A

Summer Training Report

On
“Marketing Strategies of AIRTEL”
AT

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of

Degree in Bachelor of Business Administration

From

MAHARISHI DAYANAND UNIVERSITY ROHTAK

SESSION: 2015-2018

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

MR. RAJESH KUMAR RITU BHARDAWAJ
BBA 5TH SEM.

SATYA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING &TECHNOLOGY

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A Project report life is never easy. Often viewed as an overtly inquisitive outside,
he/she is believed to be more of a hindrance than an asset by many organizations. The
industry guide who is often a middle level manager finds little time to spend with the
trainee amidst his/her heavy schedule of tasks, deadlines to meet and “BOSSES” to
please. However I did not have any horrid time tanks to my institution and industry
guide.

Many people were instrumental in enabling me to complete and compile this project
on time and as I reflect on the most fulfilling times of my life, it is a moment for me
to extend my deed sense of gratitude, respect and sincere thanks to all those who
extended their help and gave guidance to me at every stage of my project

I offer my special thanks to Mr. RAJESH KUMAR (MARKETING ) who gave me

the guidance, motivation and leadership during my project and also for installing in
me a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence.

I would acknowledge and humbly thank the management of the Organization for
providing me with resources like internet, books, journals, etc to facilitate my
learning on this topic.

Last but not the least, my appreciation goes to my family and my friends who
believed in my capabilities and encouraged me during this project.
 DECLARATION

I, RITU BHARDAWAJ a student of class BBA 5 th sem. of Satya College of

Engineering & Technology, Palwal hereby declare that the project report on “
MARKETING STRATEGIES OF AIRTEL.
which is my original work and the same has not been submitted to any other institute
for the award of any other degree.

RITU BHARDAWAJ
 ABSTRACT

Exactly ten years ago, Jyoti Basu in Calcutta called Sukh Ram in Delhi in
what was the first mobile phone call in India. Brick sized cell phones used to
cost Rs. 45,000 and each call costed Rs. 16.5/minute. Back then, cell phone
was a status symbol. Today, there are over 60 million mobile connections in
India (expected to double in number in next 12 months). A local call costs
around Rs 1/min and a cell phone can be purchased for less than Rs. 2000.
Wireless technology has been a boon for India. In a country where setting up
wired infrastructure is very expensive and time consuming, wireless is the
perfect solution to connect remote villages. Cell phones have not been just
about technology. They have brought about a cultural change in the country.
SMS is the favorite means of communication for everybody today. The
revolution in computing in countries like India will also come through mobile
phones. What PC did to offices and then to masses in developed countries,
mobile phones will do in developing countries. Time was when it took several
years to get a new telephone connection in India. Now, there is less pressure
than ever before for fixed landlines as mobile phone subscribers appear
poised to outnumber those with a fixed line. By year's end, India may become
one of the few countries where the mobile revolution is complete and the
mobile reigns supreme, just ten years after it was first introduced. Every
month, India adds another 1.5 million mobile subscribers to the 28 million
mobile phone users registered last December. In January 2003, one year
before, India had just 10 million mobile subscribers.
When mobile telephony was introduced in India in 1994, there were just a few
service providers, such as Airtel. It was a heavily regulated sector with
prohibitive license fees, high call charges of 30 cents per minute, and
expensive handsets. Then, only the privileged could use a mobile in India. But
in the last four years, call charges have fallen and license fees have become
more manageable.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

 INTRODUCTION

 COMPANY PROFILE

 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

 DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

 SUGGESTIONS

 CONCLUSION

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 QUESTIONNAIRE
 INTRODUCTION

The Indian telecommunications Network with 250m telephone connections is

the fifth largest in the world and is the second largest among the emerging
economies of Asia. Today it is the fastest growing market in the world and
represents unique opportunities for UK companies in the stagnant global
scenario. Tele-density, which was languishing at 2% in 1999, has shown an
impressive jump to 9.5% in 2011 and 10.5% in 2012 and is set to increase to
20% in the next five years beating the Govt. target by three years.
Accordingly, India requires incremental investments of USD 20-25 bln for the
next five years.
Private operators have made mobile telephony the fastest growing (over
164% p.a.) in India. With more than 33 million users (both CDMA and GSM),
wireless is the principal growth engine of the Indian telecom industry. Given
the current growth trends, cellular connections in India will surpass fixed line
by late 2011/early 2012. Intense competition between the four main private
groups - Bharti, Vodafone, Tata and Reliance and with the State sector
incumbents-BSNL and MTNL has brought about a significant drop in tariffs.
There has been almost 74% in cell phone charges, 70% in ILD calls and 25%
drop in NLD charges, resulting in a boom time for the consumers.
The Government has played a key enabling role by deregulating and
liberalising the industry, ushering in competition and paving the way for
growth. While there were regulatory irregularities earlier, resulting in litigation,
these have all been addressed now. Customs duties on hardware and mobile
handsets have been reduced from 14 percent to 5 percent.
The Indian government has merged the IT and Telecom Ministries to speed
up reforms and decision on the Communication Convergence Bill to enable
the common regulation of the Internet, broadcasting and telecoms will be
taken after the new Government assumes responsibilities in may this year. An
independent regulatory body (TRAI) and dispute settlement body (TDSAT) is
fully functional.
Bharti Airtel Limited was incorporated on July 7, 1995 for promoting
investments in telecommunications services. Its subsidiaries operate telecom
services across India. Bharti Airtel is India's leading private sector provider of
telecommunications services based on a strong customer base consisting of

50 million total customers, which constitute, 44.6 million mobile and 5.4
million fixed line customers, as of March 31, 2013.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of my study will be:
1. To study the importance and development of tele – communication
industry in today’s scenario.
2. To understand the various Marketing Strategies which Airtel has adopted
to survive in highly competitive cell phone industry.
3. To make a comparative study of the major players in Indian Service
Provider.

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

This sector is growing very fast as compared to the other sectors, & at the
same time lot of opportunities, and expectation came from the customers to
provide excellent service in less.

TELECOMMUNICATION MARKET IN INDIA

The Indian telecommunications Network with 250m telephone connections is

the fifth largest in the world and is the second largest among the emerging
economies of Asia. Today it is the fastest growing market in the world and
represents unique opportunities for UK companies in the stagnant global
scenario. Tele-density, which was languishing at 2% in 1999, has shown an
impressive jump to 9.5% in 2011 and 10.5% in 2012 and is set to increase to
20% in the next five years beating the Govt. target by three years.
Accordingly, India requires incremental investments of USD 20-25 bln for the
next five years.
Private operators have made mobile telephony the fastest growing (over
164% p.a.) in India. With more than 33 million users (both CDMA and GSM),
wireless is the principal growth engine of the Indian telecom industry. Given
the current growth trends, cellular connections in India will surpass fixed line
by late 2004/early 2005. Intense competition between the four main private
groups - Bharti, Vodafone, Tata and Reliance and with the State sector
incumbents-BSNL and MTNL has brought about a significant drop in tariffs.
There has been almost 74% in cell phone charges, 70% in ILD calls and 25%
drop in NLD charges, resulting in a boom time for the consumers.
The Government has played a key enabling role by deregulating and
liberalising the industry, ushering in competition and paving the way for
growth. While there were regulatory irregularities earlier, resulting in litigation,
these have all been addressed now. Customs duties on hardware and mobile
handsets have been reduced from 14 percent to 5 percent.
The Indian government has merged the IT and Telecom Ministries to speed
up reforms and decision on the Communication Convergence Bill to enable
the common regulation of the Internet, broadcasting and telecoms will be
taken after the new Government assumes responsibilities in may this year. An
independent regulatory body (TRAI) and dispute settlement body (TDSAT) is
fully functional.

INDIAN CELLULAR MARKET

The Bharti Group, which operates in 23 circles, continues to be the country's

largest cellular operator, with 50 lakh subscribers. BSNL, which operates in
22 circles, has a subscriber base of 37 lakh subscribers. Thus BSNL stands
second largest cellular operator in terms of subscriber base at the end of the
fiscal ending March 31, 2013, displacing Vodafone from the second position.
Vodafone, which operates in only eighteen circles, is the third largest operator
with a subscriber base of 32 lakh. Unlike fellow public sector undertaking,
MTNL, which operates in Mumbai and Delhi, BSNL has been a very
aggressive player in the market. "Cellular operators who expected BSNL to
go the MTNL way, were taken by surprise and did not take effective steps to
counter it, till it was too late in the day," said a telecom analyst.

Belying fears of a slowdown in cellular subscriber acquisitions, the cell club

has reported a 7.92% growth, the highest growth in any month so far, during
March 2012. Year-on-year, the cellular subscriber base in the country has
almost doubled in March 2013, and is expanding at the rate of 25% per year
thereafter.

The cellular subscriber club expanded by 21.31 lakh last month. This is much
higher than 5.9 lakh subscribers added in February 2012 and 2.13 lakh in
January 2013. Idea, which operates in Seven circles, is the fourth largest
operator with a subscriber base of 17.80 lakh, higher than BPL's 11.31 lakh
subscribers across four circles. The subscriber numbers per operator drop
sharply with the sixth largest operator, Spice Communications, having a
subscriber base of 9.40 lakh, followed by Reliance Telecom's 8.9 lakh
subscribers. MTNL is the ninth largest operator, with a base of 8.32 lakh
subscribers.

While the subscriber base-jumped by 3.38% to 44.39 lakh in the metros,

subscriber base of category A circles of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu jumped by 10.18 % to reach 43.64 lakh.
Category B circles of Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West), Uttar
Pradesh (East), Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal recorded a
jump of 10.69%, with a total base of 33.74 lakh subscribers. Circle C has
reported 12.74 % growth with subscriber numbers jumping to 5.08 lakh.

Among the metros, while Mumbai added 1,63,180 subscribers, higher than
the 1,58,646 added by Delhi, the Capital's cellular subscriber base of over 80
lakh is still higher than Mumbai's 66.89 lakh. While the cellular industry has
been on roll for the first three quarters of the previous financial year with an
average of 16.75 lakh monthly additions in the third quarter, the first two
months of 2013 had seen the growth slowing down.

GSM MARKET IN INDIA

Regional Interest Groups - GSM India
With a population of around 1.1 billion growing at roughly 1.7 per cent a year,
India is potentially one of the most exciting GSM markets in the world. After
two rather difficult years, the past 12 months have seen the region's promise
beginning to come to fruition. Much of this success can be attributed to the
stabilisation of the licensing and regulatory environment.

India's telecommunications have undergone a steady liberalisation since 1994

when the Indian government first sought private investment in the sector.
More significant liberalisation followed in 1996 with the licensing of new local
fixed line and mobile service providers. However, it has been the
government's New Telecom Policy (1999) that has had the most radical
impact on the development of GSM services. 'The policy's mission statement
is 'affordable communications for all', There is a genuine commitment to
creating a modern and efficient communications infrastructure that takes
account of the convergence of telecom, IT and media. In addition, the policy
places significant emphasis on greater competition for both fixed and mobile
services.'

Competition in the mobile sector has already had a visible impact on prices
with calls currently costing less than 9 cents per minute. This means that
service costs have fallen by 60 per cent since the first GSM networks became
live in 1995. It also helps explain why a recent Telecom Asia survey revealed
that more than 70 per cent of Indian mobile subscribers felt that prices were
now at a reasonable level.
One of the challenges facing GSM operators in India is the diversity of the
coverage regions -from remote rural regions to some of the most densely
populated metropolitan areas in the world. India has more than 40 networks,
which cover the seven largest cities, over 7000 towns and several Lacs
villages. Such depth of coverage has required enormous investment from
India's operators. It is estimated that more than Rs200 billion had been
invested in India's GSM industry by mid-2000, a figure that is set to be
supplemented by a further Rs. 300 billion over the next five years.

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

India fastest growing GSM mart

India is expected to have 145 million GSM (global system for mobile
communications) customers by 2012-13 compared to 26 million subscribers
as on March 2011, according to the Global Mobile Suppliers Association. "For
GSM, India is a success story. It is one of the fastest growing markets with its
subscriber base doubling in 2011. At this pace, the target of 150 million
subscribers by 2012-2013 is definitely achievable," Alan Hadden, president of
GSA, said at a news conference in New Delhi. Globally, the GSM market
reached 1 billion users in February 2011, he said, adding GSM accounted for
80 per cent of the new subscriber growth in 2011."Almost every Latin
American operator has chosen GSM. In North America GSM growth is bigger
than CDMA (code division multiple access)," he said. Commenting on the
raging debate over GSM versus CDMA in mobile services arena, Hadden
said: "GSM is the world's most successful mobile standard with over 1 billion
users, and is an open mobile standard. It also supports automatic
international roaming, which is a major contributor to business plans."

India’s GSM mobile firms’ revenue up 30 pct

India’s private telecoms firms offering GSM-based mobile services reported a
24 percent rise in revenue in the year to March 2013 but said future growth
rates could slow because of heavy taxes on the nascent industry. Although
India’s mobile sector is the world’s fastest growing major wireless market, it is
amongst the highest taxed industries in the country. Mobile carriers pay as
much as 25 percent of their revenue as licence fee, spectrum charges and
other taxes. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said revenue
for fiscal 2011/12 stood at 83.08 billion rupees ($1.86 billion) compared with
64 billion rupees a year earlier. According to T.V. Ramachandran, director
general at COAI, “These revenue growth rates cannot be maintained unless
there is a concerted effort by the government to cut excessive levies and
allow sharing of infrastructure”

“But the potential to do much better exists as there is still huge demand in the
sector.” Ramachandran said the sector was still losing money but declined to
elaborate. Sales jumped because of a doubling of the GSM (Global System
of Mobile Communications) user base as more people entered the flourishing
market thanks to one of the lowest call rates in the world. But the monthly
average revenue per user, a key measure of profitability, declined 17.4
percent to 432 rupees in the fourth quarter compared with 523 rupees in the
first quarter due to a cut in tariffs and excessive competition among
companies. Growth slowing, demand untapped: The association has not
included the financial performance and the GSM-user base of state-run firms
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, the second-ranked player, and Mahanagar
Telephone Nigam Ltd, Ramachandran said. There are 150 million GSM
customers and more than 96 million users of the rival CDMA-based mobile
services in the country.
The pace of growth in monthly additions is slowing after just 1.25 million users
took up the service in April compared with 1.9 million in the previous month
and 1.63 million in February. Ramachandran blamed the slowdown on a
majority of small GSM operators being unable to expand networks into rural
swathes where demand remained largely untapped.
“Our surpluses are not enough to cover costs of network expansion and
financing charges on loans. We are making money only to cover operating
expenses,” he said. Carriers are now subsidising handset costs to woo users
into the underpenetrated industry forecast to have more than 250 million
customers by 2013. Roughly three percent of Indians own a mobile phone
compared with about 20 percent in China. About a dozen firms such as Bharti
Airtel Ltd, 28 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications, Reliance
Infocomm Ltd and the Indian GSM-unit of Vodafone group battle in the hotly
competitive sector.

DOES GSM HAVE THE EDGE?

GSM operators are not the only ones who are worried about the rapid strides
made by CDMA mobile players Reliance Infocomm and Tata Indicom in the
Indian cellular market?
The GSM suppliers – both handset and equipment - who incidentally also
have their other foot firmly placed in the CDMA pie, are beginning to lose
some sleep over what was earlier termed as `niche’ and `minuscule’ data
carriage market by the operators
Apart from the strong success of the two CDMA operators whose networks
are based on code division multiple access (CDMA), the miserable showing
of the four global standard for mobile (GSM) based networks that launched
general packet radio service (GPRS) service for data connectivity in last three
years, has the vendors worried. Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA)
now believes that even though India will primarily remain a voice traffic-led
market in next two-three years, the data traffic component will grow by 25-30
per cent, an optimism that it’s trying to make GSM operators feel as well.
THE CDMA CHALLENGE

CDMA players had launched their services with CDMA 2000 1X-based
networks, which can give hi-speed, always-on connectivity to the Internet, and
other data services. GSM operators, on the other hand, have had to migrate
from the frustrating experience of WAP (wireless application protocol) to
GPRS, which has not significantly improved the subscriber’s experience of
surfing the Net on/from mobile.
The top brass of GSA, an organisation comprising Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson,
Alcatel and Lucent Technologies - met on Tuesday in the capital to persuade
the operators to adopt EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) and
leave GPRS behind as a dream gone sour.
Only Airtel, Vodafone, BPL Mobile and Idea Cellular had launched GPRS, but
the data transfer speeds of GPRS have been abysmal. The field trials gave a
speed of around 54 kbps, but the actual speeds have not exceeded 14-18
kbps, a major reason why GPRS growth has been so slow. As against the
total GSM cellular base of 5.61 crore, the country has between 2,80,000 lakh
GPRS users only. In comparison, the two CDMA operators have about 120
lakh connections. All these sets are data compliant. Though no figures are
available as to how many use these for data services, the figure is believed to
be respectable as a percentage ratio for CDMA.

Bharti is almost there

But first, the EDGE! Bharti Cellular is close to commercially launching its
EDGE service in Delhi and Mumbai by end May or early June, sources said.
The company was the first to conduct field trials in November with its
equipment supplier Ericsson. Idea too held EDGE field trials in February this
year with its vendor Nokia. Vodafone and BPL are yet to hold the trials. The
two companies would eventually migrate to EDGE, but perhaps after seeing
the response to Bharti’s service.
EDGE holds the promise of delivering data speeds of around 170-180 kbps
(as against the theoretical speed of around 380 kbps) which, if achieved,
promises the launch of many data applications. The scalable cost of migrating
from GPRS to EDGE is not too high and mainly comprises software upgrades
in case of a modern network such as Bharti and Hutch, claimed chairman of
GSA India chapter Rakesh Malik.

Will GSM maintain its headstart?

At the GSM Evolution Forum held in New Delhi, GSA president Alan Hadden
predicted that GSM growth will far outstrip CDMA as was happening globally.
He felt India could have as many as 200 million GSM subscribers by 2010-
2011, up from nine million in December 2012. According to GSA, there are
over 1.1 billion GSM subscribers worldwide as against 250 million CDMA
customers. The revenue of top 25 global operators from data averages 18 per
cent and 22 of these operators run GSM networks. Overall, there are 76
operators in 50 countries that have committed to deploy EDGE.
Almost every country has a GSM-based network and even those US
operators, which operated on now-defunct TDMA technology, were migrating
gradually to GSM, not CDMA, pointed out Hadden at the GSM Evolution
Forum. The Forum is a global GSA program to assist the operators for
evolution to third generation (3G) technologies. “People are using their
phones for much more than voice. Fifteen networks have commercially
launched EDGE as it can run 3G like services in the existing spectrum for the
operators without needing a 3G license. Even the migration to a full-fledged
3G level of Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) will be smooth with EDGE,” said
Hadden.
“Besides, the automatic roaming provided by GSM networks in almost 200
countries is a power that CDMA doesn’t give you. We know for sure that
almost 20-25 per cent of the revenue for some GSM operators comes from
roaming customers,” he added. But CDMA is no pushover with Korea and
Philippines as the shining jewels in its crown. The first CDMA 2000 1X was
commercially deployed in October 2012.
Already, 81 operators have launched 77 CDMA 2000 1X networks whereas
nine have launched services based on 1xEV-DO platform across Asia, the
Americas and Europe. At least, 16 new 1X and six 1xEV-DO networks are
scheduled to be deployed in 2012, according to CDMA Development Group.
EV-DO and EV-DV are the next level of evolution on the CDMA 2000 1X
platform, capable of delivering services comparable to 3G WCDMA.

Where are the models?

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

End sum game

When the networks deploy EDGE, subscribers can expect the delivery of
advanced mobile services such as easy downloading of video and music
clips, full multimedia messaging, besides high-speed Internet and e-mail
access, provided their handset supports all this.
But the real cruncher will be the migration at a later stage to 3G technologies
such as WCDMA, EV-DO or EV-DA as and when the government decides
what to do with the 3G licences. WCDMA for example promises delivery of a
phenomenal 2 megabytes per second (mbps), equivalent to what a leased
line in many middle level corporates gives.

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

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

Airtel (Bharti Airtel Ltd.)

Bharti Airtel Limited was incorporated on July 7, 1995 for promoting

investments in telecommunications services. Its subsidiaries operate telecom
services across India. Bharti Airtel is India's leading private sector provider of
telecommunications services based on a strong customer base consisting of
50 million total customers, which constitute, 44.6 million mobile and 5.4
million fixed line customers, as of March 31, 2013.
Airtel comes to us from Bharti Airtel Limited - a part of the biggest private
integrated telecom conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. Bharti provides a range
of telecom services, which include Cellular, Basic, Internet and recently
introduced National Long Distance. Bharti also manufactures and exports
telephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being the largest
manufacturer of telephone instruments in India, it is also the first company to
export its products to the USA. Bharti has also put its footsteps into Insurance
and Retail segment in collaboration with Multi- National giants. Bharti is the
leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 23 states covering all four
metros and more than 50 million satisfied customers.
SERVICES

Airtel Prepaid
Airtel Prepaid, the Ready Cellular Card from Airtel comes to you from Bharti
Enterprises, India's leading integrated telecom service provider. Going mobile
with Airtel Prepaid is a new way of life. With a host of great features, also
simple to use, Airtel Prepaid makes everything that you dreamt and believed,
possible.

Total Cost Control

You can control your Airtel Prepaid like never before. No more rentals or
deposits – simply recharge as much as you need to from as low as Rs. 10, to
as high as Rs. 10,000/-.

Pre activated STD/ISD without deposits or rentals

You can now enjoy a pre-activated STD/ISD on your Airtel Prepaid. No more
paying deposits or having a minimum balance in your account to make an
STD/ISD call. Hassle-free calls are here to stay!
Strong Network Coverage
Enjoy complete clarity when calling with Airtel’s world-class technology and
unbreakable network coverage that spans over 23 circles across the country.

Instant Balance and Validity Enquiry

Your account balance is updated on the screen of your handset at the end of
each chargeable call. You can also call 123 from your mobile phone and listen
to the voice announcement or simply dial *123#, press 'OK' or 'YES' button
and your account balance will be displayed on the screen of your handset.

Recharge your Airtel Prepaid

Recharging is Easy. The calling value on your card keeps reducing as you
make calls or use any other chargeable service. Choose the Airtel Prepaid
Recharge Coupon that’s right for you, from a variety of tailor– made recharge
coupons with different denominations, which are available at a number of
outlets across your city. Simply follow the procedure mentioned below, to
recharge your phone.

Prepaid Roaming
Airtel Prepaid comes preactivated with 'National Roaming', so you stay
connected no matter wherever you are. You can also send or receive MMS,
check your email and access other GPRS services while roaming in India as
you would in your own city. While traveling abroad you can receive calls &
send or receive SMS.

Other Services
Airtel brings you, a wide range of Services that will change the way you
communicate. Try them and discover a whole new world of fun and
excitement.

Call management Services

Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification Presentation –
all with your Airtel prepaid connection.
Voice Mail
When your handset is switched off, or you’re too busy to answer the phone,
Airtel Voicemail will answer your calls and record a message. The best part is
that there's no extra monthly cost for setting up Voicemail - you just pay for
the phone call when you use the service.

SMS (Short Messaging Service)

Send messages quickly and easily using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you
don't have much time. It's the way to share those interesting one-liners,
important reminders and rib-tickling jokes, with anyone, anytime, anywhere in
the world.

Subscription Alerts
Get regular alerts on news, jokes, business, health and films on your Airtel
mobile phone with Subscription Services. SMS <SUB NEWS> to 3333 for
News, <SUB JOKE> for Jokes, <SUB BIZ> for Business News, <SUB SPO>
for Sports Alerts & <SUB VAASTU> for Vaastu tips.

MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service):

Jazz up your messages with pictures, images and video clippings, with MMS
from Airtel! To activate MMS on your phone, SMS 'MMS' to 56465 and save
service settings.

Airtel Live!
Make your mobile the most happening entertainment destination with Airtel
Live! Airtel brings you the latest in entertainment and information services,
right on your phone!

Airtel Live! WAP Services: Download the latest ring tones, games,
wallpapers, videos and much more. You can also get news clips, watch live
TV and download full songs on you phone. To get Airtel Live! settings on your
phone, SMS 'Live' to 56465 and save the settings that you receive as your
preferred connection. Airtel Live! Portal can be accessed from you GPRS
enabled phone, by sending a SMS 'FUN' to 56465.

Airtel Live! Voice Services: Just Dial 56465, and name the service. For e.g.
say ring tones to download your favorite ring tones. You can also choose a
variety of content options like Live Cricket Commentary, latest National /
International News, Movie

Airtel Live! SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting services
like cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few buttons with Airtel
Live! SIM based Services on your SIM card menu. To download new services
on your Airtel SIM, choose the "What's new" option under the "Airtel services"
menu.

Airtel Live! SMS Services: You can enjoy a host of services by sending a
keyword as an SMS to 56465! Choose Astrology / Horoscope, Cricket,
Bollywood / Hollywood / Indi Pop Ring tones. In case you need assistance
SMS, Help to 56465.

Hello Tunes
Tired of that boring old ‘tring tring’ on your phone? Well now when a friend
calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up the
music charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of songs in
the Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly. What's
more you can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g. call 678005
for English New and 678001 for Hindi New. This would directly take you to
your favorite artist's Hello Tunes listing.

Copy a Hello Tune

Get the tune you want, all you have to do is call 55055 and follow the simple
voice instructions to copy your favorite Hello Tunes. Once inside the copy
feature, just key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number you want to copy the
Hello Tune from and you get the same Hello Tune assigned to your number.

Gift a Hello Tune

Forget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. Say it with a song
instead! Gift a Hello Tune to that special someone. Just call 55055 and
choose the song that you want to gift. Follow the simple voice instructions and
key in the 10-digit Airtel
mobile number that you want to gift the Hello Tune to. You will get an SMS
notification upon successful receipt of that gift.

Buy Music - Airtel Music Shops

Buying your favorite Hello Tune or Ring tone is as simple as recharging your
phone with talk time. Simply walk into your nearest Airtel Shop and walk out
with your favorite song. Choose from Bollywood Hits to Indipop Remixes,
Hard Rock to Gujrati Garba, Bhajans to Jazz, Bhangra Beats to foot tapping
Tamil Hits from a list of more than 18000 songs.

Reach us Anytime Anywhere

In case you need assistance, dial '121' - our toll-free number, accessible from
anywhere in the country, even while roaming. You can also send us an SMS
to 121 or mail us at 121@airtelindia.com.
*In case of email, mention your mobile no. like, 9810012345, in the subject of
the mail for a quicker response.

Airtel Postpaid
Airtel welcomes you to a vibrant world of unlimited opportunities. More
exciting, innovative yet simple new ways to communicate, just when you want
to, not just through words but ideas, emotions and feelings. To give you the
unlimited freedom to reach out to your special people in your special way.

Easy Billing
Enjoy a host of rich features only with Airtel e-bill. Register free on ‘My Airtel’
section and view your monthly bill with call details for last three months. Sort
your calls between personal and official or analyze your usage, at the click of
a button. To change your tariff plan call our IVR at 121 and leave a request.

Easy Payment Options. Anytime Anywhere

You can choose from a host of convenient payment options only with Airtel.
Walk into any Airtel relationship centre and make your payments by cash or
credit card. Drop a cheque at any of the drop boxes for making payments or
simply log on to My Airtel section and pay instantly through your credit card.
You can also opt for easy payment options like:

Electronic Clearing System

Fill an ECS form and mail, fax it to us or drop it any of our relationship centres
to directly debit your bank account for your monthly Airtel bill.

Pay while roaming

Airtel has introduced 'Anywhere payment' that offers you the convenience of
making payments while you roam. Walk in to any Airtel Relationship Centre in
the country, make payments by cash or credit card and enjoy uninterrupted
Airtel Services.

Credit limit
Your pre-set credit limit mentioned on your monthly bill helps you keep your
mobile charges in control, keeps track of your usage and ensures that your
mobile phone is not misused. Should you exceed your credit limit, you will be
informed via a voice or a non-voice message to make an interim payment and
reduce your account balance below your credit limit. You may also choose to
pay us an additional refundable deposit to enhance your credit limit or opt for
our convenient payment method of Credit Card Standing instruction .You can
also make use of ECS facility.

Strong Network Coverage

Enjoy complete clarity when calling with Airtel .It offers you world class
technology and unbreakable network coverage that spans over 23 circles
across the country.

Long Distance Calling Facility

Call long distance calls in India and Overseas with STD / ISD facility on your
Airtel phone.

Widest Roaming - National and International

Airtel's roaming service allows you to stay connected and use your mobile
phone to make or receive calls from almost anywhere in India and also over
160 countries, abroad.

GPRS - Roaming
Use Airtel Postpaid's GPRS services, while roaming, to access the internet
and office mails (eg. BlackBerry services), from almost anywhere in India and
abroad.

Say it. In more than just words, with Services from Airtel
Airtel brings you a wide range of Services that will change the way you
communicate. Try them and discover a whole new world of fun and
excitement.

Call management Services

Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification Presentation,
help you do more with your Airtel Postpaid connection!

Conference call
You can hold a teleconference with 5 people simultaneously with Call
Conferencing service from Airtel. In fact, you can set up a conference even
when the other five are using a landline phone. To know more, call customer
service at 121.

Missed call alert

A missed call alert is a SMS that you will receive for all the calls that you
missed. The SMS will detail the CLI and the time when the call was made. To
activate, dial *135*2# then press the call button and wait for the request to be
completed.

Voice Mail
When your handset is switched off, or you’re too busy to answer the phone,
Airtel Voicemail will answer your calls and record a message. The best part is
that there's no extra monthly cost for setting up Voicemail - you just pay for
the phone call when you use the service.

SMS (Short Messaging Service)

Send messages quickly and easily, using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you
don't have much time. It's the way to Share those interesting one-liners,
important reminders and rib-tickling jokes, with anyone, anytime, anywhere in
the world.

Subscription Alerts
Get regular alerts on news, jokes, business, health and films on your Airtel
mobile phone with Subscription Services. SMS <SUB NEWS> for News,
<SUB JOKE> for Jokes, <SUB BIZ> for Business News, <SUB SPO> for
Sports Alerts & <SUB VAASTU> for Vaastu tips to 3333.

MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service):

Jazz up your messages with pictures, images and video clippings, with MMS
from Airtel! To activate MMS on your phone, SMS 'MMS' to 56465 and save
service settings.

Airtel Live!
Make your mobile the most happening entertainment destination with Airtel
Live! Airtel brings you the latest in entertainment and information services,
right on your phone!
Airtel Live! WAP Services: Download the latest ringtones, games,
wallpapers, videos and much more. You can also get news clips, watch live
TV and download full songs on you phone! To get Airtel Live! settings on your
phone SMS 'Live' to 56465 and save the settings that you receive as your
preferred connection. Airtel Live! Portal can be accessed from you GPRS
enabled phone, by sending a SMS 'FUN' to 56465.

Airtel Live! Voice Services: Just Dial 56465 and say the name of the
service. For e.g. say ‘Ring tones’ to download your favourite ring tones. You
can also choose a variety of content options like Live Cricket Commentary,
latest National / International News, Movie Reviews or Stock Market Updates.

Airtel Live! SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting services
like cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few buttons with Airtel
Live! SIM based Services on your SIM card menu. To download new services
on your Airtel SIM, choose the "What's new" option under the "Airtel services"
menu.

Airtel Live! SMS Services: You can enjoy a host of services by sending a
keyword as an SMS to 56465 ! Choose Astrology / Horoscope, Cricket,
Bollywood / Hollywood / Indi Pop Ring tones. In case you need assistance
SMS ‘Help’ to 56465.

GPRS (General Packet Radio Services)

Log on to the internet, with GPRS that allows data transmission at a higher
speed. Access e-mails and internet across Airtel's pan-India presence using
'Mobile Office' with your phone or a phone and laptop both.

Get the EDGE

Browse the internet on your mobile phone with Airtel's EDGE services. Enjoy
live TV, enhanced WAP experience and Airtel Data Cards on our high speed
network.
Hello Tunes
Tired of that boring old ‘tring tring’ on your phone? Well now when a friend
calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up the
music charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of songs in
the Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly. What's
more, you can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g. call 678005
for ‘English New’ and 678001 for ‘Hindi New’. This would directly take you to
your favourite artist's Hello Tunes listing.

Copy a Hello Tunes

Like a tune you want, all you have to do is call 55055 and follow the simple
voice instructions to copy your favourite Hello Tunes. Once inside the copy
feature, just key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number you want to copy the
Hello Tune from and you get the same Hello Tune assigned to your number.

Gift a Hello Tunes

Forget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. Say it with a song
instead! Gift a Hello Tune to that special someone. Just call 55055 and
choose the song that you want to gift. Follow the simple voice instructions and
key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number that you want to gift the Hello Tune to.
You will get an SMS notification upon successful receipt of that gift.

Buy Music - Airtel Music Shops

Buying your favourite Hello Tune or Ringtone is as simple as recharging your
phone with talktime. Simply walk into your nearest Airtel Shop and walk out
with your favourite song. Choose from Bollywood Hits to Indipop Remixes,
Hard Rock to Gujrati Garba, Bhajans to Jazz, Bhangra Beats to foot tapping
Tamil Hits from a list of more than 18000 songs.

Reach us, Anytime Anywhere

In case you need assistance, dial '121' - our toll-free number, accessible from
anywhere in the country, even while roaming. *In case of email, mention your
mobile no. like 9810012345 in the subject of the mail for a quicker response.
 TARIFF STRUCTURE

Prepaid Tariffs

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

Airtel Prepaid Regular

449
SUK
Pulse Rate 60 sec
Price of Pack (Rs.) Rs.449
Free Airtime on Pack (Rs.) Nil
Incoming Calls (Rs.) Free while in home network
Airtel GSM / CDMA Landline / WLL
(10 Digit)
LOCAL RATES (Rs./min) Rs.1.00 Rs.1.00 Rs.1.00
STD RATES (Rs./min) Rs.1.50 Rs.1.50 Rs.1.50
ISD (Rs./min)
 USA, Canada, Europe (Fixed Rs.3.40
Line), Australia, Singapore,
Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia, New Zealand.
Gulf, Europe (Mobile), SAARC Rs.9.20
countries, Africa & Rest of the
world
Cuba, Sao Tome & Principe, Rs.23.65
Guinea Bissau, Diego Garcia,
Nauru, Solomon Islands,
Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Tuvalu,
Tokelau, Norfolk Island,
Sakhalin

SMS (Rs.)
Local Rs.1.00
National Rs.1.50
International Rs.5.00

Other Details
*Rs 50 Local Airtel-Airtel Mobile talktime per month for 6 months
* First month Airtel-Airtel credit within 72hrs of activation & balance credit by 1st week
of every month)
*The SMS charge as applicable is per 160 characters
* Validity- 24 months.
POSTPAID
AIRTEL POSTPAID ALLOWS YOU TO CHOOSE FROM A VARIETY OF
AFFORDABLE TALK PLANS, CONVENIENT PAYMENT OPTIONS AND
HOST OF RICH FEATURES. SO GET SET TO ENJOY A WORLD OF
LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES!REFERENCE TARIF PACKAGES (RTP)
ON TIME CHARGES
Activation Charges Rs. 250
Membership Fee NA
Security Deposit Rs. 500
MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) Rs. 500
Bill plan Charge Rs. 444(+12.5%tax)
Monthly Rental Rs. 444
Clip NA
MONTHLY CHARGES (OPTIONAL)
Clip Rs. 99
Airtel GSM / Landline /
CDMA (10 WLL
Digit)
Local Rates 60 paise 60 paise 60 paise
STD RATES Re.1
50 – 200 Km
200 – 500 Km
500 + Km
ISD
USA, Canda, Europe (Fixed Line), Rs. 3.40
Austalia, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, new
Zealand
Gulf, Europe (Mobile), SAARC Rs 9.99
Countries, Africa & Rest of the world
Cuba, Sao tome & Principle, Guinea Rs. 23.65
Bissau, Diego Garcia, Nauru, Solomon
Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Island, Tuvalu,
Tokelau, Norfolk Island, Sakhalin
SMS
Local 60 paise
National Rs. 1.00
International Rs. 5.00
Value Added Services (Rs.) Rs. 3.00

Airtel One Standard 150

ONE TIME CHARGES
Activation Charges Rs 250
Membership Fee Rs 250 (Converts into security after 24
months)
Security Deposit NA
MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) Rs. 150
Bill Plan Charge Rs. 51
Monthly Rental Rs. 99
Clip NA
MONTHLY CHARGES (OPTIONAL)
Clip Rs. 50
Bissau, Diego Garcia, Nauru, Solomon
Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Tuvalu,
Tokelau, Norfolk Island, Sakhalin
SMS
Local Rs 1.00
National Rs 1.50
Intentional Rs. 5.00
VAS Rs. 3.00

 This Bill Plan is also available under Advance Rental of Rs. 900 for 2
years.
Local Pack
Airtel to other local mobiles (non Airtel) At Rs 1 / min
 Monthly rental Rs 25 per months/-
 STD Pack
Airtel to other mobiles (non Airtel) & fixed lines nos. at Rs 2 / min.
 Monthly rental Rs 75 per month/-
 Special offer for Airtel Telephone service customers for availing
Airtel Mobile services
If you already have Airtel Telephone service, you can buy a new Airtel
Mobile connection under Airtel One Standard 150 Plan.

Benefits:
 Non security deposit.
 No membership / activation fee
 Enjoy calls to your Airtel fixed line no. at just 60 P / min.
 Monthly rent of Rs 25 for reduced call rates to your Airtel fixed line has
been waived off for 1 year.
Advance Rental benefits (1year scheme)
Pay an advance rent of Rs 999 and enjoy Airtel One Standard 150 plan at
Zero monthly rental for one year.
Advance rental of Rs 999 gives you a rental discount of Rs 150 every month
for the next 2 months. All other options and charges are as per the existing
Airtel One Standard 150 Plan.

Airtel one Standard 249

ONE TIME CHARGES
Activation Charges Rs 250
Membership Fee Rs 250 (Converts into security after 24
months)
Security Deposit NA
MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) Rs. 249
Bill Plan Charge Rs. 150
Monthly Rental Rs. 99
Clip NA
MONTHLY CHARGES (OPTIONAL)
Clip Rs. 50
Airtel GSM / Landline /
CDMA (10 WLL
Digit)
LOCAL RATES Re. 1.00 Rs. 1.00 Rs. 1.00
STD RATES
50-200Km Rs. 1.50 Rs. 1.50 Rs. 1.50
200 – 500 Km Rs. 1.50 Rs. 1.50 Rs. 1.50
500 + Km Rs. 1.50 Rs. 1.50 Rs. 1.50
ISD
USA, Canda, Europe (Fixed Line), Rs. 3.40
Austalia, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, new
Zealand
Gulf, Europe (Mobile), SAARC Rs 9.99
Countries, Africa & Rest of the world
Cuba, Sao tome & Principle, Guinea Rs. 23.65
Bissau, Diego Garcia, Nauru, Solomon
Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Island, Tuvalu,
Tokelau, Norfolk Island, Sakhalin
SMS
Local Rs. 1.00
National Rs. 1.50
International Rs. 5.00
Value Added Services (Rs.) Rs. 3.00

You also enjoy 25 FREE local mobile to mobile SMS

Senior Citizen Plan

ONE TIME CHARGES

Activation Charges Rs. 250
Membership Fee Rs. 250 (Concerts into security deposit
after 24 months)
Security Deposit NA
MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) Rs. 150
Bill Plan Charge Rs. 51
Rs. 99
Monthly Rental
Clip NA
Cuba, Sao Tome & Principle, Guinea
Bissau, Diego Garcia, Nauru, Solomon
Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Tuvalu,
Tokelau, Norfolk Island, Sakhalin
SMS
Local
Rs. 1.00
National Rs. 1.50
International Rs. 5.00
VAS Rs. 3.00

With Senior Citizen Plan

You can take 3 Friends and Family numbers:
 Airtel to Airtel (1local no.) – Rs. 0.5 / min.
 Airtel to Airtel (1 STD no.) – Rs 1.5 / min
 ISD calls to US / Canada / South East Asia / Australia / New Zealand) –
Rs. 9.99 / min

You also get FREE alert subscription worth Rs 30 / alert or 3 months on:
 News
 Astrology
 Health Tips

The SMS charges as applicable is per 160 Characters.

LIFE TIME PLAN

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

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Airtel to “Touch Tomorrow” with a new brand vision

The Bharti Mobile promoted Airtel cellular service will go in for repositioning of
its brand image. The new brand ethos is portrayed in two distinct fashions -
the tag line "Touch Tomorrow", which underscores the leading theme for the
new brand vision, followed by "The Good Life", which underscores a more
caring, more customer centric organization. Aimed at re-engineering its image
as just simply a cellular service provider to an all out information
communications services provider, Touch Tomorrow is meant to embrace the
new generation of mobile communication services and the changing scope of
customer needs and aspirations that come along with it

The new communication is about a new dimension in the cellular category

that goes beyond the Internet, SMS, roaming, IVRS, etc but which engulfs the
whole gamut of wireless digital broadband services that will constitute
tomorrows cellular services. The new campaign is in two phases - the first of

which will communicate overall brand philosophy and the second products
and services. According to Mr. Jagdish Kini, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti
Mobile Limited, Karnataka "We are adopting a new brand- platform - Touch
Tomorrow - not only to reflect our corporate ethos but also business strategy".
The new identity will have the logo in Red, Black and White color along with
lower case typography to convey warmth. Airtel will incorporate the latest
branding in all of its communication and will soon be going in for an enhanced
promotional drive to establish the brand's presence.
 MARKET SITUATION

At the time of launch

The first mover in the market was Airtel which launched its services in Delhi in
Aug 1995 (Informal launch). Essar Cellphone followed by launching its
services informally in Oct 95. At this point of time, the market was at a
nascent stage, awareness level was low and both operators independently
tried to spread awareness and educate the people.
Once the networks were commercially launched, it became a number game
with a multitude of schemes being offered to woo customers Initially the
cellphone was perceived as a status symbol and utility took a back seat The
target segment in Delhi were corporate and the high income group. The
average capacity installed was for 1.5 lakh subscribers. This coupled with the
steep license fee paid to DOT put pressure on the operators to break-even by
rapidly expanding their markets. In the first two years, this led to a number of
schemes being offered and prices crashing.
 COMPETITIVE SITUATION

Airtel launched its services before Essar and skimmed the market picking up
the bulk of the high usage premium clients. This is a very competitive
industry with the two companies differentiating either on value-added services
or price. Airtel is perceived as the high quality provider and has a premium
image. Essar, on the other hand, is perceived as the lower end service
provider. Airtel positions itself as the market leader on the basis of the
number of subscribers. Essar is trying to counter this by emphasising on the
reach of its network and the quality of its service. However, Essar is
somewhat not been very successful largely due to the inconsistency in
advertising
To promote themselves, both the players have been dependent on tactical
advertising However, they have restrained from using comparative advertising
Hoardings have been a very popular medium for carrying the advertisements
Airtel has also been advertising on television using the Bharti Telecom name.
SALES DEPARTMENT AND STRATEGY
A. Major Accounts (Direct Channel)
 Handles corporate (named and famed) accounts
 Forecasting of sales
 Mapping the accounts
 Providing after sales support to the subscribers.
 Maintaining call reports for records.
 Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the
requirement of the market.

B. IDC (Indirect Channel)

 Handling distribution
 Maintaining records and level check of the channel partner
 Liaisoning between the channel partner and the company.
 Target achievement
 Training the executives of the channel
C. Distribution Support
1. Logistics
 Monitor handset and SIM card requirements of channel partners
and co-ordinate with stores
 Settle areas of concerns such as incentive claims of channel
partners
2. Rental
 Provide cellular services (SIM cards) on rent.
 Provide cellular phones on rent
 Useful for people visiting Delhi for a short interval.
3. Telesales
 Call customers and generate sales lead.
 Follow up with the customers, if they need any assistance
 Pass on the sales lead to the channel department.
4. Audit
 Consultant to the AirTel showrooms.
 Monitor the operations at the AirTel distribution outlets Organize
training.

5. Retail
 Locate shops to open retail counters.
 Monitor the retail counters.
MARKET SEGMENTATION
Segmentation is beneficial because of better predictability of the target
consumer group, minimization of risk exposure, better ability to fine-tune a
product / service to the requirement of target buyer and the resultant ease in
designing a proper designing marketing mix strategy In this case
segmentation is on the bade of income.
In evaluating different market segments the company looks at two factors The
overall attractiveness of the segments and the company's objectives &
resources The present market for Cellular phones, pagers and conventional
phones is as follows
Premium Middle Economy
Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower
Cellular Phones X X X - - -
Pager X X X X - -
Conventional X X X X X -
Phones
X Market Segment Targeted

TARGET MARKET SEGMENT

Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The rationale behind
it is that only those segments should be targeted who value time and have the
paying capacity. It Is also planning to target the business tourists during their
stay in the capital
About 60% of the clientele are top executives of corporate houses. About
15% are foreign organisations and the rest are professionals and small
businessmen. During the introduction stage there was intense pressure to
get consumers across to hook up with their brand, because getting them to
switch brand loyalty later would be hard
So far Airtel marketers have been concentrating totally on the business
executive class but now that the basic viable volumes has beer) built up and
prices have declined to a certain extent they are planning to venture further a
field.

POSITIONING
The product is sought to be positioned as a business efficiency tool. a lifestyle
revolution and a status symbol The emphasis is to remove misconception that
the cellphone is an expensive means of communication and drive home the
point that the cellphone is actually a day-to-day utility

PRODUCT POLICY AND PLANNING

The product or service is the heart of the marketing mix. Without a product or
a service customers' needs cannot be satisfied.
The basic product promise by Airtel is mobility. Airtel's main marketing
strategy is to be a first mover all the time. It has recognised the significance
of making the first move-- because in the field of Communication &
Information Technology changes occur at a tremendous pace.
Effective product segmentation has to be carried on continuously because
basic services can be and will be copied and in time become expected
component of the product. Airtel seeks to carry out this segmentation through
provision of new information services and making new facilities available.
The product policy and planning depends on the stage of the product life
cycle. At present the cellular phone market has reached the maturity stage.
Since, the premium segment is nearing saturation the company targeting the
upper middle and middle-middle class. In order to do so Airtel is trying to
optimise the price performance package by offering suitable "product
bundling".
This involves the selection of the suitable hardware (handset) and its software
(its services.) with reasonable price in order to deliver maximum price
performance to its customers. In addition, it offers free Airtime services and
other concessions to make the prices and thus the product more attractive. It
has also opened a 24 hours customer service.
Only price doesn't serve as an effective differentiator, value added services
become the effective differentiator.
The "Value Added Services" provided from Airtel are:-
1). Voice Mail service
This system is similar to the answering machine - if the user is not able to
answer a call for some reason the caller can leave messages in the voice
mail box which can be later retrieved by the user
ii) Short Message Service
The short message service is like a two-way pager. It gives an option of
sending and receiving text messages directly from one mobile phone to
another without the intervention of an operator.
iii) Mobile Fax 1 Data Service
This service helps the subscriber to send and receive Faxes, access E-mail,
download computer files from other systems and remotely log on to another
computer and surf the Internet.
iv) Cash Card
The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the buyers to
buy air time in advance. All it requires is the payment of an initial amount.
This is a useful service for people who travel to Delhi often and those who
want to control the expenses on their calls.
v) Caller ID
Displays calling person's number.
vi) Outgoing call restriction
To prevent or limit outgoing calls, for example, in peak hours. Also possible to
exclude one or several countries, or any geographical region, to permit only
local calls, or to limit the outgoing calls to a listed number.
viii) Call forward
Incoming calls can be forwarded to another fixed or mobile phone.
Besides these some other services provided by Airtel are - Call conferencing,
Call Broadcast et cetera.
It is in the operators -Interest that they not only get many subscribers but also
get them to use the mobile facility frequently. In the early stages getting
increases to subscribe may be easier than getting them to talk since they will
find it costlier to use the mobile phone as compared to a conventional phone
[if is believed that initially cellphones would be used buy]
viii) Roaming Facility
Roaming facility is available while the subscriber is travelling. The billing is
done in the home network (Delhi). Roaming facility is available manually* as
well as semi-automatically. Once a subscriber is In any other city or country,
where a GSM network is available, simply insert the SIM card of the local
operator Into your handset and start talking.
* Manual Roaming means a separate SIM card is provided for each city
** Semi automatic roaming means one card has the facility for different
cities.
AIRTEL'S MARKETING ORIENTATION.
Since this is a high-involvement expensive product, the service provider has
to fully take care of the customers.
a) They take personal responsibility to "get" the answer for any problem
faced by the customer
b) They anticipate customers' problems and take pro-active steps to
prevent them
c) They give answers to the questions & requests, quickly & efficiently.
d) They have a positive tone & manner while interacting with customers.
e) They end the interaction on a positive or a humorous note-making the
last 30 seconds count.

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

Bharti has spent a considerable amount on advertising its mobile phone

service, Airtel. Besides print advertising, the company had put up large no of
hoardings and kiosks in and around Delhi.
The objective behind designing a promotion campaign for the ‘Airtel’ services
is to promote the brand awareness and to build brand preferences.
It is trying to set up a thematic campaign to build a stronger brand equity for
Airtel. Since the cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also the fact
that a Cellular phone is a high involvement product, price doesn't qualify as
an effective differentiator. The image of the service provider counts a great
deal. Given the Cell phone category, it is the network efficiency and the
quality of service that becomes important. What now the buyer is looking at is
to get the optimum price-performance package. This also serves as an
effective differentiator
Brand awareness is spread through the' campaigns and brand preference
through brand stature. Airtel's campaign in the capital began with a series of
'teaser' hoardings across the city,' bearing just the company's name and
without explaining what Airtel was. In the next phase the campaign
associated Airtel with Cellular only thereafter was the Bharti Cellular
connection brought up. Vans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing out
brochures about the company and its services to all consumers. About
50,000 direct callers were sent out. When the name was well entrenched in
the Delhiites’s mind, the Airtel campaign began to focus on the utility of
Cellphone. In the first four months alone Airtei's advertisement spend
exceeded Rs. 4 crores.
As of today the awareness level Is 60% unaided. This implies that if potential
or knowledgeable consumers are asked to name a Cellular phone service
provider that is on the top of his/her mind 60% of them would name Airtel. As
for aided it -is 100% (by giving clues and hints etc.).
Brand strength of a product or the health of a brand is measured by the
percentage score of the brand on the above aided and the unaided tests.
The figures show that Airtel is a healthy and a thriving brand.
Every company has a goal, which might comprise a sales target and a game
plan with due regard to Its competitor. Airtel 's campaign strategy is designed
keeping in mind its marketing strategy. The tone, tenor and the stance of the
visual ads are designed to convey the image of a market leader in terms of its
market share. It tries to portray the image of being a "first mover every time"
and that of a "market leader".
The status of the product in terms of its life cycle has just reached the
maturity stage in India. It is still on the rising part of the product life cycle
curve in the maturity stage.
The diagram on the left hand side shows the percentage of the users
classified into heavy, medium and low categories. The right hand side shows
the revenue share earned from the three types of users.
Airtel, keeping in mind the importance of the customer retention, values its
heavy users the most and constantly indulges in service innovation. But,
since heavy users comprise only 15 - 20% of the population the other
segment cannot be neglected.
The population which has just realised the importance of cellular phones has
to be roped in. It is for this reason that the service provider offers a plethora
of incentives and discounts. Concerts like the "Freedom concert" are being
organised by Airtel in order to promote sales. The media channel is chosen
with economy in mind. The target segment is not very concrete but, there is
an attempt to focus on those who can afford. The print advertisements and
hoarding are placed in those strategic areas which most likely to catch the
attention of those who need a cellular phone. The product promise (which
might cost different 1 higher) is an important variable in determining the target
audience.

Besides this, other promotional strategies that Airtel has adopted are .
 (i) People who have booked Airtel services have been treated to
exclusive premiers of blockbuster movies. Airtel has tied up with
Lufthansa to offer customer bonus miles on the German airlines frequent
flier's programs.

(ii) There have been educational campaigns, image campaigns, pre

launch advertisements, launch advertisements, congratulatory
advertisements, promotional advertisements, attacking advertisements and
tactical advertisements.

DISTRIBUTION

Company

Franchisee Distributor

Dealers
Dealer

Customer Customer

The- company whose operations are concentrated in and around Delhi. It 27

Franchisees and 15 Distributors- They also have 8 'instant access cash card
counters- Each franchises or distributor can have any number of dealers
under him as long as the person is approved by the Airtel authority. Each
franchises has to invest Rupees Ten Lakhs. to obtain a franchise and should
employ an officer recruited by Airtel. This person acts as an liaison between
the company and the franchises. The franchises can it any number of dealers
as long as their territories do not overlap. But unfortunately Airtel has not
been very successful in controlling territorial overlaps of dealers. The
franchises can carry out his 1 her own promotional strategy. For this the.
company contributes 75% of the money and the franchises contributes 25%
of the money. The dealers under the franchisee receive the same
commission. The franchises and the dealer obtain the feedback from the
customers and they are sent through the liaison officer on a day-to-day basis
to Airtel. The dealer has to invest Rupees. One Lakh as an initial investment.
The dealer of Airtel are not allowed to provide any other operators' service.
Target set for distributors and the dealers is 100 -150 activations per month.
Hence the dealers can also go for their own promotions like banners and
discounts on festivals etc. The dealer provides service promptly. The
consumer on providing the bill of purchase for the handset and proof of
residence has only to wait an hour before getting connected. The staff of the
dealers and the franchisees are provided training by the Airtel personnel.
The complaints encountered by the franchisees and dealers are either
handset being non-functional or the SIM Card not getting activated. Anything
more complicated is referred to the main Airtel office in Delhi.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The methodology adopted for this project is exploratory in nature since there
is no hypothesis that has to be tested. The conclusions have been drawn by
exploratory research work.
There have been two sources of information collected:

c) Primary Sources
I have met retailers of the Airtel of the company and have been able to get
first hand information regarding the product, its features and the buying
patterns of the product. Their input has been valuable.

d) Secondary Sources
Secondary source has played a vital role to play in this report. A good amount
of data has been collected from various published articles and reports found
in magazines and journals. Another vital source has been the Internet and
particularly the companies own website.

SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION

There are two sources:
1. Primary sources:-
Primary data is collected through market survey.
2. Secondary sources:-
Secondary sources are websites and brouchers.

Preparation of Questionnaire :-

The questionnaire was prepared by the researcher himself. The preparation of

questionnaire was done by keeping the objective of study in mind. The researcher
took some help from experts during the framing of questionnaires. The preparation of
questionnaire took about 4-5 days. The questionnaire used for study was of closed
type since it is free from bias nature of respondents.

Analysis phase :-
 After the data has been collected the researcher tabulated the data from the
tables the researcher analyzed the data. During the analysis of data help of various
types of charts & graphs was taken. The analysis phase took about seven days. For
further results weighted average method was used whenever required. Finally on the
basis of analysis various results and conclusions were drawn.
 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Classification of dealers according to the proportion of business of Air

Tel.
Table-1

No. of dealers Responses

22% Airtel

88% Others

This chart show that twenty two percent of dealers believe that Airtel is the
most preferred brand while the other eighty eight percent believe that others
are alos popular among the costumers.
- what types of services customers want?
(Multiple response were given)
Table 2

Service No. of dealers Percentage

Airtel Leisure 03 3%
AirTel Business 33 33%
AirTel Standard 64 64%

No.of dealers

3
33 airtel Leisure
Airtel Business
64 Airtel Standard

From the chart, it is clear that the most popular service Among the customers
is air tel standard and then airtel business because of their convenient tariff
rates. However, each service is suitable for specific class of people
depending on their usage.

How would you rate Air Tel’s network in your area?

Table-3

Rating No. of dealers Percentage

Excellent 20 60%
Good 3 10%
Needs improvement 10 30%
 no. of dealers

Excellecnt
10
good
20
3 Needs
Improvement

The chart depicts that thirty percent dealers are not fully satisfied with the
netwok. They nelieve that there is scope for improvement as the signals are
sometimes not proper in the interiors. Sometimes even inside trhe house or
shop signals get weak.

How knowledgeable is company’s customer service people?

Table – 4

Rating No. of dealers Percentage(%)

Excellent 27 75%
Very Good 6 18%
So-So 0 02%
Dis-satisfied 0 04%
Strongly Dissatisfied 0 01%
This chart shows that all the dealers are satisfied with the knowledge of the
customer service people of Airtel. They understand their problems and give
them a reasonable solution.

- When phoning at the customer care department how quickly is the

call transferred to the customer care executives?
Table – 5

Time No. of Dealers Percentage

Immediately 00 02%
Within few minutes (2-3 min) 03 10%
Takes time 30 88%
Most of the dealers i.e. near about 90% have the problem that when they
make a call to the computerized customer care department it takes long time
near about 5-10 minutes for their call to be transferred to the customer care
executives.

- How responsive are the customer care executives in returning the

phone calls.
Table – 6

Rating No. of dealers Percentage (%)

Excellent 25 75%
Very Good 5 15%
So-So 2 6%
Dissatisfied 1 3%
Strongly dissatisfied 0 01%
Here most of the dealers are satisfied with the responsiveness of customer
care executive in calling back to them if proper solution was not available for
the first time.

- Dealer’s overall rating to the customer care department.

Table – 7

Rating No. of dealers Percentage (%)

Excellent 5 15%
Very Good 15 45%
So-So 12 36%
Dissatisfied 1 3%
Strongly dissatisfied 0 01%
As shown above nearly thirty-six percent dealers have low level of satisfied
with the department that leaves much needed scope for improvement.
- Dealer’s rating to the usefulness of sales representatives visits to
them.
Table –8

Rating No. of dealers Percentage (%)

Excellent 10 30%
Very Good 7 21%
So-So 9 27%
Dissatisfied 3 10%
Strongly Dissatisfied 4 12%

The above chart clearly indicates that a substantial percentage of dealers

(27%) have a low level of satisfaction with the company representatives to
them. Also 21 percent dealers are not at all satisfied with them.
- Dealers rating of the schemes provided by the company for them.
Table – 9

Rating No. of dealers Percentage (%)

Excellent 0 03%
Very Good 6 15%
So-So 12 36%
Dissatisfied 15 45%
Strongly dissatisfied 0 01%

From the chart, it is clear that the dealers are not satisfied with the schemes
provided by the company. They have the complaint that thought the
customers are benefited from the various schemes there are not many
schemes for their benefit. Sometimes the schemes are communicated to
them slightly late and thus them the benefits from them.

- Dealer’s satisfaction with the margins or cut-off provided by the company.

Table – 10

Level of Satisfaction No. of dealers Percentage (%)

Excellent 6 18%
Very Good 12 36%
So-S0 11 33%
Dissatisfied 4 12%
Strongly dissatisfied 0 01%

The above chart indicates that near about fifty percent dealers are not much
satisfied with the margins given by the company. The possible reason for this
is the frequent fluctuations in them. Many times they get less than what is
assured.

- Classification of dealers according to the number of activation’s

(average) made in a month. (on the basis of question II)
Table – 11

0-10. 10-20. 20-30 30-40 40

 above
No. of
Dealers 3% 8% 10% 7% 5%
Percentage
(%) 1% 0.50% 1% 1% 1%
 SUGGESTIONS
Despite investments in integrated ERP, customer care, billing and network
management systems, telecom operators still struggle to achieve the
promises of strategic information management: providing relevant and
meaningful information on Product, Customer and Channel performance.
What's needed? Structuring and pulling together the disparate pieces of cost,
revenue and performance information, to provide a view of where value is
being generated in the business.

Utilizing CRM systems to collect customer data

Customer attributes and segmentation

Product analysis for better yield management.

Financial, understanding of Customer costs and profitability

Typical situation.

Ideal Integrated Solution.

Closed loop marketing

Some of the recommendations for Airtel are as follows:

 Airtel should use CRM as a platform for efficient delivery of a suite of

products, services and applications to its 25 million plus mobile, landline
and broadband customers.

 For telecom, IT is like bread and butter. We believe it plays two significant
roles-it works as a support system, and it can also be a business driver.
Thus IT is very important for Airtel to understand and segregate customer
needs depending on the product and services he is buying.

 One of the primary things that can be done is the segmentation of

customers. With this, Airtel will be able to give its customers more value
for money.

 The future migration in bandwidth or zones should be done in such a

manner that the existing customer base do not suffer.
 The Airtel subscriber or customer should get the same quality of service
no matter which of their call center’s he contacts. This should be their
vision – unified services across the country.

 It is vital for them to manage the expectations of the customers and thus
provide them with innovative products and services in a manner which
makes them loyal.

 Besides the game play of retaining customers, many operators are also
constantly challenged to build a profitable postpaid customer base. Thus
Airtel should try and initiate schemes that help • Migrating of prepaid
customers to a postpaid plan by creatively introducing the right value-
added services to right customers and communicating with customers
effectively

 Airtel can look forward to Acquiring quality customers and using new
customer induction and expectation management as a retention tool and
managing monthly payment cycles to minimize defaults and engaging
channels to expand the reach for retention programs.

 Set up a department which will exclusively handle complaints of dealer

and solve them ASAP. This should on similar lines of customer care
department.

 Thus the core business drivers of Airtel should be:

(a) Useful segmentation methodology and techniques

(b) Effective churn analysis and prediction

(c) Successful cross and up-selling

(d) Targeted acquisition

(e) Accurate price plan analysis

 CONCLUSION

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

But after conducting the dealer survey we conclude that Airtel has to pay
special attention on its dealer handling mechanism as they contribute a huge
part in making the customer brand loyal. They are the main source which
provides customers the details about the various tariff plans. So it is important
for company to make them aware of the plans and give them quality services.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 www.lgindia.com
 www.google.com
 www.wikipedia.com
 Business world
 Business today
 LG magazine
 Economics times News paper
 Times of India
 ANNEXURE
Questionnaire
Dealer :
Dealer’s Name :
Phone :
Mobile :
Q-1 In whose services you deal most?
(a) Airtel (b) others
Percentage:_________
Q-2 Which type Airtel’s service customer mostly prefer?
(a) Airtel Leisure (b) Airtel Business
(c) Airtel Standard
Q-3 How would you rate Airtel’s network in your area?
(a) Excellent (b) Good (c) Needs improvement
Q-4 How Knowledgeable is our customer service people?
(a) Excellent (b) Very Good (c) So-So
(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dis-satisfied
Q-5 When phoning our office how quickly is your call transferred?
(a) Immediately (b) within few minutes
(c) Takes Time________
Q-6 How responsive are the customer care executives in returning the
phone calls?
(a) Excellent (b) Very Good (c) So-So
(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dis-satisfied

Q-7 Overall how you rate our customer service department?

(a) Excellent (b) Very Good (c) So-So
(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dissatisfied

Q-8 How do you rate the usefulness of our sales representatives Visit?
(a) Excellent (b) very Good (c) So-So
(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dissatisfied
Q-9 How do you rate our schemes?
(a) Excellent (b) Very Good (c) So-So
(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dissatisfied
Q-10 How attractive is our margins?
(a) Excellent (b) Very Good (c) So-So
(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dissatisfied
Q-11 How much activations you make monthly?
______________________________________________________________
_____
Q-12 Time within which you inform the franchisee about receipt of
activation?
(a) < 1 hour (b) 1-2 hours (c) > 2 hours
Q-13 What is your overall level of satisfaction with our services?
(a) Excellent (b) Very Good (c) So-So
(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dissatisfied
Q-14 Is it feasible that activations are made from your office directly by
setting the required computer network?
(a) Yes (b) No

Q-15. In case of Cheque payments do you wait for the cheque to be

cleared before you pass on the activation to the franchisee?
(a)Always (b) Generally (c) Never

Q-16 What do you like best about the company.

______________________________________________________________
_____
______________________________________________________________
_____
Q-17 What do you like least about the company.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________