Airtel (Bharti Airtel Ltd.

) Bharti Airtel Limited was incorporated on July 7, 1995 for promoting investments in telecommunications services. Its subsidiaries operate telecom services across India. Bharti Airtel is India's leading private sector provider of telecommunications services based on a strong customer base consisting of 50million total customers, which constitute, 44.6 million 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 integrated telecom conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. Bharti provides a range of telecom services, which 22 include Cellular, Basic, Internet and recently introduced National Long Distance. Bharti also manufactures and 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 footsteps into Insurance and Retail segment in collaboration with Multi- National giants. Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 23 states covering all four metros and more than 50 million satisfied customers.

PRODUCT POLICY AND PLANNING The product or service is the heart of the marketing mix. Without a product or a service customers' needs cannot be satisfied. The basic product promise by Airtel is mobility. Airtel's main marketing strategy is to be a first mover all the time. It has recognised the significance of making the first move-because in the field of Communication & Information Technology changes occur at a tremendous pace

INDIAN CELLULAR MARKET The Bharti Group, which operates in 23 circles, continues to be the country's largest cellular operator, with 50 lakh subscribers. BSNL, which operates in 22 circles, has a subscriber base of 37 lakh subscribers. Thus BSNL stands second largest cellular operator in terms of subscriber base at the end of the fiscal ending March 31, 2007, displacing Vodafone from the second position.

Airtel announces foray into rural telecom market Indian telecom company Bharti Airtel has announced a major foray into the rural telecom market with the setting up of 4,000 Airtel Service Centres (ASCs) in the remotest villages of Maharashtra and Goa telecom circles. The strategy includes a combination of distribution and service under iServe Airtel Service Centre. ASCs are an important step in Airtels objective of expanding its rural base across India. Today, over 50% of our business comes from rural areas and going forward, a major percentage of new acquisitions are expected from the rural market, said Manu Talwar, CEO (mobility), Bharti Airtel Ltds Maharashtra and Goa telecom circles. The first ASC centre was opened at Ausarikurd near Pune on Friday. Undertaken primarily to address the needs of the largely unorganised rural market, the ASC model includes identification and training of entrepreneurs in villages who run a multi-brand retail outlet in a good location with easy access, preferably located in the main market of a village with a high footfall to facilitate new connection, recharges and accessories. These centres are empowered to sell and exchange sim cards, activate, reactivate, recharge and provide other suitable value added services, said Talwar.

Out of a total presence in 24,000 villages covering over 65% of the population in Maharashtra, 4,000 large villages have been identified for Airtel Service Centres. Initially, Airtel plans to make 1,700 centres operational by March while rest would be active by August 2009. The company plans to penetrate into villages with a population of 3,000 in Maharashtra. This unique rural model of distribution and service has evolved out of consumer studies which reflect that not only are these consumers hesitant to speak with machines, but are also not comfortable in talking to call centre agents or sending SMS. Therefore, our agents at the ASCs would help them in solving all their queries and problems related to the cell phone, said Talwar.

Marketing strategies of Airtel This joint venture of Airtel company will harness the power of telecom to empower the rural farmer by giving them access of vital market information at his fingertips. Airtel has entered into a strategic tie up with the Indian Farmers' Fertiliser Co-operative Limited (IFFCO) and formed a new joint venture company called IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL). And we say that, "IFFCO is an organization of the farmers and for the farmers and works on the model of cooperatives. We feel there is a great opportunity in telecom sector going to rural India to create new business opportunities for the cooperatives where farmers are the key stakeholders and it is a good decision by Airtel company to target the formers of rural market. Bharti Airtel Ltd. Introduction Sales & Distribution Strategies

Airtel is the Market leader in Indian telecom market with a market share of all India mobile subscribers at 23.4%. It is Indias largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Airtel has set-up a multi-regional marketing and sales team that is responsible for building two types of sales channels 1. Direct sales channels 2. Indirect sales channels The 23 circles have been divided into regions or territories and the Regional organizations are responsible for the designing the sales & marketing strategies for their respective areas. Airtel has a network of personnel who take care of marketing and sales plans of their regions by capitalizing on the opportunities in their geographic region. These teams build both direct customer relationships as well as indirect channels (through handset manufacturer, Network Solutions Provider, etc.)

Airtel Rural Activity Our stronghold of rural area marketing through our qualified team of professionals and healthy infrastructure made the Airtel Rural Road Show a great success. Decorated with advertisements, Branded Maruti Van with Camera & printer were the Instant Zerox & Pasport provide. were offered to attract people. As per policy of our client special discounts were offered and market distributors were set making the show a success ultimately.

Challenge/Opportunity Bharti Airtel was faced with the challenge of profitably serving the rural areas of India. It is an extremely daunting task due to a variety of factors: rural users' low incomes, a

widely dispersed population, and a less than ideal public infrastructure (i.e., roads, electricity, etc.). Specifically, Bharti Airtel had to address the following conditions: The incomes of Indian rural residents are significantly lower than urban residents. The average revenue per user (ARPU) for rural residents was typically less than US$2 per month. Besides deploying a scalable network, Bharti Airtel also needed to establish a costeffective marketing, sales, and distribution channel to provide service promotion and customer support. Counter to these challenges were the significant opportunity that the Indian rural market represented and Bharti Airtel's unique ability to address it. The future growth of the Indian mobile market is expected to be driven by rural customers, which account for about 70 percent of the country's total population (1.1 billion people)

Alliances/Partnerships To extend its reach in India's rural markets, Bharti Airtel is focusing on innovative initiatives, including efficient infrastructure deployments, expanding its distribution network via partnerships, and customized content and tariffs. Bharti Airtel has launched microfinancing agreements in collaboration with Nokia and SKS Micro-finance. Under these partnerships, Bharti provides subsidized tariffs and subscriber identity module (SIM) cards to rural users, Nokia provides subsidized handsets, and SKS offers microfinancing. To expand coverage into rural regions, Bharti Airtel is sharing passive infrastructure services with Vodafone (42 percent ownership) and Idea (16 percent ownership) through

its joint venture, Indus Towers. Sharing the infrastructure cost and usage between multiple operators has helped Bharti Airtel to reduce its operating and capital expenses. Bharti Airtel also formed a joint venture with the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO). Its joint venture, IFFCO Kisan Sanchar, uses IFFCO's wide rural presence (present in 80 percent of Indian villages) and appeal among the rural agricultural community to market and distribute Bharti's products. IFFCO Kisan Sanchar provides subsidized handsets and connections at competitive rates in rural areas. It also helps Bharti Airtel to identify and acquire suitable locations for deploying its cell sites. In addition, it offers tailored services including voice-based updates on crop prices, farming techniques, rural health initiatives, and "help line" services.

Strategy
Bharti Airtel first studies the commercial viability of a rural community (and the surrounding villages) based on parameters such as source of livelihood, average income, and involvement in frequent commercial transactions or travels. The company has developed a prioritized deployment strategy based on the specified criteria. Qualifying villages are first to receive a base station, which also caters to nearby communities. To help ensure efficient usage and profitability for each of these base stations, Bharti Airtel tracks the revenue generated per base station (instead of ARPU, which is considered less relevant in a rural context). The following best practices have also been established: Bharti Airtel has adopted the strategy of direct communications to market its value proposition to rural customers. To make its services accessible, the company provides all of its marketing content in local languages. Vans are used to cover rural areas with staff who educate locals about mobile services and usage.

 The company has developed a shared phone service called Public Call Offices (PCOs) in rural regions to increase awareness about its brand and services. Bharti Airtel Service Centers have been set up in villages to address customer queries and complaints as well as act as sales and distribution points. These centers employ local people and offer sales and customer services using local dialects. Bharti Airtel has already established over 18,000 service centers in rural India, covering over 400 languages and local dialects. The company plans to expand this network. Success Factors/Metrics/Monetization Bharti Airtel does not provide separate rural key performance indicators, but the following results have been publicly announced:

As of April 2010, Bharti Airtel's network covered 440,000 villages in India, which, together with its urban services, accounted for coverage of approximately 84 percent of

India's total population.

As of March 31, 2010, Bharti Airtel had added 9 million new customers to reach a total of 128 million connections. Ovum estimates that rural users accounted for 60 percent of the company's net subscriber adds in that quarter. Despite Bharti Airetel's overall ARPU of just under $5, its mobile division's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin was approximately 30 percent, and its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin was approximately 19 percent, which indicate a healthy return on overall (including significant rural) investments.