A STUDY ON PREFERENCE OF SMEs FOR CLOSED USER GROUP PLANS FROM DIFFERENT TELECOM OPERATORSIN THE CHAKAN AREA

OF PUNE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I take immense pleasure in completing this project and submitting the final report. The last 45 days with AIRTEL has been full of learning and sense of contribution towards the organization. I would like to thank AIRTEL for giving me an opportunity of learning and contributing through this project. I also take this opportunity to thank all those people that made this experience a memorable one. A successful project can never be prepared by the single effort of the person to whom the project is assigned, but it also demand the help and guardianship of various people who actively Or passively helped in completion of the project. First of all I would like to thank my project guide Prof. Yogesh Bhaviskar for his great help. I would also like to thank Prof. Renu Bhargav (Executive Director) for her immense support. I would also like to thank Mr. Dushyant arora (Territory Manager) for his support and help. Also my sincere thanks towards Ms Chitra Battacharjee (Zonal Sales Manager, pune) for giving me a chance to take this project and for her valuable guidance, which helped me on all those points, which I needed to include in with full intensity, for her significant support extended for the successful completion of the project.

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW Introduction The Indian telecommunications industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. Government policies and regulatory framework implemented by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have provided conducive environment for service providers. This has made the sector more competitive, while enhancing the accessibility of telecommunication services at affordable tariffs to the consumers. In the last two decades, the Indian Telecom Sector and mobile telephony in particular has caught the imagination of India by revolutionizing the way we communicate, share information; and through its staggering growth helped millions stay connected. This growth, however, has and continues to be at the cost of the Climate, powered by an unsustainable and inefficient model of energy generation and usage. Simultaneously, this growth has also come at significant and growing loss to the state exchequer, raising fundamental questions on the future business and operation model of the Telecom sector. The telecom industry has witnessed significant growth in subscriber base over the last decade, with increasing network coverage and a competition-induced decline in tariffs acting as catalysts for the growth in subscriber base. The growth story and the potential have also served to attract newer players in the industry, with the result that the intensity of competition has kept increasing. The sector expected to witness up to US$ 56.3 billion investments and the market will cross the US$ 101 billion mark in five years.

Current Scenario The Indian telecom sector has witnessed tremendous growth over the past decade. Today, the Indian telecom network is the second largest in the world after China. A liberal policy regime and involvement of the private sector have played an important role in transforming this sector. The total number of telephones has increased from 429.73 million on 31 March 2009 to 926.55 million on 31December 2011. The telecom industry has witnessed significant growth in subscriber base over the last decade, with increasing network coverage and a competition-induced decline in tariffs acting as

catalysts for the growth in subscriber base. The growth story and the potential have also served to attract newer players in the industry, with the result that the intensity of competition has kept increasing. Also, broadband segment has seen significant growth with total internet subscribers reaching 20.99 million in September 2011, which includes 13.30 broadband subscribers. Liberalization of the sector has not only led to rapid growth but also helped a great deal towards maximization of consumer benefits, evident from a huge fall in tariffs. Telecom sector has witnessed a continuous rising trend in the total number of telephone subscribers and hence the teledensity. In simple terms, Teledensity is the number of landline telephones in use for every 100 individuals living within an area. A teledensity greater than 100 means there are more telephones than people. Third-world countries may have a teledensity of less than 10. Teledensity is also an important indicator of telecom penetration in the country. Teledensity has increased from 18.2 per cent in March 2007 to 76.86 per cent in December 2011. Teledensity varies across circles and there is significant urban-rural divide. While urban teledensity reached 167.4 percent at the end of December 2011 and rural teledensity was only 37.5 per cent. At circle levels also, while some circles such as Delhi (235.6 per cent), Mumbai (188.95 per cent), Kolkata (168.45 per cent), Chennai (170.18 per cent), and Himachal Pradesh (118.63 per cent) have high teledensity, in some circles such as Bihar (47.17 per cent) and Assam (45.85 percent), it is very low. The steps that been undertaken to improve teledensity, particularly in rural areas. The wireless segment broadly classified into GSM and CDMA segments based on the underlying technology. The GSM segment holds the majority of subscribers with 785.97 million at the end of Dec 2011. The remaining 107.88 million subscribers use CDMA based services. While the GSM segment is seeing a consistent increase in the number of subscribers, the CDMA segment is seeing a reduction. The CDMA wireless segment saw a decrease from 112.42 million at end of Sept 2011 to 107.88 million at the end of Dec 2011. In contrast the figures for GSM are 761.20 million and 785.97 million for Sept and Dec 2011 respectively. The overall wireless market and consequently the GSM market is led by Bharti Airtel which held 19.62% at the end of Feb 2012. It is followed by Reliance Communications, which holds 16.68%

of the market and also the leader in the CDMA segment. In the GSM segment, Vodafone and Idea closely follow Bharti Airtel while Tata and Sistema follow Reliance Communications in the CDMA segment.

COMPANY OVERVIEW NAME Bharti Airtel Limited. BUSINESS DESCRIPTION Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 269 million customers across its operations at the end of March 2013. ESTABLISHED July 07, 1995, as a Public Limited Company PROPORTIONATE REVENUE Rs. 204,484 million (ended March 31, 2013Audited) Rs. 187,294 million ( ended March 31, 2012Audited) As per IFRS Accounts PROPORTIONATE EBITDA SHARES IN ISSUE 3,797,530,096 as at March 31, 2013 LISTINGS Bombay Stock Exchange Limited (BSE) National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) ISIN INE397D01024 Rs. 64,870 million ( ended March 31, 2013 Audited) Rs. 62,329 million ( ended March 31, 2012Audited) As per IFRS Accounts

STOCK EXCHANGE SYMBOL NSE BHARTIARTL MARKET CAPITALISATION Stock Quote: BSE: INR 315.90 CUSTOMER BASE

BSE 532454

India & South Asia: 196,126,000 GSM mobile; 3,283,000 Tele media customers and 8,100,000Digital TV Services (status as on March 31, 2013) Africa: 63,718,000 GSM mobile customers. (status as on March 31, 2013) REGISTERED OFFICE Bharti Airtel Limited (A Bharti Enterprise) Bharti Crescent, 1 Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant Kunj, Phase II, New Delhi - 110 070. Tel. No.: +91 11 4666 6100 Fax No.: +91 11 4666 6411

BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal

JMD & CEO (India) Gopal Vittal

MD & CEO (International) Manoj Kohli

Director-Consumer Business#

Director B2B#

Executive Director Human Resources Krish Shankar

Supply Chain*

Director, Market Operations Ajai Puri

Director, Customer Experience Raghunath Mandava

Director Network Services Group Jagbir Singh

CFO Nilanjan Roy

Director Legal & Regulatory Jyoti Pawar

Director IT #

OBJECTIVES:

To find out the most preferred telecom brand To find out the average expenditure by companies on CUG plans To find out the average number of CUG connections per company To find out the most preferred CUG plan of Airtel To perform a competitive analysis between the plans offered by Airtel and the

competitors To find out the satisfaction level of the business buyers from their telecom operators

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY In consideration and requirement of the project objectives descriptive research was carried out.

Procedure: Acquiring knowledge of the product Deciding on the objectives to proceed Developing survey instruments Conducting personal interviews with HR/Admin executives through questionnaire Finally analyzing the collected data through above step and coming to conclusions

Research Design: This research was conducted in two stages: 1. Secondary Research: Data related to competitors was collected from outlets of competitors and internet.

2. Primary Research: A primary research was conducted; a questionnaire was designed in order to collect data.

Sampling technique: Cluster Sampling

Sampling design:

o Sampling Universe: All the SMEs in the Pune city o Sampling Frame: All the SMEs in the Chakan MIDC area o Sampling Size: A total of ___companies were approached for the study.

QUESTIONAIRE: 1. Company Details:

Company name: Address: Contact Number: Name of the concerned person:

2. Type of ownership of mobile services:

Company owned company paid (COCP) Company owned individual paid (COIP) Individual owned individual paid (IOIP)

3. Currently using CUG plans?

Yes

No

4. Current operator:________________

5. Current Plan details/ plan name:_________________

6. How long with the present network?

<6 months

6months -1 year

1 year 2 years

>2 years

7. Problems faced with the existing operator( whichever is applicable): Billing issues Network issues

Poor service

Others

8. Are you satisfied with call centre response you get?

Yes

No

9. On a scale of 1 to 5 rate the following aspects of your current operator responsible for choosing them. (5 max and 1 min.)

Brand Name CUG plan offered Advertising References Network and connectivity Add ons

10. How do you find the procedure, processes and activation associated with getting a telecom connection? Tick on the suitable point on the scale.

Extremely inconvenient

Extremely convenient

11. Rate your satisfaction level for the following parameters regarding the services offered by the operator (1 min 5 max):

Parameter VAS Customer Care Services GPRS and data Voice clarity Network Roaming facility Flexibility of tariffs

Rating

12. Would you like to give suggestions to improve the service level of telecom operators which would increase the satisfaction level of the business buyers?

YES Suggestions:

NO

___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________

Date: Place:

Limitations: Thought the detailed investigation is made in the present study, it has got the following limitations The project was constrained by time limit of 45 days. This study is restricted only to Chakan pune city. So the result may not be applicable to other areas. This sudy is based on the prevailing customers choice and customers satisfaction. But the customer satisfaction and choice may change according to time , fashion, technology development etc. People mindset about the survey was an obstacle in acquiring complete information and positive interaction. Recommendation: The company should go ahead with aggressive marketing. They should light competition on Awareness level Pricing Strategy

So the recommendations for these are as follows: Awareness: The company should sponsor local programs. The company should arrange briefing sessions at prominent clubs such as LIONS CLUB and ROTARY CLUBS etc. The company should organize awareness quizzes through Newspapers, Magazines & announce suitable rewards accordingly. The company should distribute,1 leaflets of Airtel cellular in posh colonies of pune.

Pricing: The company should look for the strategies of the competitive companies. The company should try its level best to keep the price low as compare to competitiors.

The schemes should be updated as per the needs and occasions.

Bibliography: GC berry-mktg research,chapter2,page no.59-124 CR Kothari,research methodology,chapter 1&5,page no.10-23&49-56. Philip kotler, marketing mgmt. 12th edition ,chapter4,page no 101-136