Professional Documents
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Tele Marketing of Airtel Friend Locator
Tele Marketing of Airtel Friend Locator
Submitted to Mr. YOGESH BIJLANI COUNTRY HEAD India & GM (Asia Pacific)
in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) 2010-2012 in Telecom
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DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the Project entitled as Promotional Activities for Airtel Friend Locator Service under the guidance of Mr. YOGESH BIJLANI (COUNTRY HEAD India & GM-APAC) and submitted to Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management, Pune, as an integral part of the Post Graduate Diploma in Management, is exclusively a bonafide and original work done by me during the academic year 2010-2012.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Successful completion of any project depends upon co-operation of many individuals. I take the opportunity to express my deep gratitude to TELENITY. to select me as a summer trainee & extending me their full support & co-operation towards the completion of this project. I sincerely thank Mr. Yogesh Bijlani, Country Head India & General Manager (APAC), my project guide for all his kind and prudent guidance to make this project successful. I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without the kind support and help of: Mr Harinder Singh Anand Mr. Amit Rai Saxena Mr. Ashish Aggrawal (Senior Executive - Sales) (Program Manager) (Engineer)
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them. I am highly indebted to TELENITY, for their guidance and constant supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding the project & also for their support in completing the project. I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents & member of TELENITY for their kind co-operation and encouragement which help me in completion of this project. I express my deep sense of gratitude to Dr. Seema Singh Zokarakar , Director , BITM. Also, I would like to thank my institute for providing me the opportunity to gain some practical knowledge and experience about various aspects required in carrying out the project.
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Table of Contents:
1. 2. 3. 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. Certificate Executive Summary Introduction Market Share of Telecom Operators Sectors of Telecom Industry Value Added Services
3.3.1. VAS Characteristics 3.3.2. VAS Categories 3.3.3. VAS Value Chain 4. 4.1. 4.2. 4.3. 4.4. 4.5. 4.6. 4.7. 4.8. 4.9. Company Profile Company Mission Target Market Strategy for Success Business & Technology Operations Global Customer Base Unique Position Commitment Management
4.10. Customers 5. 5.1. 5.2. 5.3. 5.4. 5.5. 6. Product Profile canvas SmartAds canvas USSD Service Center canvas PayForMe canvas SmartAlert canvas PFS Location Based Services
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6.3.1. Challenge 6.3.2. Concept 6.4. 6.5. 6.6. 6.7. 6.8. 6.9. Main Revenue Flow canvas BFS Operator Benefits canvas BFS End User Benefits canvas BFS Key Features Sample Operation of Airtel Friend Locator Promotion Activities
6.9.1. Daily Activities 6.9.2. Try-&-Buy Offer 6.9.3. Auto Provisioning 6.9.4. Other Activities 7. 8. 9. 9.1. 10. 11. 12. Analysis Service Gap Model Conclusion Learning Recommendations Bibliography Appendix
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2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The project is carried out for TELENITY worlds leading next generation location-based social networking, mobile marketing, service delivery, messaging and value added services software solutions for communications networks.
Telenity serves global telecom service providers through its offices located in USA, Turkey India and UAE. The company is headquartered in Connecticut, USA.
The title of the project is promotional activities for Airtel Friend Locator service for Telenity.
The key project deliverables are the promotion of telecom circles in India and ensuring the sustainability and consistency of the campaign and measuring the conversion rate of customers for the promoted campaign and taking needed actions.
The research methodology used in the project for data collection is personal interviewing of VAS managers and customers. Understanding the VAS industry their trends & challenges faced by them by personal visits to different vas managers.
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3. INTRODUCTION
The Indian telecommunications industry is the world's fastest growing telecommunications industry, with 671.69 Million telephone (landlines and mobile) subscribers and 635.51 Million mobile phone connections as of June 2010. It is also the second largest telecommunication network in the world in terms of number of wireless connections after China. The Indian Mobile subscriber base has increased in size by a factor of more than onehundred since 2001 when the number of subscribers in the country was approximately 5 million to 635.51 Million in June 2010. As the fastest growing telecommunications industry in the world, it is projected that India will have 1.159 billion mobile subscribers by 2013. Furthermore, projections by several leading global consultancies indicate that the total number of subscribers in India will exceed the total subscriber count in the China by 2013. The industry is expected to reach a size of 344,921 crore (US$ 74.85 billion) by 2012 at a growth rate of over 26 per cent, and generate employment opportunities for about 10 million people during the same period. According to analysts, the sector would create direct employment for 2.8 million people and for 7 million indirectly.
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Market Share
Source: TRAI
Revenue
VAS 15.58% Roaming 7.69% Rental 17.68%
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Mobile value-added services (VAS) are those services that offer differentiation and the ability for mobile operators to charge a premium price. VAS include non-voice advanced messaging services such as VOICE, SMS and DATA services based on wireless data bearer technologies. Mobile VAS also includes voice-based services such as PTT and Voice Mail.
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The value chain shown above has seven key components namely: NETWORK OPERATIONS: This refers to the physical core access network. Although this has remained an exclusive domain of the cellular service providers, but now with Bharti outsourcing its network to third parties, it has become an open avenue for independent operators.
DATA SERVICE PLATFORM: The Data Service Platform comprises of the short messaging center, the multimedia-messaging center and related components. APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT: This component provides the platform for programs or applications that host the Value Added Services. CONTENT PROCESSING: Content is the life-blood of any Value Added Service. This component provides the content mix for a particular application. SALES & MARKETING: This component takes care of the demand management & pricing of the new Value Added Service.
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4. COMPANY PROFILE
Founded in year 2000, Telenity provides world's leading next generation location-based social networking, mobile marketing, service delivery, messaging and value added services software solutions for communications networks. Telenity serves global telecom service providers through its offices located in USA, Turkey, India and UAE. The company is headquartered in Connecticut, USA.
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Integrated Messaging platform and applications Innovative Value Added Services suite of next generation applications/services Service delivery components Location-based Services Mobile Marketing
Telenity also offers the following Services to support its customer base:
Their products gracefully bridge the gap between legacy and next-generation networks so you can offer your subscribers consistent communications services any place, any network, and any time.
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4.5 OPERATIONS
Communication enriches lives and brings people closer. With our integrated and geographically distributed operation, we are committed to providing operational efficiency at your doors. Everyday, Telenity employees work around the clock in four different locations to deliver you new products/solutions that will make your business successful and grow. Our offices are located in:
Monroe, Connecticut, USA Istanbul, Turkey New Delhi, India Dubai, UAE
To ensure quality in end-to-end delivery of our products and services, we continue to invest in the best people, effective management skills, and industry best practices that support an open, collaborative and fun environment. Our people are our biggest strength and we thank them for their creativity, dedication, commitment to quality, and attentions to detail serve our customers first.
Telenitys products and solutions empower more than 40 network operators in over 30 countries serving over 500 million subscribers. We value our long lasting relationship and thank you for your confidence in us.
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4.8 COMMITMENT
As a leading provider of next generation converged services applications and platforms, we invest heavily in R&D to build the right products for your needs. We are committed to supporting industry forums and open standards. Our products adopt and comply with leading and evolving industry standards. We work together with our global and technology partners to bring you operational excellence and the most advanced carrier-grade solutions that are environment friendly and cost-effective.
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4.9 MANAGEMENT
Telenity is guided by a talented team with an outstanding record of accomplishment in building new businesses and creating advanced technologies to provide innovative solutions to solve customer problems.
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4.10 CUSTOMERS
Telenity is a recognized expert in value-added services differentiation by a worldwide customer base that includes wireless, wireline and next generation network operators, content providers, service application developers and global channel partners. Telenity's solutions and value added services currently serve over 500 million subscribers worldwide. Our global customer base includes some of industry's largest service providers:
Airtel
Avea
Azercell
BH Telecom
BSNL
Eagle Mobile
Geocell
Globecomm
Idea
Kcell
KKTCELL
life :)
Magticom
Moldcell
Nawras
Qualcomm
Telfonica
TSTT
Turk Telekom
Turkcell
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5. PRODUCT PROFILE
The convergence of wireless, wireline networks and services is one of the most compelling opportunities. Many operators embrace convergence as a new means of developing competitive advantage, which is sustainable for the long term, and meeting their targets for growth and profitability. To help operators capture these opportunities, under its Canvas brand, Telenity provides a suite of service-enabling products that create new revenues for the communication service providers. The Canvas portfolio of IMS ready products enables rapid development, deployment, and reusability of converged services across fixed and mobile networks. Telenitys products are modular, scalable and carrier grade built for rapid service creation, content delivery, location, multimedia messaging, mobile marketing and Voice over IP services to drive average revenue per user (ARPU). Our solutions are deployed worldwide and based on open standards supporting OMA, 3GPP/3GPP2. Total active mobile subscribers in networks currently deploying Telenity products have grown to more than 500 million subscribers.
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postpaid mobile subscribers. Canvas USSD Service Center features a network interface to send and receive USSD messages while maintaining application/service connectivity through Web Services interface which enables simplicity to develop applications/services. Through its intuitive service creation facilities, Canvas USSD Service Center also provides operators a graphical user interface to design and launch menu structures. It can also reduce customer care costs by allowing users to "self care", cutting down investment in call centers and preserving network resources for billable voice calls.
Are out of credit or have little credit reserved for emergency Cannot recharge their credit because they do not have access to a recharge mechanism Want to reverse the call charges for personal or business reasons
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Canvas PFS is a location-based application for GSM/GPRS and CDMA/1XRTT networks. It allows users to locate and communicate with their colleagues, friends and family members who use the same mobile network. Canvas PFS allows users to get their bearings and find their colleagues and friends easily on a map with enhanced mapping functionalities. It also supports geo-coding, reverse geo-coding, routing information and displaying Point of Interest.
Canvas PFS supports opt-in as an essential component to guarantee subscriber privacy, as well as, other anonymity features such as aliases and code words to prevent the subscribers' actual phone number, or identity from being displayed to unauthorized users.
Canvas PFS is a member of the Canvas Converged Value Added Services portfolio. It is a location-based social networking application for GSM/GPRS and CDMA/1XRTT networks. It allows users to locate and communicate with their colleagues, friends and family members who use the same mobile network. Canvas PFS supports opt-in as an essential component to guarantee subscriber privacy, as well as, other anonymity features such as aliases and code words to prevent the subscribers' actual phone number, or identity, being displayed to unauthorized users. Canvas PFS allows users to get their bearings and find their colleagues and friends easily on a map with enhanced mapping functionalities. It also supports geoBalaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 22
coding, reverse geo-coding, routing information and displaying Point of Interest. Canvas PFS brings a new meaning to collaboration in the mobile workforce. Other features of Canvas PFS include the following: Advanced Buddy List Management Canvas PFS enables subscribers to create and manage buddy lists, allowing them to add, deletes or modify entries with ease. Users can maintain and manage multiple buddy lists, for instance one for work, another for family members, yet another for a book club. Strict User Privacy Control Information safety is a vital feature in Canvas PFS. The system ensures user privacy by giving them the confidence that their location information will be disclosed only to individuals to whom they have consented. The privacy management function enables service providers to give full control into the hands of the subscribers, without creating privacy concerns. Canvas PFS also offers black list feature for additional user privacy. User Friendly Service Personalization An intuitive point-and-click subscriber portal allows users to manage their buddy lists and privacy settings. Even within each buddy list, users control who can receive their location information and who cannot. Users can also SMS and WAP to modify their profiles and buddy lists. These user friendly interfaces increase the utility and the penetration of the PFS service. Canvas PFS then processes this information to provide the requested services to the users in near real-time. It can overlap graphical map information, street names and points of interest for an easy-to-read user interface. Canvas PFS also provides the necessary subscriber management system, portal and messaging interfaces USSD, SMS, WAP to allow users to define buddy lists, to control their anonymity and privacy settings. With its strict service logic, Canvas PFS guarantees user anonymity and privacy during the delivery of its services. Canvas PFS is a forerunner of location-enabled services that will revolutionize the concept of mobility, and it is available now from Telenity.
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B2B (Business to Business) : e.g. resource tracking (fleet management, courier tracking etc)
C2B (Consumer to Business) , i.e. Proximity-based actuation services like searching for a business/restaurant etc.
B2C (Business to Consumer), i.e. Proximity based notifications (push/pull) : Receive targeted ads, location based billing/discounted ads etc
C2C (Consumer to Consumer): Share your location/status with friends, Track your friends etc.
A convergence of factors is setting up ideal conditions for the global mobile location based services (MLBS) market to boom by 2014, according to Juniper Research.
Global market revenues for MLBS and location-enabled mobile apps should reach more than $12.7 billion by 2014. The greatest number of users is currently in the Far East and China, as Japan and South Korea were early adopters of MLBS technology. However, as the Chinese market develops and continues to have better access to 3G mobile networks, China will become the number one market for MLBS.
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The MLBS market is growing to the point that location-based services are now a standard feature on many mobile devices. By 2014, mobile location-based services will be so ubiquitous that Juniper expects the need to break out MLBS as a special interest category will cease.
The MLBS market was fairly stagnant from 2000-2007, but began accelerating in 2008 and 2009, and should only develop even more quickly in the next few years. One of the biggest drivers for MLBS growth has been the launch of the Apple iPhone and Apple iTunes stores. These events fundamentally changed how developers and users view mobile phone apps, and also introduced large numbers of consumers to the concept of mobile apps.
In addition, high-capacity infrastructure has penetrated most major markets, with 20% of mobile users in Western Europe and North America having 3G access in 2009 and 80% expected to have 3G accesses by 2014. Similarly, 25% of global mobile users had mobile internet access in 2009, and 80% should by 2014.
Other drivers include the development of sophisticated device center positioning and navigable digital map content technologies in the past few years.
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To analyze the mobile market, it is necessary to understand who the key players are: SUBSCRIBER: - The user of the service, who enjoys (and pays for) it. The subscriber is also the target audience of campaigns in a free-to-air model. OPERATOR: - The mobile operator is responsible mainly for the billing as well as maintaining a relationship of trust with subscribers. SERVICE PROVIDERS: - The organization provides the actual entertainment services in conjunction with the relevant consumer marketing. The role of the service provider can be undertaken by the mobile operator, a white label Wireless Application Service Provider (WASP) or a mobile portal. PUBLISHERS: - Publishers traditionally select the applications to develop & the type of content to use. They then source the development to application developers. Once the application is complete, publishers distribute and market it to the service providers. CONTENT PROVIDERS AND OWNERS: - These are the large brand owners. Application developers and designers. The firms to actually develop the applications (flow, software and graphics). In the mobile entertainment market, we currently see that they are often also the content owners and/or the ASP. Technology solution vendors. It is common to find parties that take on several of the roles listed above. For example, we find mobile operators that are also service providers, service providers that are also application publishers and developers that are also publishers and/or technology providers. Markets that are not yet mature and therefore many parties have either chosen, or been forced to take on, more than one role.
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Privacy o Invited buddies for location access only after approval o Nickname management o Remove me from a others buddy list o Check whos buddy list I am in o Set yourself Visible/Invisible mode
Subscriber Based Reports o Who is tracking me? o Who tracked me and when? o Who tracked me and received my location report? o Who asked and received my location report?
Service Usage Based Reports o Service penetration per region o Service revenue per region o Churn details report o Active user details report o Tracking details report o System health check report
The USSD Interface provides the following features: o Service Registration / Un-registration o Buddy Listing Add / Update / Delete Buddies o Group Management Create / Edit / Delete Buddy Groups o Privacy Options Visibility / Invisibility toggle o Privacy Options Age, Gender Edit / Update o Privacy Options The Lists That Im in o Locate Buddies / Locate Groups. o Locate Subscribers own.
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A.
B.
C.
D.
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E.
F.
Customer subscribed to friend locator now can use the above shown options according to their requirements.
There are no charges for options like: 1. Add a friend. 2. Locate a Friend. 3. Where am I. 4. Locate Group. 5. Edit. For features like: 1. Follow Friend There are two kinds of charges. i. If we follow for an hour the charge is Rs.5. In this customer get message of location in every 15 minutes. ii. If we follow for 6 hours than it charge Rs.10 and the location message will come on every hour.
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o o o o
6.9.3 Auto-provisioning
Auto-provision users to BFS service. Process for auto provision are as follows: o Airtel shall provide to you white-listed MSISDNs for Auto-provisioning, by removing Airtel employees MSISDNs, Users who have registered themselves to DND list etc. o Send the white-listed MSISDN list to Telenity team (Mr. Manish Sodhi) for Autoprovisioning these users.
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7.
ANALYSIS:
Profession
Student 42% Blue Collar 22% White Collar 36% Blue Collar White Collar Student
Major subscribers were students who were interested and curious to know and understand Airtel Friend Locator service. VAS is majorly the core interested area of youth who understand its benefits better.
Customer feedback
Service sometimes stops working 34% 4% 4% Don't want the promotiomal messages further No more friends on Airtel Not comfortable in operating the service Not getting approriate locations Not known to service 10% 4% 4% Problem in sending friend request Want to know the service Churned coz of removal of chat option Comfortable with the service
4% 4% 26% 6%
Customers were basically wanted to understand the service. Their feedback towards AFL really helped in understanding their needs and problems. Some part of the customers was comfortable with the service and some churned because of removal of chat service.
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In this section basically we highlighted the customer feedback as per the profession. Blue collar personals were using the service from long time and finding it user friendly & comfortable service. Student also using this service and many of them were showing keen interest in the service and also want to subscribe it for trial period. These sections of subscribers are the major target segment for introducing AFL. White collar personals were not very much involved in the service as per their busy schedules and thats why needed to be educated about service. Some customers were uncomfortable using AFL, finding error in operating the service and also some subscribers found irritating receiving the promotional messages.
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Word of mouth, Personal needs and past experience forms the expected amount of service by a company. The company provides service based on its perception of customer expectation. The difference between the expected service and the perceived service is known as customer gap. Customer Gap: The difference between customer expectation and perception the service quality Gap. GAP 1: The difference between what customer expected and what management perceptions of customers expectations. GAP 2: The difference between managements perception of customer expectation and the translation of the perception into service quality specification and design. GAP 3: The difference between specification or standards of service quality and the actual service delivered to customers. GAP 4: The difference between the services delivered to customers and the promise of the firm to customer about its service quality.
Telenity suffers from communication gap. It is the gap between the delivery of services and the communication of the same to the customers.
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9. CONCLUSION:
During these two months of training in Telenity, I have come to the conclusion that there are certain problems with the product.
The customers get annoyed by receiving multiple promotional messages for the service. That is, there is a problem in not meeting the customer needs with respond to their queries.
Lack of awareness of Location Based Service in the Indian market. People get confused & hesitated in using AFL. Company image in the market is average. The customers using the service are satisfied with its performance, but the market is niche in current scenario.
Variation in price range of AFL service is available to customer, so he has a freedom to choose the plan as per their need and convenience. It becomes easy to convince them in the favour of the product.
9.1. LEARNINGS:
Convincing a person to buy any service is an art which cannot be taught by any teacher. The main mantra of telemarketing is to keep patience and deal with the customer with very pleasant tone and meeting his appropriate needs. It is necessary to know completely about the service i.e. from its physical details to technical details because a customer can ask anything. A telemarketer must not give any fake information to the customer about the product; it can harm the image of the company.
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10. RECOMMENDATIONS:
According to my observation during the two months in the Telenity. I would like to mention some recommendations to the company which are given below: The customers need to be educated as in Indian market people finds it uncomfortable using advanced VAS services i.e., Location Based Services (AFL). The service is in the growth stage in Indian market, so there is a need of more promotional activities to be done. The target market for promotional activities should be youth who are found interested towards the service. Promotional Campaigns should include videos on social networking sites educating the customers for user-friendly operation.
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11. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Marketing Management-An Asian Perspective, 13th Edition, Pearson Education. Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller, Ibrahim Koshy, Mithileshwar Jha. Business Research Methods, 4th Edition, Wiley India Edition, Uma Sekaran. http://www.google.co.in/ http://www.trai.gov.in http://www.telenity.com/ www.coai.in/
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12. APPENDIX
Questions Asked to customers
What is your profession? Are you using Airtel Friend Locator Service? Are you comfortable using this service? Do you want to know more about the service? What kind of problems did you faced while using this service? What is your feedback for this service?
Feeling bored? Hang out with your friends. Subscribe to Airtel Friend Locator ,dial*321*88# for Rs.1 /day ,select 1 to ADD FRIEND & have great fun together !! Are you concerned for security of your beloved ones, where they are now? Subscribe to Airtel Friend Locator, dial*321*88# for Rs.1 /day, and know where they are. Locate and Track your multiple buddies, Just Subscribe to Airtel Friend Locator, dial*321*88# for Rs.1 /day, and know where they right now.
Friend Locator subscribe karein 1 din ke liye Rs.1 se aur apne 10 Airtel doston ko yeh service FREE mein gift Karein 10 din ke liye. Dial *321*88# chune 1. Add Friend
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