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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Bharti Airtel Limited is one of Indias leading private sector providers of

telecommunications services with an aggregate of 45 million customers as of
end of June07, consisting of 42.7 million mobile customers. Bharti Airtel
has been rated among 10 best performing companies in the world in the
Business Week IT 100 list.

Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units - Mobile

services, Broadband & Telephone (B&T) services and Enterprise services.
The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM
technology across 23 telecom circles. The B&T business provides broadband
& telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end
telecom solutions to corporate customers and national & international long
distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the Airtel
brand. Airtels high-speed optic fibre network currently spans over 43,500
route Kms covering all the major cities in the country. The company operates
two international landing stations in Chennai that connect two submarine
cable systems - i2i to Singapore and SEA-ME-WE-4 to Europe.

With more than 46 million total subscribers, Bharti Airtel is Indias largest
integrated private telecom operator with services in the mobile, broadband
and telephone sectors. The operator is targeting for 125 million subscribers
by 2010.

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 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Objectives:

To study the importance and development of tele communication

industry in todays scenario.

To understand the various Marketing Strategies which Airtel has adopted

to survive in highly competitive cell phone industry.

To make a comparative study of the major players in Indian Service

Provider.

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 COMPANY PROFILE
Bharti Airtel Limited is a provider of telecommunication services. The
Company also offers an integrated suite of telecom solutions to its enterprise
customers. It also offers Digital television and Internet protocol television (
IPTV) services in India. It operates in three primary business segments:
Mobile Services, Telemedia Services and Airtel Business. The Companys
mobile services cover voice and data telecom services provided through
global system for mobile Communications (GSM) technology in India. This
includes the captive national long distance networks which primarily provide
connectivity to the mobile services business in India. Its telemedia services
cover voice and data communications based on fixed network and broadband
technology. Its Airtel Business cover end-to-end telecom solutions being
provided to Indian and global corporations by serving as a single point of
contact for all telecommunication needs across data and voice network
integration and managed services.

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Highlights

Bharti Airtel announces its second quarter ended September 30, 2012 on
November 7, 2012

airtel to Offer Data Plans for iPhone 5 starting November 2

Airtels state of the art Network Experience Centre goes LIVE

TELECOMMUNICATION IN INDIA

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
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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

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!

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Strong Network Coverage
Enjoy complete clarity when calling with Airtels 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.

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 TELECOMMUNICATION MARKET IN INDIA

The Indian telecommunications Network with 250m telephone connections is

the fifth largest in the world and is the second largest among the emerging
economies of Asia. Today it is the fastest growing market in the world and
represents unique opportunities for UK companies in the stagnant global
scenario. Tele-density, which was languishing at 2% in 1999, has shown an
impressive jump to 9.5% in 2006 and 10.5% in 2007 and is set to increase to
20% in the next five years beating the Govt. target by three years.
Accordingly, India requires incremental investments of USD 20-25 bln for
the next five years.

Private operators have made mobile telephony the fastest growing (over
164% p.a.) in India. With more than 33 million users (both CDMA and
GSM), wireless is the principal growth engine of the Indian telecom industry.
Given the current growth trends, cellular connections in India will surpass
fixed line by late 2004/early 2005. Intense competition between the four main
private groups - Bharti, Vodafone, Tata and Reliance and with the State
sector incumbents-BSNL and MTNL has brought about a significant drop in
tariffs. There has been almost 74% in cell phone charges, 70% in ILD calls
and 25% drop in NLD charges, resulting in a boom time for the consumers.

The Government has played a key enabling role by deregulating and

liberalising the industry, ushering in competition and paving the way for
growth. While there were regulatory irregularities earlier, resulting in
litigation, these have all been addressed now. Customs duties on hardware
and mobile handsets have been reduced from 14 percent to 5 percent.

The Indian government has merged the IT and Telecom Ministries to speed
up reforms and decision on the Communication Convergence Bill to enable
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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 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

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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
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creating a modern and efficient communications infrastructure that takes
account of the convergence of telecom, IT and media. In addition, the policy
places significant emphasis on greater competition for both fixed and mobile
services.'

Competition in the mobile sector has already had a visible impact on prices
with calls currently costing less than 9 cents per minute. This means that
service costs have fallen by 60 per cent since the first GSM networks became
live in 1995. It also helps explain why a recent Telecom Asia survey revealed
that more than 70 per cent of Indian mobile subscribers felt that prices were
now at a reasonable level.

One of the challenges facing GSM operators in India is the diversity of the
coverage regions -from remote rural regions to some of the most densely
populated metropolitan areas in the world. India has more than 40 networks,
which cover the seven largest cities, over 7000 towns and several Lacs
villages. Such depth of coverage has required enormous investment from
India's operators. It is estimated that more than Rs200 billion had been
invested in India's GSM industry by mid-2000, a figure that is set to be
supplemented by a further Rs. 300 billion over the next five years.

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

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

India fastest growing GSM mart

India is expected to have 145 million GSM (global system for mobile
communications) customers by 2007-08 compared to 26 million subscribers
as on March 2005, according to the Global Mobile Suppliers Association.
"For GSM, India is a success story. It is one of the fastest growing markets
with its subscriber base doubling in 2005. At this pace, the target of 150
million subscribers by 2007-2008 is definitely achievable," Alan Hadden,
president of GSA, said at a news conference in New Delhi. Globally, the
GSM market reached 1 billion users in February 2005, he said, adding GSM
accounted for 80 per cent of the new subscriber growth in 2005."Almost
every Latin American operator has chosen GSM. In North America GSM
growth is bigger than CDMA (code division multiple access)," he said.
Commenting on the raging debate over GSM versus CDMA in mobile
services arena, Hadden said: "GSM is the world's most successful mobile
standard with over 1 billion users, and is an open mobile standard. It also
supports automatic international roaming, which is a major contributor to
business plans."

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 INTRODUCTION

The project aims at understanding the Marketing strategies at Airtel and its
impact on the perception of Airtel Cellular Services.

Research has demonstrated conclusively that it is far more costly to win a

new customer than it is to maintain an existing one. And there is no better
way to retain a customer than to exceed his expectations. For this purpose it
is essential to know the level of customer satisfaction. The focus of my
research was the measurement of customer satisfaction level for the services
provided by Bharti Airtel. The research was done for the corporate clients of
Bharti Airtel. My job was not only to represent the Corporate Sales Dept. and
collect the feedback from the clients but also to get the major complaints
resolved through internal counselling. There can be no better opportunity to
interact with the external as well as the internal customers of an organization.
Finally the results of the research verify the fact that keeping the customer
satisfied is the best strategy to not only retain the existing customers but also
to expand the business to new horizons.

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

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.

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 Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the
requirement of the market.

B. IDC (indirect Channel)

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

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 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

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 Economy

Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower

Cellular Phones X X X - - -

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Pager X X X X - -

Conventional X X X X X -
Phones

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

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.
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PRODUCT POLICY AND PLANNING

The product or service is the heart of the marketing mix. Without a product
or a service customers' needs cannot be satisfied.

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

strategy is to be a first mover all the time. It has recognised the significance
of making the first move-- because in the field of Communication &
Information Technology changes occur at a tremendous pace.

Effective product segmentation has to be carried on continuously because

basic services can be and will be copied and in time become expected
component of the product. Airtel seeks to carry out this segmentation through
provision of new information services and making new facilities available.
The product policy and planning depends on the stage of the product life
cycle. At present the cellular phone market has reached the maturity stage.
Since, the premium segment is nearing saturation the company targeting the
upper middle and middle-middle class. In order to do so Airtel is trying to
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.

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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

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

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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.

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.

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AIRTEL'S MARKETING ORIENTATION.

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

to fully take care of the customers.

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

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

them

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

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

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

last 30 seconds count.

Airtel 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 Delhiitess mind, the Airtel campaign began to focus on the utility of
Cellphone. In the first four months alone Airtei's advertisement spend
exceeded Rs. 4 crores.
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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 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
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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

Company

Franchisee Distributor

Dealers
Dealer

Customer
Customer

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 day-to-day basis

33 | P a g e
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.

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'.

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
34 | P a g e
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 Maximise market share Maximise profits

awareness and trial whole defending
market share

Strategies

Product Offer a basic Offer value Increase in

product/ service. added services number of value
added services.

Price Charge cost- Price to Price to match or

plus penetrate market best competitors

Distribution Build selective Build Intensive Build more

distribution distribution. intensive
distribution.

Advertising Build product Build awareness Stress brand

awareness and interest in differences and
among early the mass market benefits.
adopters and

35 | P a g e
 dealers.

Sales Promotion Use heavy sales Increase to build Increase to

promotion to and maintain encourage
entice people to relationships brand-switching.
subscribe. with customers.

36 | P a g e
37 | P a g e
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Methodology is a way to systematically solve the

researcproblem, which is a science of study how research is done
scientifically.Thus research methodology encompasses the research methods
or techniques; the research is capable of being evaluated either by the
researcher himself or by others.

SAMPLING

Sampling may be Samplidefined as the selection of some parts of an

agreement or totality for the purpose of study. All the items in any field of
inquiry constitute a universe or population, a complete enumeration of all the
items in the population is known as Census inquiry. But when the field of
inquiry is large this method becomes difficult to adopt because of the limited
no. of resources involved in the case sample survey method is chosen under
which units are selected in such a way that they represent the entire universe.

SAMPLING DESIGN

CENSUS METHOD: - All the items in any field of inquiry constitute a

Universe or Population. A complete enumeration of all the items in the

Population is known as a Census inquiry. It can be presumed that in

such an inquiry, when all items are covered, no element of chance is left and
highest accuracy is obtained. But in practical it is not true in all cases. This
type of inquiry involves a great deal of time, money and energy. Therefore,
when the field of inquiry is large, this method becomes difficult to adopt
because of the resources involved.

38 | P a g e
SAMPLING METHOD:- When field studies are undertaken in practical
life, consideration of time and cost almost invariably lead to a selection of
respondents i.e. selection of only few items. The respondent selected should
be as representative of total population.These respondents constitute what is
technically called a Sample and the selection process is called Sampling
Technique.The survey so conducted is known as Sample Survey.

Implementation of Sample Design: - A sample design is a definite plan for

obtaining a sample from a given population. It refers to the technique or the
procedure the researcher would adopt in selecting items for the sample.
Sampling design may as well lay down the number of items to be included in
the sample i.e. the size of sample. Sample design is determined before the
data are collected.

Steps In Sampling Design :- While developing a research design following

items are taken into consideration:-

I. Type of universe: - First and the foremost step are to clearly define the
universe to be studied. As I have taken the area of Jabalpur, so for me here
the universe is Jabalpur area. No doubt it is a finite universe but the area is
very big and cant be covered easily due to shortage of time.

II. Sampling unit: - A decision has to be taken concerning a sampling unit

before selecting sample. Here my sample unit includes people who own
bikes.

III. Size of sample: - This refers to the number of items to be selected from
the universe to constitute a sample. Here I have taken the sample of 50
people who have bikes.

39 | P a g e
IV. Parameters of interest: - In determining the sample design, one must
consider the question of the specific population parameters which are of
interest. Here I had taken only persons who own their bike.

Sampling procedure: - Finally the technique of selecting the sample is to be

dealt with. That means through which method the sample has been collected.
There are various types of selecting the sample.

TYPES OF DATA

The information that has been gathered and used in the project report is
from both primary as well as secondary data.

Primary data :

Those data, which are collected, first hand either my researcher or by

some one else for the purpose of study are known as primary data.

For my project work , I had collected primary data from questionnaire

and survey in Delhi.

Secondary data:

Any data which has been gathered earlier for same or other purpose are
known as secondary data. Secondary data collected from various sources as :

o Books

o News papers, magazines.

o Internet

o Reports

40 | P a g e
 After collecting both primary and secondary data I have edited it and
transferred it in meaning full meanings.

41 | P a g e
42 | P a g e
 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRITATION

1. Do you believe that India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile
service providers in the world?

Company Yes No

Airtel 4 1

Vodafone 4 1

Idea 4 1

MTNL 4 1

No
1

Yes
4

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

AirTel Vodafone Idea MTNL

INTERPRITATION -As according to the above table 16 (80%) out of the

total 20 interviewed people in all the above four specified Indian mobile
service providers are of belief that India is potentially one of the most
exciting mobile service providers in the world, whereas some 4 (20%) of
them do not agree to this view.

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2. Do you find that the governments telecom policy has had the most
radical impact on the development of mobile service providers?

Company Yes No

Airtel 4 1

Vodafone 3 2

Idea 3 2

MTNL 5 --

5
4.5
4
3.5 AirTel
3 Vodafone
2.5 Idea
2 MTNL

1.5
1
0.5
0
Yes No

INTERPRITATION- As according to the above table 15 (75%) out of the

total 20 interviewed people in all the above four specified Indian mobile
service providers find that the governments telecom policy has had the most
radical impact on the development of mobile service providers, whereas
some 5 (25%) of them deny this.

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3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators in
India is the diversity of the coverage regions?

Company Yes No

Airtel 2 3

Vodafone 3 2

Idea 3 2

MTNL 2 3

2.5

2 AirTel

Vodafone
1.5 Idea

MTNL
1

0.5

0
Yes No

INTERPRITATIONAs according to the above table 10 (50%) out of the

total 20 interviewed people in the mobile service providers are of belief that
one of the challenges facing mobile operations in India is the diversify of the
coverage regions, whereas interestingly another 10 (50%) of them deny this.
45 | P a g e
4. To what extent, does you find that mobile service providers is a very
complex standard?

Company To some extent To great extent

(1-5) (6-10)

Airtel 3 2

Vodafone 2 3

Idea 2 3

MTNL 3 2

2.5
AirTel
2
Vodafone
1.5 Idea

1 MTNL

0.5

0
To some extent To great extent

INTERPRETATION-As according to the above table 10 (50%) out of the

total 20 interviewed people in all the above four major the mobile service
providers in Indian Cellular industry find only to some extent that GSM is a

46 | P a g e
very complex standard, whereas the another 10 (50%) respondents find to
great extent that mobile service providers is a very complex standard.

CONSUMER LEVEL

5. Do you believe that mobile service providers comes close to fulfilling

the requirements for a personal communication system?

Company Yes No

Airtel 9 1

Vodafone 8 2

Idea 8 2

MTNL 5 5

3
2
No
2
2 MTNL
Idea
Vodafone
2 AirTel

3
Yes
3
3

INTERPRETATION-As the above shows 30 (75%) out of total 40

47 | P a g e
respondents are of the belief that mobile service providers comes close to
fulfilling the requirements for a personal communication system, whereas 10
(25%) of them are in no way to this belief.

6. Do you find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and
satisfying mobile standard?

Company Yes No

Airtel 9 1

Vodafone 7 3

Idea 8 2

MTNL 8 2

No
1

Yes
9

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

AirTel Vodafone Idea MTNL

48 | P a g e
INTERPRETATION-As the above shows 32 (80%) out of total 40
respondents find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and
satisfying mobile standard, whereas the remaining 8 (10%) respondents deny
this.

49 | P a g e
7. Do you believe that your service provider has a genuine commitment
to creating a modern and efficient communications?

Company Yes No

Airtel 10 --

Vodafone 8 2

Idea 10 --

MTNL 8 2

0
No
2

0 MTNL
Idea
Vodafone

8 AirTel

10
Yes
8

10

INTERPRETATION-As the above shows 36 (90%) out of total 40

respondents are of the belief that their service providers have a genuine
commitment to creating a modern and efficient communications whereas the
remaining 4 (10%) respondents deny this.
50 | P a g e
 SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

Cost advantage

Current leaders in quality service

Largest distribution network

Ability to constantly innovate

Highly skilled workforce

Entrepreneurial zeal

Airtels increased equity and market cap.

WEAKNESSES

To prove credibility

Price pressures

Need for Government support

Awareness

Sales and Marketing

51 | P a g e
OPPORTUNITIES

To sustain passion and commitment

Airtels 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

52 | P a g e
53 | P a g e
 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) Respondents unavailability.

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

(3) Courtesy bias.

54 | P a g e
55 | P a g e
 FINDINGS

On the basis of extensive study and research, here are some

recommendation and suggestion which may help the company to market the
product and service more profitability and increase its share in the Telecom
market.

1. PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES

The company expands the budget allocation for promotional

campaign in center Bangalore. It has affected the sale service brand
image of Reliance especially in Bangalore. Low supports in
promotion have lead to fluctuation in sale

There may be some useful tools which can be summed as follows:-

Advertising Advertising should have a clear objective and

message, which has not been found in recent ads. Reliance is a
faster growing provider service in each state .every offers and
schemes they should show with proper message for benefit to the
customer. In busy life customer do not remembered any offers and
which service we can provided for the customer therefore they
should by force showing advertisement in growing market and
among customer .customers wants continuously exposure in Cable
and Local newspapers.

Persuasive Advertising: - Now there is a need of persuasive

advertising for Reliance service which can be moved into the
category of comparative advertising. It will help the company to
establish the superiority of its brand service through specific
comparison of one or more attributes and features.
56 | P a g e
57 | P a g e
 RECOMMENDATIONS

Technical Expertise: - The advertisement should show the

companies expertise, experience and pride in market the product
service sale.

Media:-A combination of print ads and TV commercial do a better

job. Local ads and publicity should be giving more stress.
Hoardings, banners, wall painting should be promoted, as some
expenses are also beard by dealers. Ads on Cable network result
greater audience attention. Schemes, gift offers etc. must be
highlighted through Radio and Local newspapers.

58 | P a g e
59 | P a g e
 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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61 | P a g e
 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. McGraw-

Hill New York, 1993.

Marketing Management byPhilip Kotler

Marketing and Branding by S. Ramesh Kumar

Websites

www.Vodafone.com

www.Airtel.com

www.Idea.com

www.MTNL.com

62 | P a g e
63 | P a g e
 QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Do you believe that India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile
service providers in the world?

Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
2. Do you find that the governments telecom policy has had the most
radical impact on the development of mobile service providers?

Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators in
India is the diversity of the coverage regions?

Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
4. To what extent, does you find that mobile service providers is a very
complex standard?

Company To some extent To great extent

(1-5) (6-10)
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL

64 | P a g e
CONSUMER LEVEL

1. Do you believe that mobile service providers comes close to fulfilling

the requirements for a personal communication system?

Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
2. Do you find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and
satisfying mobile standard?

Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
3. Do you believe that your service provider has a genuine commitment
to creating a modern and efficient communications?

Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL

65 | P a g e