REPORT ON

Submitted By:
PGDM P/T [08-11],
11], Term-
Term V, Group 8
DEEPANKER AGRAWAL – 08EM-014
PRABHJYOT SINGH BHATTI
BHA – 08EM-030
SUSHAN RUNGTA – 08EM-048
PARIKSHIT JAIN – 08EM-028
RAUNAQ SINGH – 08EM-034
NILESH BAID – 08EM-024

Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad Page 1

Institute Of Management Technology
Ghaziabad
1. Introduction
2. Company History
3. Strategic Intent
4. Industry Analysis
a. External Analysis
i. Industry Analysis
ii. PESTEL
iii. PORTER MODEL
iv. Opportunities
v. Threat
b. Internal Analysis
i. Strengths
ii. Weaknesses
iii. Financials
5. Recommendations

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INTRODUCTION
Bharti Enterprises is one of India’s leading business groups with interests in
telecom, agri business, financial services, retail and manufacturing.

Bharti Airtel, a group company, is one of Asia’s leading providers of

telecommunications services with operations in India and Sri Lanka, spanning
mobile services, telemedia services and enterprise services. Bharti Airtel has
always been at the forefront o off the telecom revolution, transforming the sector
with its world-class
class services built on leading edge technologies.

In
n the area of financial services, Bharti has been partnering with AXA of France to
offer life insurance, general insurance and asset manag
management
ement services.

Bharti Retail, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises operates multiple-

multiple
format consumer friendly stores, while Bharti Walmart is a B2B joint venture with
Walmart, for wholesale cash and carry and back
back-end
end supply chain management
operations.

Other businesses in the group are Beetel for communication and media devices,
and FieldFresh Foods Private Limited, a joint venture with Del Monte Pacific
Limited to offer fresh fruits and vegetables, and processed food in India as well as
international markets.

BHATI AIRTEL

Airtel is India’s largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider
with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has
been at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom
sector in the country with its world class products and services.

The businesses at Bharti Airtel hav

have been structured into Four individual strategic
business units (SBU’s) - Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise
Services, Digital TV Services
• Mobile
obile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM
technology across 23 telecom circles.
• Airtel Telemedia Services business offers broadband & telephone services
in 94 cities.
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 • Enterprise services provide endend-to-end
end telecom solutions to corporate
customers and national & international long distance services to carriers.
• Digital TV services provides Direct To Home Television Services

All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. For the purpose
p of the
study we will concentrate on the Mobile Business

With 10-crore subscribers in May 2009

2009,, Airtel has become the third largest single
country mobile services operator in the world and sixth largest integrated
telecom company globally. After hav
having
ing started its service in 1995 as Bharti Tele-
Tele
Ventures, the company crossed the 7.57.5-crore
crore customer mark in August 2008 and
5-crore
crore mark in October 2007, making it one of the fastest growing telecom
company in the world. The first 2.5
2.5-crore subscribers were e achieved in July 2006.

Targeting 20-crore
crore subscribers in the next 22-3
3 years, Airtel will be undertaking a
series of network augmentation and customer service initiatives. “We will roll-out
roll
over one-lakh
lakh base station sites by this year
year-end
end to set up wider and deeper
network coverage across the country and establish a state state-of-the
the-art customer
service management centre, besides setting up one one-lakh
lakh Airtel service centres in
rural areas by March 2010,” he said.

Airtel at present has 25 per cent subscriber sha

share
re and 30 per cent market share in
terms of revenue. It is only behind China Mobile and China Unicom.

Airtel has set a very ambitious target of doubling the subscriber base in the next
2-3 Years.

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Company History
2009
• Becomes third largest single country mobile service provider by crossing a
subscriber base of 10 Crore.
• 70% stake in the Bangladesh business of Abu Dhabi based Warid Telcom
2006-2008
• Profit crosses US $ 1 Bn
• Receiver licenses for providing 2G & 3G mobile services in Sri Lanka
• Launch
aunch of Airtel Call Home Services a calling card services for countries
aimed at the Indian diaspora
• Strategic Partnership with Google for search through Mobile
2005-2006
• All-India
India Footprint with the launch of mobile services in Assam
• Vodafone acquires 10 % economic interest in the Company
• Becomes India’s Largest integrated private operator based on the total
customer base
2004
• Airtel announced the launch of a BlackBerry Wireless Solution in India
2001-2003
• Joins the US $ 1 Bn revenue Club
• Strategic Partnership
rship with IBM and Ericsson for outsourcing of the
Company core IT network activities
• First private operator to launch mobile services in J&K
2001-2002
• IndiaOne, India’s first private sector national and international long
distance service launched
• Eastern foray through acquisition and new licenses for eight new circles
across India
• India’s first private submarine Cable Landing station in JV with Singtel
• IPO through India;s first 100% book building issue
• First Provate operator to offer Landline services in Haryana, Delhi, Tamil
Nadu and Karnataka
1999-2000
• The largest Private sector operator in India after acquiring JT Mobile for
Providing Cellular Services in Punjab, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh

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 • Acquired Skycell, Chennai and expands South Indian Footprint
• Singtel acquires stake in Company
1997-98
• The first Private telecom service provider to obtain a license for landline
telephony in Madhya Pradesh
• Incorporation of Bharti BT VSAT Ltd. for providing VSAT solutions across
India and Bharti BT Internet Ltd.
1995-96
• Mobile Services under the brand name ‘Airtel’ launched for the forst time
in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh
• British Telecom Plc (BT) acquires stake in Company

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Strategic
trategic Intent

Promise:
We at Airtel always think in fresh and innovative ways about the needs of our
customers and how we want them to feel. We deliver what we promise and go
out of our way to delight the customer with a little bit more

Objectives of the Study

Airtel has set an ambitious target of doubling the sub
subscriber
scriber base in next 2-3
2
years.. Through this study we will understand the strategic position, Strength,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and threats that will play a role in achieving Airtel’s
target.

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External Analysis

Indian Telecom Sector Analysis

The Indian telecom Sectorr has seen a phenomenal growth and currently has close
to 525 Million telecom customer
customers. Indian telecom market is World’s second
largest market,, second to only China. However the penetration is one of the
lowest in the world.

The India population stands close to 1.2 billion with increasing urbanization and
relatively large young population, which is a major driver for telecom sector. The
current Telecom penetration stands at 44.87% ie 525.65 mn telecom subs which
is one of the lowest in the world. The growth will come from expanding market as
well as increased penetration, giving dual advantage. Growth is expected in
Broadband subscribers also as the penetration is just 0.63% 7.40 mn, mn which is
again the lowestt in the wor
world. Government has set a target to reach 20 mn
broadband subscribers by 2010.

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India’s Competitive Advantage in Mobile Sector
The Porters Diamond Model below shows the Competitive Advantage of Indian
Mobile Sector. All Five factors namely Government; Firms Strategy, Structure and
Rivalry; Factor Conditions; Related and Supporting Industries and Demand
Conditions are Favorable

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PESTEL Analysis

Political and Regulatory Issues

Political factors are how and to what degree a government intervenes in the
economy. The unprecedented growth of the Indian telecom industry has been
well supported
upported by the policy reforms
reforms. Some of the key Highlights are
re given below:
below

January 2010
• Proposal to Waiver of License fees in Rural Areas
2009
• Regulatory on Quality of Services for Telecom Sector
• Interconnection Regulation for Broadcasting Sector
• Interconnection Usage Charge Regime
Regime- Charges have been rationalized
• Resale of International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC)
• GoM has been constitutes to decide the pricing of 3G Spectrum
2008
• Guidelines for 3G Spectrum Auction issued. Foreign Players allowed to bid.
• DoT issues 121 Letters of Intent (LoIs) for UAS licences
• Guidelines for Mobile
bile Number Portability Services
• DoT allows active infrastructure sharing
2007
• Dual Technology Allowed
2006
• Number portability
ability proposed
2005
• An attempt to boost rural telephony was made
• FDI limit was raised from 49 to 74 per cent
2004
• Intra-circle
circle merger guidelines were established
• Broadband Policy 2004 was formulated to target 20 million internet users
by 2010
2003
• Calling Party Pays (CPP) implemented
• Unified Access Licensing (UAL) regime established
• Reference interconnect order issued
2002

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 • ILD services unlocked to competition
• Go-ahead
ahead to CDMA technology
• Initiation of internet telephony in India
• Reduction of license fees
2001
• Additional licenses in basic and cellular services
• Reduction of license fee
• Limited launch of CDMA WLL (M)
• Reduction of GSM cellular tariff
• Widening of service coverage by the then players
• Initiation of 3rd and 4th GSM operator networks

The above table from TRAI shows the impact of various regulations on the cost of
services and hence on the subscriber base between 1998 and 2007. The Mobile
charges in India are amongst the lowest in the World due to gradual reduction in
the licensing fees. clearly,, the above regulations have helped the Sector to grow,
develop and provide quality service aat affordable prices.

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ECONOMIC
Economic factors include economic growthgrowth, interest rates, exchange rates and
the inflation rate.. These factors have major impacts on how businesses operate
and make decisions. It is undisputed that India is a long term growth Story with
decent levels of Inflation and GDP
GDP. India is still posting a robust growth of 8 % GDP
which is fuelled by the growth in the services and manufacturing sectors. The
telecom is said to contribute to the growth of Economy. And in India’s case the
telecom will continue to play an important role role. Hence we foresee that the
Economic factors in India
ndia like Growing GDP and disposable income will help in
Growth of the Mobile industry.

SOCIAL
Social factors include the cultural aspects, population growth rate, age
distribution, career attitudes etc.. Trends in social factors affect the demand for a
product or a service. Firstly, India has favorable Social factors with one of the
lowest mobile penetrationtion in the second most populous country in the world.
Secondly, 35 % population is below 14 yrs of age which is a huge future customer
base. Thirdly, Urbanization
rbanization is increasing leading to an increased demand for
connectivity. This also hints that growth iin n the rural industry can be a good
impetus for Growth.

Clearly the Social Scenario is also in favor of the industry.

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TECHNOLOGICAL
Technological factors include technological
ological and environmental aspects, such
as R&D activity, automation
automation,, technology incentives and the rate of technological
change.. They can determine barriers to entry,, minimum efficient production level
and influence outsourcing decisions. Furthermore, technological shifts can affect
costs, quality, and lead to innovation
innovation.

The Indian telecom sector offers unprecedente

unprecedented opportunities for foreign
companies in various areas, such as 3G, virtual private network, international long
distance calls, value added services, etc.

The above diagram shows various Technologies that will provide Growth Avenues
in the Mobile Industry.
• 3G Services – The New Buzz Word
In the conducive business environment, India Inc. awaits the rollout of 3G
services. The global revenue for 3G is 60 per cent higher than that of other
services. India expects to replicate its 2G growth in 3G servi
services
ces. The Indian
market is well poised to leverage the 3G service offerings in content
categories such as sports, games and music.
• Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) – Bridge the
Digital Divide

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 • Infrastructure Sharing
Optimizing Costs In the midst of the telecom boom, common infrastructure
will improve coverage and quality of calls and reduce costs.
Active
ive Infrastructure sharing has started in 2008 which enables sharing of
Antenna systems, Cables and transmission systems systems, Backhaul (core
infrastructure
nfrastructure with switches and networking).
• Value Added Service (VAS)
Rolling out of advanced VAS has been possible due to Technological
advancement and hence creating higher value for Buyers and Sellers.
Sellers

Porters Five Forces Model

"Porter's five forces" is a framework for the industry analysis and business
strategy development developed by Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business
School in 1979.. It uses concepts developing Industrial Organization (IO)
economics to derive five forces that determine the competitive intensity and
therefore attractiveness of a market. Attractiveness in this context refers to the
overall industry
ry profitability. An "unattractive" industry is one where the
combination of forces acts to drive down overall profitability. A very unattractive
industry would be one approaching "pure competition".

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We will study the Above 5 Force
Forces model for Mobile Sector in the India.
India

Competitive Rivalry
The Competitive Rivalry in India is high and will continue to increase as new
players enter the industry.
• The Competition is price and quality based. The entry of every new
customer brings with it a new set of price cut and hence intensifies
competition.

Here we shall discuss two large Competitors of Airtel rtel and their Strategies:
1. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. BSNL, a state-owned owned service provider in India, is
the seventh-largest
largest telecommunication comp companyany in the world. It offers a
wide range of services in India, such as wireline, CDMA mobile, GSM
mobile, internet, broadband, carrier, MPLS MPLS-VPN,
VPN, VSAT, VoIP, IN, etc.
BSNL is the largest operator in basic services in India with its cellular
services helpingg it to establish its presence as the largest operator in rural
areas.
Rural Penetration
BSNL is playing a leadership role in developing the telecom infrastructure in
rural areas. It has been successful in increasing its cellular subscriber base
by pioneeringing its services in the rural terrain. Its services cover the whole of
India, except Delhi and Mumbai, which are covered by MTNL, the other
state-owned player.
Low Cost Strategy
BSNL is a low-cost cost service provider of many services. This strategy has
helped BSNL in penetrating the market.
2. Reliance Communications
Reliance Communications, previously known as Reliance Infocom, brought
about a digital revolution in the Indian telecom industry by providing India’s
vast population with affordable means of information and communication.
Reliance Infocom, with the aim of making mobile calls cheaper than
postcards, built a 60,000
60,000-kilometre-long
long fibre optic backbone, crisscrossing
the entire country. Reliance currently offers its services in 340 towns with
its eight circle footprints; it also initiated mobile data services through its R-
R
world mobile portal. This portal leverages the data capability of the CDMA
1X network.
Integrated Service

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 From the beginning, Reliance believed in providing integrated
communicationion services to its customers. The company claims that it sells a
greater number of handsets compared to those sold by the market leader,
Nokia.
Large Distribution Network
Reliance has created the largest chain of digital entertainment and
communication storesores – Reliance Web World. The company is also
expanding its reach aggressively through retail outlets, sales agents and
electronic recharge outlets.

Other Competitors being Idea, MTNL, Vodafone, Telenor, Spice, Orange

Competitive Rivalry is high in the Mobile Sector

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Supplier Power

The supplies in Mobile sectors primarily comprise of Switch Suppliers, Tower

Service providers and the Handset providers.

Network Equipments: There are limited Network Equipment providers like ZTE
Nokia Siemens, Ericsson, Huawei
Huawei.. Due to the increase in demand and limited
suppliers the power of these suppliers are high and may impact the growth plan
of the operators if supplies are not smooth.

Tower Providers: Though the new shar

sharing
ing technology has helped in utilizing the
Towers but still the coverage remains a problem due to few Tower provider The
bargaining power of Tower providers if High.

Handset Suppliers: Nokia, Samsung, LG, Sony, iPhone and numerous other
players. The bargaining
ining power of Handset Suppliers is less as they are also
competing amongst themselves

Overall we can make out that the key supplies powers are high for Mobile
Industry

Buyer Power

• Switching cost is low. Government is also introducing Number portability

which will lead to further switching between the operators if the prices and
services are not met.
• The Voice and message based services are moving toward a commodity as
the competition now depends mostly on the prices as the services are
similar across thee operators.
• The customers are demanding more value for money which has lead ti
introduction of pay per second plans.
• Buyers are wanting more and more value added service at cheaper prices

Hence the companies have to now focus on Customer Delight and not Customer
Satisfaction.

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Threat of Substitutes
• The VOIP is getting popular for Eg. Skype, Vonage etc.
• Video Conferencing is also getting popular
• CDMA is another threat to GSM players

The threat of substitutes is high as the alternate modes are much cheaper with
similar quality and service

Potential for New Entrants

• The government is also issuing new licenses in the current circles.

• Many mobile players are also entering the enterprise business by launching
NLD/ILD operations.
• The sharing business has reduced the capital requirement and thus bringing
down the capital requirement for new player.

The potential for new entrant is also high.

The above External and Macro Macro-Environment

Environment Analysis provides us the
Opportunities and Threats faced by Airtel which can be summarized as below:

Opportunities:
• Exponentially Growing Market both in size and usage
• The Rural Landscape: The Regulators have proposed the waiver of license
fees in rural areas. Clubbing the regulators policy with low teledensity
which is just 15 % provides immense opportunity to Airtel. Rural area
provides a massive opportunity for Airtel to expand its customer base.
Rural Household comprise of 70 % of India’s Population. The growth in
Rural
ral segment is currently 88-10 % per month
• New Technologies and Paradigms: As growth in data traffic accelerates with
the proliferation and adoption of web services the telecom operators will
evolve their infrastructure through their access transmission infrastructure
from the base stations
tations to the core switching network. 3 G and BWA
auctions is due which provides a big opportunity to the company.
Convergence will be vital phenomenon to support all network and IT
services, using IP as the strategi
strategic technology

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 • Strong Strategic Partnersh
Partnerships for Technology:: Airtel has strategic alliance
with Singtel, which has helped in providing quality services to the customer
due to technology transfer
transfer.. AIrtel also has strong alliances with equipment
and technology partners who also drive development and an innovative
solutions.
• Value Added Services: These services bring both Value to customers and
operators. Airtel has special services and the opportunity can still be
exploited further for better profitability.

Threat

• Increased Competition may reduce mar market

ket share and /or Revenue: The
wireless market in the year 20082008-09
09 saw the entry of many existing
players in to newer circles along with operators migrating to GSM from
CDMA technology. The market also saw entry of international and
national long distance operators. This has lead to tariff erosion and
pressure of marketing expenditure in the coming year.
• Substitutes like VOIP for eg Skype, Vonage etc. these services are a big
threat to international long distance calls.

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Internal Analysis

Asia’s leading providers of telecommunication services with presence in all the 22

licensed jurisdictions (also known as Telecom Circles) in India, and in Srilanka.
Served
erved an aggregate of 113,439,670 customers as of September 30, 2009; of
whom 110,511,416 subscribe to GSM services and 2,928,254 use Telemedia
Services either for voice and/or broadband access delivered through
DSL. The
he largest wireless service provider in the country, based on the number of
customers as of September 30, 2009. Offer an integrated ated suite of telecom
solutions to our enterprise customers, in addition to providing long distance
connectivity both nationally and internationally. Also
lso offer DTH and IPTV Services.
All these services are rendered under a unified brand “Airtel”.
The companyany also deploys, owns and manages passive infrastructure pertaining
to telecom operations under its subsidiary Bharti Infratel Limited. Bharti Infratel
owns 42% of Indus Towers Limited. Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers are the two
top providers of passive infrastructure services in India.

Strength:
• 3rd Largest Wireless operator in the world
• Largest private integrated telecom company in India
• 6th Largest integrated telecom operator in the world
• Largest wireless operator in India
• Largest private fixed line operator in India
• Largest telecom company listed on Indian Stock Exchanges

Weakness:
• An often cited original weakness is that when the business was started by
Sunil Bharti Mittal over 15 years ago, the business has little knowledge and
experience of how a cellular telephone system actually worked. So the
start-up
up business had to outsource to industry experts in the field.
• Until recently Airtel did not own its own towers, which was a particular
strength of some of its competitors such as Hutchison Essar. Towers
To are
important if your company wishes to provide wide coverage nationally.
• The fact that the Airtel has not pulled off a deal with South Africa's MTN
could signal the lack of any real emerging market investment opportunity

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 for the business once the Ind
Indian market has become mature.

Business Units
1. Mobile/Wireless Services: We offer mobile services using GSM technology in
India and Sri Lanka. We are the largest wireless service provider in India, based
on the number of customers. We had 110,511,416 mobile customers as on
September 30,2009 and customer market share of 23.5% of wireless market,
as on September 30, 2009.We offer post post-paid, pre-paid,
paid, roaming and value
added services through our extensive sales and distribution channel covering
1,362,464 outlets. Our network is present in 5,072 census towns and 429,723
non-census towns
owns and villages in India, thus covering approximately 83% of
the country’s population. Airtel Sri Lanka is amongst the fastest growing
launches in the world with a base of over 1 million customers within six
months of launch. Airtel already has presence in 16 administrative districts of
Sri Lanka. The company has launched 3.5G services in the major towns and has
created a wide distribution network comprising of 23 distributors and 15,000
retailers across the country.
Product Portfolio

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2. Telemedia Services: We provide broadband (DSL), data and telephone services
(fixed line) in 95 cities with growing focus on the various data solutions for the
SMB segment. We had 2,928,254 customers as on September 30, 2009 of
which 40.5% were subscribing to broadband/ internet services? Our product
offerings in this segment include installation of fixed
fixed-line
line telephones providing
local, national and international long distance voice connectivity and
Broadband Internet access thr through DSL.

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 Product Portfolio

Strategies

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3. Enterprise Services: Enterprise Services is India’s leading provider of
communications services to large Enterprise and Carrier customers.
We provide long distance wholesale voice and data services to over 400 carrier
customers. We own a state of the art national and international long distance
network infrastructure enabling us to provide connectivity services both within
India and connecting India to the world. Our national long distance
infrastructure comprises
ses of 113,326 Rkms of optical fibre, over 1,500 MPLS
and SDH POPs and over 1,500 POIs with the local exchanges, providing a pan
India reach in 301 LDCA’s and 1275 SDCA’s.
Our international infrastructure includes ownership of the i2i submarine cable
system
m connecting Chennai to Singapore, consortium ownership of the SMW4
submarine cable system connecting Chennai and Mumbai to Europe and
Singapore, and investment in a number of diverse submarine cable systems
across transatlantic and transpacific routes. Our investments in new cable
systems such as Asia America Gateway (AAG), India Middle East and Western
Europe (IMEWE), Unity North, EIG (Europe India Gateway) and East Africa
Submarine System (EASSy) will expand our global network across 5 Continents.
We have
ave also built terrestrial express connectivity to neighboring countries
such as Nepal and Bhutan. We deliver end to end telecom solutions to India’s
large corporates. We serve as the single point of contact for all
telecommunication needs for corporate cu customers in India by providing a full
suite of communication services across data, voice, network integration, and
managed services. We specialize in providing customized solutions to address
unique requirements of different industry verticals; BFSI, IT, ITeS,
Manufacturing and Distribution, Media, Education, Telecom, Government,
PSUs and Retail among others. These services include; Domestic and
International MPLS Services, Internet Services, Remote Access VPN Services,
Domestic and International Private LeaLeased Circuits, Satellite services (VSAT),
Audio and Video conferencing, Datacenter Services, Network Integration and
Professional Services, Managed Network Services, Terrestrial and Wireless
Access Services, Fixed Line and Converged Voice Services, Contact centre
solutions, Domestic and International Toll free services and Mobile enterprise
enablement solutions.

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4. Digital TV Services: Airtel Digital TV, with a base of over 1.3 million customers,
is available through more than 54,000 retail points and Airtel Relationship
Centres in over 5,000 towns and thousands of villages across the country.

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5. Passive Infrastructure Services: Bharti Infratel provides passive infrastructure
services on a non-discriminatory
discriminatory basis to all telecom operators in India. Bharti
Infratel deploys, owns and manages passive infrastructure in 11 circles of
India. Infratel also holds 42% share in Indus Towers (a Joint Venture between
Bharti Infratel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular). Indus operates in 16 circles (4
circles common with h Infratel, 12 circles on exclusive basis). Bharti Infratel has
29,112 towers in 11 circles, excluding the 35,066 towers in 12 circles for which
the right of use has been assigned to Indus with effect from January 1, 2009.
Indus Towers has a portfolio of 1100,728
00,728 towers including the towers under
right of use.

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Financials

• The consolidated Total Revenues for the half year ended September 30,
2009 of Rs.19,787 crore grew by 13% and EBITDA of Rs. 8,293 crore grew by
15% on a year on year basis.
• EBITDA margins
gins improved to 41.9% from 41.3% in the corresponding period
of the previous year.
• The Net Income for the half year ended September 30, 2009 was Rs.4,838
crore, a growth of 19% over last year.
• The strong Free Cash Flow of Rs. 2,617 crore resulted in the reduction of
Net Debt to Rs.4,211 crore, with the Net Debt to Equity ratio reaching an
all-time low of 0.12.
• The consolidated Total Revenues for the quarter ended September 30,
2009 of Rs. 9,846 crore grew by 9%.
• The Company continued to leverage its scale and vendor partnerships to
secure cost efficiencies, leading to improved margins.
• EBITDA at Rs. 4,142 cror
croree grew by 12% on a year on year basis. EBITDA
margins improved to 42.1% from 41.0% in the corresponding period of the
previous year.
• Bharti had 113.4 mn customers, as on September 30, 2009, an increase in
the total customer base of 42% over the correspondi
corresponding
ng period last year and
maintained its leadership position through market share of all India
wireless subscribers at 23.5%, as on September 30, 2009.

Highlights for the Half Year ended September 30, 2009

• Total Revenues of Rs. 19,787 crore (up 13% YY-o-Y).
• EBITDA of Rs.8,293 crore (up 15% YY-o-Y).
• EBITDA margin at 41.9% (prior year: 41.3%)
• Cash Profit of Rs. 8,511 crore (up 32% YY-o-Y).
• Net Income of Rs. 4,838 crore (up 19% YY-o-Y).

Highlights for the Second Quarter ended September 30, 2009

• Overall customer babase at 11.34 crore
• Net addition of 82.44 lakh customers in a single quarter.
• Market leader with a customer market share of all India wireless
subscribers at 23.5%.
• Total Revenues of Rs. 9,846 crore (up 9% YY-o-Y).
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 • EBITDA of Rs. 4,142 crore (up 12% YY-o-Y).
• EBITDA margin at 42.1% (prior year: 41.0%)
• Cash Profit of Rs. 4,099 crore (up 31% YY-o-Y).
• Net Income of Rs. 2,321 crore (up 13% YY-o-Y).

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RECOMMENDATIONS

After the complete analysis of entire STUDY we put forward a set of

recommendations which are as follows:

PRICING

Depending on the market conditions / competition from cellular or WLL-mobile

WLL
service providers and also to suit local conditions, there should be flexible pricing
mechanism (either at central or local level).

IMPROVEMENT IN TECHNOLO
TECHNOLOGY

Airtel should immediately shift to third generation switches by replacing its c-dot
c
switches. This will improve the quality of service to desired level and provide
simultaneous integration with the nationwide network. The special distribution of
the transmission towers should be increased to avoid “no signal pockets”

ESTABLISHMENT OF DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

Airtel should establish widespread and conspicuous distribution to match that of

the competitors. The distribution network shall make the product visible and
available at convenient locations

UNTAPPED RURAL MARKET

Large part of Indian rural market is still untapped therefore Airtel is required to
bring that area under mobility.

Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad Page 31