Bharti Tele-Ventures

Bharti Tele-Ventures is one of India's leading private sector providers of

telecommunications services based on an aggregate of 28,692627 customers as on
September 30, 2006, consisting of 27,061,349 GSM mobile and 1,631,278
broadband & telephone customers
The businesses at Bharti Tele-Ventures have been structured into three
individual strategic units (SBU’s) –
1) mobile services
2) broadband and telephone services (B&T)
3) enterprise services
The Mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in
23 telecom circles, while B&T business group provides broadband &
telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise Services group has two
sub-units – carriers (long distance services) and services top corporates.
All these services are provided under theAirtel brand.
Bharti Enterprises has been at the forefront of technology and has revolutionized
telecommunications with its world class products and services. Established in 1976,
Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts and
innovations to its credit.
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 a footprint in 16 states
covering all four metros. It has over 12 million satisfied customers
Bharti Enterprises has successfully focused its strategy on telecom while
straddling diverse fields of business. From the creation of'Airtel', one of
India's finest brands, to becoming the largest manufacturer and exporter of
world class telecom terminals under its'Beetel' brand, Bharti has created a
significant position for itself in the global telecommunications sector. Bharti
Tele-Ventures is today acknowledged as one of India's finest companies, and
its flagship brand 'Airtel', has over 12 million customers across the length
and breadth of India.
While a joint venture with TeleTech Inc., USA marked Bharti’s successful
foray into the Customer Management Services business, Bharti Enterprises’
dynamic diversification has continued with the company venturing into
telecom software development. Recently, Bharti has successfully launched
an international venture with EL Rothschild Group owned ELRO Holdings
India Ltd., to export fresh Agri products exclusively to markets in Europe
and USA
"What other operators have achieved in one to two years, Bharti has done in just over a
month. In July 2002, one out of every two people buying a mobile across India chose
AirTel. We are truly proud to be spearheading the mobile revolution in the country."
- Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Tele-Ventures in 2002

Vision
BY 2010 AIRTEL WILL BE THE MOST
ADMIRED BRAND IN INDIA:

 LOVED BY MORE CUSTOMERS.

 TARGETED BY TOP TALENT.

 BENCHMARKED BY MORE
BUSINESS.
AIRTEL
Airtel comes to you from Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited - a part of the biggest private
integrated telecom conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. A consortium of giants in the
telecommunication business. In it's six years of pursuit of greater customer
satisfaction, AirTel has redefined the business through marketing innovations,
continuous technological up gradation of the network, introduction of new generation
value added services and the highest standard of customer care.

Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with an all India footprint
covering all 23 telecom circles of the country. It has over 12 million satisfied
customers.

Cellular telephony was introduced in India during the early 1990s. At that
time, there were only two major private players, Bharti (Airtel) and Essar
(Essar) and both these companies offered only post-paid services. Initially,
the cellular services market registered limited growth.
Moreover, these services were mostly restricted to the metros. Other factors
such as lack of awareness among people, lack of infrastructural facilities,
low standard of living, and government regulations were also responsible for
the slow growth of cellular phone services in India.

Although the cellular services market in India grew during the late 1990s (as
the number of players increased and tariffs and handset prices came down
significantly) the growth was rather marginal. This was because the cellular
service providers offered only post-paid cellular services, which were still
perceived to be very costly as compared to landline communications.

Following this realization, the major cellular service providers in India,

launched pre-paid cellular services in the late 1990s. The main purpose of
these services was to target customers from all sections of society (unlike
post-paid services, which were targeted only at the premium segment).
Bharti’s Mission

To be globally
admired for
telecom services
that delight
customers.
We will meet global standards for telecom services that delight customers
through:
• Customer Service Focus
• Empowered Employees

• Cost Efficiency

• Unified Messaging Solutions

• Innovative products and services

• Error- free service delivery

Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the Company has an optimum mix of Executive and Non-
Executive Directors, which consists of three Executive and fifteen Non-Executive
Directors.
The Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, is an Executive
Director and the number of Independent Directors on the Board is 50% of the total
Board strength. The independence of a Director is determined on the basis that such
director does not have any material pecuniary relationship with the Company, its
promoters or its management, which may affect the independence of the judgment
of a Director.
The Board members possess requisite skills, experience and expertise
required to take decisions, which are in the best interest of the Company

The composition of the Board is as under:

 Sunil Bharti Mittal
 Rajan Bharti Mittal
 Akhil Gupta
 Rakesh Bharti Mittal
 Chua Sock Koong
 N. Kumar
 Kurt Hellstorm
 Donald Cameron
 Paul O’Sullivan
 Professor V.S. Raju
 Pulak Chandan Prasad
 Bashir Abdullah Currimjee
 Gavin Darby
 Syeda Imam
 Ajay Lal
 York Chye Chang
 Paul Donovan
 Arun Bharat Ram
ACHIEVEMENTS
• First to launch Cellular service on November 1995.
• First operator to revolutionaries the concept of retailing with the
inauguration of AirTel Connect (exclusive showrooms) in 1995.
• First to introduce push button phone in India.
• First to expand it's network with the installation for second mobile
switching center in April, 1997 and the first to introduce the Intelligent
Network Platform First to provide Roaming to its subscribers by forming
an association called World 1 Network.
• First to provide roaming facility in USA. Enjoy the mobile roaming
across 38 partner networks & above 700 cities Moreover roam across
international destinations in 119 countries including USA, Canada, UK
etc with 284 partner networks.
• BHARTI announces aggrement with VODAFONE marking the entry of
the World's Largest Telecom Operator into India
• Bharti Enterprises and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited announce
Partnership for a life insurance joint venture in India
• Airtel Launches future factory - Centres of Innovation to Incubate
Pioneering Mobile Applications
• 16 states, 600 million people. Only India's leading mobile service offers
you the truly 'freedom-packed' Prepaid!
• It is also the first company to export its products to the USA.
BHARTI announces agreement with VODAFONE
marking the entry of the World's Largest
Telecom Operator into India

• Vodafone to invest approximately Rs. 6,700 crores (approx. USD 1.5

bn.) to acquire around 10% in Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd.

• Bharti Enterprises, SingTel and Vodafone to take Bharti Tele-

Ventures Ltd. to unassailable leadership position in India

• The largest single foreign investment ever in the history of India

• The largest investment in the Indian telecom sector

• Bharti establishes its supremacy in the Indian telecom market,

having attracted Asia’s best – SingTel, and now world’s best –
Vodafone.

• Bharti set to gain global leadership in the telecom sector

• Bharti Enterprises continues to hold shareholding and management

control in Bharti Tele-Ventures.
Awards for the year 2006-2007

• BHARTI AIRTEL DRAWS TOP HONORS AT THE MIS ASIA IT

EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2006

• BHARTI AIRTEL AMONG THE TOP 10 BEST PERFORMING

COMPANIES IN THE WORLD ACCORDING TO
BUSINESSWEEK IT 100 LIST.

• SUNIL BHARTI MITTAL IS THE “CEO OF THE YEAR” AT

THE FROST AND SULLIVAN ASIA PACIFIC AWARDS 2006
AND BHARTI AIRTEL BAGS “WIRELESS SERVICE

PROVIDER OF THE YEAR” AND “COMPETITVE SERVICE

PROVIDER OF THE YEAR”.

• BHARTI TELE-VENTURES IS THE “BEST INDIAN

CARRIER” AT THE TELECOM ASIA AWARDS 2006.
AirTel: Appropriating the value of 'expression'
Over the last couple of years, the market has grown considerably, with
deeper penetration and wider usage of voice and data services, accompanied
by much higher competitive intensity," Atul Bindal, chief marketing officer,
Bharti TeleVentures, expands on this. "In this context, differentiating merely
on network, coverage and SMS is just not enough. You need to go beyond
all the rational identifiers - which are prerequisites in any case - and connect
at a deeper level. We needed a strong differentiator in an increasingly
commoditized and crowded market. We found this differentiator in a core
human truth that defines our category - which is that there are moments
when you need to make your point, when you need to be heard. Expressing
and communicating are perhaps two of the most basic emotions.Air Tel
enables you to make your point in the most expressive way, anytime,
anywhere. The campaign is towards owning this through 'Express
yourself.' We believe 'Express yourself' allows us to connect at a deeper
level and create a long-term platform for the brand."
For AirTel, the challenge also lay in presenting a unified 'face' to the
consumer. This assumes significance when viewed in the light of the
company's pre- and post-paid communication, which, in the past, had been
treated very differently. Brand image, as a result, was being driven in two
different dimensions. "Brand AirTel is a category leader straddling
completely different market segments such as consumer, business and
corporate, as well as different voice, data and payment platforms," says
Bindal. "'Express yourself' enables the brand to unify and connect across the
entire base of our existing and prospective customers."
One of the most obvious benefits of owning a property such as 'candid
expression' (and 'Express yourself') is the expansive nature of the thought.
"The moment you have as broad a canvas as 'Express yourself', it becomes
easy for anyone working on the brand to come up with new ideas and
executions. That's what makes a good campaign idea," observes Rediff's
Prashant Godbole, who, along with creative partner Zarvan Patel, conceived
the campaign. This is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg, Patel adds. "We
will be taking the idea forward in many different ways in the forthcoming
work," he informs. Patel also credits his creative team for "fleshing out the
idea".
In October 2002, Magic led the market, with 30% of the market share.
Bharti claimed that its strategies were one of the most ambitious
experiments ever in the Indian pre-paid cellular telephony market. However,
given the increasing competitive pressure, doubts were being expressed
regarding the ability of Bharti's marketing initiatives to help Magic retain its
'Magic' in the future.

AIRTEL BROADBAND
Bharti Televentures is the fixed line operator business of Airtel. In the recent
branding exercise, all the services have been offered under the Airtel brand. Data is
the next driver for growth. This is clear to the operators who have belatedly realized
the implications for having a pie in all the segments of telecommunications. Hence
Bharti ventured in the broadband market.
However, the main contention in the broadband market is the price offering
which includes the bandwidth costs as well as the cost of laying down the
copper wire. Typically, in the mentality of the profit making exercise, Airtel
has so far focused only in those areas where it perceives that a huge market
is present. However, I still hold that their thrust should be in smaller towns
and cities where BSNL would ultimately usurp their potential customer
base. It seems that their fancily paid MBAs haven’t really understood the
success of BSNL who focused on the B and C class cities where it has
drawn unparalleled support despite the lousy customer experiences. This is
because of the absence of any other operator.
The current offerings by Airtel does not really enthuse a potential customer
who is looking at sustained data transfer. It is the classic case of having
something better than nothing.
Add to the lousy customer care that Airtel is slowly perfecting, it is staffed
with people who usually land up in their jobs with little idea of their job
profile. The so-called Tech engineers have often been unable to help a
customer who is facing issues with the connectivity. I have read first person
accounts for the same.
AIRTEL’s ENTERPRISE SERVICES
The company is a part of Bharti Enterprises, and is India's leading provider
of telecommunications services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been
structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU’s) - mobile
services, broadband & telephone services (B&T) & enterprise services. The
mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23
telecom circles, while the B&T business group provides broadband &
telephone services in 90 cities. The Enterprise services group has two sub-
units - carriers (long distance services) and services to corporates. All these
services are provided under the Airtel brand.
Our Services:
 Voice Services
 Mobile Services
 Satellite Services
 Managed Data and Internet Services
 Managed e-Data Services
AirTel launches VQE (Voice Quality
Enhancer) for the first time in Kolkata.
Introducing VQE (Voice Quality Enhancer) for the first time in Kolkata.
VQE is a revolutionary new system that spectrally reduces background
noise. It eliminates acoustic echo, adjusts speech levels in both directions
and does away with low or distorted speech so that every word of your's can
be heard clearly, wherever you may be speaking from.
The VQE technology has been sourced from Tellabs of USA, world leaders
in Voice Quality technology. Some of the prominent GSM operators using
Tellabs solution in the world are SingTel, Bell South, Telstra, BT Cell etc.
The Tellabs noise reduction technology removes high background noise
from the wireless side of the call thus delivering near wireline clear call
quality
on mobile phones. The Tellabs 3000 series of voice-quality enhancement
echo technology also eliminates the complexity of acoustic echo generated
by digital mobiles and hands free kits.
So go ahead. Express yourself and feel the difference on Kolkata's only
Non-
Stop 2.5G Network
AIRTEL NEWS
•
Bharti Airtel inks USD 400 million network expansion contract
with NOKIA
.• Bharti Airtel limited: Q2 cash profit exceeds Rs. 1,600 crores, PBT
crosses Rs. 1,000 crores.
• Bharti Airtel is amongst India’s Most Admired Knowledge enterprises in
2006.
• Sunil Bharti Mittal receives ‘The Honorary Fellowship’ from IETE.
• Notice of postal ballot for seeking consent of the shareholders on
scheme
of amalgamation of Satcom Broadband Equipments Limited and Bharti
Broadband Limited with Bharti Airtel Limited.
• Bharti Airtel to Observe Silent period from October 1, 2006.
PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY
After the liberalization of the Indian Telecom Sector in 1994, the Indian
cellular market witnessed a surge in cellular services. By 2005, there were a
total of 12 players in the market with the five major players being Bharti
Tele-Ventures Limited (Bharti), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL),
Hutchinson-Essar limited (Hutch), Idea Cellular limited (Idea) and Reliance
India Mobile (RIM) (Refer Exhibit I).
All the players except RIM offered services based on the Global System for Mobile
(GSM) technology. RIM provided services based on Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA) technology as well as GSM.
As competition in the telecom arena intensified, service providers took new
initiatives to woo customers. Prominent among these were - celebrity
endorsements, loyalty rewards, discount coupons, business solutions and
talk time schemes. The most important consumer segments in the cellular
industry were the youth segment and the business class segment. The youth
segment was the largest and fastest growing segment and was therefore
targeted most heavily by cellular service providers.
Bharti Tele-Ventures adopted celebrity endorsement as its chief promotional
strategy. By 2004 it emerged the unprecedented leader commanding the
largest market share in the cellular service market. (Refer Exhibit II). Hutch
implemented the celebrity endorsement strategy partially, relying primarily
on its creative advertising for the promotion of its brand. BSNL, on the other
hand, attracted the consumer through its low cost schemes. Being a state
owned player, BSNL could cover rural areas, and this helped it increase its

subscriber base. Reliance was another player that cashed on its innovative
promotional strategies, which included celebrity endorsements and attractive
talk time schemes. Idea, relied heavily on its creative media advertising sans
celebrities

Celebrity
Endorsement
Strategy

RAHMAN TUNE CROSSES AIRTEL’S

EXCLUSIVITY BARRIER
October 04, 2002
Cellular service provider AirTel seems to have hit the right note with its new
commercial starring musician A R Rahman. The commercial which is
currently on air has a beat which also doubles up as a ringtone which is
ostensibly available only to AirTel users. But the interesting part is that the
ringtone is being flaunted not just by AirTel customers but by customers of
rival service providers like BPL, Orange and Dolphin as well!
“We did expect the tune to catch up but this has really exceeded our
expectations,” admits Bharti Cellular’s chief marketing officer (western
region) Pratik Pota. Overall, he explains, it is a great advertising product for
AirTel and works like a “walking, talking brand ambassador.”
The ringtone which is also the jingle for AirTel’s TV commercial, is proving
to be a potent advertising tool for the company. It is not very clear what this
means for the other cellular operators. Cellular users have been “forwarding”
the tune to one another, which according to Mr Pota, has given AirTel a
chance to enter the “mind of the user” irrespective of which service he opts
for.
“It gives the user a chance to go back to the AirTel product and acts as a
strong reminder medium,” he explains. Marketing professionals like
Samsika Marketing Consultants’ managing director Jagdeep Kapoor point
to
the usage of an “audio celebrity” as something that is significant.
“The normal practice is to opt for film stars and sportsmen rather than an
audio personality” he says.
Rivals, though seemingly unfazed by the phenomenon, seem to be doing
their own homework on this brand of advertising. While none of them
commented on AirTel’s strategy and its impact on their own subscriber base,
one advertising professional working with a rival service provider opines
that the tune is “transient” and not likely to have any long term impact as a
brand building tool.
Being the latest entrant in the Mumbai circle, AirTel has had to find ways
of
cutting through the clutter.
Says Mr Kapoor,” AirTel will have try to find ways to attract new customers
and convert the existing ones.” Explaining that the usage of an audio
celebrity was more “strategic than tactical”, he adds that non-AirTel users
will have the AirTel “brand experience” inspite of not using the service.
While Mr Pota highlights the fact that the usage of the tune by other
operators means “free advertising” for AirTel and the users having a
positive disposition towards the product, the nature of reaction from
competition remains unclear.

“Competition will not do well to adopt a knee jerk reaction and will have to
come out with advertising that is well thought out” explains Mr Kapoor. He
anticipates a situation where the new entrant (AirTel) will continue to be
more aggressive.

TENDULKAR & SHAHRUKH.

Both Tendulkar and King Khan already share the frame for soft drinks major
PepsiCo India. Tendulkar is not the first cricketer to endorse Bharti’s Airtel
brand. Indian captain Saurav Ganguly had done so when Airtel launched its
service in the eastern metropolis of Kolkata in 2001.
Though company executives were mum on the value of the Tendulkar deal,
those in the advertising fraternity peg the signing rate for the three-year deal
anywhere between Rs 8 crore and Rs 10 crore.
Both Sachin and Shah Rukh are two of the most sought after celeb endorsers
in the country, with the former edging out the latter in the celeb endorsement
race. The Master Blaster’s portfolio includes brands like Colgate Pamolive,
ESPN-STAR Sports, Pepsi, MRF, Boost, TVS, Palio, Visa, Adiddas and
Britannia. The leading brands endorsed by Khan include Hyundai, Pepsi,
Airtel, Tag Huer, Clinic All Clear, Bagpiper and Videocon, among others.
According to company executives, the idea of roping in Tendulkar is in line
with the group’s strategy to connect to the mass market through celeb
endorsers from movies, cricket and music. “For mass connect, Shah Rukh
and Sachin are the best bet as brand endorsers,” says a senior company
executive. Bharti plans to launch a multimedia campaign targetting its
service at the mass market.
Chapter -2

OBJECTIVE
The objective of my project report is to study the advertising strategy of

AIRTEL Cellular service and its effect on mobile users existing and who are

going to use mobile service in future. In other words, my aim is to study the
Advertising Effectiveness of AIRTEL Cellular service.

DATA SOURCES
Data is collected from both the Primary sourcesi.e. questionnaire and also

from Secondary sources.

Primary sources:

The primary source of data collection is through questionnaire. The

questionnaires are distributed among 35 peoples and their view is recorded

and used in analyzing the data

Secondary sources :
The secondary sources includes online sites, newspapers and templates
from
AIRTEL distributions centers and AIRTEL Customer Care.

Chapetr 3

People know about AIRTEL cellular service through

30 % Friends
70% Advertisements
5% Other Sources

Feature of AIRTEL forced people to use AIRTEL is

35% Advertisements
20% Connectivity
10%Schemes
35%Goodwill

People’s first choice of cellular service when they want to use mobile
phone
AIRTEL 45%
HUTCH 30%
IDEA 8%
RELIANCE 10%
TATA INDICOM 5%
OTHERS 2%

Feature of AIRTEL is better than the people’s previous cellular service.

Advertisements 25%
Connectivity 60%
Schemes 15%

AIRTEL users in people’s phone book

Less than 30% : 15%

30% - 70% : 25%
More than 70% : 60%

Type of advertisement mostly like by people in AIRTEL is

Audio Visual : 85%

Print : 2%
Audio : 13%

Celebrity liked by people very much in AIRTEL

Sachin : 55%
Shahrukh : 38%
Kareena : 2%
A. R. Rehman : 5%

People take benefits of schemes offered by AIRTEL

YES : 85%
NO : 13%
CAN’T SAY : 2%

People like most in AIRTEL is

NOKIA + AIRTEL : 86%

AIRTEL MAGIC : 5%
Postpaid services : 8%
AIRTEL Broadband : 1%
Service liked by people most in AIRTEL is

AIRTEL missed you service : 63%

Ring tones : 15%
Hello tunes : 22%

People participate contest offered by AIRTEL like BID TO WIN, LI’L

CHAMPS

YES : 72%
NO : 28%

Type of recharge cards liked by people

More talk time : 23%

More validity : 15%
Both : 62%

AIRTEL is #1 in India

Ye s : 95%
No : 5%

Chapter4

CONCLUSION
The conclusion of my study is that AIRTEL’s Advertising has a major

impact its users. People like its schemes very much .AIRTEL had created a

very good image on the mind of the new users of cellular service. AIRTEL
has adopted a very good strategy by providing a new connection with

NOKIA who is market leader in mobile set, many new users buy Nokia sets

and they get a free connection of AIRTEL. AIRTEL is successful in

capturing the highest market share by adopting Celebrity Endorsement

Strategy. A.R. Rehmaan’s tune for AIRTEL worked as free advertising for

AIRTEL as another service user uses it too. Other celebrities like Shahrukh

Khan (bollywood) and Sachin Tendulkar (Cricket) has also contributed very
much in AIRTEL.

RECOMMENDATIONS
By virtue of its connectivity and advertising strategy AIRTEL is successful

in grabbing the highest market share in India, but there are still some

recommendations from my study point of view is that AIRTEL needs to

make its network service more stronger than other service providers to

dominate the market in future too.

AIRTEL should introduce cheaper recharge cards than the other
because its competitor HUTCH had introduced it.
AIRTEL should sign more celebrities from cricket and
bollywood.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ON-LINE WEBSITE :
.
o

WWW.GOOGLE.CO.IN
o

WWW.AIRTEL.COM
NEWSPAPERS:o
Times of India (15 Oct 2006- 2 Nov 2006)
BOOKS:
o

Marketing Management, Dr. S.L. Varshney and

Dr. R.L. Gupta, Third Revised Edition,
Sultan Chand and Sons.

Annexure

QUESTIONNAIRE
NAME:
……………………………………………
ADDRESS:
……………………………………………
OCCUPATION:
…………………………………………….
CELLULAR SERVICE USED:…………………………………………….

If AIRTEL than proceed further

1. How did you know about AIRTEL cellular service?

Friends
Advertisements
Other Sources

2. Which feature of AIRTEL forced you to used AIRTEL ?

Advertisements
Connectivity
Schemes
Goodwill

3. Which was your first choice of cellular service when you want to use
mobile phone?

AIRTEL
HUTCH
IDEA
RELIANCE
TATA INDICOM
OTHERS

4. Which feature of AIRTEL is better than your previous cellular

service?

Advertisements
Connectivity
Schemes

5. How many AIRTEL users in your phone book?

Less than 30%

30% - 70%
More than 70%
6. Which type of advertisement you most like in AIRTEL?

Audio Visual
Print
Audio

7. Which celebrity you like very much in AIRTEL?

Sachin
Shahrukh
Kareena
A. R. Rehman

8. Have you take benefits of any scheme offered by AIRTEL?

YES
NO

9. Which you like most in AIRTEL?

NOKIA + AIRTEL
AIRTEL MAGIC
Postpaid services
AIRTEL Broadband

10.Which service you like most in AIRTEL?

AIRTEL missed you service

Free Ringtones
Free Hello tunes

11.Do you participate contest offered by AIRTEL like KBC-2 & Indion
Idol-2?

YES
NO

12.Which type of recharge cards you like most?

More talktime
More validity
Both (i.e. Post paid)

13.According to you is AIRTEL is #1 in India?

Yes
No