ON (MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRTEL) SUBMITTED BY (SAVINAY CHAUDHARY) 14819201709 STUDENT OF LINGAYA`S LALITA DEVI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT & SCIENCES MANDI ROAD, NEW DELHI-110047 FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF BACHELOR IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SUBMITTED TO GURU GOBIND SINGH INDRAPASTHA UNIVERSITY DELHI, INDIA CERTIFICATE Certified that this project report ~ MARKETING STRAREGY OF AIRTEL is the bonafide work of ~ SAVINAY CHAUDHARY who carried out the project work under the supervision of ANKITA DHAMI1A .
SIGNATURE SIGNATURE DR. R. K GUPTA MISS. ANKITA DHAMI1A HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT Project Incharge
BBA BBA LLDIMS LLDIMS
2 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the project work entitled ~MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRTEL submitted to the GGS INDRAPRASTHA UNIVERSITY, is a record of an original work done by me under the guidance of SAVINAY CHAUDHARY, Faculty Member, LINGAYA`S LALITA DEVI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND SCIENCE, and this project work has not performed the basis for the award of any Degree to the best of my knowledge. SAVINAY CHAUDHARY] 14819201709] SIGNATURE OF STUDENT] 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I owe a great many thanks to a great many people who helped and supported me during the writing of this report. My deepest thanks to Lecturer, Ankita Dhamija for correcting arious documents of mine with attention and care. !e has taken pain to go through the project and make necessary correction as and when needed. I e"press my thanks to the !#D of $$A, for e"tending his support. %hanks and appreciation to the helpful people at our Institute, for their support. I would also like to thank my Institute and my faculty mem&ers without whom this project would hae &een a distant ' TALE OF CONTENTS (. %)L)*#MM+,I*A%I#, MA-.)% I, I,DIA 2. /0M MA-.)% I, I,DIA 3. I,%-#D+*%I#, '. %A-I11 0%-+*%+-) 2. 3-#M#%I#,AL 0%-A%)/4 5. MA-.)% 0I%+A%I#, 6. *#M3)%I%I7) 0I%+A%I#, 8. MA-.)%I,/ 0%-A%)/4 ADA3%)D $4 $!A-%I 9. #$:)*%I7) (;. -)0)A-*! M)%!#D#L#/4 ((. LIMI%A%I#, (2. 0<#% A,AL40I0 (3. *#,*L+0I#, ('. $I$LI#/-A3!4 (2. =+)0%I#,,AI-) 2 TELECOMMUNICATION MARKET IN INDIA %he Indian telecommunications ,etwork with 22;m telephone connections is the fifth largest in the world and is the second largest among the emerging economies of Asia. %oday it is the fastest growing market in the world and represents uni>ue opportunities for +. companies in the stagnant glo&al scenario. %ele?density, which was languishing at 2@ in (999, has shown an impressie jump to 9.2@ in 2;;5 and (;.2@ in 2;;6 and is set to increase to 2;@ in the ne"t fie years &eating the /ot. target &y three years. Accordingly, India re>uires incremental inestments of +0D 2;?22 &ln for the ne"t fie years. 3riate operators hae made mo&ile telephony the fastest growing Aoer (5'@ p.a.B in India. <ith more than 33 million users A&oth *DMA and /0MB, wireless is the principal growth engine of the Indian telecom industry. /ien the current growth trends, cellular connections in India will surpass fi"ed line &y late 2;;'Cearly 2;;2. Intense competition &etween the four main priate groups ? $harti, 7odafone, %ata and -eliance and with the 0tate sector incum&ents?$0,L and M%,L has &rought a&out a significant drop in tariffs. %here has &een almost 6'@ in cell phone charges, 6;@ in ILD calls and 22@ drop in ,LD charges, resulting in a &oom time for the consumers. %he /oernment has played a key ena&ling role &y deregulating and li&eralising the industry, ushering in competition and paing the way for growth. <hile there were regulatory irregularities earlier, resulting in litigation, these hae all &een 5 addressed now. *ustoms duties on hardware and mo&ile handsets hae &een reduced from (' percent to 2 percent. %he Indian goernment has merged the I% and %elecom Ministries to speed up reforms and decision on the *ommunication *onergence $ill to ena&le the common regulation of the Internet, &roadcasting and telecoms will &e taken after the new /oernment assumes responsi&ilities in may this year. An independent regulatory &ody A%-AIB and dispute settlement &ody A%D0A%B is fully functional. INDIAN CELLULAR MARKET %he $harti /roup, which operates in 23 circles, continues to &e the countryDs largest cellular operator, with 2; lakh su&scri&ers. $0,L, which operates in 22 circles, has a su&scri&er &ase of 36 lakh su&scri&ers. %hus $0,L stands second largest cellular operator in terms of su&scri&er &ase at the end of the fiscal ending March 3(, 2;;6, displacing 7odafone from the second position. 7odafone, which operates in only eighteen circles, is the third largest operator with a su&scri&er &ase of 32 lakh. +nlike fellow pu&lic sector undertaking, M%,L, which operates in Mum&ai and Delhi, $0,L has &een a ery aggressie player in the market. E*ellular operators who e"pected $0,L to go the M%,L way, were taken &y surprise and did not take effectie steps to counter it, till it was too late in the day,E said a telecom analyst. $elying fears of a slowdown in cellular su&scri&er ac>uisitions, the cell clu& has reported a 6.92@ growth, the highest growth in any month so far, during March 6 2;;2. 4ear?on?year, the cellular su&scri&er &ase in the country has almost dou&led in March 2;;2, and is e"panding at the rate of 22@ per year thereafter. %he cellular su&scri&er clu& e"panded &y 2(.3( lakh last month. %his is much higher than 2.9 lakh su&scri&ers added in 1e&ruary 2;;2 and 2.(3 lakh in :anuary 2;;2. Idea, which operates in 0een circles, is the fourth largest operator with a su&scri&er &ase of (6.8; lakh, higher than $3LDs ((.3( lakh su&scri&ers across four circles. %he su&scri&er num&ers per operator drop sharply with the si"th largest operator, 0pice *ommunications, haing a su&scri&er &ase of 9.'; lakh, followed &y -eliance %elecomDs 8.9 lakh su&scri&ers. M%,L is the ninth largest operator, with a &ase of 8.32 lakh su&scri&ers. <hile the su&scri&er &ase?jumped &y 3.38@ to ''.39 lakh in the metros, su&scri&er &ase of category A circles of Maharashtra, /ujarat, Andhra 3radesh, .arnataka and %amil ,adu jumped &y (;.(8 @ to reach '3.5' lakh. *ategory $ circles of .erala, 3unja&, !aryana, +ttar 3radesh A<estB, +ttar 3radesh A)astB, -ajasthan, Madhya 3radesh and <est $engal recorded a jump of (;.59@, with a total &ase of 33.6' lakh su&scri&ers. *ircle * has reported (2.6' @ growth with su&scri&er num&ers jumping to 2.;8 lakh. Among the metros, while Mum&ai added (,53,(8; su&scri&ers, higher than the (,28,5'5 added &y Delhi, the *apitalDs cellular su&scri&er &ase of oer 8; lakh is still higher than Mum&aiDs 55.89 lakh. <hile the cellular industry has &een on roll for the first three >uarters of the preious financial year with an aerage of (5.62 8 lakh monthly additions in the third >uarter, the first two months of 2;;6 had seen the growth slowing down. 9 GSM MARKET IN INDIA Regional Interest Groups - GSM India <ith a population of around (.( &illion growing at roughly (.6 per cent a year, India is potentially one of the most e"citing /0M markets in the world. After two rather difficult years, the past (2 months hae seen the regionDs promise &eginning to come to fruition. Much of this success can &e attri&uted to the sta&ilisation of the licensing and regulatory enironment. IndiaDs telecommunications hae undergone a steady li&eralisation since (99' when the Indian goernment first sought priate inestment in the sector. More significant li&eralisation followed in (995 with the licensing of new local fi"ed line and mo&ile serice proiders. !oweer, it has &een the goernmentDs ,ew %elecom 3olicy A(999B that has had the most radical impact on the deelopment of /0M serices. D%he policyDs mission statement is Dafforda&le communications (; for allD, %here is a genuine commitment to creating a modern and efficient communications infrastructure that takes account of the conergence of telecom, I% and media. In addition, the policy places significant emphasis on greater competition for &oth fi"ed and mo&ile serices.D *ompetition in the mo&ile sector has already had a isi&le impact on prices with calls currently costing less than 9 cents per minute. %his means that serice costs hae fallen &y 5; per cent since the first /0M networks &ecame lie in (992. It also helps e"plain why a recent %elecom Asia surey reealed that more than 6; per cent of Indian mo&ile su&scri&ers felt that prices were now at a reasona&le leel. #ne of the challenges facing /0M operators in India is the diersity of the coerage regions ?from remote rural regions to some of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the world. India has more than '; networks, which coer the seen largest cities, oer 6;;; towns and seeral Lacs illages. 0uch depth of coerage has re>uired enormous inestment from IndiaDs operators. It is estimated that more than -s2;; &illion had &een inested in IndiaDs /0M industry &y mid?2;;;, a figure that is set to &e supplemented &y a further -s. 3;; &illion oer the ne"t fie years. %he good news is that su&scri&er growth is &eginning to look healthy. <ith IndiaDs low 3* penetration and high aerage Internet usage ?at ('?2; hours a month per user it is compara&le to the +0 ?the market for mo&ile data and m?commerce (( looks e"tremely promising. <A3 serices hae already &een launched in the su&continent and the first /3-0 networks are in the process of &eing rolled out. In the year ahead, /0M India will work with its mem&ers to realise the potential of early packet serices in anticipation of the award of 3/0M licences. India fastest growing GSM mart India is e"pected to hae ('2 million /0M Aglo&al system for mo&ile communicationsB customers &y 2;;6?;8 compared to 25 million su&scri&ers as on March 2;;2, according to the /lo&al Mo&ile 0uppliers Association. E1or /0M, India is a success story. It is one of the fastest growing markets with its su&scri&er &ase dou&ling in 2;;2. At this pace, the target of (2; million su&scri&ers &y 2;;6? 2;;8 is definitely achiea&le,E Alan !adden, president of /0A, said at a news conference in ,ew Delhi. /lo&ally, the /0M market reached ( &illion users in 1e&ruary 2;;2, he said, adding /0M accounted for 8; per cent of the new su&scri&er growth in 2;;2.EAlmost eery Latin American operator has chosen /0M. In ,orth America /0M growth is &igger than *DMA Acode diision multiple accessB,E he said. *ommenting on the raging de&ate oer /0M ersus *DMA in mo&ile serices arena, !adden saidF E/0M is the worldDs most successful mo&ile standard with oer ( &illion users, and is an open mo&ile standard. It also supports automatic international roaming, which is a major contri&utor to &usiness plans.E (2 India`s GSM mobile firms` revenue up 30 pct IndiaGs priate telecoms firms offering /0M?&ased mo&ile serices reported a 2' percent rise in reenue in the year to March 2;;6 &ut said future growth rates could slow &ecause of heay ta"es on the nascent industry. Although IndiaGs mo&ile sector is the worldGs fastest growing major wireless market, it is amongst the highest ta"ed industries in the country. Mo&ile carriers pay as much as 22 percent of their reenue as licence fee, spectrum charges and other ta"es. %he *ellular #perators Association of India A*#AIB said reenue for fiscal 2;;3C;' stood at 83.;8 &illion rupees AH(.85 &illionB compared with 5' &illion rupees a year earlier. According to %.7. -amachandran, director general at *#AI, I%hese reenue growth rates cannot &e maintained unless there is a concerted effort &y the goernment to cut e"cessie leies and allow sharing of infrastructureJ I$ut the potential to do much &etter e"ists as there is still huge demand in the sector.J -amachandran said the sector was still losing money &ut declined to ela&orate. 0ales jumped &ecause of a dou&ling of the /0M A/lo&al 0ystem of Mo&ile *ommunicationsB user &ase as more people entered the flourishing market thanks to one of the lowest call rates in the world. $ut the monthly aerage reenue per user, a key measure of profita&ility, declined (6.' percent to '32 rupees in the fourth >uarter compared with 223 rupees in the first >uarter due to a cut in tariffs and e"cessie competition among companies. /rowth slowing, demand untappedF %he association has not included the financial performance and the /0M?user &ase of state?run firms $harat 0anchar ,igam Ltd, the second? (3 ranked player, and Mahanagar %elephone ,igam Ltd, -amachandran said. %here are (2; million /0M customers and more than 95 million users of the rial *DMA?&ased mo&ile serices in the country. %he pace of growth in monthly additions is slowing after just (.22 million users took up the serice in April compared with (.9 million in the preious month and (.53 million in 1e&ruary. -amachandran &lamed the slowdown on a majority of small /0M operators &eing una&le to e"pand networks into rural swathes where demand remained largely untapped. I#ur surpluses are not enough to coer costs of network e"pansion and financing charges on loans. <e are making money only to coer operating e"penses,J he said. *arriers are now su&sidising handset costs to woo users into the underpenetrated industry forecast to hae more than 22; million customers &y 2;;6. -oughly three percent of Indians own a mo&ile phone compared with a&out 2; percent in *hina. A&out a doKen firms such as $harti Airtel Ltd, 28 percent owned &y 0ingapore %elecommunications, -eliance Infocomm Ltd and the Indian /0M?unit of 7odafone group &attle in the hotly competitie sector. (' DOES GSM HAVE THE EDGE? /0M operators are not the only ones who are worried a&out the rapid strides made &y *DMA mo&ile players -eliance Infocomm and %ata Indicom in the Indian cellular marketL %he /0M suppliers M &oth handset and e>uipment ? who incidentally also hae their other foot firmly placed in the *DMA pie, are &eginning to lose some sleep oer what was earlier termed as NnicheG and NminusculeG data carriage market &y the operators Apart from the strong success of the two *DMA operators whose networks are &ased on code diision multiple access A*DMAB, the misera&le showing of the four glo&al standard for mo&ile A/0MB &ased networks that launched general packet radio serice A/3-0B serice for data connectiity in last three years, has (2 the endors worried. /lo&al mo&ile 0uppliers Association A/0AB now &eliees that een though India will primarily remain a oice traffic?led market in ne"t two?three years, the data traffic component will grow &y 22?3; per cent, an optimism that itGs trying to make /0M operators feel as well.
THE CDMA CHALLENGE *DMA players had launched their serices with *DMA 2;;; (O?&ased networks, which can gie hi?speed, always?on connectiity to the Internet, and other data serices. /0M operators, on the other hand, hae had to migrate from the frustrating e"perience of <A3 Awireless application protocolB to /3-0, which has not significantly improed the su&scri&erGs e"perience of surfing the ,et onCfrom mo&ile. %he top &rass of /0A, an organisation comprising ,okia, 0iemens, )ricsson, Alcatel and Lucent %echnologies ? met on %uesday in the capital to persuade the (5 operators to adopt )D/) A)nhanced Data rates for /0M )olutionB and leae /3-0 &ehind as a dream gone sour. #nly Airtel, 7odafone, $3L Mo&ile and Idea *ellular had launched /3-0, &ut the data transfer speeds of /3-0 hae &een a&ysmal. %he field trials gae a speed of around 2' k&ps, &ut the actual speeds hae not e"ceeded ('?(8 k&ps, a major reason why /3-0 growth has &een so slow. As against the total /0M cellular &ase of 2.5( crore, the country has &etween 2,8;,;;; lakh /3-0 users only. In comparison, the two *DMA operators hae a&out (2; lakh connections. All these sets are data compliant. %hough no figures are aaila&le as to how many use these for data serices, the figure is &elieed to &e respecta&le as a percentage ratio for *DMA. Bharti is almost there $ut first, the )D/)P $harti *ellular is close to commercially launching its )D/) serice in Delhi and Mum&ai &y end May or early :une, sources said. %he company was the first to conduct field trials in ,oem&er with its e>uipment supplier )ricsson. Idea too held )D/) field trials in 1e&ruary this year with its endor ,okia. 7odafone and $3L are yet to hold the trials. %he two companies would eentually migrate to )D/), &ut perhaps after seeing the response to $hartiGs serice. )D/) holds the promise of deliering data speeds of around (6;?(8; k&ps Aas against the theoretical speed of around 38; k&psB which, if achieed, promises the launch of many data applications. %he scala&le cost of migrating from /3-0 to (6 )D/) is not too high and mainly comprises software upgrades in case of a modern network such as $harti and !utch, claimed chairman of /0A India chapter -akesh Malik.
Will GSM maintain its headstart? At the /0M )olution 1orum held in ,ew Delhi, /0A president Alan !adden predicted that /0M growth will far outstrip *DMA as was happening glo&ally. !e felt India could hae as many as 2;; million /0M su&scri&ers &y 2;;6?2;;8, up from nine million in Decem&er 2;;'. According to /0A, there are oer (.( &illion /0M su&scri&ers worldwide as against 22; million *DMA customers. %he reenue of top 22 glo&al operators from data aerages (8 per cent and 22 of these operators run /0M networks. #erall, there are 65 operators in 2; countries that hae committed to deploy )D/). Almost eery country has a /0M?&ased network and een those +0 operators, which operated on now?defunct %DMA technology, were migrating gradually to /0M, not *DMA, pointed out !adden at the /0M )olution 1orum. %he 1orum is a glo&al /0A program to assist the operators for eolution to third generation A3/B technologies. I3eople are using their phones for much more than oice. 1ifteen networks hae commercially launched )D/) as it can run 3/ like serices in the e"isting spectrum for the operators without needing a 3/ license. )en the migration to a full?fledged 3/ leel of <ide&and *DMA A<*DMAB will &e smooth with )D/),J said !adden. (8 I$esides, the automatic roaming proided &y /0M networks in almost 2;; countries is a power that *DMA doesnGt gie you. <e know for sure that almost 2;?22 per cent of the reenue for some /0M operators comes from roaming customers,J he added. $ut *DMA is no pushoer with .orea and 3hilippines as the shining jewels in its crown. %he first *DMA 2;;; (O was commercially deployed in #cto&er 2;;;.
Already, 8( operators hae launched 66 *DMA 2;;; (O networks whereas nine hae launched serices &ased on (")7?D# platform across Asia, the Americas and )urope. At least, (5 new (O and si" (")7?D# networks are scheduled to &e deployed in 2;;', according to *DMA Deelopment /roup. )7?D# and )7?D7 are the ne"t leel of eolution on the *DMA 2;;; (O platform, capa&le of deliering serices compara&le to 3/ <*DMA.
Where are the models? <hat will matter a lot in this war will &e the aaila&ility of )D/) compliant handsets at afforda&le rates. <hile the two *DMA operators hae &een giing out handsets that can gie hi?speed data transfer, same has not &een the case with /0M. )en now, /3-0 handsets hae not &ecome commonplace and /3-0 feature is found only in mid and high?end segment handsets.
End sum game (9 <hen the networks deploy )D/), su&scri&ers can e"pect the deliery of adanced mo&ile serices such as easy downloading of ideo and music clips, full multimedia messaging, &esides high?speed Internet and e?mail access, proided their handset supports all this. $ut the real cruncher will &e the migration at a later stage to 3/ technologies such as <*DMA, )7?D# or )7?DA as and when the goernment decides what to do with the 3/ licences. <*DMA for e"ample promises deliery of a phenomenal 2 mega&ytes per second Am&psB, e>uialent to what a leased line in many middle leel corporates gies.
More importantly, <*DMA will spawn a whole new range of full motion audio? ideo applications, including ideo telephony. /0M lo&&y may continue to remain gung ho oer the future of their technologies oer that &oosted &y the American firms =ualcomm and Motorola, &ut Indian market could well throw an interesting scenario that industry e"perts will do well to watch. In the coming months, -eliance plans to offer its *DMA su&scri&ers much more than what /0M players intend to delier through their )D/) for their su&scri&ers.
<ho succeeds in this &attle for mo&ile customerGs eye&alls is most difficult to predict. A .orea and :apan may not &e waiting to happen in India, &ut India will pro&a&ly &e more like the *hinese market with &oth standards co?e"isting. 1or now, /0M rulesP 2; INTRODUCTION Airtel (Bharti Airtel Ltd.) $harti Airtel Limited was incorporated on :uly 6, (992 for promoting inestments in telecommunications serices. Its su&sidiaries operate telecom serices across India. $harti Airtel is IndiaDs leading priate sector proider of telecommunications serices &ased on a strong customer &ase consisting of 2; million total customers, which constitute, ''.5 million mo&ile and 2.' million fi"ed line customers, as of March 3(, 2;;6. Airtel comes to us from $harti Airtel Limited ? a part of the &iggest priate integrated telecom conglomerate, $harti )nterprises. $harti proides a range of telecom serices, which include *ellular, $asic, Internet and recently introduced ,ational Long Distance. $harti also manufactures and e"ports telephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from &eing the largest manufacturer of 2( telephone instruments in India, it is also the first company to e"port its products to the +0A. $harti has also put its footsteps into Insurance and -etail segment in colla&oration with Multi? ,ational giants. $harti is the leading cellular serice proider, with a footprint in 23 states coering all four metros and more than 2; million satisfied customers. SERVICES Airtel Prepaid Airtel 3repaid, the -eady *ellular *ard from Airtel comes to you from $harti )nterprises, IndiaDs leading integrated telecom serice proider. /oing mo&ile with Airtel 3repaid is a new way of life. <ith a host of great features, also simple to use, Airtel 3repaid makes eerything that you dreamt and &elieed, possi&le. Total Cost Control 4ou can control your Airtel 3repaid like neer &efore. ,o more rentals or deposits M simply recharge as much as you need to from as low as -s. (;, to as high as -s. (;,;;;C?. Pre activated STD/ISD without deposits or rentals 4ou can now enjoy a pre?actiated 0%DCI0D on your Airtel 3repaid. ,o more paying deposits or haing a minimum &alance in your account to make an 0%DCI0D call. !assle?free calls are here to stayP 22 Strong Network Coverage )njoy complete clarity when calling with AirtelGs world?class technology and un&reaka&le network coerage that spans oer 23 circles across the country. Instant Balance and Validity Enquiry 4our account &alance is updated on the screen of your handset at the end of each chargea&le call. 4ou can also call (23 from your mo&ile phone and listen to the oice announcement or simply dial Q(23R, press D#.D or D4)0D &utton and your account &alance will &e displayed on the screen of your handset. Recharge your Airtel Prepaid -echarging is )asy. %he calling alue on your card keeps reducing as you make calls or use any other chargea&le serice. *hoose the Airtel 3repaid -echarge *oupon thatGs right for you, from a ariety of tailorM made recharge coupons with different denominations, which are aaila&le at a num&er of outlets across your city. 0imply follow the procedure mentioned &elow, to recharge your phone.
Prepaid Roaming Airtel 3repaid comes preactiated with D,ational -oamingD, so you stay connected no matter whereer you are. 4ou can also send or receie MM0, check your email and access other /3-0 serices while roaming in India as you would in your own city. <hile traeling a&road you can receie calls S send or receie 0M0. 23 Other Services Airtel &rings you, a wide range of 0erices that will change the way you communicate. %ry them and discoer a whole new world of fun and e"citement. Call management Services *all waiting, call hold, call diert and *aller Line Identification 3resentation M all with your Airtel prepaid connection. Voice Mail <hen your handset is switched off, or youGre too &usy to answer the phone, Airtel 7oicemail will answer your calls and record a message. %he &est part is that thereDs no e"tra monthly cost for setting up 7oicemail ? you just pay for the phone call when you use the serice. SMS (Short Messaging Service) 0end messages >uickly and easily using te"t, if itDs too noisy to talk or you donDt hae much time. ItDs the way to share those interesting one?liners, important reminders and ri&?tickling jokes, with anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world. Subscription Alerts /et regular alerts on news, jokes, &usiness, health and films on your Airtel mo&ile phone with 0u&scription 0erices. 0M0 T0+$ ,)<0U to 3333 for ,ews, T0+$ :#.)U for :okes, T0+$ $IVU for $usiness ,ews, T0+$ 03#U for 0ports Alerts S T0+$ 7AA0%+U for 7aastu tips. 2' MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service): :aKK up your messages with pictures, images and ideo clippings, with MM0 from AirtelP %o actiate MM0 on your phone, 0M0 DMM0D to 25'52 and sae serice settings. Airtel Live! Make your mo&ile the most happening entertainment destination with Airtel LieP Airtel &rings you the latest in entertainment and information serices, right on your phoneP Airtel Live! WAP ServicesF Download the latest ring tones, games, wallpapers, ideos and much more. 4ou can also get news clips, watch lie %7 and download full songs on you phone. %o get Airtel LieP settings on your phone, 0M0 DLieD to 25'52 and sae the settings that you receie as your preferred connection. Airtel LieP 3ortal can &e accessed from you /3-0 ena&led phone, &y sending a 0M0 D1+,D to 25'52. Airtel Live! Voice ServicesF :ust Dial 25'52, and name the serice. 1or e.g. say ring tones to download your faorite ring tones. 4ou can also choose a ariety of content options like Lie *ricket *ommentary, latest ,ational C International ,ews, Moie -eiews or 0tock Market +pdates. Airtel Live! SIM ServicesF Access loads of fun content and e"citing serices like cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few &uttons with Airtel LieP 0IM &ased 0erices on your 0IM card menu. %o download new serices on your Airtel 0IM, choose the E<hatDs newE option under the EAirtel sericesE menu. Airtel Live! SMS Services: 4ou can enjoy a host of serices &y sending a 22 keyword as an 0M0 to 25'52P *hoose Astrology C !oroscope, *ricket, $ollywood C !ollywood C Indi 3op -ing tones. In case you need assistance 0M0, !elp to 25'52. 25 Hello Tunes %ired of that &oring old Wtring tringG on your phoneL <ell now when a friend calls, you can make them grooe to the hottest new tracks &urning up the music charts with !ello %unes from AirtelP 4ou get a wide choice of songs in the 3opular S ,ew Arrials categories that are updated regularly. <hatDs more you can directly call the num&er for your kind of music, e.g. call 568;;2 for )nglish ,ew and 568;;( for !indi ,ew. %his would directly take you to your faorite artistDs !ello %unes listing. Copy a Hello Tune /et the tune you want, all you hae to do is call 22;22 and follow the simple oice instructions to copy your faorite !ello %unes. #nce inside the copy feature, just key in the (;?digit Airtel mo&ile num&er you want to copy the !ello %une from and you get the same !ello %une assigned to your num&er. Gift a Hello Tune 1orget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. 0ay it with a song insteadP /ift a !ello %une to that special someone. :ust call 22;22 and choose the song that you want to gift. 1ollow the simple oice instructions and key in the (;?digit Airtel mo&ile num&er that you want to gift the !ello %une to. 4ou will get an 0M0 notification upon successful receipt of that gift. Buy Music - Airtel Music Shops 26 $uying your faorite !ello %une or -ing tone is as simple as recharging your phone with talk time. 0imply walk into your nearest Airtel 0hop and walk out with your faorite song. *hoose from $ollywood !its to Indipop -emi"es, !ard -ock to /ujrati /ar&a, $hajans to :aKK, $hangra $eats to foot tapping %amil !its from a list of more than (8;;; songs. Reach us Anytime Anywhere In case you need assistance, dial D(2(D ? our toll?free num&er, accessi&le from anywhere in the country, een while roaming. 4ou can also send us an 0M0 to (2( or mail us at 121airtelindia.com. QIn case of email, mention your mo&ile no. like, 9810012345, in the su&ject of the mail for a >uicker response. Airtel Postpaid Airtel welcomes you to a i&rant world of unlimited opportunities. More e"citing, innoatie yet simple new ways to communicate, just when you want to, not just through words &ut ideas, emotions and feelings. %o gie you the unlimited freedom to reach out to your special people in your special way. Easy Billing )njoy a host of rich features only with Airtel e?&ill. -egister free on WMy AirtelG section and iew your monthly &ill with call details for last three months. 0ort your calls &etween personal and official or analyKe your usage, at the click of a &utton. %o change your tariff plan call our I7- at (2( and leae a re>uest. 28 Easy Payment Options. Anytime Anywhere 4ou can choose from a host of conenient payment options only with Airtel. <alk into any Airtel relationship centre and make your payments &y cash or credit card. Drop a che>ue at any of the drop &o"es for making payments or simply log on to My Airtel section and pay instantly through your credit card. 4ou can also opt for easy payment options likeF Standing Instructions 4ou can gie us standing instructions to de&it your credit card account for your monthly Airtel &ills. All you hae to do is fill the 0tanding Instruction 1orm and mail, fa" it to us or drop it any of our relationship centres. 29 Electronic Clearing System 1ill an )*0 form and mail, fa" it to us or drop it any of our relationship centres to directly de&it your &ank account for your monthly Airtel &ill. Pay while roaming Airtel has introduced DAnywhere paymentD that offers you the conenience of making payments while you roam. <alk in to any Airtel -elationship *entre in the country, make payments &y cash or credit card and enjoy uninterrupted Airtel 0erices. Credit limit 4our pre?set credit limit mentioned on your monthly &ill helps you keep your mo&ile charges in control, keeps track of your usage and ensures that your mo&ile phone is not misused. 0hould you e"ceed your credit limit, you will &e informed ia a oice or a non?oice message to make an interim payment and reduce your account &alance &elow your credit limit. 4ou may also choose to pay us an additional refunda&le deposit to enhance your credit limit or opt for our conenient payment method of *redit *ard 0tanding instruction .4ou can also make use of )*0 facility. 3; Strong Network Coverage )njoy complete clarity when calling with Airtel .It offers you world class technology and un&reaka&le network coerage that spans oer 23 circles across the country. Long Distance Calling Facility *all long distance calls in India and #erseas with 0%D C I0D facility on your Airtel phone. Widest Roaming - National and International AirtelDs roaming serice allows you to stay connected and use your mo&ile phone to make or receie calls from almost anywhere in India and also oer (5; countries, a&road. GPRS - Roaming +se Airtel 3ostpaidDs /3-0 serices, while roaming, to access the internet and office mails Aeg. $lack$erry sericesB, from almost anywhere in India and a&road. Say it. In more than just words, with Services from Airtel Airtel &rings you a wide range of 0erices that will change the way you communicate. %ry them and discoer a whole new world of fun and e"citement. Call management Services *all waiting, call hold, call diert and *aller Line Identification 3resentation, help you do more with your Airtel 3ostpaid connectionP 3( Conference call 4ou can hold a teleconference with 2 people simultaneously with *all *onferencing serice from Airtel. In fact, you can set up a conference een when the other fie are using a landline phone. %o know more, call customer serice at (2(. Missed call alert A missed call alert is a 0M0 that you will receie for all the calls that you missed. %he 0M0 will detail the *LI and the time when the call was made. %o actiate, dial Q(32Q2R then press the call &utton and wait for the re>uest to &e completed. Voice Mail <hen your handset is switched off, or youGre too &usy to answer the phone, Airtel 7oicemail will answer your calls and record a message. %he &est part is that thereDs no e"tra monthly cost for setting up 7oicemail ? you just pay for the phone call when you use the serice. 32 SMS (Short Messaging Service) 0end messages >uickly and easily, using te"t, if itDs too noisy to talk or you donDt hae much time. ItDs the way to 0hare those interesting one?liners, important reminders and ri&?tickling jokes, with anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world. Subscription Alerts /et regular alerts on news, jokes, &usiness, health and films on your Airtel mo&ile phone with Subscription Services. 0M0 T0+$ ,)<0U for ,ews, T0+$ :#.)U for :okes, T0+$ $IVU for $usiness ,ews, T0+$ 03#U for 0ports Alerts S T0+$ 7AA0%+U for 7aastu tips to 3333. MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service): :aKK up your messages with pictures, images and ideo clippings, with MM0 from AirtelP %o actiate MM0 on your phone, 0M0 DMM0D to 25'52 and sae serice settings. Airtel Live! Make your mo&ile the most happening entertainment destination with Airtel LieP Airtel &rings you the latest in entertainment and information serices, right on your phoneP Airtel Live! WAP ServicesF Download the latest ringtones, games, wallpapers, ideos and much more. 4ou can also get news clips, watch lie %7 and download full songs on you phoneP %o get Airtel LieP settings on your phone 0M0 DLieD to 33 25'52 and sae the settings that you receie as your preferred connection. Airtel LieP 3ortal can &e accessed from you /3-0 ena&led phone, &y sending a 0M0 D1+,D to 25'52. Airtel Live! Voice ServicesF :ust Dial 25'52 and say the name of the serice. 1or e.g. say W-ing tonesG to download your faourite ring tones. 4ou can also choose a ariety of content options like Lie *ricket *ommentary, latest ,ational C International ,ews, Moie -eiews or 0tock Market +pdates. Airtel Live! SIM ServicesF Access loads of fun content and e"citing serices like cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few &uttons with Airtel LieP 0IM &ased 0erices on your 0IM card menu. %o download new serices on your Airtel 0IM, choose the E<hatDs newE option under the EAirtel sericesE menu. Airtel Live! SMS Services: 4ou can enjoy a host of serices &y sending a keyword as an 0M0 to 25'52 P *hoose Astrology C !oroscope, *ricket, $ollywood C !ollywood C Indi 3op -ing tones. In case you need assistance 0M0 W!elpG to 25'52. 3' GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) Log on to the internet, with /3-0 that allows data transmission at a higher speed. Access e?mails and internet across AirtelDs pan?India presence using DMo&ile #fficeD with your phone or a phone and laptop &oth. Get the EDGE $rowse the internet on your mo&ile phone with AirtelDs )D/) serices. )njoy lie %7, enhanced <A3 e"perience and Airtel Data *ards on our high speed network. Hello Tunes %ired of that &oring old Wtring tringG on your phoneL <ell now when a friend calls, you can make them grooe to the hottest new tracks &urning up the music charts with !ello %unes from AirtelP 4ou get a wide choice of songs in the 3opular S ,ew Arrials categories that are updated regularly. <hatDs more, you can directly call the num&er for your kind of music, e.g. call 568;;2 for W)nglish ,ewG and 568;;( for W!indi ,ewG. %his would directly take you to your faourite artistDs !ello %unes listing. 32 Copy a Hello Tunes Like a tune you want, all you hae to do is call 22;22 and follow the simple oice instructions to copy your faourite !ello %unes. #nce inside the copy feature, just key in the (;?digit Airtel mo&ile num&er you want to copy the !ello %une from and you get the same !ello %une assigned to your num&er. Gift a Hello Tunes 1orget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. 0ay it with a song insteadP /ift a !ello %une to that special someone. :ust call 22;22 and choose the song that you want to gift. 1ollow the simple oice instructions and key in the (;?digit Airtel mo&ile num&er that you want to gift the !ello %une to. 4ou will get an 0M0 notification upon successful receipt of that gift. Buy Music - Airtel Music Shops $uying your faourite !ello %une or -ingtone is as simple as recharging your phone with talktime. 0imply walk into your nearest Airtel 0hop and walk out with your faourite song. *hoose from $ollywood !its to Indipop -emi"es, !ard -ock to /ujrati /ar&a, $hajans to :aKK, $hangra $eats to foot tapping %amil !its from a list of more than (8;;; songs. 35 Reach us, Anytime Anywhere In case you need assistance, dial D(2(D ? our toll?free num&er, accessi&le from anywhere in the country, een while roaming. QIn case of email, mention your mo&ile no. like 9810012345 in the su&ject of the mail for a >uicker response. TARIFF STRUCTURE Prepaid Tariffs Airtel 3repaid -eady *ellular *ard and -echarge *ards are aaila&le, all oer the city at oer retail outlets including 2'?hour outlets. Airtel 3repaid -eady *ellular *ard and -echarge *ards are aaila&le, all oer the city at oer retail outlets including 2'?hour outlets. 36 Airtel Prepaid Regular 449 SUK
Pulse Rate 5; sec Price of Pack (Rs.) -s.''9 Free Airtime on Pack (Rs.) ,il Incoming Calls (Rs.) 1ree while in home network Airtel /0M C *DMA A(; DigitB Landline C <LL LOCAL RATES (Rs./min) -s.(.2; -s.2.;; -s.2.'; STD RATES (Rs./min) -s.2.62 -s.2.62 -s.2.62 ISD (Rs./min) +0A, *anada, )urope A1i"ed LineB, Australia, 0ingapore, !ong .ong, %hailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, ,ew Vealand. -s.5.'; /ulf, )urope AMo&ileB, 0AA-* countries, Africa S -est of the world -s.9.2; *u&a, 0ao %ome S 3rincipe, /uinea $issau, Diego /arcia, ,auru, 0olomon Islands, 7anuatu, *ook Islands, %ualu, %okelau, ,orfolk Island, 0akhalin -s.';.;; SMS (Rs.) Local -s.(.2; ,ational -s.2.;; International -s.2.;;
Other Details Q-s 2; Local Airtel?Airtel Mo&ile talktime per month for 5 months Q 1irst month Airtel?Airtel credit within 62hrs of actiation S &alance credit &y (st week of eery monthB Q%he 0M0 charge as applica&le is per (5; characters Q 7alidity? 2' months. POSTPAID 38 Airtel 3ostpaid allows you to choose from a ariety of afforda&le talk plans, conenient payment options and host of rich features. 0o get set to enjoy a world of limitless possi&ilitiesP Reference Tarif Packages (RTP) ON TIME CHARGES Actiation *harges -s. 22; Mem&ership 1ee -s. 22; 0ecurity Deposit ,A MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) -s. 22' $ill plan *harge -s. ''' Monthly -ental -s. (2; *lip ,A MONTHLY CHARGES (OPTIONAL) *lip -s. 99 Airtel /0M C *DMA A(; DigitB Landline C <LL Local Rates -s. (.99 -s (.99 -s (.99 STD RATES 2; M 2;; .m 2;; M 2;; .m 2;; X .m ISD +0A, *anda, )urope A1i"ed LineB, Austalia, 0ingapore, !ong .ong, %hailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, new Vealand -s. 6.2; /ulf, )urope AMo&ileB, 0AA-* *ountries, Africa S -est of the world -s 9.99 *u&a, 0ao tome S 3rinciple, /uinea $issau, Diego /arcia, ,auru, 0olomon Islands, 7anuatu, *ook Island, %ualu, %okelau, ,orfolk Island, 0akhalin -s. ';.;; SMS Local -s. (.;; ,ational -s. 2.;; International -s. 2.;; 7alue Added 0erices A-s.B -s. 3.;; 39 Airtel One Standard 150 ONE TIME CHARGES Actiation *harges -s 22; Mem&ership 1ee -s 22; A*onerts into security after 2' monthsB 0ecurity Deposit ,A MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) -s. (2; $ill 3lan *harge -s. 2; Monthly -ental -s. (2; *lip ,A MONTHLY CHARGES (OPTIONAL) *lip -s. 2; $issau, Diego /arcia, ,auru, 0olomon Islands, 7anuatu, *ook Islands, %ualu, %okelau, ,orfolk Island, 0akhalin SMS Local -s (.;; ,ational -s 2.;; Intentional -s. 2.;; 7A0 -s. 3.;; %his $ill 3lan is also aaila&le under Adance -ental of -s. 699 for 2 years. Local 3ack Airtel to other local mo&iles Anon AirtelB At -s ( C min Monthly rental Rs 25 per months/- STD Pack Airtel to other mo&iles Anon AirtelB S fi"ed lines nos. at -s 2 C min. Monthly rental Rs 75 per month/- Special offer for Airtel Telephone service customers for availing Airtel Mobile services If you already hae Airtel %elephone serice, you can &uy a new Airtel Mo&ile connection under Airtel #ne 0tandard (2; 3lan. '; Benefits: ,on security deposit. ,o mem&ership C actiation fee )njoy calls to your Airtel fi"ed line no. at just 2; 3 C min. Monthly rent of -s 22 for reduced call rates to your Airtel fi"ed line has &een waied off for ( year. 1or details, call us 2(5?(23'2 Advance Rental benefits (1year scheme) 3ay an adance rent of -s '99 and enjoy Airtel #ne 0tandard (2; plan at Vero monthly rental for one year. Adance rental of -s '99 gies you a rental discount of -s (2; eery month for the ne"t 2 months. All other options and charges are as per the e"isting Airtel #ne 0tandard (2; 3lan. Airtel one Standard 299 ONE TIME CHARGES Actiation *harges -s 22; Mem&ership 1ee -s 22; A*onerts into security after 2' monthsB 0ecurity Deposit ,A MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) -s 299 $ill 3lan *harge -s. (2; Monthly -ental -s. 299 *lip ,A MONTHLY CHARGES (OPTIONAL) *lip -s. 2; '( Airtel /0M C *DMA A(; DigitB Landline C <LL LOCAL RATES -e. (.;; -s. (.;; -s. (.;; STD RATES 2;?2;;.m -s. 2.;; -s. 2.'; -s. 2.'; 2;; M 2;; .m -s. 2.;; -s. 2.'; -s. 2.'; 2;; X .m -s. 2.;; -s. 2.'; -s. 2.'; ISD +0A, *anda, )urope A1i"ed LineB, Austalia, 0ingapore, !ong .ong, %hailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, new Vealand -s. 6.2; /ulf, )urope AMo&ileB, 0AA-* *ountries, Africa S -est of the world -s 9.99 *u&a, 0ao tome S 3rinciple, /uinea $issau, Diego /arcia, ,auru, 0olomon Islands, 7anuatu, *ook Island, %ualu, %okelau, ,orfolk Island, 0akhalin -s. ';.;; SMS Local -s. (.;; ,ational -s. 2.;; International -s. 2.;; 7alue Added 0erices A-s.B -s. 3.;;
4ou also enjoy 22 1-)) local mo&ile to mo&ile 0M0 '2 Senior Citizen Plan ONE TIME CHARGES Actiation *harges -s. 22; Mem&ership 1ee -s. 22; A*oncerts into security deposit after 2' monthsB 0ecurity Deposit ,A MONTHLY CHARGES (FIXED) -s. (2; $ill 3lan *harge -s. 2( Monthly Rental -s. 99 *lip ,A *u&a, 0ao %ome S 3rinciple, /uinea $issau, Diego /arcia, ,auru, 0olomon Islands, 7anuatu, *ook Islands, %ualu, %okelau, ,orfolk Island, 0akhalin SMS Local Rs. 1.50 ,ational -s. 2.;; International -s. 2.;; 7A0 -s. 3.;;
<ith 0enior *itiKen 3lan '3 4ou can take 3 1riends and 1amily num&ersF Airtel to Airtel A(local no.B M -s. ;.2 C min. Airtel to Airtel A( 0%D no.B M -s (.2 C min I0D calls to +0 C *anada C 0outh )ast Asia C Australia C ,ew VealandB M -s. 9.99 C min 4ou also get 1-)) alert su&scription worth -s 3; C alert or 3 months onF ,ews Astrology !ealth %ips %he 0M0 charges as applica&le is per (5; *haracters. '' PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY Airtel to ~Touch Tomorrow with a new brand vision %he $harti Mo&ile promoted Air%el cellular serice will go in for repositioning of its &rand image. %he new &rand ethos is portrayed in two distinct fashions ? the tag line E%ouch %omorrowE, which underscores the leading theme for the new &rand ision, followed &y E%he /ood LifeE, which underscores a more caring, more customer centric organiKation. Aimed at re?engineering its image as just simply a cellular serice proider to an all out information communications serices proider, %ouch %omorrow is meant to em&race the new generation of mo&ile communication serices and the changing scope of customer needs and aspirations that come along with it %he new communication is a&out a new dimension in the cellular category that goes &eyond the Internet, 0M0, roaming, I7-0, etc &ut which engulfs the whole gamut of wireless digital &road&and serices that will constitute tomorrows cellular serices. %he new campaign is in two phases ? the first of which will communicate oerall &rand philosophy and the second products and serices. According to Mr. :agdish .ini, *hief #perating #fficer, $harti Mo&ile Limited, .arnataka E<e are adopting a new &rand? platform ? %ouch %omorrow ? not only to reflect our corporate ethos &ut also &usiness strategyE. %he new identity will hae the logo in -ed, $lack and <hite colours along with lower case typography to coney warmth. AirTel will incorporate the latest '2 &randing in all of its communication and will soon &e going in for an enhanced promotional drie to esta&lish the &randDs presence. LIFE TIME PLAN 3-)?3AID card users need not worry anymore a&out recharging their coupons eery month. *ompany has launched a plan that allows users to take a pre?paid connection with lifetime alidity for a one time payment of -s. 999. 0u&scri&ers aailing themseles of this scheme will also get full talk time for the recharge coupon they purchase and also hae the option to &uy %aiwanese manufactured $ird mo&ile handsets for as low as -s. (,399. %he moe is aimed at stopping the churn in the pre?paid su&scri&er &ase. #nce a su&scri&er takes this plan, he will always &e an Airtel su&scri&er whether the mo&ile is &eing used or not. '5 MARKET SITUATION At the time of launch %he first moer in the market was Airtel which launched its serices in Delhi in Aug (992 AInformal launchB. )ssar *ellphone followed &y launching its serices informally in #ct 92. At this point of time, the market was at a nascent stage, awareness leel was low and &oth operators independently tried to spread awareness and educate the people #nce the networks were commercially launched, it &ecame a num&er game with a multitude of schemes &eing offered to woo customers Initially the cellphone was perceied as a status sym&ol and utility took a &ack seat %he target segment in Delhi were corporate and the high income group. %he aerage capacity installed was for (.2 lakh su&scri&ers. %his coupled with the steep license fee paid to D#% put pressure on the operators to &reak?een &y rapidly e"panding their markets. In the first two years, this led to a num&er of schemes &eing offered and prices crashing. '6 COMPETITIVE SITUATION Airtel launched its serices &efore )ssar and skimmed the market picking up the &ulk of the high usage premium clients. %his is a ery competitie industry with the two companies differentiating either on alue?added serices or price. Airtel is perceied as the high >uality proider and has a premium image. )ssar, on the other hand, is perceied as the lower end serice proider. Airtel positions itself as the market leader on the &asis of the num&er of su&scri&ers. )ssar is trying to counter this &y emphasising on the reach of its network and the >uality of its serice. !oweer, )ssar is somewhat not &een ery successful largely due to the inconsistency in adertising %o promote themseles, &oth the players hae &een dependent on tactical adertising !oweer, they hae restrained from using comparatie adertising !oardings hae &een a ery popular medium for carrying the adertisements Airtel has also &een adertising on teleision using the $harti %elecom name. SALES DEPARTMENT AND STRATEGY A. Major Accounts (Direct Channel) !andles corporate Anamed and famedB accounts 1orecasting of sales Mapping the accounts 3roiding after sales support to the su&scri&ers. Maintaining call reports for records. 3roiding 1eed&ack to the marketing department regarding the re>uirement of the market. '8 B. IDC (indirect Channel) !andling distri&ution Maintaining records and leel check of the channel partner Liaisoning &etween the channel partner and the company. %arget achieement %raining the e"ecuties of the channel C. Distribution Support 1. Logistics Monitor handset and 0IM card re>uirements of channel partners and co?ordinate with stores 0ettle areas of concerns such as incentie claims of channel partners 2. Rental 3roide cellular serices A0IM cardsB on rent. 3roide cellular phones on rent +seful for people isiting Delhi for a short interal. 3 Telesales *all customers and generate sales lead. 1ollow up with the customers, if they need any assistance 3ass on the sales lead to the channel department. 4 Audit '9 *onsultant to the Air%el showrooms. Monitor the operations at the Air%el distri&ution outlets #rganiKe training. 5. Retail Locate shops to open retail counters. Monitor the retail counters. MARKET SEGMENTATION 0egmentation is &eneficial &ecause of &etter predicta&ility of the target consumer group, minimiKation of risk e"posure, &etter a&ility to fine?tune a product C serice to the re>uirement of target &uyer and the resultant ease in designing a proper designing marketing mi" strategy In this case segmentation is on the &ade of income. In ealuating different market segments the company looks at two factors %he oerall attractieness of the segments and the companyDs o&jecties S resources %he present market for *ellular phones, pagers and conentional phones is as follows 3remium Middle )conomy +pper Lower +pper Lower +pper Lower *ellular 3hones O O O ? ? ? 3ager O O O O ? ? *onentional 3hones O O O O O ? O Market 0egment %argeted TARGET MARKET SEGMENT Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. %he rationale &ehind it is that only those segments should &e targeted who alue time and hae the paying 2; capacity. It Is also planning to target the &usiness tourists during their stay in the capital A&out 5;@ of the clientele are top e"ecuties of corporate houses. A&out (2@ are foreign organisations and the rest are professionals and small &usinessmen. During the introduction stage there was intense pressure to get consumers across to hook up with their &rand, &ecause getting them to switch &rand loyalty later would &e hard 0o far Airtel marketers hae &een concentrating totally on the &usiness e"ecutie class &ut now that the &asic ia&le olumes has &eerB &uilt up and prices hae declined to a certain e"tent they are planning to enture further a field. POSITIONING %he product is sought to &e positioned as a &usiness efficiency tool. a lifestyle reolution and a status sym&ol %he emphasis is to remoe misconception that the cellphone is an e"pensie means of communication and drie home the point that the cellphone is actually a day?to?day utility PRODUCT POLICY AND PLANNING %he product or serice is the heart of the marketing mi". <ithout a product or a serice customersD needs cannot &e satisfied. %he &asic product promise &y Airtel is mo&ility. AirtelDs main marketing strategy is to &e a first moer all the time. It has recognised the significance of making the 2( first moe?? &ecause in the field of *ommunication S Information %echnology changes occur at a tremendous pace. )ffectie product segmentation has to &e carried on continuously &ecause &asic serices can &e and will &e copied and in time &ecome e"pected component of the product. Airtel seeks to carry out this segmentation through proision of new information serices and making new facilities aaila&le. %he product policy and planning depends on the stage of the product life cycle. At present the cellular phone market has reached the maturity stage. 0ince, the premium segment is nearing saturation the company targeting the upper middle and middle?middle class. In order to do so Airtel is trying to optimise the price performance package &y offering suita&le Eproduct &undlingE. %his inoles the selection of the suita&le hardware AhandsetB and its software Aits serices.B with reasona&le price in order to delier ma"imum price performance to its customers. In addition, it offers free Airtime serices and other concessions to make the prices and thus the product more attractie. It has also opened a 2' hours customer serice. #nly price doesnDt sere as an effectie differentiator, alue added serices &ecome the effectie differentiator. The "Value Added Services" provided from Airtel areF? (B. 7oice Mail serice %his system is similar to the answering machine ? if the user is not a&le to answer a call for some reason the caller can leae messages in the oice mail &o" which can &e later retrieed &y the user 22 iiB 0hort Message 0erice %he short message serice is like a two?way pager. It gies an option of sending and receiing te"t messages directly from one mo&ile phone to another without the interention of an operator. iiiB Mo&ile 1a" ( Data 0erice %his serice helps the su&scri&er to send and receie 1a"es, access )?mail, download computer files from other systems and remotely log on to another computer and surf the Internet. iB *ash *ard %he cash card is a pre?paid and pre?actiated card which allows the &uyers to &uy air time in adance. All it re>uires is the payment of an initial amount. %his is a useful serice for people who trael to Delhi often and those who want to control the e"penses on their calls. B *aller ID Displays calling personDs num&er. iB #utgoing call restriction %o preent or limit outgoing calls, for e"ample, in peak hours. Also possi&le to e"clude one or seeral countries, or any geographical region, to permit only local calls, or to limit the outgoing calls to a listed num&er. iiiB *all forward 23 Incoming calls can &e forwarded to another fi"ed or mo&ile phone. $esides these some other serices proided &y Airtel are ? *all conferencing, *all $roadcast et cetera. It is in the operators ?Interest that they not only get many su&scri&ers &ut also get them to use the mo&ile facility fre>uently. In the early stages getting increases to su&scri&e may &e easier than getting them to talk since they will find it costlier to use the mo&ile phone as compared to a conentional phone Yif is &elieed that initially cellphones would &e used &uyZ iiiB -oaming 1acility -oaming facility is aaila&le while the su&scri&er is traelling. %he &illing is done in the home network ADelhiB. -oaming facility is aaila&le manuallyQ as well as semi?automatically. #nce a su&scri&er is In any other city or country, where a /0M network is aaila&le, simply insert the 0IM card of the local operator Into your handset and start talking. Q Manual -oaming means a separate 0IM card is proided for each city QQ 0emi automatic roaming means one card has the facility for different cities. AIRTEL'S MARKETING ORIENTATION. 0ince this is a high?inolement e"pensie product, the serice proider has to fully take care of the customers. aB %hey take personal responsi&ility to EgetE the answer for any pro&lem faced &y the customer 2' b) %hey anticipate customersD pro&lems and take pro?actie steps to preent them cB %hey gie answers to the >uestions S re>uests, >uickly S efficiently. dB %hey hae a positie tone S manner while interacting with customers. eB %hey end the interaction on a positie or a humorous note?making the last 3; seconds count. Airtel realises that attracting people DIs easy &ut conerting them into loyal customers is hard, hence emphasis is on maintaining a D0miling and a 1riendly AtmosphereD to please and retain the customer. PRICE AND PRICING POLICY AI-%)L has realised that the Indian market is price sensitie. %herefore it care of the has come up with arious innoatie tariff schemes to take needs of different category of customers? /enerally, the cellular serices are more e"pensie than the land line &ased telephone serices. %his is due to the reason that the operating companies are re>uired to pay a fee to the goernment for using airtime. 22 MARKETING STRATEGY ADOPTED BY BHARTI $harti has spent a considera&le amount on adertising its mo&ile phone serice, Airtel. $esides print adertising, the company had put up large no of hoardings and kiosks in and around Delhi. %he o&jectie &ehind designing a promotion campaign for the WAirtelG serices is to promote the &rand awareness and to &uild &rand preferences. It is trying to set up a thematic campaign to &uild a stronger &rand e>uity for Airtel. 0ince the cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also the fact that a *ellular phone is a high inolement product, price doesnDt >ualify as an effectie differentiator. %he image of the serice proider counts a great deal. /ien the *ell phone category, it is the network efficiency and the >uality of serice that &ecomes important. <hat now the &uyer is looking at is to get the optimum price?performance package. %his also seres as an effectie differentiator $rand awareness is spread through theD campaigns and &rand preference through &rand stature. AirtelDs campaign in the capital &egan with a series of DteaserD hoardings across the city,D &earing just the companyDs name and without e"plaining what Airtel was. In the ne"t phase the campaign associated Airtel with *ellular only thereafter was the $harti *ellular connection &rought up. 7ans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing out &rochures a&out the company and its serices to all consumers. A&out 2;,;;; direct callers were sent out. <hen the name was well entrenched in the DelhiitesGs mind, the Airtel campaign &egan to 25 focus on the utility of *ellphone. In the first four months alone AirteiDs adertisement spend e"ceeded -s. ' crores. As of today the awareness leel Is 5;@ unaided. %his implies that if potential or knowledgea&le consumers are asked to name a *ellular phone serice proider that is on the top of hisCher mind 5;@ of them would name Airtel. As for aided it ?is (;;@ A&y giing clues and hints etc.B. $rand strength of a product or the health of a &rand is measured &y the percentage score of the &rand on the a&oe aided and the unaided tests. %he figures show that Airtel is a healthy and a thriing &rand. )ery company has a goal, which might comprise a sales target and a game plan with due regard to Its competitor. Airtel Ds campaign strategy is designed keeping in mind its marketing strategy. %he tone, tenor and the stance of the isual ads are designed to coney the image of a market leader in terms of its market share. It tries to portray the image of &eing a Efirst moer eery timeE and that of a Emarket leaderE. %he 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 cure in the maturity stage. %he diagram on the left hand side shows the percentage of the users classified into heay, medium and low categories. %he right hand side shows the reenue share earned from the three types of users. Airtel, keeping in mind the importance of the customer retention, alues its heay users the most and constantly indulges in serice innoation. $ut, since heay 26 users comprise only (2 ? 2;@ of the population the other segment cannot &e neglected. %he population which has just realised the importance of cellular phones has to &e roped in. It is for this reason that the serice proider offers a plethora of incenties and discounts. *oncerts like the E1reedom concertE are &eing organised &y Airtel in order to promote sales. %he media channel is chosen with economy in mind. %he target segment is not ery concrete &ut, there is an attempt to focus on those who can afford. %he print adertisements and hoarding are placed in those strategic areas which most likely to catch the attention of those who need a cellular phone. %he product promise Awhich might cost different ( higherB is an important aria&le in determining the target audience. $esides this, other promotional strategies that Airtel has adopted are . AiB 3eople who hae &ooked Airtel serices hae &een treated to e"clusie premiers of &lock&uster moies. Airtel has tied up with Lufthansa to offer customer &onus miles on the /erman airlines fre>uent flierDs programs. AiiB %here hae &een educational campaigns, image campaigns, pre launch adertisements, launch adertisements, congratulatory adertisements, promotional adertise?ments, attacking adertisements and tactical adertisements. 28 DISTRIBUTION %he? company whose operations are concentrated in and around Delhi. It 26 1ranchisees and (2 Distri&utors? %hey also hae 8 Dinstant access cash card counters? )ach franchises or distri&utor can hae any num&er of dealers under him as long as the person is approed &y the Airtel authority. )ach franchises has to inest -upees %en Lakhs. to o&tain a franchise and should employ an officer recruited &y Airtel. %his person acts as an liaison &etween the company and the franchises. %he franchises can it any num&er of dealers as long as their territories do not oerlap. $ut unfortunately Airtel has not &een ery successful in controlling territorial oerlaps of dealers. %he franchises can carry out his ( her own promotional strategy. 1or this the. company contri&utes 62@ of the money and the franchises contri&utes 22@ of the money. %he dealers under the franchisee receie the same commission. %he franchises and the dealer o&tain the feed&ack from the customers and they are sent through the liaison officer on a 29 Company Franchisee Distributor Dealers Dealer Customer Customer day?to?day &asis to Airtel. %he dealer has to inest -upees. #ne Lakh as an initial inestment. %he dealer of Airtel are not allowed to proide any other operatorsD serice. %arget set for distri&utors and the dealers is (;; ?(2; actiations per month. !ence the dealers can also go for their own promotions like &anners and discounts on festials etc. %he dealer proides serice promptly. %he consumer on proiding the &ill of purchase for the handset and proof of residence has only to wait an hour &efore getting connected. %he staff of the dealers and the franchisees are proided training &y the Airtel personnel. %he complaints encountered &y the franchisees and dealers are either handset &eing non?functional or the 0IM *ard not getting actiated. Anything more complicated is referred to the main Airtel office in Delhi. 5; WHAT DOES AIRTEL OFFER? <ith Airtel, the su&scri&er wouldnDt just get a personal phone that lets himCher &e in touch, always, &ut also gets a host of &enefits that let himCher manage hisCher time like neer &efore. An Airtel su&scri&er is proided with a 0u&scri&er Identity Module *ard A0IM cardB ? that is the key to operating hisCher cellular phone. !is card actiates Airtel cellular serices and contains a complete micro?computer chip with memory to ena&le one to enjoy oneDs cellular phone thoroughly. )ach 0IM card contains a 3I, code A3ersonal Identity ,um&erB which may &e entered &y one. :ust plug your 0IM card into your cellular phone, enter the 3I, code and it &ecomes DyourD personal phoneD. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE %he pattern of cellphone su&scri&er growth o&sered elsewhere in the world reeals that the growth in the market is Initially slow followed &y a sharp acceleration, &ut so far that has not happened in India. As far as the 3roduct Life *ycle is concerned. Indians are at the &eginning of the maturity stage. 5( Introduction Growth Maturity MARKETING OB1ECTIVES *reate product awareness and trial Ma"imise market share Ma"imise profits whole defending market share Strategies Product #ffer a &asic productC serice. #ffer alue added serices Increase in num&er of alue added serices. Price *harge cost? plus 3rice to penetrate market 3rice to match or &est competitors Distribution $uild selectie distri&ution $uild Intensie distri&ution. $uild more intensie distri&ution. Advertising $uild product awareness among early adopters and dealers. $uild awareness and interest in the mass market 0tress &rand differences and &enefits. Sales Promotion +se heay sales promotion to entice people to su&scri&e. Increase to &uild and maintain relationships with customers. Increase to encourage &rand? switching. 52 OB1ECTIVES OF THE STUDY ObjectivesF %o study the importance and deelopment of tele M communication industry in todayGs scenario. %o understand the arious Marketing 0trategies which Airtel has adopted to surie in highly competitie cell phone industry. %o make a comparatie study of the major players in Indian 0erice 3roider. 53 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY %he methodology adopted for this project is e"ploratory in nature since there is no hypothesis that has to &e tested. %he conclusions hae &een drawn &y e"ploratory research work. %here hae &een two sources of information collectedF aB 3rimary 0ources I hae met retailers of the Airtel of the company and hae &een a&le to get first hand information regarding the product, its features and the &uying patterns of the product. %heir input has &een alua&le. &B 0econdary 0ources 0econdary source has played a ital role to play in this report. A good amount of data has &een collected from arious pu&lished articles and reports found in magaKines and journals. Another ital source has &een the Internet and particularly the companies own we&site. 5' LIMITATIONS )ery attempt will &e taken to o&tain the error free and meaningful result &ut as nothing in this world is (;;@ perfect I &eliee that there will still the chance for error on account of following limitations? A(B -espondentGs unaaila&ility. A2B %ime pressure and fatigue on the part of respondents and interiewer. A3B *ourtesy &ias. 52 FINDINGS 1. Do you believe that India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile service providers in the world? Company Yes No Airtel 4 1 Vodafone 4 1 Idea ' ( MTNL ' ( As according to the a&oe ta&le (5 A8;@B out of the total 2; interiewed people in all the a&oe four specified Indian mo&ile serice proiders are of &elief that India is potentially one of the most e"citing mo&ile serice proiders in the world, whereas some ' A2;@B of them do not agree to this iew. 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Yes No AirTel Vodaf one Idea MTNL 55 2. Do you find that the government`s telecom policy has had the most radical impact on the development of mobile service providers? Company Yes No Airtel 4 1 Vodafone 3 2 Idea 3 2 MTNL 2 ?? As according to the a&oe ta&le (2 A62@B out of the total 2; interiewed people in all the a&oe four specified Indian mo&ile serice proiders find that the goernmentGs telecom policy has had the most radical impact on the deelopment of mo&ile serice proiders, whereas some 2 A22@B of them deny this. 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Yes No AirTel Vodaf one Idea MTNL 56 3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators in India is the diversity of the coverage regions? Company Yes No Airtel 2 3 Vodafone 3 2 Idea 3 2 MTNL 2 3 As according to the a&oe ta&le (; A2;@B out of the total 2; interiewed people in the mo&ile serice proiders are of &elief that one of the challenges facing mo&ile operations in India is the diersify of the coerage regions, whereas interestingly another (; A2;@B of them deny this. 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Yes No AirTel Vodaf one Idea MTNL 4. To what extent, does you find that mobile service providers is a very complex standard? 58 Company To some extent (1-5) To great extent (6-10) Airtel 3 2 Vodafone 2 3 Idea 2 3 MTNL 3 2 As according to the a&oe ta&le (; A2;@B out of the total 2; interiewed people in all the a&oe four major the mo&ile serice proiders in Indian *ellular industry find only to some e"tent that /0M is a ery comple" standard, whereas the another (; A2;@B respondents find to great e"tent that mo&ile serice proiders is a ery comple" standard. 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 To some extent To great extent AirTel Vodaf one Idea MTNL 59 CONSUMER LEVEL 1. Do you believe that mobile service providers comes close to fulfilling the requirements for a personal communication system? Company Yes No Airtel 9 1 Vodafone 8 2 Idea 8 2 MTNL 2 2 As the a&oe shows 3; A62@B out of total '; respondents are of the &elief that mo&ile serice proiders comes close to fulfilling the re>uirements for a personal communication system, whereas (; A22@B of them are in no way to this &elief. 3 2 3 2 3 2 2 3 Yes No MTNL Idea Vodafone AirTel 6; 2. Do you find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and satisfying mobile standard? Company Yes No Airtel 9 1 Vodafone 7 3 Idea 8 2 MTNL 8 2 As the a&oe shows 32 A8;@B out of total '; respondents find that mo&ile serice proiders as the most e"citing and satisfying mo&ile standard, whereas the remaining 8 A(;@B respondents deny this. 9 1 7 3 8 2 8 2 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Yes No AirTel Vodaf one Idea MTNL 6( 3. Do you believe that your service provider has a genuine commitment to creating a modern and efficient communications? Company Yes No Airtel 10 -- Vodafone 8 2 Idea (; ?? MTNL 8 2 As the a&oe shows 35 A9;@B out of total '; respondents are of the &elief that their serice proiders hae a genuine commitment to creating a modern and efficient communications whereas the remaining ' A(;@B respondents deny this. 10 0 8 2 10 0 8 2 Yes No MTNL Idea Vodafone AirTel SWOT ANALYSIS 62 STRENGTHS *ost adantage *urrent leaders in >uality serice Largest distri&ution network A&ility to constantly innoate !ighly skilled workforce )ntrepreneurial Keal AirtelGs increased e>uity and market cap. WEAKNESSES %o proe credi&ility 3rice pressures ,eed for /oernment support Awareness 0ales and Marketing 63 OPPORTUNITIES %o sustain passion and commitment AirtelGs market share increasing at other serice proider e"pense. %hus opportunity to wipe it out. Attain higher alue serices *olla&oratie &usiness needs to &e e"plored 7ertical repeata&le solutions. Low penetration leel in rural markets. THREATS 1oreign inestment /lo&al trends moing from /30 to <LL. Lack of glo&al parity in telecom tariff #ther competition 6' CONCLUSION 1rom a&oe the details I conclude that 6;@ Airtel users preferred to remain with Airtel. Also good no. of users who were willing to switch from their respectie su&scri&ers showed interest in Airtel. !ence, these statistics imply a &right future for the company. Also the company is now proiding more serices like the door to door serices which is you dial the Airtel customer care and would like to send someone flowers the Airtel company deliers those flowers to the person concerned. Also Airtel is proiding free te"t messaging serice and free oice mail serice. *all conferencing is also another feature Airtel proides. 62 BIBLIOGRAPHY $ernard :. %. Mallinder. 0pecification Methodology Applied to the /0M 0ystem. In EUROCON 88, :une 2;;2. 0eshadri Mohan and -ai :ain. %wo +ser Location 0trategies for 3ersonal *ommunication 0erices. IEEE Personal Communications. (A(B, (99'. Moe -ahnema. #eriew of the /0M 0ystem and 3rotocol Architecture. IEEE Communications Magazine. April (993. *. <atson. -adio )>uipment for /0M. In D.M. $alston and -.*.7 Macario, editors, Cellular Radio Systems, Artech !ouse, $oston, (993. -o&ert /. <inch. Telecommunication Transmission Systems Mc/raw!ill ,ew 4ork, (993. 7odafone Airtel Idea M%,L 65 QUESTIONNAIRE NAME: ____________________________________ ADDRESS: ____________________________________ OCCUPATION: ____________________________________ 1. Do you believe that India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile service providers in the world? Company Yes No Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL 2. Do you find that the government`s telecom policy has had the most radical impact on the development of mobile service providers? Company Yes No Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL 3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators in India is the diversity of the coverage regions? Company Yes No Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL 66 4. To what extent, does you find that mobile service providers is a very complex standard? Company To some extent (1-5) To great extent (6-10) Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL 68 CONSUMER LEVEL 1. Do you believe that mobile service providers comes close to fulfilling the requirements for a personal communication system? Company Yes No Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL 2. Do you find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and satisfying mobile standard? Company Yes No Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL 3. Do you believe that your service provider has a genuine commitment to creating a modern and efficient communications? Company Yes No Airtel Vodafone Idea MTNL 69