A

PROJECT REPORT

ON

“STUDY OF STRATEGIC MARKETING OF AIRTEL”

SUBMITTED TO

SAVITRIBAI PHULE PUNE UNIVERSITY

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF 2 YEARS FULL TIME COURSE MASTERS OF BUSINESS

ADMINISTRATION (MBA)

SUBMITTED BY

SAGAR RANDHIR

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Dr./PROF. PRASHANT KOTASTHANE

SINHGAD BUSINESS SCHOOL, PUNE - 411 004

BATCH 2019-22

1
 CERTIFICATE OF GUIDE

This is to certify that the dissertation Report entitled “A Project report on STUDY OF
STRATEGIC MARKETING OF AIRTEL” is a bonafide work carried out by SAGAR RANDHIR,
student of Masters of Business Administration in MARKETING, SINHGAD BUSINESS SCHOOL
Erandwane, Pune, for the fulfilment of the degree. The work is original research work completed under my
supervision and guidance.

Signature of Dean Signature of Guide

Date: Date:

Place: Place:

2
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the dissertation report entitled “A project report on STUDY OF STRATEGIC
MARKETING OF AIRTEL written and submitted by me to Savitribai Phule Pune University, in partial
fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the degree of Master of Business Administration under the
guidance of Prof. PRASHANT KOTASTHANE Sir, this is my original work based on the material
collected by myself.

Signature SAGAR RANDHIR

Date:

3
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At the start, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. PRASHANT

KOTASTHANE Sir, My project guide for successful completion of my project in partial
fulfilment of Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) under his able guidance to allow
me to work on such an interesting subject. He provided me proper and correct direction for
completion of project work. His continuous guidance during the course of project helped
me in channelizing my efforts, quite appropriately.

Signature

SAGAR RANDHIR

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 INDEX

SR NO. CHAPTER NAME PAGE NO.

1 Executive Summary 6.

2 Introduction 8.

3 Organization Profile 13.

4 Research Design and Methodology 21.

5 Data Analysis 24.

6 Suggestions and Conclusion 34.

7 Bibliography 37.

8 Questionnaire 35.

9 46.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Airtel comes to you from Bharti Cellular 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 is the leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 15
states covering all four metros and more than 7 million satisfied customers Bharti Tele-
Ventures believes that the demand for mobile services in India will continue to grow rapidly
as a result of the following factors:

 Lower tariffs and handset prices over time;

 Growth in pre-paid customer category;
 Greater economic growth and continued development of India's economy;
Higher quality mobile networks and services; and
 Greater variety and usage of value added services

The project is based on the study of consumer trends, behaviour, preferences and level of
satisfaction in Airtel communication Ltd. The study was conducted in Delhi with sample size
of 50 and sample units were suppliers and Consumer of mobile connection.

6
 The Indian telecommunications has been zooming up the growth curve
at a feverish pace, emerging as one of the key sectors responsible for India's resurgent
economic growth even in this recession hit Economic condition. Mobile telecommunications,
supported by a network covering about 97% of the country’s population and 82% of the land
area, has become one of the most vibrant services sub-sectors in the economy. Keeping
competition on the forehead Airtel one of the leading telecom service providers in India had
put its journey of glory towards Orissa in December, 2004, and now this is the most top brand
among other telecom service providers of Orissa. In this short span of 5 years it has not only
surpassed the previous well established companies like government owned BSNL but also one
of the most prominent brand, Reliance India mobile. Right now it commands a huge share of
33% of the total mobile phone users and more than 2600 Transmission Towers to its credit
surpassing nearest rival that is BSNL with 17% customers and 1800 transmission towers.
The First part of the project covers many aspect of Indian Telecom industry right from old
days when it first made its debut in form of Telegraph and its journey till modern day
revolutionary 3G enabled network.
The second part of the project deals with my contributions to the
company in form of marketing and sales of Postpaid connections (Corporate & Individual) and
Blackberry handsets with special plans in the Bhubaneswar region for 10 weeks. The sales
part involved Personal selling through cold call method and customer awareness was
increased through promotional drives carried out at various places like offices and ARC’s
(Airtel relationship centers). I was able to sell 17 Post paid connections & 2 Blackberry
handsets in this period that is a total worth of Rs 68,000/= addition to the total revenue of the
company.
The third and perhaps the most important part of this project was accessing the effectiveness
of various promotional activities undertaken by all the telecom companies using TOMA &
ITP analysis. TOMA was used to study whether the advertisements and other campaigns are
really able to get into the mind of the customers or not. Similarly ITP was used to measure the
effect of TOMA that is whether this awareness is getting converted into purchase intension
and finally real purchase. Two of the most important observations that came to light about the

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TOMA & ITP of Airtel as a brand are as follows

 The TOMA for Airtel is very high compared to other companies. 60% of the total
respondents, recalled Airtel as the first Telecom service provider which comes to their
mind when they think of cellular phone connections.

 This TOMA so created is really getting converted into intension to purchase, as 72% of the
respondents showed the willingness to shift to Airtel in future when they would go for a
change of their present service provider.

 The main factor for changing service provider was found to be Price Sensitiveness. Many
customers fall in the category of Fence-Sitters who will change their connections if price
increases.

 The loyalty of Airtel customers is better than other service providers.

Complete analysis of various other studies are given in the subsequent parts of this report
which is based on genuine and intense study carried out by me at different places of
Bhubaneswar & Cuttack in this 10 weeks On the job training period.

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 INTRODUCTION

The telecom industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. India has more than
200 million telephone lines making it the third largest network in the world after China and
USA. With a growth rate of 45%, Indian telecom industry has the highest growth rate in the
world.
Telecommunication sector in India can be divided into two segments: Fixed Service Provider
(FSPs), and Cellular Services. Fixed line services consist of basic services, national or
domestic long distance and international long distance services. The state operators (BSNL
and MTNL), account for almost 90 per cent of revenues from basic services. Private sector
services are presently available in selective urban areas, and collectively account for less than
5 per cent of subscriptions. However, private services focus on the business/corporate sector,
and offer reliable, high- end services, such as leased lines, ISDN, closed user group and
videoconferencing.

Cellular services can be further divided into two categories: Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The GSM sector is
dominated by Airtel, Vodafone-Hutch, and Idea Cellular, while the CDMA sector is
9
dominated by Reliance and Tata Indicom. Opening up of international and domestic long
distance telephony services are the major growth drivers for cellular industry. Cellular
operators get substantial revenue from these services, and compensate them for reduction in
tariffs on airtime, which along with rental was the main source of revenue. The reduction in
tariffs for airtime, national long distance, international long distance, and handset prices has
driven demand.
The role of telecom in various spheres of life is quite indispensable now a days. Telecom as a
quick ,cheap & effective mode of communication has overtaken every other communication
tools. This has so easily integrated into our lives and has become so widely used that even the
present global economic downturn had no effect on this industry. Vodafone , a UK based
company is rapidly expanding its market share after it took over Hutch. Airtel , the largest
player in this sector is very soon planning to go global after the merger with South Africa
based MTN Group , its second international venture after entering the Sri-Lankan market.
Tata Tele services is going to launch its GSM services very soon. Other are also expanding in
similar fashion.

1%
1%
4%
6%
Bharti Airtel
33% Vodafone Essar
15% BSNL
IDEA
Aircel
Reliance Telecom
MTNL
BPL
16%

24%

The role of telecommunications in industrial segment has shown

a steep growth from late nineties .It is now the most widely used mode of communication not
only by large but small and medium enterprises. The project at Airtel Bhubaneswar involved
a complete study of the telecom usage pattern of SME’s and SE’s and side by side Estimation
of the Market potential of Research in Motion developed Blackberry handsets which is a
smart phone designed specially for business class executives.
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Promotion is an important part of 4P’s , this has its own importance in marketing mix.
Different types of promotional tools are used by these telecom companies which aims at
creating awareness about the products and services being offered by these companies. Quite a
huge amount of money, labor and time is spent on these campaigns. The ultimate goal of all
these hard work is increasing sales. Any campaign is not immediately converted to sales but
it takes time, in the mean time these ad campaigns first create Top of Mind Awareness
(TOMA) that is it captures attention and stays in customers mind then this is converted to
Intension to Purchase (ITP), then finally the sales takes place. It is therefore very important
for these telecom companies to measure both these parameters which helps them to design,
re-design and withdraw any campaign. This also helps in mapping our product’s awareness
vis-à-vis that of competitors. At Airtel, Bhubaneswar, I mapped the TOMA & ITP of a
sample of 75 cellular phone users to access the awareness of various brands of cellular
service providers in this city to compare the awareness of customers about services provided
by Airtel vis-à-vis other players in this highly competitive sector.

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 OBJECTIVES

BROAD OBJECTIVE

 To understand the various requirements of Small and Medium Enterprises with respect to
their Telecom and e-mail usage pattern .

 To measure the effectiveness of promotional drives carried out by various telecom

companies.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

 To understand various telecom needs of SME’s and providing them specific plans that
suits their needs, and preparing a database of corporate and their present telecom
connections thus enabling Airtel to increase its postpaid customer base by Direct Selling
and helping it to break competition and acquire customers from other telecom service
providers.

 To access the market potential of blackberry handsets and increasing its customer base.

 To make a comparative analysis of effectiveness of promotional activities done by

various
telecom companies by undertaking TOMA (Top Of Mind Assessment) & ITP (Intension
To Purchase) analysis.

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To study the consumer trends in telecommunication sector.

 To study consumer decision-making & preferences.

 To study marketing strategies adopted by Airtel.

 To study the level of customer satisfaction in Airtel.

 To study the market potential.

 To study customer purchase decision behaviour.

 To understand the needs of different consumer segments.

 Comparative study of different mobile companies.

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 ORGANIZATION PROFILE

Bharti Airtel Limited, also known as Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications

services company based in New Delhi, India. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia
and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Airtel provides 2G, 4G LTE, 4G+ mobile services,
fixed line broadband and voice services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel had
also rolled out its VoLTE technology across all Indian telecom circles. It is the second largest
mobile network operator in India and the third largest mobile network operator in the
world.Airtel was named India's 2nd most valuable brand in the first ever Brandz ranking by
Millward Brown and WPP plc.

Airtel is credited with pioneering the business strategy of outsourcing all of its business
operations except marketing, sales and finance and building the 'minutes factory' model of
low cost and high volumes. The strategy has since been adopted by several operators. Airtel's
equipment is provided and maintained by Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia Networks whereas IT
support is provided by Amdocs. The transmission towers are maintained by subsidiaries and
joint venture companies of Bharti including Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers in India.[10]
Ericsson agreed for the first time to be paid by
14 the minute for installation and maintenance of
their equipment rather than being paid up front, which allowed Airtel to provide low call rates
of ₹1.

Headquartered in India, Airtel is a global communications solutions provider with appx. 480
Mn customers in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa. The company ranks amongst the
top three mobile operators globally and its networks cover over two billion people. Airtel is
India’s largest integrated communications solutions provider and the second largest mobile
operator in Africa. Airtel’s retail portfolio includes high speed 4G/4.5G mobile broadband,
Airtel Xstream Fiber that promises speeds up to 1 Gbps with convergence across linear and
on-demand entertainment, streaming services spanning music and video, digital payments
and financial services. For enterprise customers, Airtel offers a gamut of solutions that
includes secure connectivity, cloud and data centre services, cyber security, IoT, Ad Tech and
cloud based communication. For more details visit www.airtel.com

FINDINGS
Airtel FSO
FSO - Full Service Outlet

Basically for providing customer services in terms of their queries to build good relation with
customers to reach a point of customer satisfaction. Building good customer relation does not
only help in expanding sales but also helps in knowing the customer better and knowing the
customer further leads to acknowledgement of tastes & preferences of the customer. One of
the various ways to reach the customer is through franchisee. It helps the customer to be in
touch with a particular business. The franchisee should be at many places to build a strong
relation with all segments of customer. It must also have many customer executives so that
there are enough people to attend all customers and time can be saved. It leads to instant help
to the consumer to be happy and satisfied and the sole purpose of marketing "Customer
Satisfaction is achieved.

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OUTLOOK OF THE FRANCHISEE:

The franchisee was having transparent glasses outside so that anybody can look in that its
open from outside from inside the franchisee was beautifully furnished with furniture. Most
of the things there was of Red, black and white colour which are colours of Airtel. The
franchisee was centrally air-conditioned and have all the necessary things which customer
needs like sufficient number of seats, drinking water etc.

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INTERACTING WITH THE CUSTOMER'S

All the customer's were treated well, when they enters the franchisee the executives greets
them. All the executives there listens the customer query very patiently and try there level
best to solve it they send the customer to the floor manager.
For eg.:
For the new connection - The executives first listening to the customer patiently (his needs
and preferences) than tell them postpaid and prepaid connection plans which most suited to
the customer and helps them to choose the best for them, on the basis of their budget, for
what purpose they are buying, how often he will use it etc.

SERVICES PROVIDED BY Franchisee:

New Postpaid and prepaid connection

New SIM issue

Duplicate SIM issue.

Coupons and Easy recharge (Value)

Bill deposit (In cash and cheque)

Solving Customer queries

Migration of prepaid connection to postpaid connection and vice versa

Name and Address change of postpaid connection

Activation of Roaming and STD

Bill details

Changing of plans

Disconnection of plan

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 Mobile problems

Queries regarding broadband, GPRS

Queries regarding Land line phone

COMPETITORS

Hutch’s presence in India dates back to late 1992, when they worked with local partners to
establish a company licensed to provide mobile telecommunications services in Mumbai.
Commercial operations began in November 1995. Between 2000 and March 2004, Hutch acquired
further operator equity interests or operating licences. With the completion of the acquisition of
BPL Mobile Cellular Limited in January 2006, it now provides mobile services in 16 of the 23
defined licence areas across the country. Hutch India Vodafone has benefited from rapid and
profitable growth in recent years. It has already entered the Bhubaneswar market recently and is
giving tough competition to other players in the market whether it be Postpaid, prepaid or
Blackberry services.

Indian regional operator IDEA Cellular Ltd. has a new ownership structure and grand designs
to become a national player, but in doing so is likely to become a thorn in the side of Reliance
Communications Ltd. IDEA operates in eight telecom “circles,” or
regions, in Western India, and has received additional GSM licenses to expand its network
into three circles in Eastern India - the first phase of a major expansion plan that it intends to
18
fund through an IPO, according to parent company Aditya Birla Group. Idea has increased its
presence in Karnataka and Punjab by acquiring The Spice Telecom. Idea was launched in
Bhubaneswar recently in the month of April 2009.

VISION 2010
By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India:

• Loved by more customers

• Targeted by top talent
• Benchmarked by more business.

"To provide global telecom services and delight customers."

VISION 2020
• To build India's finest business conglomerate by 2020
• Supporting education of underprivileged children through Bharti Foundation
• Strategic Intent: To create a conglomerate of the future by bringing about “Big
Transformations through Brave Actions.”

MISSION
“ 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”

GOAL
• To undertake transformational projects that have a positive impact on the society and
contribute to the nation building process.
• To Diversify into new businesses in agriculture, financial services and retail business
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with world-class partners
• To lay the foundation for building a “conglomerate” of future

CORE VALUES

• Empowering People - to do their best

• Being Flexible - to adapt to the changing environment and evolving customer needs
• Making it Happen - by striving to change the status quo, innovate and energize new
ideas with a strong passion and entrepreneurial spirit
• Openness and transparency - with an innate desire to do good
• Creating Positive Impact – with a desire to create a meaningful difference in society.

FOUR PILLARS

• Error- free service delivery

• Innovative products and services
• Cost efficiency
• Unified Messaging Solutions

FEW KEY MILESTONES

• Date of Incorporation - July 07, 1995

• First private operator to offer fixed line telephony-June04,1998
• Became a public limited company in India - February 18, 2002
• First telecom company to have an all India mobile footprint (Presence in all 23
telecom circles in India) - March 30, 2005

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ACHIEVEMENTS

• Bharti Airtel crosses the 100 million customer mark and becomes the fastest private
telecom company in the world.
• Enters into the league of the world’s top telecom companies, moves towards top 5
global mobile companies .
• Adds last 25 Million in just 14 months, accelerating towards the 100 million customer
mark .
• 5,00,000 villages – covering over 95% of the population.
• India’s most Customer Responsive Telecom Company Award (16-12-05).
• MIS ASIA IT Excellence Award 2005 first Indian telecom company to win this award
(26-09-05).
• Bharti wins Silver Trophy at the CII National Six Sigma Awards (28-09-05).
• Airtel chosen as 'Most Preferred Mobile Service' by CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards
(07-07-05).
• Bharti Tele-Ventures amongst top three companies in the latest ET top 500 companies
ranking. (20-06-05).
• Bharti Tele-Ventures is the "Indian Mobile Operator of the Year 2005”. (17-06-05).
• Bharti Tele-Ventures is the “BEST INDIAN CARRIER” at Telecom Asia. (05-05-06)
Wins this award for the second consecutive year.

PARTNERS
• Network Equipment :
 Mobile Services - Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei
 Telemedia Services- Siemens, Nortel, Wipro, Cisco
• Information Technology - IBM
• Call Centre Operations - IBM Daksh, Hinduja TMT Teleperformance Mphasis,
Firstsource & Nortel
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• Equity Partner {Strategic} - Singtel

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
• The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE)
• The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE)

MARKETING OBJECTIVES

 Bharti’s objective is to differentiate itself in India’s highly Competitive communications

environment by ensuring customer delight through personalized customer service and
accomplishing this through a highly cost-effective business model.
 Bharti’s expansion strategy comes at a time when India’s mobile industry is at a
crossroad. India move ranks as the fastest growing cellular market in the world surpassing
China, the world’s long time leader.
 It is becoming more apparent that wireless technology, coverage and love pricing alone
are sufficient to drive significant competitive advantage in the Indian market place.

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 BRAND & ADVERTISING
Airtel and Visual Identity 
For a brand to be successful, it meet build enduring relationships with its different audiences
integral to this relationships is the visual image of the brand the consumer carrier in his/her
mind. The Airtel brand image is created through the consistent application of a carefully
developed visual identity, which helps AIRTEL distinguish itself in a cluttered market.
Airtel’s visual identity helps create instant brand recall and strength the relationships that its
audience have with it. 
      The AIRTEL visual identity has different eliminate that work together to create a strong
and consistent identity of the band. The most important of these are:

 AIRTEL LOGO – The AIRTEL logo is a strong, contemporary and confident

symbol for a brand that always ahead of the rest. It is specially drawn word mask.
 AIRTEL IMAGE STYLE – It incorporate two solid, rectangular forms counter
forms creates an open doorway.
 AIRTEL TYPOGRAPHICAL STYLE – The title case lettering with its capital ‘A’
was deliberately chosen to reinforce the brand’s leadership position. The red dot on
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 the letterform ‘1’ was Airtel’s focus on innovation. The ‘Express yourself’ are very
much part of the brand identity.
 AIRTEL COLOR PALETTE – The lettering is grey as that the pure black of Airtel
is visually unharmed CATEGORY ANALYSIS

PROMOTION

When Airtel commenced operations in 1995, the cellular market was pretty much in its
infancy. As a pioneer, Airtel had to take on the responsibility of creating and building a new
category. In its journey, Airtel evolved several innovative programmes to create awareness
about the benefits of mobile technology. This not only created the image of Airtel being a
market leader, but also showcased the brand as an innovator. It was a badge people were
proud to wear - and flaunt.

The early advertising for Airtel focused on mobile phones as a key business and lifestyle tool.
The tag line 'Power to keep in Touch' used in the brand promise was designed to make the
user feel 'in control…powerful'. As the category developed with prices going down sharply,
Airtel began talking to a wider spectrum of potential users. This was the birth of the 'Touch
tomorrow' positioning. Airtel started talking to new segments by positively positioning and
establishing itself as a brand that improved the quality of life.
In its strategic drive to emotionally connect with the mass market, Airtel has also used
cricket, Bollywood and music as carriers. Through this exciting journey Airtel has been
personified as a leader - innovator, likened to Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar and Shah
Rukh Khan. Airtel has always stood out as a dynamic and a caring brand. In this journey
Airtel has created some highly acclaimed.
Campaigns like the Leadership campaign, the Quality Time campaign, Magic Dalo, Say
Hello launch campaign, the Magic Hai to Mumkin Hai campaign, the A.R. Rehman Live
Every Moment campaign and the new Express Yourself campaign. Much like a pied piper,
the Airtel brand has attracted and retained the first customer it acquired in 1995 to the six-
millionth it acquired in 2003.

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BRAND VALUE

Airtel impacts the lives of millions across India - it gives people the unlimited freedom to
communicate so that they can express themselves freely. Airtel's brand values are centered
around leadership, performance, trust, care, innovation and sensitivity. These are reflected not
just through advertising, but in fact through each interface Airtel has with its customer.

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BRAND POSITIONING

In late-2002, Bharti Cellular Ltd. (Bharti), India's largest cellular telephone company released
a television commercial (TVC), which despite using the 'oft-repeated' celebrity endorsement
route was unusual in terms of its celebrity selection. Instead of using the usual movie
stars/sports celebrities, it chose one of the country's most successful music composers, A.R
Rahman to promote its brand.
The company also decided to undertake a comprehensive brand-building program for the
company and chose the slogan 'Unlimited Freedom' for the same. Commenting on these
changes, company sources said, "Airtel's brand identity and campaign will now have a new
younger and international look and feel.
Bharti's massive media expenditure plans were no surprise, considering the fact that it was
26
the largest cellular telecom company in the country - reaching over 600 million people in 16
(out of 29) states of India.

PRODUCT MIX OF BHARTI AIRTEL

1. PREPAID
2. POST PAID
3. VALUE ADDED SERVICES
4. BLACKBERRY
5. BROAD BAND
6. BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
7. DIGITAL TELEVISION ( DTH SERVICE )

 PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE: At a growth stage. 

27
 SWOT Analysis of Bharti Airtel
SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate an organization and its
environment. It includes the strength, weakness, opportunity and threats involved in a
business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project &
identifying the internal & external factors that are favorable & unfavorable to achieving the
objective.

Strength Weakness
 Pan-India operation  Tariff at the higher side
 Integrated telecom Player  No differentiated positioning in the
 Wide network coverage customer mindset
 Best Customer Service
 Innovative Value Added Services
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  Robust distribution channel
Opportunity
 Rural market yet to be tapped
 Penetration of value added services
 Number of overall mobile users are
increasing rapidly
Threat
 Entry of International Players like
Vodafone and AT&T
 Competitors like Idea, Aircel etc. are
also making high inroads.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGIES

 The project was divided into 3 segments and different methodologies were followed for
each segment of study.

 Basic methodology followed for the sales part of the project was Personal selling.

 The different small and medium sized corporate of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack were
identified and were approached through cold call method and direct selling was done by
making them aware of various plans and services being offered by Airtel and describing
them how using Airtel is going to benefit them in their business.

29
 Individual customers were approached with new and existing plans and they were
convinced for taking up Airtel postpaid plans. A special offer of converting prepaid to
postpaid was also extended to them.

 Methodology followed for selling Blackberry sales and awareness was also similar. Top
executives of big corporate houses were identified and approached for making them
aware of advantages and usefulness of Blackberry and were encouraged to purchase it.

Sales leads were generated using following methods

 As per the first method followed we went to mobile phone show rooms and information
about the profile of customers who purchase high end handsets was collected by simple
verbal interview method . Those customers were then approached with Blackberry both
by us and then trained sales personnel’s.

 In the second approach, higher ranked officials of various corporate houses in

Bhubaneswar were approached . They were made aware of the features of both
Blackberry Handsets and its services and were encouraged to buy it. This was done
through cold calls.

 In the third approach present customer data base was collected from the company and
they were approached for up selling and sales leads. Accordingly new prospect
customers were also approached for sales.

 For the last part of the project that is measuring effectiveness of advertisements and other
promotional activities being carried out by various telecom companies , TOMA & ITP
study was done.

 For TOMA & ITP following processes were followed:

 Research type: Primary research.

30
 Basic tool: Questionnaire method.

 Sampling method: Random sampling.

 Sample size: 75.

A randomly picked sample of 75 cell phone users were provided with questionnaire
containing 9 questions related to various aspects of their mobile phone usage pattern and their
attitude towards various promotional activities done by various telecom companies.

The whole output was then analyzed and effectiveness of promotional activities was
measured by looking at the companies which are able to capture the top of mind of the
consumers and how much of it is being converted into intension to purchase which in later
stages gets converted to real sales.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

To study consumer trends, behaviour, preferences and level of satisfaction in Airtel

communication Ltd. The study was conducted in Ambala with sample size of 50 and sample
units were suppliers and Consumer of mobile connection.

Research Objectives:

 To study the consumer trends in telecommunication sector.

 To study consumer decision-making & preferences.

31
  To study marketing strategies adopted by Airtel.

 To study the level of customer satisfaction in Airtel.

 To study the market potential.

 To study customer purchase decision behaviour.

 To understand the needs of different consumer segments.

 Comparative study of different mobile companies.

Research Design:
The following methodology was adopted for the study purpose:

Type of Research:
Descriptive and qualitative research design were used while conducting the project.
Sampling Design was taken by the researcher as the Research design.
The major purpose of the study is to describe the state of affairs as it exists at present.
The study was based on the facts or information already available, & analysis of this
available information make a critical evaluation of the material.

Research Method/Technique:

In the project report the researcher used following techniques while conducting his
study:
• Analysis of documents

• Survey Method: A market survey was done on life insurance companies.

• Interview (Personal): Both open and closed ended (unstructured) questions were asked
while taking some information from the users of the cellular at DELHI.

• Questionnaire (Structured): A structured designed comprehensive questionnaire was framed

and pretested for data collection from the customer of mobile.
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Research Data
Data is the key activity of marketing research. The design of the data collecting method is
backbone of research design.
Data constitute the foundation of statistical analysis and interpretation.
Hence the first step in statistical work is to obtain data.
Data can be obtained from two important sources, namely:

1. Primary Data

2. Secondary Data

Primary Data:
Primary data are gathered for the specific purpose or for a specific research project, consist of
original information for the fulfilment of project objective.When the data are required for the
particular study can be found neither in the internal record of the enterprises nor in published
sources. In some cases it may become necessary to collect original data.

Primary data can be collected in four ways:-

1. Observation
2. Survey

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Secondary Data:
Secondary data are the data, which already exists somewhere. Secondary data provide
starting point for research and after that the advantage of low cost and ready availability.
Secondary data can be divided into two types:
1. Internal data
2. External data
When researcher uses the data that has already been collected by other data are called
secondary data. Secondary data can be obtained from journals i.e. internal sources report,
government publication and books, professional bodies etc.

Internal data are reports and memos generated within an organisation to facilitate its
operations and annual report. External data are those specially produce for outside
consumption.

Sources from which the researcher has taken the secondary data are as
under:

1. Direct observation
2. Airtel website
3. Books for marketing management
4. Surveys and customer data & report
5. Airtels customers care office
6. Airtel’s Brouchers

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SAMPLE DESIGN
Area of Sample:
• The areas covered up in this survey was DELHI
Selection of units under study
Sampling Units from AMBALA were suppliers and Consumer of mobile connection
Source list (Sampling Frame)
SUPPLIERS: 10
CUSTOMERS: 40
Sample size: 50
Sampling Procedure: Probability Sampling (Simple Random Sampling).

OBSERVATION

The executives there were not fully aware of all plans. For eg. the executives was not aware
that Rs. 2,000 prepaid Connection in which the customer's get two years incoming validity
was still going on, he come to know about it when the customer said that he got a message
from Airtel today about this plan.

Customer's of new connection were very unhappy that there connection will be activated after
a weak.
Customer's were not satisfied with the Airtel services.
Customer care number doesn't connects easily, it takes a lot of time to connect some-times a
35
day to speak with executive.
Many fraud cases were coming.
Most of the people are opting for postpaid connection instead of prepaid connection postpaid
and prepaid connection plans which most suited to the customer and helps them to choose the
best for them, on the basis of their budget, for what purpose they are buying, how often he
will use it etc.
Most of the people were opting for Rs. 1399 advance rental plan of 2 years.
Many customers were demanding for corporate connection but the executives said that
individual connection of corporate is not possible; they should be atleast five connections.
People were very happy with add-on scheme of postpaid and also opting for it.
The franchisee sells 7 to 9 postpaid and 3 to 5 prepaid connection daily.
Many customer's were coming for making adjustment in their bill plan or amount.
Many customer's were coming with the problem that the plan they are assigned was not opted
by them.
Radio-connectivity of their system was getting very slow again and again by which the
customer's were getting irritated.
The customer's who need prepaid connection were getting less preference in comparison to
the customer's who need postpaid connection.
The customers were very happy with Airtel scheme in which the customer can make the
payment through bank automatically every month by filling ECR form.

SUGGESTIONS

There should be more customer care numbers and executives so that the problems of the
customers can be solved quickly.
They should have more space for payment.
The executives there should be given training time to time about new schemes and plans.
No phone calls should be attended while entertaining the customer.
Every executives should know his responsibility and work.

RECOMMENDATION
The company should go ahead with aggressive
36 marketing. They should light competition on
1. Awareness level.
2. Pricing strategy.

Thus, the recommendations fir these are as follows:

1. AWARENESS

(a) The company should sponsor local programs.

(b) The company should arrange briefing sessions at prominent clubs such as LIONS CLUB
and ROTARY CLUBS etc.
(c) The company should organize awareness quizzes through Newspapers, Magazines &
announce suitable rewards accordingly.
(d) The company should distribute, l eaflets of AIRTEL Cellular in posh colonies of DELHI.

2. PRICING STRATEGY

(a) The company should look the strategies of the competitive companies.
(b) The company should try its level best to keep the price low as compare to competitors.
(c) The schemes should be updated as per the needs and occasions

SUGGESSTIONS
(a) As the company have captured the western market they should retain the customers
(b) Try to capture the nearest other markets nearby
(c) Occasional offers
(d) Proper billings to the post paid users
(e) Proper response to the customers on the helpline no. Or toll free nos.
(f) Roaming deposits should be reduced

FURTHER SUGGESTIONS

 MATCH COMPETITORS SCHEMES.

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 COMMUNICATE THE SCHEMES TO Fos. AND RETAILERS DAILY.

 BETTER NUMBERS IN PRE – PAID AS CUSTOMER REQUIRES CHOICE.

 ENHANCE THE SERVICE IN AREAS WITH WEAK NETWORK.

 COORDINATION BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS MUST BE IMPROVED.

CONCLUSION
“Good services is the way to retain the clients”

 AIRTEL CONNECTIONS ARE SELLING BECAUSE OF BEST NETWORK

COVERAGE.

 GOOD RELATIONSHIP OF FOS. & REATILER IS BEING HELPFUL IN

SELLING.

 LARGE MARKET COVERAGE, EASY AVAILABILITY OF COUPONS.

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  CUSTOMER CARE NUMBER DOES NOT CONNECTS EASILY AND
EXECUTIVES THERE WERE ALSO NOT AWARE OF THE SCHEMES

LIMITATIONS

 Method of collection of information was through personal visit to the corporate and
therefore biasness becomes a major limitation.

 Due to the time constraint of the project large no. of the customers were not covered and
in-depth evaluation is limited.

 The data base prepared was restricted to 75 customers of Bhubaneswar only.

 Problem of getting Information on sales force strategies of other competitors.

 Customers unwillingness to share information was a hindrance.

QUESTIONNAIRE
SURVEY OF AIRTEL

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are thankful to you for patronizing AIRTEL. We hope that you are satisfied with the
product and quality of the services offered by the Airtel. As there is always scope for
improvement, we would like to get your opinion in these areas.
I would, therefore, request you to kindly assist us in our efforts by sparing a little time to give
us your valuable feedback and suggestions in the feedback form below. Please do not hesitate
to inform us of any observation that you think may be relevant. We assure you that we would
try to come up to your expectations.
39
Name:
……………………………………………………………………………………
Sex :………………… Age:…………
Occupation: ..
………………………………………………………………………..…………
Address:
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
Contact Number: +91989…………………

1. WHICH PRODUCTS OF AIRTEL THEY WERE SELLING AND WHICH

NOT?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
2. WHY WERE THEY NOT SELLING THAT PARTICULAR PRODUCT.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________

3. WHAT ARE THE DIFFICULTIES FACED DURING SELLING THE

PRODUCTS. 40
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
4. WHAT IS THE LEVEL OF STOCK MAINTAINED BY THEM.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
5. THEIR FEEDBACK IN COMPARISON WITH THE COMPETITORS.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________

BIBLIOGRAPHY
-
• BOOKS
Marketing Management by Philip Kotler 9th Edition
Research Methods for management by Dr. S. Shajahan 2nd Edition
Principal & Practice of Management by L.M. Prasad, 4th Edition.

• REFRENCES
• AIRTEL’s reports
• Books & magazine on mobile communication

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• WEBSITES & SEARCH ENGINE
www.airtelworld.com
www.bhartiteleventures.com
www.researchandmarket.com
www.info-shop.com
www.smartmobs.com

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