airtel final

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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 1

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Page 1: Airtel Final

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

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addressed now. Customs duties on hardware and mobile handsets have been

reduced from 14 percent to 5 percent.

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

reforms and decision on the Communication Convergence Bill to enable the

common regulation of the Internet, broadcasting and telecoms will be taken after

the new Government assumes responsibilities in may this year. An independent

regulatory body (TRAI) and dispute settlement body (TDSAT) is fully functional.

INDIAN CELLULAR MARKET

The Bharti Group, which operates in 23 circles, 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

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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 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.

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

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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.

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

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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."

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

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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 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.

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“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

2007. Roughly three percent of Indians own a mobile phone compared with about

20 percent in China. About a dozen firms such as Bharti Airtel Ltd, 28 percent

owned by Singapore Telecommunications, Reliance Infocomm Ltd and the Indian

GSM-unit of Vodafone group battle in the hotly competitive sector.

DOES GSM HAVE THE EDGE?

GSM operators are not the only ones who are worried about the rapid strides

made by CDMA mobile players Reliance Infocomm and Tata Indicom in the

Indian cellular market?

The GSM suppliers – both handset and equipment - who incidentally also have

their other foot firmly placed in the CDMA pie, are beginning to lose some sleep

over what was earlier termed as `niche’ and `minuscule’ data carriage market by

the operators

Apart from the strong success of the two CDMA operators whose networks are

based on code division multiple access (CDMA), the miserable showing of the

four global standard for mobile (GSM) based networks that launched general

packet radio service (GPRS) service for data connectivity in last three years, has

the vendors worried. Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) now believes

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that even though India will primarily remain a voice traffic-led market in next

two-three years, the data traffic component will grow by 25-30 per cent, an

optimism that it’s trying to make GSM operators feel as well.

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.  

 

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INTRODUCTION

Airtel (Bharti Airtel Ltd.)

Bharti Airtel Limited was incorporated on July 7, 1995 for promoting investments

in telecommunications services. Its subsidiaries operate telecom services across

India. Bharti Airtel is India's leading private sector provider of

telecommunications services based on a strong customer base consisting of 50

million total customers, which constitute, 44.6 million mobile and 5.4 million

fixed line customers, as of March 31, 2007.

Airtel comes to us from Bharti Airtel Limited - a part of the biggest private

integrated telecom conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. Bharti provides a range of

telecom services, which include Cellular, Basic, Internet and recently introduced

National Long Distance. Bharti also manufactures and exports telephone

terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being the largest manufacturer of

telephone instruments in India, it is also the first company to export its products to

the USA. Bharti has also put its footsteps into Insurance and Retail segment in

collaboration with Multi- National giants. Bharti is the leading cellular service

provider, with a footprint in 23 states covering all four metros and more than 50

million satisfied customers.

S E R V I C E S

Airtel Prepaid

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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.

Total Cost Control

You can control your Airtel Prepaid like never before. No more rentals or deposits

– simply recharge as much as you need to from as low as Rs. 10, to as high as Rs.

10,000/-.

Pre activated STD/ISD without deposits or rentals

You can now enjoy a pre-activated STD/ISD on your Airtel Prepaid. No more

paying deposits or having a minimum balance in your account to make an

STD/ISD call. Hassle-free calls are here to stay!

Strong Network Coverage

Enjoy complete clarity when calling with Airtel’s world-class technology and

unbreakable network coverage that spans over 23 circles across the country.

Instant Balance and Validity Enquiry

Your account balance is updated on the screen of your handset at the end of each

chargeable call. You can also call 123 from your mobile phone and listen to the

voice announcement or simply dial *123#, press 'OK' or 'YES' button and your

account balance will be displayed on the screen of your handset.

Recharge your Airtel Prepaid

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Recharging is Easy. The calling value on your card keeps reducing as you make

calls or use any other chargeable service. Choose the Airtel Prepaid Recharge

Coupon that’s right for you, from a variety of tailor– made recharge coupons with

different denominations, which are available at a number of outlets across your

city. Simply follow the procedure mentioned below, to recharge your phone.

Prepaid Roaming

Airtel Prepaid comes preactivated with 'National Roaming', so you stay connected

no matter wherever you are. You can also send or receive MMS, check your email

and access other GPRS services while roaming in India as you would in your own

city. While traveling abroad you can receive calls & send or receive SMS.

Other Services

Airtel brings you, a wide range of Services that will change the way you

communicate. Try them and discover a whole new world of fun and excitement.

Call management Services

Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification Presentation – all

with your Airtel prepaid connection.

Voice Mail

When your handset is switched off, or you’re too busy to answer the phone, Airtel

Voicemail will answer your calls and record a message. The best part is that

there's no extra monthly cost for setting up Voicemail - you just pay for the phone

call when you use the service.

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SMS (Short Messaging Service)

Send messages quickly and easily using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you don't

have much time. It's the way to share those interesting one-liners, important

reminders and rib-tickling jokes, with anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world.

Airtel Live! Voice Services: Just Dial 56465, and name the service. For e.g. say ring

tones to download your favorite ring tones. You can also choose a variety of

content options like Live Cricket Commentary, latest National / International

News, Movie Reviews or Stock Market Updates.

Airtel Live! SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting services like

cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few buttons with Airtel Live! SIM

based Services on your SIM card menu. To download new services on your Airtel

SIM, choose the "What's new" option under the "Airtel services" menu.

Airtel Live! SMS Services: You can enjoy a host of services by sending a keyword as

an SMS to 56465! Choose Astrology / Horoscope, Cricket, Bollywood /

Hollywood / Indi Pop Ring tones. In case you need assistance SMS, Help to

56465.

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Hello Tunes

Tired of that boring old ‘tring tring’ on your phone? Well now when a friend

calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up the music

charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of songs in the

Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly. What's more you

can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g. call 678005 for English

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

artist's Hello Tunes listing.

Copy a Hello Tune

Get the tune you want, all you have to do is call 55055 and follow the simple

voice instructions to copy your favorite Hello Tunes. Once inside the copy

feature, just key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number you want to copy the Hello

Tune from and you get the same Hello Tune assigned to your number.

Gift a Hello Tune

Forget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. Say it with a song instead!

Gift a Hello Tune to that special someone. Just call 55055 and choose the song

that you want to gift. Follow the simple voice instructions and key in the 10-digit

Airtel mobile number that you want to gift the Hello Tune to. You will get an

SMS notification upon successful receipt of that gift.

Buy Music - Airtel Music Shops

Buying your favorite Hello Tune or Ring tone is as simple as recharging your

phone with talk time. Simply walk into your nearest Airtel Shop and walk out

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with your favorite song. Choose from Bollywood Hits to Indipop Remixes, Hard

Rock to Gujrati Garba, Bhajans to Jazz, Bhangra Beats to foot tapping Tamil Hits

from a list of more than 18000 songs.

Reach us Anytime Anywhere

In case you need assistance, dial '121' - our toll-free number, accessible from

anywhere in the country, even while roaming. You can also send us an SMS to

121 or mail us at [email protected].

*In case of email, mention your mobile no. like, 9810012345, in the subject of the

mail for a quicker response.

Airtel Postpaid

Airtel welcomes you to a vibrant world of unlimited opportunities. More exciting,

innovative yet simple new ways to communicate, just when you want to, not just

through words but ideas, emotions and feelings. To give you the unlimited

freedom to reach out to your special people in your special way.

Easy Billing

Enjoy a host of rich features only with Airtel e-bill. Register free on ‘My Airtel’

section and view your monthly bill with call details for last three months. Sort

your calls between personal and official or analyze your usage, at the click of a

button. To change your tariff plan call our IVR at 121 and leave a request.

Easy Payment Options. Anytime Anywhere

You can choose from a host of convenient payment options only with Airtel.

Walk into any Airtel relationship centre and make your payments by cash or

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credit card. Drop a cheque at any of the drop boxes for making payments or

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

You can also opt for easy payment options like:

Standing Instructions

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

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

mail, fax it to us or drop it any of our relationship centres.

Electronic Clearing System

Fill an ECS form and mail, fax it to us or drop it any of our relationship centres to

directly debit your bank account for your monthly Airtel bill.

Pay while roaming

Airtel has introduced 'Anywhere payment' that offers you the convenience of

making payments while you roam. Walk in to any Airtel Relationship Centre in

the country, make payments by cash or credit card and enjoy uninterrupted Airtel

Services.

Credit limit

Your pre-set credit limit mentioned on your monthly bill helps you keep your

mobile charges in control, keeps track of your usage and ensures that your mobile

phone is not misused. Should you exceed your credit limit, you will be informed

via a voice or a non-voice message to make an interim payment and reduce your

account balance below your credit limit. You may also choose to pay us an

additional refundable deposit to enhance your credit limit or opt for our

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convenient payment method of Credit Card Standing instruction .You can also

make use of ECS facility.

Strong Network Coverage

Enjoy complete clarity when calling with Airtel .It offers you world class

technology and unbreakable network coverage that spans over 23 circles across

the country.

Long Distance Calling Facility

Call long distance calls in India and Overseas with STD / ISD facility on your

Airtel phone.

Widest Roaming - National and International

Airtel's roaming service allows you to stay connected and use your mobile phone

to make or receive calls from almost anywhere in India and also over 160

countries, abroad.

GPRS - Roaming

Use Airtel Postpaid's GPRS services, while roaming, to access the internet and

office mails (eg. BlackBerry services), from almost anywhere in India and abroad.

Say it. In more than just words, with Services from Airtel

Airtel brings you a wide range of Services that will change the way you

communicate. Try them and discover a whole new world of fun and excitement.

Call management Services

Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification Presentation, help

you do more with your Airtel Postpaid connection!

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Conference call

You can hold a teleconference with 5 people simultaneously with Call

Conferencing service from Airtel. In fact, you can set up a conference even when

the other five are using a landline phone. To know more, call customer service at

121.

SMS (Short Messaging Service)

Send messages quickly and easily, using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you don't

have much time. It's the way to Share those interesting one-liners, important

reminders and rib-tickling jokes, with anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world.

Subscription Alerts

Get regular alerts on news, jokes, business, health and films on your Airtel mobile

phone with Subscription Services. SMS <SUB NEWS> for News, <SUB

JOKE> for Jokes, <SUB BIZ> for Business News, <SUB SPO> for Sports Alerts

& <SUB VAASTU> for Vaastu tips to 3333.

MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service):

Jazz up your messages with pictures, images and video clippings, with MMS from

Airtel! To activate MMS on your phone, SMS 'MMS' to 56465 and save service

settings.

Airtel Live!

Make your mobile the most happening entertainment destination with Airtel Live!

Airtel brings you the latest in entertainment and information services, right on

your phone!

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Airtel Live! WAP Services: Download the latest ringtones, games, wallpapers,

videos and much more. You can also get news clips, watch live TV and download

full songs on you phone! To get Airtel Live! settings on your phone SMS 'Live' to

56465 and save the settings that you receive as your preferred connection. Airtel

Live! Portal can be accessed from you GPRS enabled phone, by sending a SMS

'FUN' to 56465.

Airtel Live! Voice Services: Just Dial 56465 and say the name of the service. For

e.g. say ‘Ring tones’ to download your favourite ring tones. You can also choose

a variety of content options like Live Cricket Commentary, latest National /

International News, Movie Reviews or Stock Market Updates.

Airtel Live! SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting services like

cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few buttons with Airtel Live! SIM

based Services on your SIM card menu. To download new services on your Airtel

SIM, choose the "What's new" option under the "Airtel services" menu.

Airtel Live! SMS Services: You can enjoy a host of services by sending a

keyword as an SMS to 56465 ! Choose Astrology / Horoscope, Cricket,

Bollywood / Hollywood / Indi Pop Ring tones. In case you need assistance SMS

‘Help’ to 56465.

GPRS (General Packet Radio Services)

Log on to the internet, with GPRS that allows data transmission at a higher speed.

Access e-mails and internet across Airtel's pan-India presence using 'Mobile

Office' with your phone or a phone and laptop both.

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Get the EDGE

Browse the internet on your mobile phone with Airtel's EDGE services. Enjoy

live TV, enhanced WAP experience and Airtel Data Cards on our high speed

network.

Hello Tunes

Tired of that boring old ‘tring tring’ on your phone? Well now when a friend

calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up the music

charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of songs in the

Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly. What's more, you

can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g. call 678005 for ‘English

New’ and 678001 for ‘Hindi New’. This would directly take you to your favourite

artist's Hello Tunes listing.

Copy a Hello Tunes

Like a tune you want, all you have to do is call 55055 and follow the simple voice

instructions to copy your favourite Hello Tunes. Once inside the copy feature, just

key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number you want to copy the Hello Tune from

and you get the same Hello Tune assigned to your number.

Gift a Hello Tunes

Forget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. Say it with a song instead!

Gift a Hello Tune to that special someone. Just call 55055 and choose the song

that you want to gift. Follow the simple voice instructions and key in the 10-digit

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Airtel mobile number that you want to gift the Hello Tune to. You will get an

SMS notification upon successful receipt of that gift.

Buy Music - Airtel Music Shops

Buying your favourite Hello Tune or Ringtone is as simple as recharging your

phone with talktime. Simply walk into your nearest Airtel Shop and walk out with

your favourite song. Choose from Bollywood Hits to Indipop Remixes, Hard

Rock to Gujrati Garba, Bhajans to Jazz, Bhangra Beats to foot tapping Tamil Hits

from a list of more than 18000 songs.

Reach us, Anytime Anywhere

In case you need assistance, dial '121' - our toll-free number, accessible from

anywhere in the country, even while roaming. *In case of email, mention your

mobile no. like 9810012345 in the subject of the mail for a quicker response.

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TARIFF STRUCTURE

Prepaid Tariffs

Airtel Prepaid Ready Cellular Card and Recharge Cards are available, all over the

city at over retail outlets including 24-hour outlets. Airtel Prepaid Ready Cellular

Card and Recharge Cards are available, all over the city at over retail outlets

including 24-hour outlets.

Airtel Prepaid Regular

449 SUK

 

  Pulse Rate 60 sec 

Price of Pack (Rs.) Rs.449 

Free Airtime on Pack (Rs.) Nil 

Incoming Calls (Rs.) Free while in home network 

  Airtel GSM / CDMA (10 Digit)

Landline / WLL

LOCAL RATES (Rs./min) Rs.1.20  Rs.2.00  Rs.2.40 

STD RATES (Rs./min) Rs.2.75  Rs.2.75  Rs.2.75 

ISD (Rs./min)

USA, Canada, Europe (Fixed Line), Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand.

Rs.6.40 

Gulf, Europe (Mobile), SAARC countries, Africa & Rest of the world

Rs.9.20 

Cuba, Sao Tome & Principe, Guinea Bissau, Diego Garcia, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Norfolk Island, Sakhalin

Rs.40.00 

SMS (Rs.)

Local Rs.1.20 

 

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National Rs.2.00 

International Rs.5.00 

POSTPAID

Airtel Postpaid allows you to choose from a variety of affordable talk plans,

convenient payment options and host of rich features. So get set to enjoy a world

of limitless possibilities!

Reference Tarif Packages (RTP)

ON TIME CHARGES

Activation Charges Rs. 250

Membership Fee Rs. 250

Security Deposit NA

MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) Rs. 524

Bill plan Charge Rs. 444

Monthly Rental Rs. 150

Clip NA

MONTHLY CHARGES (OPTIONAL)

Clip Rs. 99

Airtel GSM /

CDMA (10

Digit)

Landline /

WLL

Local Rates Rs. 1.99 Rs 1.99 Rs 1.99

STD RATES

50 – 200 Km

200 – 500 Km

500 + Km

ISD

USA, Canda, Europe (Fixed Line),

Austalia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand,

Rs. 7.20

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Page 24: Airtel Final

Malaysia, Indonesia, new Zealand

Gulf, Europe (Mobile), SAARC Countries,

Africa & Rest of the world

Rs 9.99

Cuba, Sao tome & Principle, Guinea

Bissau, Diego Garcia, Nauru, Solomon

Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Island, Tuvalu,

Tokelau, Norfolk Island, Sakhalin

Rs. 40.00

SMS

Local Rs. 1.00

National Rs. 2.00

International Rs. 5.00

Value Added Services (Rs.) Rs. 3.00

Airtel One Standard 150

ONE TIME CHARGES

Activation Charges Rs 250

Membership Fee Rs 250 (Converts into security after 24

months)

Security Deposit NA

MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) Rs. 150

Bill Plan Charge Rs. 50

Monthly Rental Rs. 150

Clip NA

MONTHLY CHARGES (OPTIONAL)

Clip Rs. 50

Bissau, Diego Garcia, Nauru, Solomon

Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Tuvalu,

Tokelau, Norfolk Island, Sakhalin

SMS

Local Rs 1.00

National Rs 2.00

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Page 25: Airtel Final

Intentional Rs. 5.00

VAS Rs. 3.00

This Bill Plan is also available under Advance Rental of Rs. 799 for 2 years.

Local Pack

Airtel to other local mobiles (non Airtel) At Rs 1 / min

Monthly rental Rs 25 per months/-

STD Pack

Airtel to other mobiles (non Airtel) & fixed lines nos. at Rs 2 / min.

Monthly rental Rs 75 per month/-

Special offer for Airtel Telephone service customers for availing Airtel

Mobile services

If you already have Airtel Telephone service, you can buy a new Airtel

Mobile connection under Airtel One Standard 150 Plan.

Benefits:

Non security deposit.

No membership / activation fee

Enjoy calls to your Airtel fixed line no. at just 50 P / min.

Monthly rent of Rs 25 for reduced call rates to your Airtel fixed line has been

waived off for 1 year.

For details, call us 516-12345

Advance Rental benefits (1year scheme)

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Page 26: Airtel Final

Pay an advance rent of Rs 499 and enjoy Airtel One Standard 150 plan at Zero

monthly rental for one year.

Advance rental of Rs 499 gives you a rental discount of Rs 150 every month for

the next 2 months. All other options and charges are as per the existing Airtel

One Standard 150 Plan.

Airtel one Standard 299

ONE TIME CHARGES

Activation Charges Rs 250

Membership Fee Rs 250 (Converts into security after 24

months)

Security Deposit NA

MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) Rs 299

Bill Plan Charge Rs. 150

Monthly Rental Rs. 299

Clip NA

MONTHLY CHARGES (OPTIONAL)

Clip Rs. 50

Airtel GSM /

CDMA (10

Digit)

Landline /

WLL

LOCAL RATES Re. 1.00 Rs. 1.00 Rs. 1.00

STD RATES

50-200Km Rs. 2.00 Rs. 2.40 Rs. 2.40

200 – 500 Km Rs. 2.00 Rs. 2.40 Rs. 2.40

500 + Km Rs. 2.00 Rs. 2.40 Rs. 2.40

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ISD

USA, Canda, Europe (Fixed Line),

Austalia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand,

Malaysia, Indonesia, new Zealand

Rs. 7.20

Gulf, Europe (Mobile), SAARC Countries,

Africa & Rest of the world

Rs 9.99

Cuba, Sao tome & Principle, Guinea

Bissau, Diego Garcia, Nauru, Solomon

Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Island, Tuvalu,

Tokelau, Norfolk Island, Sakhalin

Rs. 40.00

SMS

Local Rs. 1.00

National Rs. 2.00

International Rs. 5.00

Value Added Services (Rs.) Rs. 3.00

You also enjoy 25 FREE local mobile to mobile SMS

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Senior Citizen Plan

ONE TIME CHARGES

Activation Charges Rs. 250

Membership Fee Rs. 250 (Concerts into security deposit

after 24 months)

Security Deposit NA

MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) Rs. 150

Bill Plan Charge Rs. 51

Monthly Rental Rs. 99

Clip NA

Cuba, Sao Tome & Principle, Guinea

Bissau, Diego Garcia, Nauru, Solomon

Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Tuvalu,

Tokelau, Norfolk Island, Sakhalin

SMS

Local Rs. 1.50

National Rs. 2.00

International Rs. 5.00

VAS Rs. 3.00

With Senior Citizen Plan

28

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You can take 3 Friends and Family numbers:

Airtel to Airtel (1local no.) – Rs. 0.5 / min.

Airtel to Airtel (1 STD no.) – Rs 1.5 / min

ISD calls to US / Canada / South East Asia / Australia / New Zealand) – Rs.

9.99 / min

You also get FREE alert subscription worth Rs 30 / alert or 3 months on:

News

Astrology

Health Tips

The SMS charges as applicable is per 160 Characters.

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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".

The new identity will have the logo in Red, Black and White colours along with

lower case typography to convey warmth. AirTel will incorporate the latest

branding in all of its communication and will soon be going in for an enhanced

promotional drive to establish the brand's presence.

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LIFE TIME PLAN

PRE-PAID card users need not worry anymore about recharging their coupons

every month. Company has launched a plan that allows users to take a pre-paid

connection with lifetime validity for a one time payment of Rs. 999. Subscribers

availing themselves of this scheme will also get full talk time for the recharge

coupon they purchase and also have the option to buy Taiwanese manufactured

Bird mobile handsets for as low as Rs. 1,399.

The move is aimed at stopping the churn in the pre-paid subscriber base. Once a

subscriber takes this plan, he will always be an Airtel subscriber whether the

mobile is being used or not.

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MARKET SITUATION

At the time of launch

The first mover in the market was Airtel which launched its services in Delhi in

Aug 1995 (Informal launch). Essar Cellphone followed by launching its services

informally in Oct 95. At this point of time, the market was at a nascent stage,

awareness level was low and both operators independently tried to spread

awareness and educate the people

Once the networks were commercially launched, it became a number game with a

multitude of schemes being offered to woo customers Initially the cellphone was

perceived as a status symbol and utility took a back seat The target segment in

Delhi were corporate and the high income group. The average capacity installed

was for 1.5 lakh subscribers. This coupled with the steep license fee paid to DOT

put pressure on the operators to break-even by rapidly expanding their markets.

In the first two years, this led to a number of schemes being offered and prices

crashing.

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COMPETITIVE SITUATION

Airtel launched its services before Essar and skimmed the market picking up the

bulk of the high usage premium clients. This is a very competitive industry with

the two companies differentiating either on value-added services or price. Airtel

is perceived as the high quality provider and has a premium image. Essar, on the

other hand, is perceived as the lower end service provider. Airtel positions itself

as the market leader on the basis of the number of subscribers. Essar is trying to

counter this by emphasising on the reach of its network and the quality of its

service. However, Essar is somewhat not been very successful largely due to the

inconsistency in advertising

To promote themselves, both the players have been dependent on tactical

advertising However, they have restrained from using comparative advertising

Hoardings have been a very popular medium for carrying the advertisements

Airtel has also been advertising on television using the Bharti Telecom name.

SALES DEPARTMENT AND STRATEGY

A. Major Accounts (Direct Channel)

Handles corporate (named and famed) accounts

Forecasting of sales

Mapping the accounts

Providing after sales support to the subscribers.

Maintaining call reports for records.

Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the

requirement of the market.

B. IDC (indirect Channel)

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Handling distribution

Maintaining records and level check of the channel partner

Liaisoning between the channel partner and the company.

Target achievement

Training the executives of the channel

C. Distribution Support

1. Logistics

Monitor handset and SIM card requirements of channel partners

and co-ordinate with stores

Settle areas of concerns such as incentive claims of channel

partners

2. Rental

Provide cellular services (SIM cards) on rent.

Provide cellular phones on rent

Useful for people visiting Delhi for a short interval.

3 Telesales

Call customers and generate sales lead.

Follow up with the customers, if they need any assistance

Pass on the sales lead to the channel department.

4 Audit

Consultant to the AirTel showrooms.

Monitor the operations at the AirTel distribution outlets Organize training.

5. Retail

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Locate shops to open retail counters.

Monitor the retail counters.

MARKET SEGMENTATION

Segmentation is beneficial because of better predictability of the target consumer

group, minimization of risk exposure, better ability to fine-tune a product / service

to the requirement of target buyer and the resultant ease in designing a proper

designing marketing mix strategy In this case segmentation is on the bade of

income.

In evaluating different market segments the company looks at two factors The

overall attractiveness of the segments and the company's objectives & resources

The present market for Cellular phones, pagers and conventional phones is as

follows

Premium Middle EconomyUpper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower

Cellular Phones X X X - - -Pager X X X X - -Conventional Phones X X X X X -

X Market Segment Targeted

TARGET MARKET SEGMENT

Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The rationale behind it is

that only those segments should be targeted who value time and have the paying

capacity. It Is also planning to target the business tourists during their stay in the

capital

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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.

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

cellphone is an expensive means of communication and drive home the point that

the cellphone is actually a day-to-day utility

PRODUCT POLICY AND PLANNING

The product or service is the heart of the marketing mix. Without a product or a

service customers' needs cannot be satisfied.

The basic product promise by Airtel is mobility. Airtel's main marketing strategy

is to be a first mover all the time. It has recognised the significance of making the

first move-- because in the field of Communication & Information Technology

changes occur at a tremendous pace.

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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 optimise 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.

The "Value Added Services" provided from Airtel are:-

1). Voice Mail service

This system is similar to the answering machine - if the user is not able to answer

a call for some reason the caller can leave messages in the voice mail box which

can be later retrieved by the user

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ii) Short Message Service

The short message service is like a two-way pager. It gives an option of sending

and receiving text messages directly from one mobile phone to another without

the intervention of an operator.

iii) Mobile Fax 1 Data Service

This service helps the subscriber to send and receive Faxes, access E-mail,

download computer files from other systems and remotely log on to another

computer and surf the Internet.

iv) Cash Card

The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the buyers to buy

air time in advance. All it requires is the payment of an initial amount. This is a

useful service for people who travel to Delhi often and those who want to control

the expenses on their calls.

v) Caller ID

Displays calling person's number.

vi) Outgoing call restriction

To prevent or limit outgoing calls, for example, in peak hours. Also possible to

exclude one or several countries, or any geographical region, to permit only local

calls, or to limit the outgoing calls to a listed number.

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viii) Call forward

Incoming calls can be forwarded to another fixed or mobile phone.

Besides these some other services provided by Airtel are - Call conferencing, Call

Broadcast et cetera.

It is in the operators -Interest that they not only get many subscribers but also get

them to use the mobile facility frequently. In the early stages getting increases to

subscribe may be easier than getting them to talk since they will find it costlier to

use the mobile phone as compared to a conventional phone [if is believed that

initially cellphones would be used buy]

viii) Roaming Facility

Roaming facility is available while the subscriber is travelling. The billing is

done in the home network (Delhi). Roaming facility is available manually* as

well as semi-automatically. Once a subscriber is In any other city or country,

where a GSM network is available, simply insert the SIM card of the local

operator Into your handset and start talking.

* Manual Roaming means a separate SIM card is provided for each city

** Semi automatic roaming means one card has the facility for different

cities.

AIRTEL'S MARKETING ORIENTATION.

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

fully take care of the customers.

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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 realises that attracting people 'Is easy but converting them into loyal

customers is hard, hence emphasis is on maintaining a 'Smiling and a Friendly

Atmosphere' to please and retain the customer.

PRICE AND PRICING POLICY

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

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

category of customers- Generally, the cellular services are more expensive than

the land line based telephone services. This is due to the reason that the operating

companies are required to pay a fee to the government for using airtime.

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MARKETING STRATEGY ADOPTED BY BHARTI

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 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

41

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

advertisement spend 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.

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

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users comprise only 15 - 20% of the population the other segment cannot be

neglected.

The population which has just realised 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

organised 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 .

(i) People who have booked Airtel services have been treated to exclusive

premiers of blockbuster movies. Airtel has tied up with Lufthansa to offer

customer bonus miles on the German airlines frequent flier's programs.

(ii) There have been educational campaigns, image campaigns, pre launch

advertisements, launch advertisements, congratulatory advertisements,

promotional advertise-ments, attacking advertisements and tactical

advertisements.

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DISTRIBUTION

The- company whose operations are concentrated in and around Delhi. It 27

Franchisees and 15 Distributors- They also have 8 'instant access cash card

counters- Each franchises or distributor can have any number of dealers under

him as long as the person is approved by the Airtel authority. Each franchises has

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

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

franchises. The franchises can it any number of dealers as long as their territories

do not overlap. But unfortunately Airtel has not been very successful in

controlling territorial overlaps of dealers. The franchises can carry out his 1 her

own promotional strategy. For this the. company contributes 75% of the money

and the franchises contributes 25% of the money. The dealers under the

franchisee receive the same commission. The franchises and the dealer obtain the

feedback from the customers and they are sent through the liaison officer on a

44

Company

Franchisee Distributor

Dealers Dealer

Customer Customer

Page 45: Airtel Final

day-to-day basis to Airtel. The dealer has to invest Rupees. One Lakh as an initial

investment. The dealer of Airtel are not allowed to provide any other operators'

service.

Target set for distributors and the dealers is 100 -150 activations per month.

Hence the dealers can also go for their own promotions like banners and discounts

on festivals etc. The dealer provides service promptly. The consumer on

providing the bill of purchase for the handset and proof of residence has only to

wait an hour before getting connected. The staff of the dealers and the franchisees

are provided training by the Airtel personnel.

The complaints encountered by the franchisees and dealers are either handset

being non-functional or the SIM Card not getting activated. Anything more

complicated is referred to the main Airtel office in Delhi.

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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'.

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PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

The pattern of cellphone subscriber growth observed elsewhere in the world

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

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

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

Introduction Growth Maturity

MARKETING OBJECTIVES

Create product awareness

and trial

Maximise market share Maximise profits whole

defending market share

Strategies

Product Offer a basic

product/ service.

Offer value added

services

Increase in number

of value added

services.

Price Charge cost- plus Price to penetrate

market

Price to match or

best competitors

Distribution Build selective

distribution

Build Intensive

distribution.

Build more

intensive

distribution.

Advertising Build product Build awareness Stress brand

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Page 48: Airtel Final

awareness among

early adopters and

dealers.

and interest in the

mass market

differences and

benefits.

Sales Promotion Use heavy sales

promotion to entice

people to subscribe.

Increase to build

and maintain

relationships with

customers.

Increase to

encourage brand-

switching.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The methodology adopted for this project is exploratory in nature since there is no

hypothesis that has to be tested. The conclusions have been drawn by exploratory

research work.

There have been two sources of information collected:

a) Primary Sources

I have met retailers of the Airtel of the company and have been able to get first

hand information regarding the product, its features and the buying patterns of the

product. Their input has been valuable.

b) Secondary Sources

Secondary source has played a vital role to play in this report. A good amount of

data has been collected from various published articles and reports found in

magazines and journals. Another vital source has been the Internet and

particularly the companies own website.

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LIMITATIONS

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

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

error on account of following limitations-

(1) Respondent’s unavailability.

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

(3) Courtesy bias.

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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

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OPPORTUNITIES

To sustain passion and commitment

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

opportunity to wipe it out.

Attain higher value services

Collaborative business needs to be explored

Vertical repeatable solutions.

Low penetration level in rural markets.

THREATS

Foreign investment

Global trends moving from GPS to WLL.

Lack of global parity in telecom tariff

Other competition

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CONCLUSION

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

remain with Airtel. 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.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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

System. In EUROCON 88, June 2005.

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

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

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

IEEE Communications Magazine. April 1993.

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

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

Robert G. Winch. Telecommunication Transmission Systems. McGrawHill

New York, 1993.

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