Professional Documents
Culture Documents
DECLARATION
I ABHISHEK SRIVASTAVA , do hereby declare that the research report submitted by me for the partial fulfillment of requirement for the Master of Business Administration from CET-IILM-AHL, GREATER NOIDA. This has not been submitted to any other university/institution for the reward of any degree/ diploma certificate.
ABHISHEK SRIVASTAVA
PREFACE
In todays customer centered market consumers have more choice because of their different habits attitudes, opinions, perception, personality etc. and therefore, they have really become choosy. Their buying behavior constantly undergoes modification, consumers are the king or god in the market, and so it is important to know the buying decision of consumers and why they buy one particular product when other is equally attractive. This research report has been prepared to satisfy dual purpose. The market survey done will at us know the consumer habits, buying criteria, Inspiration rate, time period, frequency rate, place, effect of an advertising and sales promotion and secondary data will give us an inside into Newspaper and trends of last few year. Finally, this research report was really good learning process for me and it gave me an opportunity to compare the theoretical knowledge gain with the practical aspects and difficulties that come across in real life. This project is fulfillment of course curriculum of MBA Program set by uptu, as each student has to undergo for research report Project. This project is presented in systematic manner. It contains the information related to companys profile and sales promotion of Airtel & Vodafone than research methodology, analytical part, findings suggestion, recommendation and conclusion is given at the end. The bibliography and appendix also given for know more about the sample and other information related to telecom markets. I hope that these will serve the purpose.
Abhishek Srivastava
TABLE OF CONTENT
Chapter 1 Introduction Companies profile Chapter 2 Objectives Scope of study Use & importance of study Chapter 3 Research methodology Analysis of data Finding Chapter 4 Conclusion Recommendation SWOT analysis of Airtel & Vodafone Limitation Chapter 5 (Appendix) Questationnaire Bibliography
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Age wise classification Occupation wise classification Income wise classification Analysis of prefering telecom Age v/s usage of compnies telecom Who is the decision maker for purchasing telecom in your family Purpose to purchase mobile phone Rate the following attributes of outlets Rate the following scheme that attract you most Rate the following feature you've purchase Airtel & Vodafone
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INTRODUCTION
This research is conducted on the basis of growing competition in mobile Sector. The biggest competitor of mobile sector in Delhi NCR are Vodafone & Airtel . This Research is conducted to analyze who is better and why?
The telecommunication is the biggest factor in influencing the speed of life in the modern age. Today we can get connection with any corner of world through the push button of 6
computer, with the small mobile phone we can sent not only the massages but also a secret document. As we know that there is a positive view behind any mention that it should be helpful in the development of society. But humans have diverted mentality some of them of positive view and some of them of negative view. Where use any invention for the welfare of society but some uses for the satisfaction their disturbed mentality and to earn more and more money whether it may be harmful for the society. They infringe the norms of society and their behavior is condemned as antisocial, immoral and sinful. CELLULAR MOBILE SERVICES Cellular is one of the fastest growing and most demanding telecommunication applications. Today, it represents a continuously increasing percentage of all new telephone subscriptions around the world. Currently there are more than 45 million subscribers in worldwide and nearly 50 % of those subscribers are located in USA. It is forecasted that cellular systems using a digital technology will become the universal method of telecommunications. By the year 2005, forecasters predict that there will be more than 100 million cellular subscribers worldwide.
Throughout the evolution of cellular telecommunications, various systems have been developed without the benefit of standardized specifications. This presented many problems directly related to compatibility, specially with the development of digital radio technology. The GSM standard is intended to address these problems. Global system for mobile communication ( GSM ) is a globally accepted standard for digital cellular communication. GSM is the name of a standardization group established in 1982 to create a common European mobile telephone standard that would formulate the specifications for a pan-European mobile cellular radio system operating at 900 Mhz. It is estimated that many country outside of Europe will join the GSM partnership.
AIRTEL
Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, India 's largest integrated private telecom service provider. We are the first private telecom provider to connect India in its entirety with the world's best technology. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with its world class products and services.
The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three strategic business units (SBU's) - Mobile services, Broadband & Telephone services (B&T) & Enterprise services. We complement our mobile, broadband & telephone services with national and international long distance services. We provide international connectivity with our submarine cable landing station at Chennai and with our partnership in next generation undersea cable system SEA-ME-WE-4. We provide reliable end-to-end data and enterprise services to the corporate customers with our nationwide fiber optic backbone, last mile connectivity in fixed-line and mobile circles, VSATs, ISP and international bandwidth access through the gateways and landing station. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.
Business Divisions Mobile Services Bharti Airtel offers GSM mobile services in all the 23-telecom circles of India and was the first private telecom service provider to connect all states of India . Broadband & Telephone Services Our Broadband (DSL) & telephone services (fixed line) are present in the 92 cities across India .
Enterprise Services (Carriers) With 35,016 kilometers of optic fibre network we are a leading national long distance service provider. For international connectivity to east, we have a submarine cable landing station at Chennai. For international connectivity to the west, the Company is a member of the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE-4) consortium along with 15 other global telecom operators.
Enterprise Services (Corporates) The group focuses on delivering telecommunications services as an integrated offering including mobile, broadband & telephone, national and international long distance and data connectivity services to India's leading 1300 Corporates,
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Our Partnerships: We partner with world's finest companies like Vodafone, Singtel (Singapore Telecom), Ericsson, Nokia, IBM and many more to bring the best of products & service to you. our Innovations We are changing the way India communicates by offering innovations that not only add value to people's lives but also deliver an unmatched customer experience. We were the first to
Provide electronic recharge for mobile phones. Initiate music retailing in the world with Easy Music and the first to offer a Lifetime Prepaid service. Provide innovations such as Bollywood movie premiers, music services such as ring back tones & many more.
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Vision By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India: -Loved by more customers -Targeted by top talent - Benchmarked by more business Title: Third Quarter And Nine Months Ended December 31, 2006 Earnings Conference Call. Date: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 Start Time: 1:30 pm IST End Time: 2:30 pm IST
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Company Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited - a part of the biggest private integrated telecom conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. Bharti provides a range of telecom services, which include Cellular, Basic, Internet and recently introduced National Long Distance. Bharti also manufactures and exports telephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being the largest manufacturer of telephone instruments in India, it is also the first company to export its products to the USA. Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with an all India footprint covering all 23 telecom circles of the country. It has over 21 million satisfied customers.
VISION By 2012, we want Airtel to be the most admired brand in India. Loved by more customers Targeted by top talent Benchmarked by more businesses
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Services: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.
Airtel Postpaid Airtel welcomes you to a vibrant world of unlimited opportunities. More exciting, innovative yet simple new ways to communicate, just when you want to, not just through words but ideas, emotions and feelings. To give you the unlimited freedom to reach out to your special people . Airtel Roaming Airtel Roaming service allows you to use your mobile phone to make or receive calls from almost anywhere in India and abroad. Airtel Roaming gives you two great options:
Airtel National - Enjoy roaming in India across 42 partners networks and over 750 cities. Airtel International - Roam across international destinations, in nearly 119 countries including USA, Canada, UK etc. with 284 partner networks. 14
Long Distance Now experience complete freedom like never before with Airtel! Our National LongDistance facility allows you to make long distance calls in India and Overseas from your cellular phone. This service is applicable to both Postpaid and Prepaid customers. Airtel & Visual Identity For a brand to be successful, it must build enduring relationships with its different audiences. Integral to this relationship is the visual image of the brand the consumer carries in his/her mind. The Airtel brand image is created through the consistent application of a carefully developed visual identity, which helps Airtel distinguish itself in a cluttered market. Airtel visual identity helps create instant brand recall and strengthens the relationships that its audiences have with it. The Airtel visual identity has different elements that work together to create a strong and consistent identity for the brand. The most important of these are:
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The Airtel logo is a strong, contemporary and confident symbol for a brand that is always ahead of the rest. It is a specially drawn word mark. The Airtel Image style It incorporates two solid, red rectangular forms whose counter form creates an open doorway. The Airtel Typographical style The title case lettering with its capital 'A' was deliberately chosen to reinforce the brand's leadership position. The red dot on the letterform 'I' cues Airtel's focus on innovation.. The words 'Express Yourself' are very much part of the brand identity.
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Management Profiles
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Sunil Bharti Mittal Sanjay Kapoor Atul Bindal Jyoti Pawar Joachim Horn Krishnamurthy Shankar Amrita Gangotra
Manoj Kohli David Nishball K Srinivas Shamini Ramalingam S. Asokan Srikanth Balachander
Vodafone
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Vodafone was formed in 1984 as a subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc. Then known as Racal Telecom Limited, approximately 20% of the company's capital was offered to the public in October 1988. It was fully demerged from Racal Electronics Plc and became an independent company in September 1991, at which time it changed its name to Vodafone Group Plc. Following its merger with AirTouch Communications, Inc. (AirTouch), the company changed its name to Vodafone AirTouch Plc on 29 June 1999 and, following approval by the shareholders in General Meeting, reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group Plc, on 28 July 2000.Key milestones in the development of Vodafone can be found in the following sections, organized by year: 2010
June Completion of merger between Vodafone Australia Limited and Hutchinson 3G Australia Pty Limited.
March Telephonic and Vodafone announce milestone Pan European collaboration to share network infrastructure in Germany, Spain, Ireland and the UK.
February Hutchinson and Vodafone agree to merge Australian telecom operations to form a 50:50 joint venture.
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2009
November Vodafone to acquire an additional 15% Stake in Vodacom Group which will increase Vodafone's shareholding from 50% to 65%. Vodacom Group will be listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the remaining 35% of Vodacom Group will be demerged by Telkom to its shareholders.
October Vodafone launches the new exclusive BlackBerry Storm smartphone from Research In Motion
July Vittorio Colao succeeds Arun Sarin as Group Chief Executive Vodafone acquires a 70% stake in Ghana Telecom for $900 million.
June
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Vodafone and Apple(R) announce the iPhone 3G will be available in Australia, Italy, New Zealand and Portugal on July 11, and in the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, India, South Africa and Turkey later this year. Vodafone announces that Verizon Wireless, its affiliate in the US, has agreed to acquire Alltel Corp. for a total enterprise value of US$28.1 billion in cash and assumed debt.
May Vodafone announces that it has agreed to acquire the 26.4% interest in Arcor that it does not already own from Deutsche Bahn AG and Deutsche Bank AG for a cash consideration of 474 million.
February Vodafone carries out technical trials of 3G femtocells to assess how effectively the technology is able to deliver wireless high-speed data and voice services inside homes and business locations.
Safaricom and Vodafone announce that M-PESA, the innovative mobile money transfer service launched in March 2007, now has 1.6 million customers. 2008
December A consortium led by Vodafone Group is awarded the second mobile phone licence in Qatar Indus Towers Limited, an independent tower company in India is formed between Vodafone, Idea and Bharti
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October Vodafone agrees to acquire Tele2 Italia SpA and Tele2 Telecommunication Services SLU from Tele2 AB Group
May Vodafone announces completion of the acquisition of Hutch Essar from Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited
February Safaricom, Vodafone's partner in Kenya announces the launch of M-PESA, an innovative new mobile payment solution that enables customers to complete simple financial transactions by mobile phone
Vodafone agrees to buy a controlling interest in Hutchison Essar Limited, a leading operator in the fast growing Indian mobile market Vodafone announces agreements with both Microsoft and Yahoo! to bring seamless Instant Messaging (IM) services to the mobile which can be accessed from both the PC and mobile handsets Vodafone signs a series of ground-breaking agreements which will lead to the mobilizing of the internet. YouTube agrees to offer Vodafone customers specially rendered YouTube pages on their mobile phones. With Google, Vodafone announces its intention to develop a location-based version of Google Maps for. With eBay, Vodafone announces it is to offer the new eBay mobile service to customers, With MySpace.com Vodafone announces an exclusive partnership to offer Vodafone customers a MySpace experience via their mobile phones 21
June Proposed Return of Capital via a B share scheme announced May Vodafone announces completion of acquisition of the assets of Telsim in Turkey Vodafone and Softbank agree to form mobile partnership
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December Vodafone announces completion of acquisition of 10% economic interest in Bharti Tele-ventures in India Vodafone will be McLaren Mercedes Title Sponsor Acquisition of the assets of Telsim in Turkey Vodafone launches global Mobile TV Sir John Bond succeeds Lord MacLaurin as Chairman.
November Vodafone announces new football sponsorship with the UEFA Champions League
October Sale of Vodafone Sweden Acquisition of a 10% economic interest in Bharti TeleVentures in India
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Vodafone reaches 165 million proportionate customers Vodafone announces new four year sponsorship of the England Cricket Team May Vodafone completes acquisition of control of MobiFon in Romania and Oskar in the Czech Republic Vodafone launches Vodafone Simply
January Vodafone reaches 150 million customers - strongest quarter since December 2000
Vodafone in india
Vodafone Essar started its operations in India in 1994 and is under the Vodafone Group. The company Vodafone Essar Limited has become one of the leading companies in the telecom sector in India due to its high standard of services that it provides to its customers. The company Vodafone Essar has its operations in 16 telecom circles of the country, which covers around 86% of the customer mobile base in India. The company 24
offers both postpaid and prepaid GSM cellular mobile coverage all across India and its hold is especially strong in the metropolitan cities. The company Vodafone Essar Limited provides services like 2G, which are based on 1800Mhz and 900Mhz GSM digital technology. The company Vodafone Essar also offers voice and data services. Vodafone Essar Limited has received many awards over the years such as the Best Mobile Service in India, Most Effective and Most Creative Advertiser of the Year, and Most Respected Telecom Company. The company Vodafone Essar Limited's chairman is Asim Ghosh, vice chairman is Arun Sarin, and non- executive chairman is Ravi Ruia. The Vodafone Essar subscriber bases in the cities of India are:
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The company Vodafone Essar Limited plans to spend more than Rs.250 crore in launching low price cell phones in India. The company's objective in doing this is to bring in millions of cheap mobile handsets from around the world into the country and then sell them under the Vodafone brand name in order to maximize sales. It is expected that the company Vodafone Essar Limited will price the handsets in the range of Rs.666, Rs.999, and Rs.888. In this way the company expects to attract new customers and thus expand its customer base that stands at 35 million in 2007.
Vodafone Essar plans to sell the low price handsets from its 4 lakh distribution outlets. The company will buy the low cost cell phones from the firm ZTE that is located in China. The Company ZTE will ship more than 10 million low cost cell phones to India that will then be sold by the company Vodafone Essar. Vodafone Essar Company also has plans to expand in the near future and for this it is planning to take a loan overseas of around US$ 500 million. The company Vodafone Essar Limited will use the money to expand the company's network, better its technology, and open more distribution centers. All these measures will help to increase the customer base of the company Vodafone Essar.
Vodafone Essar is one of the topmost companies in the telecom sector in India and is well known for the best quality of products and services offered to its customers. And this is the reason that the customer base of the company Vodafone Essar Limited has been increasing at a very rapid pace. The company is planning to launch low price cell phones in the country and also expand its operations. This is sure to help the company VodafoneEssar to grow and prosper even more in the future.
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Consumer Buying Decision Process 1. Problem identification:The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a problem or need. The need can be triggered by internal or external stimuli. Marketers need to identify the circumstances that trigger a particular need. By gathering information from a number of consumers, Marketers can identify the most frequent stimuli that spark an interest in a product category. They can then develop marketing strategies that trigger consumer interest.
2. Information Search:The consumer tries to collect information regarding various products/service. Through gathering information, the consumer learns about completing brands and their features. Information may be collected form magazines, catalogues, retailers, friends, family members, business association, commercial, chamber of commerce, telephone directory, trade fair etc. Marketers should find out the source of information and their relative degree of importance to the consumes.
Personal Sources: Family, friends, neighbor, as quittances. Commercial Source: Advertising, sales persons, dealers, packaging, displays. Public sources: media, consumer, rating organizations. Mass
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3.
Evaluation of alternative:There is no single process used by all consumers by one consumer in all buying
situations. There is several First, the consumer processes, some basic concepts are: First, the consumer is trying to satisfy need. Second, the consumer is looking for certain benefits from the product solutions.
4. Choice of purchasing decision:From among the purchase of alternatives the consumer makes the solution. It may be to buy or not to buy. If the decision is to buy. The other additional decisions are: Which types of Telecom he must buy? From whom to buy a Telecom? How the payment to be made? And so on. The marketer up to this stage has tried every means to influence the purchase behavior, but the choice is properly consumers. In the evaluation stage the consumer forms preferences among the brands in the choice set. The consumer may also form an intention to but the most preferred brand.
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5. Post Purchase Behavior:After purchase the product, the consumer will experience the same level of product. The Marketers job not end when the product is buying must monitor postpurchase satisfaction, post-purchase action, post-purchase use and disposal. 6. Post Purchase Satisfaction:The buyer, satisfaction is a function Of closeness between the buyer, expectation and the products Perceiver performance. The larger the gap between expectation and performance, the greater the consumer dissatisfaction. 7. Post purchase Action:The Consumer, satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product influence subsequent behavior. If the consumer satisfied, he or she will exhibit a higher probability of purchasing the product again. Dissatisfaction consumer may abandon and return the product. 8. Post-Purchase Use or Disposal:The marketer should also monitor new buyers use and dispose of the product. If the consumer store the product in a close, the product is probably not very satisfying. If the consumer throws the product away, the marketer needs to know how they dispose of it; especially it can be hurt the environment.
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OBJECTIVES
The objective of the study is to know the comparative measurement of customer perception regarding the services of two major companies that are doing their business in Delhi (ncr) region. These two companies are: - AIRTEL, VODAFONE" Along with this I tried to find out the perceptions of the customer of different Age Group & different Professions which are using the services of these companies permanently are given below: To know the customer perception, choice and preference regarding various mobile services. Which mobile service is preferred most by the customers. Comparative measurement of customer satisfaction level for various mobile services available in Delhi (ncr). To understand the main problems faced by the customer while using the mobile services. To know the features of a mobile service which attracts the customer most. To know the level of Customer Loyalty regarding his service provider & he is a switcher who switches over time to time due to various reasons. To know the media which affects the customer most while making there decision of using a mobile service. To understand the infrastructure of payment which is most uses by the customer.
Scope of study
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It would help us to know about which one is better (Airtel or Vodafone) according to the customer. Which company gives better service to their customers? It would help us to know about how many customers are loyal to their brands It would help us to know about the reasons regarding non preference Vodafone/Airtel.
To study the psychology of customers in respect of their need : Coverage area network Variety of plans Good signals New services provided by them
Differentiation between Airtel/Vodafone in respect of consumers Perception, which is better and why?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
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Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we study the various steps that are generally adopted by researcher in studying his research problem along with the logic behind them. It is necessary for the researcher to know not only the research methods/techniques but also the methodology. Researchers also need to understand the assumptions underlying various techniques and they need to know the criteria by which they can decide that certain techniques and procedures will be applicable to certain problems and others will not. We use a particular method of research in the context of our research study and explain why we are using a particular method or technique and why we are not using other so that research results are capable of being evaluated either by the researcher himself or by others.
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Research Research Design Sampling Design Data Collection Tools and Techniques Survey area Sampling Size
RESEARCH Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. One can also define research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic: The meaning of research is "a careful investigation or inquiry specially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge" According to Clifford Woody research comprises defining and redefining problems formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organizing and evaluating , data; making deductions and reaching conclusions; and at last carefully testing the conclusions to determines whether they fit the formulating hypothesis.
Objectives of Research The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not been discovered as yet. Though researcher study has to its own specific 36
purpose, we may thin of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad groupings. 1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it, 2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group. 3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with it is associated with something else. 4. To test a hypothesis of a casual relationship between variables.
RESEARCH DESIGN A research design is purely and simply the frame work of plan fro a study that guides. the collection and analysis of the data. Application and specification are the main characteristic 37
in a research design. Marketing research designs can be classified on the basis of the fundamental objectives of the research. There is mainly three types research design. Exploratory Conclusive (i) Descriptive (ii) Causal Performance monitor Since our research is descriptive type, so research design is also descriptive.
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These designs are used for some definite purpose. A number of marketing research studies are based on such designs. It is focused on the accurate description of the variables present in the problem. These designs try to find a complete and accurate description of a problem situation by providing specified methods for selecting the sources of information and the procedure for collecting data from these sources. The data is collected in such a manner that the ambiguous nature of cause and effect relationship in the phenomenon is reduced to maximum extent .Importance of Descriptive Research These are able to describe the characteristic of certain groups. Specific predictions are possible Can study relationship between two or more variables. Descriptive Designs can be divides in two main categories: (1) Case method (2) Statistical Method
SAMPLING DESIGN 39
Sampling is the process of obtaining information about an entire population by examining only a part of it. Sampling is used fro a variety of reasons such as : Sampling can save time and money Sampling may enable more accurate measurements. Sampling remains the only way when populations contains infinitely many members Sampling only remains the only choice when a test involves the destruction of the item under study Sampling Methods are divided Probability sampling Non-probability Sampling In my research probability sampling is used. Again in probability sampling simple random sampling is used. This sampling is stratified system.
Data collection methods are generally two types: Primary Data Secondary Data
Primary Data The primary data are those which are collected a fresh and for the first time and thus happens to be original in character. The primary data is collected in the process of questionnaire and interview of the outlets. Secondary Data The secondary data are those which have already been collected by someone else and which have been already been passed through the statistical process. In my research the secondary data collected from the company sales, production and other records. The other data was collected from research report.
The data was collected through questionnaire method and personal interview. Again the research is descriptive type. The analysis is done through the tabular and graphical representation.
SURVEY AREA
The research is done in the different areas of ghaziabad (DELHI NCR) which are given below: Alpha 1 Alpha 2 Beta 1 Beta 2 Gama Sector 18 (Atta) Jagat Firm
SAMPLE SIZE
The total sample size I had cover is 100. These size are generally outlets. Sample Size (n) = 100
AIRTEL Vs VODAFONE
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"In a service industry like telecom, people live a brand 24X7. It's all about experience; and for Airtel 'brand=customer experience," says Rajan Mittal, joint managing director, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. That's now, but when mobile telephony began in India a decade ago, the brand was all about aspiration. That's understandable: a handset cost about Rs 45,000 - the price of a second-hand Fiat - and call charges hovered around Rs 16 a minute. Naturally, the target customer was clearly defined: elite, up market professionals and entrepreneurs. "We positioned Airtel as an aspirational and lifestyle brand, in a way that trivialised the price in the mind of the consumer. It was pitched not merely as a mobile service, but as something that gave him a badge value," recalls Hemant Sachdev, chief marketing officer (mobility) and director, Bharti Tele-Ventures. Airtel was on a power trip: the logo was black, uppercase bold lettering; and the baseline was "the power to keep in touch". "From day one, it was decided that the brand should always connote leadership - be it in network, innovations, offerings or services," says Diwan Arun Nanda, CMD, Rediffusion-DY&R, the agency that has created all Airtel ads over the past decade. The taglines emphasized that stance: "Airtel celebrates the spirit of leadership" and "The first choice of the corporate leaders". This was also a time when customers needed to be educated; interest levels were high, but customers' exposure to the cellular world was limited. Airtel took out full and half-page ads in newspapers, answering queries like "what is roaming?", "what is coverage area?" and "how to make international calls". In 1999, the rules of the game changed. The New Telecom Policy came into effect, replacing licence fees with a revenue-sharing scheme and extending the license period from 10 to 20 years. Now, cellular service operators could drop their prices and target new customer segments. As SEC B became part of the catchments area, Airtel's communication changed from "power" to "touch tomorrow".
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The focus now was on the endless possibilities of technology to make life good and advertising became two-pronged: a product-driven communication that showcased new offerings like the Magic prepaid card, and an emotional communication that showed younger people. In 2002, Airtel signed on music composer A R Rahman and changed its tune to "Live every moment": Rahman's signature tune for Airtel is, perhaps, the most downloaded ring tone in India. But that was just part of the ongoing communication. The following year Airtel adopted the "Express yourself" positioning, which is also its current tagline. Now, the emotional angle was predominant - and stark, black and white imagery to stand out in what was becoming a highly commodities, crowded market. The latest campaign continues that thought. Only, mobile telephony is now extending to even low-income mass categories. So the first TVCs in Hindi and regional languages are now on air, as are low-priced products, like the Rs 200 recharge coupon. Communication was just part of the battle: customer service would prove more critical. "We were very clear that Airtel will be a service-led brand," says Mittal. Accordingly, Airtel was the first cellular service provider to start customer centers (called Airtel connects), where customers could pay their bills, apply for new connections and touch and feel new handset models. The way to the future, though, seems to be through product innovations such as easy charge (recharging prepaid connection through SMS), hello tunes, the Blackberry option, stock tickers and M-cheques (mobile credit cards). The customer care centers, too, are metamorphosing into "relationship centers", one-stop shops where subscribers can not only pay their bills and have their queries answered, they can shop for new phones, surf the net and enjoy a cup of coffee. "What matters is what the customers want," points out Mittal. 45
Vodafone: Co lour coded Back in 1995, using "Hello Bombay" as the tagline, and pitted against consumer electronic giant BPL, the campaign for the unknown Max Touch got underway. Says Narayan Srivastava, executive creative director, TBWA Anthem, part of Mudra's creative team for Max Touch, "We consciously decided to cultivate the brand personality as foreign." The international pedigree was underlined by the baseline "World in your pocket", but local relevance was built using celebrities to endorse the brand ("Citizens of Mumbai"). Like Airtel, Vodafone, too, needed to educate consumers about cellular telephony. So, it also had ads like "Can I call STD?", "Can I use my phone in a lift?" "What is airtime?" International was believed to be synonymous with sophisticated, and the customer service reflected that. Max Touch introduced Integrated Voice Response systems, and for face-toface interactions, it had swanky customer spaces with smartly dressed executives who had been trained in customer relationships. "The advertising and the delivery of services were in tandem, something that continued with Orange and Vodafoneison affiliates," says Gangadharan Menon, director, Octane Communications, then a member of Narayan's creative team. Even as Vodafone's communication appealed to the upper class, it was working on innovative product offerings: in 1996, it was the first cellular company to establish national roaming; later that year, it introduced over-the-counter prepaid cards. And if black proved to be Airtel winning co lour, Max Touch found orange worked for it. The almost accidental use of the co lour in an ad campaign - changed at the last minute from green - was fortuitous. In February 2001, Max Touch became Orange and the account shifted from Mudra to Ogilvy. By replacing a highly recognized brand with a virtual unknown in just two weeks, the new Ogilvy campaign redefined conventional communication strategies. In Mumbai, for instance, ads compared the cost of a mobile phone call to an inexpensive cutting chain. 46
A big success factor was how inspirational overtones in brand imagery stayed, even though price wars had started. Again, the co lour orange was a seminal attribute; the brand's slogan was 'The future's bright, the future's orange'. The next year, though, it was time for another name change. Vodafoneison announced the creation of an umbrella brand, Vodafone, although to confuse the issue further, Mumbai retained the Orange brand. The separate identities of the two brands were duly emphasized, although strategic sponsorships of theatre, music and art events overlapped - as did the use of orange co lour. The new brand name also heralded the arrival of a new mascot, the "Vodafone" pug. When Vodafone launched the Abby-winning "Wherever you go our network will follow'" ad, viewers believed that was Vodafone's new slogan, but it was just one brand attribute. Twelve other campaigns followed; each one with a single communication of a value-add, all stylized to be uniquely Vodafone. "In a service business you can't have high imagery and low delivery. Effective branding has to be built on a bedrock of fundamentals of service - great network, customer service and great billing systems," Harit Nagpal, chief marketing officer, Orange had said a couple of months ago. Value-added services - such as "Privileges" (discount coupon booklets), cricket scores and stock market information - have formed as critical a part of Vodafone's marketing efforts as its advertising. Other services like Vodafone World (GPRS service), Vodafone Alive (nonstop, streaming action) and Vodafone4Help, a unique dial-in 'convenience' service, all emphasize the premium attributes of the service. But now there's Chhota Recharge, small value recharge cards (starting at Rs 10), which will also help mobilise small spenders. And now there's pink. Last month, Mumbai was overrun with billboards that simply said "Bye". A week later, the same billboards, along with the rest of the country, sported the Vodafone Tri-Star in a new, vivid pink.
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At the time, Naveen Chopra, corporate vice president, group marketing, Vodafoneison Essar, said, "The idea is just to refresh the brand, and inculcate a new 'Vodafone spirit'." But the brand makeover had less to do with creating excitement and more with renouncing the Orange brand to Orange Telecom and creating the new pan-Indian Vodafone brand. Airtel or Vodafone? you choose Samit Sinha, Managing Partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting Airtel seems to have consciously decided to go for the belly of the market and aggressive market expansion, while Vodafone seems to be pursuing a relatively more sophisticated consumer. There isn't a great deal of differentiation in terms of pricing, services, schemes and so on, but there are differences in approach. Overall, AirTel is focused on functionality and efficiency, while Vodafone has veered towards warmth and emotions.
Harminder Sahni, Principal, KSA Technopak Vodafone has developed a more effective branding strategy purely through its emotional connect with customers. While Vodafone used the powerful visual imagery of a dog, Airtel chose to use music, which is not nearly as effective. Ad recall for Vodafone has always been much higher. Still, Airtel is more powerful by sheer physical presence, while Vodafone has been too fragmented. Meenakshi Madhvani, Managing Partner, Spatial Access Brands of most mobile service providers enjoy a high unaided recall. One would assume that this high level of awareness is driven by a constant media presence. But this logic does not explain recall for BPL Mobile in Mumbai, which has minimal media presence. In such a scenario, it would not be right to conclusively say that Brand A is stronger than Brand B. 48
However, if you consider adoption of the service by consumers as an indicator of brand strength, then Airtel would rank reasonably high. TV Ads: Vodafone vs. Airtel Published by sushubh January 27th, 2006 in Advertisements on TV The latest advertisements from the two mobile giants in India: Vodafone and Airtel stars Rahul Dravid and Shah Rukh Khan respectively. The difference however lies in their approach. While, the Vodafone ad is focused on the brand name, that Vodafone is and Rahul is just used to enhance the effect, Airtel ad is totally focused on Shah Rukh Khan, the star playing a double role. You cannot realize that the ad is for Airtel till the time they tell you that it is. Vodafone on the other hand is easily recognizable. Perhaps, the difference in the footage given to the respective stars depends upon the money companies are spending on them. On the other hand, perhaps the difference lies on what the company wants to emphasize on
Filed in: Telecom Add comments I just switched from Vodafone postpaid to Airtel prepaid as far as my GSM mobile connection goes, but I also looked into Vodafone prepaid seriously before making the deal. I found Airtel to be far better for a variety of services it offers:
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CLIP is free with Airtel prepaid unlike Vodafone where it costs Rs. 50 per month. (It costs Vodafone nothing!) Receiving missed calls alerts for when the phone was switched off is free whereas it costs Rs. 2 each time with Vodafone! Airtel provides a free restricted GPRS service (Airtel Live) for free whereas Vodafone offer a WAP version called Planet Vodafone for Rs. 50 rental plus usage charges. Airtel has a full blown one with unlimited usage for Rs. 150 per month.
Airtel have a usage-only billed MMS service through Airtel Live whereas Vodafone requires you to sign up for Planet Vodafone GPRS that has a rental of Rs. 50 per month.
I did spare a moments thought in thinking if Vodafone offered any benefits that Airtel did not, but couldnt come up with any. If any of my readers know of one, then theyre welcome to inform me via the comments.
GINI I want to take a new connection of Airtel prepaid & want to know the price structure & I ant a connection in which there min prices for Sms & want a long validity card. I know that there is lifetime validity card but its call rates is very high & does Airtel has any special schemes for student.
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Vodafone, Idea get nod for pan-India presence NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, the only all-India global system for mobile communications (GSM) player, is set to face competition now. Applications filed by two other mobile service providers Vodafone son Essar and Idea Cellular have been cleared by the government for operating across all 23 circles in the country. Both Vodafone-Essar and Idea are GSM players. Vodafone-Essar, a joint venture between Vodafone Telecom International Ltd (HTIL) and the Essar group, operates its mobile telecom services in 16 circles now. Vodafone-Essar has also been permitted to operate its own national long distance (NLD) and international long distance (ILD) services, a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) source said. Vodafone-Essar officials declined to comment. Interestingly, the DoT nod for Vodafone-Essars all-India presence has come at a time when Egypt-based Orascom has expressed interest to pick up a controlling stake in HTIL, which is a majority joint venture partner in Vodafone-Essar. At present, Orascom has around 19% in HTIL, which translates into an indirect 10% stake in the Indian mobile venture, Vodafone-Essar. According to sources, Vodafone son Whampoa, the Hong Kongbased holding company for HTIL, is against selling a controlling stake in HTIL to Orascom. The National Security Advisor had written to the DoT saying that the Orascom stake in Vodafone-Essar could be a threat to the countrys security as it has operations in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is learnt that Aditya Birla groups Idea Cellular too has been granted permission to operate its mobile telecom services in all 23 circles. Idea already has licenses for 11 circles and operates in 10 circles, the latest being Rajasthan. The company applied to DoT for the remaining 12 circles a few months ago. Recently, Idea got the license for the Mumbai circle. Right now, it operates only in one metro-Delhi Besides Delhi, Idea has services in Haryana, UP (West), Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. 51
While Bharti Airtel is the only GSM telecom player to be present across all 23 circles in the country, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is present in all circles except in Delhi and Mumbai, which are the territories of its sibling Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL). CDMA player Reliance Communications is present across 21 circles and the groups GSM business Reliance Telecom operates in the remaining two circles of Assam and North-East, among other places. Another CDMA player, Tata Teleservices, does not operate in J&K, Assam and NorthEast. Among GSM players, Bharti leads in subscriber numbers at over 27 million, while Vodafone-Essar has around 19.4 million and Idea over 10 million users. There are a total of 23 geographical circles across the country. Besides the four metros, there are three circles-A, B and C. A circle constitutes places like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh; B circle like Kerala, Punjab and Haryana; and C circle like Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and North-East.
ANALYSIS OF DATA
Nature of Research Research Approach Contact Method Sample Size Sampling Criteria Research instrument
Surveyor's Name Date of Survey Mobile No. Time of Survey Owner's Name Address Age
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1. AGE WISE CLASSIFICTION Age (in year) 18-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41& above Total No. of respondents 30 37 15 06 07 05 100
A w Classification ge ise
7, 7% 6, 6%
5, 5% 30, 30% 18-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41& above 37, 37%
15, 15%
(Sources: Questionnaire-personal detail) Comment:Above Graph shows are 30% of respondent in age group of 18-20, 37%of respondent in age group of 21-25, 15% of respondent age group of 26-30, 7% and 5% respondent are come in 36-40 and 41&above.
u s in e s
s io
e rv
O ccupation
(Sources: Questionnaire-personal detail) Comment:Above Chart Shows that 47 respondent are Servicemen out of 100 and 30 are the students. 12 respondents are businessman.
ro
O th
fe s
tu
er s
en
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Income Level <= 5000 5000-10,000 10,000-15,000 15,000-20,000 20,000 Above Total
7, 7% 11, 11%
25, 25%
(Sources: - Questionnaire Personal Detail) Comment: Above graph shows that 54% of respondents are income in <=5000 income level, Second 25% of respondents are of 5000-10,000 income level. 11% of respondents are of 10,000-15,000, 7% of respondents are of 15,000-20,000 and remain 3% of respondents above 20,000 of income level. 4. ANALYSIS OF PREFERING TELECOM
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(Sources: - Questionnaire) Comment:Above Chart shows that out of 100, 52 % respondents prefer other Telecom to purchase. 20 % respondents prefer Shivani Telecom to purchase.
5. AGE V/S USAGE OF COMPANIE MOBILEPHONE Age (in year) 1-20 21-25 Airtel 15 23 Reliance 05 06 BSNL 03 03 Vodafone 02 03 Tataindicom 05 02 Total 30 37
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09 02 01 01 51
02 00 2 01 16
01 01 02 00 10
03 01 01 02 12
00 02 01 01 11
15 06 07 05 100
25 20
15 10
(Sources: - Questionnaire personal detail) Comment:Above Charts shows that 51 respondents are use Airtel Companys Telecom. And 16 respondents are using Reliance.
6. Who is decision maker for purchasing telecom in your family? Sources Father Self Mother No. of respondents 46 42 10 Percentage (%) 46 42 10
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Others Total
02 100
02 100
Others
(Sources: - Questionnaire personal detail) Comment:Above Graph shows that 46 % respondents take decision by father for purchasing telephone. And 42 % respondents are take decision by self for purchasing telephone.
% Respondent
50 40 30 20 10 0 Official use Home use Status symbol 34 20
%
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34% Respondents have the purpose to purchase to Mobile Phone for official use. 46% Respondents have the purpose to purchase to Mobile Phone for off home use. 34% Respondents have the purpose to purchase to Mobile Phone for status symbol.
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Attributes
Excellent
Very Good 24 35 20
Good
Average
Poor
Total
30 16 Of 20
18 24 23
16 15 20
12 10 17
22 12 100
11 10 100
15 20 100
19 30 100
13 48 100
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22
(Sources: - Questionnaire personal detail) Comment:Above chart shows that 30 respondents out of 100 are available who give Weight age on the excellent and second 35 respondents out of 100 are after service who gives Weight age on the Very Good, 23 respondents are Knowledge of salesman who give Weight age on the good, 27 respondents are service who give Weight age on the good, 29 respondents are Infrastructure who gives Weight age on the Very Good.
no of respondents
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9. RESPODENTS' RESPONSES ON ATTRIBUTES Attributes Festival Offer Exchange Offer Special Gift Cash Discount Anniversary Offer Total Excellent 43 15 20 11 11 100 Very Good 21 31 14 21 13 100 Good 12 29 30 19 10 100 Average 14 12 20 34 20 100 Poor 10 13 16 15 46 100 Total 100 100 100 100 100 500
Anniversary Offer
Cash Discount
Special Gift
Exchange Offer
(Sources: -Questionnaire personal detail) Comment:Above graph shows that in festival offer 43 respondents out of 100 are give a excellent, then in exchange offer 31 respondents out of 100 are give a very good rank, in special gift 30 respondents are give a good rank, in cash discount 34 respondents are give a average rank
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Attributes Excellent Very Good Good Average Poor Total Networking 31 26 15 18 10 100 Available 14 25 32 16 13 100 Price 16 22 42 11 09 100 After Service 20 31 25 14 10 100 Connectivity 21 36 17 15 11 100 Advertisement 18 25 15 26 16 100 Color 20 24 26 10 20 100 Average 27 24 20 15 14 100 Total 167 213 192 125 103 800
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27 20 18 21 20 22 25 31 24 25
24 26 15 36 31
20
15 10 26 17 15 14 11 16
14 20 16 11 10 9 13 10
25 42 32 26 15
18
20
40
60
80
100
(Sources: - Questionnaire personal detail) Comment:Above graph show that respondents give more weight age to the connectivity then after they give more weight age to the mileage before purchasing motorcycle.
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FINDINGS
During the project we meet various people & trying to find their perception regarding various mobile services in the Ghaziabad. While studying we find that the main customer or the users of mobile services are the self-employed persons who have their own business & other major users are the college going students. Vodafone is the leading mobile service provider in the Ghaziabad region & it is far ahead from there competitors in terms of customers. Which have come just now in the city have capture a good market. Vodafone is capturing a lot of market because of its good networking in rural area. In starting it is well accepted by the people by its low call rate & some and good connectivity. Vodafone management is not able to make their services available to the general customer because of shortage and black marketing of there sim cards and recharge coupons number of customer have switched towards other mobile service. But the Airtel is also creating an image on the high-class customers by its good network and good quality of voice in the long distance. The Airtel is the choice of the high class and the people who worked in the higher position.
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CONCLUSION
This research report is conducted to compare the two biggest competitors in all time in the telecom sector. In this research we fined that the both Airtel and Vodafone are the wellestablished companies in the market. Customers are aware about the name of both the companies. They prefer to buy both. Airtel is the more popular then the Vodafone. Airtel is preferred by the every class and it established it self as a better quality and better service provider then its competitors. But Vodafone is no fear of it because the young customers are more attracted by it, now the Vodafone takes over Airtel and now they give the new schemes in the market and for the customers. Last but not the least, we can say that the both the Airtel and the Vodafone are going equally to the customer and they choose and at the time of purchasing. The result is that the Vodafone is better then the Airtel in the Ghaziabad region. The customers in Ghaziabad thinks that the connectivity and network of Vodafone is good then the Airtel
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RECOMMENDATIONS
During the project I found inconvenience faced by the customers, which can be removed by taking necessary steps. There, I would like to suggest few point over which top management should think and take corrective action to overcome those drawback due to which Mobile Service providing companies & authorized dealer has gradually losing its market position so that the company must take following measure to regain its market position. Company should encourage to solve the customer complaint customer satisfaction should be the ultimate aim of the organization so customer complaints should be removed. Promotion by local advertisement & on electronic media more as to print media as it is the biggest media to reach common customer. Companies should also start promotional schemes for the customer. To attracts the customer the firms should improve there services by introducing latest technology in the market. & they should also try to increase the range of there signals in the city. The companies should try to increase there capacity to solve the problem. The marketing personnel should give complete feedback with logical rejoining from the market to increase service standards. For a particular order particular person should be made responsible not a group as a whole this will increase the commitment of that. person towards the work and would make him feel more responsible towards an order. Marketing people should be given incentives for each order they company. It could be a fix percentage. The local persons are appointed more in the field of marketing to attracts the customer. bring to the connectivity
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Bharti Airtel has more than 100 million customers (July 2010). It is the largest cellular provider in India, and also supplies broadband and telephone services - as well as many other telecommunications services to both domestic and corporate customers.
Other stakeholders in Bharti Airtel include Sony-Ericsson, Nokia - and Sing Tel, with whom they hold a strategic alliance. This means that the business has access to knowledge and technology from other parts of the telecommunications world.
The company has covered the entire Indian nation with its network. This has underpinned its large and rising customer base
Weaknesses
An often cited original weakness is that when the business was started by Sunil Bharti Mittal over 15 years ago, the business has little knowledge and experience of how a cellular telephone system actually worked. So the start-up business had to outsource to industry experts in the field.
Until recently Airtel did not own its own towers, which was a particular strength of some of its competitors such as Hutchison Essar. Towers are important if your company wishes to provide wide coverage nationally.
The fact that the Airtel has not pulled off a deal with South Africa's MTN could signal the lack of any real emerging market investment opportunity for the business once the Indian market has become mature.
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Opportunities
The company possesses a customized version of the Google search engine which will enhance broadband services to customers. The tie-up with Google can only enhance the Airtel brand, and also provides advertising opportunities in Indian for Google.
Global telecommunications and new technology brands see Airtel as a key strategic player in the Indian market. The new iPhone will be launched in India via an Airtel distributorship. Another strategic partnership is held with BlackBerry Wireless Solutions.
Despite being forced to outsource much of its technical operations in the early days, this allowed Airtel to work from its own blank sheet of paper, and to question industry approaches and practices - for example replacing the Revenue-PerCustomer model with a Revenue-Per-Minute model which is better suited to India, as the company moved into small and remote villages and towns.
The company is investing in its operation in 120,000 to 160,000 small villages every year. It sees that less well-off consumers may only be able to afford a few tens of Rupees per call, and also so that the business benefits are scalable - using its 'Matchbox' strategy.
Bharti Airtel is embarking on another joint venture with Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular to create a new independent tower company called Indus Towers. This new business will control more than 60% of India's network towers. IPTV is another potential new service that could underpin the company's long-term strategy.
Threats
Airtel and Vodafone seem to be having an on/off relationship. Vodafone which owned a 5.6% stake in the Airtel business sold it back to Airtel, and instead
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invested in its rival Hutchison Essar. Knowledge and technology previously available to Airtel now moves into the hands of one of its competitors.
The quickly changing pace of the global telecommunications industry could tempt Airtel to go along the acquisition trail which may make it vulnerable if the world goes into recession. Perhaps this was an impact upon the decision not to proceed with talks about the potential purchase of South Africa's MTN in May 2008. This opened the door for talks between Reliance Communication's Anil Ambani and MTN, allowing a competing Inidan industrialist to invest in the new emerging African telecommunications market.
Bharti Airtel could also be the target for the takeover vision of other global telecommunications players that wish to move into the Indian market.
Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, India's largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with its world class products and services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU's) Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services.
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Strengths
Diversified geographical portfolio with strong mobile telecommunications operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and to some extent the US Network infrastructure Leading presence in emerging markets such as India
Weaknesses
-Negative return on assets (ROA) underperform key competitors like AT&T, BT Group, Deutsche Telecom - US business not nearly as strong as European/rest of the world operations - 80% of its business is generate in Europe (see below for explanation) - WTF
Opportunities
Focus on cost reductions improving returns Majority stake in Hutchison Essar in India Research and development of new mobile technologies WTF
Threats
-Highly competitive market -Still lags behind major competitors in the US - Extremely high penetration rates in key European markets - European Union regulation on cross-border cell phone usage by customers - WTF
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LIMITATIONS
customers are not aware of new plans (airtel/vodafone) Cost is the biggest factor in post paid. Very few schemes are available in the prepaid plans (Ghaziabad). Low or weak signals. They take more time in connectivity. Low sales promotion support, company is not paying much attention in advertising plans and schemes. Low penetration rate among customers. Products and services available to the customers are expensive. Services provided by Airtel / Vodafone are not up to the mark. Unawareness to customers about the new plans of airtel/vodafone.
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QUESTIONNAIRE
MARKET SALES SURVEY QUESTIONARE: Name: Contact No.: .. Sex: . Address: .. 1. What is your full time profession? a) Business c) Private Jobs e) Housewife 2. Marital Status ? Single [ ] Married [ ] b) Govt. Service d) Retired
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6. How you came to know about your service provider? Banners [ T.V. ] [ ] Magazines Friends [ [ ] ]
9. Which feature of your service provider attracts you more? Connectivity Price Free Roaming [ [ [ ] ] ] ] Free SMS Free Chatting [ E-mail Call Divert [ ] [ [ ] ] ]
Group Massaging [
10.
11.
Others [
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12. Why you preferred this service? Connectivity [ ] Price [ ] ] ] Free SMS [ ] ] [ [ ] ]
13 . Please give references of two people those who might be interested: i). Name: .. Address: .. .. .. Phone No: ii). Name: .. Address: .. .. .. Phone No: Sign: Date:
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
TEXT BOOK Philip Kotler (2004) Marketing management C.R. Kothari (2004) Research Methodology G.C.Berry (2002) Marketing Research Stanton Williamj.(1994) Fundamentals Of Marketing Saxena Rajana (2004) Marketing Management
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