Project on

STRATEGIC APPROACH ADOPTED BY

AIRTEL COMPANY

In partial fulfilment of requirement for the

Award of Degree of M.Com

Subject:

Marketing Strategies& Plans

Submitted By:

Miss. SEEMA TALREJA

Roll No. 36

M.Com. Part – I, Semester

Under the Guidance of:

Prof. Mr. Kishore.Karia

SMT. CHANDIBAI HIMATHMAL MANSUKHANI COLLEGE

ULHASNAGAR – 421003

UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

2015 – 2016

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Department of Commerce

Certificate

This is to certify that, Ms. SEEMA.M.TALREJA of M.Com.-I, Sem.-I (Roll

No. - 23), has successfully completed the project titled “CUSTOMER

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT” under my guidance for the Academic

Year 2015-16. The information submitted is true and original as per my

knowledge.

Prof. Prakash N. Mulchandani(Project Guide)

Prof. Gopi Shamnani Dr. Padma V. Deshmukh(Coordinator, M. Com Course) ( I/C Principal)

External Examiner

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DECLARATION

I, Ms. SEEMA.M.TALREJA student of SMT. CHANDIBAI

HIMATMAL MANSUKHANI COLLEGE, ULHASNAGAR studying in

M.Com Part – I, (Semester – I); I hereby declare that I have completed this

project on “STRATEGIC APPROACH ADOPTED BY AIRTEL

COMPANY” for the subject “STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT” in the

academic year2015-16.The information submitted is true and original to

the best of my knowledge

_______________

SEEMA.M TALREJA

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

To list who all have helped me is difficult because they are so numerous and the depth is so enormous.

I would like to acknowledge the following as being idealistic channels and fresh dimensions in the completion of this project

I take this opportunity to thank the University of Mumbai forgiving me chance to do this project.

I would like thank my Principal, Dr. Padma V. Deshmukh for providing the necessary facilities required for completion of this

project.I would also like to express my sincere gratitude towards my project guide Prof. Mr. Kishore Karia whose guidance and care made the

project successful.I would like to thank my college library, for having provided Various

reference books and magazines related to my project.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank almighty God, my

parents, and my friends who helped me gather these data and

have sat with me for hours discussing about the project.

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OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective behind this research project is to study about the importance and development

of telecommunication industry in today’s scenario.

To understand the Marketing strategies which are used by Bharti Airtel to Survive in highly

competitive cell phone market and different services which are offered by Bharti Airtel. An

overview of the Indian telecommunication market is also given, along with the growing GSM

market and challenges before the CDMA market in India. A brief introduction about Bharti

Airtel has also been given, covering all the services provided by Bharti Airtel.

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LIMITATIONS

Time constraint- The time constraint refers to the amount of time available to

complete a project.

Money constraints- The cost constraint refers to the budgeted amount available for

the project.

Availability of information- A Research largely depends on the information

available to achieve its objectives the availability of information is also a major

concern in this Project report.

Biasness of the Data- The data collected is secondary in nature. So the user may

have different objective and may have used it accordingly. So the data available may

be bias.

Methodology6

This project is prepared with the combination of theoretical knowledge as well as

practical knowledge and a blend of advices and suggestion from the guide of the

project.

Various books helped me out in extracting the theoretical element. Also the

information relevant to the project is being surfed from internet. All these activities

are conducted as per the guide consent.

Finally, the project has been advantageously finished with various kinds of

experiences gained throughout. It had been possible with my facts and information on

this subject.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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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. There can be no better opportunity to interact with the

external as well as the internal customers of an organization. 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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SR.KG TOPIC PG.NO

1 INTRODUCTION 10

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 12

3 AIRTEL COMPANY'S PROFILE 22

4 MISSION AND VISSION 24

5 WHAT DOES AIRTEL OFFER 25

6 COMPETITORS OF AIRTEL 26

7 SERVICES OF AIRTEL 30

8 SWOT ANALYSIS 33

9 STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY AIRTEL 35

10 FINDINGS 43

11 SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 46

12 CONCLUSION 48

13 BIBLIOGRAPHY 49

14 QUESTIONNAIRE 50

INTRODUCTION

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The management of an organization’s resources in order to achieve its goals and objectives.

Strategic management involves setting objectives, analysing the competitive environment,

analysing the internal organization, evaluating strategies, and making sure that the strategies

are rolled out across the organization.

At its heart, strategic management involves recognizing opportunities and threats facing an

organization, whether coming from within the organization or from competitors, and

identifying how the organization stacks up compared to its competitors. This requires the

ability to both look externally and internally.

Strategic management is divided into several schools of thought. A prescriptive approach to

strategic management outlines how strategies should be developed, while a descriptive

approach focuses on how strategies are made in practice. These schools differ over whether

strategies are developed through an analytic process in which all threats and opportunities are

accounted for, or are more like general guiding principles that have to be applied.

Business culture, the skills and competencies of employees, and organisational structure are

important factors that influence how an organization can achieve its stated objectives.

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Companies that are inflexible may find it difficult to succeed in a changing business

environment. Creating a barrier between the development of strategies and their

implementation can make it difficult for managers to determine whether objectives were

efficiently met.

While an organization’s upper management is ultimately responsible for its strategy, many

times the strategies themselves are sparked by actions and ideas from lower level managers

and employees. An organization may have several employees devoted to strategy rather than

relying on the CEO. Organization leaders focus on learning from past strategies and

examining the environment at large. This knowledge is then used to develop future strategies

and to guide the behaviour of employees.

LITERATURE REVIEW

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TELECOMMUNICATION MARKET IN INDIA

The Indian telecommunications Network with 250m telephone connections is the fifth largest

in the world and is the second largest among the emerging economies of Asia. Today it is the

fastest growing market in the world and represents unique opportunities for UK companies in

the stagnant global scenario. Tele-density, which was languishing at 2% in 1999, has shown

an impressive jump to 9.5% in 2006 and 10.5% in 2007 and is set to increase to 20% in the

next five years beating the Govt. target by three years. Accordingly, India requires

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

Private operators have made mobile telephony the fastest growing (over 164% p.a.) in India.

With more than 33 million users (both CDMA and GSM), wireless is the principal growth

engine of the Indian telecom industry. Given the current growth trends, cellular connections

in India will surpass fixed line by late 2004/early 2005. Intense competition between the four

main private groups - Bharti, Vodafone, Tata and Reliance and with the State sector

incumbents-BSNL and MTNL has brought about a significant drop in tariffs. There has been

almost 74% in cell phone charges, 70% in ILD calls and 25% drop in NLD charges, resulting

in a boom time for the consumers.

The Government has played a key enabling role by deregulating and liberalising the industry,

ushering in competition and paving the way for growth. While there were regulatory

irregularities earlier, resulting in litigation, these have all been addressed now. Customs

duties on hardware and mobile handsets have been reduced from 14 percent to 5 percent.

The Indian government has merged the IT and Telecom Ministries to speed up reforms and

decision on the Communication Convergence Bill to enable the common regulation of the

Internet, broadcasting and telecoms will be taken after the new Government assumes

responsibilities in may this year. An independent regulatory body (TRAI) and dispute

settlement body (TDSAT) is fully functional.

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INDIAN CELLULAR MARKET

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

operator, with 50 lakh subscribers. BSNL, which operates in 22 circles, has a subscriber base

of 37 lakh subscribers. Thus BSNL stands second largest cellular operator in terms of

subscriber base at the end of the fiscal ending March 31, 2007, displacing Vodafone from the

second position.

Vodafone, which operates in only eighteen circles, is the third largest operator with a

subscriber base of 32 lakh. Unlike fellow public sector undertaking, MTNL, which operates

in Mumbai and Delhi, BSNL has been a very aggressive player in the market. "Cellular

operators who expected BSNL to go the MTNL way, were taken by surprise and did not take

effective steps to counter it, till it was too late in the day," said a telecom analyst.

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

7.92% growth, the highest growth in any month so far, during March 2005. Year-on-year, the

cellular subscriber base in the country has almost doubled in March 2005, and is expanding at

the rate of 25% per year thereafter.

The cellular subscriber club expanded by 21.31 lakh last month. This is much higher than 5.9

lakh subscribers added in February 2005 and 2.13 lakh in January 2005. Idea, which operates

in Seven circles, is the fourth largest operator with a subscriber base of 17.80 lakh, higher

than BPL's 11.31 lakh subscribers across four circles. The subscriber numbers per operator

drop sharply with the sixth largest operator, Spice Communications, having a subscriber base

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of 9.40 lakh, followed by Reliance Telecom's 8.9 lakh subscribers. MTNL is the ninth largest

operator, with a base of 8.32 lakh subscribers.

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

category A circles of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu

jumped by 10.18 % to reach 43.64 lakh. Category B circles of Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar

Pradesh (West), Uttar Pradesh (East), Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal recorded

a jump of 10.69%, with a total base of 33.74 lakh subscribers. Circle C has reported 12.74 %

growth with subscriber numbers jumping to 5.08 lakh.

Among the metros, while Mumbai added 1,63,180 subscribers, higher than the 1,58,646

added by Delhi, the Capital's cellular subscriber base of over 80 lakh is still higher than

Mumbai's 66.89 lakh. While the cellular industry has been on roll for the first three quarters

of the previous financial year with an average of 16.75 lakh monthly additions in the third

quarter, the first two months of 2007 had seen the growth slowing down.

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GSM MARKET IN INDIA

Regional Interest Groups - GSM India

With a population of around 1.1 billion growing at roughly 1.7 per cent a year, India is

potentially one of the most exciting GSM markets in the world. After two rather difficult

years, the past 12 months have seen the region's promise beginning to come to fruition. Much

of this success can be attributed to the stabilisation of the licensing and regulatory

environment.

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India's telecommunications have undergone a steady liberalisation since 1994 when the

Indian government first sought private investment in the sector. More significant

liberalisation followed in 1996 with the licensing of new local fixed line and mobile service

providers. However, it has been the government's New Telecom Policy (1999) that has had

the most radical impact on the development of GSM services. 'The policy's mission statement

is 'affordable communications for all', There is a genuine commitment to creating a modern

and efficient communications infrastructure that takes account of the convergence of telecom,

IT and media. In addition, the policy places significant emphasis on greater competition for

both fixed and mobile services.'

Competition in the mobile sector has already had a visible impact on prices with calls

currently costing less than 9 cents per minute. This means that service costs have fallen by 60

per cent since the first GSM networks became live in 1995. It also helps explain why a recent

Telecom Asia survey revealed that more than 70 per cent of Indian mobile subscribers felt

that prices were now at a reasonable level.

One of the challenges facing GSM operators in India is the diversity of the coverage regions -

from remote rural regions to some of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the

world. India has more than 40 networks, which cover the seven largest cities, over 7000

towns and several Lacs villages. Such depth of coverage has required enormous investment

from India's operators. It is estimated that more than Rs200 billion had been invested in

India's GSM industry by mid-2000, a figure that is set to be supplemented by a further Rs.

300 billion over the next five years.

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The good news is that subscriber growth is beginning to look healthy. With India's low PC

penetration and high average Internet usage -at 14-20 hours a month per user it is comparable

to the US -the market for mobile data and m-commerce looks extremely promising. WAP

services have already been launched in the subcontinent and the first GPRS networks are in

the process of being rolled out. In the year ahead, GSM India will work with its members to

realise the potential of early packet services in anticipation of the award of 3GSM licences.

India fastest growing GSM mart

India is expected to have 145 million GSM (global system for mobile communications)

customers by 2007-08 compared to 26 million subscribers as on March 2005, according to

the Global Mobile Suppliers Association. "For GSM, India is a success story. It is one of the

fastest growing markets with its subscriber base doubling in 2005. At this pace, the target of

150 million subscribers by 2007-2008 is definitely achievable," Alan Hadden, president of

GSA, said at a news conference in New Delhi. Globally, the GSM market reached 1 billion

users in February 2005, he said, adding GSM accounted for 80 per cent of the new subscriber

growth in 2005."Almost every Latin American operator has chosen GSM. In North America

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

the raging debate over GSM versus CDMA in mobile services arena, Hadden said: "GSM is

the world's most successful mobile standard with over 1 billion users, and is an open mobile

standard. It also supports automatic international roaming, which is a major contributor to

business plans."

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India’s GSM mobile firms’ revenue up 30 pct

India’s private telecoms firms offering GSM-based mobile services reported a 24 percent rise

in revenue in the year to March 2007 but said future growth rates could slow because of

heavy taxes on the nascent industry. Although India’s mobile sector is the world’s fastest

growing major wireless market, it is amongst the highest taxed industries in the country.

Mobile carriers pay as much as 25 percent of their revenue as licence fee, spectrum charges

and other taxes. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said revenue for fiscal

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 150 million GSM customers and more

than 96 million users of the rival CDMA-based mobile services in the country.

The pace of growth in monthly additions is slowing after just 1.25 million users took up the

service in April compared with 1.9 million in the previous month and 1.63 million in

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February. Ramachandran blamed the slowdown on a majority of small GSM operators being

unable to expand networks into rural swathes where demand remained largely untapped.

“Our surpluses are not enough to cover costs of network expansion and financing charges on

loans. We are making money only to cover operating expenses,” he said. Carriers are now

subsidising handset costs to woo users into the underpenetrated industry forecast to have

more than 250 million customers by 2015.

THE CDMA CHALLENGE

CDMA players had launched their services with CDMA 2000 1X-based networks, which can

give hi-speed, always-on connectivity to the Internet, and other data services. GSM operators,

on the other hand, have had to migrate from the frustrating experience of WAP (wireless

application protocol) to GPRS, which has not significantly improved the subscriber’s

experience of surfing the Net on/from mobile.

The top brass of GSA, an organisation comprising Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Alcatel and

Lucent Technologies - met on Tuesday in the capital to persuade the operators to

adopt EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) and leave GPRS behind as a dream

gone sour.

Only Airtel, Vodafone, BPL Mobile and Idea Cellular had launched GPRS, but the data

transfer speeds of GPRS have been abysmal. The field trials gave a speed of around 54 kbps,

but the actual speeds have not exceeded 14-18 kbps, a major reason why GPRS growth has

been so slow. As against the total GSM cellular base of 5.61 crore, the country has between

2,80,000 lakh GPRS users only. In comparison, the two CDMA operators have about 120

lakh connections. All these sets are data compliant. Though no figures are available as to how

many use these for data services, the figure is believed to be respectable as a percentage ratio

for CDMA.

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Bharti is almost there

But first, the EDGE! Bharti Cellular is close to commercially launching its EDGE service in

Delhi and Mumbai by end May or early June, sources said. The company was the first to

conduct field trials in November with its equipment supplier Ericsson. Idea too held EDGE

field trials in February this year with its vendor Nokia. Vodafone and BPL are yet to hold the

trials. The two companies would eventually migrate to EDGE, but perhaps after seeing the

response to Bharti’s service.

EDGE holds the promise of delivering data speeds of around 170-180 kbps (as against the

theoretical speed of around 380 kbps) which, if achieved, promises the launch of many data

applications. The scalable cost of migrating from GPRS to EDGE is not too high and mainly

comprises software upgrades in case of a modern network such as Bharti and Hutch, claimed

chairman of GSA India chapter Rakesh Malik.  

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.

 

 

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Company Profile

Bharti Airtel, incorporated on July 7, 1995 is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises.Bharti Group, has a diverse business portfolio and has created global brands in the telecommunication sector. Bharti Airtel, is Asia?s leading integrated telecom services provider with operations in India and Sri Lanka. Bharti Airtel has been at the forefront of the telecom revolution and has transformed the sector with its world–class services built on leading edge technologies.

Bharti Enterprises is one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, retail,

manufacturing, agri business and financial services. Bharti has recently forayed into retail

business as Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd. under a MoU with Wal–Mart for the cash & carry

business. It has successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild Group to

export fresh agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA and has launched Bharti

AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd under a joint venture with AXA, world leader in financial

protection and wealth management.

Bharti Airtel  is India?s largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider with

a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the

forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with

its world class products and services.

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The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business

units (SBU?s) – Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services. The

mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23

telecom circles while the Airtel Telemedia Services business offers broadband & telephone

services in 95 cities and has recently launched India's best Direct–to–Home (DTH) service,

Airtel digital TV. The Enterprise services provide end–to–end telecom solutions to corporate

customers and national & international long distance services to carriers. All these services

are provided under the Airtel brand. Airtel's high–speed optic fibre network currently spans

over 90,205 kms covering all the major cities in the country.

The company has two international landing stations in Chennai that connects two submarine

cable systems – i2i to Singapore and SEA–ME–WE–4 to Europe.

Bharti Airtel (Singapore) Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary was incorporated on

2nd April, 2007 and will obtain a license to enable interconnecting the i2i cable with other

submarine cable systems landing in Singapore to provide increased onward connectivity to

US West Coast and also to cater to connectivity requirements in Asia Pacific and for carrying

the business of International Calling Card Services.

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Understanding the Vision Statement of Airtel

A statement that captures the long-term picture of what the organization wants to become. A

vision statement must be inspirational, memorable and reflect the desires of those with vested

interests. The vision can be short term term goals or the long term. The following are the

vision statements of Airtel:

To be globally admired for telecom services that delight customers

Bench marked by more business

First private telecommunication company to launch long distance services.

Mission

Will meet the mobile communication needs of our customers through error -free

service delivery

Innovative products and services

Cost efficiency

Unified messaging solutions

Vision statement by 2015:

By 2015 airtel will be the most loved brand, enriching the lives of millions.

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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'.

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.

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COMPETITORS IN THE MARKET

Now days in the market each and every company has to face a stiff competition for its

survival. AirTel, which is the strongest brand among the private service provider in the

Indian Telecom Industry, has been facing a tough competition by some other telecom

giants like MTNL, Reliance & Tata Indicom.

MAHANAGAR TELEPHONE NIGAM LIMITED (MTNL):

MTNL was setup in 1986 by Govt. of India to upgrade the quality of telecom

services, expand the telecom network, and introduce new services and to raise revenue for

Telecom department in the key metros like Delhi & Mumbai. It has a strong financial base,

market share of 13% and customer base more than over 4.75 million lines.

RELIANCE INFOCOM:

Reliance - Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, an offshoot of the Reliance Group founded

by Shri Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002), ranks among India’s top three private sector

business houses in terms of net worth. Reliance – ADA Group’s flagship company, Reliance

Communications, is India's largest private sector information and Communications Company

with over 20 million subscribers.

Services provide by the company:

Reliance Broadband

A flexibility to choose the speed from the range of 100 kbps to 8000 mbps.

Bonus bandwidth of 100, 300, 600 instead of 64, 212, 524.

Charging of net surfing is also available in per minute tariff.

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TATA INDICOM:

Tata indicom is another main competitor of Airtel in the market due its strong presence of it

in the CDMA mobility, broadband and WLL fixed phone segment.

Tata Indicom fixed phone: - Tata Indicom offers almost instant phone connections. Get Tata

Indicom Landline Phone services based on the state of the art Optical Fibre Cable-based

backbone. Enjoy greater voice clarity and say goodbye to excessive billing.

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AIRTEL'S MARKETING ORIENTATION.

Since this is a high-involvement expensive product, the service provider has to fully take care

of the customers.

a) They take personal responsibility to "get" the answer for any problem faced by the

customer

b) They anticipate customers' problems and take pro-active steps to prevent them

c) They give answers to the questions & requests, quickly & efficiently.

d) They have a positive tone & manner while interacting with customers.

e) They end the interaction on a positive or a humorous note-making the last 30 seconds

count.

Airtel 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.

POSITIONING

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

a status symbol The emphasis is to remove misconception that the cell phone is an expensive

means of communication and drive home the point that the cell phone is actually a day-to-day

utility

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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 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.

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S E R V I C E S

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 about 5.4 million 3G

customers of which 4 million are 3G data customers as of September 2012

4G

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

company in India to offer 4G services. Airtel had 20,000 4G subscribers in the year 2015

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

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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.

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.

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.

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Other services includes:

Smart Drive Network Experience Centre iPhone Instant Balance and Validity Enquiry Recharge your Airtel Prepaid Subscription Alerts MMS Airtel Live Airtel Live! WAP Services Hello Tunes Copy a Hello Tune Gift a Hello Tune

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SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

Cost advantage

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

To prove credibility

Price pressures

Need for Government support

Awareness

Sales and Marketing

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.

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THREATS

Foreign investment

Global trends moving from GPS to WLL.

Lack of global parity in telecom tariff

Other competition

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35

MARKETING STRATEGY BY AIRTEL

Bharti decided to design different marketing strategies for different circles depending on the

strategies, employed by the competitors. While the company was focusing on its pricing

strategies, its competitors in various sectors were concentrated on new service offerings and

value additions since the players almost immediately matched price reduction moves,

companies had begun focusing on developing value-added offerings and schemes to expand

their market and gain customer loyalty.

Analysts remarked that the players were coming up with new schemes or value-additions

almost every week to get the better of their competitors. By constantly keeping itself abreast

with the moves of its competitors and launching various proactive/reactive schemes, Bharti

was able to retain its leadership position. Despite continual attacks from Vodafone, Reliance,.

It was reported that in Mumbai, 60-75% of customers seeking Airtel services were BPL

Mobile and Hutch subscribers. In fact, it was becoming difficult for the company to activate

cellular connections in Mumbai swiftly on account of the high rush – in some cases; it took

almost three days to activate a connection. Bharti has spent a considerable amount on

advertising its mobile phone service, Airtel. Besides print advertising, the company had put

up large no of hoardings and kiosks in and around Delhi. The objective behind designing a

promotion campaign for the ‘Airtel’ services is to promote the brand awareness and to build

brand preferences. It is trying to set up a thematic campaign to build a stronger brand equity

for Airtel. Since the cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also the fact that a Cellular

phone is a high involvement product, price doesn't qualify as an effective differentiator. The

image of the service provider counts a great deal. Given the Cell phone category, it is the

network efficiency and the quality of service that becomes important. What now the buyer is

looking at is to get the optimum price-performance package. This also serves as an effective

differentiator Brand awareness is spread through the' campaigns and brand preference

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through brand stature. Airtel's campaign in the capital began with a series of 'teaser'

hoardings across the city,' bearing just the company's name and without explaining what

Airtel was. In the next phase the campaign associated Airtel with Cellular only thereafter was

the Bharti Cellular connection brought up. Vans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing

out brochures about the company and its services to all consumers. About 50,000 direct

callers were sent out. When the name was well entrenched in the Delhiites’s mind, the Airtel

campaign began to focus on the utility of Cellphone. In the first four months alone Airtei's

advertisement spends exceeded Rs. 4 crores. As of today the awareness level is 60% unaided.

This implies that if potential or knowledgeable consumers are asked to name a Cellular phone

service provider that is on the top of his/her mind 60% of them would name Airtel. As for

aided it -is 100% (by giving clues and hints etc.).

Brand strength of a product or the health of a brand is measured by the percentage score of

the brand on the above aided and the unaided tests. The figures show that Airtel is a healthy

and a thriving brand.

Every company has a goal, which might comprise a sales target and a game plan with due

regard to its competitor. Airtel 's campaign strategy is designed keeping in mind its marketing

strategy. The tone, tenor and the stance of the visual ads are designed to convey the image of

a market leader in terms of its market share. It tries to portray the image of being a "first

mover every time" and that of a "market leader".

The status of the product in terms of its life cycle has just reached the maturity stage in India.

It is still on the rising part of the product life cycle curve in the maturity stage.

The diagram on the left hand side shows the percentage of the users classified into heavy,

medium and low categories. The right hand side shows the revenue share earned from the

three types of users.

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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 might cost different 1 higher) is an important variable in

determining the target audience. Besides this, other promotional strategies that Airtel has

adopted are .

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.

There have been educational campaigns, image campaigns, pre launch

advertisements, launch advertisements, congratulatory advertisements, promotional

advertise-ments, attacking advertisements and tactical advertisements.

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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 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".

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Business Strategy

“to capitalize on the growth opportunities that the Company believes are available in

the Indian telecommunications market and consolidate its position to be the leading

integrated telecommunications services provider in key markets in India, with a focus

on providing mobile services”.

The Company has developed the following strategies to achieve its strategic objective:

1. Focus on maximizing revenues and margins;

2. Capture maximum telecommunications revenue potential with minimum

geographical coverage;

3. Offer multiple telecommunications services to provide customers with a "one-

stop shop" solution;

4. Position itself to tap data transmission opportunities and offer advanced

mobile data services;

5. Focus on satisfying and retaining customers by ensuring high level of

customer satisfaction;

6. Leverage strengths of its strategic and financial partners; and

7. Emphasize on human resource development to achieve operational

efficiencies.

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Mobile Strategy

Capture maximum telecommunications revenue potential with minimum geographical

coverage to maximize its revenues and margins.

Build high quality mobile networks by deploying state-of-the-art technology to offer

superior services.

Use the experience it has gained from operating its existing mobile networks to

develop and operate other mobile networks in India and to share the expertise across

all of its existing and new circles.

Attract and retain high revenue generating customers by providing competitive tariffs,

offering high quality customer support, proactive retention programs and roaming

packages across all of its mobile circles. 

Provide affordable tariff plans to suit each segment of the market with a view to expand the

reach, thereby increasing the mobile customer base rapidly.

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Media Strategy

The primary media used for the rebranding campaign was television and print so that

everyone would get to see the ad & this would create an impact in his mind. Later in the

secondary media, OOH and digital media was used extensively so that there was an

immediate brand recall of the new logo and the brand Airtel.

JWT was the creative agency that has worked on the new Airtel campaign currently playing

out on TV, print, outdoor.

SALES DEPARTMENT AND STRATEGY

A. Major Accounts (Direct Channel)

Handles corporate (named and famed) accounts

Forecasting of sales

Mapping the accounts

Providing after sales support to the subscribers.

Maintaining call reports for records.

Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the requirement of the

market.

CURRENT STRATEGY4(G)

As it looks to expand its cellular services globally— With an eye on the youth in

Bangladesh,India and Sri Lanka, Bharti Airtel has rebranded itself as 'airtel' and launched a

global campaign that will rebrand its operations across the world. The new brand identity has

been created in sync with the launch of the company's fourth generation (4G) services

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FINDINGS

1. Twenty two percent of dealers believe that Airtel is the most preferred brand while the

other eighty eight percent believe that others are alos popular among the costumers.

2. It is clear that the most popular service Among the customers is air tel standard and

then airtel business because of their convenient tariff rates. However, each service is

suitable for specific class of people depending on their usage.

3. Thirty percent dealers are not fully satisfied with the netwok. They nelieve that there

is scope for improvement as the signals are sometimes not proper in the interiors.

Sometimes even inside trhe house or shop signals get weak.

4. All the dealers are satisfied with the knowledge of the customer service people of

Airtel. They understand their problems and give them a reasonable solution.

5. Most of the dealers i.e. near about 90% have the problem that when they make a call

to the computerized customer care department it takes long time near about 5-10

minutes for their call to be transferred to the customer care executives.

6. Most of the dealers are satisfied with the responsiveness of customer care executive in

calling back to them if proper solution was not available for the first time.

7. Nearly thirty-six percent dealers have low level of satisfied with the department that

leaves much needed scope for improvement.

8. The substantial percentage of dealers (27%) have a low level of satisfaction with the

company representatives to them. Also 21 percent dealers are not at all satisfied with

them.

9. It is clear that the dealers are not satisfied with the schemes provided by the company.

They have the complaint that thought the customers are benefited from the various

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schemes there are not many schemes for their benefit. Sometimes the schemes are

communicated to them slightly late and thus them the benefits from them.

10. Near about fifty percent dealers are not much satisfied with the margins given by the

company. The possible reason for this is the frequent fluctuations in them. Many

times they get less than what is assured.

11. It is clear that dealers immediately inform the franchisee about the receipt of the

activation forms and it all depends on how those forms are passed on to the

franchisees for timely activation.

12. Almost half of the dealers (50%) have high level of satisfaction and they should be

moved to the highest class. Thirty percent are on the average side this clearly points

out the deficiencies in the company’s policies and attitude towards the dealers. Being

the most important part of the channel network but that too not under the company’s

direct control should be properly considered and policies should be revised.

13. It is clear that there is not much difference in the opinion of dealers. Fifty-five percent

are agreed to setup the required network while forty-five percent are not. It’s a mixed

a bag situation and company has to decide accordingly.

14. Near about sixty percent dealers always wait for the clearance of the cheque. Thirty

percent depend on their appraisal of the customer and then decide accordingly. Only

ten-percent takes risk pass on the activation, as they don’t want to loose their

customer.

15. The dealers liking about the various features of the company. It is clear their

responses that AirTel’s Brand Image is best of the lot, the other features are also

important but the brand image is most compelling one for them.

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16. Seventy-five percent dealers are not satisfied with the company’s attitude towards the

dealers. Nearly fifty percent are not satisfied with the promotional strategy and

Services offered by the company for them. Some of them have given no responses as

they consider them a part of every business.

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SUGGESTIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Despite investments in integrated ERP, customer care, billing and network management

systems, telecom operators still struggle to achieve the promises of strategic information

management: providing relevant and meaningful information on Product, Customer and

Channel performance. What's needed? Structuring and pulling together the disparate pieces

of cost, revenue and performance information, to provide a view of where value is being

generated in the business.

Utilizing CRM systems to collect customer data

Customer attributes and segmentation

Product analysis for better yield management.

Financial, understanding of Customer costs and profitability

Typical situation.

Ideal Integrated Solution.

Closed loop marketing

Some of the recommendations for Airtel are as follows:

Airtel should use CRM as a platform for efficient delivery of a suite of products, services

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

For telecom, IT is like bread and butter. We believe it plays two significant roles-it works

as a support system, and it can also be a business driver. Thus IT is very important for

Airtel to understand and segregate customer needs depending on the product and services

he is buying.

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One of the primary things that can be done is the segmentation of customers. With this,

AirTel will be able to give its customers more value for money.

The future migration in bandwidth or zones should be done in such a manner that the

existing customer base do not suffer.

The Airtel subscriber or customer should get the same quality of service no matter which

of their call centres he contacts. This should be their vision – unified services across the

country.

It is vital for them to manage the expectations of the customers and thus provide them

with innovative products and services in a manner which makes them loyal.

Besides the game play of retaining customers, many operators are also constantly

challenged to build a profitable postpaid customer base. Thus Airtel should try and

initiate schemes that help • Migrating of prepaid customers to a postpaid plan by

creatively introducing the right value-added services to right customers and

communicating with customers effectively

Airtel can look forward to Acquiring quality customers and using new customer induction

and expectation management as a retention tool and managing monthly payment cycles to

minimize defaults and engaging channels to expand the reach for retention programs.

Set up a department which will exclusively handle complaints of dealer and solve them

ASAP. This should on similar lines of customer care department.

Thus the core business drivers of Airtel should be:

(a) Useful segmentation methodology and techniques

(b) Effective churn analysis and prediction

(c) Successful cross and up-selling

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CONCLUSION

From above the details I conclude that most Airtel users preferred to remain with

Airtel and that to mainly because of its brand value. Also good no. of users who were

willing to switch from their respective subscribers showed interest in Airtel. Hence,

these statistics imply a bright future for the company. Also the company is now

providing more services like the door to door services which is you dial the Airtel

customer care and would like to send someone flowers the Airtel company delivers

those flowers to the person concerned. Also Airtel is providing free text messaging

service and free voice mail service. Call conferencing is also another feature Airtel

provides.

But after conducting the dealer survey we conclude that Airtel has to pay special

attention on its dealer handling mechanism as they contribute a huge part in making

the customer brand loyal. They are the main source which provides customers the

details about the various tariff plans. So it is important for company to make them

aware of the plans and give them quality services.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Websites

http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/airtel.in/airtel.in/home

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtel

http://www.bhartiairtel.in/index.php?id=aboutbhartiairtel

http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/Airtel.in/airtel.in/home/foryou/mobile/postpaid/featur/

http://www.airtel.sc/airtel_prepaid.html

Dealers in Ulhasnagar region whom I had personally approached to collect data and fill

questionnaires.

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Questionnaire

Dealer :

Dealer’s Name :

Phone :

Mobile :

Q-1 In whose services you deal most?

(a) AirTel (b) others

Percentage:_________

Q-2 Which type AirTel’s service customer mostly prefer?

(a) AirTel Leisure (b) AirTel Business

(c) AirTel Standard

Q-3 How would you rate AirTel’s network in your area?

(a) Excellent (b) Good (c) Needs improvement

Q-4 How Knowledgeable is our customer service people?

(a) Excellent (b) Very Good (c) So-So

(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dis-satisfied

Q-5 When phoning our office how quickly is your call transferred?

(a) Immediately (b) within few minutes

(c) Takes Time________

Q-6 How responsive are the customer care executives in returning the phone calls?

(a) Excellent (b) Very Good(c) So-So

(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dis-satisfied

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

(a) Excellent (b) Very Good (c) So-So

(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dissatisfied

Q-8 How do you rate the usefulness of our sales representatives Visit?

(a) Excellent (b) very Good (c) So-So

(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dissatisfied

Q-9 How do you rate our schemes?

(a) Excellent (b) Very Good (c) So-So

(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dissatisfied

Q-10 How attractive is our margins?

(a) Excellent (b) Very Good (c) So-So

(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dissatisfied

Q-11 How much activations you make monthly?

___________________________________________________________________

Q-12 Time within which you inform the franchisee about receipt of activation?

(a) < 1 hour (b) 1-2 hours (c) > 2 hours

Q-13 What is your overall level of satisfaction with our services?

(a) Excellent (b) Very Good (c) So-So

(d) Dissatisfied (e) Strongly Dissatisfied

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Q-14 Is it feasible that activations are made from your office directly by setting the

required computer network?

(a) Yes (b) No

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

pass on the activation to the franchisee?

(a)Always (b) Generally (c) Never

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

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Q-18 Additional comments/prolems/suggestions.

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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