India. The only way to manage the challenges was to
establish a scalable and adaptable decision-support system (DSS) right away.
They started their DSS even before their sales side was launched.
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The DSS architecture of Reliance Infocomm is given below:
Data from various inputs such as billing, CRM, SAP R/3 was sent to a third party
server, where the data was filtered and organized. It was stored in a data
repository. SAP R/3 is an enterprise resource planning software. Some of the data
went directly to the SAP NetWeaver, business intelligence software. SAP
NetWeaver provides business analytic applications to the management.
Even though Reliance Infocomm has such a reliable system, the users still face
many customer service problems. A person may have to wait up to twenty
minutes before his call is answered by their customer service representative.
There is lot of billing issues with reliance Infocomm. They are trying to overcome
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all these issues gradually by continuously updating their information
technology.
7.7. Financial Performance and Analysis
As compared to the industry average Reliance Communications has a very high net profit
margin (NPM). It has an NPM of 70.8% against and industry average of about 19%.
Although the total earnings reported by Reliance form only a miniscule part of total
industry. Reliance Communications has the highest EBITDA margin expands from
39.5% to 43.0% reported for the year ended March 31, 2008. The total income
reported were Rs. 19,068 crores while the industry total was Rs. 123436.52 crores,
with a change of 25%. Therefore Reliance has considerable catching up to do. In
FY08, Reliance’s sales jumped by 49% compared with FY07 and are expected to
grow strongly in the coming years. Same trend can be witnessed in PAT, with a
rise of 30% in FY08 compared with FY07. Sales in AMJ08 are expected to jump by
13% to Rs36, 453.94m from Rs32, 289.30m in AMJ07. In the coming quarters,
Reliance is expected to add subscribers at the rate of more than 4m customers
every quarter. Since Reliance is present in both CDMA and GSM technology, it is
fast catching up with the leading company and is second largest company after
the market leader in terms of subscriber base. Only company to have nationwide
GSM & CDMA service in India
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7.8. Ethics & Culture
Reliance defines what is right and what is wrong, and then proposes doing the
right thing. Reliance Infocomm believes that any business conduct can be ethical
only when it rests on the nine core values of honesty, integrity, respect, fairness,
purposefulness, trust, responsibility, citizenship and caring (Communications,
Code Of Conduct 2006).
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8. Telecom Sector-An Outlook
8.1. Industry Analysis
Indian Telecom industry is one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the
world. In telecom industry, service providers are the main drivers; whereas
equipment manufacturers are witnessing growth and decline in successive
quarters as sales is dependent on order undertaken by the companies. Airtel,
Reliance, Tata and Vodafone are some of the companies that are expected to spur
the growth in AMJ08, as compared to AMJ07. According to Cygnus estimates,
telecom industry is expected to grow by 25% in AMJ08 as compared to AMJ07, in
terms of sales. EBDITA and PAT are expected to grow by 32% and 34%
respectively in AMJ08 as cost expenses are being control by major companies like
Airtel and Reliance. The major booster is the wireless mobile subscriber base;
crossing over 261m in March 2008. Other services like Internet subscriber base
has also provided significant impetus with its subscriber base reaching over 11m
in March 2008
8.1.1. Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel is India’s leading provider of telecommunication service. Airtel
Data Card is the superior PC Data Card solution which delivers wireless internet
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capabilities to laptops and notebooks, by providing EDGE and GPRS
technologies in a single PC Card package. On an EDGE network, Airtel Data
Card enables connection to the Internet using EGPRS. In areas where EDGE
services are not available, the Airtel Data Card still enables reliable and secure
data connections over GPRS. The tariff charges of Airtel’s data card are shown
below:
Airtel Data Card

Name of Bill Datacard Datacard
Plan Datacard49 Datacard350 599 New 999 New
Monthly Fixed Chaeges
Monthly
Charges 49 350 599 999
Data Charges (Rs/Pulse) (All India)
Rate Per Pulse 0.1 5 3 0
Pulse 10 KB 1MB 1MB 1MB
Data Usage Unlimitted
Discount Nil 500 Mb 1 GB Free
Default Voice Charge
Local Outgoing (Rs/Min) (Kolkata,West Bengal,Sikkim and A &M

Airtel to All 1.99 1.99 1.99 1.99
STD Outgoing (Rs/Min)
Airtel to All 2.99 2.99 2.99 2.99
ISD Outgoing
# Slab 1 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.4
# # Row 1 9.2 9.2 9.2 9.2
# # # Row 2 40 40 40 40
SMS (Rs/SMS)
Local 1 1 1 1
National 2 2 2 2
International 5 5 5 5
100
Free Local 100 Local
SMS/Month Nil Nil SMS SMS
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8.1.2. Tata- Indicom
Tata-Indicom currently at leading position in wireless data card market in India.
Tata Teleservices' Tata-Indicom data card sales have exceeded the 100,000
subscribers’ milestone. Using CDMA 1x technology, Tata-Indicom data cards
offer wireless internet access. The recently launched Plug 2 Surf Whiz fits into a
standard USB port available in most desktops and laptops. TTML's Plug 2 Surf
Whiz offer is being promoted with outdoor campaigns across Mumbai and
Maharashtra. The tariff charges of Tata-Indicom’s data card are shown below:
TATA USB Modem

Plan Name Highlight Fixed Charge Free Usage Additional Usage
Time Based
Budget 150 Lowest rental Rs.150/month 300min 50p/min
8AM -
12AM:50p/min
1800 Min 12AM -8AM
Value 325 Free 1hr/day Rs 325/month (30 Hrs) :25p/min
Data Based
ME Unlimitted
Unlimitted usage Rs.1099/month Unlimitted N/A
ME
Economy Alweys On Rs. 500/month 512MB Rs. 2/MB
ME Jumbo For Heavy Rs. 650/month 1GB Rs. 2/MB
ME Max Users Rs. 900/month 2GB Rs. 2/MB
Rs.
ME 6 Advanced 3600/6month 1GB Rs. 2/MB
Rs.
ME 12 Rental 6700/annum 1GB Rs. 2/MB
Voice Tariff
Rs. /min To TATA To Other
Local 50 Paise Rs. 1
STD Rs. 1.69 Rs. 2.65
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8.1.3. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is a public sector undertaking, wholly owned
by the Government of India. BSNL has decided to launch its Data Services on
CDMA 2000 IX by using BSNL Internet Connect Card (ICC) based on broadband
connection for laptop users in India. The CDMA IX ICC will provide Internet
Service @144kbps to computer users on their laptops as well as on desktops. This
service will be available in all those locations wherever CDMA IX MSC based
coverage is there. However, during roaming the said Internet connectivity will
not work at present. The following two types of data Cards will be available for
BSNL customers:
(A) Network Interface Card (NIC): For internet speed up to 144 Kbps.
(B) EVDO Card: Internet speed up to 2.4 Mbps. The Tariff of this service is around
550Rs/month for speeds upto 2.4Mbps in most cities in India. Though there are reports
that the pricing differs based on cities and starts at 400Rs/month to 550Rs/month.
City Wire tariff plans charges data card are shown below:
Pricing in UP
Plan 1 - 1650 Down Payment + 400Rs/monthly Rent
Pricing in Jamshedpur (Jharkhand)
Pricing in Chennai
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8.1.4. Vodafone -Essar (Erstwhile Hutchison Group)
The Hutchison Group provided GSM mobile services in 13 circles across the
country. Its main equity partner is the Essar Group. Vodafone recently launched
its its wireless internet device like
Vodafone Mobile Connect Globe Trotter EDGE data card
Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Modem
Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Stick
Globe Trotter EDGE is the superior PC Data Card solution delivering near
broadband wireless capability to laptops and notebooks by providing EDGE and
GPRS technologies in a single PC Card package
The tariff charges of Vodafone’s data card are shown below:
Monthly rental (Rs) 499 699
Free data 500MB 1GB
Usage charges 5P/10KB 5P/10KB
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9. Reliance Netconnect
9.1. Introduction
Reliance Communication erstwhile Reliance Infocomm always remained
technological, market leader in CDMA mobile business. Its high brand
awareness, market acceptance as a technological, economical leader in various
segment of mobile business and high brand equity were compelling reason to
penetrate and develop entire value chain of the both mobile and broadband
based business.
9.2. Reliance Communication’ products in Reliance Netconnect
Department
Reliance has range of products for both office and individual internet usage.
Reliance Data card is the superior Data card solution delivering near Broadband
wireless capability to laptop & desktop .Reliance Data card enables connection to
the internet at data speed up to a maximum of 144 kbps. Reliance is currently the
best wireless connection in India which can be used for both laptops and
desktops. There are two types of Data card are presented by Reliance.
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1) PCMCIA Card (Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association)
Mainly for Laptop.
Which Laptop is supporting PCMCIA Slot.
Data Card company is ZTE.
2) USB Data Card (Universal Serial Bus)

Supporting USB Slot.
For Laptop & Desktop both.
Direct USB connector – no need for adaptor or cable. (ZTE)
Slim, sleek and stylish
Plug and Play – No need to install drivers – just connect and surf using the
Windows dialer.
Retraceable antenna – better signal strength in low RF areas.
9.2.1. Value Based Plan
Plan Freedom Freedom Plus Platinum
Monthly Rental (Rs) 650 900 1500
NIL for NJ 149 Data, for NIL for NJ 149 Data, NIL for NJ 149 Data, for
Monthly Rental for other plans as for other plans as other plans as
Voice Service applicable applicable applicable
Total Free Data Usage

Hrs N.A N.A N.A
Free Usage Peak Hrs N.A N.A N.A
Free Usage Off Peak Hrs N.A N.A N.A
Free Data Usage in GB 1 GB 1.5 GB Unlitted
Additional Data Usage

Rate Rs.2/Mb Rs.2/Mb N.A
34
Free SMS Per Month 100Local & National 100Local & National 100Local & National
9.2.2. Advance Rental Plan
Plan 12 Months ARP 24 Months ARP Zero Rental Plans

Monthly Rental (Rs) 0* 0* 0
NIL for NJ 149 NIL for NJ 149 Data, Rs. 174 for NJ 149
Data, for other for other plans as Data, for other plans
Monthly Rental for Voice Service plans as applicable applicable as applicable
Total Free Data Usage Hrs N.A 60 Hrs. N.A
Free Usage Peak Hrs N.A 20 Hrs N.A
Free Usage Off Peak Hrs N.A 40 Hrs N.A
Free Data Usage in GB 1 GB N.A N.A
Peak Hrs
Rs.0.60/min off Peak
Additional Data Usage Rate Rs.2/Mb Rs.0.5/min Rs. O.30/min
100Local &
Free SMS Per Month National 400 Local N.A
9.2.3. Time based plan
Freedom @
Plan Swift 03 Swift 40 Night
Monthly Rental
(Rs) 300 400 400
NIL for NJ NIL for NJ NIL for NJ
149 Data, 149 Data, for 149 Data,
for other other plans for other
Monthly Rental for plans as as plans as
Voice Service applicable applicable applicable
Total Free Data

Usage Hrs 45 Hrs. 60 Hrs N.A
Free Usage Peak
Hrs 15 Hrs 20 Hrs N.A
Free Usage Off
Peak Hrs 30 Hrs 40 Hrs Unlimited
Free Data Usage in
GB N.A N.A N.A
35
Additional Data
Usage Rate Rs.0.5/min Rs.0.5/min Rs.0.5/min
Free SMS Per
Month 300 Local 400 Local N.A
9.2.4. Prepaid Options
5 hours Internet 10 hours 25 hours Unlimited

Product Name pack Internet pack Internet pack Internet pack
Prepaid Data RCV including
Taxes 111 202 404 1501
Core Validity Days 0 0 30 30
Netconnect Validity Days 30 30 30 30
Free Local SMS 50 100 300 300

Netconnect minutes if entire
usage is in Peak hours 300 600 1500 Unlimited
Netconnect minutes if entire
usage is in off Peak hours 600 1200 3000 Unlimited
9.3. Evaluation Criteria & Parameter of Competitors

Reliance Airtel TATA Indicom Vodafone
Laptop &
Used for Laptop & Desktop Laptop & Desktop Laptop & Desktop Desktop
Technologies CDMA EDGE EDGE
Interface USB/PCMCIA USB/PCMCIA USB/PCMCIA USB/PCMCIA
Price 2820 3350 2999 5999
Up to 144
Speed Up to 144KBps 100-115KBps Up to 153.6 KBps KBps
Voice Call Yes yes Yes N/A
SMS Yes yes Yes yes
National Data Roaming Yes yes N/A N/A
Tariff
No of Tariff 9 4 8 2
500 MB Free N/A Rs, 350 N/A Rs. 499
512 MB Free N/A N/A Rs.500 N/A
1 GB Free Rs.650 Rs. 599 Rs.650 Rs. 699
1.5 GB Free Rs. 900 N/A N/A N/A
2 GB N/A N/A Rs. 900 N/A
36
Unlimited Rs. 1500 Rs. 999 Rs. 1099 N/A
5 Hrs Free N/A N/A Rs. 150 N/A
30 Hrs Free Rs. 300 N/A Rs. 325 N/A
40 Hrs Free Rs. 400 N/A N/A N/A
Unlimited (night) Rs. 400 N/A N/A N/A
Minimum Rate Rs. 300 Rs. 49 Rs. 150 Rs. 499
Maximum Rate Rs. 1500 Rs. 999 Rs.1099 Rs. 699
For Rs. 49 - .10/10 KB For

Rs. 350 - Rs.5/MB For
Additional Data Usage (size) Rs. 2/MB Rs.599 - 3/MB Rs. 2/MB
8AM - 12AM:50p/min
Additional Data Usage (Time) Rs. 0.5/min N/A 12AM -8AM :25p/min
For Rs. 300 - 300 For

Rs. 400 - 400 For Size
- 100 Local & For Rs. 599 - 100 Local For
Free SMS per Month National 999 - 100 local N/A
Voice Call for company to company (local) Rs. 1.79 Rs. 1.99/min Rs. .50
Voice Call for company to Other (Local) Rs. 1.79 Rs. 1.99/min Rs. 1
Voice Call for company to company (STD) Rs. 2 Rs. 2.99/min Rs.1.69/min
Voice Call for company to Other (STD) Rs. 2 Rs. 2.99/min Rs. 2.65/min
9.4. Reliance Data Card - an insight
Reliance data card has been developed as technologically superior. Reliance's cutting
edge CDMA2000 1X technology offers pan-India coverage.
Internet can be assessed in 2200 towns across in India soon
to be increased to 5700 towns. These can be used to connect
to the Internet from laptops as well as Desk top PCs.
37
Features:
Uninterrupted high-speed wireless Internet connectivity
Better surfing speeds, with download speeds up to 144 kbps
High download speed of heavy email attachments
One-time installation of the dial-up software without the need to change
the dial-up configuration
Hassle-free connection
o Connect instantly (No line busy / waiting tone)
o Easy to remember username / password (your phone / card
number).
38
High
Category
Development
Index
Low
Low
Low High
Brand Development Index
9.5. Packaging
With data card as a utility product in India, the packaging, Point of purchase plat
a minor role in consumers’ mind while deciding which product to buy.
The Reliance PCMCIA card has been designed
and packaged with a old Reliance Infocomm’s
green and blue theme in mind .The USB modem
comparatively looks much futuristic. It comes in
39
black in colour, overall new look of the new USB modem is attractive enough to
grab the attention of customer at Point of Purchase.
9.6. Price
Reliance Netconnect has dropped their prices on new data
cards purchased because their competitor [Tata] has offered
free 2 months internet services. According to the new pricing
Reliance USB Modems would now be available from 2299 Rs.
rather than the old pricing of 2850Rs. This price drop is for a
limited time also comes with a 2 months unlimited internet usage for free. The
best part of Reliance Netconnect is that they don’t charge which on roaming and
also have an excellent network services
Pricing of USB Modems:
USB Modem for Laptops & Desktops: 2299 Rs.
PCMCIA Card for Laptops: 2620 Rs.
9.7. Promotion
Data card is a specialty product .That is why
promotional activities are mainly focused around
in store promotional activity as well as other
40
medium like print media, hoarding and posters. Reliance data card doesn’t have
any brand ambassador as of yet. But, for the data card not been much of
advertisements.
9.8. Bundling
Bundling has always been the norm for reliance data
card. This is mostly due to the fact that consumers
have to purchase tariff plan with all data cards. There
is always at least one trade promotion across both data cards throughout the
year. Currently it’s giving free data card for HDFC bank card holder.
41
10. Market Research
10.1. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH
10.1.1. Problem or opportunity?
Study and analyses of pre, during and post sales perception of consumer
towards Internet Data cards especially Reliance Internet Data cards.
To understand the market segmentation in the light of Indian Data card market
Gauge brand recall for various data brands, specifically Reliance Internet Data
cards.
Map the Data card market and competitive positioning within it.
To understand the buying intention of and analyze the effect of non-attribute

factors.
To understand the brand loyalty of customers towards Data cards.
Identify the parameters that play the most important role in a consumer’s choice
of buying Data cards using Factor and Cluster analysis.
42
10.1.2. Background of the study
The Internet has grown tremendously during the past years. It radically changes
the way people live, work and consume. It represents a tremendous opportunity
as well as threats.
Internet usage in India continues to grow at a slow but steady pace, both in
breadth and depth, with the overall internet-using population in urban India
reaching 30.32 million - a growth of 28% from April 2006 to April 2007. The
penetration of the internet among urban Indians stands at 9% now, assuming the
total urban population at 336 million (Juxt Consultant 2006)
Unlike the '70s and '80s when business-related travel was not seen much, the
'90s, particularly the dawn of the twenty-first century, has witnessed intensive
business travels, and this is gaining momentum with time. India too is on the
move and wants to stay connected anytime, anywhere-whether on a train or bus,
in a hotel or conference hall, within India or abroad. Meeting this need of
business travelers are data cards and USB modems that have become the
preferred solution, even before wireless mobile broadband is introduced in the
country. At present, there are 10 mn data cards, USB modems, and Internet-
enabled mobile phones in the Indian market.
43
With India on the move, the data card market is flourishing even as low,
inconsistent speed remains an issue. In this already competitive market, it
becomes essential for Internet data card players to understand the different
factors that affect people using the Internet data card as a new wireless device for
internet connection There are many benefits that attract people to choose internet
data card for access to the internet as convenience, time saving, wireless
connectivity and possibly affordable , however, many people are often hold back
as fear of low speed, high usage charges and using issues in relation to internet
data card usage.
10.2. An overview of internet and wireless connectivity
10.2.1. Definition of internet
The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected
computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard
Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of
smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which
together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online
chat, file transfer, and the interlinked web pages and other resources of the
World Wide Web (WWW).
44
Penetration of Internet in India
60000000 5.00%
50000000
% Penetration
4.00%
40000000
Users
3.00%
30000000
2.00%
20000000
10000000 1.00%
0 0.00%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Years
Year Users % Pen
Source: India Online 2007, Juxt Consultant report
10.2.2. Common uses of the Internet
E-mail
World Wide Web
Remote Access
Collaboration
Streaming Media
File Sharing
Voice Telephony
45
10.3. Driving growth of internet data card
Growing businesses in all segments, necessity to access emails and corporate
applications during urgent business trips and the urge for some entertainment
while on the move are some drivers increasing the demand for data card usage.
Apart from these factors, as the name of Tata Indicom's data card, 'Plug 2 Surf',
suggests, ease of use with plug and play factor is also a driver for growth.
SP Shukla, president, Personal Business, Reliance Communications, says that
faster surfing and higher download speeds, convenience of surfing the
Internet while on the move, simple to use, and affordable tariffs are among the
key reasons for the data card growth, in both the laptop and desktop segments.
Wireline broadband connections are yet to penetrate the vast semi-urban and
rural parts of the country where entrepreneurs, officials, students, etc have the
need to surf the Internet for various purposes. Though the laptop penetration in
these areas has not made a significant mark, desktop penetration is
comparatively more.
With data cards offering convenient access to the Internet, a number of
companies have started to tie up with service providers to avail bulk network
connections for their employees on the go and allow them to utilize their time
during business travels. Since data cards can be used with desktop also, it cuts
down the office infrastructure costs as well. With the data card segment
witnessing steady growth, affordability will go up, which, in turn, will drive
46
growth. “As the data card growth increases, speed evolves and prices come
down, affordability will go up and more users can begin to think of data card
as an affordable solution,” says an Airtel spokesperson. And growth of mobile
telephony in India has created users with specific needs like m-commerce that
require wireless Internet, driving the wireless data card growth. Once the
concept of mobile wallet and its applications hit the market in India in the near
future, the wireless data card segment is also expected to witness an exponential
growth.
Apart from this, Internet charges in costly hotels are very high. With the
availability of data cards and USB modems, frequent business travelers who stay
in costly star hotels can access the Internet and corporate applications on their
laptops and avoid using the Internet facility at hotels, saving on high Internet
charges.
10.4. The Deterrents
All players are competing with each other to give affordable tariff rates for their
data cards. But still the rates are very high when compared to countries like the
UK. In the UK, wireless broadband connection through 3G technology costs
about £10 per month and that too with a data download speed faster than 256
Kbps. International travelers who have used data cards with faster speed are not
satisfied with data cards and USB modems services offered in India. So, in India,
47
data cards mean accessing a bare minimum net connectivity only for a sizable
population. That is why it is said that data cards have not exactly taken off in
India.
11. Consumer behaviour theories
11.1. Consumer perception and consumer behaviour
According to Rice (1993), perception is the initiator of behaviour. It can also be
seen as a process of information extraction. Perception is the process by which an
individual selects, organizes, and interprets information inputs to create a
meaningful picture (Kotler, 2000). Different people tend to perceive quite
differently even when they are exposed to the same reality. A set of factors, e.g.
individual responses, determine an individual’s perception process and lead to
individual differences. The most important is that people’s perceptions are often
more important than the reality in marketing (Kotler, 2000).
The study of customer behaviour provides a sound basis for identifying and
understanding the factors that influence consumers purchase on line. Schiffman
and Kanuk (2000) state that the behaviour that consumers display in searching,
48
purchasing, and evaluating products/services is those that they expect to fulfil
their needs.
Although perception and behaviour are typically treated as two completely
separate phenomena, i.e. the input and output respectively, it has been suggested
that perception and behaviour are in fact two sides of the same phenomenon and
are closely related to each other (Rice, 1993). In order to understand what
customer perceive and how they act to affect their perceptions, study of
perception and behaviour should be treated as one integral part.
11.2. Consumer decision process
At present, the consumer decision process model has been well accepted. This
model of purchase as decision process is explained in more detail by Thorelli et
al. (1975). Thorelli’s decision model illustrates the type and shows there are a
series of semi-discrete steps which take place over time for the buyers and
purchasers.
11.2. 1Predispositions (Before Purchase):
According to Thorelli et al (1975), the prospective buyer possesses a certain stock
of cognitive content, including his own personality or self-concept, attitudes and

49
opinions both in general and on specific products, and stored information and
past experience. This stock has been formed as a result of his interaction with his
environment over time, and it will help determine the environment in which he
places himself in the future as well as influence his perceptions of that
environment.
11.2.2. Product Need:
As a result of either cognitive activity or some environmental stimulus, the buyer
recognizes a need which is capable of being satisfied by a product or service. In
other words, the need is often triggered by internal or external stimuli. Some
authors also take this need recognition stage as the entry point. Chaston (2001)
argues that the potential consumer will not implement any of the other steps in
the buying process until need recognition has happened.
11.2.3. External Search:
Thorelli et al (1975) describe that this stage represents all search of the external
environment for alternative solutions as well as for information helpful in
evaluating these alternatives. The search for information occurs on an internal
and external basis (Gilbert, 1999). The internal search for information from
previous experience might be relevant to the present purchase situation. The
extent and nature of external search for information likely in any given purchase
50
has been the subject of a great deal of research. When searching for information
in the external environment (e.g., friends and family), consumers focus on those
relevant attributes that are available and are diagnostic (Dick et al., 1990).
11.2.4. Evaluation of Alternatives:
This stage consists of the physical and cognitive activities involved in comparing
alternatives on the basis of information gathered from external search above.
According to Kotler (2000), the consumer arrives at attitudes toward the various
brands through an attribute evaluation procedure and most buyers consider
several attributes in their purchase decision. These attributes used by consumers
for evaluation are also called choice criteria. Jobber (2001) has made a good
summary of these choice criteria. In fact, consumers attempt to optimize the
trade-off between product benefits, product costs, the desired personal utilities
and other variables.
11.2.5. Purchase Activity:
Purchase activity involves the actual final decision and physical activities
involved in making (or not making) the purchase. This stage includes the actual
transaction. However, as suggested by Kotler (2000), perceived risks of a
consumer can heavily influence his decision to modify, postpone, or avoid a
purchase decision. Therefore it is necessary for marketers to understand factors
51
that might provoke perceived risk in consumers and work out solutions to
reduce that.
11.2.6. Post Purchase Behaviour:
This step is concerned primarily with the buyer’s use of the product purchased.
After purchasing the product, the consumer will experience some level of
satisfaction or dissatisfaction which will influence a consumers’ subsequent
behaviour. Dissatisfied consumers may abandon or return the product, they may
even complain to the other group (Kotler, 2000). It is clear that satisfactions and
dissatisfactions created by product performance will be important determinants
of attitudes and information stored as inputs to future purchase decisions.
11.2.7. Predispositions (After Purchase and Use):
This stage suggests that following the purchase process, the buyer (or non-buyer)
is left with cognitive content which may be quite different from that which was
present at the beginning of the process. Buyers may change their attitudes,
information and experience due to reasons of time and events. All of these may
serve to change substantially the nature of the decision process for future
purchases of the same type.
52
11.3. Consumer perception
11.3.1. Introduction
Our perception is an approximation of reality. Our brain attempts to make sense
out of the stimuli to which we are exposed. This works well, for example, when
we “see” a friend three hundred feet away at his or her correct height; however,
our perception is sometimes “off”—for example, certain shapes of ice cream
containers look like they contain more than rectangular ones with the same
volume.
11.3.2. Factors in perception
Several sequential factors influence our perception. Exposure involves the extent
to which we encounter a stimulus. For example, we are exposed to numerous
commercial messages while driving on the freeway: bill boards, radio
advertisements, bumper-stickers on cars, and signs and banners placed at
shopping malls that we pass. Most of this exposure is random—we don’t plan to
seek it out. However, if we are shopping for a car, we may deliberately seek out
advertisements and “tune in” when dealer advertisements come on the TV
Exposure is not enough to significantly impact the individual—at least not based
on a single trial (certain advertisements, or commercial exposures such as the
“Reliance communication” logo, are based on extensive repetition rather than
53
much conscious attention). In order for stimuli to be consciously processed,
attention is needed. Attention is actually a matter of degree—our attention may
be quite high when we read directions for getting an income tax refund, but low
when commercials come on during a television program. Note, however, that
even when attention is low, it may be instantly escalated—for example, if an
advertisement for a product in which we are interested comes on.
Weber’s Law suggests that consumers’ ability to detect changes in stimulus
intensity appear to be strongly related to the intensity of that stimulus to begin
with. Several factors influence the extent to which stimuli will be noticed. One
obvious issue is relevance. Consumers, when they have a choice, are also more
likely to attend to pleasant stimuli (but when the consumer can’t escape, very
unpleasant stimuli are also likely to get attention—thus, many very irritating
advertisements are remarkably effective). One of the most important factors,
however, is repetition. Consumers often do not give much attention to a
stimuli—particularly a low priority one such as an advertisement—at any one
time, but if it is seen over and over again, the cumulative impact will be greater.
Surprising stimuli are likely to get more attention—survival instinct requires us
to give more attention to something unknown that may require action. A greater
contrast (difference between the stimulus and its surroundings) as well as
54
greater prominence (e.g., greater size, center placement) also tend to increase
likelihood of processing.
Subliminal stimuli back in the 1960s, it was reported that on selected evenings,
movie goers in a theater had been exposed to isolated frames with the words
“Drink Coca Cola” and “Eat Popcorn” imbedded into the movie. These frames
went by so fast that people did not consciously notice them, but it was reported
that on nights with frames present, Coke and popcorn sales were significantly
higher than on days they were left off. This led Congress to ban the use of
subliminal advertising. First of all, there is a question as to whether this
experiment ever took place or whether this information was simply made up.
Secondly, no one has been able to replicate these findings. There is research to
show that people will start to giggle with embarrassment when they are briefly
exposed to “dirty” words in an experimental machine. Here, again, the exposure
is so brief that the subjects are not aware of the actual words they saw, but it is
evident that something has been recognized by the embarrassment displayed.
11.4. Consumer behaviour towards Internet data

card
When consumer purchase internet data card they still perform a similar sequence
of tasks: searching for information about different products, evaluating these

55
alternatives, and transacting the chosen alternative. However, the family and
friends has great impact on these activities.
11.4.1. Problem recognition:
The starting point is feeling the need or recognition of a problem. The need for
accessing internet at anywhere can trigger the recognition of a need or problem
and can have significant impact by encouraging customers to begin the
information search process (Breitenbach and van Doren, 1998).
11.5. Information Search:
Once customers identify the need they may seek information about retailers or
products to help them satisfy. Customer search regarding internet data card
could be limited because it’s a specialty product. Our analysis has shown that in
terms of internet data card customer mostly refer to family and friend as
reference group. These reference groups affect buying decision offering
information like price, tariff plan availability and so forth. Providing rewards for
specific purchasing behaviors for instance friends could appreciate that you
could access internet at anywhere if you are carrying a laptop. By identifying and
affiliating with reference groups, consumers create, enhance, and maintain their
self-image. Customers who want to create an image of mobile, technologically
56
updated person as well as want to be seen as members of a higher social class
might buy internet data card from Reliance or other competitor’s products.
11.6. Product Evaluation:
During this stage, consumers process different product information and make a
final value judgment. The multiattribute model provides a useful way for
summarizing how customers use the information they have about alternative
brands of internet data card. From our consumer behaviour analysis we have
found out that on this stage customer evaluate data card on its several
attributes like price, net speed, tariff plan which come along with, looks etc and
they also decide which attributes are most important for them. The
multiattribute model shows that how a consumer gives weights of importance to
the various attributes of a data card. A sample multiattribute model which is
actually has been taken from one of our questionnaire shown that how a
consumer gives importance to different product attributes of data card.
No. Attributes/Benefits Rating

1. Price 4
2. Easy handling 3
3. Net Speed 5
4. Signal Strength 5
5. Availability in store 3
57
6. Tariff plan 4
Total evaluation score for each attributes is 5.From the above sample table we
can see that consumer is giving more importance to net speed and signal
strength. So marketer should put more focus of highlighting these two
attributes
11.7. Purchase Activity:
Its not necessary that customer will always purchase a brand or data card with
evaluation. The data card offering benefits (having the highest evaluation) may
not be available in the store, or the customer may feel that the risks outweigh the
potential. During purchasing customer also may feel that their data card might
not be able to meet their expectations. Therefore retailer should ensure that
their sales persons are knowledgeable enough and they are also skilled
presenter of their product, otherwise it could raise confusion in customers’
mind during purchasing of data card. Reducing the actual and perceived time
of purchasing.
11.8. Post Purchase Activities:
As we know buying process doesn’t end when a customer purchase a product.
From focus group interviews we have come to know that after making a
purchase of data card, customer evaluate their experience on the basis of net
58
speed, signal strength amount of money they have spent. Customers often feel
that service providers do not deliver what they promise. They feel players
should present the terms and conditions and tariff plans/schemes in clear
terms. Mentioning every small detail regarding the tariff plans must be
included in the bill. For example, if a company intends to collect an advanced
monthly rental from customers, then it has to mention that in its tariff plan, so
that customers are not shocked when they see a bill that includes monthly
advance rentals as well. This kind of practice might keep customers away from
going for a particular brand.
11.9. Perceived benefits of Internet data card
Among the process there are various factors that might influence consumers¡¯
purchase during their purchasing process. Many of these factors also reflect the
advantages and disadvantages of Internet as a shopping medium. The
advantages or benefits currently conceived by people are described as the
followings.
59
11.9.1. Convenience:
From our questionnaire survey and focus group discussion we have come to
know that when a customer thinks to purchase a data card for accessing internet
they mostly its convenient to access internet at any where at any time. Especially
those who have to extensively traveling its quite convenient for them to get
connected with World Wide Web!
11.9.2. Time saving:
Some time data card also proves time saving from the customers especially for
business executives who have to travel extensively due to their job purpose. If
they are using a data card for accessing internet they don’t have to find out a
cyber café at an unknown place.
11.9.3. Economical:
From our secondary research we have found that for younger group of
consumers (age group of 18-28) who generally spend a lot of time for
downloading different kind of materials like music, picture, data, due to
availability of some attractive tariff plans offered by the different players
(Reliance’s Freedom plus) along with their respective data cards, its seems a
must have utility device for all young laptop users.
60
11.10. Perceived risk of Internet data card
Perceived risk can be defined as the uncertainty that consumers face when they
cannot foresee the consequences of their purchase decision. Customer
perception of risk varies depending on individuals, situation and product. The
degree of risk that consumers perceive and their own tolerance for risk taking,
are factors that influence their purchase strategy (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000).
Individuals tend to reduce perceived risk to some acceptable level in any given
purchase situation.
11.10.1. Risks of internet connection speed:
Internet connection speed refers to the data transfer rate from the Internet to
your computer. Basically that means the amount of time it takes your computer
to download a given amount of data. Internet connection speeds are usually
measured in Kbps (kilobits per second, or thousands of bits per second) or KBps
(kilobytes per second).
According to our study, consumers already have a predisposition that data card
do not provide good internet connection speed, so during products evaluations
and purchasing activities they mostly think about product attributes e.g. internet
connection speed, signal strength. Therefore here implication for management is
during product evaluation; purchase activities, retailers must take some
61
necessary measures to reduce the uncertainty in the customer mind by
aggressive promotional strategies, especially focusing on innovating below the
line (BTL) marketing activities, giving excellent product demonstrations
during purchase and most importantly reducing the cognitive dissonance
during post purchase behaviour by giving enough assurance about product
qualities, warranty as well as excellent after sale service.
11.11. Research Objective
11.12. Research Question
What is the inter-brand recall of Internet data card and their existing image in the
consumer’s mind?
What is the effect of non-attribute factors on the purchasing decision of Internet data
card?
How strong is the brand loyalty of customers towards Internet data card?
What are the factors that play the most important role in a consumer’s choice of buying
Internet data card?
11.13. Research Boundaries
62
The research was conducted in Howrah and the respondents were chosen on the
basis of their usage of Internet data card.
11.14. Research Design
Problem Exploratory
research
Causes of the Descriptive

problem research
Causes of the
problem
Phase One -> Secondary Data
In the initial phase of the project we focused on secondary data collection. The
data collection primarily focused on
History of Reliance Communication
The financial results of Reliance Communication
Products of Reliance Communication
63
Organizational structure
The competitors in the market
The strategy adopted by Reliance Communication and its competitors in

the market.
The secondary data collected in the first phase of the project helped the
group in getting better understanding of the Internet business and the
various brands competing in this market.
Phase Two -> FGD
After the secondary data collection was complete, two focused group discussions
were done. A group of 3 people and a group of 5 people were used for the two
FGDs. Through these FGDs, the various attributes that a person looks for in the
data card were listed down. FGDs also helped the group in understanding the
buying behavior, the consumption pattern, the influencers etc which further
helped in preparation of the questionnaire.
Phase Three -> Questionnaire
From the results of FGDs, a pilot questionnaire was formed. The purpose here
was to get an accurate snapshot of particular aspect of the market environment
hence the pilot study was a descriptive research that identified all possible
problems and factors influencing buyer behavior. An analysis of the pilot
questionnaire was done.
11.14.1. Validity and Reliability test of the questionnaire
11.14.2. Validity Test
Validity tests how well an instrument that is developed measures the particular
concept it is supposed to measure. According to Sekaran (1992), validity tests can
64
be grouped under three broad headings: content validity, criterion-related
validity, and construct validity. Face validity is a basic, and a very minimum,
index of content validity. After consulting with people that are acquainted with
the topic, it proves that the dimensions and elements of the concept have been
well delineated. This is further confirmed by the results from pilot study.
11.14.3. Reliability Test
It is necessary that scales are reliable when they are included in the study. One of
the most important aspects of reliability concerns the scale’s internal consistency
which actually indicates how the items measuring a concept hang well together
(Pallant, 2002). Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is a commonly used indicator of
internal consistency. It reflects how well the items in a set are positively
correlated to one another. The closer Cronbach’s alpha is to 1, the higher the
internal consistency reliability (Sekaran, 1992). According to Pallant (2002), the
ideal Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of a scale should be above 0.70.
Internal consistency is firstly checked for the questionnaire scale of Section A.
The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for it is 0.8257, which means that scales are
reliable. Questionnaire scales of Section B are also checked for the internal
consistency. The result shows that Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is 0.7871; the
value is also higher than 0.70, which indicates that reliability is good (See Table ).
Table : Cronbach’s Alpha for Each Group of Questions

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Number of questions- 17
11.14.3.1. Cronbach’s Reliability Test
Perception towards Reliance data card 0.8257 Good
Perception towards Other brands 0.7871 Good
From the analysis, the redundant variables, hard to analyze variables etc were
removed so that people could easily fill in the questionnaire. After the pilot test,
the final questionnaire was formed. The questionnaire was designed to capture
both quantitative and qualitative information. The overall design of
questionnaire has tried to capture data in the following areas: To answer the
question of what are the predominant elements of internet data card consumers
in terms of:
Profile and age
Buying Behavior and Decision-making process and to answer how

Reliance data card compares with competition and what should it be
targeting to be able to grow
Relative importance of different attributes
Brand awareness and preference
Brand switching behavior/ Brand Loyalty
11.15. Research Tactics
Questionnaire (Refer section )
Sampling Plan
11.15.1. The theoretical population: All people aged 16-80 in Kolkata who
have purchased internet data card.
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11.15.2. Sampling Frame: Company own operated outlets, cyber café,
institutions are places where the respondents where drew our respondents were
interviewed.
11.15.3. SAMPLING PROCEDURE:
Calculation of the sample size by the help of the pilot survey.
Sample size of the pilot survey: 30
Formula use Mean (μ): X bar ± 1.96 σ/√n
1.96 For 95% confidence level
X bar
σ = Standard Deviation of the population
μ = Mean of the population
Length of the Confidence Interval
= 2×1.96×σ ≈ 4σ/ 2
Here √n ≈ 4σ =2σ
n = 4σ² (from the scale of five σ ≈4)
n= 64
Therefore, the sample size for the final survey is 64
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11.15.4. Implementation
Data Collection - Phase 1:
FGDs
The FGDs were aimed at helping us to
Define the target segments better
Identify the important attributes that add in the target customer’s internet
data card usage experience
The FGD questionnaire is given in section 14.5
A preliminary definition of main two segments is:
Experimenters and Adopters (EA):
This category of consumer comprises of both males and females from the age
group 18-24 years. These are the people who are willing to try new brands. These
people are internet users and willing to pay for anything if net speed is concern.
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These people generally spend a lot of time to access internet. They tend to prefer
surf any time of the day.
Suspicious Traditionalists (ST):
These are men who are more traditional and not very much willing to try new
brands. They are a slightly older age group (33-55 years) whose main concern is
the ease of use, speed, affordability, availability of proffered product. They also
show a preference for broadband connection which they are using.
11.15.6. Final Survey
The Final Survey helped us to collect data on
Main influencers towards the purchase data cards,
Benefits that are most important for each segment of customers,
Comparative brand and benefit perceptions,
Trade-offs between price and quality,
Preferred point of purchase,
Consumer’s position within the Needs Hierarchy Model (Awareness,
Knowledge, Liking, Preference, Commitment and Conviction) with
respect to own and competitive brands and consumer satisfaction.
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11.15.7. Data Processing
Age profile, product preference and place of purchase of the surveyed sample
are mentioned in section 11.15.1 and 11.15.3 respectively.
Data Analysis
11.6.7.1. Brand Recall
A sample of customers, which is representative of the Kolkata population, was
surveyed and the first unaided recall of the brands by these customers was
recorded. (Refer section 14.5)
It was observed that Reliance data cards had the highest brand recall amongst all
the competing brand of Internet data card. This can be attributed to various
reasons like brand perception, usage pattern, advertisement expenditure etc.
some of which would be analyzed in the subsequent sections. Buying Intention
The survey administered had questions which measured the importance of
various attributes like price, net speed, signal strength, offers & discounts of
various data cards and specifically for Reliance data card.
11.6.7.2. Fishbein Analysis:
The survey also measured the attribute scores for other competing brands like,
Tata-Indicom, Vodafone, BSNL and Airtel. Along with the data card for Reliance,
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an average attribute score was computed across the 64 samples for each attribute
for each of the data cards brand. Fishbein analysis was performed by converting
the Likert scale from 1 to 3 to -3 to -1. Consumer’s attitude about each brand was
calculated and plotted as shown on below. (Section 14.15)
Average Perception Score of Each Brand
35
30
25
20
Series1
15
10
5
0
Tata-Indicom BSNL Airtel Reliance Vodafone
Series1 30.348 22.938 25.733 28.235 22.334
Chart: Consumer attitude about each brand
Tata-Indicom had the highest consumer perception score of 30.348 followed by
Reliance and Airtel with a score of 28.235 and 25.733 consequently. But taking a
look at individual consumer attitude score, we found that Reliance was
preferred by almost 42% of the people surveyed and Tata-Indicom by 28%.
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11.6.7.3. Factor Analysis
A factor analysis was carried out to obtain the group of attributes which can be
grouped together. Hence 3 factors were obtained as follows –
Factor 1 Product attributes (Net speed, Signal strength and Ease of Use)
Factor 2 Price Sensitivity (Tariff plan And Offers/Discounts)
Factor 3 Point of Purchase (Availability in Stores )
11.6.7.4. Perceptual Maps
Attribute scores were averaged under each factor for each of the internet data
card. Then graphs were plotted (Refer section 14.15) for the perceptual map
along the dimensions as shown
Observations:
In Kolkata surveyed samples perceive that Reliance primarily targets
consumers which are more focused on the product attributes like net
speed, signal strength, ease of use etc whereas the perception of price
sensitive consumer towards was found to be of an over priced brand.
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For price sensitive customer’s products like Airtel, Vodafone’s data card is
less satisfying than Reliance.
The surveyed sample considered Reliance to have the best tariff plans
among all the brands. This feature highlights the fact that offer and
promotion is an important factor for the internet data card market and
Reliance has been outperforming other competitors on this particular
factor.
High satisfaction in the availability in stores further shows the robust
distribution system that has put into place to cater to diversified markets.
Although not much differentiation can be introduced in the product per se
(low satisfaction scores for all brands), still Reliance is found to be seen as
a brand which brings out products with new features like free data card
for HDFC credit card holder, bundling with other products like laptop etc.
11.7.5. Brand Loyalty
The questionnaire had specific questions to measure the brand loyalty for the
brand that the consumer was using at that point of time. From the graphs shown,
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it can be concluded that the Brand loyalty in the internet data card segment is
only 75% where customers would stick to it irrespective of the availability other
data card with high speed with reasonable price. This figure says that 75% of the
customers would rather go to some other retailer in search for their preferred
internet data card than to buy some other brand from the other company’s outlet.
Price sensitivity measured along the lines of a hypothetical price and change in
tariff plans increase in their preferred brand was around 25%. This figure
indicates that 75% of the customers do not shift from their preferred brand to
some other brand because of a price hike in their preferred brand, provided it’s a
reasonable price hike whereas 25% would move to some other brand. (Refer
section 14.12)
11.7.6. Cluster Analysis and Segmentation
K-means segmentation was performed based upon the factors thus obtained
from factor analysis. The cluster analysis showed 3 clear segments. Description of
the segments is as below
Cluster 1
46% percent of respondents formed a part of this segment. With age group of 23-
28 years, this cluster formed the young age group segment. The majority of
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people in this segment (66%) use internet data card. In this segment 27.42% were
Reliance customers and the rest 72.58% used competitor brands.
With an average usage time of 240 minutes per day, this segment clearly forms a
part of high usage cluster.
They were passive information seekers yet skimmed through a lot of sources for
seeking information about their purchase decision. Word of mouth formed the
best source of information for this segment.
Cluster 2
29% percent of respondents formed a part of this segment. An average age of 30
years means this segment formed the middle age group cluster. 76% of the
customers in this segment were business customers, i.e. use data card for
business purposes. The business customers surveyed were primarily in Reliance
R World; hence this segment may be interpreted appropriately. With 32%
Reliance customers, among the rest, Tata-Indicom and Airtel were the competitor
brands preferred among users in this segment (52% users).
The level of information search was extremely low and thus can be said to be low
involvement segment of the market. They did not refer to many sources and also
had low importance ratings to the sources being referred to for seeking
information about the product to aid their purchase decision.
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Cluster 3
25% percent of respondents were a part of this segment. The lowest average age
of 38 years means this segment formed the aged Customers. Almost 96% of the
customers in this segment used data card for personal purposes. This segment
had 64% Reliance users and the competitor brands seem least preferred to this
segment and can be said to form a big part of the reliance customer base.
The customers used data card to access information and other personal purposes,
and with a heavy usage rate is the opportunity segment for Reliance.
The level of information search was extremely high among this group and thus
can be said to be Intensive information seekers in the market. Among the sources
they referred to, TV advertisements seem to be the most important source for this
segment besides word of mouth. This was the only segment that gave credibility
to ads on internet as a source of information. Relailer’s recommendation too
formed a part of their purchase decision.
12. Recommendation And Conclusion
12.1. PLAYING WITH THE PLC:
Reliance has the widest internet data cards range and the deepest product line
in internet data card market, its also has broadband business as well as internet
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connection GPRS .This is a double edged sword because of the variety Reliance
offer and the cannibalization that can occur.
The segments thus formed and the components extracted indicate that different
buyer groups have different decision variables, use data card for accessing
internet for different purposes and have varied perceptions about brands. All the
segments require different pricing strategies and hence Reliance should come out
with different plans specifically targeting different groups. Reliance having
several types of tariff plan but it would have improved network connectivity
along with aggressive promotional strategies’ be an unbeatable advantage in
upgrading the consumer throughout his lifetime and also making him brand
loyal in the process.
From the perception maps, we see that Reliance has an image of having high
choice of tariff plans rates and usage costs. Further, it comes out that Reliance is
not a user friendly service provider. Users have taken to Reliance essentially
because of high recommendation from friends and family. According to our
research weak signal strength and slow net connection speed could be a
deterrent for Reliance data cards. Hence, Reliance should aim to providing
higher network coverage, good signal strength, and more efficient response
requests. This could be done by setting up more network towers and having a
more customer friendly focus in store as well out store activities.
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Our analysis indicates clearly reliance is popular among the youth because of
low usage rate. These users use data card mostly for entertainments. This target
segment can be attracted by advertising in Television and internet.
Also, word of mouth publicity clearly scores above all forms of information
search, primarily because of its convenience and source credibility. Everybody
whom we surveyed believed in consulting their “circle” for opinions while
buying connections
12.2. Recommendations 4 P’s
12.2.1. Product:
The products launched should focus on improving service response i.e. better
customer service and greater network connectivity.
12.2.2. Price:
It should keep focus on reducing usage rates and be a price leader for price
sensitive heavy usage segments.
12.2.3. Promotions:
One important finding of our FGDs and Consumer Survey was that not a single
consumer was aware of the fact that Reliance has different tariff plans. This can
be attributed to one or more of the following reasons:
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The brand equity of Reliance data card is very high (42% TOMR in our
study). But the brand development is pretty low.
The consumers have low involvement and do not search for information.
This implies that wireless data card is becoming a commodity.
Reliance has spent on advertisements mostly for the mobile business, not
on internet data cards. Hence the information available to public is
limited.
To discommodities the category, to increase customer loyalty and repeat
purchase, promotions have to be done on a bigger scale than what is currently
been done. The promotions should have more of a pull effect in the
advertisements that communicate not just the price and offers/discounts but also
the values, attributes which the consumer can relate to. In short, more
information has to be communicated to the consumer through ads, To left the
sales of internet data card Reliance can think to adopt of innovative give away
strategy, for instance design laptops with manufactures in such a way that
there will be a built in Reliance internet data card.
It should focus on Television advertising and Internet ads primarily. Print ads
do not seem to have that effective influence in purchase decisions of the
sample. Our analysis has shown that word of mouth (WOM) marketing has a
excellent effect on the consumer purchasing decision of internet data card. So

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promotional strategies could be given focus on viral marketing campaign like
on SMS, e-letters or blogs and so forth.
12.2.4. Place:
Reliance should strengthen its distribution network and also focus on creating
more web worlds with easy accessibility outside cities as they are perceived to be
authentic by consumers.
Note: The recommendations have limitations of a small sample size and a simple sampling.
12.3. CONTINUE WITH UPGRADATION
Reliance has been very successful in its strategy of upgrading the consumer in
the mobile business segment. Reliance has made sure that it makes its consumers
move up the product chain by introducing new, technologically superior
products and phasing their PLC very well. But sadly, this approach is missing in
the wireless data card segment. Though there are 3 variants, there has been no
effort made to communicate to the consumer of the superior quality and
attributes.
Hence, we suggest that Reliance adopt its “upgrading the consumer” strategy for
the internet data card segment also. This up gradation has 2 main advantages
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We can fully leverage the Product life cycle and the individual phases of
the products in different markets
We can make the consumer loyal to the brand over his lifetime.
12.4. Future challenges
Introduce a product which would be designed specifically for Indian
consumer and satisfy aspiration of youths.
To match the increased demand patterns in the country.
Launching of innovative products in regular and short intervals
Reliance products are descending the customer value hierarchy from that
of a potential product towards an expected product. Competitors like
Tata-Indicom, Vodafone, are moving up the hierarchy. So, Reliance will
find it tough to charge the moderately high price it has tilled now charge.
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It is also highly likely that Reliance may not fully absorb the consumers
who upgrade from slow speed internet connection device USB modem to
broadband. Hence, Reliance’s market share might not grow as good as
their competitor Tata-Indicom or BSNL.
Reliance’s major challenge lies in entering the premium market through an
upgraded version of wireless data card the way it did in mobile business.
12.5. Store Centric Recommendations
In order to increase the Reliance wireless data card sales in exclusive R worlds
and other franchisees across the country management has to take some
aggressive steps to ensure that customers who are evaluating alternatives are
coming in store for purchasing a Reliance data card. According to our research
outcomes some following measures can be taken
Management has to ensure that C3 executives especially those who are
dealing with internet connections and data cards and also other telecom
products, have exhaustive knowledge about their own products.
C3 executives should be given special behavioral training to recognize
the customers’ expectations and convey the all benefits of the product
accordingly.
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Management has to ensure that their sales persons are updated with new
schemes regarding product.
Product knowledge as well as sales techniques of the sales personnel
should be reviewed frequently by the senior management.
C3 executives should be remained motivated through various incentives
which are only proportionate to their target achievements.
13. Marketing Strategy
13.1. Segmentation
In the wireless data card market there exist different categories of customers who
have different needs and are willing to pay different amount for the product that
meets their demand. Introduction of upgraded version of wireless data card for
instance Vodafone recently launched wireless data card (Globe totter) specially
meant for those who frequently travel abroad would help Reliance identify the
needs of the customers and take advantage of the segment which has not yet
been targeted by the company. Price sensitivity, importance of attributes, point
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of purchase decision makers and customers influenced by additional features are
the factors on which we will segment the upgraded internet data card market.
Segment one-> is most prices sensitive and values additional feature the
least. This segment has one third of our sample size. As Reliance is an
economic brand which focuses on differentiating its products from the
competitors and upgrading the customers in the value chain, targeting
this segment will be a strategically appropriate decision.
Segment two-> is more influenced by attributes of the products and is not
a price sensitive segment. Reliance through its wireless data card is
currently catering to this segment. This segment has more than one fourth
of the survey sample.
Segment three-> is concerned about the attributes, additional features as
well as price. This segment comprised of more than forty percent of the
survey sample.
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13.2. Positioning
Market research
Market research results have been analyzed in section 12 of the report. The
following conclusions from the survey help us in identifying the positioning of
the Upgraded version of wireless data card:
Target market: - The target market has been identified as the customers who are
concerned about the attributes of the internet data card but are not willing to
shift from the current price band to a higher price band.
Competitor Brands: - The competitor brands have been discussed in Section 8
The upgraded data card will be competing with brands like Tata-Indicom and
Vodafone.
Choice Criteria: - As per our findings (Section 11.15.7.3.) the 3 factors on
grouping attributes post factor analysis that contribute to the data card
Purchase decisions are:
Factor 1 Product attributes (Net speed, Signal strength, Ease of Use)
Factor 2 Price Sensitivity (Price, Tariff plans And Offers/Discounts)
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Factor 3 Point of Purchase (Availability in Stores and Package Design)
Customer Evaluation: - Perceptual maps in the section show how the customers
evaluate Reliance with respect to competitive brands.
Perceptual map
4
, Tata-
3.5 , Reliance, 3.4 Indicom, 3.6
3 , Vodafone,
Price Sensitivity
2.9 , Airtel, 2.8

2.5 , BSNL, 2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Attributes
Reliance data card needs to position itself above Tata-Indicom in order to
attract the target segment.
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Perceptual Map
4.5
Tata-Indicom, Vodafone, 4.2
4
4 Reliance, 3.8
Airtel, 3.6
Product attributes
3.5
3 BSNL, 2.9
2.5 Series2
2 Series1
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Attributes
13.4. Real Positioning
In the survey conducted, Reliance had the top of the mind recall of 42%. This
shows that Reliance has an excellent real positioning in the wireless data card
market and Reliance data card leverage this positioning in the target market.
13.5. Psychological Positioning

Reliance data card will primarily alter the attributes importance in the target
segment by increasing the importance of attributes internet speed, signal
strength etc and decreasing the importance of price. This will be consistent with
its strategy of moving the customers up the value chain.
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14. Appendix
14.1. Reliance communication- Timeline
1999- Reliance Infocomm started its Project Planning. Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani
understood it very well that information technology had the capacity to
accelerate the growth of Indian economy leaving behind its backwardness and
underdevelopment.
2000- Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani’s dream started to take in a shape. Optic fiber
laying process commences in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh & Maharashtra
2001- First Media Convergence Node made "Ready for Electronics" at Jaipur
2002-It’s a true gala time for Reliance Infocomm. First Base Transceiver Station
(BTS) made "Ready for Electronics". Its obtained Obtains International Long
Distance License from Govt. of India. Commissioned 1st 60,000 route kilometers
Optic Fiber Backbone ring. Its established 1st Point of Interconnect (POI) in New
Delhi. Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee e-inaugurates
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Reliance Infocomm Hon'ble Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs,
Information Technology and Communications, Pramod Mahajan, inaugurates
NNOC
2003- Reliance Infocomm Introduced Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer Offer for
Reliance India Mobile service. Launched Reliance Web World in top 16 cities as
well as International Long Distance Services. Launched Reliance India Mobile
Service commercially in top 92 cities with one million customers and India's first
wireless Point of Sale (POS). Introduced "Monsoon Hungama" Offer: Instant
multimedia mobile phone and connection for just Rs 501.Sets world record -
acquires one million customers in 10 days. Launched R Connect Internet
connection cable. Reliance became India's largest mobile service provider within
7 months of commercial launches.
2004-International wholesale telecommunications service provider, FLAG
Telecom amalgamates with Reliance Gateway, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Reliance Infocomm. Reliance Infocomm receives the Most Promising Service
Provider of the Year 2003 (Asia Pacific) award at the Asia Pacific Technology
Awards instituted by Frost & Sullivan. Introduced Railway Ticket booking from
R World data applications suite of Reliance India Mobile. Reliance Infocomm
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bagged the CDMA Development Group's 3G CDMA Industry Achievement
Award for International Leadership.
2005- Reliance introduced first e-recharge facility in CDMA in India. Reliance
India Mobile announced mega rural plan to cover 4 lakh villages and 65 crore
Indians by December 2005. XLRI’s Post-Graduate Certificate program in
Logistics Supply Chain Management (PGCLSCM) launched on Reliance Web
World's virtual classroom platform. First of its kind e-learning program in India.
Reliance Communications, UK launched Reliance India Call service in England
and Wales enabling callers to make high-quality calls to India from any landline
or mobile phone at economical rates. Apollo Hospital and Reliance Infocomm
join hands to provide top class healthcare service to millions of Indians in over a
hundred Indian cities. Reliance Infocomm and China Telecom sign agreement for
telecom services to provide direct telecommunication service, including a global
hubbing service, to subscribers in the two countries.
2006-Reliance Infocomm launched "One Nation, One Tariff" to enable Reliance
India Mobile prepaid users to call anywhere in India at Re one per minute.
Reliance Infocomm introduced R World in Hindi to become the world's first
operator to offer mobile data services in more than one language on the same
handset. This will make it possible for millions of Indians to access the popular R
World with hundreds of every-day-use applications in the national language.

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Reliance Communications launched India’s first Talking Message Service (TMS)
enabling its mobile users to send voice messages to not only other mobiles but
also fixed wireless phones (FWP) and landlines. Reliance Communications
launches Free Group Term Life Cover for its CDMA subscribers.
2007-Reliance Communications added a record 1.4 million subscribers in
December ’06. Search Jobs & Classified Ads from Reliance Mobile World -
Reliance Communications ties up with Naukri.com. Reliance Classic' Makes
Music - FM Radio Phones Launched at just Rs.1888. RCOM and QUALCOMM
Collaborated on CDMA2000 Expansion. Reliance Communications adjudged
World’s Top CDMA Operator at the Global CDMA Industry Achievements
Awards Fete.
2008- Reliance Communications received Started-up GSM Spectrum. HDFC Bank
tied up with RCOM, turns every Reliance Mobile into a credit card. One of the
main strategic dimension of RCOM is extensive focus on all type segment of
customers, in order to do that its recently started a religious portfolio by tying up
with Sadhana TV. Keeping eye on Internet data card market scenario its also
drop the data card price.
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14.2. SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
Reliance has fully integrated IP-enabled infrastructure platform thus implying
application convergence, service convergence and network convergence.
It has been successful in building right alliances in the form of network alliances
with Ericsson and Cisco Systems, IT alliances with HP Compaq, interconnecting
alliances. Thus it can focus on its main business of marketing its service.
Reliance has been able to maintain a strong distribution capability. It has a selling
capacity of 25 million per annum as compared to Nokia’s 20 million per annum.
It has 90000 handset outlets as compared to Nokia’s 42000. It has presence in
5000 towns serviced by 1500 distributors as compared to Nokia’s presence in
4600 towns serviced by 250 distributors/micro-distributors.
It can leverage its strength in wireless connectivity in the future to offer mobile
telecom services. It has wireless connectivity available in 4500 towns with a
speed of 144kbps.
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Backing by a healthy balance sheet of the parent company helps in investing in
assets for long term growth. Also the Reliance culture focuses on financial
conservatism, thus providing it with good human skills at managing capital.
Weaknesses
The Reliance network does not deliver on the Quality of Service parameters as
decided by Telecom Regulatory authority of India (TRAI). Due to this it suffers
from high call dropping rates and a reduction in brand equity.
Reliance has a major presence only in C’ Circle. It needs to establish itself also in
other circles so that it can compete with player like Bharti on a national scale.
Opportunities
A strong economy and a growing market: The Indian telecommunication
industry is amongst the fastest growing telecom markets in the world and is
poised to deliver solid growth as a result of several economic reforms that have
lead to strong GDP growth pegged at approximately 9.1% for FY 2007-08.
Increasing per capita income supported by increased consumption is resulting in
a greater-than-proportionate impetus for telecom growth. As India still remains
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one of the lowest penetrated markets, it is one of the most attractive telecom
markets in the world today.
New technologies and paradigms: The trend towards adoption of Next
Generation Networks (NGN) is global and the discussions in India are still at a
preliminary stage. Technologies like Triple Play, wherein a single cable can
deliver voice, data, video on demand and IPTV provide us with a unique
opportunity to an integrated player who is well positioned to deliver this service.
Strong strategic partnerships: Strong strategic alliances with network companies
may help Reliance Communication to focus on marketing its services. Alliances
provide the service provider the access to technological know-how as well as
best practices to enhance customer experience. It is important to leverage the
strengths of our partners and benefit from their experience and know-how.
Introduction of number portability: Number portability would allow customers
to retain their telephone numbers even after switching service providers or
networks. Companies with better service delivery and customer care platforms
stand to gain over their competitors. Extensive network coverage, coupled with
aggressive pricing and innovative products and services would help in gaining a
larger share of the market. Given a competitive position and focus on customer
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delight, Reliance may be positioned to attract subscribers presently on other
networks, as and when number portability gets introduced in the market.
Threats
Regulatory decisions and changes: On the regulatory front, reduction in the entry
fee and the annual license fee for National Long Distance and International Long
Distance (ILD), combined with the impending implementation of Carrier Access
Code (CAC) would lead to greater competition in the Long Distance segment.
The implementation of Carrier Access Code would make it easier for customers
to choose their long distance carrier, regardless of the access provider. A focus on
offering value-for-money services to consumers would stand to gain from the
introduction of CAC.
14.3. Product portfolio
Reliance communication has the following consumer product lines
ü Mobile
ü Wireless Phone
ü Wireless Terminal
ü Blackberry
ü Broadnet
ü Roaming
ü Reliance Landline
ü Reliance Netconnect
ü Reliance Mobile
ü Reliance India Call
ü Reliance Passport
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Reliance communication has the following enterprise product lines
ü BlackBerry
ü Office Centrex
ü One Office Due
ü Audio conference
ü Reliance PCO
ü Toll-Free
ü ITFS
ü Broadband
ü Business Broadband Internet
ü Leased Line>Virtual private network>IPLC
ü Video Conferencing
ü Internet Data Centre[IDC]
14.4. Retail Revolution:-Reliance World

What a wonderful world -- Reliance World
Reliance World (formerly Reliance Web World)
first of its kind a retail store with telecom products
and services in India, is a world-class nationwide
chain of retail outlets for products and services of
the Reliance – Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. It is
designed to give the customer a delightful experience of the digital world of information,
communication, entertainment and utility services.
All Reliance World outlets are connected to Reliance’s countrywide optic fibre network.
The Broadband Centre at Reliance World leverages this
broadband network to bring you innovative digital services.
With 242 Reliance World outlets across 105 cities in the
country
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14.5. Customer Survey Questionnaire
Customer Survey: Questionnaire

Name:
Date:
Name of interviewer:
1. What is your age?
Less Than 18
18-23 years
23-28 years
28-45 years
Greater Than 45
2. What is your occupation?
Government Service
Private Service
Business Self-Employed
Student
Homemaker
Others (please specify) __________
3. How often do you get connected to Internet?
At irregular intervals
Once a day
Twice a day
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4. What type of data card you preferred to buy?
USB Modem
PCMCIA Card
5. From where did you buy your data card?
Company own outlets
Other place
6. Which brands of data card you are aware of? (TOM)
Reliance
Tata-Indicom
Vodafone
Airtel
BSNL
7. Which brands of data card you are aware of (Aided recall)
Reliance
Tata-Indicom
Vodafone
Airtel
BSNL
98
8. Which brands of data card you are aware of (Unaided recall)
Reliance
Tata-Indicom
Vodafone
Airtel
BSNL
9. Which of the following brands do you use personally? (Tick only one)
Reliance
Tata-Indicom
Vodafone
Airtel
BSNL
10. Please rate the following sources of information according to the level of
importance of each source (1 – Least Important; 5 – Most Important)
Friends ___
Family ___
Retailer ___
Advertisements___
Packaging ___
Magazines or newspapers ___
Cyber café ___
Any Other ___

99
11. How satisfied are you with Reliance Data card? (If used)
Highly Satisfied
Moderately Satisfied
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
Moderately Dissatisfied
Highly dissatisfied
13. If your FIRST preference is not available then what do you do?
Purchase some other brand from the same shop/ store.
Purchase the same brand from some other store.
14. If the price of your most preferred data card as well as tariff charges increases
what would you do?
Shift to another options or different brands of data card
Will be using the same brand
15. If you choose to shift then which Brand will you prefer?
Tata-Indicom
Vodafone
Reliance
Airtel
100
BSNL
16. Please rate the factors given below on scale of 1 – 5 based on the s
importance they hold for you in purchase decision of Data card.
(1 least important to 5 most important)
No. Attributes/Benefits Rating

1. Price
2. Easy handling
3. Net Speed
4. Signal Strength
5. Availability in store
6. Tariff plan
7. Offer/Discounts
17.Please rate the following brands on the scale of 1-5 for the attributes mentioned
below i.e. write 5 if you feel the attribute is good enough to fully satisfy you and
mark 1 if you feel the attribute could not satisfy you.
(1 fully dissatisfied to 5 fully satisfied – Show cards with the ratings on them)
No. Attributes Brands

1 2 3 4 5
Tata- Airtel Vodafone BSNL Reliance
Indicom
1. Price
2. Easy handling
3. Net Speed
4. Signal Strength
5. Availability in
store
6. Tariff plan
101
Focus Group Discussion Format
Introduction
Presentation of the Purpose
Discussion of the procedure
Focus Group Discussion (FGD)
We conducted two FGD for our product-Reliance Data card. We also conducted
Telephonic interviews with existing customer from company’s data base
Focus Group 1: PG students from NSHM, Kolkata (Age: 18-24)

Focus Group 2: Faculty members NSHM, Kolkata (Full time) (Age: 38-55)
Following are the questions that helped us in moderating the entire discussion
and the answers that majority in the group agreed to:
1) Type Net connection have been used
FG 1: The PG students now use mostly USB modem and data card for surfing
FG 2: The faculty members now use broadband for surfing
2) What product first comes to your mind when I say Internet connection?
FG 1: The PG students said Airtel, Reliance data card and BSNL internet connection
FG 2: The Faculty members mostly use BSNL broadband
3) Different type of net connections you are aware of?
FG 1: Came up with Airtel GPRS connections and also Reliance Netconnect

FG 2: Came up with mostly BSNL and Reliance Netconnect,
102
5) The reason for using data card?
FG 1: Sometimes just for peer pressure and convenient for using anywhere
FG 2: Extensive traveling and easy access to internet
6) Does the data card really matter for net surfing?
FG 1: no. only it can be taken anywhere.
FG 2: not really.
8) Have you switched data card’s brands?
FG 1: yes, once
FG 2: no. not very recently.
9) If so, why?
FG 1: just for bad speed
FG 2: only sometimes. Better connectivity and charges of usage
10) Where do you purchase?
FG 1: Company’s own outlets.
FG 2: Company’s own outlets
11) Currently which type of net connection do you use? Are you satisfied?
FG 1: Airtel GPRS, Reliance data card, BSNL broadband connection
FG 2: Reliance data card, BSNL broadband connection
12) Information search?
FG 1: ads don’t influence. Decision is made at the point of purchase
FG 2: ads don’t influence. Many times decision is made before coming to store.
103
14) Have you seen an ad for Data card?
FG 1: No, not really. Charges are not important like net speed as well as download
speed
FG 2: Yes, did
15) What do you expect from your net connections? (Speed, free usage etc.)
FG 1: Speed. Dialup connection
FG 2: Good offers, easy to handle, good coverage
16) The attributes you look for in your data card?

FG 1: Good net speed, affordable price, Wire less connectivity
FG 2: Affordable price, Ease of use
17) What do you expect from net connections?
FG 1: Speed
FG 2: Strong network (if USB modem and data card) quick connectivity,
affordability.
19) Do you know the difference in pricing of Reliance data card plans?
FG 1: The group wasn’t surprised with the price catalogue we provided
FG 2: The group was surprised
20) Would you like to buy Reliance data card even if the price and tariff was
further raised?
FG 1: Depends on the budget we have
FG 2: Yes
21) What do you think of Reliance data card?
FG 1: Not sure
104
FG 2: Better compared to others
22) Why Reliance data card?
FG 1: Good speed, attractive tariff plans, recommended by family and friends
FG 2: Worth of money, recommended by family and friends
The two groups together came up with 7 attributes of data card after a few minutes.
They had 3 attributes that overlapped as shown.
FG 1: Price
Net speed
Availability in stores
Offers/Tariff plans
Wire less connectivity
FG 2: Ease of Use
Availability in stores
Quick connectivity
Offers/Tariff plans
Lasting
Net Speed
COMMON ATTRIBUTES: Speed, availability in stores, offers/tariff plans,
105
14.6. Age Profile of Sample Population
8% 9%
14% <18
23% 18-23
23-28
28-45
45>
46%
14.7. Internet Data Card Preference
5%
11%
28% TATA INDICOM
14% RELIANCE
AIRTEL
VODAFONE
BSNL
42%
14.8. Recall Pattern
Unaided Recall of Reliance Brand 67%
Aided Recall of Reliance Brand 89%
Top of the Mind Recall of Reliance Brand 77%

106
14.9. User Preference
5%
11%
28%
TATA INDICOM
14% RELIANCE
AIRTEL
VODAFONE
BSNL
42%
14.10. Respondents’ preference of Internet Connection
Preferrence of Internet Connection
11%
Broadband
23%
pcmcia card
53% usb modam

General net connection
13%
107
14.11. Brand Satisfaction of Reliance
Satisfaction Level-Reliance
Highly satisfied
11% 6%
Moderately Satisfied
14%
Neither Satisfied nor
41% Dissatisfiefd
Moderately Dissatified
28%
Highly Disstisfied
14.12. Brand Loyalty
Brand Loyalty in Internet Data Market
If your FIRST preference is not available then what do you do?
Option 1 Purchase some other brand from the same shop/ store
Option 2 Purchase the same brand from some other store
Brand Loyalty
25%
Other Brand
Same Brand
75%
Price Sensitivity in Internet data card Market
If the price of your most preferred brand increases what would you do? (Q 14)
108
Option 1 Shift to another brand
Option 2 Still buy the same brand
Price Sensitivity
13%
Stick to current brand

Other brand
87%
14.13. Fishbein Analysis
Fishbein Attitude Model
Where,
Ab = Attitude toward the object (brand)
Wi = belief about the brand’s possession of the attribute
Xib = evaluation of the attribute as being good or bad
n = there are a limited number (n) of attributes which the person will consider
109
Preferred Brand on basis of individual Attitude Score
17% 23%
Tata-Indicom
BSNL
Airtel
22% Reliance
18%
Vodafone
20%
14.14. Average attitude perception score of each brand
Initial Eigen values Extraction Sums Loadings

Total % of Cumulative% Total % of Cumulative%
Variance Variance
1 2.705 24.201 24.401 2.805 24.542 23.294
2 1.881 14.443 31..768 1.798 16.547 41.643
3 1.431 13.563 52.338 1.502 13.516 54.543
4 1.124 9.688 64.075 1.543 10.872 63.098
5 .827 8.032 70.221
6 .435 6.437 78.334
7 .768 6.407 82.451
110
Average Perception Score of Each Brand
35
30
25
20
Series1
15
10
5
0
Tata-Indicom BSNL Airtel Reliance Vodafone
Series1 30.348 22.938 25.733 28.235 22.334
14.15. Factor Analysis
Component
1 2 3
Price -.328 .634 -.067
Easy handling -1.20 .028 -.076
Net speed .458 .327 .326
Signal strength .336 .122 .398
Availability in store .776 -.096 -.064
Tariff plan .451 -.078 -.043
Offers/Discount .169 -.112 .418
111
Score plot
2.5
2
Eigenvalue
1.5 Series1
0.5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Component number
14.16. Cluster Analysis
Two Cluster Analysis
Cluster
1 2
Attributes 4.5 3.9
Price Sensitive 3.7 2.9
Point of 2 1
Purchase
Additional 3.1 1.2
factors
112
Number of Cases in each Cluster
Cluster 1 42.000
2 38.000
Valid 89.000
Missing .000
Three Cluster Analysis
Final Cluster Centers
Cluster
1 2 3
Attributes 2.8 3.3 2.9
Price Sensitive 2.5 3.0 2.1
Point of Purchase 3.4 3 2.8
Additional Factors 3.1 3.4 2.9
Number of Cases in each Cluster
Cluster 1 38.000
2 23.000
3 19.000
113
Valid 89.000
Missing .000
114
Reference
• Berman, B Evans, JR Retail Management, A Strategic Approach, McMillan

Publication 2001.
• Levy & Weitz, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, 2006.
• Philip Kotler, K. K. (2006) Marketing Management, New Jersey, Pearson
Education Australia.
• Daft, Richard L. Organization Theory & Design. Thomson/ South-

Western, 2007.
• Ambani, Dhirubhai. Reliance Communication. 1999.

http://www.rcom.co.in/Communications/Aboutus/aboutus_home.html.
• Reliance communication- Timeline

http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communications/rcom/Aboutus/aboutus
_milestones.jsp
• Products
http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communications/rcom/index.jsp
• ANI. Andhra News. July 16, 2007.

http://www.andhranews.net/Business/2007/July/16-Reliance-Communication-
buys-8239.asp.
• Communications, Reliance. "Code Of Conduct." Reliance Communications.

2006.
http://www.rcom.co.in/Communications/Aboutus/pdf/Code_of_Conduct.pdf.
• http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communications/rcom/Aboutus/aboutus
_business.jsp
• Miller, Chris. SAP NetWeaver Magazine. 2006.

http://www.netweavermagazine.com/archive/Volume_02_(2006)/Issue_02_(Sprin
g)/v2i2a09.cfm.
115

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[2008]

(7th July,2008-6th November, 2008)

SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

POST GRADUATE PROGRAM IN RETAIL MANAGEMENT

6. HISTORY OF RELIANCE COMMUNICATION 16

6.1. Foundation of Reliance Communication 17

6.2. The Vision 18

6.3. The Mission 18

7. AN ANALYSIS OF RELIANCE COMMUNICATION 19

7.1. Low-Cost Leadership Strategy 20

7.2. Differentiation Strategy 20

7.3. Organization Structure 21

7.4. External Environment 22

7.5. Global Expansion 23

7.6. Information as a Weapon 24

7.8. Ethics & Culture 27

8. TELECOM SECTOR-AN OUTLOOK 28

8.1. Industry Analysis 28

8.2. Bharti Airtel 28

8.3. Tata- Indicom 30

8.4. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) 31

8.5. Vodafone -Essar (Erstwhile Hutchison Group) 32

9. RELIANCE NETCONNECT DIVISION 33

9.2. RCOM’ products in Reliance Netconnect Department 33

9.2.1. Value Based Plan 34

9.2.2. Advance Rental Plan 35

9.2.3. Time based plan 35

9.2.4. Prepaid Options 36

9.3. Evaluation criteria & parameter of competitors 36

9.4. Reliance Data Card - an insight 37

10. MARKET RESEARCH 42

10.1. Overview of Research 42

10.2.1. Problem or Opportunity 43

10.2.2. Background of the study 43

10.3. An overview of internet and wireless connectivity 44

10.3.1. Definition of internet 44

10.3.2. Common uses of the Internet 45

10.3.3. Driving growth of internet data card 46

10.3.4. The Deterrents 47

11. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR THEORIES 48

11.1. Consumer perception and consumer behaviour 48

11.2. Consumer decision process 49

11.2.1. Predispositions (Before Purchase) 49

11.2.2. Product Need 50

11.2.3. External Search 50

11.2.4. Evaluation of Alternatives 51

11.2.6. Post Purchase Behaviour 52

11.2.7. Predispositions (After Purchase and Use) 52

11.3. CONSUMER PERCEPTION 53

11.3.2. Factors in perception 53

11.4. Consumer behaviour towards internet data card 55

11.4.1. Problem recognition 56

11.5. Information Search 56

11.6. Product Evaluation 57

11.7. Purchase Activity 58

11.8. Post Purchase Activities 58

11.9. Perceived benefits of internet data card 59

11.9.2. Time saving 60

11.10. Perceived risk of internet data card 61

11.10.1. Risk of internet connection speed 61

11.11. Research objective 62

11.12. Research question 62

11.14. Research design 63

11.14.1. Validity and Reliability test of the questionnaire 64