Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ON
Marketing strategies of Airtel
Submitted to
MBA
SESSION 2008-2010
DEPTT. OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
College
Logo
COLLEGE NAME
1
STUDENT DECLARATION
this report is based on the data collected by me. I have not submitted
examination or degree.
Where the emotions are involved words cease to work. I am deeply indebt
The project aims at understanding the Marketing strategies at Airtel and its
way to retain a customer than to exceed his expectations. For this purpose
services provided by Bharti Airtel. The research was done for the
corporate clients of Bharti Airtel. My job was not only to represent the
Corporate Sales Dept. and collect the feedback from the clients but also to
get the major complaints resolved through internal counselling. There can
fact that keeping the customer satisfied is the best strategy to not only
retain the existing customers but also to expand the business to new
horizons.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3. INTRODUCTION 23
4. TARIFF STRUCTURE 39
5. PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY 48
6. MARKET SITUATION 50
7. COMPETITIVE SITUATION 51
9. OBJECTIVE 69
11. LIMITATION 71
13. CONCLUSION 81
14. BIBLIOGRAPHY 82
15. QUESTIONNAIRE 83
ACKOWLEDGEMENT
Achievement is finding out what you would be then doing, what you
have to do. The higher the summit, the harder is the climb. The goal
was fixed and we began with a determined resolved and put in
ceaseless sustained hard work. Greater challenge, greater was our
effort to overcome it.
This project work, which is my first step in the field of
professionalization, has been successfully accomplished only because
of my timely support of well-wishers. I would like to pay my sincere
regards and thanks to those, who directed me at every step in my
project work.
I would also like to thank the faculty members and the staff members
of R . S DISTRIBUTORS MORADABAD for their kind support
and help during the project.
INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC
is the fifth largest in the world and is the second largest among the
1999, has shown an impressive jump to 9.5% in 2006 and 10.5% in 2007
and is set to increase to 20% in the next five years beating the Govt.
Private operators have made mobile telephony the fastest growing (over
164% p.a.) in India. With more than 33 million users (both CDMA and
industry. Given the current growth trends, cellular connections in India will
the four main private groups - Bharti, Vodafone, Tata and Reliance and
with the State sector incumbents-BSNL and MTNL has brought about a
significant drop in tariffs. There has been almost 74% in cell phone
charges, 70% in ILD calls and 25% drop in NLD charges, resulting in a
liberalising the industry, ushering in competition and paving the way for
percent.
at the end of the fiscal ending March 31, 2007, displacing Vodafone from
undertaking, MTNL, which operates in Mumbai and Delhi, BSNL has been
effective steps to counter it, till it was too late in the day," said a telecom
analyst.
club has reported a 7.92% growth, the highest growth in any month so far,
country has almost doubled in March 2005, and is expanding at the rate of
The cellular subscriber club expanded by 21.31 lakh last month. This is
much higher than 5.9 lakh subscribers added in February 2005 and 2.13
lakh in January 2005. Idea, which operates in Seven circles, is the fourth
largest operator with a subscriber base of 17.80 lakh, higher than BPL's
11.31 lakh subscribers across four circles. The subscriber numbers per
than the 1,58,646 added by Delhi, the Capital's cellular subscriber base of
over 80 lakh is still higher than Mumbai's 66.89 lakh. While the cellular
industry has been on roll for the first three quarters of the previous
financial year with an average of 16.75 lakh monthly additions in the third
quarter, the first two months of 2007 had seen the growth slowing down.
GSM MARKET IN INDIA
With a population of around 1.1 billion growing at roughly 1.7 per cent a
year, India is potentially one of the most exciting GSM markets in the
world. After two rather difficult years, the past 12 months have seen the
environment.
1994 when the Indian government first sought private investment in the
new local fixed line and mobile service providers. However, it has been
the government's New Telecom Policy (1999) that has had the most
radical impact on the development of GSM services. 'The policy's mission
prices with calls currently costing less than 9 cents per minute. This
means that service costs have fallen by 60 per cent since the first GSM
networks became live in 1995. It also helps explain why a recent Telecom
Asia survey revealed that more than 70 per cent of Indian mobile
One of the challenges facing GSM operators in India is the diversity of the
coverage regions -from remote rural regions to some of the most densely
networks, which cover the seven largest cities, over 7000 towns and
that is set to be supplemented by a further Rs. 300 billion over the next
five years.
The good news is that subscriber growth is beginning to look healthy. With
India's low PC penetration and high average Internet usage -at 14-20
hours a month per user it is comparable to the US -the market for mobile
already been launched in the subcontinent and the first GPRS networks
are in the process of being rolled out. In the year ahead, GSM India will
work with its members to realise the potential of early packet services in
India is expected to have 145 million GSM (global system for mobile
growing markets with its subscriber base doubling in 2005. At this pace,
New Delhi. Globally, the GSM market reached 1 billion users in February
2005, he said, adding GSM accounted for 80 per cent of the new
chosen GSM. In North America GSM growth is bigger than CDMA (code
GSM versus CDMA in mobile services arena, Hadden said: "GSM is the
world's most successful mobile standard with over 1 billion users, and is
reported a 24 percent rise in revenue in the year to March 2007 but said
future growth rates could slow because of heavy taxes on the nascent
licence fee, spectrum charges and other taxes. The Cellular Operators
Association of India (COAI) said revenue for fiscal 2003/04 stood at 83.08
billion rupees ($1.86 billion) compared with 64 billion rupees a year earlier.
infrastructure
But the potential to do much better exists as there is still huge demand in
the sector. Ramachandran said the sector was still losing money but
world. But the monthly average revenue per user, a key measure of
compared with 523 rupees in the first quarter due to a cut in tariffs and
untapped: The association has not included the financial performance and
the GSM-user base of state-run firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, the
Ramachandran said. There are 150 million GSM customers and more
country.
The pace of growth in monthly additions is slowing after just 1.25 million
Our surpluses are not enough to cover costs of network expansion and
users into the underpenetrated industry forecast to have more than 250
GSM operators are not the only ones who are worried about the rapid
The GSM suppliers both handset and equipment - who incidentally also
have their other foot firmly placed in the CDMA pie, are beginning to lose
some sleep over what was earlier termed as `niche and `minuscule data
Apart from the strong success of the two CDMA operators whose
miserable showing of the four global standard for mobile (GSM) based
networks that launched general packet radio service (GPRS) service for
data connectivity in last three years, has the vendors worried. Global
mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) now believes that even though India
will primarily remain a voice traffic-led market in next two-three years, the
data traffic component will grow by 25-30 per cent, an optimism that its
CDMA players had launched their services with CDMA 2000 1X-based
and other data services. GSM operators, on the other hand, have had to
to persuade the operators to adopt EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM
Only Airtel, Vodafone, BPL Mobile and Idea Cellular had launched GPRS,
but the data transfer speeds of GPRS have been abysmal. The field trials
gave a speed of around 54 kbps, but the actual speeds have not
exceeded 14-18 kbps, a major reason why GPRS growth has been so
slow. As against the total GSM cellular base of 5.61 crore, the country has
between 2,80,000 lakh GPRS users only. In comparison, the two CDMA
operators have about 120 lakh connections. All these sets are data
compliant. Though no figures are available as to how many use these for
But first, the EDGE! Bharti Cellular is close to commercially launching its
EDGE service in Delhi and Mumbai by end May or early June, sources
said. The company was the first to conduct field trials in November with its
equipment supplier Ericsson. Idea too held EDGE field trials in February
this year with its vendor Nokia. Vodafone and BPL are yet to hold the
trials. The two companies would eventually migrate to EDGE, but perhaps
kbps (as against the theoretical speed of around 380 kbps) which, if
cost of migrating from GPRS to EDGE is not too high and mainly
At the GSM Evolution Forum held in New Delhi, GSA president Alan
Hadden predicted that GSM growth will far outstrip CDMA as was
happening globally. He felt India could have as many as 200 million GSM
According to GSA, there are over 1.1 billion GSM subscribers worldwide
operators from data averages 18 per cent and 22 of these operators run
migrating gradually to GSM, not CDMA, pointed out Hadden at the GSM
using their phones for much more than voice. Fifteen networks have
commercially launched EDGE as it can run 3G like services in the existing
200 countries is a power that CDMA doesnt give you. We know for sure
that almost 20-25 per cent of the revenue for some GSM operators comes
and Philippines as the shining jewels in its crown. The first CDMA 2000 1X
Asia, the Americas and Europe. At least, 16 new 1X and six 1xEV-DO
Development Group. EV-DO and EV-DV are the next level of evolution on
3G WCDMA.
What will matter a lot in this war will be the availability of EDGE compliant
handsets at affordable rates. While the two CDMA operators have been
giving out handsets that can give hi-speed data transfer, same has not
been the case with GSM. Even now, GPRS handsets have not become
segment handsets.
When the networks deploy EDGE, subscribers can expect the delivery of
gives.
More importantly, WCDMA will spawn a whole new range of full motion
continue to remain gung ho over the future of their technologies over that
market could well throw an interesting scenario that industry experts will
do well to watch. In the coming months, Reliance plans to offer its CDMA
subscribers much more than what GSM players intend to deliver through
Who succeeds in this battle for mobile customers eyeballs is most difficult
to predict. A Korea and Japan may not be waiting to happen in India, but
India will probably be more like the Chinese market with both standards
telecom services across India. Bharti Airtel is India's leading private sector
mobile and 5.4 million fixed line customers, as of March 31, 2007.
Airtel comes to us from Bharti Airtel Limited - a part of the biggest private
exports telephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being the
largest manufacturer of telephone instruments in India, it is also the first
company to export its products to the USA. Bharti has also put its
footprint in 23 states covering all four metros and more than 50 million
satisfied customers.
S E R V I C E S
Airtel Prepaid
Airtel Prepaid, the Ready Cellular Card from Airtel comes to you from
Going mobile with Airtel Prepaid is a new way of life. With a host of great
features, also simple to use, Airtel Prepaid makes everything that you
You can control your Airtel Prepaid like never before. No more rentals or
deposits simply recharge as much as you need to from as low as Rs. 10,
and unbreakable network coverage that spans over 23 circles across the
country.
Your account balance is updated on the screen of your handset at the end
of each chargeable call. You can also call 123 from your mobile phone
and listen to the voice announcement or simply dial *123#, press 'OK' or
'YES' button and your account balance will be displayed on the screen of
your handset.
Recharging is Easy. The calling value on your card keeps reducing as you
make calls or use any other chargeable service. Choose the Airtel Prepaid
Recharge Coupon thats right for you, from a variety of tailor made
number of outlets across your city. Simply follow the procedure mentioned
Prepaid Roaming
connected no matter wherever you are. You can also send or receive
MMS, check your email and access other GPRS services while roaming in
India as you would in your own city. While traveling abroad you can
Other Services
Airtel brings you, a wide range of Services that will change the way you
communicate. Try them and discover a whole new world of fun and
excitement.
Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification Presentation
Voice Mail
When your handset is switched off, or youre too busy to answer the
phone, Airtel Voicemail will answer your calls and record a message. The
best part is that there's no extra monthly cost for setting up Voicemail -
you just pay for the phone call when you use the service.
Send messages quickly and easily using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you
don't have much time. It's the way to share those interesting one-liners,
Subscription Alerts
Get regular alerts on news, jokes, business, health and films on your Airtel
mobile phone with Subscription Services. SMS <SUB NEWS> to 3333 for
News, <SUB JOKE> for Jokes, <SUB BIZ> for Business News, <SUB
SPO> for Sports Alerts & <SUB VAASTU> for Vaastu tips.
Jazz up your messages with pictures, images and video clippings, with
MMS from Airtel! To activate MMS on your phone, SMS 'MMS' to 56465
Airtel Live!
Airtel Live! Airtel brings you the latest in entertainment and information
Airtel Live! WAP Services: Download the latest ring tones, games,
wallpapers, videos and much more. You can also get news clips, watch
live TV and download full songs on you phone. To get Airtel Live! settings
on your phone, SMS 'Live' to 56465 and save the settings that you receive
as your preferred connection. Airtel Live! Portal can be accessed from you
Airtel Live! Voice Services: Just Dial 56465, and name the service. For
e.g. say ring tones to download your favorite ring tones. You can also
Airtel Live! SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting
services like cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few buttons
with Airtel Live! SIM based Services on your SIM card menu. To download
new services on your Airtel SIM, choose the "What's new" option under
Airtel Live! SMS Services: You can enjoy a host of services by sending a
Bollywood / Hollywood / Indi Pop Ring tones. In case you need assistance
Tired of that boring old tring tring on your phone? Well now when a friend
calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up the
music charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of songs
in the Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly.
What's more you can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g.
call 678005 for English New and 678001 for Hindi New. This would
Get the tune you want, all you have to do is call 55055 and follow the
simple voice instructions to copy your favorite Hello Tunes. Once inside
the copy feature, just key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number you want to
copy the Hello Tune from and you get the same Hello Tune assigned to
your number.
Forget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. Say it with a song
instead! Gift a Hello Tune to that special someone. Just call 55055 and
choose the song that you want to gift. Follow the simple voice instructions
and key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number that you want to gift the Hello
Tune to. You will get an SMS notification upon successful receipt of that
gift.
your phone with talk time. Simply walk into your nearest Airtel Shop and
walk out with your favorite song. Choose from Bollywood Hits to Indipop
foot tapping Tamil Hits from a list of more than 18000 songs.
In case you need assistance, dial '121' - our toll-free number, accessible
from anywhere in the country, even while roaming. You can also send us
*In case of email, mention your mobile no. like, 9810012345, in the subject
Airtel Postpaid
exciting, innovative yet simple new ways to communicate, just when you
want to, not just through words but ideas, emotions and feelings. To give
you the unlimited freedom to reach out to your special people in your
special way.
Easy Billing
Enjoy a host of rich features only with Airtel e-bill. Register free on My
Airtel section and view your monthly bill with call details for last three
months. Sort your calls between personal and official or analyze your
usage, at the click of a button. To change your tariff plan call our IVR at
You can choose from a host of convenient payment options only with
Airtel. Walk into any Airtel relationship centre and make your payments by
cash or credit card. Drop a cheque at any of the drop boxes for making
your credit card. You can also opt for easy payment options like:
Standing Instructions
You can give us standing instructions to debit your credit card account for
your monthly Airtel bills. All you have to do is fill the Standing Instruction
Fill an ECS form and mail, fax it to us or drop it any of our relationship
centres to directly debit your bank account for your monthly Airtel bill.
Airtel has introduced 'Anywhere payment' that offers you the convenience
Centre in the country, make payments by cash or credit card and enjoy
Credit limit
Your pre-set credit limit mentioned on your monthly bill helps you keep
your mobile charges in control, keeps track of your usage and ensures
that your mobile phone is not misused. Should you exceed your credit
interim payment and reduce your account balance below your credit limit.
enhance your credit limit or opt for our convenient payment method of
Credit Card Standing instruction .You can also make use of ECS facility.
Strong Network Coverage
Enjoy complete clarity when calling with Airtel .It offers you world class
Call long distance calls in India and Overseas with STD / ISD facility on
Airtel's roaming service allows you to stay connected and use your mobile
phone to make or receive calls from almost anywhere in India and also
GPRS - Roaming
internet and office mails (eg. BlackBerry services), from almost anywhere
Say it. In more than just words, with Services from Airtel
Airtel brings you a wide range of Services that will change the way you
communicate. Try them and discover a whole new world of fun and
excitement.
Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification
even when the other five are using a landline phone. To know more, call
A missed call alert is a SMS that you will receive for all the calls that you
missed. The SMS will detail the CLI and the time when the call was made.
To activate, dial *135*2# then press the call button and wait for the
request to be completed.
Voice Mail
When your handset is switched off, or youre too busy to answer the
phone, Airtel Voicemail will answer your calls and record a message. The
best part is that there's no extra monthly cost for setting up Voicemail -
you just pay for the phone call when you use the service.
SMS (Short Messaging Service)
Send messages quickly and easily, using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you
don't have much time. It's the way to Share those interesting one-liners,
Subscription Alerts
Get regular alerts on news, jokes, business, health and films on your Airtel
mobile phone with Subscription Services. SMS <SUB NEWS> for News,
<SUB JOKE> for Jokes, <SUB BIZ> for Business News, <SUB SPO> for
Jazz up your messages with pictures, images and video clippings, with
MMS from Airtel! To activate MMS on your phone, SMS 'MMS' to 56465
Airtel Live!
Airtel Live! Airtel brings you the latest in entertainment and information
wallpapers, videos and much more. You can also get news clips, watch
live TV and download full songs on you phone! To get Airtel Live! settings
on your phone SMS 'Live' to 56465 and save the settings that you receive
as your preferred connection. Airtel Live! Portal can be accessed from you
Airtel Live! Voice Services: Just Dial 56465 and say the name of the
service. For e.g. say Ring tones to download your favourite ring tones.
You can also choose a variety of content options like Live Cricket
Market Updates.
Airtel Live! SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting
services like cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few buttons
with Airtel Live! SIM based Services on your SIM card menu. To download
new services on your Airtel SIM, choose the "What's new" option under
Airtel Live! SMS Services: You can enjoy a host of services by sending a
Bollywood / Hollywood / Indi Pop Ring tones. In case you need assistance
presence using 'Mobile Office' with your phone or a phone and laptop
both.
Browse the internet on your mobile phone with Airtel's EDGE services.
Enjoy live TV, enhanced WAP experience and Airtel Data Cards on our
Hello Tunes
Tired of that boring old tring tring on your phone? Well now when a friend
calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up the
music charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of songs
in the Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly.
What's more, you can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g.
call 678005 for English New and 678001 for Hindi New. This would
Like a tune you want, all you have to do is call 55055 and follow the
simple voice instructions to copy your favourite Hello Tunes. Once inside
the copy feature, just key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number you want to
copy the Hello Tune from and you get the same Hello Tune assigned to
your number.
Forget gifting chocolates, flowers and greeting cards. Say it with a song
instead! Gift a Hello Tune to that special someone. Just call 55055 and
choose the song that you want to gift. Follow the simple voice instructions
and key in the 10-digit Airtel mobile number that you want to gift the Hello
Tune to. You will get an SMS notification upon successful receipt of that
gift.
your phone with talktime. Simply walk into your nearest Airtel Shop and
walk out with your favourite song. Choose from Bollywood Hits to Indipop
foot tapping Tamil Hits from a list of more than 18000 songs.
Reach us, Anytime Anywhere
In case you need assistance, dial '121' - our toll-free number, accessible
from anywhere in the country, even while roaming. *In case of email,
mention your mobile no. like 9810012345 in the subject of the mail for a
Prepaid Tariffs
Airtel Prepaid Ready Cellular Card and Recharge Cards are available, all
over the city at over retail outlets including 24-hour outlets. Airtel Prepaid
Ready Cellular Card and Recharge Cards are available, all over the city at
449
SUK
Pulse Rate 60 sec
ISD (Rs./min)
SMS (Rs.)
Local Rs.1.20
National Rs.2.00
International Rs.5.00
Other Details
Airtel Postpaid allows you to choose from a variety of affordable talk plans,
convenient payment options and host of rich features. So get set to enjoy
This Bill Plan is also available under Advance Rental of Rs. 799 for 2
years.
Local Pack
STD Pack
Airtel to other mobiles (non Airtel) & fixed lines nos. at Rs 2 / min.
If you already have Airtel Telephone service, you can buy a new
Benefits:
Monthly rent of Rs 25 for reduced call rates to your Airtel fixed line has
month for the next 2 months. All other options and charges are as per the
You also get FREE alert subscription worth Rs 30 / alert or 3 months on:
News
Astrology
Health Tips
repositioning of its brand image. The new brand ethos is portrayed in two
distinct fashions - the tag line "Touch Tomorrow", which underscores the
leading theme for the new brand vision, followed by "The Good Life",
that goes beyond the Internet, SMS, roaming, IVRS, etc but which engulfs
the whole gamut of wireless digital broadband services that will constitute
tomorrows cellular services. The new campaign is in two phases - the first
Officer, Bharti Mobile Limited, Karnataka "We are adopting a new brand-
platform - Touch Tomorrow - not only to reflect our corporate ethos but
The new identity will have the logo in Red, Black and White colours along
with lower case typography to convey warmth. AirTel will incorporate the
latest branding in all of its communication and will soon be going in for an
PRE-PAID card users need not worry anymore about recharging their
coupons every month. Company has launched a plan that allows users to
take a pre-paid connection with lifetime validity for a one time payment of
Rs. 999. Subscribers availing themselves of this scheme will also get full
talk time for the recharge coupon they purchase and also have the option
1,399.
The move is aimed at stopping the churn in the pre-paid subscriber base.
The first mover in the market was Airtel which launched its services in
launching its services informally in Oct 95. At this point of time, the market
was at a nascent stage, awareness level was low and both operators
the cellphone was perceived as a status symbol and utility took a back
seat The target segment in Delhi were corporate and the high income
group. The average capacity installed was for 1.5 lakh subscribers. This
coupled with the steep license fee paid to DOT put pressure on the
two years, this led to a number of schemes being offered and prices
crashing.
COMPETITIVE SITUATION
Airtel launched its services before Essar and skimmed the market picking
up the bulk of the high usage premium clients. This is a very competitive
services or price. Airtel is perceived as the high quality provider and has a
premium image. Essar, on the other hand, is perceived as the lower end
service provider. Airtel positions itself as the market leader on the basis of
on the reach of its network and the quality of its service. However, Essar
advertising
advertising Hoardings have been a very popular medium for carrying the
Forecasting of sales
Handling distribution
Target achievement
C. Distribution Support
1. Logistics
partners
2. Rental
3 Telesales
training.
5. Retail
MARKET SEGMENTATION
product / service to the requirement of target buyer and the resultant ease
& resources The present market for Cellular phones, pagers and
Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The rationale
behind it is that only those segments should be targeted who value time
and have the paying capacity. It Is also planning to target the business
About 60% of the clientele are top executives of corporate houses. About
15% are foreign organisations and the rest are professionals and small
get consumers across to hook up with their brand, because getting them
executive class but now that the basic viable volumes has beer) built up
and prices have declined to a certain extent they are planning to venture
further a field.
POSITIONING
communication and drive home the point that the cellphone is actually a
day-to-day utility
pace.
basic services can be and will be copied and in time become expected
available. The product policy and planning depends on the stage of the
product life cycle. At present the cellular phone market has reached the
This involves the selection of the suitable hardware (handset) and its
services and other concessions to make the prices and thus the product
This system is similar to the answering machine - if the user is not able to
answer a call for some reason the caller can leave messages in the voice
sending and receiving text messages directly from one mobile phone to
This service helps the subscriber to send and receive Faxes, access E-
mail, download computer files from other systems and remotely log on to
The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the
v) Caller ID
to permit only local calls, or to limit the outgoing calls to a listed number.
It is in the operators -Interest that they not only get many subscribers but
also get them to use the mobile facility frequently. In the early stages
since they will find it costlier to use the mobile phone as compared to a
buy]
SIM card of the local operator Into your handset and start talking.
city
** Semi automatic roaming means one card has the facility for
different cities.
a) They take personal responsibility to "get" the answer for any problem
prevent them
c) They give answers to the questions & requests, quickly & efficiently.
customers.
Airtel realises that attracting people 'Is easy but converting them into loyal
AIRTEL has realised that the Indian market is price sensitive. Therefore it
care of the has come up with various innovative tariff schemes to take
are more expensive than the land line based telephone services. This is
due to the reason that the operating companies are required to pay a fee
service, Airtel. Besides print advertising, the company had put up large no
preferences.
for Airtel. Since the cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also the
counts a great deal. Given the Cell phone category, it is the network
efficiency and the quality of service that becomes important. What now
through brand stature. Airtel's campaign in the capital began with a series
of 'teaser' hoardings across the city,' bearing just the company's name and
without explaining what Airtel was. In the next phase the campaign
associated Airtel with Cellular only thereafter was the Bharti Cellular
connection brought up. Vans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing out
brochures about the company and its services to all consumers. About
50,000 direct callers were sent out. When the name was well entrenched
in the Delhiitess mind, the Airtel campaign began to focus on the utility of
phone service provider that is on the top of his/her mind 60% of them
would name Airtel. As for aided it -is 100% (by giving clues and hints
etc.).
percentage score of the brand on the above aided and the unaided tests.
Every company has a goal, which might comprise a sales target and a
game plan with due regard to Its competitor. Airtel 's campaign strategy is
designed keeping in mind its marketing strategy. The tone, tenor and the
stance of the visual ads are designed to convey the image of a market
leader in terms of its market share. It tries to portray the image of being a
The status of the product in terms of its life cycle has just reached the
maturity stage in India. It is still on the rising part of the product life cycle
classified into heavy, medium and low categories. The right hand side
shows the revenue share earned from the three types of users.
Airtel, keeping in mind the importance of the customer retention, values its
heavy users the most and constantly indulges in service innovation. But,
since heavy users comprise only 15 - 20% of the population the other
The population which has just realised the importance of cellular phones
has to be roped in. It is for this reason that the service provider offers a
channel is chosen with economy in mind. The target segment is not very
concrete but, there is an attempt to focus on those who can afford. The
which most likely to catch the attention of those who need a cellular
Besides this, other promotional strategies that Airtel has adopted are .
(i) People who have booked Airtel services have been treated to
Company
Franchisee Distributor
Dealers
Dealer
Customer
Customer
controlling territorial overlaps of dealers. The franchises can carry out his
1 her own promotional strategy. For this the. company contributes 75% of
the money and the franchises contributes 25% of the money. The dealers
under the franchisee receive the same commission. The franchises and
the dealer obtain the feedback from the customers and they are sent
through the liaison officer on a day-to-day basis to Airtel. The dealer has
Target set for distributors and the dealers is 100 -150 activations per
month. Hence the dealers can also go for their own promotions like
promptly. The consumer on providing the bill of purchase for the handset
and proof of residence has only to wait an hour before getting connected.
The staff of the dealers and the franchisees are provided training by the
Airtel personnel.
With Airtel, the subscriber wouldn't just get a personal phone that lets
him/her be in touch, always, but also gets a host of benefits that let
(SIM card) - that is the key to operating his/her cellular phone. His card
chip with memory to enable one to enjoy one's cellular phone thoroughly.
Each SIM card contains a PIN code (Personal Identity Number) which
may be entered by one. Just plug your SIM card into your cellular phone,
world reveals that the growth in the market is Initially slow followed by a
sharp acceleration, but so far that has not happened in India. As far as
the Product Life Cycle is concerned. Indians are at the beginning of the
maturity stage.
Introduction Growth Maturity
MARKETING OBJECTIVES
Strategies
added services.
distribution.
adopters and
dealers.
subscribe. customers.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Objectives:
Provider.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
a) Primary Sources
I have met retailers of the Airtel of the company and have been able to get
first hand information regarding the product, its features and the buying
b) Secondary Sources
Secondary source has played a vital role to play in this report. A good
amount of data has been collected from various published articles and
reports found in magazines and journals. Another vital source has been
Every attempt will be taken to obtain the error free and meaningful result
but as nothing in this world is 100% perfect I believe that there will still the
interviewer.
Company Yes No
Airtel 4 1
Vodafone 4 1
Idea 4 1
MTNL 4 1
people in all the above four specified Indian mobile service providers are
of belief that India is potentially one of the most exciting mobile service
providers in the world, whereas some 4 (20%) of them do not agree to this
view.
2. Do you find that the governments telecom policy has had the
providers?
Company Yes No
Airtel 4 1
Vodafone 3 2
Idea 3 2
MTNL 5 --
people in all the above four specified Indian mobile service providers find
that the governments telecom policy has had the most radical impact on
Company Yes No
Airtel 2 3
Vodafone 3 2
Idea 3 2
MTNL 2 3
people in the mobile service providers are of belief that one of the
this.
people in all the above four major the mobile service providers in Indian
Cellular industry find only to some extent that GSM is a very complex
Company Yes No
Airtel 9 1
Vodafone 8 2
Idea 8 2
MTNL 5 5
As the above shows 30 (75%) out of total 40 respondents are of the belief
that mobile service providers comes close to fulfilling the requirements for
Company Yes No
Airtel 9 1
Vodafone 7 3
Idea 8 2
MTNL 8 2
As the above shows 32 (80%) out of total 40 respondents find that mobile
Company Yes No
Airtel 10 --
Vodafone 8 2
Idea 10 --
MTNL 8 2
As the above shows 36 (90%) out of total 40 respondents are of the belief
SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
Cost advantage
Entrepreneurial zeal
Airtels increased equity and market cap.
WEAKNESSES
To prove credibility
Price pressures
Awareness
THREATS
Foreign investment
Other competition
CONCLUSION
From above the details I conclude that 70% Airtel users preferred to
remain with Airtel. Also good no. of users who were willing to switch from
statistics imply a bright future for the company. Also the company is now
providing more services like the door to door services which is you dial the
Airtel customer care and would like to send someone flowers the Airtel
providing free text messaging service and free voice mail service. Call
Seshadri Mohan and Ravi Jain. Two User Location Strategies for
1(1), 1994.
Vodafone
Airtel
Idea
MTNL
QUESTIONNAIRE
NAME: ____________________________________
ADDRESS: ____________________________________
OCCUPATION: ____________________________________
Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
2. Do you find that the governments telecom policy has had the
providers?
Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
3. Do you believe that one of the challenges facing mobile operators
Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
(1-5) (6-10)
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
CONSUMER LEVEL
Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
2. Do you find that mobile service providers as the most exciting and
Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL
Company Yes No
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
MTNL