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"Marketing Strategies of Airtel at Bharti Airtel, Lucknow": Summer Training Project Report
"Marketing Strategies of Airtel at Bharti Airtel, Lucknow": Summer Training Project Report
ON
SUBMITTED TO:
branded ungrateful.
ii
CERTIFICATE
I have the pleasure in certifying that Mr. Aditya Bhatt is a bonafide student
of IInd Semester of the Master‟s Degree in Business Administration (Batch
2012-14), of Institute of Management Studies, Dehradun under
Uttarakhand Technical University Roll No. 120140500014
I certify that this is his/her original effort & has not been copied from any
other source. This project has also not been submitted in any other Institute
/ University for the purpose of award of any Degree.
Signature : ……………………………………
Name of the Guide : ……………………………………
Designation : ……………………………………
Date : ……………………………………
iii
PREFACE
In the present scenario marketing and sales is a major challenge for
seasoned professional. And it is no surprise that Marketing is a tough
concept to understand. Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and
processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings
that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
The report further provides information regarding Bharti Airtel, its financial
position, infrastructure with its product and services offered by them, which
facilitate the buyer effectively. It is very important that trained marketing
professionals who are able to communicate specific features of the services
should sell the products. In the millennium all these activities would play a
crucial role in the overall development and maturity of the organization.
I hope that the research work made by me will be of great help to get the
comprehensive knowledge of the organization.
iv
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
faces stiff competition from its competitors, each provides the best services
at competitive rates. As a result customer has lot of choices to get the best
Research has showed that it is far more costly to win a new customer than it
know the level of customer satisfaction. The focus of my research was the
Bharti Airtel. My job was to collect the feedback from the distributors and
also to get their suggestions about the other products. There can be no
fact that keeping the customer satisfied is the best strategy to not only
retains the existing customers but also to expand the business to new
horizons.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. TELECOMMUNICATION MARKET IN INDIA 1
3. INTRODUCTION 16
4. TARIFF STRUCTURE 31
5. PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY 39
6. MARKET SITUATION 41
7. COMPETITIVE SITUATION 42
9. OBJECTIVE 58
11. LIMITATION 60
13. CONCLUSION 70
14. BIBLIOGRAPHY 71
15. QUESTIONNAIRE 72
vi
LIST OF TABLES & FIGURES
vii
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objective behind this research project is to study about the importance
and development of telecommunication industry in today‟s scenario.
To understand the Marketing strategies which are used by Bharti Airtel to
Survive in highly competitive cell phone market and different services which
are offered by Bharti Airtel. An overview of the Indian telecommunication
market is also given, along with the growing GSM market and challenges
before the CDMA market in India. A brief introduction about Bharti Airtel
has also been given, covering all the services provided by Bharti Airtel.
It also includes Indian market study, Bharti Airtel Corporate Study. Under
this research project following points about Bharti Airtel are covered:
Promotional Strategy
Market Situation
Competitive Situation
Market segmentation
Positioning
Pricing Policy
viii
1
INTRODUCTION
users (both fixed and mobile phone).It has one of the lowest call tariffs in the
them. It has the world‟s third-largest Internet user-base with over 137 million
Microwave radio relay networks. The access network which connects the
the country, one of the largest domestic satellite systems in the world. India
1
possesses a diversified communications system, which links all parts of the
1990s and now has become the world's most competitive and one of the fastest
growing telecom markets. The Industry has grown over twenty times in just ten
years, from under 37 million subscribers in the year 2001 to over 846 million
subscribers in the year 2011. India has the world's second-largest mobile
phone user base with over 929.37 million users as of May 2012.[6] It has
the world's third-largest Internet user-base with over 137 million as of June
283207 crore (US$48 billion) for 2010–11 financial year, while revenues from
has played a significant role to narrow down the rural-urban digital divide to
some extent. It also has helped to increase the transparency of governance with
for the rural folk of India. Indian Tele-density, which was languishing at 2% in
1999, has shown an amazing jump to 47.89 in 2010 and is set to increase by
20% in the next five years. Accordingly, India requires incremental investments
2
Private operators have made mobile telephony the fastest growing (over 164%
p.a.) in India. With more than 930 million users (both CDMA and GSM),
wireless is the principal growth engine of the Indian telecom industry. Intense
competition between the four main private groups - Bharti, Vodafone, Tata and
Reliance and with the State sector incumbents-BSNL and MTNL has brought
about a significant drop in tariffs. There has been almost 74% in cell phone
charges, 70% in ILD calls and 25% drop in NLD charges, resulting in a boom
The Government has played a key enabling role by deregulating and liberalizing
the industry, ushering in competition and paving the way for growth. While
there were regulatory irregularities earlier, resulting in litigation, these have all
been addressed now. Customs duties on hardware and mobile handsets have
The Indian government has merged the IT and Telecom Ministries to speed up
fully functional.
3
INDIAN CELLULAR MARKET
The Bharti Group, which operates in 23 circles, continues to be the country's
largest cellular operator with over 191 million subscribers. RIM, which operates
terms of subscriber base at the end of the fiscal ending March 31, 2011,
displacing BSNL from the third position. Unlike fellow public sector
undertaking, MTNL, which operates in Mumbai and Delhi, BSNL, has been a
very aggressive player in the market. "Cellular operators who expected BSNL to
go the MTNL way, were taken by surprise and did not take effective steps to
counter it, till it was too late in the day," said a telecom analyst.
has reported a 8.92% growth, the highest growth in any month so far, during
March 2011. Year-on-year, the cellular subscriber base in the country has
almost doubled in March 2012, and is expanding at the rate of 20% per year
thereafter.
The cellular subscriber club expanded by 17.46 million last month. This is
much higher than 15 million subscribers added in June 2013 and. Idea, which
4
subscriber numbers per operator drop sharply with the sixth largest operator,
19.74% growth.
Among the metros, while Mumbai added 3 million subscribers, higher than the
1.9 million added by Delhi, the Capital's cellular subscriber base is still higher
than Mumbai. While the cellular industry has been on roll for the first three
additions in the third quarter, the first two months of 20011 had seen the
5
GSM MARKET IN INDIA
With a population of around 1.3 billion growing at roughly 1.9 per cent a year,
India is potentially one of the most exciting GSM markets in the world.
when the Indian government first sought private investment in the sector. More
significant liberalisation followed in 1996 with the licensing of new local fixed
line and mobile service providers. However, it has been the government's New
Telecom Policy (1999) that has had the most radical impact on the development
6
Competition in the mobile sector has already had a visible impact on prices
with calls currently costing less than 9 cents per minute. This means that
service costs have fallen by 60 per cent since the first GSM networks became
live in 1995. It also helps explain why a recent Telecom Asia survey revealed
that more than 70 per cent of Indian mobile subscribers felt that prices were
One of the challenges facing GSM operators in India is the diversity of the
coverage regions -from remote rural regions to some of the most densely
populated metropolitan areas in the world. India has more than 40 networks,
which cover the seven largest cities, over 7000 towns and several Lacs villages.
operators. It is estimated that more than Rs200 billion had been invested in
The good news is that subscriber growth is beginning to look healthy. With
India's low PC penetration and high average Internet usage -at 14-20 hours a
month per user it is comparable to the US -the market for mobile data and m-
launched in the subcontinent and the first GPRS networks are in the process of
being rolled out. In the year ahead, GSM India will work with its members to
3GSM licences.
7
India fastest growing GSM market
Globally, the GSM market reached 3.9 billion users in February 2013, adding
GSM accounted for 80 per cent of the new subscriber growth in 2012."Almost
every Latin American operator has chosen GSM. In North America GSM growth
8
the raging debate over GSM versus CDMA in mobile services arena, Hadden
said: "GSM is the world's most successful mobile standard with over 2 billion
percent rise in revenue in the year to March 2012 but said future growth rates
could slow because of heavy taxes on the nascent industry. Although India‟s
amongst the highest taxed industries in the country. Mobile carriers pay as
much as 25 percent of their revenue as licence fee, spectrum charges and other
taxes. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said revenue for fiscal
2003/04 stood at 83.08 billion rupees ($1.86 billion) compared with 64 billion
concerted effort by the government to cut excessive levies and allow sharing of
infrastructure”
“But the potential to do much better exists as there is still huge demand in the
sector.” Ramachandran said the sector was still losing money but declined to
9
market thanks to one of the lowest call rates in the world. But the monthly
average revenue per user, a key measure of profitability, declined 17.4 percent
to 432 rupees in the fourth quarter compared with 523 rupees in the first
Growth slowing, demand untapped: The association has not included the
Nigam Ltd, Ramachandran said. There are 650 million GSM customers and
more than 96 million users of the rival CDMA-based mobile services in the
country.
The pace of growth in monthly additions is increasing after just 8.25 million
users took up the service in April compared with 6.9 million in the previous
operators being unable to expand networks into rural swathes where demand
“Our surpluses are not enough to cover costs of network expansion and
expenses,” he said. Carriers are now subsidising handset costs to woo users
into the underpenetrated industry forecast to have more than 750 million
customers by 2014.
10
THE CDMA CHALLENGE
CDMA players had launched their services with CDMA 2000 1X-based
networks, which can give hi-speed, always-on connectivity to the Internet, and
other data services. GSM operators, on the other hand, have had to migrate
which has not significantly improved the subscriber‟s experience of surfing the
the operators to adopt EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) and
Only Airtel, Vodafone, BPL Mobile and Idea Cellular had launched GPRS, but
the data transfer speeds of GPRS have been abysmal. The field trials gave a
speed of around 54 kbps, but the actual speeds have not exceeded 14-18 kbps,
11
a major reason why GPRS growth has been so slow. As against the total GSM
cellular base of 40 crore, the country has between 9 crore GPRS users only. In
comparison, the two CDMA operators have about 23 crore connections. All
these sets are data compliant. Though no figures are available as to how many
At the GSM Evolution Forum held in New Delhi, GSA president Alan Hadden
predicted that GSM growth will far outstrip CDMA as was happening globally.
He felt India could have as many as 600 million GSM subscribers by 2012-
2013 . According to GSA, there are over 2.7 billion GSM subscribers worldwide
as against 1.3 billion CDMA customers. The revenue of top 25 global operators
from data averages 18 per cent and 22 of these operators run GSM networks.
EDGE.
Almost every country has a GSM-based network and even those US operators,
GSM, not CDMA, pointed out Hadden at the GSM Evolution Forum. The Forum
is a global GSA program to assist the operators for evolution to third generation
(3G) technologies. “People are using their phones for much more than voice.
12
license. Even the migration to a full-fledged 3G level of Wideband CDMA
countries is a power that CDMA doesn‟t give you. We know for sure that almost
20-25 per cent of the revenue for some GSM operators comes from roaming
the shining jewels in its crown. The first CDMA 2000 1X was commercially
nine have launched services based on 1xEV-DO platform across Asia, the
Americas and Europe. At least, 16 new 1X and six 1xEV-DO networks are
EV-DO and EV-DV are the next level of evolution on the CDMA 2000 1X
What will matter a lot in this war will be the availability of EDGE compliant
handsets at affordable rates. While the two CDMA operators have been giving
out handsets that can give hi-speed data transfer, same has not been the case
with GSM. Even now, GPRS handsets have not become commonplace and
13
End sum game
When the networks deploy EDGE, subscribers can expect the delivery of
advanced mobile services such as easy downloading of video and music clips,
But the real cruncher will be the migration at a later stage to 3G technologies
such as WCDMA, EV-DO or EV-DA as and when the government decides what
More importantly, WCDMA will spawn a whole new range of full motion audio-
remain gung ho over the future of their technologies over that boosted by the
American firms Qualcomm and Motorola, but Indian market could well throw
coming months, Reliance plans to offer its CDMA subscribers much more than
what GSM players intend to deliver through their EDGE for their subscribers.
Who succeeds in this battle for mobile customer‟s eyeballs is most difficult to
predict. A Korea and Japan may not be waiting to happen in India, but India
will probably be more like the Chinese market with both standards co-existing.
14
Airtel (Bharti Airtel Ltd.)
India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers globally
3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed
offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over
269 million customers across its operations at the end of March 2013.
Airtel comes to us from Bharti Airtel Limited - a part of the biggest private
15
telephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being the largest
export its products to the USA. Bharti has also put its footsteps into Insurance
and Retail segment in collaboration with Multi- National giants. Bharti is the
leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 23 states covering all four
S E R V I C E S
Mobile Services
Airtel Prepaid, the Ready Cellular Card from Airtel comes to you from Bharti
with Airtel Prepaid is a new way of life. With a host of great features, also
simple to use, Airtel Prepaid makes everything that you dreamt and believed,
possible.
3G
Airtel 3G services are available in 200 cities through its network and in 500
had about 5.4 million 3G customers of which 4 million are 3G data customers
as of September 2012
16
4G
of March 2013.
WiFi
Airtel has plans to launch WiFi services in India. It intends to start offering
WiFi services in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore in initial phase. All plans
will be on secure wireless broadband internet with unlimited usage and will be
session or time based. Users can use the service by finding a hotspot, selecting
airtel WiFi Zone', activating the voucher and then login to start browsing. Airtel
WiFi Hangout for an establishment owner and WiFi Partner for the cafe and
restaurant owners. Airtel WiFi Partners can offer services at zero investments
Airtel Money
collaboration with Infosys and SmartTrust (now Giesecke & Devrient). The
Using Airtel Money, users can transfer money, pay bills and perform other
17
Smart Drive
approximate time of the travel on the basis of the traffic situation on the
various routes and also lets uers see their location on the map and plan the
Airtel has a Network Experience Centre (NEC) which observes end to end
customer experience, in near real time, along with the standard network
went live on 31 October 2012. It is the first such facility in India and will be
Systems and internet peering points from a single location. It will monitor all
Airtel and partner NOCs. In case of an emergency, the NEC will enable the
iPhone
The iPhone 3G was rolled out in India in 2008 by Airtel. However, high prices
18
the iPhone is in other markets of the world. Airtel introduced the iPhone 4 on
Enjoy complete clarity when calling with Airtel‟s world-class technology and
unbreakable network coverage that spans over 23 circles across the country.
Your account balance is updated on the screen of your handset at the end of
each chargeable call. You can also call 123 from your mobile phone and listen
to the voice announcement or simply dial *123#, press 'OK' or 'YES' button and
Recharging is Easy. The calling value on your card keeps reducing as you make
calls or use any other chargeable service. Choose the Airtel Prepaid Recharge
Coupon that‟s right for you, from a variety of tailor– made recharge coupons
your city. Simply follow the procedure mentioned below, to recharge your
phone.
Prepaid Roaming
Airtel Prepaid comes pre activated with 'National Roaming', so you stay
connected no matter wherever you are. You can also send or receive MMS,
19
check your email and access other GPRS services while roaming in India as
you would in your own city. While traveling abroad you can receive calls &
Other Services Airtel brings you, a wide range of Services that will change the
way you communicate. Try them and discover a whole new world of fun and
excitement.
Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification Presentation –
Voice Mail
When your handset is switched off, or you‟re too busy to answer the phone,
Airtel Voicemail will answer your calls and record a message. The best part is
that there's no extra monthly cost for setting up Voicemail - you just pay for
Send messages quickly and easily using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you
don't have much time. It's the way to share those interesting one-liners,
the world.
20
Subscription Alerts Get regular alerts on news, jokes, business, health and
films on your Airtel mobile phone with Subscription Services. SMS <SUB
NEWS> to 3333 for News, <SUB JOKE> for Jokes, <SUB BIZ> for Business
News, <SUB SPO> for Sports Alerts & <SUB VAASTU> for Vaastu tips.
Jazz up your messages with pictures, images and video clippings, with MMS
from Airtel! To activate MMS on your phone, SMS 'MMS' to 56465 and save
service settings.
Airtel Live!
Make your mobile the most happening entertainment destination with Airtel
Live! Airtel brings you the latest in entertainment and information services,
Airtel Live! WAP Services: Download the latest ring tones, games, wallpapers,
videos and much more. You can also get news clips, watch live TV and
download full songs on you phone. To get Airtel Live! Settings on your phone,
SMS 'Live' to 56465 and save the settings that you receive as your preferred
connection. Airtel Live! Portal can be accessed from you GPRS enabled phone,
Airtel Live! Voice Services: Just Dial 56465, and name the service. For e.g.
say ring tones to download your favorite ring tones. You can also choose a
21
variety of content options like Live Cricket Commentary, latest National /
Airtel Live! SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting services
like cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few buttons with Airtel
Live! SIM based Services on your SIM card menu. To download new services on
your Airtel SIM, choose the "What's new" option under the "Airtel services".
Hello Tunes
Tired of that boring old „tring tring‟ on your phone? Well now when a friend
calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up the
music charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of songs in
the Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly. What's more
you can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g. call 678005 for
English New and 678001 for Hindi New. This would directly take you to your
Get the tune you want, all you have to do is call 55055 and follow the simple
voice instructions to copy your favorite Hello Tunes. Once inside the copy
22
feature, just key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number you want to copy the
Hello Tune from and you get the same Hello Tune assigned to your number.
Forget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. Say it with a song instead!
Gift a Hello Tune to that special someone. Just call 55055 and choose the song
that you want to gift. Follow the simple voice instructions and key in the 10-
digit Airtel mobile number that you want to gift the Hello Tune to. You will get
Buying your favorite Hello Tune or Ring tone is as simple as recharging your
phone with talk time. Simply walk into your nearest Airtel Shop and walk out
with your favorite song. Choose from Bollywood Hits to Indipop Remixes, Hard
Rock to Gujrati Garba, Bhajans to Jazz, Bhangra Beats to foot tapping Tamil
In case you need assistance, dial '121' - our toll-free number, accessible from
anywhere in the country, even while roaming. You can also send us an SMS to
no. like, 9810012345, in the subject of the mail for a quicker response.
23
Airtel Postpaid
exciting, innovative yet simple new ways to communicate, just when you want
to, not just through words but ideas, emotions and feelings. To give you the
unlimited freedom to reach out to your special people in your special way.
Easy Billing
Enjoy a host of rich features only with Airtel e-bill. Register free on „My Airtel‟
section and view your monthly bill with call details for last three months. Sort
your calls between personal and official or analyze your usage, at the click of a
button. To change your tariff plan call our IVR at 121 and leave a request.
You can choose from a host of convenient payment options only with Airtel.
Walk into any Airtel relationship centre and make your payments by cash or
credit card. Drop a cheque at any of the drop boxes for making payments or
simply log on to My Airtel section and pay instantly through your credit card.
Standing Instructions
You can give us standing instructions to debit your credit card account for
your monthly Airtel bills. All you have to do is fill the Standing Instruction
24
Electronic Clearing System
Fill an ECS form and mail, fax it to us or drop it any of our relationship centres
to directly debit your bank account for your monthly Airtel bill.
Airtel has introduced 'anywhere payment' that offers you the convenience of
making payments while you roam. Walk in to any Airtel Relationship Centre in
the country, make payments by cash or credit card and enjoy uninterrupted
Airtel Services.
Credit limit
Your pre-set credit limit mentioned on your monthly bill helps you keep your
mobile charges in control, keeps track of your usage and ensures that your
mobile phone is not misused. Should you exceed your credit limit, you will be
reduce your account balance below your credit limit. You may also choose to
pay us an additional refundable deposit to enhance your credit limit or opt for
our convenient payment method of Credit Card Standing instruction .You can
Call long distance calls in India and Overseas with STD / ISD facility on your
Airtel phone.
25
Widest Roaming - National and International
Airtel's roaming service allows you to stay connected and use your mobile
phone to make or receive calls from almost anywhere in India and also over
GPRS - Roaming
Use Airtel Postpaid GPRS services, while roaming, to access the internet and
office mails (e.g. BlackBerry services), from almost anywhere in India and
abroad.
Say it. In more than just words, with Services from Airtel
Airtel brings you a wide range of Services that will change the way you
communicate. Try them and discover a whole new world of fun and excitement.
Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification Presentation,
Conference call
Conferencing service from Airtel. In fact, you can set up a conference even
when the other five are using a landline phone. To know more, call customer
service at 121.
26
Missed call alert
A missed call alert is a SMS that you will receive for all the calls that you
missed. The SMS will detail the CLI and the time when the call was made. To
activate, dial *135*2# then press the call button and wait for the request to be
completed.
Voice Mail
When your handset is switched off, or you‟re too busy to answer the phone,
Airtel Voicemail will answer your calls and record a message. The best part is
that there's no extra monthly cost for setting up Voicemail - you just pay for
Send messages quickly and easily, using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you
don't have much time. It's the way to Share those interesting one-liners,
the world.
Subscription Alerts
Get regular alerts on news, jokes, business, health and films on your Airtel
mobile phone with Subscription Services. SMS <SUB NEWS> for News, <SUB
JOKE> for Jokes, <SUB BIZ> for Business News, <SUB SPO> for Sports Alerts
27
MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service):
Jazz up your messages with pictures, images and video clippings, with MMS
from Airtel! To activate MMS on your phone, SMS 'MMS' to 56465 and save
service settings.
Airtel Live!
Make your mobile the most happening entertainment destination with Airtel
Live! Airtel brings you the latest in entertainment and information services,
Airtel Live! WAP Services: Download the latest ringtones, games, wallpapers,
videos and much more. You can also get news clips, watch live TV and
download full songs on your phone! To get Airtel Live! Settings on your phone
SMS 'Live' to 56465 and save the settings that you receive as your preferred
connection. Airtel Live! Portal can be accessed from you GPRS enabled phone,
Airtel Live! Voice Services: Just Dial 56465 and say the name of the service.
For e.g. say „Ring tones‟ to download your favorite ring tones. You can also
Airtel Live! SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting services
like cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few buttons with Airtel
28
Live! SIM based Services on your SIM card menu. To download new services on
your Airtel SIM, choose the "What's new" option under the "Airtel services"
menu.
Airtel Live! SMS Services: You can enjoy a host of services by sending a
Bollywood / Hollywood / Indi Pop Ring tones. In case you need assistance SMS
„Help‟ to 56465.
GPRS (General Packet Radio Services)Log on to the internet, with GPRS that
allows data transmission at a higher speed. Access e-mails and internet across
Airtel's pan-India presence using 'Mobile Office' with your phone or a phone
Browse the internet on your mobile phone with Airtel's EDGE services. Enjoy
live TV, enhanced WAP experience and Airtel Data Cards on our high speed
network.
Hello Tunes
Tired of that boring old „tring tring‟ on your phone? Well now when a friend
calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up the
music charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of songs in
the Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly. What's more,
29
you can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g. call 678005 for
„English New‟ and 678001 for „Hindi New‟. This would directly take you to your
Like a tune you want, all you have to do is call 55055 and follow the simple
voice instructions to copy your favorite Hello Tunes. Once inside the copy
feature, just key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number you want to copy the
Hello Tune from and you get the same Hello Tune assigned to your number.
Forget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. Say it with a song instead!
Gift a Hello Tune to that special someone. Just call 55055 and choose the song
that you want to gift. Follow the simple voice instructions and key in the 10-
digit Airtel mobile number that you want to gift the Hello Tune to. You will get
phone with talk time. Simply walk into your nearest Airtel Shop and walk out
with your favorite song. Choose from Bollywood Hits to Indi pop Remixes, Hard
Rock to Guajarati Garba, Bhajans to Jazz, Bhangra Beats to foot tapping Tamil
30
Reach us, Anytime Anywhere
In case you need assistance, dial '121' - our toll-free number, accessible from anywhere
in the country, even while roaming. *In case of email, mention your mobile no. like
31
PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY
The Bharti Mobile promoted AirTel cellular service will go in for repositioning of
its brand image. The new brand ethos is portrayed in two distinct fashions -
the tag line "Touch Tomorrow", which underscores the leading theme for the
new brand vision, followed by "The Good Life", which underscores a more
The new communication is about a new dimension in the cellular category that
goes beyond the Internet, SMS, roaming, IVRS, etc but which engulfs the whole
cellular services. The new campaign is in two phases - the first of which will
communicate overall brand philosophy and the second products and services.
According to Mr. Jagdish Kini, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Mobile Limited,
Karnataka "We are adopting a new brand- platform - Touch Tomorrow - not
The new identity will have the logo in Red color along with lower case
typography to convey warmth. AirTel will incorporate the latest branding in all
32
of its communication and will soon be going in for an enhanced promotional
MARKET SITUATION
The first mover in the market was Airtel which launched its services in Delhi in
Aug 1995 (Informal launch). Essar Cell phone followed by launching its
services informally in Oct 95. At this point of time, the market was at a
nascent stage, awareness level was low and both operators independently tried
with a multitude of schemes being offered to woo customers Initially the cell
phone was perceived as a status symbol and utility took a back seat The target
segment in Delhi were corporate and the high income group. The average
capacity installed was for 1.5 lakh subscribers. This coupled with the steep
license fee paid to DOT put pressure on the operators to break-even by rapidly
expanding their markets. In the first two years, this led to a number of
33
COMPETITIVE SITUATION
Airtel launched its services before Essar and skimmed the market picking up
the bulk of the high usage premium clients. This is a very competitive industry
Airtel is perceived as the high quality provider and has a premium image.
Essar, on the other hand, is perceived as the lower end service provider. Airtel
positions itself as the market leader on the basis of the number of subscribers.
Essar is trying to counter this by emphasizing on the reach of its network and
the quality of its service. However, Essar is somewhat not been very successful
Hoardings have been a very popular medium for carrying the advertisements
Airtel has also been advertising on television using the Bharti Telecom name.
Forecasting of sales
34
Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the
Handling distribution
Target achievement
C. Distribution Support
1. Logistics
partners
2. Rental
3 Telesales
35
Pass on the sales lead to the channel department.
4 Audit
training.
5. Retail
36
MARKET SEGMENTATION
product / service to the requirement of target buyer and the resultant ease in
In evaluating different market segments the company looks at two factors The
resources The present market for Cellular phones, pagers and conventional
phones is as follows
Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The rationale behind
it is that only those segments should be targeted who value time and have the
paying capacity. It Is also planning to target the business tourists during their
37
About 60% of the clientele are top executives of corporate houses. About 15%
are foreign organisations and the rest are professionals and small
businessmen. During the introduction stage there was intense pressure to get
consumers across to hook up with their brand, because getting them to switch
executive class but now that the basic viable volumes has beer) built up and
prices have declined to a certain extent they are planning to venture further a
field.
POSITIONING
the cell phone is an expensive means of communication and drive home the
The product or service is the heart of the marketing mix. Without a product or
strategy is to be a first mover all the time. It has recognized the significance of
38
making the first move-- because in the field of Communication & Information
basic services can be and will be copied and in time become expected
component of the product. Airtel seeks to carry out this segmentation through
provision of new information services and making new facilities available. The
product policy and planning depends on the stage of the product life cycle. At
present the cellular phone market has reached the maturity stage. Since, the
This involves the selection of the suitable hardware (handset) and its software
other concessions to make the prices and thus the product more attractive. It
39
The "Value Added Services" provided from Airtel are:-
This system is similar to the answering machine - if the user is not able to
answer a call for some reason the caller can leave messages in the voice mail
ii) Short Message Service The short message service is like a two-way pager. It
gives an option of sending and receiving text messages directly from one mobile
This service helps the subscriber to send and receive Faxes, access E-mail,
download computer files from other systems and remotely log on to another
The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the buyers to
buy air time in advance. All it requires is the payment of an initial amount.
This is a useful service for people who travel to Delhi often and those who want
40
v) Caller ID
To prevent or limit outgoing calls, for example, in peak hours. Also possible to
Besides these some other services provided by Airtel are - Call conferencing,
It is in the operators -Interest that they not only get many subscribers but also
get them to use the mobile facility frequently. In the early stages getting
increases to subscribe may be easier than getting them to talk since they will
find it costlier to use the mobile phone as compared to a conventional phone [if
41
where a GSM network is available, simply insert the SIM card of the local
* Manual Roaming means a separate SIM card is provided for each city
** Semi automatic roaming means one card has the facility for different
cities.
a) They take personal responsibility to "get" the answer for any problem faced
by the customer
them
c) They give answers to the questions & requests, quickly & efficiently.
d) They have a positive tone & manner while interacting with customers.
30 seconds count.
Airtel realizes that attracting people 'Is easy but converting them into loyal
42
PRICE AND PRICING POLICY
AIRTEL has realized that the Indian market is price sensitive. Therefore it care
of the has come up with various innovative tariff schemes to take needs of
43
MARKETING STRATEGY
ADOPTED BY BHARTI AIRTEL
Bharti has spent a considerable amount on advertising its mobile phone
service, Airtel. Besides print advertising, the company had put up large no of
The objective behind designing a promotion campaign for the „Airtel‟ services is
Airtel. Since the cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also the fact
effective differentiator. The image of the service provider counts a great deal.
Given the Cell phone category, it is the network efficiency and the quality of
service that becomes important. What now the buyer is looking at is to get the
differentiator
through brand stature. Airtel's campaign in the capital began with a series of
'teaser' hoardings across the city,' bearing just the company's name and
without explaining what Airtel was. In the next phase the campaign associated
Airtel with Cellular only thereafter was the Bharti Cellular connection brought
up. Vans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing out brochures about the
company and its services to all consumers. About 50,000 direct callers were
44
sent out. When the name was well entrenched in the Delhiites‟s mind, the
Airtel campaign began to focus on the utility of Cell phone. In the first four
As of today the awareness level is 60% unaided. This implies that if potential
provider that is on the top of his/her mind 60% of them would name Airtel. As
for aided it -is 100% (by giving clues and hints etc.).
percentage score of the brand on the above aided and the unaided tests. The
Every company has a goal, which might comprise a sales target and a game
plan with due regard to its competitor. Airtel‟s campaign strategy is designed
keeping in mind its marketing strategy. The tone, tenor and the stance of the
visual ads are designed to convey the image of a market leader in terms of its
market share. It tries to portray the image of being a "first mover every time"
The status of the product in terms of its life cycle has just reached the maturity
stage in India. It is still on the rising part of the product life cycle curve in the
maturity stage.
The diagram on the left hand side shows the percentage of the users classified
into heavy, medium and low categories. The right hand side shows the revenue
45
Airtel, keeping in mind the importance of the customer retention, values its
heavy users the most and constantly indulges in service innovation. But, since
heavy users comprise only 15 - 20% of the population the other segment
cannot be neglected.
The population which has just realized the importance of cellular phones has
to be roped in. It is for this reason that the service provider offers a plethora of
incentives and discounts. Concerts like the "Freedom concert" are being
with economy in mind. The target segment is not very concrete but, there is an
attempt to focus on those who can afford. The print advertisements and
hoarding are placed in those strategic areas which most likely to catch the
attention of those who need a cellular phone. The product promise (which
audience.
Besides this, other promotional strategies that Airtel has adopted are .
(i) People who have booked Airtel services have been treated to exclusive
(ii) There have been educational campaigns, image campaigns, pre launch
advertisements.
46
DISTRIBUTION
Company
Franchisee Distributor
Dealers
Dealer
Customer
Customer
Franchisees and 15 Distributors- They also have 8 'instant access cash card
counters- Each franchises or distributor can have any number of dealers under
him as long as the person is approved by the Airtel authority. Each franchise
has to invest Rupees Ten Lakhs. To obtain a franchise and should employ an
officer recruited by Airtel. This person acts as a liaison between the company
and the franchises. The franchises can it any number of dealers as long as
their territories do not overlap. But unfortunately Airtel has not been very
carry out his/her own promotional strategy. For this the. company contributes
75% of the money and the franchises contributes 25% of the money. The
47
dealers under the franchisee receive the same commission. The franchises and
the dealer obtain the feedback from the customers and they are sent through
the liaison officer on a day-to-day basis to Airtel. The dealer has to invest
Rupees. One Lakh as an initial investment. The dealer of Airtel are not allowed
Target set for distributors and the dealers is 100 -150 activations per month.
Hence the dealers can also go for their own promotions like banners and
consumer on providing the bill of purchase for the handset and proof of
residence has only to wait an hour before getting connected. The staff of the
dealers and the franchisees are provided training by the Airtel personnel.
The complaints encountered by the franchisees and dealers are either handset
being non-functional or the SIM Card not getting activated. Anything more
48
WHAT DOES AIRTEL OFFER?
With Airtel, the subscriber wouldn't just get a personal phone that lets him/her
be in touch, always, but also gets a host of benefits that let him/her manage
card) - that is the key to operating his/her cellular phone. His card activates
memory to enable one to enjoy one's cellular phone thoroughly. Each SIM card
contains a PIN code (Personal Identity Number) which may be entered by one.
Just plug your SIM card into your cellular phone, enter the PIN code and it
reveals that the growth in the market is initially slow followed by a sharp
acceleration, but so far that has not happened in India. As far as the Product
Life Cycle is concerned. Indians are at the beginning of the maturity stage.
49
MARKETING OBJECTIVES
market share
Strategies
market competitors
distribution.
dealers.
50
Sales Promotion Use heavy sales Increase to Increase to
with customers.
51
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Objectives:
today‟s scenario.
Provider.
52
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The methodology adopted for this project is exploratory in nature since there is
a) Primary Sources
I have met retailers of the Airtel of the company and have been able to get first
hand information regarding the product, its features and the buying patterns of
b) Secondary Sources
Secondary source has played a vital role to play in this report. A good amount
of data has been collected from various published articles and reports found in
magazines and journals. Another vital source has been the Internet and
53
LIMITATIONS
Every attempt will be taken to obtain the error free and meaningful result but
as nothing in this world is 100% perfect I believe that there will still the chance
(2) Time pressure and fatigue on the part of respondents and interviewer.
54
FINDINGS
1. Do you believe that India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile
Company Yes No
Airtel 4 1
Vodafone 4 1
Idea 4 1
MTNL 4 1
As according to the above table 16 (80%) out of the total 20 interviewed people
in all the above four specified Indian mobile service providers are of belief that
India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile service providers in the
No
1
1
1
1
Yes
4
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
AirTel Vodafone
55
2. Do you find that the government’s telecom policy has had the most
Company Yes No
Airtel 4 1
Vodafone 3 2
Idea 3 2
MTNL 5 3
As according to the above table 15 (75%) out of the total 20 interviewed people
in all the above four specified Indian mobile service providers find that the
government‟s telecom policy has had the most radical impact on the
this.
Chart Title
No
MTNL
IDEA
Vodafone
Yes AirTel
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
56
3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators in
Company Yes No
Airtel 2 3
Vodafone 3 2
Idea 3 2
MTNL 2 3
As according to the above table 10 (50%) out of the total 20 interviewed people
in the mobile service providers are of belief that one of the challenges facing
No
MTNL
Idea
Vodafone
Yes AirTel
57
4. To what extent, does you find that mobile service providers is a very
complex standard?
As according to the above table 10 (50%) out of the total 20 interviewed people
in all the above four major the mobile service providers in Indian Cellular
industry find only to some extent that GSM is a very complex standard,
whereas the another 10 (50%) respondents find to great extent that mobile
No
MTNL
Idea
Vodafone
Yes AirTel
58
CONSUMER LEVEL
Company Yes No
Airtel 9 1
Vodafone 8 2
Idea 8 2
MTNL 5 5
As the above shows 30 (75%) out of total 40 respondents are of the belief that
this belief.
3 3 3 3
2 2 2 2
AirTel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
Yes No
59
2. Do you find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and
Company Yes No
Airtel 9 1
Vodafone 7 3
Idea 8 2
MTNL 8 2
As the above shows 32 (80%) out of total 40 respondents find that mobile
service providers as the most exciting and satisfying mobile standard, whereas
No
1
3
2
2
Yes
9
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
AirTel Vodafone
60
3. Do you believe that your service provider has a genuine commitment to
Company Yes No
Airtel 10 --
Vodafone 8 2
Idea 10 --
MTNL 8 2
As the above shows 36 (90%) out of total 40 respondents are of the belief that
this.
2
0
No
2
0
MTNL
Idea
Vodafone
8
AirTel
10
Yes
8
10
61
SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
Cost advantage
Entrepreneurial zeal
WEAKNESSES
To prove credibility
Price pressures
Awareness
OPPORTUNITIES
62
Airtel‟s market share increasing at other service provider expense. Thus
THREATS
Foreign investment
Other competition
63
CONCLUSION
From above the details I conclude that 70% Airtel users preferred to remain
with Airtel. Also good no. of users who were willing to switch from their
bright future for the company. Also the company is now providing more
services like the door to door services which is you dial the Airtel customer care
and would like to send someone flowers the Airtel Company delivers those
flowers to the person concerned. Also Airtel is providing free text messaging
service and free voice mail service. Call conferencing is also another feature
Airtel provides.
64
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Moe Rahnema. Overview of the GSM System and Protocol Architecture. IEEE
Seshadri Mohan and Ravi Jain. Two User Location Strategies for Personal
C. Watson. Radio Equipment for GSM. In D.M. Balston and R.C.V Macario,
Vodafone
Airtel
Idea
MTNL
65
QUESTIONNAIRE
NAME: ____________________________________
ADDRESS: ____________________________________
OCCUPATION: ____________________________________
Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
2. Do you find that the government’s telecom policy has had the most
Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
66
3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators in
Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
4. To what extent, does you find that mobile service providers is a very
complex standard?
(1-5) (6-10)
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
67
CONSUMER LEVEL
Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
2. Do you find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and
Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
68