Chapter 1- Introduction

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Communication has become one of the essential part of human life in these days. It is the
basis of human relations and it is one of the infrastructural facilities to business field.
Telecommunication is one of the forms of communication which makes a world - wide
network to trade and commerce. India has the fastest growing telecom network in the
world with its high population and development. In India landline service is firstly run by
Mtnl and after there are several players also such as airtel, reliance etc. landlines are
facing stiff competition from mobile. The competition has forced the landline services to
become more efficient. There are various types of connections in using the landline
phones such as new connection, permanent connection, temporary and casual connection.
And also there are several schemes regarding to their connections. A fundamental truth in
the business world is that competitors are always looking to steal your customers and
many customers are on the lookout for a better deal. Landline connection is mostly used
as a communication media in the business as well as personal life. There are many factors
for the retention one of them is awareness they retain the landline connection because of
prompt payment. Landlines provide stable and reliable connection not easily impaired by
similar effects.
The boom in Indian economy leads to the growth of telecom industry with the significant
expansion. As this research has been undertaken in airtel pvt. Which is the strongest player
in the market among the private players in this researcher has experienced the existing
customers of airtel landline. Researcher has also experienced the strategies of the
companies and sales to maintain the huge customer base an extensive market research
about the problem and the factors associated with it. Research has demonstrated
conclusively that it is far more costly to win a new customer than it is to maintain an
existing one. And there is no better way to retain a customer than to exceed his
expectations. For this purpose it is essential to know the level of customer satisfaction. The
focus of my research was the measurement of customer retention level for the services
provided by Bharti Airtel. My job was not only to represent the retention factors and
collect the feedback from the clients but also to get the best reasons to retend my old
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Chapter 1- Introduction

customers. There can be no better opportunity to interact with the external as well as the
internal customers of an organization. Finally the results of the research verify the fact that
keeping the customer satisfied is the best strategy to not only retain the existing customers
but to maintain the landlines connection for the long time. But the potential to do much
better exists as there is still huge demand in the sector. My friend asked me why we keep
our land line with Qwest. We both have cell phones, and neither one of us really gab on the
phone very much. I talk to my mom and my brother the most, but nearly always on the
weekend. And when I call my brother, I use my cell phone anyway, because we dont have
long distance on our land line.
So why do I keep the land line? It basically comes down to four things.
1.

The ability of 911 to trace the call, should my kids have to call.

2.

That my daughter is getting to be the age where she talks to her friends on the

phonea lot.
3.

That I worry Ill forget to charge my phone and have no phone access when I

need it.
I ever need to be out of the house at different locations. If you have dropped your
landline, are you comfortable with the fact that 911 wont know your exact location. Or
are 911 call centers getting better about dealing with cell phones. I would think this
service would improve as more and more people turn wireless. Could I save money by
cancelling my landline and communicating with just my mobile? Get your landline phone
bill. Write down your monthly cost. How many minutes are you telephone talking per
month. Get your cell phone bill. How are you being billed. If you talk more, will it cost
more to cut your landline minutes .At what point and by how much do your mobile voice
minutes become a deal, or deal breaker. Maybe you already have unlimited local calling.
Or perhaps you pay a flat rate by the minute. Can you text more and talk less? How
much would your monthly cell phone bill increase if you added the minutes from the

Chapter 1- Introduction

landline to it. This is the tricky part, because cell phone billing may become complicated,
especially if youre committed to a contract. Get the difference.
According to Press the number of people who are giving up their landline phones and
relying principally on cell phones is on the rise and has been for the past several years.
This is true in our country. Cell phones offer a critical feature that landlines cannot
Determining which communication system in the most cost affective relies on the
frequency and duration of phone use. With cell phones, customers also generally have to
deal with contract concerns. And while landlines may be more reliable, cell phones are
more environmentally friendly and provided a number of extra useful features. Both
landline and cell phone costs depend on a number of factors, including family size,
lifestyle and whether long distance calls are made. For large families, it is cheaper to
share a single landline than to purchase multiple cell phones, even if they are serviced
under a family plan. If an individual's lifestyle involves frequent, long phone
conversations, a landline is still the more cost-effective option. This is because landlines
have low, single flat rates. When it comes to long distance calls, cell phones may be less
expensive but only when used between designated times on designated days. Unlike
landlines, most cell phone plans require contracts. There are exceptions, however, as
some companies offer pay-as-you-go plans. Generally, if an individual breaks a contract
or is late with payments, penalties--in the form of expensive fees--are enforced. While
cell phone technology continues to improve, cell phones are still not as reliable as
landlines. Especially when it comes to making emergency calls or important careerrelated calls, landlines are a much more secure option. Cell phones can lose service in
some areas and cell phone batteries require recharging and have the potential to die in
important situations. While the landline is more reliable than the cell phone, it lacks the
ability to be carried around and utilized in all day-to-day activities. Cell phones also
provide callers with the ability to send text messages and, in some cases, take
photographs, surf the Internet and play games. With cell phones, wallpapers or
backgrounds can be personalized, as well as ring tones. Landlines consume more energy
than cell phones, as they remain plugged in at all times. This is true of cordless landline
phones as well, because of the charger required. And while cell phones generally do not
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Chapter 1- Introduction

last as long as landlines. Some service providers package a land-line phone service
along with cable service or other utilities. They offer discounts for those customers who
opt for multiple services. If you drop your land-line phone service, you may no longer
be eligible for these discounts. Anyone who has used a cell phone knows that weak
network signals are a problem. And some internet-based phone services rely on your
computer and modem, so a computer virus or a power outage can affect their reliability.
But land-line phone services are safe from these issues. Power outages have no effect on
land lines. So disconnecting your land-line phone service may leave you without a
reliable phone in an emerge. You may not be able to receive high-quality cell phone
service in your region due to geographic factors. For example, if you live in a
mountainous region or near a large body of water, you may experience interference with
your cell-phone signal. A land-line phone service avoids these problems. All your landline phone calls have the same level of quality, regardless of geographic considerations.
Post paid is the type of connection that has possessed by the majority of the surveyed
landline customers. This is the traditional method of connection. But rest of the
customers have prepaid connection and this is more convenience in one way that the
customers can use the landline upto the prepaid amount without any hesitation. Majority
of customers are diploma/ degree holders. It is noted that the medium level of education
is the attribute of the landline subscribers in respect of the educational status. P. G
degree holders and professional degree holders come next and they share the percent
equally percent each group. It means the educated and professional people have
demanded the landline service at the time. The rest of the customers have the school
level education only. They are the minority group in the sample frame and it means that
the educationally lower group people have not demanded the landline service at large
level. In respect of the awareness regarding the grace period, sufficiently aware is the
category that has the majority of the customers .Likewise, the fully awareness is the
category of the customers. Most of the customers have the slight awareness. From three
groups it is clear that the facility is known by the majority of the customers. The
minority customers do not have such awareness they retain the landline connection
because of the prompt payment of the rental amount. To survive in a competitive market
each and every company tries to provide better services at lowest possible price to the
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Chapter 1- Introduction

customer. As this research mainly deals with the consumer perception about airtel and
its competition. The airtel may utilize this work to focus it customer with great
perfection. Many companies are aiming at high loyalty because customers who are just
satisfied still fing easy to switch when better offer comes along. Those who are highly
satisfied are much less ready to switch.
Blumberg and Luke do not address the question of whether respondents with both a
landline and a cell phone are likely to behave differently from those with either only a
landline or only a cell phone. A difference is expected because, for instance, those
reached on a cell phone who also have a landline differ demographically from those
reached on a landline.8 This suggests that the influence of cell phones may not be simply
a noncoverage issue, but also a nonresponse issue since frequent use of a cell phone may
result in a decreased likelihood of answering a landline. There are also respondents who
will answer a landline but have a cell phone for out-going calls only and respondents who
share a cell phone.9 Because of these issues, an analysis of the impact of cell phones
needs to take into consideration the respondents relative use of their cell phone and
landline.
As we know that there is a enormous competition existing in landlines as well as in
mobiles to face this competition this is very essential to do a proper planning and taking
proper feedback about the process.
There are also age differences due to differing levels of general technology adoption. This
tendency to adopt technology is a more stable characteristic but currently vary by cohort;
young people are typically more comfortable with cell phones and new technology. And
due to the concentration of technological comfort they find among their peers, part of
their cohort culture has become the assumption of cell phone possession.15 This
assumption serves as pressure on the reluctant adopters to rely on their cell phone and
Patrick Ehlen modeled both the tendencies to adopt a cell phone and to be cell-only.16
They found that both tendencies are found in greater numbers in the young, but are stable
characteristics which will stay with this cohort as it ages. However, there are some young
people who are more influenced by the older generations
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Chapter 1- Introduction

and who continue landline use without considering other options. There are also some
older people who keep more up to date with technological trends and will see the cellonly option as attractive. These people create variation not controlled for with an age
weight.
Dwelling place of airtel landline phone customers takes an important place in
determining the choice of subscribers. Urban areas are covered by the BSNL easily and
the service facility is generally accessible to the subscribers so that urban people prefer
to the landline phone very much. In rural areas, such service facilities are far away to
them and the subscribers in villages hesitate to get it. The following table shows the
distribution of the dwelling place of the landline subscribers.
1.2 Purpose of research
The purpose of research is to examine the customer retention on customer loyalty in airtel
limited and also to identify the factors affecting the preferences of customers. Customer
retention is the focus in the research. Customer retention is the act of convincing
customers to continue their usage of the services and defections. Customer retention
starts with the first contact with the customer and continues throughout the lifetime. A
service providers ability to attract and retain new customers is not only dependent on the
services but also on its continuous efforts to serve the customer better. Customer retention
plays a critical role in enhancing airtel objectives. Now if we talk about customer loyalty.
it is normally a willingness of customers to maintain the relationship with the subscribers.
In this research we discuss the factors that increase the customer retention. There are
many reasons behind the retention of landline phones. The reasons may be analyzed in
the majority of male and females. The object of this study is to analyze the discouraging
and expectation factors of airtel landline phone subscribers and to evaluate the
satisfactory variables of the airtel landline phone subscribers. The customers have there
own likes and dislikes in using the landline phones. It may dependable according to the
situation or generations for using landline phones. Quality of service provided also play
an important role in keeping the existing customers and to bring new customers. In
todays scenario, there exists many choices of products which may not be of much
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Chapter 1- Introduction

difference but when it comes to cost the customers are ready to retain. It is the important
on the part of airtel to replan or polish there market strategies very carefully and
immediately. To bring out there retain customers for landline as a permanent customers.
"The Indian telecom sector, seen as providing the most affordable services in the world,
has grown by leaps and bounds in the last decade. This remarkable journey to 100 million
consumers is a testament to the vision and commitment of a company that benchmarks
itself with the best in the world,'' Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group chief executive
officer of Bharti Enterprises said.
Often easier to reach someone by phone than by trying to arrange to see them in person;
more convenient for patients more likely to succeed in contacting someone especially if
a time / date has been agreed (few people are able to ignore the telephone and leave it
ringing) telephone conversations are, on average, shorter than face-to-face conversations
as its easier to control the conversation and take the initiative.
Body language, even though it cant be seen, can affect our voice when on the telephone.
Therefore, think about your posture whilst on the phone. If you are Comfortable and
relaxed your voice is likely to reflect this. Remember to smile even though it cant be
seen it will be heard and you will sound friendly and assertive. If you are standing up
whilst on the telephone this can also make you sound more assertive, and it is another
way of ending a telephone call if you stand up during a conversation. Using a closed
question for example is often helpful in stopping an enthusiastic patient digressing from
appropriate lines of questioning.
1.3 Customer Loyalty
Dick and Basu, (1994) Customer loyalty is viewed as the strength of the relationship
between an individuals relative attitude and repeat patronage. The relationship is seen
as mediated by social norms and situational factors. Cognitive, affective, and co-native
antecedents of relative attitude are identified as contributing to loyalty, along with
motivational, perceptual, and behavioral consequences.
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Chapter 1- Introduction

Grossman, (1998) Customer loyalty is customer repeating purchase intention to some

specific products or services in the future.
Jones et at, (1995) It is making customers feel committed: When the benefits are
meaningful to them, they will stay on.
Kim & Yoon, (2004) Customer loyalty has been defined early that It is normally the
willingness of customer to maintain their relations with a particular firm or
service/product.
Rundel Thiele (2005) In creating loyalty and thereby CLV, it would be prudent to
explore qualities of loyalty. Two types of primary loyalty qualities had been identified in
the previous researches, i.e. Attitudinal Loyalty and Behavioural Loyalty, out of which
attitudinal loyalty could be the most important dimension for marketers to monitor.
1.4 Customer Retention
Rams and Schindler (2001) It is the continuity of the business relations between the
customer and company.
Saeed, Grover & Hwang, (2005) In the retention of customer, it is important for firm to
know who to serve their customers. Post sales services are the important drivers for
customer retentions.
Lin & Wu, (2011) That there is statistically significant relationship between quality
commitment, trust and satisfaction and customer retention and future use of product, as
retention is influenced by future use of product.
According to Rust and Zahorik (1993) There is a significant relationship between
retention and loyalty.

Chapter 1- Introduction

According to Harris (2003) There are some barriers that inhibit excellent customer
retention two major classifications may be identified: organizational barriers and
personal barriers. Organizational barriers are those created by poor management
business philosophy and include lack of marketing orientation, tall and bureaucratic
organization structures, insufficient or unreliable equipment, restrictive company
policies,

lack

of

management

commitment,

unwillingness

to

change

old

practices/cultures and lack of empowerment. On the other hand, personal barriers are
those created by people involved directly in service delivery-customer service staff.
These include laziness, poor communication skills, poor time management, poor
attitude and poor stress management. (Grossman, 1998). The need for customer loyalty
in business has been recognized by many scholars. Customer loyalty is one of the most
frequently discussed subjects in the marketing and service literature. There is a plethora
of definitions of loyalty and/or customer loyalty in the extant literature. Customer
loyalty is customer repeating purchase intention to some specific products or services in
the future It is making customers feel committed: When the benefits are meaningful to
them, they will stay on Customer loyalty is one of the key factors and can help a
company achieve long-term success and point out that the cost of serving a loyal
customer is five or six times less than a new customer. state that it is better to look after
the existing customer before acquiring new customers. From the above, it is evident that
a mobile telecom firm that promotes customer loyalty has a lot to benefit from.

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