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  MINOR PROJECT REPORT

ON

“MARKETING STRATEGIES OF VODAFONE” 

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

FOR THE AWARD OF THE

DEGREE IN BACHELOR

OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

2012-2015

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF SUBMITTED BY

Ms. Shikha Sharma Vineeti Suman

Assistant Professor 00314701712

MAIMS BBA 3RD

 SEM ,A

Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies

Affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi PSP Area, Plot

 No.1, Sector 22, Rohini, Delhi-11008

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TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION i

CERTIFICATE ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii

CHAPTER –  1

1.1 Introduction

CHAPTER –  2

2.1 Objectives

CHAPTER –  3

3.1 Literature Review

3.2 General Marketing Strategies

CHAPTER –  4

4.1 Research Methodlogy

CHAPTER –  5

Finding and Analysis

5.1 SWOT Analysis

5.2 Marketing Strategies

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CHAPTER –  6

6.1 Limitations of the study

CHAPTER –  7

7.1 Suggestions

CHAPTER –  8

8.1 Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Signature :

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DECLARATION

This is to certify that I have completed the Minor Project title “ The MarketingStrategies of vodafone” under the guidance of ―Ms. Shikha Sharma‖ in partial

fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Business

Administration at Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies, Delhi. This

is an original piece of work and I have not submitted it earlier elsewhere.

 Name of the Student

Vineeti Suman

BBA 3rd

 SEM.

00314701712

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  CERTIFICATE

MAHARAJA AGRASEN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

This is to certify that the minor project titled “ MARKETING STARTEGIESOF VODAFONE” is an academic work done by “VINEETI SUMAN” submitted

in the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Business

Administration at Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies, Delhi, under

my guidance and direction. To the best of my knowledge and belief the data and

information presented by her in the project has not been submitted earlier.

 Name of the Faculty Guide

Ms. Shikha Sharma

Assistant Professor

MAIMS

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  ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

The satisfaction and euphoria that accompany the successful completion of any

task is incomplete without the mention of people who made it possible. So I take

this as a great opportunity to pen down a few lines about the people to whom my

acknowledgement is due.

It is with the deepest sense of gratitude that I wish to place on record my sincere

thanks to

Ms. Shikha Sharma, my project guide for providing me inspiration,

encouragement, guidance, help and valuable suggestions throughout the project.

I would also like to thank all my respondent and friends for giving me their

valuable time and information without their help and support this project wouldn‘t

have come up to the expectations.

Vineeti Suman

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION 

Vodafone  is a British mobile network operator,  with its headquarters in  Newbury,  Berkshire, 

England, UK. It is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world by

turnover, and has a market value of about £75 billion (August 2008). Vodafone currently has

operations in 31 countries and partner networks in a further 40 countries.

The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen by the company to "reflect the

 provision of voice and data services over mobile phones".

As of 2009, Vodafone had an estimated 303 million customers in 31 markets across 5

continents.[3] On this measure, it is the second largest mobile telecom group in the world behind

China Mobile. 

Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless,  the largest wireless telecommunications network in

the United States, based on number of subscribers.

VODAFONE GROUP

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In 1982 Racal Electronics plc's subsidiary Racal Strategic Radio Ltd. won one of two UK

cellular telephone network licences; the other going to British Telecom The network, known as

Racal Vodafone was 80% owned by Racal, with Millicom and the Hambros Technology Trust

owning 15% and 5% respectively. Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985. Racal Strategic

Radio was renamed Racal Telecommunications Group Limited in 1985.[5]  On 29 December

1986, Racal Electronics bought out the minority shareholders of Vodafone for GB£110 million.

In September 1988, the company was again renamed Racal Telecom, and on 26 October 1988,

Racal Electronics floated 20% of the company. The flotation valued Racal Telecom at GB£1.7

 billion.  On 16 September 1991, Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics as

Vodafone Group.

In July 1996, Vodafone acquired the two thirds of Talkland it did not already own for £30.6

million. On 19 November 1996, in a defensive move, Vodafone purchased Peoples Phone for

£77 million, a 181 store chain whose customers were overwhelmingly using Vodafone's

network. In a similar move the company acquired the 80% of Astec Communications that it did

not own, a service provider with 21 stores.

In 1997, Vodafone introduced its Speechmark  logo, as it is a quotation mark in a circle; the O's

in the Vodafone logotype are opening and closing quotation marks, suggesting conversation.

On 29 June 1999, Vodafone completed its purchase of AirTouch Communications, Inc. and

changed its name to Vodafone Airtouch plc. Trading of the new company commenced on 30

June 1999.[13] To approve the merger, Vodafone sold its 17.2% stake in E-Plus Mobilfunk .[14] 

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The acquisition gave Vodafone a 35% share of Mannesmann,  owner of the largest German

mobile network.

On 21 September 1999, Vodafone agreed to merge its U.S. wireless assets with those of Bell

Atlantic Corp to form Verizon Wireless. The merger was completed on 4 April 2000.

In November 1999, Vodafone made an unsolicited bid for Mannesmann, which was rejected.

Vodafone's interest in Mannesmann had been increased by the latter's purchase of Orange,  the

UK mobile operator. Chris Gent would later say Mannesmann's move into the UK broke a

"gentleman's agreement" not to compete in each other's home territory. The hostile takeover

 provoked strong protest in Germany, and a "titanic struggle" which saw Mannesmann resist

Vodafone's efforts. However, on 3 February 2000, the Mannesmann board agreed to an increased

offer of £112bn, then the largest corporate merger ever. The EU approved the merger in April

2000. The conglomerate was subsequently broken up and all manufacturing related operations

sold off.

On 28 July 2000, the Company reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group plc. In April

2001, the first 3G voice call was made on Vodafone United Kingdom's 3G network.

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CHAPTER 2OBJECTIVES

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RESEARCH OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1.  To review the services offered in India by Vodafone

2.  To know the present and future strategies of the company

3.  To study the impact of marketing strategies of Vodafone on their sales volume

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  CHAPTER 3

LITERATURE REVIEW

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A map showing Vodafone Global Enterprise' footprint. 

Vodafone Operating Countries

Vodafone's partners and affiliates

In 2001, the Company took over  Eircell ,  then part of eircom in Ireland, and rebranded it as

Vodafone Ireland.  It then went on to acquire Japan's third-largest mobile operator J-Phone,

which had introduced camera phones first in Japan.

On 17 December 2001, Vodafone introduced the concept of "Partner Networks", by signing

TDC Mobil of Denmark. The new concept involved the introduction of Vodafone international

services to the local market, without the need of investment by Vodafone. The concept would beused to extend the Vodafone brand and services into markets where it does not have stakes in

local operators. Vodafone services would be marketed under the dual-brand scheme, where the

Vodafone brand is added at the end of the local brand. (i.e., TDC Mobil-Vodafone etc.)

Vodafone Global Enterprise

Global Enterprise is a business set up by Vodafone with the sole purpose of handling Vodafone's

multinational clients. It is the high end business to business (B2B) section of Vodafone Group,

and acts like an operating country (such as for example Vodafone UK). Devices and services

available in any operating country, are available to Global Enterprise customers in the same

country, and so Vodafone Global Enterprise are able to offer a wide range of products. Vodafone

Global Enterprise have a presence in over 65 countries, and this number is expected to grow in

future, as with the recent aqcuisition of  Ghana Telecom. Since its foundation in 2007, Global

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Enterprise has aimed to be a world leader in managed mobility services. Vodafone Global

Enterprise are headquartered in Newbury, but have operatives around the world; while many of

Vodafone's marketing employees are relocated to London, Global Enterprise' team will remain in

 Newbury.

 Nick Jeffery leads Vodafone Global Enterprise. He led the creation of Vodafone Global

Enterprise in 2007, and continues to define the strategy and operational execution for Vodafone's

relationship with multi-national corporate customers. Global Enterprise have a dedicated group

of account managers, at both global and national levels, who look after customers needs, and are

supported by pre-sales and technical consultancy teams.

Products and Services include: Enterprise Central, Telecomms Management, Global Device

Portfolio and Managed Mobility Services. In 2009, Vodafone Global Enterprise was the winner

of Best Mobile Enterprise Service at the GSMA Global Mobile Awards 2009.

Europe

 Networks in Europe

Majority-owned Minority-owned No Ownership

Albania France Austria Belgium

Czech Republic Poland Bulgaria Channel Islands

Germany Croatia Cyprus

Greece Denmark Estonia

Hungary Finland Faroe Islands

Ireland Iceland Latvia

Italy Lithuania Luxembourg

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Malta Rep. of Macedonia Norway

 Netherlands Russia Serbia

 Northern Cyprus Slovenia Sweden

Portugal Switzerland Ukraine

Romania

Spain

Turkey

UK

In February 2002, Finland was added into the mobile community, as Radiolinja is signed as a

Partner Network. Radiolinja later changed its named to Elisa.  Later that year, the Company

rebranded Japan's J-sky mobile internet service as Vodafone live!, and on 3 December 2002, the

Vodafone brand was introduced in the Estonian market with signing of a Partner Network

Agreement with Radiolinja (Eesti). Radiolinja (Eesti) later changed its name to Elisa.

On 7 January 2003, the Company signed a group-wide Partner agreement with mobilkom

Austria. As a result, Austria, Croatia, and Slovenia were added to the community. In April 2003,

Og Vodafone was introduced in the Icelandic market, and in May 2003, Omnitel (Omnitel

Pronto-Italia) was rebranded Vodafone Italy.  On 21 July 2003, Lithuania was added to the

community, with the signing of a Partner Network agreement with Bitė. 

In February 2004, Vodafone signed a Partner Network Agreement with Luxembourg's LuxGSM,

and a Partner Network Agreement with Cyta of Cyprus. Cyta agreed to rename its mobile phone

operations to Cytamobile-Vodafone. In April 2004, the Company purchased Singlepoint airtime

 provider from John Caudwell (Caudwell Group), and approx 1.5 million customers onto its base

for £405million, adding sites in Stoke on Trent (England), to existing sites in Newbury (HQ),

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Birmingham, Warrington and Banbury. In November 2004, Vodafone introduced 3G services

into Europe.

In June 2005, the Company increased its participation in Romania's Connex to 99%, and also

 bought the Czech mobile operator Oskar. On 1 July 2005, Oskar of the Czech Republic was

rebranded as Oskar-Vodafone. Later that year, on 17 October 2005, Vodafone Portugal launched

a revised logo, using new text designed by Dalton Maag, and a 3D version of the Speechmark

logo, but still retaining a red background and white writing (or vice versa). Also, various

operating companies started to drop the use of the SIM card pattern in the company logo. (The

rebranding of Oskar-Vodafone and Connex-Vodafone also does not use the SIM card pattern.) A

custom typeface by Dalton Maag (based on their font family InterFace) formed part of the new

identity.

On 28 October 2005, Connex in Romania was rebranded as Connex-Vodafone, and on 31

October 2005, the Company reached an agreement to sell Vodafone Sweden to Telenor for

approximately  €1 billion. After the sale, Vodafone Sweden became a Partner Network. In

December 2005, Vodafone won an auction to buy Turkey's second-largest mobile phone

company, Telsim, for  US$4.5 billion.[18] In December 2005, Vodafone Spain became the second

member of the Group to adopt the revised logo: it was phased in over the following six months in

other countries.

In 2006, the Company rebranded its Stoke-on-Trent site as Stoke Premier Centre, a centre of

expertise for the company dealing with Customer Care for its higher value customers, technical

support, sales and credit control. All cancellations and upgrades started to be dealt with by this

call centre. On 5 January 2006, Vodafone announced the completion of the sale of Vodafone

Sweden to Telenor. On February 2006, the Company closed its Birmingham Call Centre. In 1

February 2006, Oskar Vodafone became Vodafone Czech Republic, adopting the revised logo,

and on 22 February 2006, the Company announced that it was extending its footprint to  Bulgaria

with the signing of Partner Network Agreement with Mobiltel, which is part of mobilkom

Austria group.

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On 12 March 2006, former chief, Sir Christopher Gent, who was appointed the honorary post

Chairman for Life in 2003, quit following rumours of boardroom rifts. [citation needed ] In April 2006,

the Company announced that it had signed an extension to its Partner Network Agreement with

BITE Group, enabling its Latvian subsidiary "BITE Latvija" to become the latest member of

Vodafone's global partner community. Also in April 2006, Vodafone Sweden changed its name

to Telenor Sverige AB, and Connex-Vodafone became Vodafone Romania,  also adopting the

new logo. On 30 May 2006, Vodafone announced the then biggest loss in British corporate

history (£14.9 billion), and plans to cut 400 jobs; it reported one-off costs of £23.5 billion due to

the revaluation of its Mannesmann subsidiary. On 24 July 2006, the respected head of Vodafone

Europe, Bill Morrow, quit unexpectedly,[19] and on 25 August 2006, the Company announced the

sale of its 25% stake in Belgium's Proximus for €2 billion. After the deal, Proximus was still part

of the community as a Partner Network. On 5 October 2006, Vodafone announced the first single

 brand partnership with Og Vodafone which would operate under the name Vodafone Iceland, 

and on 19 December 2006, the Company announced the sale of its 25% stake in Switzerland's

Swisscom for CHF4.25 billion (£1.8 billion)., After the deal, Swisscom would still be part of the

community as a Partner Network., Finally in December 2006, the Company completed the

acquisition of Aspective, an enterprise applications systems integrator in the UK, signaling

Vodafone's intent to grow a significant presence and revenues in the information and

communication technologies (ICT) marketplace.

Early in January 2007, Telsim in Turkey adopted Vodafone dual branding as Telsim Vodafone, 

and on 1 April 2007, Telsim Vodafone Turkey dropped its original brand and became Vodafone

Turkey.  In addition, Vodafone Turkey also gives service in Turkish Republic of Northern

Cyprus. On 1 May 2007, Vodafone added Jersey and Guernsey to the community, as Airtel was

signed as Partner Network in both crown dependencies. In June 2007, the Vodafone live! mobile

internet portal in the UK was relaunched. Front page was now charged for, and previously

"bundled" data allowance was removed from existing contract terms.[20]

  All users were given

access to the "full" web rather than a 'Walled Garden', and Vodafone became the first mobile

network to focus an entire media campaign on its newly launched mobile internet portal in the

UK .[21]  On 1 August 2007, Vodafone Portugal launched Vodafone Messenger, a service with

Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger. 

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On 17 April 2008, Vodafone extended its footprint to Serbia as Vip mobile was added to the

community as a Partner Network, and on 20 May 2008, the Company added VIP Operator as a

Partner Network, thereby extending the global footprint to the Republic of Macedonia. In May

2008, Kall of the Faroe Islands rebranded as Vodafone Faroe Islands.

On 30 October 2008, the company announced a strategic, non-equity partnership with Mobile

TeleSystems (MTS) group of Russia. The agreement adds Russia,  Armenia,  Turkmenistan, 

Ukraine, and Uzbekistan to the group footprint.[22] 

On 20 March 2009, it was announced that the group's Luxembourg partner has been changed to

Tango: the agreement with LuxGSM was not renewed in favour of  Tango, the Luxembourg unit

of another partner network, Belgacom of Belgium.[23] 

At the end of 2007, Vodafone Germany was ranked 6th in Europe by subscriber numbers, whilst

its Italian operation was listed as 10th. Vodafone UK was ranked 13th, whilst Spain was listed in

16th place.

Asia-Pacific

 Networks in Asia-Pacific

Majority-owned Minority-owned No Ownership

Australia China mainland Afghanistan Armenia

India Fiji Azerbaijan Hong Kong

 New Zealand India Japan Malaysia

Samoa Singapore

Sri Lanka Thailand

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  Turkmenistan Uzbekistan

In July 1993, BellSouth New Zealand's network went live, and October 1993 Vodafone

Australia's network also went live. This was followed in July 1994 by Vodafone Fiji's networkgoing live.

In November 1998, Vodafone purchased BellSouth New Zealand, which later became Vodafone

 New Zealand.  In 1999, J-Phone launched the J-sky mobile internet service in response to

DoCoMo's i-Mode service. In December, 2002 J-Phone's 3G network went live.

On 1 October 2003, J-Phone  became 'Vodafone', and J-Phone's mobile internet service J-Sky

 became Vodafone Live!. On 3 November 2003, Singapore became a part of the community asM1 was signed as partner network.

In December 2004, Vodafone Australia agreed to deploy high-speed MPLS backbone network

 built by Lucent Worldwide Services using Juniper hardware.[25] 

Then in April 2005, SmarTone changed the name of its brand to 'SmarTone-Vodafone', after

 both companies signed a Partner Network Agreement. In August 2005, Vodafone launched 3G

technology in  New Zealand,  and in October 2005, it began launching 3G technology inAustralia. On 28 October 2005, the Company announced the acquisition of a 10 per cent stake in

India's Bharti Televentures, which operates the largest mobile phone network in India under the

 brand name AirTel.  On 22 December 2005, the Company announced the completion of the

acquisition of the 10% stake in Bharti Televentures of  India. 

In January 2006, Indonesia, Malaysia,  and Sri Lanka were added to the Vodafone footprint as

Vodafone Group signed a partner network agreement with Telekom Malaysia.  On 17 March

2006, Vodafone announced an agreement to sell all its interest in Vodafone Japan to SoftBank

for £8.9 billion, of which £6.8 billion will be received in cash on closing of deal. Vodafone Japan

later changed its name to SoftBank Mobile. On 9 October 2006, Vodafone New Zealand bought

 New Zealand's 3rd largest internet service provider, iHug, and on 1 November 2006, Vodafone

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Australia signed the Australian Football League (AFL)'s biggest individual club sponsorship deal

with the Brisbane Lions for seasons 2007, 2008 and 2009.

On 6 February 2007, along with the partnership with Digicel Caribbean (see below), Samoa was

added as a Partner Market. Then on 11 February 2007, the Company agreed to acquire a

controlling interest of 67% in Hutchison Essar Limited for US$11.1 billion. At the same time, it

agreed to sell back 5.6% of its AirTel stake back to the Mittals. Vodafone would retain a 4.4%

stake in AirTel. On 21 September 2007, Hutch was rebranded to Vodafone in India.

On 6 February 2007, Vodafone Group signed a three-year partnership agreement with Digicel

Group. The agreement, which includes Digicel's sister operation in Samoa,  will result to the

offering of new roaming capabilities. The two groups will also become preferred roaming

 partners of each other. Along with Digicel's markets, the Vodafone brand is now present in 81

countries, regions, and territories. What is interesting to note, is that as well as being partners,

Digicel and Vodafone are also rival operators in Fiji, where Digicel Fiji recently launched, and

Vodafone owns a minority (49%) stake in Vodafone Fiji.

On 10 February 2008, Vodafone announced the launching of M-Paisa mobile money transfer

service on Roshan's (Afghanistan's largest GSM operator) network: Afghanistan was added to

the Vodafone footprint.

On 5 September 2008, Vodafone purchased Australia's largest bricks and mortar mobile phone

retailer  Crazy John's adding 115 retail stores to its local operations.[26] 

On 9 February 2009, Vodafone announced a merger with 3/Hutchison via a joint venture

company VHA Pty Ltd, which would offer products under the Vodafone brand. dtac in Thailand

is signed as a partner network of the Group on 25 March 2009.

On 19 June 2009, Vodafone-Hutchison Australia (VHA) announced the end of its outsourcing of

retail operations. VHA committed to buying back and managing its entire retail operation,

including 208 Vodafone-branded retail outlets Australia-wide. This project is slated to be

completed by 1 September 2009.

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Azerfon in Azerbaijan is signed as a Partner Network on 22 July 2009.

Africa and the Middle East

 Networks in the Middle East and Africa

Majority-owned Minority-owned No Ownership

DR Congo Egypt Kenya Kuwait

Ghana Lesotho Bahrain

Mozambique Qatar UAE

Tanzania South Africa

Majority stakes held through majority-owned Vodacom Group

2Effective ownership is not majority, but full control exercised by the group.

Egypt

In November 1998, Vodafone Egypt network went live under the name ClickGSM. 

On 8 November 2006, the Company announced a deal with Telecom Egypt, resulting in further

co-operation in the Egyptian market, and increasing its stake in Vodafone Egypt. After the deal,

Vodafone Egypt was 55% owned by the group, while the remaining 45% was owned by Telecom

Egypt. 

Kuwait

On 18 September 2002, Vodafone signed a Partner Network Agreement with MTC group of

Kuwait. The agreement involved the rebranding of MTC to MTC-Vodafone. On 29 December

2003, Vodafone signed another Partner Network Agreement with Kuwait's MTC group. The

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second agreement involved co-operation in Bahrain and the branding of the network as MTC-

Vodafone. 

South Africa (Vodacom)

On 3 November 2004, the Company announces that its South African affiliate Vodacom had

agreed to introduce Vodafone's international services, such as Vodafone live! and partner

agreements, to its local market.

In November 2005, Vodafone announced that it was in exclusive talks to buy a 15% stake of

VenFin in Vodacom Group, reaching agreement the following day. Vodafone and Telkom then

had a 50% stake each in Vodacom. Vodafone now owns 65% of Vodacom after purchasing a

15% stake from Telkom.[27] 

On 9 October 2008, the company offers to acquire an additional 15 per cent stake in Vodacom

group from Telkom. The finalised details of the agreement was announced on 6 November 2008.

The agreement calls for  Telkom to sell a 15 of its 50 per cent stake in Vodacom to the group, and

demerging the other 35 per cent to its shareholder. Meanwhile, Vodafone has agreed to make

Vodacom its exclusive sub-Saharan Africa investment vehicle. Also, Vodafone agreed to

continue maintaining the visibility of the Vodacom brand. The transaction is expected to close on

May/June 2009.

On 18 May 2009,  Vodacom floats onto the  JSE Limited stock exchange in South Africa after

Vodafone increased its stake by 15% to 65% to take a majority holding, despite disputes by local

trade unions.

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Ghana

In December 2007, a Vodafone Group-led consortium was awarded the second mobile phone

licence in Qatar, and on 3 July 2008, Vodafone agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Ghana Telecom

for $900 million. The acquisition was consummated on 17 August 2008. The same group-led

consortium in Qatar wins the second fixed-line licence in the said country on 15 September

2008.

On 15 April 2009, Ghana Telecom, along with its mobile subsidiary onetouch,  is rebranded as

Vodafone Ghana. 

U.A.E.

On 28 January 2009, the group announced a partner network agreement with Du,  the second-

largest operator of the United Arab Emirates.  The agreement involves co-operation on

international clients, handset procurement, mobile broadband etc.

The Americas

 Networks in the Americas

Minority-

ownedNo Ownership

USA1  Anguilla2 Antigua &

Barbuda2 Aruba2  Barbados2 

Bermuda Bonaire Canada Cayman Islands

Chile4  Curaçao2  Dominica2  French West

Indies2 

Grenada Guyana Haiti Honduras

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  Jamaica2  Panama2 St. Kitts &

 Nevis2 St. Lucia2 

St. Vincent & the

Grenadines2 

Trinidad &

Tobago2 Turk & Caicos2 

In the United States,  Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless,  the country's largest mobile

carrier after their merger with Alltel.  The percentage of the customer base, and revenues of

Verizon Wireless that Vodafone consolidates is slightly lower, since some Verizon Wireless

subsidiaries have minority investors. (Hence the exact percentages that Vodafone and Verizon

report vary from period to period: in June 2006 Vodafone reported that Verizon Wireless owned

98.6% of its customers at that date.) Before this joint venture was formed, Vodafone merged

with AirTouch Communications of the U.S. in June 1999, and changed its name to Vodafone

Airtouch plc. In September 1999, Vodafone Airtouch announced a $70-billion joint venture with

Bell Atlantic Corp. Verizon Wireless was composed of Bell Atlantic's and Vodafone AirTouch's

U.S. wireless assets, and began operations on 4 April 2000. However,  Verizon Communications

- the company formed when Bell Atlantic and GTE merged on 30 June 2000 - owns a majority of

Verizon Wireless, and Vodafone's branding is not used, nor is the CDMA network compatible

with GSM phones. This relationship has been quite profitable for Vodafone, but there have

historically been three problems with it. The first is the above-mentioned incompatibility with

the GSM 900/1800 MHz standard used by Vodafone's other networks, and the consequent

difficulty of offering roaming between Vodafone's U.S. and other networks. The other two stem

from the fact that Vodafone does not have management control over Verizon Wireless. Vodafone

is thus unable to use the Vodafone brand for its U.S. operations, and (perhaps more importantly)

has no control of dividend policy at Verizon Wireless, and is therefore entirely at the mercy of

Verizon management with respect to cash flow from Verizon Wireless.

Perhaps as a consequence of these reasons, Vodafone made a bid for the entirety of AT&T

Wireless when that company was for sale in 2004. Had this bid been successful, Vodafone would

 presumably have sold its stake in Verizon Wireless, and then rebranded the resultant business as

Vodafone. However, Cingular Wireless, at the time a joint venture of SBC Communications and

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BellSouth (both now part of AT&T), ultimately outbid Vodafone and took control of AT&T

Wireless (the combined wireless carrier is now AT&T Mobility), and Vodafone's relationship

with Verizon has continued.

Early in 2006, Verizon re-iterated their desire to buy out the remaining 45% of stock of Verizon

Wireless from Vodafone Group. Vodafone has also repeatedly indicated that it would be willing

to buy out Verizon's stake.

Verizon has announced that its 4G data network will be LTE, which is considered part of the

GSM path and not the CDMA2000 path Verizon has been using; it has been suggested[who?] this

is to appease Vodafone, which uses GSM on its own networks.

On 11 May 2008, Vodafone sealed a trade agreement with the Chilean Entel PCS Chile, in which

Entel PCS has access to the equipment and international services of Vodafone, and Vodafone

will be one of the trademarks of Entel for the wireless business. This step will give the Vodafone

 brand access to a market of over 15 million people, currently divided among three companies:

Telefonica Movistar, Claro, and Entel PCS. 

Mobile Money Transfer Service

In March 2007, Safaricom, which is part owned by Vodafone and the leading mobile

communication provider in Kenya, launched a mobile payment solution developed by

Vodafone.[28] M-PESA is aimed at mobile customers who do not have a bank account, typically

 because they do not have access to a bank or their income is insufficient to justify a bank

account. The M-PESA system allows customers to deposit and withdraw cash via local agents,

and transfer money to other mobile phone users via SMS.

By February 2008, the M-PESA money transfer system in Kenya had gained 1.6 million

customer s[29] and Vodafone announced that it was to extend the service to Afghanistan .[30] The

service here was launched on the Roshan network under the brand M-Paisa with a different focus

to the Kenyan service. M-Paisa was targeted as a vehicle for microfinance institutions' (MFI)

loan disbursements and repayments, alongside business to business applications such as salary

disbursement.

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The Afghanistan launch was followed in April 2008 by the announcement of further a further

launch of M-PESA in Tanzania. As an operator of money transmission services, Vodafone

 became subject to anti-money laundering regulation and in July 2008, it was revealed that it had

deployed a sanctions and PEP (Politically Exposed Persons) screening solution from Datanomic

for weekly screening of 2.5 million customers in Tanzania.[31] The screening service was to be

rolled out to Afghanistan, Kenya, India and Datanomic disclosed that the solution might be used

to screen all of Vodafone's 300 million customers globally.

In a period just short of twenty years from its initial public offering, the Company had just

three Chief Executives. The fourth CEO, Vittorio Colao,  stepped up from Deputy Chief

Executive in July 2008. Each of his predecessors made a personal contribution to the

development of the Company.

Sir  Gerald Whent, at that time an Executive with Racal Electronics plc, was responsible for the

 bid for a UK Cellular Network licence. The Mobile Telecoms division was de-merged, and was

floated on the London Stock Exchange in October 1988 and Sir Gerald became Chief Executive

of Racal Telecom plc. Over the next few years the company grew to become the UK's Market

Leader, changing its name to Vodafone Group plc in the process.

Sir  Christopher Gent took over as Chief Executive in January 1997, after Sir Gerald's retirement.Sir Christopher is responsible for transforming Vodafone from a small UK operator, into the

global behemoth that it is today, through the merger with the American AirTouch, and the

takeover of Germany's Mannesmann.

Arun Sarin was the driving force behind the Company's move into Emerging Markets such as

Asia and Africa, through the purchases such as that of Turkish operator Telsim, and a majority

stake in Hutchison Essar in India. Faced with increased competition, and penetration rates above

100% in the more mature European markets, it was necessary to diversify from being a mobile-

only business, into a company which provided all telecommunications services. This has seen

Vodafone launch DSL and other fixed-line services in markets such as Germany and the UK.

Financial results

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Vodafone reportes its results in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards

(IFRS).

Vodafone has some large minority stakes, which are not included in its consolidated turnover. In

order to provide additional information on the overall scale and growth trends of its business, it

 publishes "proportionate turnover" figures, and these are included in the tables below. For

example, if a business in which it owns a 45% stake has turnover of £10 billion, that equals £4.5

 billion of proportionate turnover for Vodafone. Proportionate turnover is not an official

accounting measure, and Vodafone's proportionate turnover should be compared with other

companies' statutory turnover.

Vodafone also produces proportionate customer number figures on a similar basis, eg. if an

operator in which it has a 30% stake has 10 million customers that equals 3 million proportionate

Vodafone customers. This is a common practice in the mobile telecommunications industry.

Products

Products promoted by the Group include Vodafone live!,  Vodafone Mobile Connect USB

Modem, Vodafone Connect to Friends, Vodafone Passport, Vodafone Freedom Packs, Vodafone

at Home, Vodafone 710 and Amobee Media Systems. Between June and August 2009, Vodafone

have abolished roaming charges within 35 different countries, allowing their customers to take

their standard UK price plan abroad.

Partner Networks

Partner Networks are networks that cooperates with Vodafone. This arrangement does not

involve any equity transactions. It allows the Vodafone brand to be extended to markets where

the Vodafone does not own a local company. Products resulting from this agreement are

marketed using dual brand formula, wherein the Vodafone is put after the local brand.

Country Network Market Rank Local Website Main Local

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/Region/

Territory

Name

(former)

Share Competitor

Austria mobilkomAustria

42.5% 1/4 www.a1.net T-Mobile, One, 3

Belgium Proximus 48.7% 1/3 www.proximus.be Base, Mobistar

Bulgaria Mobiltel 50% 1/4 www.mtel.bgGloBul, 

Vivatel

Croatia VIPnet 42.2% 2/3 www.vipnet.hrT-Mobile, 

Tele2

CyprusCytamobile

-Vodafone81% 1/2 www.cytamobile.com MTN

Denmark TDC Mobil 41.4% 1/4 www.tdc.dkSonofon, 

Telia, 3

Estonia Elisa Oyj ?% 1/3 www.elisa.ee Tele2, EMT

Faroe

IslandsVodafone 30% 2/2 www.vodafone.fo

Finland Elisa Oyj 30% 1/3 www.elisa.fi Sonera, Finnet

GuernseyAirtel-

Vodafone20% 1/3 www.airtel-vodafone.gg Wave, Sure

Iceland Vodafone 38% 2/2 www.vodafone.isSíminn,  TAL,

HIVE

JerseyAirtel-

Vodafone12% 2/3 www.airtel-vodafone.je

Jersey

Telecom, Sure

Latvia Bitė Latvija 21% 3/3 www.bite.lvLMT

GSM,Tele2

LithuaniaBitė

Lietuva21.6% 3/3 www.bite.lt Tele2, Omnitel

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Luxembour 

gTango 32% 2/4 www.tango.lu

LuxGSM,

VOXmobile

MacedoniaVIP

Operator10.7% 3/3 www.vip.com.mk

T-Mobile, 

Cosmofon

 Norway TDC ?% ? www.tdc.noTelenor, 

 NetCom

Russia MTS 34% 1/3 www.mts.ruVimpelcom, 

Megafon

Serbia Vip mobile 9.1% 3/3 www.vipmobile.rs mt:s, Telenor

Slovenia Si.mobil 27.7% 2/4 www.simobil.siMobitel, 

Tušmobil 

Sweden Telenor 16% 3/4 www.telenor.se Telia, Tele2, 3

Switzerland Swisscom 62% 1/3 www.swisscom-mobile.chOrange, 

sunrise, Tele2

Ukraine MTS 33% 2/5 www.mts.com.uaVimpelcom, 

Kyivstar

Asia-Pacific

Afghanistan Roshan 34.8% 1/4 www.roshan.af

MTN,  Afghan

Wireless, 

Etisalat

Armenia Vivacell-

MTS79% 1/2 www.mts.am Vimpelcom

Azerbaijan Azerfon 3/3 www.azerfon.azAzercell, 

Bakcell

Hong Kong SmarTone 11% 5/5 www.smartone-vodafone.com 3,  Peoples,

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Vodafone CSL,  New

World, PCCW

Japan Softbank17.71

3/4 mb.softbank.jp

 NTT

DoCoMo, 

KDDI

Malaysia Celcom 31% 2/3 www.celcom.com.my

Maxis

Communicatio

ns, Digi

Samoa Digicel 78.57 1/2 www.digicelsamoa.comSamoatel

mobile

Singapore M1 28.3% 3/3 www.m1.com.sg SingTel, StarHub

Sri Lanka Dialog 53% 1/4 www.dialog.lkTigo,  Mobitel,

Hutch

Thailand dtac 30% 2/4 www.dtac.co.th AIS,TRUE

Turkmenista

nMTS 87% 1/? www.mts.tm

Uzbekistan MTS 46% 1/? www.mts.uz

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It's Vodafone Essar! Ruias have $5 bn exit option

British giant Vodafone and Indian conglomerate Essar group reached an agreement on Thursday

for jointly running India's fourth largest mobile firm -- Hutch-Essar, which would berechristened Vodafone Essar.

The two companies said in a joint statement that they have agreed on partnership terms for

Hutchison Essar, in which Vodafone is acquiring 67 per cent stake from Hong Kong's Hutchison

Telecom International Ltd while Essar would continue to retain its 33 per cent stake.

"The partners have agreed that Hutchison Essar will be renamed Vodafone Essar and in due

course the business will market its products and services under the Vodafone brand," it said.

Under the terms of the partnership, Vodafone will have operational control of Vodafone Essar

and Essar will have rights consistent with its shareholding, including proportionate Board

representation.

Ravi Ruia will be appointed chairman of Vodafone Essar and Arun Sarin will be vice chairman.

Under the partnership terms, Essar will have an option to sell its 33 per cent stake to Vodafone

for $5 billion between the third and fourth years or an option to sell between $1 billion and $5

 billion worth of Vodafone Essar shares to Vodafone at an independently appraised fair market

trading value.

Earlier during the day, Sarin and Ruia had met then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and had

 briefed him about future plans of their joint venture.

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Sarin had also struck an optimistic note about signing a deal with Essar for jointly running

India's fourth largest mobile firm, to be called Vodafone Essar.

"..Hopefully that is something we might be doing here," Sarin had told reporters.

Last month, the UK giant had clinched a deal to acquire 67 per cent controlling stake in Hutch-

Essar from Hong Kong based Hutchison Telecom International Limited.

Sarin is expected to fly to Mumbai on Thursday evening, where the Ruias are hosting a dinner

for the India born CEO of the British firm.

Vodafone, Essar press statement 

Following is the statement issued by Vodafone and Hutch on the partnership agreement:

Vodafone and Essar have reached an agreement under which they will work to continue the

growth of Hutchison Essar Limited ("Hutchison Essar"), one of India's leading mobile operators.

This follows Vodafone's announcement on 11 February 2007 that it had agreed to acquire

Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited's ("HTIL") controlling interest in

Hutchison Essar, in which Essar is and will continue to be a 33% shareholder.

The partners have agreed that Hutchison Essar will be renamed Vodafone Essar and, in due

course, that the business will market its products and services under the Vodafone brand.

With penetration levels of around 13%, both partners believe that there are substantial growth

opportunities in the Indian mobile telecommunications market. Vodafone is the leading

international mobile operator with an extensive range of products and services, many of which

are not currently available in India.

Essar is a major industrial group with a deep understanding of India and the Indian mobile

telecommunications industry.

With these complementary strengths Vodafone and Essar plan to broaden Vodafone Essar's

service offering and enable it to become the leader in the Indian mobile telephony market.

Commenting on the new partnership, Arun Sarin, Chief Executive of Vodafone said: "I am

delighted that Essar and Vodafone have agreed the terms of an ongoing partnership. Essar has

 played a key role in transforming this business into a leading Indian mobile operator. We look

forward to leveraging this experience and working with our partner as the company enters its

next phase of growth in the attractive Indian telecommunications market. We will be bringing

the relevant range of Vodafone products and services to the Indian consumer."

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Ravi Ruia, Vice Chairman of Essar, added: "It is terrific that we are joining with the world's

leading international mobile company. I welcome them as our partner into this successful

 business which we will now take forward to the next level. Essar was a founding partner in

Hutchison Essar and played an active role in building the company, including extending network

coverage into several profitable regional markets. By partnering with Vodafone we expect to

create further value in the business."

Under the terms of the partnership, Vodafone will have operational control of Vodafone Essar

and Essar will have rights consistent with its shareholding, including proportionate Board

representation. Ravi Ruia will be appointed by Vodafone as Chairman of Vodafone Essar and

Arun Sarin will be appointed by Essar as Vice Chairman.

Essar will have certain liquidity rights including, between the third and fourth anniversaries of

completion, and subject to regulatory requirements, an option to sell its 33% shareholding in

Vodafone Essar to Vodafone for US$5 billion or an option to sell between US$1 billion and

US$5 billion worth of Vodafone Essar shares to Vodafone at an independently appraised fair

market trading value.

Vodafone expects to complete the acquisition of HTIL's interest in Hutchison Essar in the

coming weeks.

Vodafone wins Hutch-Essar for $19 bn

New Delhi: The long-drawn ‗bid battle‘ for Hutch-Essar finally came to an end on Sunday as

UK telecom giant Vodafone acquired India's fourth largest mobile venture for an estimated

enterprise value of US $19 billion (Rs 85,000 crores).

Essar welcomed the offer and said it is indeed ―good price‖ for the company. 

―This is a good price, which reflects the premier position of Hutchison Essar as India's leading

operator. Essar owns 33 per cent of the company and we are delighted that Hutchison and Essar

have together created this value,‖ said the company in a statemnt. 

Sources told CNN-IBN that Vodaphone has offered Essar to become a partner firm. The board is

evaluating the option and is likely to appear with a decision shortly. ―We have been offered by

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Vodafone to be their partner. We are at the moment evaluating all our options in the best interest

of the Gr oup,‖ said Essar in a statement. 

Vodafone, the world‘s largest mobile phone group by revenue, emerged winner at the Hutchison

Telecom Ltd's Board Meeting at Hong Kong convened for considering the four bids for its 67

 per cent stake put on the block late in 2006.

Essar, a conglomerate, that owns 33 per cent of Hutchison-Essar Limited has 21 days time to

decide on whether to exercise its RoFR (matching the top bid) or the tag-along right (to sell its

33 per cent stake in the venture).

The company‘s India operations expects reaching out to 180 million mobile phone users by end-

2007, up more than 25 per cent from 143 million now.

Hutchison Telecom first announced in December last year that it had been approached by various

 bidders for acquisition of its stake in the Indian venture.This was followed by announcements by

Vodafone, Reliance Communications, Essar Group and Hindujas expressing their interest in the

acquisition.

1. Strategies in India 

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Vodafone's ZooZoos, stars of IPL ad breaks

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Vodafone has given birth to ZooZoo a special character created specifically to convey value

added service (VAS).Meet the Zoo zoos, the stick-like figures with egg-like heads that appear in

TV ads for Vodafone and have become all the rage in India.

So much so that the Vodafone plans to air 25 to 30 different commercials featuring the Zoo zoos

during the Indian Premier League‘s (IPL) Twenty20 cricket series seems like a strategic

masterstroke, although it is likely to come as a surprise to viewers that the ads aren‘t animated— 

there are really people inside those Zoo zoo costumes.

But this much is known: Zoo zoo is definitely anthropomorphic, and was created by the creativeteam at Ogilvy and Mather (O&M) India. The ads, 13 of which have been aired until now, have

 become popular with viewers. So much so that one of them, an ad for beauty tips over the phone,

was viewed 13,000 times last week on YouTube. The Zoo zoos have also taken Facebook by

storm. They have nearly 35,000 friends.

―With approximately 300 seconds of media being spent each day (on IPL), we had to figure out a

way to communicate as many services as possible in a way that would not cheese off the

customer,‖ said Harit Nagpal, director (marketing and new business) at Vodafone Essar Ltd.  

Each of the 30 ads will promote a different value-added service on offer by Vodafone, from

maps to stock alerts.

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2. Services offered in India

RECHARGE CARDS

Recharge cards

MRP (Rs) Access Fee (Rs) Talktime Validity (days) Equivalent mins.

10 2.00 7.07 0 6.37

15* 13.45 0.00 0 0.00

20 2.00 16.13 0 14.53

21* 18.62 0.00 0 0.00

25 22.6 0 0 0

30 2.00 25.20 0 22.70

31* 28.06 0.00 0 0.00

33* 29.44 0.00 0 0.00

39* 34.85 0.00 0 0.00

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 46* 41.21 0.00 0 0.00

47* 42.20 0.00 0 0.00

48 40.51 3.01 Lifetime 2.71

49* 44.37 0.00 0 0.00

55 2.00 47.86 0 43.12

110 2.00 97.73 0 88.05

149* 134.99 0.00 0 0.00

199 2.00 178.41 0 160.73

298* 270.07 0.00 0 0.00

549* 497.33 0.00 0 0.00

599 0.00 543.05 365 days 489.23

2500* 2266.22 0.00 0 0.00

2599* 2355.96 0.00 0 0.00

Average rate calculation

Type of call rate (Rs / min) % of distribution of MOU Rate (Rs / min) Effective rate

Local Mobile-to-Mobile 59% 1.00 0.59

Local –  Fixed 20% 1.00 0.20

STD –  Mobile-to-Mobile 14% 1.5 0.21

STD –  Fixed 7% 1.5 0.11

Average rate 1.11 0.11

* Bonus cards

15 : 60 local V2V mins, to be used btw 11 pm & 8 am. Mins to be used within 30 days o

recharge

21 : All local vodafone to vodafone calls @ 20p/min for one selected vodafone number for

30 days

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25 : 125 local V2V mins, to be used btw 11 pm & 8 am. Mins to be used within 30 days o

recharge

31 : All STD calls at Re 1/min for 30 days

33 : 200 local V2V mins, to be used btw 11 pm & 8 am. Mins to be used within 30 days o

recharge

39 : All local calls at 60p/Min for 30 days

46 : 300 local V2V mins, to be used btw 11 pm & 8 am. Mins to be used within 30 days o

recharge

49 : Local SMS @ 2 p for 30 days

47 : US/Canada calls@Rs2.99/min,Gulf calls@6.99/min&UK,Europe/Australia/Newzealand

Fixed@2.99/min & SEA @3.20/min - to be used in 2 days

149 : US/Canada calls @ Rs.5.25/min+All STD Calls @ Re1/min - to be used in 60 days

298 : Gulf Calls @ Rs.6.99/min - to be used in 60 days

549 : USA/Canada calls @Rs3.99/min,UK Fixed & SEA call

@Rs4.20/min,Japans@Rs5.50/min,China @Rs2.50/min - to be used in 90 days

2500 : US/Canada calls @ Rs.1.99/min,South East Asia @ Rs4.20/min + All STD calls @

Re 1/min - to be used in 270 days

2599 : Call UAE @ Rs 6/min and Rest of Gulf @ Rs8/min with 6sec pulse + All STD calls

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@ Re 1/min - to be used in 270 days

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O&M creates „ZooZoos‟ for Vodafone

After the famous pug, O&M has now created a new set of characters called ‗ZooZoos‘ for the

latest Vodafone campaign featuring value added services. The spots were launched during the

ongoing IPL series.

The agency was tasked to leverage the IPL 2 to communicate the wide range of products and

services from Vodafone while building a consistent brand story.

Explaining the idea behind the campaign, Rajiv Rao, executive creative director, O&M says,

―We created a special world in which all the product stories get told. A world whic h is real yet

different, strange yet simple, warm and lovable. All the specific product stories and services get

told in this world of Zoozoos, making the messages more charming.‖  

One of the most interesting facts about this campaign is that even though the ZooZoo characterslook animated, they have been played by real people dressed in a white attire. Reveals director

Prakash Varma of Nirvana films, ―Animation requires so much detailing and here we had to do

the exact opposite. We had to make real characters look like animated characters. It was quite

challenging as none of them could see as they were covered from head to feet. The set, including

all the props, is in the form of shadows created by spray painting.‖  

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The media mix for the campaign includes television, print, outdoor, radio activation and online.

There is a ZooZoo community on Facebook which has around 3183 fans and which features all

the ZooZoo commercials that have been released so far, ZooZoo emoticons and ‗Tag me‘

application.

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3. Customer service

Vodafone Trims Down Base Tariff On Local & STD Calls

Vodafone, India‘s second largest telecom operator, has reduced base tariff on its local and STD

call charges in Bihar and Jharkhand. The new base tariff for local call is 50 paisa per minute,

whereas for STD it is Rs.1 per minute.

The new base tariffs will be applicable to all new as well as existing Vodafone subscribers

irrespective of their current plan. The subsisting users don‘t have to buy any additional voucheror bonus card.

Vodafone has also launched two new STD bonus cards for its prepaid subscribers in Bihar and

Jharkhand. These two bonus cards - Regional STD Bonus Card and All India STD Bonus Card

allow STD calls at 50 paisa per minute in a predefined region. Both bonus cards are valid for a

 period of 30 days.

The Regional STD Bonus Card costs Rs 24 and it enables the Vodafone customer to make STDcalls at 50 paisa per minute to the bordering states of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam

and the North East. The All India STD Bonus Card is available for Rs 49 and allows user to call

anywhere in India at 50 paisa per minute

4. Segmentation of market in different directions 

Vodafone 3G

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Vodafone is all geared up to commercially launch its much awaited 3G service in India. It

has already announced the launch of service but the tariff etc are yet to be announced. So

in a way it can be taken as that commercially it is yet to take off. It‘s being speculated

that 3G tariffs will be revealed probably next week.

Till then Vodafone 3G is up for trial in 11 cities as has been revealed by Vodafone at

twitter. So the customers in these cities can have a feel of Vodafone 3G services now.

These cities are Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Surat,

Gandhidham, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Lucknow & Kanpur. In order to check the

availability of 3G service in any area in these cities customers can call on 116 which is a

toll free help number.

Vodafone has won 3G spectrum in 9 circles namely

Delhi,Mumbai,Maharashtra,Gujarat,Tamil,Nadu,Kolkata,Haryana,UP-E and West

Bengal

It will be offering 3G services like video calling, mobile tv, high speed internet, live

streaming videos, mobile apps, HD gaming, data cards and much more. But so far

Vodafone has not revealed its 3G tariffs and plans although 3G experience zones in

Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Gujarat circles have already been established

where customers can get a taste of 3G services on Vodafone network.

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3G Trial Offer :

Currently Vodafone is running free trial offer for its customers whereby they can get a

feel of the service. Under this offer the customers can enjoy 3G data service on their

current 2G data plans at no extra cost.

To activate the offer one need to send ―ACT 3G‖ to 111 

Today, Tata Docomo‘s 3G services went live in selected cities of the nine circles, where

it has won the 3G license. Sadly, Tata Docomo‘s 3G services are still not available in our

city and we may have to wait till the year-end to enjoy their 3G services. On the other

hand, Vodafone is gearing up for the launch of its 3G services in India.

Recently, my twitter friend @ashishmohta got a call from the Vodafone representative

regarding the launch of its 3G services. According to the representative, Vodafone will

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launch 3G as early as next weekand the 3G plans will not burn a hole in your pocket.

Currently, they are calling only special customers to let them know about the launch of

Vodafone 3G.

Vodafone will offer 3 data plans:

10GB data usage for Rs.499

15GB data usage for Rs.699

Unlimited data usage for Rs.899

Vodafone had grabbed 3G license for 9 circles  –  Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai &

Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (East) and West

Bengal.

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

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ZooZoos –  A Successful Marketing Strategy

ZooZoo, the new brand ambassador of Vodafone, has created a furore in the advertising industry.

Zoozoos have been successful in giving Vodafone a makeover and establishing maximum brand

 presence. I consider it to be a perfect example of a well-laid out marketing strategy for the

following reasons:

Vodafone chose the Indian Premier League 2 (IPL-2) as a platform to launch their advertisement,

which proved to be a great marketing strategy. Cricket is considered to be a religion in India, and

Zoozooz captured attention of nearly two billion people during the IPL. People eagerly waited

for breaks between matches to see more stories about Zoozoo.

Zoozoos are small pseudo-animated characters with big egg-shaped head, round belly but

extremely thin arms and legs. It was a fresh and innovative concept and Vodafone wonderfully

 promoted their services by creating different stories featuring Zoozoos. The charm of the Zoozoo

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was itself a great self-marketing strategy and they were instant success among masses. Within

few days, Zoozooz created a huge audience for them, giving a boost to the Vodafone brand.

People were already in awe of those cute and lovable characters, but the curiosity heightened

when Vodafone disclosed that Zoozooz were not animated, rather humans were playing those

characters. People were even more hungry to know about their favorite Zoozooz.

In the second phase, after the release of these ads, Vodafone promoted these characters on social

media sites, which was another wise decision. Zoozoo fan clubs are there on social networking

sites like Facebook, YouTube, Orkut, Twitter, and many more, where they have a huge

followings.

 Now Vodafone has announced to launch the Zoozoo goodies like zoozoo toys, zoozoo mugs,

zoozoo keychains, zoozoo t-shirts, etc. Zoozooz have themselves become a brand and it will be

interesting to see how Vodafone uses this concept in future to promote their services.

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  CHAPTER 4

RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

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Research Methodology

It refers to the method adopted to collect the relevant data and other information,which forms the basis

of the this writing. So far the effective writing of the report, the data must be

quality oriented. My research is divided into these stages

STAGE I:Data Source

All the data collected  by me is secondary in nature. Raymond‘s websites provides

me their product details which helps me in making product analysis, company

 profile of Raymond and the financial statement for the current year.

The secondary data sources that is being utilized in this project are as follows:

  The ads in The Times of India.

  The material available on the web.

  Business magazines.

STAGE-II : ANALYSIS

In this stage all the data is analyzed and the report is being written. Material

collected from various sources is first arranged and then by consulting the project

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guide this data is used to prepare report. The data which is secondary in this report

study for the company profile.

. .

.

DATA COLLECTION

There are two methods of data collection 

( 1 ) P r i m a r y D a t a  

( 2 ) S e c o n d a r y D a t a

(1) Primary Data

Pr imary data means f i r s t hand informat ion . There are the

fol lowing methods of obtaining primary data.

(a)Survey by Quest ionnai re .

( b ) P a n e l R e s e a r c h .

(c)Observat ion Approach.

(d)Exper imenta l Research .

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(2) Secondary Data

There are numerous sources of secondary data. A tedious and time-

consuming library research may give the past desired information. Sources

of secondary data are as under … 

(a)Publ i shed Survey of Markets .

(b)Genera l Library Research .

(c) Govt . Publ ica t ions and repor ts

(d) Al l adver t i s ing media (newspapers , magazines and repor ts)

HERE I HAVE USED SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION

METHOD  

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CHAPTER 5

FINDING AND ANALYSIS

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SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

Strong International presence and brand recognition. Solid platform across Europe;

HSDPA available in 100% of 3G footprint opening growth opportunities in mobile broadband

services. Controlling interest in strong growth markets (e.g. Egypt, Romania, South Africa,

Turkey, India). Well-defined cost reduction initiatives: managed purchasing, outsourcing. Stable

operating profit despite downward profit trend in Europe offset by improved operations in

EMAPA. Have now established a clear route to delivering fixed broadband services in all

relevant markets. Consistent in maintaining a 60% payout ratio.

WEAKNESSES

Uncertainty in revenue growth in the HSDPA network based on historislow consumer market

take-up of 3G data services. Slow customer growth in DSL wholesale markets in UK and Italy;

slow subscriber growth in Spain arising from lower promotional activity. Adverse impact from

exchange rate movements particularly in South Africa. The likely slippage of dividends in

Verizon Wireless to 2010 could fuel tension §between Verizon Communications and Vodafone

shareholders. Have now established a clear route to delivering fixed broadband services in all

relevant markets Insubstantial capacity to offer bundled services due to specialization in mobile

services; may lead to higher churn rates and may be pressured to compete exclusively in price.

OPPORTUNITIES

EMAPA remains target for potential acquisitions, with an average mobile penetration of 27% by

end of FY07 ; huge growth opportunity in India in a market of 1.1 bn people with a low 14%

mobile penetration 3G data services gaining momentum in business customers; successful

 partnerships with laptop manufacturers to include embedded Vodafone SIMs to mobile devices

allow opportunities for upselling of mobile broadband services in Europe, only one-third of voice

traffic is carried over mobile networks and Vodafone customers has a monthly average of only

140 minutes of use; the trend is parallel with the company‟s strategy to drive higher voice usage

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onto mobile through reduction in prices; Vodafone expects usage demand to eventually exceed

the price reduction.

THREATSHigh mobile penetration in principal market leaves little room for growth Fierce competition in

mature markets, especially with converged telcos offering triple-play and quad-play services;

Vodafone lacks a direct substitute for such services Greater than anticipated competition with

internet providers, MVNOs and new entrants; greater than anticipated customer acquisition and

retention

Regulatory intervention on tariffs creates pressure on revenues; on FY08, the company expects a

revenue reduction of £200 mn due to the elimination of top up charges under the Bersani decree

in Italy and reduction of £200 mn to £250 mn from the deregulation of roaming charges across

Europe . 

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Marketing Analysis

  Product Profile

Company Profile will assists individual investors, managers and companies in evaluating

opportunities, trends, market innovations, and selecting appropriate information solutions in

order to make effective decisions. The report has been made after extensive research using

the data available from reliable publications, trade associations and the companies‟ sources.

The report elaborates on the company's business structure and operations, products and

services. The report includes key financial information and strategic analysis that intends to

aid investors to find better prospects with the company and gain an insight into the corporate

 policies.

  Target Customers

Positioning Vodafone as a younger, more dynamic network, based on brand personality and

attitude, would have greater appeal for Vodafone's core 18 to 39 age target.

  Positioning Strategies

First brand in the category to develop a personality-based brand positioning.

Positioning Vodafone as a younger, more dynamic network, based on brand personality and

attitude, would have greater appeal for Vodafone's core 18 to 39 age target.

It would also further encourage the perception that Optus was moving in the direction of

Telstra's older, more conservative position.

  Market Share of each competitors

Customer Market Share(%)

AIRTEL 32466 22.8

Reliance 29980 21.1

BSNL 25551 18.0

VODAFONE 23306 16.4

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CHAPTER 6

LIMITATIONS 

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It is said that ‗ Nothing is perfect  ‘ and if the quote is true I am sure that there

would few shortcomings in this project also. Sincerely efforts have been made to

eliminate discrepancies as far as possible but few would have been remained due to

limitations of study.

Although the project has been the worked out at its best yet there are certain

limitation which cannot be overlooked . Had these limitations been overcome, the

findings would be accurate

Some of these limitations are;

1-TIME CONSTRAINT  – time was really a limiting factoring the project. its

really difficult to work out such a large project between two months time.

2-DATA CONSTRAINT- all the data that has been collected for the project has

 been taken from secondary sources like websites, magazines, newspapers and

 books.

However, every effort is made to ensure that these do not in any way adversely

affect the result of the study and inject an element of objecting 

3- BIASNESS -  project may show biasness towards one product or another as all

the data had been taken from secondary sources and it is possible that rhe persons

who had done original research might be biased about product or company 

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CHAPTER 7

SUGGESTIONS

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SUGGESTIONS 

  The supply must be properly fulfilled so the need of the customer satisfies.

  Target selling for the dealer / agent can increase the sales of company.

  The company must concern to the satisfaction of customer demand.

  The company and dealer should develop its marketing information system.

up to date information of competitor's policy, price and product, target market, so

the company can know its strengths and weaknesses.

  Brand preference studies reveal that comparatively there is more preference for Vodafone

among consumers so in order to attract and maintain his consumers. Advertising

 programs should be intensified.

  Perception of the consumer is changing rapidly. They seek new benefits and values in

their preferred brand. Moreover, consumer likes to have brand at low rate. vodafone

should insert it so as to meet the changing preference of the consumer.

  It should keep revitalizing its product / services

  Fulfill the consumer needs.

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The project was undertaken to understand the marketing strategies of Vodafone group.

The project gives insight of Vodafone group and the marketing strategies used by company in

India. The company started in 1991 by Sir Ernest Harrison is second largest telecom company of

world with it’s net worth being €89.1 billion in 2012 with 411 million active users. Currently

Vodafone holds 24% market share of telecom industry in India and is second biggest telecom

company offering telecom services in India first being Airtel with 30% market share. If Vodafone

wants to increase it’s share in Indian market it has to place itself strategically and have to use

marketing strategies in such a way that it increase it’s market share . It need to understand the

need of Indian customer and plan according to that it need to understand it’s competitors

marketing strategies in order to gain access over major part of market and to increase it’s

profit.

If Vodafone plans accordingly it will soon became number one telecom industry in India.

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BIBILOGRAPHY

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

A)  Web Sites:

1.www.VODAFONE.com

2. www.google.com 

B)  News-paper:

1. Times of India

C) Book:

1. Research Methodology: C.R. Kothari