Strategies of Uninor

Masters of Commerce (Accounts) 2012-2013 Semester I Project Guide- Prof. Ms. Vasanti Rajyadhyaksha Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the requirements For the Award of Degree of Masters of Commerce Accounts By PRATHAMESH NAMDEV KADU University of Mumbai SIES (NERUL) COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCE & COMMERCE NERUL, NAVI MUMBAI-400706

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CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Prathamesh N. Kadu of M.Com Accounts Semester I (201213) has successfully completed the project of Strategies of Uninor under the guidance of Prof. Ms. Vasanti Rajyadhyaksha.

Course Co-ordinator

Principal

Project guide/Internal Examiner

External Examiner

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DECLARATION

I PRATHAMESH NAMDEV KADU a student of M.com Accounts Semester I (2012-13) hereby declare that I have completed the project on Strategies of Uninor. The information submitted is true and original to the best of my knowledge.

Signature

PRATHAMESH NAMDEV KADU

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ACKNOWLEGEMENT

I would sincerely like to give my heartfelt acknowledgement and thanks to my parents. Any amount of thanks given to them will never be sufficient. I would like to thank the University of Mumbai, for introducing MCOM course, thereby giving the student a platform to abreast with changing business scenario, with the help of theory as a base and practical as a solution. I would sincerely like to thank our Principal Mrs. Rita Basu. I would also like to thank my project guide Prof. Ms. Vasanti Rajyadhyaksha for his valuable support and guidance whenever needed. I also feel heartiest sense of obligation my library staff members & seniors who helped in collection of Data and materials and also in this processing as well as in drafting manuscript. Last, but not the least, I would like to thank my friends & colleagues for always being there.

Name of the Student

PRATHAMESH NAMDEV KADU

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Index
SR.No. Chapters Page No.

1.

Meaning & different types of business strategies

2.

Objective of the study

3.

Introduction

10

4.

History

12

5.

Subscribers market share

17

6.

Vision and promise Uninors Marketing strategy : Broke the clutter successfully Different Strategies of Uninor 4 Ps of marketing Analysis of SWOT Conclusion Bibliography

18

20

8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

22 30 31 37 38

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MEANING OF STRATEGY

The word strategy is derived from the Greek word strategies; stratus (meaning army) and ago (meaning leading/moving). Strategy is an action that managers take to attain one or more of the organizations goals. Strategy can also be defined as A general direction set for the company and its various components to achieve a desired state in the future. Strategy results from the detailed strategic planning process. A strategy is all about integrating organizational activities and utilizing and allocating the scarce resources within the organizational environment so as to meet the present objectives. While planning a strategy it is essential to consider that decisions are not taken in a vaccum and that any act taken by a firm is likely to be met by a reaction from those affected, competitors, customers, employees or suppliers.

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Different Types of Business Strategies

Growth Strategy
A growth strategy entails introducing new products or adding new features to existing products. Sometimes, a small company may be forced to modify or increase its product line to keep up with competitors. Otherwise, customers may start using the new technology of a competitive company. For example, cell phone companies are constantly adding new features or discovering new technology. Cell phone companies that do not keep up with consumer demand will not stay in business very long. A small company may also adopt a growth strategy by finding a new market for its products. Sometimes, companies find new markets for their products by accident. For example, a small consumer soap manufacturer may discover through marketing research that industrial workers like its products. Hence, in addition to selling soap in retail stores, the company could package the soap in larger containers for factory and plant workers.

Product Differentiation Strategy

Small companies will often use a product differentiation strategy when they have a competitive advantage, such as superior quality or service. For example, a small manufacturer or air purifiers may set themselves apart from competitors with their superior engineering design. Obviously, companies use a product differentiation strategy to set themselves apart from key

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competitors. However, a product differentiation strategy can also help a company build brand loyalty, according to the article "Porter's Generic Strategies" at QuickMBA.com.

Price-Skimming Strategy
A price-skimming strategy involves charging high prices for a product, particularly during the introductory phase. A small company will use a price-skimming strategy to quickly recover its production and advertising costs. However, there must be something special about the product for consumers to pay the exorbitant price. An example would be the introduction of a new technology. A small company may be the first to introduce a new type of solar panel. Because the company is the only one selling the product, customers that really want the solar panels may pay the higher price. One disadvantage of a price-skimming is that it tends to attract competition relatively quickly, according to the Small Business Administration. Enterprising individuals may see the profits the company is reaping and produce their own products, provided they have the technological know-how.

Acquisition Strategy
A small company with extra capital may use an acquisition strategy to gain a competitive advantage. An acquisition strategy entails purchasing another company, or one or more product lines of that company. For example, a small grocery retailer on the east coast may purchase a comparable grocery chain in the Midwest to expand its operations.

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Objective of the Study

Primary Research Objective: To study and to understand the advertisements and sales promotion schemes carried out by Uninor

Secondary Research Objective: To know the activities and facilities provided by company to satisfy customers. To study the strengths and weaknesses of the company. To know the expectations of customers while connecting with uninor. To improve companys competitive position and to better serve the needs of the customers To get the proper feedback from customers about the servive provided by Uninor. To understand how marketing is carried out with the help of policies, plans, mediaadvertisement.

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Strategies of Uninor

Introduction

Uninor is an Indian mobile network operator based in Gurgaon, India. The company holds Unified Access Service (UAS) licences to offer mobile telephony services in each of Indias 22 telecom circles, and has received spectrum to roll out services in 21 of these (excluding Delhi). The company is a joint venture between Telenor Group, a telecommunications company headquartered in Oslo, Norway, and Unitech Group, an Indian real estate company. Telenor owns a controlling majority stake in the company (67.25%), which has been branded Uninor in the Indian market. Uninor offers mobile voice and data services based on the GSM technology, currently on a 5.4 MHz spectrum. Uninor services are commercially available in 13 circles across India. With a value for money proposition in the market. Uninor targets youth and other communities within the Indian mass market. As of December 2011, Uninor has 36 million customers and a total workforce of 14,700 people. The company has more than 22,000 partners in India. Uninor products and services are available from a more than 490,000 retail outlets serviced by 1,800 distributors all over the country.
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Name:Uninor Type :Joint Venture Industry:Telecommunication Founded:2009 Head Quarter:Gurgaon,India CEO:Stein Erik Vellen Chairman :Sanjay Chandra Product:Wireless Telephone, Internet

Type

Private

Industry

Telecommunications

Founded

2009

Headquarters

Gurgaon, India

Key people

Sigve Brekke (MD)

Services

Mobile telephony Wireless internet

Owner(s)

Telenor Group (67.25%) Unitech Group (32.75%)

Employees

1,600

Website

www.uninor.in

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History
The company Unitech Wireless was until 2009 a subsidiary of Unitech Group, holding a wireless services licence for all 22 Indian telecom circles since 2008. In early 2009, Unitech Group and Telenor agreed to enter a joint venture where Telenor Group would inject fresh equity investments of INR 61.35 billion into Unitech Wireless to take a majority stake in the company. This was operating capital invested directly in Unitech Wireless by Telenor Group. Telenor Group conducted these investments in four tranches, and subsequent to approvals from the Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) took 67.25% ownership of Unitech Wireless. In September, the company announced its brand name as Uninor. Uninor launched its first eight circles on 3 December 2009, after completing one of the worlds largest GSM Greenfield launches which was also one of the fastest telecom roll-outs ever in India. The brand was built around an ambition to serve the young, aspiring India. Six months later, five additional circles were launched including metros like Mumbai and Kolkata. Uninor is today (2012) commercially available in 9 circles. Uninor has facilitated rapid scaling of the company through a lean operation model, where a large share of the network infrastructure is outsourced to business partners. With a relatively recent infrastructure in place, Uninor operates one of the most modern GSM networks in the country. Uninors modern equipment has enabled it to introduce targeted offerings and serve a large audience with limited spectrum. As the first mobile operator in India, Uninor introduced
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Dynamic Pricing, a concept that gives consumers discounts that are based on current network traffic at an individual site and change with location and time. About 40% of Uninors customers are on a Dynamic Pricing plan. Over the summer of 2010, the company further simplified its strategy with a focus on three core areas excellence in mass market distribution, basic services and cost efficient operations. Changes were also made to the product mix and marketing communication making them simpler, more direct and clearly positioning Uninor as an affordable mass market service. Uninor has grown from 0 to 45.6 million customers (as of Q2 2012, TRAI report) within less than two years, and is now emerging as the most successful of the new entrants that obtained licenses in 2008. The company has more than double the subscribers of all of the other entrants combined. In July 2012, awaiting fresh telecom auctions after the Indian Supreme Court cancelled 122 licenses issued by the Government in 2008, Uninor decided to gradually scale down operations in the four circles of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Orissa. The objective is to strengthen the focus on the 9 top performing circles ahead of the auction

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Controversies
Unitech Wireless was one of the would-be telecom companies that received 2G licenses in 2008. The method chosen by the authorities to allocate these licenses has later been subject to controversy as part of the 2G license allocation case. Licenses were awarded through a first come-first served process, where eight companies belonging to the Unitech Group were awarded telecom licenses. The licenses obtained by the telecom arm of the Unitech Group were the basis for Telenor Groups investment into the joint venture. Unitech Wireless companies were later amalgamated into one company, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt. Ltd. The Telenor Group invested INR 61.35 billion through new shares to hold 67.25% majority stake in the company. This investment has been used as working capital for the joint venture. Telenors investments in Unitech Wireless have been cleared at each stage by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Due to the controversy of the 2G license allocation case, Unitech Ltd.'s Managing Director Sanjay Chandra (who was also earlier the Chairman of the Board of Unitech Wireless) together with the company Unitech Wireless, have come under investigation by the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). These investigations are connected to Unitech Wireless at a point when the company was fully owned by the Unitech Group. Subsequently, Unitechs Managing Director and the erstwhile chairman of the board of Unitech Wireless, Sanjay Chandra, together with individuals from other telecom operators were taken into custody in early 2011. This trial is now ongoing in the Indian courts.

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In February 2012, a special court consisting of two Supreme Court justices issued a judgment in a public interest litigation (PIL) case connected to the 2008 allocation of telecom licenses. The judgment directs the Indian telecom regulator, TRAI, to recommend a process for re-allocation of the 121 licenses that were issued in 2008. The court ordered this process to be concluded within four months, i.e. by June 2012. This deadline was later extended to September 2012, then to January 2013. Uninor services and operations will continue uninterrupted. Telenor Group on 21 February 2012 announced its intention to form a new entity in India with which its Indian operations will be taken forward. This new entity will serve as the platform to approach the upcoming auctions for fresh licenses as mandated by the Supreme Court. The new entity will also seek requisite approvals from the FIPB to allow Telenor Group to take up 74% ownership. Uninor on 1 August 2012 said it will auction all of its telecom business before it becomes non-operational on September 7, the deadline set by the apex court for winding up of operations of all the firms whose licences had been cancelled. The move has been strongly opposed by the firm's minority stakeholder Unitech and it has threatened to initiate legal action, if Uninor goes ahead with the auction. TELENOR, a majority stake holder in UNINOR said on August 1, 2012 that it will buy out the Unitech Wireless for Rs 4,190 crore, if there are no bidders for the Indian mobile phone operator's assets. The matter is now heard in various courts and quasi-judicial bodies to try to arrive at a viable solution for the company, its customers, employees and partners

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Presence
Uninors Corporate Office is located in Gurgaon, Haryana, just outside Delhi. It has 13 circle offices, one in each of the circles where its services are commercially available, as well as a number of zonal offices and technical offices. The circles offices are in: Kochi Kerala circle Chennai Tamil Nadu circle Bengaluru Karnataka circle Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh circle Bhubaneswar Orissa circle Kolkata Kolkata circle, West Bengal circle Patna Bihar & Jharkhand circle Lucknow Uttar Pradesh East circle Noida Uttar Pradesh West circle Pune Maharashtra & Goa circle Mumbai Mumbai circle Ahmedabad Gujarat circle

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Subscriber Market Share UP West UP East Kolkata West Bengal Bihar Orissa Gujarat Andra Pradesh Maharashtra Mumbai Karnataka Tamil Nadu Kerala 6.4% 6.2% 5.8% 5.7% 5.2% 4.5% 4.2% 4.0% 3.5% 3.1% 2.3% 1.8% 2.0%

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Vision and Promise

Vision

We exist to help you get the full benefit of communication services in your daily lives.

Promise Promise to keep things simple Promise to listen and respond. Promise to constantly innovative ,motivate and support; so you see change.

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Services
Holds a pan-India UAS license. Recently launches 8 telecom circles Tamilnadu, Kerala, Karnataka , Andhra Pradesh, Bihar , Jahrkhand, Orissa UP East , UP West. Agreement to raise telenor ownership to 67.25 % Improving working conditions.

In Society
Safeguarding human worth. Non-discriminatory and respectful attitude. Primary responsibility. Local heritage and global telecom. Driven by values we work to : a) Maximize the enabling effect. b) Promote safer products and services. c) Make responsible business practices.

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Uninors Marketing Strategy: Broke the Clutter Successfully

Uninor ,a joint venture between Indian real estate company Unitech and Norways telenor,entered in Indian market in December,09.That was the time when Indian telecom market was already replete with tough competition and Tata Docomos per second billing had made the things worse for telecom operators as voice tariff became lowest in world.Analyst were of the opinion that It would be tough for new telcos to gain ground in this highly competitive market. Undettered, Uninor entered the market and resorted to aggressive marketing strategy and in its very first month of launch it added 1.2 million customers.It had services in only 8 circles then.later it launched services in other 5 circles and it currently has operations in 13 circles.In the month of August,2010 it has added 2.2 million customers.This number is very impressive for a new entrant especially in the presence of big incumbent brands like Airtel,Vodafone,Tata and Reliance.The total subscriber base of Uninor as on 31st August,2010 is 9.09 million and market share is 1.89%.

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Differentiation is the Key

Uninor has since launch been able to catch the attention of target audience with its youth focussed inspiration advertising with positioning statement of Ab Mera Number Hai.This campaign aimed at creating a brand perception of enabler in success. it made an statement that with Uninor its your turn now to succeed and take off. This campaign has successfully established a connect with the audience. Then came its innovative pricing scheme Dynamic Discounted pricing dubbed as 24X7 Badlta Discount plan.This plan really established the brand as an innovative one and grabbed the fancy of one and all.With this plan the company has successfully differentiated itself from established incumbents.The brand now doesnt exist as a me-too brand rather it considered to be an innovative brands.

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Different Strategies of Uninor

Uninor entered the market and resorted to aggressive marketing strategy and in its very
first month of launch it added 1.2 million customers

Marketing Strategy
Innovative Pricing Scheme Pay Less, Talk More 24 X 7 Badalta Discount Plan

Promotional strategy

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Innovative Pricing Scheme

Smart Tariff Plan The per-second billing (which many operators are offering is for those who use the phone a less. Uninor has launched two plans.

1. Talk more plan The more you talk, the lower the price gets. 2. Daily rental plan which give more value for users who use the phone a lot.

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Pay Less Talk More

Talk longer @29p./min Call setup charge Local Call STD ISD SMS(Uninor to Uninor)

For those of us who need to call less but talk more 0.39p 0.29p/min 0.49p/min Rs.18/min 100 free Uninor to Uninor SMS per day. Subsequent sms to be charged at 10p/message

Talk more

SMS Local* SMS National

0.10 p/message 1.49 Rs/message

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Tariff Plans

Uninor have very simple tariff plan. SIM Cost Rs.49 (includes talktime worth RS.5) Validity Lifetime Local Charges (all charges in Rs. / min) Uninor to Uninor-Re.1 Landline-Re.1 STD Charges (all charges in Rs ./min) Uninor to Uninor-Rs.1.5 Uninor to any mobile or landline Rs.1.5 SMS Charges (all charges in Rs./ SMS) Local Re.1 National Rs.2 International-Rs.5

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24 X7 Badalta Discount Plan

Dynamic Discounted pricing dubbed as 24 X7 Badalta Discount plan

Differentiation is the Key

This plan really established the brand as an innovative one and grabbed the fancy of one and all .With this plan the company has successfully differentiated itself from established in cumbents.

The brand now doesnt exist as a me-too brand rather it considered to be an innovative brands.

This is first of its kind service in India dynamic pricing is 24X7 Changing Discount Plan (DP)

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The discounts will change with location and with time, with each cell phone tower. By putting customers in control of costs, with 24X7 changing discounts rates, this could very well change the tariff structure in Indian telecom.

Under the 24X7 Changing Discount Plan (DP),customers will be able to available a discount on their calls that ranges from 5 % to as much as 60 % , depending on their location and time at which they call.

This discount will be applicable on a standard bas call rate of 50 paisa per minute for any local call, Uninor-to Uninor or Uninor to any other operator. This means a 1-minute call could cost as low as 20 paisa and never more than 50 paisa.

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Promotional Strategy Ab Mera Number Hai

Uninor has since launch been able to catch the attention of target audience with its youth focused inspiration advertising with positioning statement of Ab Mera Number Hai

Use of real young people in promotion instead of any role model. From TV and radio hoardings on buses, at malls and airports, Uninor is pulling out all the stops and literally painting the town blue and white, the colours of its logo.

Uninor entered into and advertising pact with the Bengaluru International Airport LTD (BIAL) to showcase its ads at strategic locations within the airport premises

They Inconstant Endeavour to innovate and set new benchmarks in the Indian airport advertising space.

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Uninor has just launched a new service. It provides radio service to its customers. Here one has to just dial a number and he can listen RED FM in any language in anywhere in India.

The company has around 2 lakh retail points across the country, including rural areas, apart from 50 company-owned stores.

It has also released a series of television ads-which show young people in real life situations (not models or celebrities), signaling to the world that their time has arrived.

Even in outdoor campaign-They have used real people- young, ambitious , looking for challenges, wanting to make things happen.

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4 Ps of Marketing

Product:

Prepaid CDMA and GSM mobile services in 13 circles out of 22 circles in India.

Price : Smart Tariff Plan

Talk more Daily Rental Plan

Promotion: Slogan Ab mera number hai

Brand Ambassador-Young,Energetic,Ambitious youth

Place

: 13 circles of Indian telecom circles Mumbai ,Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmadabad, Hyderabad , Bangalore, Kochi ,Noida , Greater Noida , Agra ,Lucknow ,Varanasi , Gurgaon and Ghaziabad.

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Critical Evaluation Strengths

Joint venture between worlds 6th largest telecom company and India 2nd largest real estate company.

Least capital investment as various services are outsourced. Least number of employees. Simple prepaid plan in which a local call is priced at 29 paisa a minute. The more you talk, the lower the price gets. Different segmentation strategy as compared to competitors. Use of real young people in promotion instead of any role model. Innovative promotional strategy.

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Critical Evaluation Weakness

Customer has network problem. It has still not launched postpaid schemes. Late entrant in the market. Too much outsourcing may go against the health of the company.

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Opportunity

Approximately 10-15 million mobile connections are being added every month .the national mobile tele-density is about 39 per hundred, urban areas-75 (in Mumbai ),but Rural areas-13.

Micro segmentation strategy in rural markets adopted by the company Falling handset prices and tariff rates. Increasing network distribution

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Threats

Competitors like Airtel , Reliance , BSNL , Vodafone, Idea. Extensive Government regulations through TRAI as regards introduction of new services. Bloodbath in the market due to price war.

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Customer Services
Although Uninor do have call centres , Uninor do not want to force our customers to call them. We are utting in place some back-end processes that will empower and enable the retailer who sold the SIM to handle any complaints or problem the customer may have. The retailer may not be able to solve the issue himself but he will register the complaints and ensure the customers that his or her problem will be resolved soon , without sending him or her away.

Company---- Retailer----Customer Company -----Retailer----Customer

The retailer will subsequently get in touch with us and the issue will be sorted out as soon as possible. This will especially come in handy in rural areas where we do not have company owned stores or call centres.

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Targeting
The company is targeting for 8 % market share in India by 2018. The country will have over 1.2 billion customers by 2018 as against 540 million now. Thus Uninor is targeting for 80 million customers by 2018 Positive operating cash flow within 5 years in India. Targeting youth as well as all the ambitious people. Selective specialization targeting strategy. First priority is to roll out across the country; a credible market share can be built only after that. They hope to launch across the entire country by the end of the year.

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Conclusion

Here we conclude that UNINOR is being able to grab the market share with the Innovative Strategies.

It is a great success in a short period of time. Some step should be taken by the company such as the customer has network problem.so it should take steps to reduce the problem.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books & Literature 1. Philip Kotler-Marketing Management (11th edition) Printed in 2005

Websites 1. www.zainbooks.com 2. www.scribd.com 3. www.managementguru.com 4. www.smallbusiness.com

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