MARKETING PLAN

1)Executive summary2)The challenge - A brief description of the

product & associated goals such as sales figures & strategic goals

3)Situation analysis:4)Company analysis5)Competitor analysis6)Collaborators7)PEST analysis8)SWOT analysis9)Market segmentation10) Selected marketing strategy – 4Ps11) Short & Long term projections 12) Conclusion13) Exhibits

1. Executive summaryThe main objective of the study was to know how the marketing plan by

Airtel .what is the position among the competitors in the market, strategies,

mission, vision, swot analysis, PEST analysis, market segment, challenges and

conclusion.

2. Challenges

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

Voice Services

Mobile Services

Satellite Services

Managed Data and Internet Services

Managed e-Data Services

Goals Airtel would strive to conduct its business in a manner that reflects its vision and brand essence. As the sourcing base expands, airtel will only do business with partners who are committed to a long term relationship focusing on mutual growth and trust. All Partners are responsible for making sure that airtel's vision and brand essence is adhered to when subcontracting any portion of their obligations. Partners are individually responsible for ensuring that their employees understand airtel's vision and brand essence.

Sales figures

Mar'11 Mar'10 Mar'09 Mar'08 Mar'07 12 Months 12 Months 12 Months 12 Months 12 Months

INCOME:Sales Turnover 38,015.80 35,609.54 34,048.32 25,761.11 17,851.61Excise Duty 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00NET SALES 38,015.80 35,609.54 34,048.32 25,761.11 17,851.61

3. Situation analysis

The first mover in the market was Airtel which launched its services in Delhi in Aug 1995 (Informal launch). Essar Cell phone followed by launching its services informally in Oct 95. At this point of time, the market was at an ascent 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 cell phone 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

4. Company analysis

Airtel was started by Mr.Sunil Bharti Mittal, a graduate from Ludhiana (PUNJAB).earlier he was owner of local telecom company Beetle. Afterwards he planned to expand his company at national level and the consequence is Airtel, what we see today. Bharti Airtel is India’s largest telecommunications company by subscriber base, which stood at 85.7 million in December 2008, and total revenues, which were Rs.270 billion in 2007/08.Airtel is one of Asia’s leading providers of telecommunication services with presence in all the 22 licensed jurisdictions (also known as Telecom Circles) in India, and in Srilanka. It served an aggregate of 96,649,487customers as of March 31, 2009; of whom 93,923,248 subscribe to GSM services and 2,726,239 use Telemedia Services either for voice and/or broadband access delivered through DSL. It is the largest wireless service provider in the country, based on the number of subscribers as of March 31, 2009. It also offered an integrated suite of telecom solutions to our enterprise customers, in addition to providing long distance connectivity both nationally and internationally. It had recently forayed into media by launching our DTH and IPTV Services. All these services are rendered under a unified brand Airtel. The Company also deploys, owns and manages passive infrastructure pertaining to telecom operations under its subsidiary Bharti Infracted Limited. Bharti Infratel owns 42% of Indus Towers Limited. Bharti ingrate and Indus Towers are the two top providers of passive infrastructure services in India. Sunil Bharti Mittal, the founder – chairman of Bharti Enterprises (who owns Airtel), is today, the most famous face of the telecom sector in India. He symbolizes the adage that success comes to those who dream big and then worked assiduously to deliver it. His strong entrepreneurial instincts gave him a unique flair for sensing new business opportunities. In the early years, Bharti established itself as a supplier of basic telecom equipment. His true calling came in the mid-1990s when the government opened up the sector and allowed private players to provide telecom services. Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. The Bharti Group has a diverse business portfolio and has created global brands in the telecommunication sector. Bharti has recently for aye 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

5. Competitor analysisAirtel 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.

6. Collaborators

Bharti Airtel has embarked on a restructuring exercise that will merge three separate businesses, triggering a large-scale job cull for the first time in the services sector since the 2008 economic slowdown.

Under this exercise, Bharti Airtel plans to merge its mobile, satellite TV (DTH), and fixed-line & broadband telemedia business, which jointly account for about 90% of the company's revenues and the vast majority of its workforce, into a single entity.

7. PEST

Political Regulation Political opposition to particular by the private players Government support to promote FDI in telecom sector Banning of phone use in certain circumstance

Technology Equipped with new technology Rapid industrial growth rate induced by emerging technologies. Strong fibre optic network Utilization of E-commerce facilities Efficient customer care service

Economic Cost of calls being driven down Worldwide recession both boon & bane Middle class consumer base growing due to accelerated economic growth Untapped market is emerging economy new opportunity.

Social-culture

High end phones becoming status symbol. Due to intimate family bonding in Indian culture there is need to remain connected. Tech savvy generation.

8. SWOT ANALYSIS

1. STRENGTHS Cost Advantage Current leaders in quality service Largest distribution network Ability to constantly innovate Highly skilled workforce Entrepreneurial zeal

2. WEAKNESSES

To prove credibility Price pressures Need for Government support Awareness Sales and Marketing

3. OPPORTUNITIES

To sustain passion and commitment Attain higher value services Vertical repeatable solutions Low penetration level in rural markets Collaborative business needs to be explored

4. THREATS Foreign Investments Global trending moving from GPS to WLL Lack of global parity in telecom tariff Other competition

9. MARKET SEGMENTATIONSegmentation 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.

TARGET MARKET SEGMENTAirtel 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. About15% is 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 upend prices have declined to a certain extent they are planning to venture further field.

POSITIONINGThe 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.

10. Marketing strategies 4p’s

1. Product

Handheld Value-Added Services Instant Balance Enquiry 24Hr recharge Facility Caller line identification Call divert, Call wait &Call Hold Multimedia Messaging Service Live Portal SMS based Information Service Hello Tunes & Ring Tones Voice Mail Service Easy Post-paid bill collection Gifting of Ring Tones &Hello Tunes GPRS

2. PROMOTIONS

Large scale print and video advertising

Big celebrities like SRK and Sachin are roped in to endorse the product.

In 2002 Airtel got its Signature tune from A.R. Rehman, this signature tune is perhaps the most downloaded tune in India

Provides innovations such as Bollywood movie premiers, music services such as ring back tones & many more

3. Place Strategic Issues in Distribution Flow of information in channel members. Availability of products on required time frame. Control over the channel. Availability of promotional items to the channel. Claim settlement should be solved within the committed time.

Conflict between the channel members should be taken care by the company.

4. Price

Customer based pricing strategies.Flexible pricing mechanismControlled by TRAI.GPRS Tariff for BSNL Option-I Option-I Portal access Prepaid Services Cell one portal.WAP sites.Browsing on internet.Cellone portal.WAP sites.Browsing on internet.Cellone portal.Cellone portal.WAP sites.Browsing on internet. Activation charges50/-(Initially free for 3 months)50/-(Initially free for 3months) NilMonthly Rental199/-349/-Nil Usage charges10paisa/KBNilNil (Only content is charged if downloaded)10paisa/KBFree units5MBUnlimited WAPbrowsing MMS Charges3/- per MMS3/- per MMS150 MMS free for 525plan.100 MMS free for 325plan.rest 3/- per MMS.5/- per MMSGPRS Tariff for IDEA WAPMWA-250MWA-500PrepaidServicesIdea fresh WAP portal, All WAP sites, Internet connectivity to computer. Idea fresh WAP portal, All WAP site side fresh WAP portal, All WAP sites, Internet connectivity to computer. Idea fresh WAP portal, All WAP sites, Internet connectivity to computer. Activation charges Nil Monthly RentalNil99/-250/-500/-Usage charges20paisa/KB Nil After free units,10paisa/KB Nil Free units Nil Unlimited WAPbrowsing25MB free Unlimited WAP and DATA Browsing MMS Charges5/- per MMS5/- per MMS5/- per MMS5/- per MMSGPRS Tariff for Airtel Prepaid Post-paid Services WAP sites.Browsing on internet.WAP sites.Browsing on internet. Activation charges Nil Monthly Rentals 5/- per day Rs 150/- per month Usage charges Unlimited browsing Unlimited browsing Game download50,60,150,200 depending on complexity of

game. MMS Charges5/- per MMS5/- per MMSMMS (Download)Charger mentioned on screen before downloading Charger mentioned on screen before downloading Ringtones / Wallpaper Rs 10/- per download (depends)Rs 10/- per download (depends)

11. Short term & long term projection

Loved by more customers Targeted by top talent Benchmarked by more business Customer Service Focus Empowered Employees Cost Efficiency Unified Messaging Solutions

Innovative products and services Error- free service delivery

12. CONCLUSIONFrom 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, the 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.

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