Deogiri

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This is serve gratitude to all those people without whom this PROJECT would have never seen the light of day.

An endeavor is difficult to even initiate without the help of many souls who are always there by the grace of God. Researcher project is a result of help provided by many people.
My project becomes a reality only because of cooperation of many people who had helped me in completing this project. I sincerely extend my gratitude to Mrs. MANJU GUPTA who has given me this golden opportunity to have an insight in the corporate world and who has been a source of guidance and support I sincerely thank my esteemed guide Mrs. Manju Gupta (UNIT MANAGER)for her valuable guidance and co-operation rendered to me through out the project report. It would not have been possible for me to complete this project without there meticulous guidance and suggestions. I give my thanks to MISS. NAZIYA SHAIKH (PROJECT GUIDE) and MR. KOTURWAR (PRINCIPAL D.I.T.M.S) for their valuable contribution, co-operation and guidance from time to time for completion of this project. Last but not the least I would like to thank my parents, friends, Colleagues and the staff of Bharti Airtel Aurangabad, who directly or indirectly help me during the course of project without which project would have been a Herculean task.

Sarika K. Rathod
2

Certificate
This is certifying that Miss. Rathod Sarika Kanhiram is a student of our college & studying in B.B.A. As a part of university program she has undergone a project work on. Marketing Survey on Bharti Airtel Company Ltd., Aurangabad. Under the guidance of Miss. Naziya Shaikh. She has duly acknowledged all the sources of reference used in the report. This report, based on above topic is in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the,

Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A) OF Dr.Babasaheb Ambedakar Maratawada University Aurangabad.

Miss.Naziya Shaikh (Internal Guide)

3

Major Koturwar
(Principal)

Date: 7Th may 2009

To Whom It May Concern :

This is to certify that Miss Rathod Sarika Kanhiram has worked with Bharti Airtel Company Ltd., Aurangabad On project assignment 15th April to 30th April 2009.

The project undertaken during the period was

Marketing Survey
The above mentioned project has been successfully completed. We wish her all the best for all future endeavors.

Best Regard

Mrs. Manju Gupta (UNIT MANAGER)

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INDEX
Sr. Chapters No. 1. 2. Introduction Objectives a) Vision b) Bharti Televenture 3. 4. 5. Airtel Broadband Airtel Services Case study of black Barry Handset a)Product profile 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Research methodology a)Graphical Representation Conclusion Recommendation Bibliography Questionnaire Page No.

2 13

22 27 35

41 51 52 53 54

HISTORY OF COMPANY
8

Bharti Airtel is one of India's leading private sector providers of telecommunications services based on an aggregate of 66,689,943 customers as on April 30, 2008, consisting of 64,370,434 GSM mobile and 2,319,509 Bharti Telemedia subscribers. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBUs) - mobile services, telemedia services (ATS) & enterprise services. The mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while the ATS business group provides broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The enterprise services group has two sub-units - carriers (long distance services) and services to corporates. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Company shares are listed on The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) and The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE). The company has a strategic alliance with SingTel. The investment made by SingTel is one of the largest investments made in the world outside Singapore, in the company. The companys mobile network equipment partners include Ericsson and Nokia. In the case of the broadband and telephone services and enterprise services (carriers), equipment suppliers include Siemens, Nortel, Corning, among others. The Company also has an information technology alliance
9

with IBM for its group-wide information technology requirements and with Nortel for call center technology requirements. The call center operations for the mobile services have been outsourced to IBM Daksh, Hinduja TMT, Teletech & Mphasis

MILESTONE OF COMPANY
1 Mobile phone operator, Bharti Airtel, became the first Indian telecom company to serve 50 million customers last month, and is now the worlds tenth largest wireless carrier. 2 Bharti has doubled its user base in the past 14 months alone, and hopes to reach 100 million subscribers by 2010, according to company executives. 3 Our next 50 million will largely come from rural India as our plan is to reach 5,200 census towns and over five lakh villages, covering 96 per cent of the Indian population, said Bharti Airtel president and CEO, Manoj Kohli, at a news conference this week. 4 Bharti Airtel, Indias leading telecommunication services provider, today announced that it had crossed the 50 million customer mark. With this, Bharti Airtel has achieved the distinction of becoming the fastest private telecom company in world to achieve this landmark in a
10

single country - within 143 months of start of operations. The 50 million customer base covers mobile as well as broadband & telephone customers. 5 Commenting on this major global landmark, Mr. Akhil Gupta, Joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel said, We are delighted to have achieved this major landmark, which puts Bharti Airtel amongst the top telecom companies in the world. It underlines the strength of our unique business model and our vision to provide affordable services like lifetime prepaid to customers across the length and breadth of the country. I would like to thank our partners for having shared our vision. This milestone highlights the emergence of India as one of the top telecom markets in the world and we are proud to have been at the forefront of this growth. Going forward, we believe this growth momentum will remain intact and we are gearing towards the 100 million customers mark. 6 7 Bharti Airtel crossed the 10 million customer mark in November 2004. In July last year, it crossed the 25 million customer mark. The company added the next 25 million customers in just 14 months. This is amongst the fastest rate of customer additions by any telecom company in the world.
8

Mr. Manoj Kohli, President & CEO, Bharti Airtel added, This is a very proud moment for us and I would like to thank our 50 million customers for believing in Airtel. It is a tribute to our commitment to
11

provide best-in-class services to our customers and lead the market with exciting innovations. We are committed to create a world-class organization and benchmark it with the best in the world. As the market gets ready for the next wave of growth, we are committed to expanding our telecom networks wider and deeper across the country and partner Indias growth story.
9

In the mobile business, Bharti Airtel plans to make considerable investments in Network expansion to establish presence in all census towns and over 500,000 villages across India by 2010, thereby covering 95% of the countrys total population. The companys strategic focus will be on further strengthening the Airtel brand through best-in-class customer service, which is backed by wide national distribution. In the Enterprise business, Bharti Airtel will invest substantially in the long distance business to achieve the scale of a global carrier within next 2-3 years. It is also strengthening the corporate business towards becoming a preferred managed services partner for the top 2000 corporations. In Broadband & Telephone SBU, Bharti Airtel will initiate large-scale deployments of broadband network infrastructure in 94 towns, with a sharp focus on the home and SME segments. It is readying to offer triple play to its customers with the launch of its IPTV service.

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12

Bharti Tele-Ventures
Bharti Tele-Ventures is one of India's leading private sector providers of telecommunications of 28,692627 customers customers The businesses at Bharti Tele-Ventures have been structured into three individual strategic units (SBUs) 1. mobile services 2. broadband and telephone services (B&T) 3. enterprise services The Mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while B&T business group provides broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise Services group has two sub-units carriers (long distance services) and services top corporates. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Bharti Enterprises has been at the forefront of technology and has revolutionized telecommunications with its world class products and services as on based September on 30, an 2006, aggregate consisting

of 27,061,349 GSM mobile and 1,631,278 broadband & telephone

13

services. Established in 1976, Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts and innovations to its credit. 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 is the leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 16 states covering all four metros. It has over 12 million satisfied customers Bharti Enterprises has successfully focused its strategy on telecom while straddling diverse fields of business. From the creation of 'Airtel', one of India's finest brands, to becoming the largest manufacturer and exporter of world class telecom terminals under its 'Beetel' brand, Bharti has created a significant position for itself in the global telecommunications sector. Bharti Tele-Ventures is today acknowledged as one of India's finest companies, and its flagship brand 'Airtel', has over 12 million customers across the length and breadth of India. While a joint venture with TeleTech Inc., USA marked Bhartis successful foray into the Customer Management Services business, Bharti Enterprises dynamic diversification has continued with the company venturing into telecom software development. Recently, Bharti has
14

successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild Group owned ELRO Holdings India Ltd., to export fresh Agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA "What other operators have achieved in one to two years, Bharti has done in just over a month. In July 2002, one out of every two people buying a mobile across India chose AirTel. We are truly proud to be spearheading the mobile revolution in the country." - Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Tele-Ventures in 2002

Vision
BY 2010 AIRTEL WILL BE THE MOST ADMIRED BRAND IN INDIA:
o

LOVED BY MORE CUSTOMERS.

15

TARGETED BY TOP TALENT. BENCHMARKED BUSINESS. BY MORE

Airtel comes to you from Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited - a part of the biggest private integrated telecom conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. A consortium of giants in the telecommunication business. In it's six years of pursuit of greater customer satisfaction, AirTel has redefined the business through marketing

16

innovations, continuous technological up gradation of the network, introduction of new generation value added services and the highest standard of customer care. Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with an all India footprint covering all 23 telecom circles of the country. It has over 12 million satisfied customers. Cellular telephony was introduced in India during the early 1990s. At that time, there were only two major private players, Bharti (Airtel) and Essar (Essar) and both these companies offered only post-paid services. Initially, the cellular services market registered limited growth. Moreover, these services were mostly restricted to the metros. Other factors such as lack of awareness among people, lack of infrastructural facilities, low standard of living, and government regulations were also responsible for the slow growth of cellular phone services in India. Although the cellular services market in India grew during the late 1990s (as the number of players increased and tariffs and handset prices came down significantly) the growth was rather marginal. This was because the cellular service providers offered only post-paid cellular services, which were still perceived to be very costly as compared to landline communications.

17

Following this realization, the major cellular service providers in India, launched pre-paid cellular services in the late 1990s. The main purpose of these services was to target customers from all sections of society (unlike post-paid services, which were targeted only at the premium segment).

18

Bhartis Mission
To be globally admired for telecom services that delight customers.

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We will meet global standards for telecom services that delight customers through: Customer Service Focus Empowered Employees Cost Efficiency Unified Messaging Solutions Innovative products and services Error- free service delivery

Airtel`s Vision & promise

By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India: Loved by more customers Targeted by top talent
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Benchmarked by more businesses We at Airtel always think in fresh and innovative ways about the needs of our customers and how we want them to feel. We deliver what we promise and go out of our way to delight the customer with a little bit more

Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the Company has an optimum mix of Executive and Non-Executive Directors, which consists of three Executive and fifteen Non-Executive Directors. The Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, is an Executive Director and the number of Independent Directors on the Board is 50% of the total Board strength. The independence of a Director is determined on the basis that such director does not have any material pecuniary relationship with the Company, its promoters or its management, which may affect the independence of the judgment of a Director. The Board members possess requisite skills, experience and expertise required to take decisions, which are in the best interest of the Company. The composition of the Board is as under:

21

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Sunil Bharti Mittal Rajan Bharti Mittal Akhil Gupta Rakesh Bharti Mittal Chua Sock Koong N. Kumar Kurt Hellstorm Donald Cameron Paul OSullivan Professor V.S. Raju Pulak Chandan Prasad Bashir Abdullah Currimjee Gavin Darby Syeda Imam Ajay Lal York Chye Chang Paul Donovan Arun Bharat Ram

Airtel AllOver

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ACHIEVEMENTS

First to launch Cellular service on November 1995.

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First operator to revolutionaries the concept of retailing with the inauguration of AirTel Connect (exclusive showrooms) in 1995. First to introduce push button phone in India. First to expand it's network with the installation for second mobile switching center in April, 1997 and the first to introduce the Intelligent Network Platform First to provide Roaming to its subscribers by forming an association called World 1 Network. First to provide roaming facility in USA. Enjoy the mobile roaming across 38 partner networks & above 700 cities Moreover roam across international destinations in 119 countries including USA, Canada, UK etc with 284 partner networks. BHARTI announces aggrement with VODAFONE marking the entry of the World's Largest Telecom Operator into India Bharti Enterprises and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited announce Partnership for a life insurance joint venture in India Airtel Launches future factory - Centres of Innovation to Incubate Pioneering Mobile Applications 16 states, 600 million people. Only India's leading mobile service offers you the truly 'freedom-packed' Prepaid! It is also the first company to export its products to the USA.

BHARTI announces agreement with VODAFONE marking the entry of the World's Largest Telecom
24

Operator into India

Vodafone to invest approximately Rs. 6,700 crores (approx. USD 1.5 bn.) to acquire around 10% in Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd.

Bharti Enterprises, SingTel and Vodafone to take Bharti TeleVentures Ltd. to unassailable leadership position in India The largest single foreign investment ever in the history of India The largest investment in the Indian telecom sector Bharti establishes its supremacy in the Indian telecom market, having attracted Asias best SingTel, and now worlds best Vodafone. Bharti set to gain global leadership in the telecom sector Bharti Enterprises continues to hold shareholding and management control in Bharti Tele-Ventures.

Awards for the year 2007-2008

o

BHARTI AIRTEL DRAWS TOP HONORS AT THE MIS ASIA IT EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2006
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BHARTI

AIRTEL

AMONG

THE IN

TOP THE

10

BEST

PERFORMING

COMPANIES

WORLD

ACCORDING TO BUSINESSWEEK IT 100 LIST.

o

SUNIL BHARTI MITTAL IS THE CEO OF THE YEAR AT THE FROST AND SULLIVAN ASIA PACIFIC AWARDS 2006 AND BHARTI AIRTEL BAGS WIRELESS SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR AND COMPETITVE SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR.

BHARTI TELE-VENTURES IS THE BEST INDIAN CARRIER AT THE TELECOM ASIA AWARDS 2006.

AirTel: Appropriating the value of 'expression'

Over the last couple of years, the market has grown considerably, with deeper penetration and wider usage of voice and data services, accompanied by much higher competitive intensity," Atul Bindal, chief marketing officer, Bharti TeleVentures, expands on this. "In this context,

26

differentiating merely on network, coverage and SMS is just not enough. You need to go beyond all the rational identifiers - which are prerequisites in any case - and connect at a deeper level. We needed a strong differentiator in an increasingly commoditized and crowded market. We found this differentiator in a core human truth that defines our category which is that there are moments when you need to make your point, when you need to be heard. Expressing and communicating are perhaps two of the most basic emotions. AirTel enables you to make your point in the most expressive way, anytime, anywhere. The campaign is towards owning this through 'Express yourself.' We believe 'Express yourself' allows us to connect at a deeper level and create a long-term platform for the brand." For AirTel, the challenge also lay in presenting a unified 'face' to the consumer. This assumes significance when viewed in the light of the company's pre- and post-paid communication, which, in the past, had been treated very differently. Brand image, as a result, was being driven in two different dimensions. "Brand AirTel is a category leader straddling completely different market segments such as consumer, business and corporate, as well as different voice, data and payment platforms," says Bindal. "'Express yourself' enables the brand to unify and connect across the entire base of our existing and prospective customers." One of the most obvious benefits of owning a property such as 'candid expression' (and 'Express yourself') is the expansive nature of the thought.
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"The moment you have as broad a canvas as 'Express yourself', it becomes easy for anyone working on the brand to come up with new ideas and executions. That's what makes a good campaign idea," observes Rediff's Prashant Godbole, who, along with creative partner Zarvan Patel, conceived the campaign. This is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg, Patel adds. "We will be taking the idea forward in many different ways in the forthcoming work," he informs. Patel also credits his creative team for "fleshing out the idea" In October 2002, Magic led the market, with 30% of the market share. Bharti claimed that its strategies were one of the most ambitious experiments ever in the Indian pre-paid cellular telephony market. However, given the increasing competitive pressure, doubts were being expressed regarding the ability of Bharti's marketing initiatives to help Magic retain its 'Magic' in the future.

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Bharti Televentures is the fixed line operator business of Airtel. In the recent branding exercise, all the services have been offered under the Airtel brand. Data is the next driver for growth. This is clear to the operators who have belatedly realized the implications for having a pie in

29

all the segments of telecommunications. Hence Bharti ventured in the broadband market. However, the main contention in the broadband market is the price offering which includes the bandwidth costs as well as the cost of laying down the copper wire. Typically, in the mentality of the profit making exercise, Airtel has so far focused only in those areas where it perceives that a huge market is present. However, I still hold that their thrust should be in smaller towns and cities where BSNL would ultimately usurp their potential customer base. It seems that their fancily paid MBAs havent really understood the success of BSNL who focused on the B and C class cities where it has drawn unparalleled support despite the lousy customer experiences. This is because of the absence of any other operator. The current offerings by Airtel does not really enthuse a potential customer who is looking at sustained data transfer. It is the classic case of having something better than nothing. Add to the lousy customer care that Airtel is slowly perfecting, it is staffed with people who usually land up in their jobs with little idea of their job profile. The so-called Tech engineers have often been unable to help a customer who is facing issues with the connectivity.

AIRTELs ENTERPRISE SERVICES

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The company is a part of Bharti Enterprises, and is India's leading provider of telecommunications services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBUs) - mobile services, broadband & telephone services (B&T) & enterprise services. The mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while the B&T business group provides broadband & telephone services in 90 cities. The Enterprise services group has two sub-units - carriers (long distance services) and services to corporates. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.

Our Services:

Voice Services Mobile Services Satellite Services Managed Data and Internet Services Managed e-Data Services

AirTel launches VQE (Voice Quality Enhancer) for the first time in Kolkata.
Introducing VQE (Voice Quality Enhancer) for the first time in Kolkata. VQE is a revolutionary new system that spectrally reduces background noise. It eliminates acoustic echo, adjusts speech levels in both directions

31

and does away with low or distorted speech so that every word of your's can be heard clearly, wherever you may be speaking from. The VQE technology has been sourced from Tellabs of USA, world leaders in Voice Quality technology. Some of the prominent GSM operators using Tellabs solution in the world are SingTel, Bell South, Telstra, BT Cell etc. The Tellabs noise reduction technology removes high background noise from the wireless side of the call thus delivering near wireline clear call quality on mobile phones. The Tellabs 3000 series of voice-quality enhancement echo technology also eliminates the complexity of acoustic echo generated by digital mobiles and hands free kits. So go ahead. Express yourself and feel the difference on Kolkata's only Non-Stop 2.5G Network

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SERVICE NAME

PREPAID POSTPAID CHARGES CHARGES (Rs.) (Rs.) Calling Line Automatic Displays the callers number Rs. 25 Identification only for new on your mobile phone screen Presentation acquisitions (CLIP) Dial-a-service Automatic Users can call to get certain Rs. 2.40 per Rs. 2 per only for new information and service. For minute minute acquisitions instance, Dial 604 for Infotel, Dial 131 for Railway info. These call numbers are available in the phone book WAP Automatic download exclusive contents Per content Per content only for new from Airtel's WAP site download download acquisitions GPRS & Automatic Access internet on the move GPRS GPRS Masala only for new and download exclusive Charges - Rs Charges - Rs acquisitions contents from Airtel's WAP 600 per 600 per month site month 646 Calling Automatic Users can call into this voice Rs. 6 per Rs. 6 per charges only for new recognition service and minutes minutes acquisitions listen to jokes, movie gossips, download ringtones etc VAS SMS Automatic Content offered by media Rs. 3 per Charges only for new companies like Indiatimes, acquisitions Rediff, Yahoo fall into this

TYPE OF DESCRIPTION SERVICE

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34

AIRTEL NEWS

Bharti Airtel inks USD 400 million network expansion contract with NOKIA

Bharti Airtel limited: Q2 cash profit exceeds Rs. 1,600 crores, PBT crosses Rs. 1,000 crores.

Bharti Airtel is amongst Indias Most Admired Knowledge enterprises in 2006.

Sunil Bharti Mittal receives The Honorary Fellowship from IETE.

Notice of postal ballot for seeking consent of the shareholders on scheme of amalgamation of Satcom Broadband Equipments Limited and Bharti Broadband Limited with Bharti Airtel Limited.

Bharti Airtel to Observe Silent period from October 1, 2006.

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PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY
After the liberalization of the Indian Telecom Sector in 1994, the Indian cellular market witnessed a surge in cellular services. By 2005, there were a total of 12 players in the market with the five major players being Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited (Bharti), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Hutchinson-Essar limited (Hutch), Idea Cellular limited (Idea) and Reliance India Mobile (RIM) (Refer Exhibit I). All the players except RIM offered services based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) technology. RIM provided services based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology as well as GSM. As competition in the telecom arena intensified, service providers took new initiatives to woo customers. Prominent among these were - celebrity endorsements, loyalty rewards, discount coupons, business solutions and talk time schemes. The most important consumer segments in the cellular industry were the youth segment and the business class segment. The youth segment was the largest and fastest growing segment and was therefore targeted most heavily by cellular service providers. Bharti Tele-Ventures adopted celebrity endorsement as its chief promotional strategy. By 2004 it emerged the unprecedented leader commanding the largest market share in the cellular service market. (Refer
36

Exhibit II). Hutch implemented the celebrity endorsement strategy partially, relying primarily on its creative advertising for the promotion of its brand. BSNL, on the other hand, attracted the consumer through its low cost schemes. Being a state owned player, BSNL could cover rural areas, and this helped it increase its subscriber base. Reliance was another player that cashed on its innovative promotional strategies, which included celebrity endorsements and attractive talk time schemes. Idea, relied heavily on its creative media advertising sans celebrities.

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RAHMAN TUNE CROSSES AIRTELS EXCLUSIVITY BARRIER

Cellular service provider AirTel seems to have hit the right note with its new commercial starring musician A R Rahman. The commercial which is currently on air has a beat which also doubles up as a ringtone which is ostensibly available only to AirTel users. But the interesting part is that the ringtone is being flaunted not just by AirTel customers but by
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customers of rival service providers like BPL, Orange and Dolphin as well! We did expect the tune to catch up but this has really exceeded our expectations, admits Bharti Cellulars chief marketing officer (western region) Pratik Pota. Overall, he explains, it is a great advertising product for AirTel and works like a walking, talking brand ambassador. The ringtone which is also the jingle for AirTels TV commercial, is proving to be a potent advertising tool for the company. It is not very clear what this means for the other cellular operators. Cellular users have been forwarding the tune to one another, which according to Mr Pota, has given AirTel a chance to enter the mind of the user irrespective of which service he opts for. It gives the user a chance to go back to the AirTel product and acts as a strong reminder medium, he explains. Marketing professionals like Samsika Marketing Consultants managing director Jagdeep Kapoor point to the usage of an audio celebrity as something that is significant. The normal practice is to opt for film stars and sportsmen rather than an audio personality he says. Rivals, though seemingly unfazed by the phenomenon, seem to be doing their own homework on this brand of advertising. While none of them commented on AirTels strategy and its impact on their own subscriber
39

base, one advertising professional working with a rival service provider opines that the tune is transient and not likely to have any long term impact as a brand building tool. Being the latest entrant in the Mumbai circle, AirTel has had to find ways of cutting through the clutter. Says Mr Kapoor, AirTel will have try to find ways to attract new customers and convert the existing ones. Explaining that the usage of an audio celebrity was more strategic than tactical, he adds that non-AirTel users will have the AirTel brand experience inspite of not using the service. While Mr Pota highlights the fact that the usage of the tune by other operators means free advertising for AirTel and the users having a positive disposition towards the product, the nature of reaction from competition remains unclear. Competition will not do well to adopt a knee jerk reaction and will have to come out with advertising that is well thought out explains Mr Kapoor. He anticipates a situation where the new entrant (AirTel) will continue to be more aggressive.

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DATA SOURCES
Data is collected from both the Primary sources i.e. questionnaire and also from Secondary sources. Primary sources: The primary source of data collection is through questionnaire. The questionnaires are distributed among 35 peoples and their view is recorded and used in analyzing the data

Secondary sources : The secondary sources includes online sites, newspapers and templates from AIRTEL distributions centers and AIRTEL Customer Care.

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42

1.1

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

RETAIL AUDIT RESEARCH

Retail audit research now account for a large proportion of total expenditure on market research in this country. Despite this fact, the method advantage and disadvantage and problem connect with this type of research have received little attention in print. It is the purpose of this article to attempt to fill this gap. The job of retail audit is to provide information for a manufacturer or his advertising agent about sales, stock and distribution of his product and of its competitor, in order to make estimate of regional market trends. A manufacturer will of course, know precisely what is own Ex-factory sales have been. But unless he sells direct to the final buyer he does not have always accurate information about the actual purchaser of his product. A rise in Ex-factory sales might be due to rise in customers demand or to increase stock holding by wholesaler or retailer. Again a manufacturer does not always have accurate information about the distribution, stock, cover, display etc. of his product and of course, manufacturer does not normally know what the sales of competing product are with any precision.

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It is true that information of the type can be sending and is collected by other means. The manufacturer own sales force will naturally collect a good deal of such information, but it is likely to be biased, consciously, unconsciously and it may be non-systematic in character. It is after all, not the main function of sales too collect information of this type.

Customer Survey
In worldwide internet market place, customer satisfaction surveys are often regarded as the most accurate barometer to predict the success of a company because they directly ask about the critical success of a business, if done effectively, Customer Satisfaction surveys can deliver powerful incisive information and provide ways to gain a competitive edge. Writing a Satisfaction survey can be tricky, but its of paramount importance to your business or organization to understand how satisfied customers are with your business or organization to understand how satisfied are customer with your service. Here are few tips for writing a customer satisfactory survey.

Start with the end in mind. Make sure you understand why you are writing and creating a customer survey and what you are going to do with the results. How are you going to change your process as result of these customers Satisfaction surveys results?

Do not be biased in preparing questionnaire. Dont assume that customers love or hate your products. Try to gather satisfactory information without leading the customers either way.

Gather demographic information within your customer survey to help segment your data during the analysis. You can easily gather zip code or
44

state code information eg. Only a particular segment is happy with your product.

Open ended questions (text boxes) are crucial for understanding the satisfaction of customers. For instances, if customer are unhappy with a particular aspect of your service or product, you can ask them to expand on why they are unhappy. Beware that you do not bombard too many question on participant to lead him to skip answers i.e. its leads to incomplete survey.

Make sure you are using vocabulary that your customers understand. Be clear to so everyone can understand your questions. In fact, it often makes sense to test drive a survey with some customers before you launch it to the entire survey participant population.

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Product profile
Blackberry is always connected wireless solution which provides secure access to your mail and data. Blackberry is a high end product of Airtel used for E-mails and Internet Browsing moreover you can access your companies data through intranet and extranet which is secure. Founded in 1984 and based in waterloo research in motion (RIM) is a leading designer, manufacture and marketer of Blackberry that is wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communication market. Thousands of business customers around the world use BlackBerry - a complete mobile email solution that allows you to send and receive email wherever you are. There's no need for a laptop to view your emails, no need for a fixed phone line, and no need to log-on - they're automatically 'pushed' straight to your BlackBerry handheld or blackberry connect handhelds. With growing need of mails on the move, Blackberry has become a very handy tool to be always on always connected. Blackberry is a complete, easy to use integrated phone, SMS, browser and organizer applications for managing information and communications from a single, integrated device

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Blackberry What It Mean To customer

EMAIL ON THE MOVE JUST GOT EASIER

Single, integrated device for data and voice needs. Access existing email and browse internet wirelessly. Integrated phone, sms, browser and organizer applications. View email attachment in popular document formats Blackberry push technology means entire email delivered automatically Advanced security for enterprise and government organizations Global address lookup Wireless calendar synchronization Bluetooth technology Excellent battery life Advanced call log ,QWERTY keyboard , high resolution screen Speaker phone, polyphonic ring tones Centralized management and support. Sleek and stylish handset Integration with an existing IPS email account Open personalized email id user@airtel.blackberry.com - Integrates 9 new pop3 /ISP enabled corporate or Internet mail accounts with Blackberry handhelds

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BLACKBERRY PRODUCTS
1. Pearl 8100 2. Curve 8300 3. 8700g 4. 8800 5. 8820 6. 8120(Wi-Fi) 7. 8310(with GPS) (Rs.21,990). (Rs.23,990). (Rs.14,990). (Rs.29,990). (Rs.31,990). (Rs.24,990) (Rs.24,990).

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2.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

Marketing research is often concerned with the behaviors of the consumer in the respect marketing research have drawn heavily on the behavioral. Sciences such a psychology and sociology in fact the contribution of these science to marketing research have been very significant especially with regard to two aspect. 1. The research technique used by psychology and they have amply used sociologists being of considerable relevance to marketing researchers. 2. The concept and the theories of these behavioral sciences are also proved to be relevant to market researcher.

2.2 Method of data collection

Questionnaire:
This was the most popular method for conducting the survey. It helped in collecting the information from the framed question, to get maximum necessary data for research. While designing the questionnaire, following aspect were considered.

50

Type of information to be collected:

1. Phrasing of the questionnaire. 2. Order or sequence of the question. 3. Number of question to be asked. 4. Lay out of the questionnaire.

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Graphical Representation:
Customer survey
Table WHICH MOBILE SERVICE YOU USE

Company Name

In Number

Percentage

Airtel Idea Reliance Vodaphone BSNL Total

40 45 29 29 17 160

25% 28% 18% 18% 11% 100

Graphical Representation:

11% 18%

25%
AIRTEL IDEA RELIANCE VODAPHONE BSNL

18%

28%

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Table: IMPORTANCE REGARDING SERVICE

What is important for you?

In Number

Percentage

Connectivity Coverage Roaming Local Call All

19 40 34 24 43

12 25 21 15 27

Total

160

100

Graphical Representation:

27%

12%
Connectivity

25% Coverage
Roaming Local call

15% 21%

All

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Feature of AIRTEL forced people to use AIRTEL is

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

35

35

20 10

Advertisment Connectivity

Schems

Goodwill

Values shown in Percentage

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Feature of AIRTEL is better than the peoples previous cellular service.

Schemes Advertismen 15% t 25%

Connectivity 60%

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 Type of advertisement mostly like by people in AIRTEL is

Audio Visual 85%

Audio 13%

Print 2%

Celebrity liked by people very much in AIRTEL

Sachin 55% A.R.

Shahrukh 38% Rehman 2% 5% Kareena

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People take benefits of schemes offered by AIRTEL

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People take benifits of Schemes offered by AIrtel

13%

2%

Yes(85%) No(13%) Cann`t say(2%)

85%

People like most in AIRTEL is

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Airtel Magic 5% Nokia+Airtel 86% Postpaid services 8%

Airtel Board Band 1%

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CONCLUSION

The conclusion of my study is that AIRTELs Advertising has a major impact its users. People like its schemes very much .AIRTEL had created a very good image on the mind of the new users of cellular service. AIRTEL has adopted a very good strategy by providing a new connection with NOKIA who is market leader in mobile set, many new users buy Nokia sets and they get a free connection of AIRTEL. AIRTEL is successful in capturing the highest market share by adopting Celebrity Endorsement Strategy. A.R. Rehmaans tune for AIRTEL worked as free advertising for AIRTEL as another service user uses it too. Other celebrities like Shahrukh Khan (bollywood) and Sachin Tendulkar (Cricket) has also contributed very much in AIRTEL.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
By virtue of its connectivity and advertising strategy AIRTEL is successful in grabbing the highest market share in India, but there are still some recommendations from my study point of view is that AIRTEL needs to make its network service more stronger than other service providers to dominate the market in future too. AIRTEL should introduce cheaper recharge cards than the other because its competitor HUTCH had introduced it. AIRTEL should sign more celebrities from cricket and bollywood.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
ON-LINE WEBSITE: .

WWW.GOOGLE.CO.IN WWW.AIRTEL.COM

NEWSPAPERS:

Times of India (15 Oct 2006- 2 Nov 2006)

BOOKS:

Marketing Management, Dr. S.L. Varshney and Dr. R.L. Gupta, Third Revised Edition, Sultan Chand and Sons.

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QUESTIONNAIRE
NAME: ADDRESS:

OCCUPATION: . CELLULAR SERVICE . If AIRTEL than proceed further 1. How did you know about AIRTEL cellular service? a) Friends b) Advertisements c) Other Sources 2. Which feature of AIRTEL forced you to used AIRTEL? a)Advertisements d) Goodwill 3. Which was your first choice of cellular service when you want to use mobile phone? a) AIRTEL b) HUTCH c) IDEA f) OTHERS b) Connectivity c) Schemes USED:

d)RELIANCE e)TATA INDICOM

4. Which feature of AIRTEL is better than your previous cellular service? a) Advertisements b) Connectivity
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c) Schemes

5. How many AIRTEL users in your phone book? a) Less than 30% 30% - 70% b) More than 70%

6. Which type of advertisement you most like in AIRTEL?

a)Audiovisual b)Print c) Audio

7. Which celebrity you like very much in AIRTEL? a) Sachin b) Shahrukh c) Kareena d) A.R. Rehman
8.

Have you take benefits of any scheme offered by AIRTEL?

a) YES b)NO

9. Which you like most in AIRTEL? a) NOKIA + AIRTEL b) AIRTEL MAGIC

c) Postpaid services d) Airtel Broadband 10. Which service you like most in AIRTEL? a) AIRTEL missed you service b) Free Ringtones c) Free Hello tunes
11.

Do you participate contest offered by AIRTEL like KBC-2 & Indion Idol-2? YES NO

12.

Which type of recharge cards you like most?

a) More talktime b) More validity c) Both (i.e. Post paid) 13. According to you is AIRTEL is #1 in India?
a) Yes b) No
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