MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH COLLEGE OF

PROFESSIONAL SCIENCE

MINOR RESEARH PROJECT

ON
CONSUMER PREFRENCE TOWARDS TELECOM
OPERATORS

Towards the Partial Fulfillment of B.com(Hons)

Curriculum

Submitted By :-
RITIK CHAURASIA

Under the Guidance of

Dr. GEETA SURI
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In the course of this project I got an insight into the
telecom industry, came to know a lot about that
how the Telecom Industry is putting impact on
customers.First and foremost I am very proud to be
a student of Maharaja Ranjit College Indore and am
most grateful for having been given the
opportunity to do Research study.

I avail this opportunity to convey my sincere thanks

to Mr. Mitesh Choudary, the H.O.D MRSC Indore. I
also express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Geeta Suri
for providing us an opportunity to interact with
professional people in the real corporate world. I
forward my gratitude for the compulsion of this
most wonderful aspect of our BCOM(HONS)
curriculum without which knowledge of
management is incomplete and futile.

My acknowledgement would be
incomplete if I didn’t thank my team mates. During
the research period we have developed a
camaraderie which was very healthy and enjoyable.
I am grateful for everyone’s support and help when
needed. Without them this training would not have
been the same.
 Table Of Contents
Topics

1. Introduction

1.1 Research Problem

1.2 Objectives of the Project

1.3 Limitations of the Project

1.4 Methodology

2. SWOT Analysis of Telecom Industry

3. Major Players in Telecom Industry

4. Advertising by Telecom Industry

5. Data Analysis & Interpretation

6. Findings

7. Conclusion

8. Annexure

8.1 Questionnaire & Bibliography

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The main area of the project is to study the Consumer Preference towards
Telecom Operators In India. The sources of data collection used in the study are
both primary and secondary in nature. The real aim of the project is to study
the effectiveness and response towards telecom Industry provided by major
players.
In this project I have covered the Analysis of Telecom Industry of India. In this
analysis I have shown history and present scenario of the Telecom industry in
India. I have complemented this with the internal study of companies. I have
shown history, growth, market share and advertising strategies adopted by
Airtel, Reliance communication, BSNL and Voda Idea cellular.
The project is based on Consumer’s choices so I have first explained
about Telecom operator, its importance, managing decisions. I have analysed
the growth of telecom sector, share of telecom sector ,segment wise growth in
telecom sector, share of key players in market, new brands in telecom
equipments and service and share of sales in telecom sector.
Primary data has been collected in which focus group study had
been conducted to design the customer survey questionnaire with a sample
size 200 respondents. This survey has been conducted in INDORE. Secondary
data was collected through websites, newspapers, magazines and books.
INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH PROBLEM
OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
LIMITATIONS OF THE PROJECT
METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH PROBLEM

→ Consumer Preference toward Telecom Industry

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

→ To know the best service provider among other players

→ To obtain consumer satisfaction level

→ To ascertain the overall performance the Telecom Industry

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1. Respondents were reluctant to share their experience accurately.

2. Unwillingness of Telecom Oerators to Provide the accurate Data.
3. The 172 number of responded cannot actually define the overall behaviour
of such an Industry
4. This project requires a lots of time and analysis that cannot be covered in the
In short notice.
 METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH DESIGN:
The research design is Descriptive studies. Descriptive studies are well structured,
they tend to be rigid and its approach cannot be changed every now and then.

Descriptive studies are undertaken in many circumstances:

When the researcher is interested in knowing the characteristics of certain

groups such as age, profession.
When the researcher is interested in knowing the proportion of people in
given population who have behaved in a particular manner, making
projection of certain things.

The objective of this kind of study is to answer the why, who, what, when and how
of the subject under consideration.

I have taken descriptive because my research includes the knowing the behavior
of customer towards Telecom Sector. I have analyzed how people of various age
groups respond to different Operator or their perception towards performance.
Also my survey is related to companies like Airtel, Reliance communications,
BSNL and Idea cellular.

The most important aspect here was to obtain the ultimate services provider
based on the different customers opinion because opinion matters at the last
and the ultimate way to find such is obtain a good and flexible research
methodlogy thus this not only helps in finding the useful results but the main
obejective of this whole research work.
 Types of Questions:

OPEN ENDED:

They give the respondents complete freedom to decide the form , length and detail
of the answer. Open questions are preferred when the researchers is interested in
knowing what is upper most in the mind of respondents.

PRIMARY RESEARCH:

This consisted questionnaire and interaction from various people. A focus

group study will be conducted to design the customer survey questionnaire
with a sample size of 200 respondents.

SECONDARY RESEARCH:
Sources of secondary data were primarily the Internet, journals, newspaper, annual
report, database available in the library, catalogues and presentations
 TELECOM SUBSCRIBER BASE IN INDIA
Indian telecom regulator TRAI has released the latest statistics showing the number mobile
phone customers in March 2019.

India has 1,170.02 million mobile phone customers in March 2019 against 1,169.29 million in
Feburary 2019, registering a monthly growth rate of 0.06 percent.

The wireless subscription in urban areas increased 0.08 percent from 647.70 million to
648.24million. Mobile phone subscriptions in rural areas increased 0.03 percent from 521.59
million to 521.77 million during the month.

Vodafone Idea has 427.60 million mobile subscribers in October 2018 as compared
with 341.65million for Airtel, 262.75 million for Reliance Jio and 113.41 million for BSNL.
BSNL’s mobile connections include 22,935 connections reported by its Virtual Network
Operator(VNO) customer.

Reliance Jio added 105,00,227 customers, while BSNL added 386,926 subscribers in October
2108.

Airtel lost 18,64,065 customers, while Vodafone Idea lost 73,61,165 customers as part of
theirstrategy in removing in-active subscribers on their 2G and 3G networks across the
country.Airtel has 99.57 percent active mobile customers on its 2G, 3G and 4G networks in
India.

Vodafone has 94.47 percent active mobile phone customers. Idea Cellular has 92.52 percent
active customers on its mobile network.

Reliance jio has 82.26 percent active mobile phone customers on its all-India 4G network in
India.

BSNL has 56.52 percent active mobile phone subscribers on its 2G and 3G network in India
excluding Mumbai and Delhi.
SWOT ANALYSIS OF INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY

To summarize the SWOT analysis we can draw the following framework for telecom
industry:
MAJOR PLAYERS IN TELECOM INDUSTRY

TOP FOUR COMPANIES:

The Top four companies, on the basis of

‘Market Share’ as on 28th feburary, 2019
are:

→ Bharti Airtel
→BSNL
→RELIANCE JIO
 →VODAFONE IDEA LTD.

BHARTI AIRTEL
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications
company with operations in 16 countries across Asia and
Africa.Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks
amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of
subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include
2G,3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line
services, high speed home broadband, DTH, enterprise services
including national & international long distance services to
carriers.In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G, 4G
wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over
413 million customers across its operations at the end of March
2018.

Airtel is credited with pioneering the business strategy of

outsourcing all of its business operations except marketing, sales
and finance and building the 'minutes factory' model of low cost
and high volumes. The strategy has since been adopted by
several operators. Airtel's equipment is provided and maintained
by Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia Networks[13] whereas IT support
is provided by IBM.[14]The transmission towers are maintained by
subsidiaries and joint venture companies of Bharti
including Bharti Infratel and Indus Towersin India.[15] Ericsson
 agreed for the first time to be paid by the minute for installation
and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid up
front, which allowed Airtel to provide low call rates .Thus Airtel is
the one the biggest telecom Operator present not only in India
but also worldwide.

The plan that are being provided to the customers are of real
value because what Airtel emphasis is on obtaining the majority
of the consumer by giving them the best affordable possible
services that an Consumer requires.

The ultimate of an Operator the end of the is to make huge

consumer base and provide them with their best. The reason
why Airtel is one the biggest Operator is their earned Goodwill
the plan provided can be affordable by different segments of the
users depending upon their spending capacity.

Airtel is the one of the largest mobile operator in the world in

terms of subscriber base and has a commercial presence in 19
countries and the Channel Islands.

Airtel Business[37] consists largely of six products: cloud and

managed services, digital signage, NLD/ILD connectivity (VSAT/
MPLS/ IPLC and Ethernet products), Wi-Fi dongles,voice
solutions (like toll free numbers, TracMate, and automated media
reading) and conferencing solutions (VoIP, audio, video, and
web conferencing) serving Industry verticals like BFSI, IT/ITeS,
manufacturing, hospitality and government.
 BSNL
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (abbreviated BSNL) is an
Indian state-owned telecommunications company headquartered
in New Delhi. It was incorporated on 15 September 2000 and
assumed the business of providing telecom services and
network management from the erstwhile Central Government
Departments of Telecom Services (DTS) and Telecom
Operations (DTO) as of 1 October 2000 on a going-concern
basis. It is the largest provider of fixed
telephony and broadband services with 60% market share, and
is the fourth largest mobile telephony provider in India. BSNL is
India's oldest communication service provider and its history can
be traced back to the British era. During the British era, the first
telegraph line, was established between Calcutta and Diamond
.The British East India Company started using the telegraph in
1851 and till 1854 telegraph lines were laid across the country. In
1854,the telegraph service was opened to the public and the first
telegram was sent from Mumbai to Pune. In 1885,The Indian
Telegraph Act was passed by the British Imperial Legislative
Counsel. After the bifurcation of post and Telegraph department
in 1980s, and with the creation of Department of Telecom by
1990s, eventually led to the emergence of the State owned
 telegraph and telephone comp in India until it shut down
telegraph services completely in July 15, 2013.

BSNL Mobile is a major provider of GSM cellular mobile services

under the brand name Cellone. BSNL provides a complete
telecom services solution to enterprise customers including
MPLS, P2P and Internet leased lines. It provides fixedline
services and landline using CDMA technology and its own
extensive optical fiber network. BSNL provides Internet access
services through dial-up connections as prepaid, NetOne as
Postpaid and DataOne as BSNL Broadband.
BSNL offers value-added services such as Free Phone Service
(FPH), India Telephone Card (Prepaid card), Account Card
Calling (ACC), Virtual Private Network (VPN), Tele-voting,
Premium Rate Service (PRM) and Universal Access Number
(UAN). BSNL also the Internet and Voice and Video Over
Internet Protocol (VVoIP).In 2007, BSNL announced plans to
provide 5 million broadband connections and secured 80% of
the INR 25 billion rural telephony project of the Government of
India. On 20 March 2009, BSNL launched blackberry services
across India. BSNL paid Rs. 101.87 billion for 3G spectrum in
2010. As of 2011, BSNL offered coverage in over 800 cities
across India. BSNL launched in 2012 a 3G wireless pocket-
sized router called Winknet Mf50. BSNL 3G provides HSPA+
service with a top speed of 21.1 Mbit/s downlink and 5.76
Mbit/s uplink.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, a Public Sector Enterprise, also

provides fiber plans for the home, which are generally known as
BSNL FTTH broadband service. This is the fastest broadband
 service provided by BSNL, offering speeds up to 100Mbit/s to
home-based Internet users.
According to a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Report
dated 19 February 2016, at the end of 2015, BSNL's 14.54%
share of the broadband market placed it 4th in market share..

RELIANCE JIO

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, Jio, is an Indian mobile network

operater. Owned by Reliance Industries and headquartered
in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, it operates a national LTE network
with coverage across all 22 telecom circles. Jio does not
offer 2G or 3Gservice, and instead uses voice over LTE to provide
voice service on its network.

Jio soft launched on 27 December 2015 (the eve of what would

have been the 83rd birthday of Reliance Industries
founder Dhirubhai Ambani, with a beta for partners and
employees, and becamepubliclyavailable on 5 September 2016.
As of 31 December 2018, it isthe third largest mobile network
operator in India and the nineth largest mobile network operator
in the world with over 280.117 million subscribers.
On 5 July 2018, fixed line broadband service named Gigafiber,
was launched by the Reliance Industries Limited's
chairman Mukesh Ambani, during the company's Annual General
Meeting.
 The company commercially launched its services on 5 September
2016. Within the first month, Jio announced it had acquired 16
million subscribers. This is the fastest ramp-up by any mobile
network operator anywhere in the world.Jio crossed 50 million
subscriber mark in 83 days since its launch, subsequently crossing
100 million subscribers on 22 February 2017.By October 2017 it
had about 130 million subscribers
The company launched its 4G broadband services throughout
India September 2016. It was slated to release in December 2015
after some reports said that the company was waiting to receive
final permits from the government.Jio offers fourth-generation (4G)
data and voice services, along with peripheral services like instant
messaging and streaming movies and music.

The company has a network of more than 250,000 km of fiber

optic cables in the country, over which it will be partnering with
local cable operators to get broader connectivity for its
broadband services. With its multi-service operator (MSO)
licence, Jio will also serve as a TV channel distributor and will
offer television-on-demand on its network.

Jio became India’s most favoured mobile network with very

cheap plan and a brilliant market strategy that makes it one of
the most liked mobile network in the in the history of the telecom
sector in India and till date it is one of most efficient and great
telecom operator that India has ever witnessed. This is what
makes it one of the most liked Telecom Service Provider till date
still unbeatable..
 VODAFONE IDEA LTD.

Vodafone Idea Limited is India's largest telecom

operator with its headquarter based in Mumbai,
Maharashtra. Vodafone Idea is a pan-India integrated
GSM operator offering 2G, 3G and 4G mobile services
under two brands named Vodafone and Idea. Vodafone
Idea also provides services including Mobile payments,
IoT, advanced enterprise offerings and entertainment,
accessible via both digital channels as well as on-ground
touch points, center across the country. The company's
vision is 'to create world class digital experiences to
connect and inspire every Indian to build a better
tomorrow'. As of December 2018, Vodafone Idea has
35.61% market share in India with 418.745 million
subscribers, making it the largest mobile
telecommunications network in India and second largest
mobile telecommunications network in the
world. Vodafone Idea has a broadband network of 340,000
sites, distribution reach of 1.7 million retail outlets.On 31
August 2018, Vodafone India merged with Idea Cellular,
and was renamed as Vodafone Idea Limited. However, the
merged entity continues using both the Idea and Vodafone
brand. Currently, the Vodafone Group holds a 45.1%
stake in the combined

entity, the Aditya Birla Group holds 26% and the remaining
shares will be held by the public. Vodafone Idea Limited
competes with other major mobile operators
including Airtel, BSNL, MTNL and Reliance Jio. Tata
DoCoMo – with whom Vodafone Idea Limited competed is
now in the process of Merging their businesses
with Airtel, . Vodafone Idea Limited has gone far ahead of
the rest of these competitors with a Revenue Market Share
of over 32.2%
 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

→Sampling

1. Sample Size : 200

2. Sample Frame : Indore City

3. Sampling Method : Simple Random Sampling

4. Constraints : Time, No. of respondent, Biased opinion

5. Sampling Error : Response – 172

6. Non-response – 28

7. Survey : Questionnaire

Based upon the following sample the Data Analysis and

Interpretation was done and the thus this was an helpful in
finding the main objective this whole project.
 Observations

1: Total samples (Age group)

According to the above bar diagram, among 172 respondents,These

respondent have informed their choosing factor for purchasing mobile
connection. Form their responses I will be able to understand the various
aspects of my research topic by their age groups.

Age group Respondent

10-20 36

21 - 40 106

More than 40 30
2: Total samples (Gender Wise)

Male 102

Female 70
 3:Total samples according to working status

Respondent

Students Private Service Public Service Housewife Businessmen

Among 172 respondents, 68 are students, 40 are private serviceholders,

18 are public service holders,8 is housewife and 38 businessman.
4:Total samples according to educational status

Education Qualification

Under Graduate 55
Graduate 48
Post Graduate 69
Others 0
5:Total Service Provider (% wise)

Sales

AIRTEL BSNL JiO VODAFONE IDEA

Airtel 24
BSNL 27
RELIANCE JIO 34
VODAFONE IDEA 79
 6:Purchase influence factors of subscriber

According to the answers companies

can identify the segments whom they have for purchase intent.

SELF 72
SPOUSE 9
PARENTS 27
CHILDREN 13
FRIENDS 45
SALESMAN 6
 7: Monthly investment on phone

How much you invest monthly on your phone?

UPTO RS. 500 76

RS. 501-1000 54
RS. 1001-1500 30
MORE THAN 1500 12
 8:Chart showing Online payment statics

Do you prefer online payment through your mobile service

provider?

YES 37
NO 135
9:Chart showing market competition state according to
customers

What do you think about the competition in the market?

NO CHOICE 29
CAN’T SAY 16
SOME CHOICE 40
ENOUGH CHOICE 87
 10:Preference to alternatives

NO CHANGE

VODA IDEA

Reliance Jio

BSNL

Airtel

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Series 1 Series 2

Near about 125 of customers not interested in changing

their service providers. This is a positive sign for companies. More the
consumer satisfied more they became loyal to company.
Reliance jio has other positive signs as 22 customer wants to switch over
to them. 11 customer preferred to Airtel, 8 preferred BSNL, 6 went for
VODAIDEA ltd.
 11:Expectations from service providers

What kind of expectations do you have with your service provider?

PRICE 42
VOICE CLEARITY 9
NETWORK 58
GOOD SERVICE 63
 12:Purchase intent from mobile phone

Chart Title

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
ENTERTAIMENT NEWS BUSINESS SPORTS ASTROLOGY

Series 1 Series 2

What is your purchase intent for news alerts on mobile phone?

ENTERTAINMENT 66
NEWS 32
BUSINESS 39
SPORTS 33
ASTROLOGY 2
 Findings
Nowadays telecommunication sector is very competitive. Here
every telecom company has to strive to get the prospects as many
as possible. Every company uses different tools to persuade the
target markets to buy the products. They conduct market research
very often to know about the choices of the target markets. I also
come up with important findings after conducting a research.

The target markets are influenced by Promotional activities for

purchasing behaviors of mobile connection. But target markets are
not basically concerned about Celebrities for buying the mobile
connection. They do not get influenced by promotional activities
which include classical conditioning rather they get influenced by
the promotion which include operant conditioning. They give less
importance on promotional activities than other marketing mix
such as products, distribution, price, process etc. The target
markets of the telecom industry seriously think of the tariff and put
more importance on the tariff than any other factors.

They can even tolerate interrupted network service to some extent

as they put more importance on the tariff than network. They have
chosen tariff as a most important factor to by mobile connection
than brand image. Target markets do value complementary
products’ availability. Target markets have chosen availability of
complementary product over network. It means that the target
markets go for that product which complementary are widely
available regardless the network condition. According to target
markets network is important factor to purchase the mobile
connection but not as important as tariff. But target market put
importance on
network than brand image. Customers seriously consider the word
of mouth. They rather prefer it than any promotional activities.
After sale Services and value added services are the important
factor to target market for purchasing the mobile connection.
Target markets generally think of switching cost before purchasing
a particular mobile connection. One interesting finding is that
target markets do not generally concerned about Brand image.

After relating occupation with other important marketing research

question the following findings has been found-

1. Among respondents Public service holders are the most

sensitive towards to tariff price

2. Student and Housewife value the celebrities for purchasing the

mobile connection.

3. Students and private service holders are concerned and value

the brand image for purchasing the mobile connection.

4. In case of word of mouth, Students, housewives, private service

holders value it for purchasing the mobile connection.

5. All customers are highly influence by any discount, free

sampling, rebate for purchasing the mobile connection.

6. Private Service holders are most concern about network for

purchasing the mobile connection.
 CONCLUSION

After talking to decision makers, and respective customers I have

developed a management decision problem statement. Then I
have developed Marketing research Problem. And from the
marketing research problem I have identified some factors that
influence the behaviour of mobile connection. The specific
components have been Marketing process, Technology, service
ability switching cost etc. I have developed the research
questions and then I have gone for Descriptive research and
among different descriptive researches I have taken bars and
charts design to illustrate. And among differrent methods I have
chosen in-home survey method and public place review survey.
My target population has been the citizen of the INDORE city
who are a customer or future prospects of mobile connection.

After analysing I would like to offer some recommendation to

influence the decision of mobile purchasing of the target market:

1)Tariff is still the most dominant factor for purchasing the mobile
connection.

2) Among different types of promotional techniques, target

markets values the most while choosing an Operator.

3) The brand image is still less important to target markets than

tariffs. So the mobile operator must build strong brand image.
 Questionnaire

1.Respondent Name : ……………………..

2.Respondent Age:□ 10-20 □ 21-40 □ More than 40

3. Maritial Status □ Single □ Married

4. What is the working Status Of the Respondent?

□ Student □ Private worker □ Public worker □ Businessman

5. Educational Qaualification

□ Graduate □ Post Graduate □ Professional □ Others

6. Presently you are availing services from which operator (Tick more
than one, if applicable):

□ Airtel □ BSNL □ JIO □ Voda Idea

7. Time you spend with your current connection (Approx)?

□ 0-6 Months □ 6-12 Months □ 1-3 Year □ More than 3

years
 8. Who influences most, the decision to purchase a
telecommunication service in your family?

SELF

SPOUSE

PARENTS

CHILDREN

SALESMAN

9:What advertising media has influenced you in choosing a telecom

operator?

□ Radio □ Television □ Print Media □ Road side Ads □ Print

Media

10:How much you invest monthly on your phone?

□ Upto 500 □ 501-1000 □ 1001-1500 □ More than 1500

11:Do you prefer online payment through your mobile service

provider?
 □ YES □ NO

12:What do you think about the competition in the market?

□ No Choice□ Enough Choice □ Some Choice □ Can’t Say

13:Given a choice with same number which service provider will you
select?

□ Airtel □ BSNL □ JIO □ Voda Idea

14:How long do you have to wait in customer care?

□ Upto 1 Min □ Upto 2 Min □ Upto 3 Min □ More than 3 Min

15:What kind of expectations do you have with your service

provider?

□ Price □ Voice Clarity □ Network □ Good Service

16:What is your purchase intent for news alerts on mobile phone?

□ News □ Sports □ Astrology □ Entertaiment

 17:Are you aware of the role of the telecom services in providing
broadband without using cable network?

□ YES □ NO

18:ARE YOU AWARE OF 5G TECHNOLOGY?

□ YES □ NO

19:Are You Satisfied with your Telecom Operator?

□ YES □ NO

20:Would you Like to recommend something about the Operator you

Use?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Faculty Guide: Mrs. Geeta Suri

Websites:

1. www.vodafone.in

2. www.airtel.in

3. www.rcom.co.in

4. www.bsnl.co.in

5. www.ideacellular.com

6. www.google.com

Newspapers:
7. Dainik Bhaskar

8. The Times Of India .

9. The Hindu