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