AIRCEL PRESENT AND FUTURE STRATEGIES

ANSOFF MATRIX

AIRCEL LAUNCH–
Aircel commenced operations in 1999 and became the leading mobile operator in Tamil Nadu
within 18 months. Aircel began its outward expansion in 2005 and met with unprecedented
success in the Eastern frontier circles. It emerged a market leader in Assam and in the North
Eastern provinces within 18 months of operations. During this period, the company gained a
foothold in 9 circles including Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Assam, North East, Orissa, Bihar, Jammu &
Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal.

To gain grounds in telecom market it followed low pricing market penetration strategy. It was the
first company of india to make incoming calls free. It kept the cost of sim cards low and waived
of the monthly rental. These steps ensured that it became market leader in these markets in no
time and achieve economies of scale. By keeping its airtime charges low it was able to tap the
bottom of pyramid.Today it boasts of having 800minutes of usage per user and huge net profits
year after year.
AIRCEL EXPANSION TO NEW MARKETS –
The Company has gaining momentum in the telecom space in India post the allocation of
additional spectrum by the Department of Telecom, Govt. of India for 13 new circles across
India. These include Delhi (Metro), Mumbai (Metro), Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana,
Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra & Goa, Rajasthan, Punjab, UP (West) and
UP (East). Today it is present in 18 circles out of 23 circles of India and has licenses for the
remaining 5 circle. By the end of 2010 aircel plans to become a pan India telecom player.

AIRCEL NEW PRODUCTS DEVELOPMENT –

Aircel has positioned itself on the future of telephony - data play. Its services are loaded with
value-added applications, as would be apparent from its campaign. It wants to offer services
that the youth craves for. It has moved beyond voice services and explore the VAS space.

It is working a lot with content aggregators such as Yahoo and Makemytrip. It is looking to rope
in more partners to help us position itself better in the VAS space. Aircel, wants to offer a
platform for innovation. So is encouraging new and out-of-the-box ideas. New technology like
3G would further give an impetus to its brand positioning.

AIRCEL DIVERSIFICATION –
AIRCEL sees a lot of potential remaining in India and is focusing on its Indian operation. It has
no intention to start operation in overseas markets.
AIRCEL LIFECYCLE

INTRTRODUCTION STAGE
Aircel met with unprecedented success in the Southern and Eastern circles. It emerged a
market leader in Assam and in the North Eastern provinces within 18 months of operations.
During this period, the company gained a foothold in 9 circles including Chennai, Tamil Nadu,
Assam, North East, Orissa, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal.

GROWTH STAGE
The Company has currently gained a momentum in the space of telecom in India post the
allocation of additional spectrum by the Department of Telecom, Govt. of India for 13 new
circles across India. These include Delhi (Metro), Mumbai (Metro), Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,
Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra & Goa, Rajasthan, Punjab, UP
(West) and UP (East).

Aircel has won many awards and recognitions. Voice and Data gave Aircel the highest rating for
overall customer satisfaction and network quality in 2006. Aircel emerged as the top mid-size
utility company in Businessworld’s ‘List of Best Mid-Size Companies’ in 2007.
Additionally,Tele.net recognised Aircel as the best regional operator in 2008.
MATURITY STAGE
Telecom market in urban India is reaching maturity stage. Teledensity in cities is
close to 100 percentage. Tough competition is putting a dent on the balance sheet
of various telecom companies. Call rates in cities have already crashed. Pay per
second plan intiated by Docomo was soon adopted by everyone and revenues of
telecom companies further reduced.

DECLINE / ALTERNATIVE GROWTH STATEGY

Telecom Industry is reaching out for new options to maintain its growth trajectory. Some of the
many option with telecom industry are :-

Rural Markets -Telecom companies are reaching to rural India to maintain their growth rate.
Teledensity in Indian villages is close to 50% and has high growth potential. With call rates
dropping cell phone will soon will be a part of every Indian household.

3G and BWA spectrum - Aircel has won 3G spectrum across 13 circles and BWA spectrum in
8 circles in recently spectrum auction .Aircel holds one of the highest amount of next generation
spectrum amongst all telecom operators in India. It wants to ramp up operations in india in a big
way. Broadband will be the new driver for growth of Indian Telecom Industry.

Operations Restructuring – Aircel has sold its towers to GTL infrastructure. It plans to focus
on its telecom services while using towers from GTL . Its IT infrastructure is outsourced to
Wipro. They are also helping us transform our IT backhaul to the new generation technology.
Our network is of the latest technology and we have installed state-of-the-art EDGE technology.
We are ready for the 3G as our networks can easily be upgraded as per the requirements of
new generation technology.

VAS (Value Added Services) – While the margins from Voice Telephony is reducing, revenue
from Data Services is rapidly increasing. SMS services are quite popular in india. Craze for ring
tones, Caller ring tunes is catching up. Aircel is working with a lot of content aggregators such
as Yahoo and Makemytrip It is looking at roping in more partners to help us position ourselves
better in the VAS space. User friendly applications for cellphones from Aircels have positioned
Aircel as youth centric brand. Advertisements showcasing these applications have played a very
important rote in brand positioning of Aircel.