MOS REPORT ON THE

TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY

(VODAFONE, AIRTEL, RELIANCE)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude to Prof.meenakshi

gujrali for giving us an opportunity to make this project. My sincere
thanks to him for his total involvement and dedication in
accomplishing this time bound exercise. It was a real learning
experience making this project.
.
Special thanks to the company executives and the enployees, without
whose guidance and support this project work would not have been a
success.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1) INTRODUCTION
 2) Indian Telecommunication Industry
3) BHARTI AIRTEL
 MARKETING MIX
 SWOT ANALYSIS
4) VODAFONE
 MARKETING MIX
 SWOT ANALYSIS
5) RELIANCE
 MARKETING MIX
 SWOT ANALYSIS
6) COMPARITIVE STUDY OF THE INDUSTRY
 COMPARISON ON THE BASIS OF 7 P’S
 Airtel, Vodafone have 3G edge over other players
7) CONCLUSION
8) RECOMMENDATIONS

INTRODUCTION
Telecom in the real sense means transfer of information between two distant points
in space. The popular meaning of telecom always involves electrical signals and
nowadays people exclude postal or any other raw telecommunication methods from
its meaning.

The characteristics of the Telecom Industry are:

> The proliferation of attractive promotional offers that make

customers keep switching their loyalties.
> Numerous innovations due to which the penetration of each of these
innovations and promotional offers is not guaranteed.

 The largest sector of the telecommunications industry continues to be made

up of wired telecommunications carriers. Establishments in this sector
mainly provide telecommunications services via wires and cables that
connect customers’ premises to central offices maintained by
telecommunications companies.

 Changes in technology and regulation now allow cable television providers

to compete directly with telephone companies. An important change has
been the rapid increase in two-way communications capacity.

 Although the telecommunications industry employs workers in many

different occupations, 56 percent of all workers are employed in either
 installation, maintenance, and repair occupations or office and
administrative support occupations.

 Greater demand for an increasing number of telecommunications services

will cause overall employment in the telecommunications industry to
increase. In addition, many job opportunities will result from the need to
replace a large number of workers who are expected to retire in the coming
decade.

 Average weekly earnings of nonsupervisory workers in the

telecommunications industry were $963 in 2006, significantly higher than
average earnings of $579 in private industry.

Improvements in the telecommunications networks are expected to

result in greater demand by people and businesses for ever wider ranges of
telecommunications services.
Residences will demand more services such as high-speed Internet, video-on-
demand, and wireless and Internet-based telephone services. Businesses will
demand faster and improved telecommunications systems to conduct electronic
commerce, ordering, record keeping, and video conferencing. These services
are being supplied increasingly by all the competing sectors of the industry, as
the lines become blurred between cable and satellite TV, wireless, and wireline
telecommunications systems.
 Indian Telecommunication Industry

Indian telecommunication Industry is one of the fastest growing telecom market in

the world. The mobile sector has grown from around 10 million subscribers in
2002 to reach 150 million by early 2007 registering an average growth of over
90% yoy. The two major reasons that have fuelled this growth are low tariffs
coupled with falling handset prices.
The Indian telecom industry is currently slated to an estimated contribution of
nearly 1% to India’s GDP and currently the Indian Telecommunication market is
valued at around $100 billion (Rupees 400,000 crore). Two telecom players
dominate this market - Bharti Airtel with 27% market share and Reliance
Communication with 20% along with other players like BSNL (Bharat Sanchar
Nigam Limited) and AT&T.

Evolution of the industry-Important Milestones

History of Indian Telecommunications
 Major Players
There are three types of players in telecom services:
• -State owned companies (BSNL and MTNL)
• -Private Indian owned companies (Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices,)
• -Foreign invested companies (Hutchison-Essar, Bharti Tele-Ventures,
Escotel, Idea Cellular, BPL Mobile, Spice Communications)

The leading cellular service providers have the following number of

subscribers:

Service Provider No. of CDMA Subscribers No. of GSM Subscribers

Reliance 2.75 crores 38.76 lakhs

Tata 1.07 crores

Airtel 3.37 crores

MTNL 24.98 lakhs

BSNL 2.44 crores

Hutch 2.44 crores

Idea 1.3 crores

Spice 25.56 lakhs

BPL 10.62 lakhs

Aircel 48 lakhs

Bharti Airtel has the largest customer base with 31% market share, followed by
Hutch and BSNL with each holding 22% market share.
 BHARTI AIRTEL

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. The Bharti
Group, has a diverse business portfolio and has created global brands in the
telecommunication sector. It has successfully launched an international venture with EL
Rothschild Group to export fresh agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and
USA and has launched Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd under a joint venture
with AXA, world leader in financial protection and wealth management.

Bharti Airtel Limited 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
have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU’s) - mobile
services, broadband & telephone services (B&T) & enterprise services. The mobile
business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23
telecom circles while the B&T business offers broadband & telephone services in 94
cities. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate
customers and national & international long distance services to carriers. All these
services are provided under the Airtel brand.

Products and Services:

 Mobile
 Prepaid
 Postpaid
 Home Phones
 Fixed Line
 Fixed Wireless Phone
 Broadband & Internet
 BlackBerry
 BlackBerry Internet Services 2.0
  Email on the go
 Window Mobile 5.0
 Airtel Easy Mail
 Calling Cards
 International Calling Cards
 Airtel Call Home
 Airtel World Calling Cards
 Wireless Internet
 Data Card
 USB Modem

PRICE:

 We can choose the tariff plan that suits our usage and our budget
and get a whole bunch of value added services to go with it.
 Airtel also Provides a number of special offers to attract the
customers.
 Competitive Pricing.

PLACE:

We can get a new Airtel connection, subscribe to any of the value added
services and get more information on them, pay bills or get a new handset
by Visiting the nearest Airtel Relationship Centre which are located in:-

Global Network : Airtel offers an unmatched calling experience with

ouradvanced Fiber Optic network SMW-4 and i2i around the entire globe
with and one of the most reliable networks in India, covering more than
4000 towns . This seamless global network assures instant connectivity to
anywhere in India, anytime.
PROMOTION:

 ADVERTISING: A story to tell; a cast to die for-Airtel continues to

romance the audience conveying different messages tied by one
thread — breaking barriers.
 Airtel KBC Promotion.
 Airtel promotion at SGS Mall & Mariplex
 Events like JP Morgan Indian conference.
 Billboards and hoardinds.
 Mass communication media such as the press and the radio.
 Celebrity endorsements (Vidya Balan and R Madhavan). In the year
2000, AirTel formulated an advertising campaign which was
arguably the first of its kinds from the cellular service sector. AirTel
roped in famous movie actors Shahrukh Khan and Karishma Kapoor
as brand ambassadors for its prepaid service “Magic”.
 Bharti Tele-Ventures adopted celebrity endorsement as its chief
promotional strategy. By 2004 it emerged the unprecedented leader
commanding the largest market share in the cellular service market.
 loyalty rewards.D
 Discount coupons.
 In February 2003, AirTel launched a Valentine's Day Promotion
Contest, which was targeted primarily at youth celebrating
Valentine's Day...
 collaboration with premium phone brands such as Blackberry and
iphone
 joint promotions .example that with Pepsi

PEOPLE:

 The people associated with Idea have qualities such as Ethical

Truthful
Principled
Transparent
Upright
Respectful
 They are disciplined
 Result oriented and commitment.
 Here are some ways in which people add value to an experience, as
part of the marketing mix - training, personal selling and customer
service

PROCESSES:

 Deliver value through all elements of the marketing mix.

  Customers are retained, and other serves or products are
extended and marked to them.
 The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into
three individual strategic business units (SBU’s) - mobile services,
telemedia services (ATS) & enterprise services. The mobile services
group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom
circles, while the ATS business group provides broadband &
telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise services group has
two sub-units - carriers (long distance services) and services to
corporates. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE:

 Internet/web pages:Website contains the details of all processes

offerings, schemes,upcoming events,past records,etc.
 Packaging
 Paperwork (such as invoices, tickets and despatch notes)
 Brochures
 Signage (such as those aircrafts and vehicles).
 Business cards.
 The building itself (such as prestigious offices or scenic
headquarters)
 Mailboxes and many others.
SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS:

 Bharti Airtel has more than 65 million customers (July 2008). It is the
largest cellular provider in India, and also supplies broadband and telephone
services - as well as many other telecommunications services to both
domestic and corporate customers.
 Other stakeholders in Bharti Airtel include Sony-Ericsson, Nokia - and Sing
Tel, with whom they hold a strategic alliance. This means that the business
has access to knowledge and technology from other parts of the
telecommunications world.
 The company has covered the entire Indian nation with its network. This
has underpinned its large and rising customer base.

WEAKNESSES:

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

OPPORTUNITIES:

 The company possesses a customized version of the Google search engine

which will enhance broadband services to customers. The tie-up with
Google can only enhance the Airtel brand, and also provides advertising
opportunities in Indian for Google.
 Global telecommunications and new technology brands see Airtel as a key
strategic player in the Indian market. The new iPhone will be launched in
India via an Airtel distributorship. Another strategic partnership is held with
BlackBerry Wireless Solutions.
 Despite being forced to outsource much of its technical operations in the
early days, this allowed Airtel to work from its own blank sheet of paper,
and to question industry approaches and practices - for example replacing
the Revenue-Per-Customer model with a Revenue-Per-Minute model which
is better suited to India, as the company moved into small and remote
villages and towns.
 The company is investing in its operation in 120,000 to 160,000 small
villages every year. It sees that less well-off consumers may only be able to
afford a few tens of Rupees per call, and also so that the business benefits
are scalable - using its 'Matchbox' strategy.
 Bharti Airtel is embarking on another joint venture with Vodafone Essar
and Idea Cellular to create a new independent tower company called Indus
Towers. This new business will control more than 60% of India's network
towers. IPTV is another potential new service that could underpin the
company's long-term strategy.

THREATS:

 Airtel and Vodafone seem to be having an on/off relationship. Vodafone

which owned a 5.6% stake in the Airtel business sold it back to Airtel, and
instead invested in its rival Hutchison Essar. Knowledge and technology
previously available to Airtel now moves into the hands of one of its
competitors.
 Bharti Airtel could also be the target for the takeover vision of other global
telecommunications players that wish to move into the Indian market.
 The quickly changing pace of the global telecommunications industry could
tempt Airtel to go along the acquisition trail which may make it vulnerable
if the world goes into recession. Perhaps this was an impact upon the
decision not to proceed with talks about the potential purchase of South
Africa's MTN in May 2008. This opened the door for talks between
 Reliance Communication's Anil Ambani and MTN, allowing a competing
Inidan industrialist to invest in the new emerging African
telecommunications market.

VODAFONE

• Vodafone Group Plc is the world's leading mobile telecommunications

company, with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa,
Asia Pacific and the United States through the Company's subsidiary
undertakings, joint ventures, associated undertakings and investments.
 • Formed in 1984 as a subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc.and became
independent in sept,1991 at which its name was changed to Vodafone
Group Plc .The group,s subsidiaries operate under the brand name
Vodafone.
• Vodafone in India-Vodaphone completed the acquisition of Hutchison
Essar in may 2007 iin $11.1billion ,and formally named Vodafone Essar in
july 2007 and launched in India in sept,2007.
• Company operates 16 out of 23 circles across the country,and is currently
the 2nd largest GSM service operator with a subscriber base of
34.1million .Over years Vodafone Essar,under the Hutch brand has been
named the ‘Most respected telecom company,’the ‘Best mobile services in
the country,’and the ‘Most creative and most effective advertiser of the
year’.

PRODUCTS & SERVICES:

 Postpaid connections
 Prepaid connections
 Magic Box handsets
 World calling cards
 Vodafone PCO
 Home calling cards
 Vodafone handyphone
 Tunes and downloads
 Entertainment
 Call management services
 Finance ,astrology, travel, sports
 Dial in services
 News and updates
 Mail and messaging services

PRICE:

 You can choose the tariff plan that suits your usage and your budget and get
a whole bunch of value added services to go with it. Starting Prepaid from
Rs.99 and Postpaid from Rs.149.
 Unlike other players this also goes for competitive pricing.

PLACE:

 Vodafone Mobile Stores are currently only available in Rajasthan, Mumbai,

Gujarat, Chennai, Karnataka, Kolkata, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Kerala
and Maharashtra & Goa (except Mumbai)
  Small in size, so you´ll find them in nooks & corners across the city. And
big in service, so you can buy a new connection, reactivate an old one, pay your
bills and much more.

PROMOTION:

 In the past pug was used to make that seamless transition from brand
Orange to Hutch ,now pug is used as a link between old brand and the new
one ,this time Round as well.The music in the back ground that is the
original “You And I “ jingle was tweaked a little to make it sound more
young,energetic,fresh and happy…to signify a new beginning.These are the
values that the brand Vodafone stands for internationally.Scoring high both
in brand recall and awareness,Vodafone TV commercial topped Mint’s Add
ranking for October.
 Festivals and special occasions were times when cellular service providers
offered a range of schemes on ground promotional activities, the youth
becomes more aware of our fantastic value proposition
 Hutch implemented the celebrity endorsement strategy partially, relying
primarily on its creative advertising for the promotion of its brand.
 Television is the major source for promotion
 Hoardings and banners
 It celebrates a Karakoke festival this valentine in Hyderabad.
 Vodafone customers can now get Traffic Updates and Railway Information
on mobile
 Offers gifts with every new connection.

Above the line marketing:

Advertising on TV, on billboards, in magazines and in other media
outlets reaches large audiences and spreads the brand image and the message very
effectively. This is known as above the line promotion

Below the line marketing:

 Stores have special offers, promotions and point of sale posters to

attract those inside the stores to buy.
 Vodafone's stores, its products and its staff all project the brand image.
 Vodafone actively develops good public relations by sending press
releases to national newspapers and magazines to explain new products
and ideas

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE:

 Internet/web pages:Website contains the details of all processes offerings,

schemes,upcoming events,past records,etc.
 Packaging
 Availbale everywhere
PEOPLE:

 Vodafone employed approximately 72,000 people worldwide during the

2008’
 Recruit, develop and retain the most talented, motivated people’
 Provide a productive and safe working environment, treating people with
respect and offering attractive performance based incentives and
opportunities.
 They are disciplined
 Result oriented and commitment
 Here are some ways in which people add value to an experience, as part of
the marketing mix - training, personal selling and customer service.

PROCESSES:

 Over the years, Vodafone Essar, under the Hutch brand, has been named the
'Most Respected Telecom Company', the 'Best Mobile Service in the
country' and the 'Most Creative and Most Effective Advertiser of the Year'.
 The Essar Group is a diversified business corporation with interests
spanning the manufacturing and service sectors like Steel, Energy, Power,
Communications, Shipping & Logistics and Construction.

\
 SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS:

 Innovation
 The high-end loyal customers.
 Its communication.
 Network-global company,available in 5 continents,no problem with
national and international roaming.
 Distribution-stores at a very approachable distance.
 Strategic alliances with nokia and seimens-help it to expand speedily.
 Recent deal with Chinese handset manufacturer ZTE,may also mean
that it will get low cost handsets to India,enabling it to gain more
ground in the country.
 Flexibity.

WEAKNESSES:

 Customer care:they are not updated with the changes in the company for
the last 3 mts.The management is through U.K.,they are not informed
about the schemes.
 Small retailers are not happy as they can sell just few selected
numbers.they are not getting much benefits,as the customer can
continue with same no. even if switching from prepaid to postpaid.
 There are certain schemes available only at company offices and not at
franchise offices,hence it become problem for customers as company
offices are limited.

OPPORTUNITIES:

 Internet connections.
 Pco services
 Bundling

THREATS:

 Lack of infrastructure in he country

  As per a recent report of TRAI,the country will require about 350,000
telecom towers by december2010,as against 125000 in 2007,calling for a 180%
appreciation in facilities! Vodafone task to gain a hold over 25% market share by
2012,also appears daunting as per Macquarie Research. It says its bit unrealistic
without help of mergers and acquisitions.
 Potential is set to intensify. The government has received about 575
applicants to start telecom services in 23 regions. Thus new entrants mean lower
tariffs, while existing players will loose some subscribers to new players.

RELIANCE

Reliance Communications (formerly Reliance Infocomm), along with Reliance

Telecom and Flag Telecom, is part of Reliance Communications Ventures
(RCoVL). According to National Stock Exchange data, Anil Ambani controls
66.75 per cent of the company, which accounts for more than 1.36 billion shares of
the company.[1] It is an Indian telecommunications company. It is the flagship
company of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, comprising of power
(Reliance Energy), financial services (Reliance Capital) and telecom initiatives of
the Reliance ADA Group. Reliance Infocomm is currently managed by Anil
Dhirubhai Ambani.It uses CDMA2000 1x technology.
 Reliance’s core competence lies in its ability to conceptualise and
implement multi-billion dollar projects
 Reliance is the leading Indian group to think, and act, truly world scale
and world class
 Reliance’s mantra is innovation in thinking, and efficiency in execution -
turning dreams into reality

PRODUCTS & SERVICES:

 Mobile Pre-paid
 Mobile Post paid
 VAS
o SMS / MMS
o Ring Tones / Caller Tunes / Customized tones
o Call forwarding / waiting / conferencing
 R Mobile World - Mobile Portal with Internet Community
 Services
o Content download – songs, posters, wallpaper, screensaver
o Interactive – games, internet –web sites
o Information – Astrology, weather, news, stocks, flight & railway
o Community – friends, messenger / chat
 Data Services (Internet on move for laptops)
 Blackberry – Smart Phone Service
o Email Service, messaging and Web browsing
o Secure asccess to company specific files/info
o Access to presentation, docs, worksheets and multimedia files
o Stock trading, Blackberry for prepaid, Boomberg Professional
Services
 Others
o Fixed Wireless – CDMA based Fixed phone
o International Calling Cards

PRICE:

 Its pricing strategy is completely market based..They are followers and keep
prices competitive with rivals like Airtel or Vodafone.
 They offer lot of discounts and schemes to the customers to retain them.
 The Reliance Global Calling Card is available in 5 denominations, prepaid
Reliance STD Calling Card offers very affordable rates for local and
national long distance (NLD) calls.
 "The pricing system is in line with Dhirubhai Ambani's dream and directive
of making phone calls affordable for every Indian.
Reliance Infocomm challenged conventional cost structures in the
telecommunications industry.

PLACE:

Besides a wide range of phones and associated services, we find a whole

array of digital offerings at the Broadband Centre @ Reliance World. With
241 Reliance World outlets across 105 cities in the country, you are sure to
find one in your vicinity.
 PROMOTION:

 Reliance Infocomm aggressively promoted its limited mobility telecom

service by
participating in or having partnerships at various shopping malls, book fairs,
community functions, kiosks, letting people have a mobile phone
connection.
 To build the customer base Reliance Infocomm went where the customers
were going – to grocery stores, gas stations, music stores, departmental
stores, street side vendors, bookshops and even hotels and restaurants.
 Retailers like FabMall, PlanetM, HP,Music World and Timex started to
bundle their products along with Reliance India Mobile. Phones were
distributed at discount prices with many products the consumer bought.
Additionally the company conducted nationwide product demonstrations
and announced that the Pioneer Scheme would be a limited period offer,
which further enhanced the interest of the consumers.
 For marketing promotions Reliance again used unconventional strategies.
The mobile service was promoted aggressively through every marketing
channel. Huge signs were put up in front of every gas station and office
space in addition to the prime spots booked across the nation.
 Advertising – Educating Masses and Evoking Passions:
The company offered a Rs.850 (US$18.9) discount on initial payments on
subscription per connection.
 Dhirubhai Ambani Entrepreneurship Programme – A New Way to
Market:

SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY:

Reliance Infocomm radically redefined marketing models in India and engaged
homes
and enterprises directly by having the ability to deliver physical and virtual
products and
services as part of one system. Reliance Infocomm through its aggressive,
unconventional tactics changed the rules of the mobile marketing game.

PHYSICAL EVIDANCE:

 Retail outlets in prime commercial and residential areas.

 At the WebWorlds the customer could interface directly with the company
officials, see, touch and try the products and then buy.
 Reliance Infocomm utilized every media vehicle very effectively.
 Internet/web pages:Website contains the details of all processes offerings,
schemes,upcoming events,past records,etc.
 Packaging

PEOPLE:

 Young committed team - over 20,000 people, with an average age of just 35
years.
 Attracting and retaining the best people, and nurturing the ‘intrapreneurial’
spirit
 The company is open for Engineers, MBAs, Telecom network analysts and
IT specialists. Innovation, initiation, leadership, problem solving approach,
etc. are the qualities the company looks for. Freshers also have
opportunities to work with the company.
 Reliance Communications believes in hiring world-class talent and
supporting them with an enabling organisational framework.
 They have already invested in 50,000 person training days and state-of-the-
art e-learning facilities.
 Several progressive and employee friendly HR practices in e-HR, Employee
Self Service, Performance Management System, 360° Feedback and
Leadership Development initiatives.

PROCESSES:

 Deliver value through all elements of the marketing mix.

 Customers are retained, and other serves or products are extended and marked
to them.
 It has established a pan-India, next-generation, integrated (wireless and
wireline), convergent (voice, data and video) digital network. The network is
capable of supporting best-of-class services that span the entire infocom value
chain, covering over 20,000 towns and 450,000 villages.
 Reliance Communications owns and operates the world's largest next-
generation IP-enabled connectivity infrastructure, comprising over 165,000
kilometers of fiber optic cable systems in India, the United states, Europe, the
Middle East, and the Asia Pacific region.

MARKETING STRATEGY:
  Capitalize on volume
 Take mobile service to masses
 Not only expand market share but expand the market as whole
 Kill competition with aggressive pricing strategies
 Capitalize on brand “Reliance”
 Counter GSM handset advantage with low price CDMA hands bundling.
 Leverage inherent data capabilities of CDMA tech
 Provide a strong user experience – Focus on VAS and New Services.

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS
There is much strength that Reliance Infocomm can count on and boast off.
  The state-of-art technology Reliance Infocomm is offering-CDMA
technology.
 The strong subscriber base over 10million subscriber's in their kitty.
 Mobile with in the reach of common man. Affordable schemes.
 Comprehensive Network-The strong back bone high capacity
network(terabit capacity) supported by fiber optic cables laid all over the
country(60,000km)
 Offering Value Added services to it's customer's almost free of cost or with
nominal charges.
 Reliance Infocomm was the first service provider to introduce finance
option on handsets.
 Value Added Services: First Call Center of 2,000 seats in Mumbai
 Aggressive roll out to capture dominant market share and create an entry
barrier
 CDMA 1x Technology

WEAKNESSES
 Market perception of relatively
 Customer unfriendly (feeling of mistrust), CDMA service lack
premium.
 Customer base.

OPPORTUNITIES:
 GSM spectrum allocation
 Leverage dual technology for capacity/add. services
 Leverage content and media presence (adlabs and zapak)
 3G, Mobile TV etc.

THREATS:
 CDMA as technology losing ground
 Unattractive CDMA handset story
 Entry of strong players –Vodaphone
 New technologies – Wimax, Skype phone etc
 Coalition between – GSM players
 COMPARITIVE STUDY OF THE INDUSTRY

COMPARISON ON THE BASIS OF 7 P’S

7 P’S

AIRTEL VODAFONE RELIANCE

COMPANIES
PRODUCT  Mobile  Mobile  Mobile
 Home Phones  Magic Box  VAS
 Broadband & handsets  R Mobile
Internet  Vodafone PCO World
 BlackBerry  Tunes and  Data
 Email downloads Services
 Calling Cards  Entertainment  Blackberry
 Wireless  Call management  Fixed
Internet services Wireless
 Finance ,astrology,
travel, sports
 Dial in services
 News and updates
 Mail and
messaging services

PRICE  tariff Tariff plans  Market

plan Value Added based
 Compe Services  Discounts
titive Pricing Competitive pricing. and schemes
 value  Global
added services Calling Card
 special
offers
PLACE  Vodafone  Broadband
Mobile Stores Centre @
,nooks & corners Reliance World.
across the city  With 241
Small in size Reliance World
 Rajasthan, outlets across
Mumbai, Gujarat, 105 cities in the
Chennai, country
Karnataka,
Kolkata, Andhra
Pradesh, Delhi,
Haryana, Kerala
and Maharashtra
& Goa

PROMOTION  ADVERTISIN  Jingle  Shopping malls,

G  Festivals and book fairs
 Airtel KBC special occasions  Grocery stores,
Promotion  Celebrity gas stations,
 Mall & endorsement music stores
Mariplex strategy  Discount prices
 conference  Television  Pioneer Scheme
 Billboards and  Hoardings and  unconventional
hoardinds banners strategies
 Mass  Karakoke festival  Huge signs
communication  Traffic Updates  Advertising
 Celebrity  Offers gifts  Dhirubhai
endorsements  Billboards, in Ambani
 Promotion magazines Entrepreneurshi
Contest  Above the line p Programme
 Discount coupons promotion
 loyalty rewards  Point of sale
posters
 Develops good
public relations

PEOPLE Truthful  72,000  Young

Principled people worldwide committed team
Transparent  Recruit, - over 20,000
Upright develop and people
Respectful retain the most  best people
 They talented,  Engineers,
are disciplined motivated MBAs,
Result oriented and people’ Telecom
commitde.  safe working network
 environment analysts and IT
 disciplined  world-class
 Result talent
oriented and  50,000 person
commitment training days
 training,  employee
personal selling friendly HR
and customer practices
service

PHYSICAL  Internet/web  Events  Retail

EVIDENCE pages  Internet/web outlets in prime
 Paperwork (such pages commercial and
as invoices, tickets  Packaging residential areas
and despatch notes)  Availbale  interface
 Brochures everywhere directly
 Signage (such as  media
those aircrafts and vehicle
vehicles).  Internet/we
 Business cards. b pages
 The building itself  Packaging
(such as prestigious
offices or scenic
headquarters)
 Mailboxes

PROCESS  Al elements of  Interests  elements

the marketing mix spanning the of the marketing
 mobile manufacturin mix
services, g and service  pan-India,
telemedia services sectors like next-generation,
(ATS) & Steel, integrated
enterprise Energy, (wireless and
services Power, wireline),
 23 telecom Communicati convergent
circles ons, Shipping (voice, data and
 two sub-units - & Logistics video) digital
carriers and network
Construction.  world's
largest next-
generation IP-
enabled
connectivity
infrastructure
 Airtel, Vodafone have 3G edge over other players

Vodafone’s expertise in 3G and Bharti Airtel’s partnership with SingTel may them
take lead over other operators. While Bharti Airtel will roll out its 3G services in
Sri Lanka by year-end, thus having a six-month lead to test its services, Vodafone
will look to bring its global 3G expertise to India.

While Bharti Airtel has already launched 3G in Seychelles, Jersey and Geurnsey,
Vodafone is credited with rolling out 3G services in global markets like the UK,
Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Spain and others.
Bharti Airtel will also have a six-month advantage of testing its 3G services in the
region as it rolls out services in Sri Lanka by December, 2008. Bharti Airtel plans
to rollout 3G in India by mid-2009 only. Both Vodafone and Airtel may import
their successful products and applications to India.
In contrast, Vodafone marketing head Harit Nagpal said that Vodafone has already
rolled out 3G services in Egypt, parts of Africa and Turkey—markets similar to
India. “With a global subscriber base of 280 million, Vodafone’s 3G expertise is
unmatched. We have the capability of handling migration of customers from 2G to
3G in markets like Egypt and Turkey. We will also see such migration in India.
Moreover a strong leadership presence in metro cities, will give us an advantage
over others,” he said.

Interestingly, Vodafone and Bharti Airtel are competitors in India, but this has not
stopped the companies from extending their alliance to markets abroad. Jersey
Airtel and Guernsey Airtel, subsidiaries of Bharti Enterprises, last year entered into
an agreement with Vodafone to jointly offer telecom services in Jersey and
Guernsey (islands in Europe, close to UK). (Bharti was granted licenses to operate
2G and 3G mobile services in Jersey and Guernsey in 2006.)

While the two rivals have partnered globally, they may not replicate the same
model in India. Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone will begin selling the new
generation 3G-enabled iPhone from August 22. This will also give them an
additional edge over other operators.

Bharti and Vodafone, which account for a significant number of the high ARPU
(average revenue per user) subscribers in India, will have a further edge as a large
segment of their high end users already have 3G compatible handsets.

Interestingly, the move to partner Airtel and Vodafone marks a major shift in
Apple’s global strategy of ‘one country-one operator’. With India emerging as the
fastest-growing cellular market, Apple wanted to maximize its exposure here as
Airtel and Vodafone have a combined subscriber base of over 120 million.

CONCLUSION

Service sector is one of the most significant sectors of the Indian economy,
contributing nearly 55% to the GDP in 2007–08.
The Indian telecom industry continued its growth momentum for another
consecutive quarter with the overall sector registering a modest revenue growth of
25% during AMJ08 compared with AMJ07.
The total number of telecom subscribers in the country touched 300m at the end of
March 2008, of which 261.07m were mobile subscribers and 39.42m were
fixed/landline subscribers.
The wire-line subscriber base has shown marginal improvement in JFM08 as
compared to last four quarters, as subscriber base declined in each of theses
quarters. There were 11.09m
Internet subscribers approximately at the end of March 2008 as compared to 10.36
million at the end of December 2007 registering a growth of 7.08%. This growth
rate is slightly less than the growth rate of 7.64% at the end of December 2007.
Airtel remained the market leader with 32.16% GSM market share, adding 6.82m
subscribers during JFM08. Vodafone, with 22.09% GSM market share, was the
second runner up, adding 4.27m subscribers in JFM08. BSNL was at third place at
118.79% market share, Idea with 12.45% market share and Aircel at 5.51% market
share. Meanwhile, in the CDMA segment, Reliance Communications is still the
undisputed leader with 56.71% market share followed by TTSL at 35.58%. The
wire-line segment is still led by PSUs. BSNL dominance in the fixed line remained
intact with a market share of 82%, followed by MTNL at 9%. BSNL, with a share
of 50.82% was the leading ISP followed by MTNL at 17.12% in JFM08.

Airtel’s revenue is estimated to touch Rs77.6 billion in AMJ08 and may grow at
38% from AMJ07. Reliance is expected to ramp up a revenue to Rs36.5 billion. In
terms of profits, Bharti Airtel is likely to be the leader with EBDITA and PAT at
Rs32.59 billion and Rs17.23 billion in AMJ08. As per Cygnus estimates, the
Indian telecom industry is expected to maintain the growth trajectory in the AMJ08
quarter as well, with top-line growth of 25%.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The market is also very much competitive, all the players are keen to
increase the market share, so the prices are getting slashed. The current
players in the market are :
Reliance Infocomm
Bharati Telecom (AirTel)
BSNL
Tata Teleservice
Spice Telecom
Hutchison / Orange

Players with stronger brand and financial back up will make the future
profit.
Indian mobile operators offerings are segmented in two broad categories
Pre-paid and Post-paid. Although mobile market is growing positively, the
Post-paid market is declining and Pre-paid market is increasing by leaps
and bounds.
SO the need of the hour is:
Adequate marketing research orientation
Upward communication
Sufficient relationship focus
Adequate service recovery
Service Standards - having right standard and design,translate accurately
customers' service expectations into specifications or guidelines for
employees.
Appropriate physical evidence.
 Appropriate internal support systems (e.g., recruitment, training,
technology, compensation) that enable employees to deliver to
service standards’ .
 Efficient HR policies .
 Match Supply & Demand capacity .
 Good Intermediaries.
 Internal Communication -Consistencies between what customers
are told the service will be like and the actual service performance .
 Integrated services marketing communication.
 Effective management of Customer expectation.
 No over promising
Managers must also systematically analyze and correct potential
deficiencies within the organization. Customer perceptions are subjective
assessments of actual service experiences; customer expectations are the
standards of, or reference points for, performance against which service
experiences are compared.
 Good marketing strategies should be developed.
 As Mobile Telecom service is Remote Service, people dont see any
infrastructure of Network, consumers want to see the Front offices /
people of the provider. This was realized by Reliance very quickly,
they offered the Handset on Mail order basis which didnt work out
well, immediately they started opening retail store which brought lot
of success for them, even entering late in the market. AirTel (Bharti),
Hutch, Spice offer this presence through the dealer network and
selective retail store. But provider direct presence is more valuable.
BSNL being the poor customer handler, they are still able to keep
large market share because of their physical presence. Physical
presence also helps provider to get feedback quickly.
 Communication to the consumers play much bigger role than here,
the need for mobile communication is much more in Rural India and
cities, but the impediments are the cost and learning process.
 As the costs of mobile services are coming down, the opportunity in
Rural India will grow.
 In Indian market, Word-of-Mouth is much powerful than any other
communication, and people follow their families, friends, and social
groups.
All these can help a mobile telecom company create an efficient sale and
marketing and customer care operations. Using CRM as marketing and
customer care tools, the telecom companies can differentiate their
services for different strata of customers. For example profiling and
segmentation of customers open up new marketing opportunities. With
the help of a good CRM tool, a customer base can be divided into
different segments and subsegments. All these can help a mobile
telecom company create an efficient sale and marketing and customer
care operations. Using CRM as marketing and customer care tools, the
telecom companies can differentiate their services for different strata of
customers. For example profiling and segmentation of customers open
up new marketing opportunities. With the help of a good CRM tool, a
customer base can be divided into different segments and subsegments.