International Journal of Business Management &

Research (IJBMR)
ISSN 2249-6920
Vol. 2 Issue 4 Dec - 2012 13-20
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.,

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICE PROVIDERS BSNL

AND AIRTEL OPERATING IN GWALIOR DIVISION INDIA
1

R.C.UPADHYAYA & 2VASHUNDHRA SHARMA

Prof.Commerce Department, GOVT.K.R.G.College, Jiwaji University, Gwalior(M.P.), India

2

P.hd Scholar, Jiwaji University, Gwalior(M.P.), India

ABSTRACT
In the todays competitive world communication plays a very important role. communication have become an
integral part of the growth, success and efficiency of any business. This is the technology that gives a person the power to
communicate anytime, anywhere. Due to advancement in technology, now communication becomes easy and faster.
India's telecom sector has shown massive upsurge in the recent years in all respects of industrial growth. From the
status of state monopoly with very limited growth, it has grown in to the level of an industry. Telephone, whether fixed
landline or mobile, is an essential necessity for the people of India. This changing phase was possible with the economic
development that followed the process of structuring the economy in the capitalistic pattern. The stupendous growth of the
telecommunication companies in India over the last fifteen years can be attributed to the liberal government of India,
economic policy. In this research paper, special emphasis has been laid over the comparative analysis of telecom
companies AIRTEL and BSNL by using primary sources of data in Gwalior division of madhyapradesh . For the
completion of efficient research work, descriptive and exploratory research design has been used which further conclude
that BSNL is having weak performance as compared to Bharti Airtel . Trends of previous 5 years in Gwalior division have
shown that BSNL company has slowly deteriorated its position.

KEYWORDS: Broadband ,Customer Satisfaction,Wireline, Wireless

INTRODUCTION
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier
times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal
flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, or sent by loud whistles, for
example. In the modern age of electricity and electronics, telecommunications now also includes the use of electrical
devices such as telegraphs, telephones, and teleprinters, the use of radio and microwave communications, as well as fiber
optics and their associated electronics, plus the use of the orbiting satellites and the Internet.A revolution in wireless
telecommunications began in the first decade of the 20th century with pioneering developments in wireless radio
communications by Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi.
Marconi won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 for his efforts. Other highly notable pioneering inventors and
developers in the field of electrical and electronic telecommunications include Charles Wheatstone and Samuel Morse
(telegraph), Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), Edwin Armstrong, and Lee de Forest (radio), as well as John Logie Baird
and Philo Farnsworth (television). The world's effective capacity to exchange information through two-way
telecommunication networks grew from 281 petabytes of (optimally compressed) information in 1986, to 471 petabytes in
1993, to 2.2 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2000, and to 65 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2007. This is the

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R.C.Upadhyaya & Vashundhra Sharma

informational equivalent of 2 newspaper pages per person per day in 1986, and 6 entire newspapers per person per day by
2007. Given this growth, telecommunications play an increasingly important role in the world economy and the worldwide
telecommunication industry's revenue was estimated to be $3.85 trillion in 2008. The service revenue of the global
telecommunications industry was estimated to be $1.7 trillion in 2008, and is expected to touch $2.7 trillion by 2013.
The telecom sector reforms were undertaken in three phases. The first phase began in the 80s, when private
manufacturing of customer promise equipment was given a go-ahead in 1984. A proliferation of individual STD/ISD/PCO
network also took place throughout the country by way of private individual franchises. Maharashtra Telephone Nigam
(MTNL) was created out of the department of telecommunication (DOT) to handle the sectors of Mumbai and Delhi
respectively. A high powered telecom commission was set up in 1989. Later Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) became the
international service provider catering to telecom services originating from India. The second phase of reforms commenced
in 1991 with the announcement of new economic policy. The government delivered the manufacturer of telecom
equipment in 1991. It also ahead up radio services in 1992. In 1994, basic telephony was opened to the private sector by
granting operating licenses to six companies. Also part of the second phase was the introduction of the National Telecom
Policy 1994. It emphasized universal service and qualitative improvement in telecom services among other objectives. An
independent statutory regulatory was established in 1997, Internet services were opened up in 1998.
The third phase & reforms began with the announcement of the new telecom policy in 1999. The theme of NTP
was to usher in full competition through a restricted entry of private players in all service sectors. The policy favored the
migration of existing operators from the era of fixed license fee regime to that of revenue sharing. The policy further
declined the strengthen of the regulator opening up of international long distance (ILD) and National Long Distance (NLD)
services to the private sector and corporation of telecom services. The year 2001 witnessed the entry of private operators in
offering basic telephony and NLD services.
The telecom sector began witnessing a trend of growth with these reforms basic services were opened for
unlimited competition more licenses were issued to the private sector for cellular services. There has also been a
considerable increase in the rate of tale density. The telecom sector has thus completely changed both in terms of coverage
and efficiency of services. Provision of landlines a demand, digital telephone, exchanges and the acceptability of optic
fiber and wireless technology are a few instances of the change that took instances of the change that took place in the
industry.
Cellular telephone services have achieved great commercial success; because users recognize the mobile
telephone access can improve productivity and enhance safety. A new subscriber is opting for cellular services for personal
security, safety and convenience. Increase in demand and the poor quality of existing telecommunications landline
services. Mobile service providers will be benefited from the research, the ways to improve their quality of service and to
support more users in their system. The present study has been made to identity the customers attitude towards cell phones
,telephones,broadband services of BSNL and AIRTEL in Gwalior Division. Many private operators have entered in to the
cellular segment to provide services. It has brought heavy competition in to the market. They have to find out the
customers attitudes towards this service which could be useful to formulate new strategies policy and market their services
in a better way.

RESEARCH METHOLOGY
Primary data was collected through observation, questionnaires and interviews. Along with Filling up of
questionnaire interviews in local language with customer was done. The data is selected as a major primary data collection

15

A Comparative Study of Telecommunication Service Providers

Bsnl and Airtel Operating in Gwalior Division India

method, since the aim of the study is the customers perceived service quality and how it is related to customer satisfaction
our main focus is thus the customer.
Study Methodology
The study was conducted in two modules. The first module (subjective survey) was undertaken to gauge the
subscriber feedback on quality of service by way of a large sample based field survey. The second module (objective
assessment) involved auditing of the QoS monitoring records of telecom operators.To gauge the level of satisfaction of
subscribers with the quality of service provided by the service providers, interviews across a large sample of subscribers
for Basic (Wireline), Cellular Mobile

(Wireless) and broadband services were conducted. The sample survey was

conducted to ensure spread across operators on the basis of their subscriber size and the type of circle in which we are
conducting the interviews. The satisfaction level of subscribers was collected on a four-point scale of Very satisfied,
satisfied, dissatisfied and very dissatisfied.
The questionnaire is divided into two broad segments viz.
1.

The first part dealt with all the aspects of customer perception of service which was detailed out by asking
questions for basic (wireline) and cellular mobile (wireless) segments and questions for the broadband
segment.

2.

The second part of the questionnaire was about checking the awareness, implementation and effectiveness of
telecom consumers protection and redressal of grievances regulations. This module entailed questions
which probed the consumers exhaustively on the three stage redressal mechanism.

Definition of Key Terms

Wireline service These are the telephone services that are provided by various service providers for home / office
installations. These telephone connections are connected by a copper wire.
Wireless service This service encompasses the services based on both GSM and CDMA network technologies. These
are typically known as mobile services.
Broadband service Broadband is defined in the Broadband Policy 2004 as An always on data connection that is able
to support interactive services including Internet access and has the capability of the minimum download speed of 256 kilo
bits per second (kbps) to an individual subscriber from the Point of Presence (POP) of the service provider intending to
provide Broadband service where multiple such individual Broadband connections are aggregated and the subscriber is
able to access these interactive services including the Internet through this POP. The 2 interactive services will exclude any
services for which a separate license is specifically required, for example, real-time voice transmission, except to the
extent that it is presently permitted under ISP license with Internet Telephony.
Table -1
QoS Parameter
Service
provision
Network
performance,
reliability &
availability

Satisfaction with Wireline

on:
Time taken to get a new phone
connection
-Phone working & always
available
- Make & receive calls easily
- Getting clear voice quality
on phone

Satisfaction with
Celluler Services on:
Time taken for
activation of connection
-Availability of
signals
- Make & receive calls
easily
- Getting clear voice
quality of phone

Satisfaction with Broadband

Services on:
Time taken to get a broadband
connection
-Speed of broadband connection
- Service uptime

16

R.C.Upadhyaya & Vashundhra Sharma

QoS Parameter

Satisfaction with Wireline

on:

Maintainability

Quality of fault repair service

Help services

-Ease of access to helpline

numbers
- Response time of the
customer care
executive
- Problem solving ability of the
executive
- Time taken by executive to
resolve
complaint
- Redressal mechanism
Timely delivery of bills
- Accuracy of bill
- Clarity of bill
- Accuracy of charges deducted
(for
prepaid)
Quality of supplementary
services
provided
Overall rating of quality

Billing

Supplementary
services
Overall
satisfaction

Satisfaction with
Celluler Services on:
-Availability of network
- Restoration of network
problems
-Ease of access to
helpline numbers
- Response time of the
customer care
executive
- Problem solving
ability of the executive
- Time taken by
executive to resolve
complaint
- Redressal mechanism
Timely delivery of bills
- Accuracy of bill
- Clarity of bill
- Accuracy of charges
deducted (for
prepaid)
Quality of
supplementary services
provided
Overall rating of quality

Satisfaction with Broadband

Services on:
Time taken for restoration of
connection
-Ease of access to helpline
numbers
- Response time of the customer
care
executive
- Problem solving ability of the
executive
- Time taken by executive to
resolve
complaint prepaid)
- Redressal mechanism
Timely delivery of bills
- Accuracy of bill
- Clarity of bill
- Accuracy of charges deducted

Quality of supplementary
services
provided
Overall rating of performance

Table 1 is showing different QoS parameter on the basis of these parameter we analyzed performance of BSNL and
AIRTEL in Gwalior division.

RESULTS
Table 2: Summary of the Survey Module for Basic (Wireline) in the Gwalior Division
S.No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Performance
Customers satisfied with provisioning of service
Customers satisfied with billing performance
Customers satisfied with network performance,
reliability and availability
Customers satisfied with maintainability
Customers satisfied with supplementary and value
added services
Customers satisfied with help services including
grievance redressal
Customers satisfied with overall service quality

BSNL
90
96

Airtel
96
96

74
93

84
95

85

88

96
79

96
89

Satisfaction level of subscribers in percentage with various parameters of Basic (Wireline) service are shown in Table -2.

17

Percentage

A Comparative Study of Telecommunication Service Providers

Bsnl and Airtel
rtel Operating in Gwalior Division India

100
80
60
40
20
0

BSNL
AIRTEL
1

Service No.

Figure 1: Show Satisfaction Level of Subscribers with Various Parameters of Basic (Wireline
Wireline) Service.
Table 3: Summary off the Survey Module for Wireless in the Gwalior Division
S.No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Performance
Customers satisfied with provisioning of service
Customers satisfied with billing performance
Customers satisfied with network performance,
reliability and availability
Customers satisfied with maintainability
Customers satisfied with supplementary and value
added services
Customers satisfied with help services including
grievance redressal
Customers satisfied with overall service quality

BSNL
92
91

Airtel
95
91

47
72

79
90

66

78

65
75

73
89

Percentage

Satisfaction level of subscribers in percentage with various parameters of Wireless service are shown in Table-3
Table

100
80
60
40
20
0

BSNL
AIRTEL
1

Service No.

Figure 2: Show Satisfaction Level of Subscribers with Various Parameters of Wireless Service
Table 4: Summary of the
t Survey Module for Broadband in the Gwalior Division
S.No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Performance
Customers satisfied with provisioning of service
Customers satisfied with billing performance
Customers satisfied with network performance,
reliability and availability
Customers satisfied with maintainability
Customers satisfied with supplementary and
value added services
Customers satisfied with help services including
grievance redressal
Customers satisfied with overall service quality

BSNL
86
87

Airtel
95
89

94
84

94
88

89

93

94
90

95
94

18

R.C.Upadhyaya & Vashundhra Sharma

Satisfaction level of subscribers in percentage with various parameters of Broadband service are shown in Table -4.

Percentage

95
90
85
BSNL
80
AIRTEL
75
1

Service No.

Figure 3: Show Satisfaction Level of Subscribers with Various Parameters of Broadband Service

CONCLUSIONS
This paper presenting customer satisfaction in Gwalior division with some QoS parameter. This paper is based on
a survey which is done in Gwalior division on BSNL and AIRTEL service providers. here we prepare questionnaire for
wireline, wireless and broadband
dband customer separately which includes questions regarding performance of Service
providers. On the basis of data that are filled by customers we analyzed performance of BSNL and AIRTEL on following
parameter Customers satisfied with provisioning of ser
service,
vice, Customers satisfied with billing performance, Customers
satisfied with network performance, reliability and availability, Customers satisfied with maintainability, Customers
satisfied with supplementary and value added services, Customers satisfied w
with
ith help services including grievance
redressal ,and Customers satisfied with overall service quality. after analysis of performance we found that customers are
very satisfy with the services which are providing by AIRTEL.customers are not satisfy with th
thee services that are providing
by BSNL.in some case there is need to improve the services of BSNL other wise in future due to competitive environment
survival of BSNL is not possible. In wireline and broadband the performance of BSNL and AIRTEL are almost ssimilar.
There is only problem with wireless service of BSNL. So there is need to improvement in this area.

FUTURE SCOPE
This paper is limited to survey the customer satisfaction in Gwalior division which include Gwalior ,Datia,
Shivpuri ,Guna, and Ashoknagar.
agar. one can go to survey the same for different division of Madhya Pradesh. this paper is
basically focus comparision between BSNL and AIRTEL service providers, one can go to do same survey with different
service providers like reliance,idea,aircel,V
reliance,idea,aircel,Vodafone
odafone etc.it can be done in rural and urban area separately.

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DR. SARIKA .R. LOHANA (2012), CUSTOMER RESPOND AND SATISFACTION AGAINST
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ESHA SHARMA COMPARISON OF BSNL WITH OTHER TELECOM INDUSTRIES APJRBM Volume 2,
Issue 1 (JANUARY 2011) ISSN 2229
2229-4104

3.

Malik V. (2010): The New Mark

Marketing Border The Journal of AIMA, Vol. 49, Issue 10, pp.82-84.
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A Comparative Study of Telecommunication Service Providers

Bsnl and Airtel Operating in Gwalior Division India

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Internationalisation in the telecommunications services industry: Literature review and research agendaOriginal
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