Project Report

ON

Comparative Study
between
Airtel and Vodafone

VS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for

the BBA 3rd Semester of

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University

SUBMITTED BY
Pawas Gupta
BBA (3rd semester)
Roll No. 07221401709
SESSION 2009-2012

Jagannath International
Management School (I.P University)

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 Sec. B-9 Vasant Kunj , New Delhi (110047)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to express my appreciation to all those with whom I worked

Interacted and whose thoughts and insights helped me in furthering

my Knowledge and understanding of the subject.

I would specially like to thank Proff. Bhushan Manchanda for his

timely advice and guidance throughout the project. He supplied

me with material and without his this project would not have

reached completion .

Sept.,2010 (Pawas Gupta)

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this research project entitled

“Comparative Study between Airtel and Vodafone”
is the innovative effort of PAWAS GUPTA and it has
been accomplished under my direction.

(SIGN) Sept,2010

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 Contents
Topics
Page NO.

 Need Of Study 5

 Objective of Study 6

 Synopsis 7-10

 Introduction of the Topic 11

 Company Profile Airtel 12-22

 Comparison of Marketing Strategies 23-27

 Research Methodology 28-31

 A Brief History of Tele Sector in India 32-39

 Future Trends and Developments 40-43

 Scope of Study 44

 Data Analysis and Interpretation 45-54

 Customer Response on a Research 55-58

 Swot Analysis 59-60

 Limitations 61

 Suggestions 62

 Conclusion 63

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 Recommendation 64

 Bibliography 65

 Questioner 60-70

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 NEED OF THE STUDY
1. To identify the difference between market performance of Airtel industry
and Vodafone.

2. To study the market of Airtel Industry and Vodafone on big scale

telecommunication sector.

3. To compare various parameters of marketing strategies, manufacturing

process, technology adopted production policy, advertising,
collaboration, export scenario, future prospect for the two
companies and government policies.

4. To study the level of customer satisfaction in Airtel & Vodafone.

5. To study customer buying behavior and factors which influence the

purchase decision process.

6. To study consumer preferences.

7. To study the consumer trend in telecommunication sector.

8. To study competitive marketing strategies adopted by Airtel and Vodafone.

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 OBJECTIVE OF THE
STUDY
Every organization has to achieve its organization goals. For this it is very essential
for an organization to know about the view of consumers and their competitive
products. This survey research may be also aimed as to estimate potential buyer for
the product. The objective of the study is as under:-

1. To identify the difference between market performance of Airtel industry and

Vodafone.

2. To study the market of Airtel Industry and Vodafone on big scale

telecommunication sector.

3. To compare various parameters of marketing strategies, manufacturing

process, technology adopted production policy, advertising,

collaboration, export scenario, future prospect for the two companies and
government policies.

4. To study customer buying behavior and factors which influence the purchase
decision process.

5. To know how the company has been successful in encountering the aggressive
marketing strategies of competitors.

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 SYNOPSIS
Telecom Sector In India

Than 125 million telephones network is one of the largest communication

networks in world, which continues to grow at a blistering pace.

The rapid growth in the telecom sector can be attributed to the various pro-
active and positive policy measures taken by the government as well as the
dynamic and entrepreneurial spirit of the various telecom service providers
both in private and public sector. The telecom sector has shown impressive
growth during the past decade. Today, more

Two striking features of this growth viz. increasing preference for mobile
phones and higher contribution of private sector in the incremental growth
have predominated the telecom sector. The share of mobile phones (including
WLL mobile) has overtaken the share of landlines with 62% in the total
number of phones. The private sector's contribution is also increasing rapidly.
Currently more than 30 lakh phones are being added each month and it is
targeted that by the end of 2008 the total number of phones may reach a level
of 350 million taking the tele-density to more than 30% which is currently at
24.63%.

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Network Expansion: The total number of telephone subscribers has reached
281.62 million at the end of January 2008 as compared to 232.87 million in July
2007. The overall Teledensity has increased to 23.63% in January 2008 as compared
to 21.20% in August 2007.

Wireless Service: The wireless segment saw a surge of 8.77 million subscribers
last month compared to 8.17 million in December2007. This pushed the total
wireless subscribers base to 242.40 million by Jan 31 2008.

Wire line Subscribers: The wire line segment subscriber base stood at 39.73
million with a decrease of 0.16 million at the end of January 2008.

Teledensity: The gross subscriber base reached 206.83 million at the end of
March 2007. The Teledensity is 24.63%at the end of January 2008 as compared to
18.31% at the end of March 2007, registering an increase of 6%.

Increasing Role of Private Sector: The private sector has played a significant
role in the growth of telecom sector. The share of private sector has risen to 85 per
cent in December 2007 from 64.14 per cent in November 2006.

Tariff Rebalancing Measures: There has been a dramatic fall in the tariffs
due to increased competition. The minimum effective charges for local calls have
fallen considerably in recent months especially for cellular service. The long
distance domestic as well as international charges have also fallen considerably.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI): TRAI was established

under the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 enacted on March
28,1997. The goals and objectives of TRAI are focused towards providing a
regulatory framework that facilitates achievement of the objectives of New
Technology Policy (NTP) 1999. TRAI has endeavored to encourage greater
corporation in the telecom sector together with better quality and affordable prices.

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AIRTEL

Airtel is a brand of telecommunication services in India operated by Bharti

Airtel.

Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India in terms of number

of subscribers. Bharti Airtel owns the Airtel brand and provides the
following services under the brand name Airtel: Mobile Services (using
GSM Technology), Broadband & Telephone Services (Fixed line,
Internet Connectivity(DSL) and Leased Line), Long Distance Services
and Enterprise Services (Telecommunications Consulting for
corporates). It has presence in all 23 circles of the country and covers
71% of the current population (as of FY07).

Leading international telecommunication companies such as Vodafone

and SingTel held partial stakes in Bharti Airtel.

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VODAFONE ESSAR

Vodafone Essar, previously Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India

hat covers 16 telecom circles in India Despite the official name being Vodafone
Essar, its products are simply branded Vodafone. It offers both prepaid and postpaid
GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India and is especially strong in the major
metros.

Vodafone Essar provides 2G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital
GSM technology, offering voice and data services in 16 of the country's 23 license
areas.

Vodafone Essar, previously Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India that

covers 16 telecom circles in India . Despite the official name being Vodafone Essar,
its products are simply branded Vodafone. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM
cellular phone coverage throughout India and is especially strong in the major
metros.

Vodafone Essar provides 2G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital
GSM technology, offering voice and data services in 16 of the country's 23 license
areas.

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 Introduction of the topic
BACKGROUND:
The project is an extensive report on how the Airtel Company markets
its strategies and how the company has been able in tackling the present
tough competition and how it is scooping up by the allegations of the
quality of its products. The report begins with the history of the
products and the introduction of the Airtel Company. This report also
contains the basic marketing strategies that are used by the Airtel
Company of manufacturing process, technology, production policy,
advertising, collaboration, export scenario, future prospect and
government policies. The report includes some of the key salient
features of market trend issues.

In today’s world of cutthroat fierce competition, it is very essential to

not only exist but also to excel in the market. Today’s market is
enormously more complex. Hence forth, to survive in the market, the
company not only needs to maximize its profit but also needs to satisfy
its customers and should try to build upon from there.

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 COMPANY PROFILE OF
AIRTEL

Vision
"As we spread wings to expand our capabilities and explore new horizons, the
fundamental focus remains unchanged: seek out the best technology in the
world and put it at the service of our ultimate user: our customer."

Bharti Enterprises has been at the forefront of technology and has revolutionized
telecommunications with its world-class products and services.

Established in 1985, Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector. With
many firsts and innovations to its credit, ranging from being the first mobile service
in Delhi, first private basic telephone service provider in the country, first Indian
company to provide comprehensive telecom services outside India in Seychelles and
first private sector service provider to launch National Long Distance Services in
India. Bharti had approximately 3.21 million total customers – nearly 2.88 million
mobile and 334,000 fixed line customers.

Its services sector businesses include mobile operations in Andhra Pradesh, Chennai,
Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya

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Pradesh circle, Maharashtra circle, Mumbai, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh
(West) circle. In addition, it also has fixed-line operations in the states of Madhya
Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and
nationwide broadband and long distance networks.

Bharti has recently launched national long distance services by offering data
transmission services and voice transmission services for calls originating and
terminating on most of India's mobile networks.

Bharti Tele-Ventures' strategic objective is “to capitalize on the growth opportunities

that the Company believes are available in the Indian telecommunications market
and consolidate its position to be the leading integrated telecommunications services
provider in key markets in India, with a focus on providing mobile services”.

The Company has developed the following strategies to achieve

its strategic objective:
• Focus on maximizing revenues and margins;

• Capture maximum telecommunications revenue potential with minimum

geographical coverage;

• Offer multiple telecommunications services to provide customers with a "one-stop

shop" solution;

• Position itself to tap data transmission opportunities and offer advanced mobile data
services;

• Focus on satisfying and retaining customers by ensuring high level of customer

satisfaction;

• Leverage strengths of its strategic and financial partners; and

• Emphasize on human resource development to achieve operational efficiencies.

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 Competitive Strengths:
Bharti Tele-Ventures believes that the following elements will contribute to the
Company's success as an integrated telecommunication services provider in India
and will provide the Company with a solid foundation to execute its business
strategy:

• Nationwide Footprint - approximately 92% of India's total mobile subscribers

resided in the Company's fifteen mobile circles. These 15 circles collectively
accounted for approximately 56% of India's land mass;

• Focus on telecommunications to enable the Company to better anticipate industry

trends and capitalize on new telecommunications-related business opportunities.

• The strong brand name recognition and a reputation for offering high quality service
to its customers;

• Quality management team with vision and proven execution skills; and

• The Company's strong relationships with international strategic and financial

investors such as SingTel, Warburg Pincus, International Finance
Corporation, Asian Infrastructure Fund Group and New York Life Insurance.

Airtel - The flagship brand for cellular operations all across the Indian
country.

Touchtel - The brand earmarked for basic service operations.

India One - The brand for national long distance (NLD) telephony

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Though the costs of creating new brands are heavy but the group wants to
create “distinct independent brands to address different customers and
profiles”.

Brand Strategy:
To understand the brand strategy, let’s first look at the brand building exercise
associated with Airtel — a brand that had to be repositioned recently to address new
needs in the market.

When the brand was launched seven years ago, cellular telephony wasn’t a mass
market by any means. For the average consumer, owning a cellular phone was
expensive as tariff rates (at Rs 8 a minute) as well as instrument prices were steep —
sometimes as much as buying a second-hand car.

“Instead of the value-proposition model, we decided to address the sensory benefit it

gave to the customer as the main selling tack. The idea was to become a badge value
brand,” he explains.

So the Airtel “leadership series” campaign was launched showing successful men
with their laptops and in their deluxe cars using the mobile phone. In simple terms, it
meant Airtel was positioned as an inspirational brand that was meant for leaders, for
customers who stood out in a crowd.

Did it work? Repeated surveys following the launch showed that there were three
core benefits that were clearly associated with the brand — leadership, dynamism
and performance.

These were valuable qualities, but they only took Airtel far enough to establish its
presence in the market. As tariffs started dropping, it became necessary for Airtel to
appeal to a wider audience. And the various brand-tracking exercises showed that

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despite all these good things, there was no emotional dimension to the brand — it
was perceived as cold, distant and efficient.

The brand had become something like Lufthansa — cold and efficient. What they
needed was to become Singapore Airlines, efficient but also human. A change in
tack was important because this was a time when the cellular market was changing.

The leadership series was okay when you were wooing the crème de la crème of
society. Once you reached them you had to expand the market so there was need to
address to new customers.

By that time, Bharti was already the leading cellular subscriber in Delhi with a base
of 3.77 lakh (it now has 1.8 million customers). And with tariffs becoming more
affordable — as cell companies started cutting prices — it was time to expand the
market.

That is precisely what the brand tried to achieve through its new positioning under
the Airtel “Touch Tomorrow” brand campaign. This set of campaigns portrayed
mobile users surrounded by caring family members. Says Sachdev: “The new
campaign and positioning was designed to highlight the relationship angle and make
the brand softer and more sensitive.”

As it looks to expand its cellular services nationwide —to eight new circles apart
from the seven in which it already operates — Bharti is now realizing that there are
new compulsions to rework the Airtel brand, and a new exercise is being launched to
this effect. Right now, the company is unwilling to discuss the new positioning in
detail. But broadly, the focus is on positioning Airtel as a power brand with
numerous regional sub-brands reflecting customer needs in various parts of the
country.

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If Airtel is becoming more humane and more sensitive as a brand, Bharti has also
understood that one common brand for all cellular operations might not always work
in urban markets that are now getting increasingly saturated.

To bring in new customers, the company decided that it needed to segment the
market. One such experiment, launched last year, is Youtopia, a brand aimed at the
youth in the 14 to 19 age bracket and for those who are “young at heart”. With its
earlier positioning, Airtel was perceived as a brand for the well-heeled older
customer; there was nothing for younger people. With Youtopia, Airtel hoped to
reverse that.

In order to deliver the concept, Airtel offered rock bottom tariff rates (25 paise for 30
seconds) at night to Youtopia customers — a time when they make the maximum
number of calls. It also set up merchandising exercises around the scheme — like a
special portal for young people to buy things or bid for goods.

The company is now looking at offering other services at affordable prices to this
segment which include music downloads on the mobile and bundling SMS rates with
normal calls to make it cheaper for young people to use.

The idea was to bring Internet and mobile in perfect harmony. “The name was
chosen from the popular movie title It Takes Two to Tango: basically, you need the
two services to tango to offer customers a new choice”, says Sachdev.

This, however, had less to do with the branding exercise as with inefficiency of
service (accusingly slow download speeds) and the limited utility of WAP services.

Subsequently, the ads were withdrawn, but the company re-iterated that the branding
exercise could be revived because Tango will be the brand to offer GPRS services —
or permanent Internet connectivity on the mobile phone — which Airtel is expected
to launch soon.

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The Magic:
Perhaps the more ambitious experiment has been with Magic — the pre-paid card.
The idea was to make the brand affordable, accessible and, most importantly,
feasible as a means of expanding the market even faster.

PHASE I
Magic was aimed at bringing in infrequent users of a mobile phone into the market
and assure him that he would have to pay only if he made a call. Such a customer
used the phone sparingly — mostly for emergencies — and was not willing to pick
up a normal mobile connection with its relatively high rentals (pre-paid cards do not
include rental charges).

Like “Magic Daalo Say Hello” which appealed to local sensibilities.

This apart, the company roped in Karisma Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan for a major
ad campaign all across Delhi, a ruse that saw the number of subscribers go up from
5.47 lakh to 1.2 million today, overtaking Essar’s branded pre-paid card Speed,
which was launched much ahead of Magic. The company is now re-working its
Magic strategy even further.

Earlier, the branding strategy was aimed at roping in only interested customers —
that is, customers who were already inclined to opt for mobile services. But now,
with basic service providers having been allowed limited mobility at far cheaper
rates, mobile service providers could find themselves under threat again.

That is why the new exercise is aimed at co-opting non-adopters. While the exact
strategy is under wraps, insiders say the new branding strategy would be aimed at

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offering them value which they had not perceived would be available from using a
pre-paid card.

PHASE II
Bharti used Airtel Magic to build a strong value proposition and accelerate market
expansion through India’s first national pre-paid card TV brand campaign

• First time ever in India - any pre-paid card brand goes on TV

• A combination of the film genre exposed through the TV medium designed to

connect with the masses of India

• Youth based - romance driven strategy platform makes the value proposition of
Airtel Magic - ‘Mumkin Hai’ come alive

• All elements - user imagery, context, tone & language created to connect the
category to the lives of the SEC B & SEC C segment – the middle class non-
mobile user.

• Airtel Magic positions itself on the platform of being excellent for emergency
situations - increasing productivity as a part of everyday life.

• Sharukh Khan makes ‘everything in life possible’ while romancing pretty

Kareena Kapoor with Airtel Magic, India’s leading pre-paid mobile card.

Airtel today unveiled its strategy for market expansion with the launch of its new
Airtel Magic pre-paid card brand campaign – ‘Magic hai to Mumkin hai’. The
strategy is targeted at the non-user

The brand ambassadors Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor embody this ‘can do’
or “Mumkin Hai” spirit (infact that is the reason they were selected as brand
ambassadors). Sharukh rose from a TV actor to become India’s top film star and
national heartthrob. Kareena’s success is due to her ‘attitude’, talent, hard work and

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the sheer ability to make a mark in such a short time. Both these stars have said
‘Mumkin hai’ and made it happen for themselves.

The genre of this new strategy & campaign is Hindi cinema led. This genre
connects millions across India. The spirit of romance, dancing… the Indian cinema,
well known to most as Bollywood, holds millions of Indians together as one.

The new TV campaign of Airtel Magic crafted in the Hindi film idiom, magnifies
the empowering optimism of “Mumkin Hai”, in the endearing situation of a boy-girl
romance. Where Sharukh Khan, sets his eyes on Kareena Kapoor and wins her love
with the help of Airtel Magic. (Poignantly conveying that special feeling we all get
when a dream is made possible and a victory of the heart is won).

The strategy & new brand campaign is targeted at the large untapped base of
intending mobile customers from Sec A, B & C. The estimated addressable market
of such customers in the next two years is around 25 million in Airtel’s 16 states.
The new strategy aims at correcting the perception that the mobile category is useful
mainly for ‘business’ or ‘work’ related scenarios.

The new strategy, brand positioning & brand slogan is an outcome of an extensive
nationwide research and is an integral part of Airtel Magic’s new multi-media
campaign. The campaign has been created by Percept Advertising.

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PHASE III -
Bharti used Airtel Magic to build a strong value proposition and accelerate
market expansion through India’s first national pre-paid card TV brand
campaign.

• First time ever in India - any pre-paid card brand gives such freedom to
recharge any value

• A combination of the film genre exposed through the TV medium designed

to connect with the masses of India

• Youth based - romance driven strategy platform makes the value

proposition of Airtel Magic - ‘Aisi azaadi aur kahan?” come alive

• Sharukh Khan Makes ‘everything in life possible’ Airtel today unveiled its
strategy for market expansion with the launch of its new Airtel Magic pre-
paid card brand campaign – ‘Magic Hai to Mumkin Hai’. . The value
proposition is centered on a person’s desire to make all his / her dreams,
ambitions & aspirations instantly possible. The new campaign for Airtel
Magic is all about empowering millions of Indians to be on top of their
lives.

The brand is positioned to be relevant to the mass-market who want to make all their
dreams, hopes & desires come alive… instantly .At a amount of your choice you can
recharge your account with available validity time .Improving productivity, letting
you befriend the world and opening up new horizons. It gives you the freedom to
control your life in a way never possible before. Indeed, anything that you think is
possible is possible with Airtel Magic. The new brand slogan ‘Aisi azadi aur kahan’
has been specially created to capture this effectively.

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Page 23 of 78
Bharti’s View on its Branding strategy:
First, brand building efforts in today’s context have to be seen in a more holistic
manner. Delivering value on a sustained basis is perhaps the most potent key to build
a brand that lasts.

Unflinching orientation to customer needs is the second key success factor.

Customers (be it for industrial products or consumer goods and services) across the
world are more informed and, at the same time, becoming more individualistic in
their needs and far more demanding with the passage of time.

Pro-active tracking of shifts in consumer behavior, anticipating redefined or

emerging customer needs, and then reacting in “real-time” are essential to attract and
retain customer loyalty — a key element of creating brand equity in the present
situation.

On the contrary, with more choices and higher media clutter, businesses need to
budget for an increasingly higher spend on their brand promotion but this has to be
undertaken in tandem with enterprise-wide “reengineering” of the business
philosophy and core design, production, and delivery operations for the product
itself.

The positive spin to this argument is that by first addressing the fundamentals, the
enterprise itself becomes more competitive. This can be the beginning of a virtuous
cycle wherein brand equity continues to increase as the enterprise sustains delivery
of an appropriate product or service at an ever increasing value.

It is, however, crucial to note that in the years to come, not only will the cost of
building a regional or a national (or an international) brand will continue to rise but
also the time taken to do so will be longer and will need sustained and focused
efforts.

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 Comparison of Marketing
Strategies
Bharti Airtel vs Vodafone.
Purpose of comparison:
• The sub main purpose of this report is to compare the marketing
Strategies adopted by Bharti Airtel and its rival Vodafone
• The comparison shows how both of the companies have been
challenging each other to gain market shares.

Why Comparison with Vodafone

 Bharti Airtel is the leader in telecommunication sector.
 Bharti Airtel holds the lion share of market of communication sector.
 However, Vodafone has been giving tough competition to Bharti Airtel.
 Vodafone is the second largest player and share holder in
Communication sector.
 Since its launch Vodafone has been adopting aggressive marketing
strategies.
 The comparison shows how Hutchison Essar Telecom. Captured 22%
market share in one month of its first launch of postpaid subscription in
2002.AD.
 With a different technology Vodafone creates its own market.

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 Vodafone odafone. Today deals in every business of communication
sector.
 Vodafone making and changing the strategies to capture the market
shares

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Brand positioning by Bharti Airtel
Market segmentation:
 Geographical segment (metropolitans & cities India)
 Demographic segment - middle income groups
 People age group of 20 to 28 year

Target marketing:
 People who living in cities and towns.
 Poor or middle income group people.
 Youngsters in big cities.
 Businessmen

Positioning:
 Creating brands (Sharukh khan & Sachin Tendulker)
 Ads and promotions
 Promotion for study of poor childrens.

Marketing mix:
 Price: low price strategy
 Place: maximum outlets and service centers
 Product: verities available for various groups

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  Promotion: various schemes for pre-paid and post-paid

MARKETING STRATEGIES OF VODAFONE

Vodafone target the rural India
The main targeted customers of Vodafone are from rural India.
By offering cheap and light mobile sets Vodafone attracts most of the
customers of small villages and towns.

Offering cheap handsets:

Vodafone offers cheap and free connections to all customers.
The cost for these sets was Rs-799-849-1099\set and onward.

Free support and services:

In every district and big towns Vodafone opens its service centers to provide
better support and services.

Strong logistics and supply chain:

Vodafone has a strong logistic and supply all over India.
In every small town the potential customers can easily purchase the Vodafone
SIM & Sets

Targeting youngsters in metropolitans:

Vodafone attracts youngsters by offering colorful handset at very low prices.

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BRAND POSITIONING BY VODAFONE

Market segmentation:
 Geographical segment (rural India)
 Demographic segment - middle income groups

Target marketing:
 People living in small towns and villages.
 Poor and middle income groups.
 Youngsters in big cities.
 Businessmen

Positioning:
 Creating brands
 Ads and promotions


Marketing mix:
 Price : low price strategy
 Place : maximum outlets and service centers

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  Product : verities available for various groups
 Promotion: various schemes for pre-paid and post-paid

Services provided by Bharti Airtel

• Mobile services with GSM technology

• Fixed-line connections

• National and international long distance services

• VSAT, Internet services and network solutions

• Broadband services

Services provided by Vodafone

●mobile services with GSM technology

●fixed-line telephone services

●Universal Internetworking

●VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)

●Interactive Television

●Visual Communication

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●Broadband Portal

●Telecommuting

RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
Achieving accuracy in any research requires a deep study regarding the
subject. The prime objective of the project is to compare Airtel with the
existing competitor (Vodafone) in the market and the impact of WLL on
Airtel.
The research methodology adopted is basically based on primary data via
which the most recent and accurate piece of first hand information could be
collected. Secondary data has been used to support primary data wherever
needed.

Primary data was collected using the following techniques

Questionnaire Method

Direct Interview Method and

Observation Method

The main tool used was, the questionnaire method. Further direct interview
method, where a face-to-face formal interview was taken. Lastly observation
method has been continuous with the questionnaire method, as one
continuously observes the surrounding environment he works in.

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Page 32 of 78
Type of Research Methodology
EXPLORATORY:

TYPE OF RESEARCH CARRIED OUT WAS EXPLORATORY IN NATURE; THE

OBJECTIVE OF SUCH RESEARCH IS TO DETERMINE THE APPROXIMATE AREA
WHERE THE DRAWBACK OF THE COMPANY LIES AND ALSO TO IDENTIFY
THE COURSE OF ACTION TO SOLVE IT. FOR THIS PURPOSE THE
INFORMATION PROVED USEFUL FOR GIVING RIGHT SUGGESTION TO THE
COMPANY.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD

THERE TWO TYPE OF METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION.

• PRIMARY DATA
• SECONDARY DATA

Primary data was collected using the following techniques

Questionnaire Method

Direct Interview Method and

Observation Method

The main tool used was, the questionnaire method. Further direct interview
method, where a face-to-face formal interview was taken. Lastly observation
method has been continuous with the questionnaire method, as one
continuously observes the surrounding environment he works in.

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DATA USED FOR THE RESEARCH WORK WAS PRIMARY IN
NATURE.

PRIMARY DATA:

PRIMARY DATA IS THAT WHICH IS THE COLLECTED FOR

THE FIST TIME AND THUS HAPPEN TO BE ORIGINATED IN
CHARACTER.

QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY:

IN THE STUDIES A QUESTIONNAIRE IS PREPARED. THE

QUESTIONNAIRE CONSISTS OF 15 QUESTIONS.

SECONDARY DATA:

SECONDARY DATA REFER TO THE DATA THAT HAS BEEN

ALREADY COLLECTED .THE SECONDARY DATA, WHICH HAS BEEN
USED TO CARRY OUT THIS STUDY, ARE AS FOLLOW:

• BOOKS, JOURNALS, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS

• INDUSTRY REPORTS
• COMPANY’S INTERNET SITE
• SOMEOTHER RELEVANT STUDY MATERIAL AND WEBSITES..

Page 34 of 78
METHOD OF COLLECTION: -
FIELD PROCEDURE FOR GATHERING PRIMARY DATA INCLUDED
OBSERVATION AND INTERVIEW SCHEDULE IN WHICH THE
QUESTIONNAIRES WERE FILED BY THE INTERVIEWER.

PERSONAL INTERVIEWS THROUGH SELF ADMINISTERED SURVEY

WAS DONE TO COLLECT THE DATA, MARKET RESEARCH WAS
UNDERTAKEN, THAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED BY PERFORMING
VARIOUS ACTIVITIES DESIGNED.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT:

QUESTIONNAIRE

THE QUESTIONNAIRE WAS FORMULATED BY KEEP IN MIND

THE FOLLOWING POINTS: -

• GIVING THE RESPONDENTS. CLEAR COMPREHENSION OF

THE QUESTION.
• INDUCING THE RESPONDENTS TO CO-OPERATE.
• GIVING INSTRUCTIONS AS TO WHAT IS NEEDED.
• IDENTIFYING THE NEEDS TO BE KNOWN.

Page 35 of 78
 A Brief History of Tele
Sector in India
In the early 1990s, the Indian government adopted a new economic policy
aimed at improving India's competitiveness in the global markets and the rapid
growth of exports. Key to achieving these goals was a world-class telecom
infrastructure.

In India, the telecom service areas are divided into four metros (New Delhi,
Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata) and 20 circles, which roughly correspond to
the states in India. The circles are further classified under "A," "B" and "C,"
with the "A" circle being the most attractive and "C" being the least attractive.
The regulatory body at that time — the Department of Telecommunications
(DOT) — allocated two cellular licenses for each metro and circle. Thirty-four
licenses for GSM900 cellular services were auctioned to 22 firms in 1995. The
first cellular service was provided by, Modi Telstra in Kolkata in August 1995.
For the auction, it was stipulated that no firm can win in more than one metro,
three circles or both. The circles of Jammu and Kashmir and Andaman and
Nicobar had no bidders, while West Bengal and Assam had only one bidder
each.

In 1996, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) bill was

introduced in the Lok Sabha, and the president officially announced the TRAI

Page 36 of 78
ordinance on 25 January 1997. The government decided to set up TRAI to
separate regulatory functions from policy formulation, licensing and telecom

operations. Prior to the creation of TRAI, these functions were the sole
responsibility of the DOT.

High license fees and excessive bids for the cellular licenses put tremendous
financial burden on the operators, diverting funds away from network
development and enhancements. As a result, by 1999 many operators failed to
pay their license fees and were in danger of having their licenses withdrawn. In
March 1999, a new telecom policy was put in place (New Telecom Policy
[NTP] 1999). Under this new policy, the old fixed-licensing regime was to be
replaced by a revenue-sharing scheme whereby between 8-12 percent of
cellular revenue were to be paid to the government.

INDIAN CELLULAR MARKET - EARLIER ROADBLOCKS

AND THEIR RESOLUTION:
Indian Cellular market immediately after the first round of licensing in 1994-96
was beset by several problems for 3 - 4 years till the New Telecom Policy of
1999 was announced. Some of these roadblocks / current position is tabulated
below:

Page 37 of 78
ROADBLOCKS
CURRENT POSITION

High license fees

Migration to revenue sharing mode in 1999 mitigates high initial fund requirements
for payment of license fees.

nadequately funded businesses / weak and fragmented promoters

Businesses that have since been adequately funded growing at over 60% per annum,
while businesses with weak promoters continuing to languish - spate of
acquisitions / mergers, with 4/5 major groups emerging in the last one/two years.

Regulatory authority not in place

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) firmly in place, and its role being
accepted by all operators; Deptt of Telecommunications (DOT) restructured, with
operations and policy making roles vested in different bodies.

Issues relating to unfavorable interconnect terms for private operators, pass through
income, intra circle long distance, spectrum availability and allocation and the like
remained unresolved for long periods.

Interconnect terms since rationalized, risks on pass through income to DOT /

BHARTI (Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd.) resolved to the satisfaction of all parties
with changes in methodology / revenue sharing, intra circle long distance allowed,
spectrum availability cleared with vacation of frequencies for usage by GSM
operators.

Page 38 of 78
Problems in Financial closures due to:
 Licensing tenure of 10 years

 Large upfront cash requirements from promoters due to heavy license fee
burden in initial stages of deployment Asset based financing approach by
Indian Financial Institutions.

 Licensing tenure increased from 10 to 20 years

 Large upfront cash requirements for license fee payments mitigated with
migration to revenue sharing mode allowing promoters to deploy more
capital for capital expenditure; project financing being considered by
most financial institutions.

Foreign ownership / change of partner limitations:

Foreign ownership norms clarified, and change of partners allowed as a matter
of routine allowing ease of entry / exit - paves the way for full control of
businesses by foreign companies.

Inadequate growth of market / subscribers

Roadblocks spelt out earlier resulted in low market / subscriber growth, but
with corrective measures taken, market / subscriber base expected to zoom.

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CELLULAR INDUSTRY

The interconnection regime between cellular operators and fixed-line operators
is still biased against the former.

Page 39 of 78
Despite the recent gains of the cellular industry, not everything is rosy. The
cellular penetration rate is still very low at 0.8 percent in a nation of over one
billion people.

In recent years, many foreign companies had pulled out from their cellular
joint ventures in India due to the difficult operating environment and
bureaucracy. In 1999 alone, Swisscom pulled out from Sterling Cellular,
Telstra from Modi Telstra and both the Telecom Organization of Thailand and

Jasmine International from JT Mobile. In 2000, Telecom Malaysia sold its

stake in Usha Martin Telecom, and both Shinawatra of Thailand and Bezeq
exited from Fascel. In June 2001, British Telecom exited from Bharti Cellular.
Bell South International has also indicated its intention to pull out from Skycell
Communications, and Hong Kong-based Distacom is seeking to sell its stake
in Spice Communications. First Pacific's (based in Hong Kong) continued
commitment to Escotel is uncertain, and the former is reviewing various
options.

The string of sell-outs notwithstanding, there has been a merger and

acquisition wave sweeping across the Indian cellular industry in recent years.
Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa, via Hutchison Telecommunications
(HK), acquired major stakes in Sterling Cellular (December 1999), Usha
Martin Telecom (mid-2000) and Fascel (September 2000). Through a
partnership with local company, Kotak Mahindra Finance, Hutchison
Whampoa practically controls Fascel and Usha Martin Telecom, thus
circumventing the 49 percent limit on foreign ownership in Indian cellular
operators. Hutchison Whampoa is also the controlling shareholder of

Page 40 of 78
Hutchison Max Telecom. Not to be outdone, Bharti Enterprises — another
major cellular player — acquired control of JT Telecom, which was later
renamed Bharti Mobile (December 1999), and Skycell Communications
renamed Bharti Mobinet (August 2000). Bharti also acquired the Punjab
license of Essar and started operations, giving competition to the lone operator
there, Spice Communications. Going forward, Bharti is likely to merge all its
cellular companies into one entity.

Five companies together bid Rs16.3 billion to bag the licenses for the fourth
operator slots in four metros and 13 circles. Bharti emerged as the No. 1 bidder
with eight new licenses, followed by Escotel with four, Hutchison with three,
and Vodafone and Idea cellular with one each. Bharti and Hutchison have
already commenced operations in all the circles while Idea is set to launch in
Delhi. Escotel and Vodafone have not made any headway.

BHARTI, the third cellular operator for Delhi and Mumbai, started services in
March 2001. BSNL, as the third nationwide cellular operator, launched
services in Kolkatta and Bihar in January 2002. This was followed by Tamil
Nadu in July 2002. A nationwide launch was scheduled for 2 October 2002.
However, this has been postponed until after mid October. Once BSNL rolls
out its service, most telecom circles will have four cellular operators. There
will be tremendous competitive pressure, which will result in lower tariffs.
Future rate cuts are expected, which will drive demand, together with falling
handset prices and the introduction of prepaid services.

In the midst of declining interest in technology stocks, Bharti came out with its
long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) in January 2002. Leveraging on the

Page 41 of 78
success of its cellular service, the company got a very good response from the
primary market. The total size of the IPO was 185 million shares at a floor
price of Rs10. The issue was oversubscribed by more than 2.5 times, netting
Rs8.3 billion. This will be used to fuel its investment in long-distance, basic
and cellular services.

Building visibility and awareness:

Deviating from competing on the price platform, cellular operators are actively
promoting their brand and service portfolio through high-visibility advertising
and promotional campaigns. Cellular operators like Bharti, Orange and BPL
Mobile have been advertising aggressively on hoardings and kiosks. Public
transport like the city

rail system and cabs are used widely to carry the message of mobility.

Customer-focused activities are gaining traction among cellular operators with

the establishment of longstanding consumer benefit programs. Orange in
Mumbai offers "Orange Holidays" and "Orange Monsoon Offers" at very
attractive rates and added benefits like discounts on airfare, food and
beverages, among others. Others offer special privileges in retail outlets,
cinemas and music shops.

Enterprise mobile applications - promising revenue stream:

Page 42 of 78
All along, customer acquisition and the top line have been the focus. Few
operators have concentrated on offering differentiated services for businesses.
However, as operators realize that offering basic voice and Short Message
Service (SMS) will get them the numbers but not the margins, some are now
seriously looking at the enterprise segment for provisioning superior services.

Cost-centered solutions like closed user group (CUG), value-adds like unified
messaging and instant alerts are being offered.

A variety of mobile applications are finding takers among the enterprise

segment. Bharti is in the process of introducing a facility to fleet management
companies so that they can improve the efficiency of trucks or buses by
tracking movement and ensuring higher-use, accurate route planning. Premium
automakers are also installing a global system for mobile communications
inside a vehicle to help trace lost vehicles and track down stolen cars.

Corporations can choose enhanced services like user-defined call routing to

prevent misuse. Calls can be barred, limiting access to select numbers and
diverting calls to one single number. Broadcasting services are also quite
popular, especially among fast food centers that have a central number. Group
SMS is quite popular, especially among enterprises both in the service as well
as the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) segment that have a large field
force and need to provide regular updates on inventory status, discount

Page 43 of 78
 schemes and movement of goods from warehouse to the retail outlet.

FUTURE TRENDS AND

DEVELOPMENT
There will be more competition, forcing operators to constantly focus on
differentiations to maintain their lead.

• The implementation of enhanced networks like 2.5G will enable

operators to offer data services. This is an opportunity to customize and
differentiate better.

• The entry of state-run operators like BSNL and BHARTI means that
prices will no longer be controlled, thus there is less chance of a cartel
being formed.

Page 44 of 78
• Network coverage in terms of geographic spread and quality of coverage
is crucial especially for the business subscriber.

• The bigger the service provider's national presence, the better it is for
businesses. On the roaming front, signing up with a national operator is
advantageous.

• Limited mobility wireless in local-loop services (by fixed network

service providers) will be a disadvantage for cellular operators in the
short term. Consequently, operators need to streamline their customer
relation activities and adopt aggressive subscriber acquisition and
retention strategies.

Page 45 of 78
 REGULATORY ISSUES:
The operations of this sector are determined as under the Indian Telegraph Act
of 1885. A document buried in the sands of time. The next major policy
document, which was produced, was the National Telecom Policy of 1994, a
consequence of the on going process of liberalization.

Year Event

1851 First telephones in India

1943 Nationalization of telephone companies

1985 DOT was created

1986 Creation of BHARTI and VSNL

1991 Telecom equipment liberalized

1994 Licenses for paging

1994 Telecom policy announced

September 1994 Guidelines for private sector participation in basic

services

November 1994 Cellular licenses issued for metros

December 1994 Tenders for cellular licenses in 19 cities apart from 4

metros

January 1995 Tenders for 2nd operator in basic services apart from

Page 46 of 78
 DOT on circle basis.

August 1995 VSNL launches Internet services

January 1996 TRAI formed

November 1998 Internet policy announced

The National Telecom Policy of 1994 document, which laid out broad policy
guidelines rather than a series of action points. Like other policies, it sought to
achieve the impossible in finite time like improve quality of service and its
availability, wide coverage (a phone in every village), at reasonable rates, etc.
The targets in quantifiable terms were installation of 9.5mn additional lines,
telephone on demand by 1997, and a PCO pop of 500. The Eighth Plan had
also allowed private operators in value added services. To facilitate licensing,
the nation was divided into 20 circles (akin to a state) for basic and 21 circles
for cellular telephony. Mumbai falls in Maharashtra circle and Delhi in itself a
circle.

Government did not achieve most of its stated targets. The basic theme, which
was broadening the reach of telephony in India, has not been met. Even
liberalization policies were not implemented properly. The regulator TRAI was
set up after delays and confusion and even after its creation, DoT continued to

Page 47 of 78
fight with it in courts. It was also affected by the resource crunch, and
financing options like BOT, BOOT and BOLT was not used at all. The major
policy direction it showed was to allow private sector entry in both basic and
value added services. The intention, though noble failed to achieve its goals
because of improper implementation, the economic costs are still borne by the
end user.

The telecom sector has witnessed some fundamental structural and institutional
reforms in the past decade. Telecom equipment manufacturing was completely
deregulated in 1991. Value-added services (including cellular services) were
thrown open to private sector participation in 1992. Basic services were
opened to private participation in 1994 by dividing the country into 21 telecom
Circles and allowing one private operator per Circle to compete with DOT. An
independent telecom regulatory Authority of India was set up in 1997. A new
Policy for Internet Service Policy Providers (ISPs) was announced in 1998
allowing independent service providers to enter the sector ending the earlier
monopoly of VSNL. Reorganization of DOT, separating policymaking
function and service provision and corporatization of DOT's operational
network are two major institutional reforms, which need to be implemented.

Page 48 of 78
 Scope Of She Study
# To conduct this research the target population was the mobile users, Who are using
GSM technology.

# Targeted geographic area of Delhi/ NCR. Sample size of 50 persons was taken.

# To these 50 people a questionnaire was given, the questionnaire was a combination

of both open ended and closed ended questions.

# The date during which questionnaires were filled.

# Some dealers were also interviewed to know their prospective. Interviews with the
managers of GSM service providers were also conducted.

# Finally the collected data and information was analyzed and compiled to arrive at
the conclusion and recommendations given.

Sources of secondary data:

Used to obtain information on, Bharti’s history, current issues, policies, procedures
etc, wherever required.

# Internet

# Magazines

# Newspapers

# Journals

# Bharti Circulars Store

# Bharti News Letters

# Vodafone Store

Page 49 of 78
 Data Analysis And
Interpretation
Subscriber numbers in (mn) held by

Airtel and Vodafone

June-05 Sep-06 Dec-07 Mar-08 Dec-08 Mar-09

Airtel 3.19 4.62 5.50 6.54 10.98 14.07

Vodafone 1.82 4.19 6.24 7.26 10.45 12.99

Source TRAI:

Page 50 of 78
MARKET PLAYERS IN TELE COMMUNICATION:

25
Operator Market share Aug''05 Market share Aug''09
20

15 Airtel
Bharti 19.06 22.49 Bharti Airtel
vodafone
10
Vodafone 21.81 16.96 Reliance infocomm
5 Idea Cellular
Vodafonecomm 17.03 16.01
0
Market share Market share
Idea Cellular 10.45 8.49
Aug''05 Aug''09

Page 51 of 78
As we can see from the above graph, the people who are in the age group of
21-28 years are the ones who are the maximum users of mobile phones. This
segment is the one which gives maximum business to the mobile operators.
This segment constitutes the young executives and other office going people.
They are 65% of the total people who were interviewed. The next age group
are the people who are 28-35 years old. They are 20% of the total. They are
those who are at home or have small business units etc. And the next age group
is the youngest generation who are 15-21 years old. They are school and
college going students and carry mobile phones to flaunt. They are 15% of the
total interviewed people.

Page 52 of 77
Occupation Graph

OCCUPATION

10% 15%

20%

55%

STUDENTS EXECUTIVES HOUSEHOLDS OTHERS

As the above graph shows that 55% of the total people interviewed are
working. So, these people are the ones who are the maximum users of mobile
phones. They are the young executives, managers, Tele - callers etc. who
require mobile for their official purposes. The next category is the households,
who are either housewife, small units which operate from their homes etc.
They are 20% of the whole. The next segment is the students. They are 15% of
the whole. And 10% of the whole is categories who are the professionals.

Page 53 of 77
Service Provider Graph

These are the total market share of mobile user or people captured by the
mobile provider company. There two major company in mobile phone service
sector Vodafone and Airtel who respectively hold the market share with other
company as 17% and 20% of total market user segment of mobile customer.

Page 54 of 77
Customer Service At Airtel Graph

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION LEVEL

10% 20%

10%

60%

FULLY PARTIALLY
DISSATISFIED FULLY DISSATISFIED

As the above graph clearly shows that customer services at Airtel seems poor.
60% of the people are dissatisfied with the customer services provided by
Airtel. They are the ones who have the maximum share in the market but they
are lagging behind in the customer services. 10% of the people were fully
dissatisfied with the customer services of Airtel. This could leave an impact on
the mind of the consumer. He can even switch over his brand. 20% of the
people seemed partially satisfied with the customer services and only 10%
seem to be fully satisfied with Airtel’s customer services, which is a very small
amount.

Page 55 of 77
Type Of Card Graph

Cash cards seemed quite popular among the people interviewed. 85% of the
total mobile users were having cash card connections. This means that the cash
cards should be easily and readily available in the local markets. Airtel should
make sure that Magic is available in each and every nook and corner of the
market. 15% of the people were having sim connections which is the regular
bill.

Page 56 of 77
Monthly expense graph

Monthly Expense

12%
24%

Rs 600
Rs 450
Rs 200

64%

People on an average spend RS 500 per month as their mobile phone

expense. 64% people spend this amount. 24% people spend RS 300 per
month as their monthly mobile expense. And the remaining 12% had an
expense more than RS 1000, they could the ones having sim connections or
having cash cards and having a lot of business calls on their mobiles.

Page 57 of 77
Awareness About WLL Graph

WLL seemed to be a new word for many of the people. 45% of the people
were not at all aware of such a technology. So, in order to get the answer for
this question they were first explained the concept. Only, 55% people knew
what WLL is all about.

Page 58 of 77
Awareness of WLL Players Graph

80%
70%
60%
50%
Vodafone
40%
Airtel
30%
20%
10%
0%

Vodafone was the brand which was popular amongst the interviewed people.
As Vodafone had done so much advertising and has it banners and hoarding
spread all over Delhi. So, this could be one the reasons of its popularity. Tata
was hardly a known brand in this new field. Possibly, because of less
promotions done by them as compared to Vodafone.

On the basis of analysis of the questionnaire I have found that the maximum
no. of people who use mobile phones is in the age group of 20 to 28. Who are
the young executives and other office goers?

They spend a maximum of RS 500 as their mobile expense.

Page 59 of 77
Customer Response on an
Research
1. Which Brand you, prefer most?

 Airtel
 Vodafone
 Reliance
 TATA
 Idea

Page 60 of 77
2. How long you have been using this Product?
 0-2 Years
 2-5 Years
 5-10 Years
 More than 10 years

Consumers response shown in chart for usage

Page 61 of 77
Page 62 of 77
3. Are you using other product with Airtel?

 Yes

 No

4. Here are the customer responses about the use of the

Airtel product and other product rather than Airtel.
in this segment of survey 67 % of customer are aspire with Airtel
and 33 % shown interest in other telecom products in urban areas.

Page 63 of 77
5.Do you collect any information search before making
purchase?

70% 66%

60%
50%
40% 34% information
30% search

20%
10%
0%
YES NO

Page 64 of 77
 SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
• Being one of the largest companies in India the company has
achieved a degree of focus in its core business of its products.

• It has a strong brand name, superior quality products and an enviable

distribution network.

• It has a clear and well-defined organization structure and limits of

financial authority.

• Increase in advertisement spends affect the company’s margins.

• The company‘s bottom line falls victim to the bloated and highly
paid workforce, which affects its margins.

Weakness
• Little efforts over the Advertising of products.
• Distribution channel is not accurately categorized.
• Premium priced products, hence can’t compete in low price segment.
• No separate strategy for rural market.

Page 65 of 77
Opportunities
• The company's financial performance can receive a major boost from
its cost reduction efforts.

• There is a lot of scope of product and market diversification.

• Exports of products will also have huge chances in the coming years.

• Airtel’s business has ample scope for gaining market share from the
unorganized sector. Rural penetration too holds vast potential to
bring about growth.

Threats
• The slowdown in the economy has restricted topline growth of most
FMCG majors and for Airtel also it will be difficult to maintain
historical growth rates in such a depressed scenario.

• Company’s major raw materials are influenced by government

policies / controls as well as vagaries of the monsoons. Fluctuations
in the prices of raw materials would have significant impact on costs
and margins of the company.

Moreover, inordinate hike in Broad Band Internet products would also

increases company’s production and distribution cost.

Page 66 of 77
 LIMITATIONS
No project is without limitations and it becomes essential to figure out the
various constraints that we underwent during the study. The following points
in this direction would add to our total deliberations:-

1. During the study, on many occasions the respondent groups gave us a cold
shoulder.
2. The respondents from whom primary data was gathered any times
displayed complete ignorance about the complete branded range, which was
being studied.
3. Lack of time is the basic limitation in the project.
4. Some retailers/whole sellers refuse to cooperate with the queries.
5. Some retailers/wholesalers gave biased or incomplete information regarding
the study.
6. Money played a vital factor in the whole project duration.
7. Lack of proper information and experience due to short period of time.
8. Some retailers did not answer all the questions or do not have time to
answer.

Page 67 of 77
 SUGGESTIONS
Following are the few suggestions to AIRTEL for improving the market share
and image of the products concerned.

1. PRODUCT
*Modification must be brought about in AIRTEL, in terms of quality. Its
demand should be increased.

2. PLACE
* The brands must be made available easily in, PCO & general stores.

3. PROMOTION
*Company must undertake extensive promotional activities like
advertisements must be released in different Medias to create brand awareness.
*Free samples should be distributed among the prospects. Sales promotion
tools like gifts, contests and coupons must be given to retailers as well as
customers and prospects.

* Catalogues should be distributed among customers.

4. PRICE
* Price should be as competitive as other company maintains

* Distribution of new connection should be in reach of customer pocket

Page 68 of 77
 CONCLUSION
After analyzing the findings of the research, I can conclude
that Airtel lagged behind its competitors as far as customer
service and availability is concerned. The maximum no. of
people who use the mobile is in the age group of 20 to 28.
Cash cards are the most popular type of mobile
connections, as they are consumer friendly and recharging
the connection is not a problem.

Maximum no. of people spends RS 500 on their connections. As Airtel is the only
company having the maximum no of mobile connections so it must seriously look
into the loop holes of the existing customer service department.

As we know that now Airtel has already launched its product with logo “’ Aisi
azaadi aur kahan”’ has already became popular in market. So we can say that in spite
of so many competitors in the market Airtel is having a good position just because
every time, it tries its best to understand the need of its important customers.

From the comparison and deep analysis of every aspect of business of both the
companies we can conclude that bharti Airtel has to more work in every field of
communication business.

For this Airtel has to work on its all marketing strategies, marketing, promotion,
brand image.etc.

Airtel has to take Vodafone. Very seriously and update its own strategies from time
to time and when the need arises.

With aggressive marketing strategies Airtel has to target rural India as 70% of
population of India lives in these areas.

Page 69 of 77
.

RECOMMENDATIONS
I have made following recommendation to the company after doing the summer
training there:

• The company should modify its credit policy as they only target the cash
paying customers who are not easy to trace.
• The company should emphasis more on the quality of Pharmaceuticals
Products it was mostly claimed by the exporters that their receipts from
company doesn’t matches with the sample’s quality shown before giving
orders.
• The company should make its marketing strategy flexible enough in order to
face competition.
• The company should keep an eye on the proper delivery of the goods to
exporter on time, as it has been recommended by exporters to make the
delivery on time.
• The company rate policy must be flexible enough to catch new customers
because if company offers lower price to a new customer then he may
continue buy the goods and can be a permanent customer for the company.
• The company should offers such rate in the market so that it may able to catch
a bigger market share and it should be able to compete with the local traders
and commission agents while having a brand name.
The company should take the opinion of exporters from time to time to know what
problems they are facing from the company’s side. And if any change they require in
present supplying condition?

Page 70 of 77
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
In this project report, while finalizing and for analyzing quality problem in details
the following Books, Magazines/Journals and Web Sites have been referred. All the
material detailed below provides effective help and a guiding layout while designing
this text report.

Books :
Principles of Marketing –Philip Kotler & Kevin keller edi. 12

Market Research – D.D. Sharma

Research Methodology – C.R. Kothari

Websites:
www.Airtelworld.com
www.google.com
www.india.com
www.Vodafone.in
http://www.blonnet.com/2004/06/26/stories/2004062602180700.htm, Mumbai, June 25,
2004.
com/companies/companies_r/Vodafone_infocom/20031104_stop-roaming.htm, 4
November 2003
Domain, Missed Call, at http://www.domainb
Magazines:
Airtel (2 July to 10 July 2004)
Airtel India page of HT paper (Thursday 1December 2004)

Page 71 of 77
Cowards India (26 December to 4 Jan. 2004)

Page 72 of 77
 QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear Sir/Madam,
I Umesh Garg, student of MBA of Bhawani Shankar Anangpuria
institute of technology & management, Faridabad. I am doing my project on
“Comparative analysis of marketing strategy of Vodafone and Airtel”.

Please give your precious time for filling these details.

Q.1 Name those companies which provide telecom services now a days?
 Airtel
 Vodafone
 Reliance
 TATA
 Idea

Q.2 which mobile company services you are using now a days?
 Airtel
 Vodafone
 Reliance
 TATA
 Idea

Q. 3 Among them, which Brand you, prefer most?

Page 73 of 77
  Airtel
 Vodafone
 Reliance
 TATA
 Idea

Q.4 How long you have been using this Product?

 0-2 Years
 2-5 Years
 5-10 Years
 More than 10 years

Q.5 Are you using other product instead of Airtel?

 Yes
 No

Q.6 How would you rate the experience with Brand?

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 Excellent Good Average Below
 Airtel Average
 Vodafone
 Reliance

Q.7 Do you collect any information search before making purchase?

 Yes
 No

Q.8 If yes, which sources are used?

 Magazines
 Dealers
 Sales Executives
 Operators reference
 Pamphlets and catalogue
 Reference from friends and relatives
 Any other

Q.9 What are the features you look for in a product before making purchase
decision? Give preferences (1-Highest, 6- least)

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  Brand credibility
 Price and Discount
 After sales services and parts, network
 Value for money
 Vehicle performance
 Add on features or ergonomics of design

Q.10 Which of these marketing / sales schemes attracts you while purchasing
any connection?

 Good Network
 Discount scheme
 Service package
 Any other

Q.11 If you have to purchase a new connection or product in near future,

which Brand will you go for and why?

_________________________________________________
________________________________________________

Q.12 Are you aware of various promotional activities being run by Airtel,
if yes then how? Are you satisfied with these promotional activities?

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 Very Satisfied Somewhat Not
Satisfied Satisfied satisfied

 Customer Care
 By Ad Films
 By Camp
 24 hrs call center services

Q.13 How would you rate Airtel performance as your expectation on 5

points scale (5 Highest?)

1 2 3 4 5
 After Sale service
 Maintenance
 Product as per expectation

Q.14 What are you suggestions for improving the product quality, service
availability and parts availability?

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_______________________________________________________________

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