Comparative Study of Airtel and Its Competitors

The following article is a summary extract from the dissertation projects of the MBA and BBA
students of Skyline College. Skyline, situated in Delhi and Gurgaon (NCR) is a premier institute
providing management education specialising in MBA and BBA degrees and specialist courses
for travel and tourism as well as mass communication. For further information on the article
content or on the institute please CLICK HERE to visit the official college website.

This dissertation was completed by Vinod Kashyap (2007 – 2009) on the topic Comparative
Study of Airtel and Its Competitors

Summary

In this project Airtel studied relative to its competitors. It has also been found that what are the
relative strengths and weaknesses of Airtel vis-à-vis its competitors. Demographics of the
cellular user is also found.

In the second part of the project, WLL Technology is studied. And also consumer willingness to
shift to WLL Technology from GSM Technology is found. Advantages & disadvantages of GSM
with respect to WLL is also found in the Project.

After completion of this project I found that in spite of the fact Airtel the market leader in the
GSM Technology but still it lagged behind Idea and Vodafone (Hutch) as far as customer service
and availability is concerned. Maximum number of mobile users are in the age group of 20-28.
Which are mostly students and young executives. Maximum number of people are using
prepaid cards.

WLL is a new technology so people are curious about it. But as far as switching from GSM to
WLL is concerned they are adopting the policy of wait and watch. People are aware more
about reliance than Tata.

After WLL services would actually become popular then a further study can be conducted for
customer service satisfaction of WLL users and then a comparative study of GSM and WLL could
be done.

Objectives:
 To compare Airtel with already existing players in GSM in particular IDEA AND VODAFONE

 To study the Demographics of cellular subscriber.

 To find the awareness of CDMA/ WLL Technology in Delhi & NCR Region

 To find the willingness of GSM users to swtich to WLL

 To study the threat of WLL in particular to Airtel’s business.

Conclusion:

After analyzing the findings of the research, I can conclude that Airtel lagged behind its
competitors as far as customer service and availability is concerned. The maximum no. of
people who use the mobile is in the age group of 20 to 28. Cash cards are the most popular
type of mobile connections, as they are consumer friendly and recharging the connection is not
a problem.

Maximum no. of people spends RS 500 on their connections. As Airtel is the only company
having the maximum no of mobile connections so it must seriously look into the loop holes of
the existing customer service department.

Although people are aware about the tariff plans offered by WLL service providers, but right
now they are not in hurry to adopt it. The public wants to wait and watch their respective
performances.

Recommendations:

 Airtel should look into the short comings of its customer care service.

 Airtel should make sure, that their prepared card should always be readily available
with the retailers.

 Airtel should keep on coming with attractive tariff plans.

 As maximum no. of users is between 20 to 28 they should specially come out with
some plans which are attractive for this segment.
 Main advantage of WLL is its tariff plan. So GSM service providers should try to reduce
their tariff plans if possible, at least initially.