A

DESSERTATION REPORT
ON

“MARKETING STRATEGIES OF AIRTEL”

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of
the degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

(2020-22)
(SHARDA UNIVERSITY SUBS)

By
CHINMAY BHARADWAJ
Roll No.: 2020524915
MBA-IVth Sem
(SHARDA UNIVERSITY, Greater Noida)
DESSERTATION Guide
Prof. GURU VISHAL
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS STUDY, SHARDA UNIVERSITY

1
 DECLARATION

I Chinmay bharadwaj , student of MBA from SHARDA UNIVERSITY, Greater Noida,

hereby declare that the research project report on ”Marketing Strategies Of Airtel” is an

original and authenticated work done by me.

I further declare that it has not been submitted elsewhere by any other person in any of the

institutes for the award of any degree or diploma.

CHINMAY BHARADWAJ
Roll No.: 2020524915

2
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my pleasure to be indebted to various people, who directly or indirectly contributed in the

development of this work and who influenced my thinking, behavior, and acts during the course

of study.

I express my sincere gratitude to Prof. GURU VISHAL . worthy Principal for providing me an

opportunity to undergo research report.

I am thankful to all for their support, cooperation, and motivation provided to me during the

Research for constant inspiration, presence and blessings.

Lastly, I would like to thank the almighty and my parents for their moral support and my friends

with whom I shared my day-to-day experience and received lots of suggestions that improved my

quality of work.

CHINMAY BHARADWAJ
Roll No.: 2020524915

3
Table Of Contents

Chapter Title Page no.

no.
1. Executive Summary 5

2. Introduction 6-31
● Company Profile
● Objectives Of The Study
● Literature Review
● Results 41-52
3. Research Methodology 32-40
● Data Analysis
5. Limitations 53

6. Conclusions 54

7. Appexure 55-57

8. Bibliography 58

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 CHAPTER-I

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The present business scenario is totally customer oriented. Each company faces

stiff competition from its competitors, each provides the best services at

competitive rates. As a result customer has lot of choices to get the best with

least cost. To face this competition, it is very important to know customer’s

behavior towards different products and services.

This project is aimed at understanding the Marketing strategies adopted by

Airtel and its impact on the perception of Airtel Customers.

Research has showed that it is far more costly to win a new customer than it is

to maintain an existing one, and there is no better way to retain a customer than

to exceed his expectations. For this purpose it is essential to know the level of

customer satisfaction. The focus of my research was the measurement of

customer satisfaction level for the services provided by Bharti Airtel. My job

was to collect the feedback from the distributors and also to get their

suggestions about the other products. Finally the results of the research verify

the fact that keeping the customer satisfied is the best strategy to not only

retains the existing customers but also to expand the business to new horizons.

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 CHAPTER-II

INTRODUCTION
India is one of the biggest and fastest growing telecom market globally, with a
user base of more than a billion people India is set to become the world’s largest
telecom market in the upcoming decade.

Telecom sector accounts for approximately 37 billion $ in revenue per year and
has grown tremendously after the economic reform of 1991.

Airtel is a major player in Indian telecom industry and was introduced in 1995
by the Bharti group and currently among the top 10 mobile service providers
globally. Airtel was recently dethroned as India’s largest mobile operator by the
Idea-Vodafone merger.

The telecom industry has seen some major changes in the past years as TRAI
changed its norms for telecom operations and entry of Reliance JIO whose
offerings completely changed the market and forced all major players to cut
down their costs. The other big news was the merger of Idea and Vodafone to
form India’s largest mobile operation company.

With the competition rising every day Airtel has managed to keep it’s customers
by adapting to the changes and it’s strong brand image. The marketing strategy
is highly consumer oriented and focus on keeping the customers satisfied. And
it has worked out fine for the company as we found out in our survey that most
of the users are satisfied with the offerings of company despite the increasing
competetion and fierce marketing campaigns of rivals.

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 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To study about the importance and development of telecommunication

industry in today’s scenario.

2. To understand the Marketing strategies of Bharti Airtel.

3. To find consumer’s perception toward the Indian Telecom Industry.

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

The Indian telecommunications Network is the second largest in the world

1058.86 million telephone connections based on the total number of telephone

users (both fixed and mobile phone).

INDIA has 3rd highest number of internet users and is expected to touch $37

billion in revenue by fy-2016-17. It has one of the lowest call tariffs in the world

enabled by the mega telephone networks and hyper-competition among them. It

has the world’s third-largest Internet user-base with over 137 million as of June

2012. Major sectors of the Indian telecommunication industry are telephone,

Internet, and television broadcasting. Today it is the fastest growing market in

the world with approximately 10 million monthly additions.

Telephone density in the country which is in an ongoing process of transforming

into next generation network, employs an extensive system of modern network

elements such as digital telephone exchanges, mobile switching centre’s, media

gateways and signaling gateways at the core, interconnected by a wide variety

of transmission system using fibre-optics or Microwave radio relay networks.

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The access network which connects the subscriber to the core, is highly

diversified with different copper-pair, optic-fibre and wireless

technologies.DTH, a relatively new broadcasting technology has attained

significant popularity in the Television segment. The introduction of private FM

has given a fillip to the radio broadcasting in India. Telecommunication in India

has greatly been supported by the INSAT system of the country, one of the

largest domestic satellite systems in the world. India possesses a diversified

communications system, which links all parts of the country by telephone,

Internet, radio, television and satellite. Indian telecom industry underwent a

high pace of market liberalization and growth since 1990s and now has become

the world's most competitive and one of the fastest growing telecom markets.

The Industry has grown over twenty times in just ten years, from under 37

million subscribers in the year 2001 to over 846 million subscribers in the year

2011. India has the world's second-largest mobile phone user base with over

929.37 million users as of May 2012.[6] It has the world's third-largest Internet

user-base with over 137 million as of June 2012. The total revenue of the Indian

telecom sector grew by 7% to  283207 crore (US$48 billion) for 2010–11

9
financial year, while revenues from telecom equipment segment stood at 

117039 crore (US$20 billion). Telecommunication has supported the

socioeconomic development of India and has played a significant role to narrow

down the rural-urban digital divide to some extent. It also has helped to increase

the transparency of governance with the introduction of e-governance in India.

The government has pragmatically used modern telecommunication facilities to

deliver mass education programs for the rural folk of India. Indian Tele-density,

which was languishing at 2% in 1999, has shown an amazing jump to 47.89 in

2010 and is set to increase by 20% in the next five years. Accordingly, India

requires incremental investments of USD 20-25 billion for the next five years.

Private operators have made mobile telephony the fastest growing (over 164%

p.a.) in India. With more than 900+ million users (both CDMA and GSM),

wireless is the principal growth engine of the Indian telecom industry. 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

10
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 liberalizing

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 was over taken as the largest

mobile operator in India by the merger of vodafone and idea which has around

395.2million users, Airtel stands at number two with 265.9 millionsubscribers.

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But a merger between Airtel and Telnor is still underway. Bsnl stands at number

3 with around 100 million users, followed by Aircel and Tata docomo.

With the entry of Reliance JIO, which is said to be world’s biggest startup the

market conditions are changing and Jio is starting to capture the market with

120 million users in just a year.

This year saw the emergence of 4G and everyone is fighting to get a piece of the

cake, with introduction of jio, reliance industries killed the competition with

lowest rates and a strong market presence.

With a population of around 1.3 billion growing at roughly 1.9 per cent a year,

India is potentially one of the most exciting GSM markets in the world.

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

12
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 30 paisa 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

13
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.

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 India fastest growing GSM market

The Cellular Operators Association of India (which includes most of India’s

GSM telecom operators), has reported an addition of 3.50 million GSM

connections in April 2013, closing in at 664.4 million subscribers, a 0.53%

increase from 660.9 million subscribers in the previous month.

Globally, the GSM market reached 3.9 billion users in February 2013, adding

GSM accounted for 80 per cent of the new subscriber growth in 2012."Almost

every Latin American operator has chosen GSM. In North America GSM

growth is bigger than CDMA (code division multiple access)," he said.

15
Commenting on the raging debatver GSM versus CDMA in mobile services

arena, Hadden said: "GSM is the world's most successful mobile standard with

over 2 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 percent

India’s private telecoms firms offering GSM-based mobile services reported a

21 percent rise in revenue in the year to March 2012 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

16
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 2003/04

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 650 million GSM customers and more than 96

million users of the rival CDMA-based mobile services in the country.

17
The pace of growth in monthly additions is increasing after just 8.25 million

users took up the service in April compared with 6.9 million in the previous

month. 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 750 million customers

by 2014.

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 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

19
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 40 crore, the country has between 9 crore GPRS users only. In

comparison, the two CDMA operators have about 23 crore connections. All

these sets are data compliant. Though no figures are available as to how many

usethese for data services, the figure is believed to be respectable as a

percentage ratio for CDMA.

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 600 million GSM subscribers by 2012-2013

. According to GSA, there are over 2.7 billion GSM subscribers worldwide as

20
against 1.3 billion 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

21
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 2000.

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 2004, 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. 

22
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

23
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!

24
 Airtel (Bharti Airtel Ltd.)

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company

established in 1995 Headquartered in New Delhi, India, with operations in 17

countries across Asia and Africa company ranks amongst the top 4 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 DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services

including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest

of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce.

Bharti Airtel had over 300 million customers across its operations worldwide.

25
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.

VISION: Our vision is to enrich the lives of our customers. Our obsession is to

win customers for life through exceptional experience.

VALUE: Alive. Inclusive. Respectful.

Objective: Grow market share profitably. Accelerate non-mobile businesses.

26
SERVICES

Mobile Services

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.

3G

Airtel 3G services are available in 200 cities through its network and in 500

cities through intra-circle roaming arrangements with other operators. Airtel had

more than 50 million 3G customers of which 4 million are 3G data customers as

of march 2017.

4G

27
Airtel launched 4G services using TD-LTE technology in Kolkata, becoming

the first company in India to offer 4G services. Airtel has around 10 million 4G

subscribers as of March 2017

WiFi

Airtel has plans to launch WiFi services in India. It intends to start offering

WiFi services in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore in initial phase. All plans

will be on secure wireless broadband internet with unlimited usage and will be

session or time based. Users can use the service by finding a hotspot, selecting

airtel WiFi Zone', activating the voucher and then login to start browsing. Airtel

intends to partner with establishments to set up hotspots which will be termed

WiFi Hangout for an establishment owner and WiFi Partner for the cafe and

restaurant owners.

Airtel WiFi Partners can offer services at zero investments and can earn

commission on every WiFi session sold

Airtel Money

Airtel has started a new mCommerce platform called Airtel Money in

collaboration with Infosys and SmartTrust (now Giesecke & Devrient). The

platform was launched on 5 April 2012, at Infosys' headquarters in Bangalore.

Using Airtel Money, users can transfer money, pay bills and perform other

financial transactions directly on the mobile phone

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Smart Drive

SmartDrive is navigation app exclusive to Airtel customers. The app features

voice-based turn by turn navigation, real time information update on traffic,

approximate time of the travel on the basis of the traffic situation on the various

routes and also lets uers see their location on the map and plan the journey

accordingly. It also suggests the subscriber an alternate route in case of traffic

congestion on the normal route.

Network Experience Centre

Airtel has a Network Experience Centre (NEC) which observes end to end

customer experience, in near real time, along with the standard network

elements on Airtel's operations. The NEC is located in Manesar, Haryana and

went live on 31 October 2012. It is the first such facility in India and will be

able to monitor Airtel's network performance across mobile, fixed line,

broadband, DTH,  M-Commerce, enterprise services, International Cable

Systems and internet peering points from a single location. It will monitor all

Airtel and partner NOCs. In case of an emergency, the NEC will enable the

operator to prioritize actions to restore normalcy and reduce resolution time.

29
Airtel Payment Bank

A new generation bank with online banking facilities, bill payments for a hassel

free experience.

Broadband

Wired internet services in all major cities and towns.

iPhone

The iPhone 3G was rolled out in India in 2008 by Airtel. However, high prices

and contract bonds discouraged consumers and it was not as successful as

the iPhone is in other markets of the world. Airtel introduced the iPhone 4 on 27

May 2011 and the iPhone 5 on 2 November 2012.

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

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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 pre activated with 'National Roaming', so you stay

connected no matter wherever you are. You can also send or receive MMS,

31
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)

32
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.

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

33
 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".

• 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

34
New and 678001 for Hindi New. This would directly take you to your favorite

artist's Hello Tunes listing.

Buy Music - Airtel Music Shops AND WYNK MUSIC

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.

35
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

36
simply log on to My Airtel section and pay instantly through your credit card.

You can also opt for easy payment options like:

Standing Instructions

You can give standing instructions to debit your credit card account for your

monthly Airtel bills. All you have to do is fill the Standing Instruction Form and

mail, fax it to us or drop it any of our relationship centre’s.

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

37
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.

Long Distance Calling Facility

Call long distance calls in India and Overseas with 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 GPRS services, while roaming, to access the internet and

38
office mails (e.g. BlackBerry services), from almost anywhere in India and

abroad.

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.
39
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.

40
 CHAPTER-IV
RESULTS

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY

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

41
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 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 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

ison 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

42
 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.

43
POSITIONING

The product is sought to be positioned as a business efficiency tool. a lifestyle

revolution and a status symbol The emphasis isto remove misconception that the

cell phone is an expensive means of communication and drive home the point

that the cell phone 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 recognized 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
44
segment is nearing saturation the company targeting the upper middle and

middle-middle class. In order to do so Airtel is trying to optimize 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.

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.

45
Airtel realizes 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.

PRICE AND PRICING POLICY

AIRTEL has realized that the Indian market is price sensitive. Therefore it care

of the has come up with various innovative tariff schemes to take needs of

different category of customers- Generally, the cellular services are more

expensive than the land line based telephone services.

MARKETING STRATEGY

ADOPTED BY BHARTI AIRTEL

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

46
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 isspread 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 Cell phone. In the first four months

alone Airtel's advertisement spend exceeded Rs. 4 crores.

47
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.

48
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 realized 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

organized 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

49
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 advertise--ments, attacking advertisements and tactical

advertisements.

50
 DISTRIBUTION

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 isapproved by the Airtel authority. Each franchise has

to invest Rupees Ten Lakhs. To obtain a franchise and should employ an officer

recruited by Airtel. This person acts as a liaison between the company and the

51
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/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.

52
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.

WHAT DOES AIRTEL OFFER?

With Airtel, the subscriber wouldn't just get a personal phone that lets him/her

be in touch, always, but also gets a host of benefits that let him/her manage

his/her time like never before.

An Airtel subscriber is provided with a Subscriber Identity Module Card (SIM

card) - that is the key to operating his/her cellular phone. His card activates

Airtel cellular services and contains a complete micro-computer chip with

memory to enable one to enjoy one's cellular phone thoroughly. Each SIM card

contains a PIN code (Personal Identity Number) which may be entered by one.

Just plug your SIM card into your cellular phone, enter the PIN code and it

becomes 'your' personal phone’.

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

53
The pattern of cellophane subscriber growth observed elsewhere in the world

reveals that the growth in the market is initially slow followed by a sharp

acceleration, but so far that has not happened in India. As far as the Product

Life Cycle is concerned. Indians are at the beginning of the maturity stage.

MARKETING OBJECTIVES

Create product Maximize market share Maximize profits whole

awareness and trial defending market share

Strategies

Product Offer a basic Offer value Increase in

product/ service. added services number of value

added services.

Price Charge cost- plus Price to penetrate Price to match or

market best competitors

54
Distribution Build selective Build Intensive Build more

distribution distribution. intensive

distribution.

Advertising Build product Build awareness Stress brand

awareness among and interest in the differences and

early adopters mass market benefits.

and dealers.

Sales Promotion Use heavy sales Increase to build Increase to

promotion to and maintain encourage

entice people to relationships with brand-switching.

subscribe. customers.

55
 SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

• Current leaders in quality service

• Largest distribution network

• Ability to constantly innovate

• Highly skilled workforce

• Entrepreneurial zeal

• Airtel’s increased equity and market cap.

WEAKNESSES

• credibility

• Price pressures

• Need for Government support

• Awareness

• Sales and Marketing

56
OPPORTUNITIES

• To sustain passion and commitment

• Airtel’s market share increasing at other service provider expense. Thus

opportunity to wipe it out.

• Attain higher value services

• Collaborative business needs to be explored

• Vertical repeatable solutions.

• Low penetration level in rural markets.

THREATS

• NEW ENTRIES

• Merger of idea and Vodafone

• Lack of global parity in telecom tariff

• Other competition

57
 CHAPTER-III

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:

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. Their input has been

valuable.

A short survey was conducted in Dehradun to know about the satisfaction levels

of mobile users of some major companies.

sample size: Variable.

Participant selection: Random.

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 we

58
 DATA ANALYSIS

1. Do you believe that India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile

service providers in the world?

Company Yes No

Airtel 4 1

Vodafone 4 1

Idea 4 1

JIO 4 1

As according to the above table 16 (80%) out of the total 20 interviewed people

in all the above four specified Indian mobile service providers are of belief that

59
India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile service providers in the

world, whereas some 4 (20%) of them do not agree to this view.

2.Do you find that the government’s telecom policy has had the most

radical impact on the development of mobile service providers?

Company Yes No

Airtel 4 1

Vodafone 3 2

Idea 3 2

JIO 5 3

As according to the above table 15 (75%) out of the total 20 interviewed people

in all the above four specified Indian mobile service providers find that the

government’s telecom policy has had the most radical impact on the

development of mobile service providers, whereas some 5 (25%) of them deny

this.

60
3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators in India

is the diversity of the coverage regions?

Company Yes No

Airtel 2 3

Vodafone 3 2

Idea 3 2

JIO 2 3

As according to the above table 10 (50%) out of the total 20 interviewed people

in the mobile service providers are of belief that one of the challenges facing

61
mobile operations in India is the diversify of the coverage regions, whereas

interestingly another 10 (50%) of them deny this.

4. To what extent, does you find that mobile service providers is a very

complex standard?

Company To some extent To great extent

(1-5) (6-10)

Airtel 3 2

Vodafone 2 3

Idea 2 3

JIO 3 2

As according to the above table 10 (50%) out of the total 20 interviewed people

in all the above four major the mobile service providers in Indian Cellular

62
industry find only to some extent that GSM is a very complex standard, whereas

the another 10 (50%) respondents find to great extent that mobile service

providers is a very complex standard.

CONSUMER LEVEL

1. Do you believe that mobile service providers comes close to fulfilling the
requirements for a personal communication system

63
 Company Yes No

Airtel 9 1

Vodafone 8 2

Idea 8 2

MTNL 5 5

As the above shows 30 (75%) out of total 40 respondents are of the belief that

mobile service providers comes close to fulfilling the requirements for a

personal communication system, whereas 10 (25%) of them are in no way to

this belief.

64
2. Do you find that your mobile service provider is the most exciting and
satisfying?

Company Yes No

Airtel 7 3

Vodafone 6 4

Idea 8 2

JIO 9 1

As the above shows 32 (80%) out of total 40 respondents find that mobile

service providers as the most exciting and satisfying mobile standard, whereas

the remaining 8 (10%) respondents deny this.

65
66
3. Do you believe that your service provider has a genuine commitment to

creating a modern and efficient communications?

Company Yes No

Airtel 10 --

Vodafone 8 2

Idea 10 --

JIO 7 3

As the above shows 36 (90%) out of total 40 respondents are of the belief that

their service providers have a genuine commitment to creating a modern and

efficient communications whereas the remaining 4 (10%) respondents deny this.

67
 CHAPTER-V

LIMITATIONS

Every attempt will be taken to obtain the error free and meaningful result but as

nothing in this world is 100% perfect I believe that there will still the chance for

error on account of following limitations-

(1) Respondent’s unavailability.

(2) Time pressure and fatigue on the part of respondents and interviewer.

(3) Courtesy bias.

68
 CHAPTER-VI

CONCLUSION

From above the details I conclude that 70% Airtel users preferred to remain

with Airtel. Also good number 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.

• Seshadri Mohan and Ravi Jain. Two User Location Strategies for Personal

Communication Services. IEEE Personal Communications. 1(1), 1994.

• C. Watson. Radio Equipment for GSM. In D.M. Balston and R.C.V Macario,

editors, Cellular Radio Systems, Artech House, Boston, 1993.

• Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtel

• Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/telecommunications_in_india

• marketing91.com

• www.airtel.in/about-bharti/equity
69
 CHAPTER-VII

APPEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE

NAME:

1. Do you believe that India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile

service providers in the world?

Company Yes No

Airtel

Vodafone

Idea

JIO

1.

2.Do you find that the government’s telecom policy has had the most

radical impact on the development of mobile service providers?

Company Yes No

Airtel

Vodafone

70
Idea

JIO

3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators in India

is the diversity of the coverage regions?

Company Yes No

Airtel

Vodafone

Idea

JIO

4. To what extent, does you find that mobile service providers has very

complex standard?

Company To some extent To great extent

(1-5) (6-10)

Airtel

Vodafone

71
Idea

JIO

CONSUMER LEVEL

1. Do you believe that mobile service providers comes close to fulfilling the

requirements for a personal communication system?

Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
JIO

2. Do you think that your mobile service provider is the most exciting and

satisfying?

Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
JIO

Company Yes No
Airtel

72
Vodafone
Idea
JIO
3. Do you believe that your service provider has a genuine commitment to

creating a modern and efficient communications?

CHAPTER-VIII
BIBLIOGRAPHY

73
• Robert G. Winch. Telecommunication Transmission Systems. McGraw-Hill

New York, 1993.

• Bernard J. T. Mallinder. Specification Methodology Applied to the GSM

System. In EUROCON 88, June 2005.

• Moe Rahnema. Overview of the GSM System and Protocol Architecture.

IEEE Communications Magazine. April 1993.

74