MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRTEL

THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

NEW DELHI

THESIS ON

“MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRTEL”

SUBMITTED TO:

PROF. SUMANTA SHARMA

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

PROF. DIPTI SHARMA MR. ASHWANI RANA

(INTERNAL GUIDE) (EXTERNAL GUIDE)

SUBMITTED BY:

HARISH KUMAR

ALUMNI ID NUMBER: DS/09/11-M-047

BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

ABSTRACT

The project is an extensive report on how the Airtel company markets its strategies and

how the company has been able in tackling the present tough competition and how it is

cooping up by the allegations of the quality of its products. The report begins with the

history of the products and the introduction of the Airtel company. This report also

contains the basic marketing strategies that are used by the Airtel company of

manufacturing process, technology, production policy, advertising, collaboration, export

scenario, future prospect and government policies. The report includes some of the key

salient features of market trend issues.

In today’s world of cutthroat fierce competition, it is very essential to not only exist but

also to excel in the market. Today’s market is enormously more complex. Hence forth, to

survive in the market, the company not only needs to maximize its profit but also needs

to satisfy its customers and should try to build upon from there.

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SIGNATORY PAGE

TO WHOMESOEVER IT MAY CONCERN

This is to confirm that Mr. Harish Kumar, student of IIPM, NEW DELHI, is doing a

live project(Thesis) on the topic “Marketing Strategy of Airtel ” under my guidance

and that the work being done by the candidate is original and is of the standard expected

by an MBA student.

May god bless him with all success in his career.

Warm regards

Ashwani Rana

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TOPIC APPROVAL LETTER

From: Thesis <[email protected]>Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2010 11:57:51 +0530Subject: Thesis Topic Approval (M) SS 09-11To: [email protected]

Dear Harish Kumar,

This is to inform that your thesis proposal on "Marketing Strategies of Airtel", to be conducted under the guidance of Mr. Ashwani Rana is hereby approved and the topic registration id number is DS/09/11-M-047

Make it a comprehensive thesis by ensuring that all the objectives as stated by you in your synopsis are met using appropriate research design; a thesis should aim at adding value to the existing knowledge base.

You are required to correspond with your internal guide Prof. Dipti Sharma at [email protected] Ph.-0124-3350713 by sending at least six responsesheets (attached along with this mail) at regular intervals before the lastdate for thesis submission.

NB:

1) A thesis would be rejected if there is any variation in the topic/titlefrom the one approved and registered with us.

2) The candidate needs to handwrite at least 1200 to 1500 words on thesummary of thesis at the time of viva

Regards,Prof .Sumanta Sharma Dean (Projects) [email protected]:+91 0124 3350701 (D)+91 0124 3350715 (Board)

BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11 ALUMNI ID NO.: DS/09/11-M-047iv

http://mail.google.com/mail/h/o1seo6jvk0ym/?v=b&cs=wh&[email protected]





ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is well-established fact that behind every achievement lays an unfathomable sea of

gratitude to those who have extended their support and without whom the project would

never have come into existence.

I express my gratitude to IIPM, New Delhi for providing me an opportunity to work on

this thesis as a part of the curriculum.

Also, I express my gratitude to Prof. Sumanta Sharma and Prof. Dipti Sharma on the

completion of my project and I am very thankful to Mr. Ashwani Rana my external

mentor for his excellent guidance and kind cooperation throughout the work.

BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11 ALUMNI ID NO.: DS/09/11-M-047v


Approved thesis synopsis

Name: Harish Kumar

Section: SF-1

Batch: PGP/SS/2009-11

Phone Number: 9971555307

Email Address: [email protected]

Specialization: Marketing & Finance

Desire Area of Student to do research: Marketing

Title of the thesis: “HOW DOES AIRTEL KEEP HOLD OF ITS MARKET BECAUSE OF ITS GREAT

MARKETING STRATEGIES?”

Problem definition/Hypothesis: Effective marketing strategy makes the business profitable

Marketing strategy is important for attracting customer towards business

Research Objective:This study will try to analyze how Airtel keeps hold of its market because of its great

marketing strategies with the following objectives:

To identify the factors considered by the Airtel in making the marketing strategies

for their business

To identify how effectively Airtel is currently using his marketing strategies to

attract new customers

To identify the current marketing strategies of Airtel

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To suggest them effective marketing strategies to get success in the current

competitive environment in the telecommunication industry

Introduction to the area of research: Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited

resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a

sustainable competitive advantage. A marketing strategy should be centered on the key

concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal. Marketing strategy is a method of

focusing an organization's energies and resources on a course of action which can lead to

increased sales and dominance of a targeted market niche. A marketing strategy

combines product development, promotion, distribution, pricing, relationship

management and other elements; identifies the firm's marketing goals, and explains how

they will be achieved, ideally within a stated timeframe. Marketing strategy determines

the choice of target market segments, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of

resources.

Research Methodology:First I will review the existing literature concerned with how Airtel keeps hold of its

market because of its great marketing strategies. Once I am through with the subject I

will have a better understanding of it. A thorough research will be conducted among the

executives in the company. The primary as well as secondary data collection method will

be used in this research.

Primary Data:

Primary data will be collected by structured interviews. Executives will be interviewed

with the help of questionnaire. I will be interviewing Airtel employees. The questionnaire

will be close ended question as per my mentor’s guidance Analyzing quantitative data

will be presented with the help of bar graphs and charts. Quantitative data can also be

analysed through statistical tools eg sorting your data into categories and locating subset

of these of these data according to its criteria.

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Secondary Data:

The secondary data in this research will be collected through news articles, journals,

magazine, peer reviews and published databases. A comprehensive of the collected data

will be presented with the help of tables, charts and graphs.

Sample Size:

To conduct this research work the researcher has taken 30 manager level employees

Sampling Area: Company executives who have good knowledge about marketing

strategy of the company

Scope of the work:A detailed study on estimated sales current market size is essential. This can be arrived at

by reviewing statistical data and figures and by discussions with distributors and sales

representatives. Market surveys will help identify customer base and loyalty to products

and services currently in the market and will help gauge customer response to new

product launches. A clear cut agenda to generate awareness of company's products and

services is an absolute must to hold your own against competition. Visibility is the need

of the hour and hence, use of strategic tactics like participation in trade shows,

promotional offer campaigns, public relations exercises contribute to the growth of the

company. It is therefore of key relevance to factor in advertising and promotional

expenditure in the expenses portfolio.

Justification of choosing the topic:I have chosen this research work to suggest the best ways of marketing by which

company can increase its customer satisfaction and this will also assist them in retaining

their market share. This research work would present the effectiveness of marketing

strategy used by the Airtel. The main factors considered when making a successful

marketing strategy. A marketing strategy often integrates an organization's marketing

goals, policies, and action sequences (tactics) into a cohesive whole. Similarly, the

various strands of the strategy, which might include advertising, channel

marketing, internet marketing, promotion and public relations, can be orchestrated.

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CONTENT

ABSTRACT.................................................................................................ii

COMPLETION LETTER FROM EXTERNAL GUIDE...........................iii

TOPIC APPROVAL LETTER...................................................................iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENT..............................................................................v

APPROVED THESIS SYNOPSIS.............................................................vi

1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................1

2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE & METHODOLOGY..............................................11

3. LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................13

COMPANY PROFILE........................................................................................31

MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRTEL..........................................................36

4. PRIMARY FINDING AND ANALYSIS...........................................................72

5. RECOMMENDATION.......................................................................................86

6. CONCLUSION & IMPLICATIONS..................................................................87

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................................................................88

8. COPY OF QUESTIONNAIRE...........................................................................89

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INTRODUCTION

The telecom industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. India has nearly

200 million telephone lines making it the third largest network in the world after China

and USA. With a growth rate of 45%, Indian telecom industry has the highest growth rate

in the world. History of Indian Telecommunications started in 1851 when the first

operational land lines were laid by the government near Calcutta (seat of British power).

Telephone services were introduced in India in 1881. In 1883 telephone services were

merged with the postal system. Indian Radio Telegraph Company (IRT) was formed in

1923. After independence in 1947, all the foreign telecommunication companies were

nationalized to form the Posts, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT), a monopoly run by the

government's Ministry of Communications. Telecom sector was considered as a strategic

service and the government considered it best to bring under state's control.

The first wind of reforms in telecommunications sector began to flow in 1980s when the

private sector was allowed in telecommunications equipment manufacturing. In 1985,

Department of Telecommunications (DOT) was established. It was an exclusive provider

of domestic and long-distance service that would be its own regulator (separate from the

postal system). In 1986, two wholly government-owned companies were created: the

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) for international telecommunications and

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) for service in metropolitan areas. In

1990s, telecommunications sector benefited from the general opening up of the economy.

Also, examples of telecom revolution in many other countries, which resulted in better

quality of service and lower tariffs, led Indian policy makers to initiate a change process

finally resulting in opening up of telecom services sector for the private sector. National

Telecom Policy (NTP) 1994 was the first attempt to give a comprehensive roadmap for

the Indian telecommunications sector. In 1997, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

(TRAI) was created. TRAI was formed to act as a regulator to facilitate the growth of the

telecom sector. New National Telecom Policy was adopted in 1999 and cellular services

were also launched in the same year.

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Telecommunication sector in India can be divided into two segments: Fixed Service

Provider (FSPs), and Cellular Services. Fixed line services consist of basic services,

national or domestic long distance and international long distance services. The state

operators (BSNL and MTNL), account for almost 90 per cent of revenues from basic

services. Private sector services are presently available in selective urban areas, and

collectively account for less than 5 per cent of subscriptions. However, private services

focus on the business/corporate sector, and offer reliable, high- end services, such as

leased lines, ISDN, closed user group and videoconferencing.

Cellular services can be further divided into two categories: Global System for Mobile

Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The GSM sector

is dominated by Airtel, Vodafone-Hutch, and Idea Cellular, while the CDMA sector is

dominated by Reliance and Tata Indicom. Opening up of international and domestic long

distance telephony services are the major growth drivers for cellular industry. Cellular

operators get substantial revenue from these services, and compensate them for reduction

in tariffs on airtime, which along with rental was the main source of revenue. The

reduction in tariffs for airtime, national long distance, international long distance, and

handset prices has driven demand.

Fixed/Basic Network Services

Although nearly a decade has elapsed since India laid out a regulatory framework for the

liberalization of basic telecom services, competition in fixed local loop telephone

services, so far, extends to only a fraction of the total population. Competitive entry has

focused principally on services for urban customers in relatively affluent areas. Even the

pattern of switching capacity (which indicates the capacity in a circle) indicates that

around 57% of the switching capacity of the private operators at end-September 2003

was in metros and Category A circles. Further, an estimated 68% of the fixed network

telephone connections of private operators at end-March 2004 were in metros and

Category circles.


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In terms of subscriber connections, private operators had a market share of around 5.5%

at end-FY2004, as compared with 2.3% at end-FY2003, and 1.5% at end- FY2002. While

private operators accounted for 25% of subscriptions in urban areas at end-March 2004

(17% at end-September 2003), their market share in rural areas was negligible at 0.2%

(0.2% at end-September 2003). Because subscriber density and income (and ability to

pay) are low, providing access in rural areas is unprofitable because of the higher costs

and lower revenues. The cost of providing telephone service in rural areas is much higher

than in urban or suburban areas. The demand for profitable long distance services and

value -added fax and Internet services is insignificant in rural areas. Above -cost long

distance services are often bundled with cheaper local services in urban areas.

Cellular Services

For cellular GSM and CDMA services, there presently exists significant extent of

competition in nearly all service areas. In GSM services, during January 2005, of the 23

service areas (reduced from 24 after the merger of A&N Islands into the WB circle),

fourteen service areas had 4 operators, seven service areas had 3 operators, and two

service areas had 2 operators, and one had only one licensed operator. However, the

intensity of competition is higher in Metros and Category A circles, which have higher

potential and penetration. For example, all the four metros and five Category A service

areas had four licensed operators. By comparison, six out of 8 Category B circles, and

none of Category C circles had four operators.

Increasingly GSM service providers are facing competition digital CDMA based wireless

services.

Unlike GSM, which offers seamless national and international roaming, WLL-LM

services did not offer roaming. However, CDMA mobile services are, currently,

competitive on product offerings and prices as compared with cellular GSM services. At

end-2004, there were an estimated 11.08 million CDMA mobile connections, as

compared with 37.38 million cellular subscriptions. Thus, CDMA subscriptions


3


accounted for 22.9% of the total wireless mobile connections in India at end-December

2004.

National Long Distance

The Indian NLD market was estimated at around Rs. 50 billion during FY2004. Because

of the significant decline in prices of NLD services caused by regulatory interventions

and market competition, the NLD market has declined from around Rs. 59 billion during

FY2003. Though the number of minutes of NLD traffic has increased, the market has

shrunk because of intense competition between the various operators—BSNL, BIL, RIL,

and VSNL.

Competition is steadily leading to a decline in NLD prices as they more accurately reflect

true costs. However, long-distance service hinges on access to local networks, which for

now is controlled by BSNL, MTNL, and private operators such as BTV, and Reliance.

Long-distance service hinges on access to local networks. Thus, new entrants without a

significant fixed/cellular local access customer base will have to use the customer access

networks of the existing local access network operators (fixed and cellular) to originate

and terminate their traffic.

International Long Distance

The Indian ILD market was estimated at around Rs. 43 billion during FY2004. Because

of the significant decline in prices of ILD services caused by regulatory interventions and

market competition, the ILD market has declined from around Rs. 50 billion during

FY2003.

Though the number of minutes of ILD traffic has increased from 3.7 billion during

FY2003 to 5.2 billion during FY2004, the market has declined in value terms because of

intense competition between the various operators—VSNL, DAIL, BIL, and RIL

In the pre-reform period, growth was primarily driven by public sector monopoly

showing very marginal growth.


4


Reform process was started with new telecom policy 1994.

When telecom reforms were initiated in 1994, there were three incumbents in the

fixed service sector, namely DoT (Department of Telecom), MTNL and VSNL.

Of these, DoT operated in all parts of the country except Delhi and Mumbai. MTNL

operated in Delhi and Mumbai and VSNL provided international telephony.

New Telecom Policy’ 94

In 1994, the Government announced the National Telecom Policy which defined

certain important objectives, including availability of telephone on demand, provision

of world class services at reasonable prices, ensuring India’s emergence as major

manufacturing / export base of telecom equipment and universal availability of basic

telecom services to all villages.

NTP 1994 also recognized that the required resources for achieving these targets

would not be available only out of Government sources and concluded that private

investment and involvement of the private sector was required to bridge the resource

gap. The Government invited private sector participation in a phased manner from the

early nineties, initially for value added services such as Paging Services and Cellular

Mobile Telephone Services (CMTS) and thereafter for Fixed Telephone Services

(FTS). After a competitive bidding process, licenses were awarded to 8 CMTS

operators in the four metros, 14 CMTS operators in 18 state circles, 6 BTS operators

in 6 state circles and to paging operators in 27 cities and 18 state circles. VSAT

services were liberalised for providing data services to closed user groups. Licences

were issued to 14 operators in the private sector out of which only nine licensees are

operational.

New Telecom Policy’ 99

Access to telecommunications is of utmost importance for achievement of the

country's social and economic goals. Availability of affordable and effective


5


communications for the citizens is at the core of the vision and goal of the telecom

policy.

Strive to provide a balance between the provision of universal service to all

uncovered areas, including the rural areas, and the provision of high-level services

capable of meeting the needs of the country's economy;

Encourage development of telecommunication facilities in remote, hilly and tribal

areas of the country;

Create a modern and efficient telecommunications infrastructure taking into account

the convergence of IT, media, telecom and consumer electronics and thereby propel

India into becoming an IT superpower; .

Transform in a time bound manner, the telecommunications sector to a greater

competitive environment in both urban and rural areas providing equal opportunities

and level playing field for all players;

Strengthen research and development efforts in the country and provide an impetus to

build world-class manufacturing capabilities.

Enable Indian Telecom Companies to become truly global players.

In line with the above objectives, the specific targets that the NTP 1999 tried to achieve

were:

To encourage development of telecom in rural areas making it more affordable by

suitable tariff structure and making rural communication mandatory for all fixed

service providers.

To increase rural teledensity from the current level of 0.4 to 4 by the year 2010 and

provide reliable transmission media in all rural areas.


6


Achieve telecom coverage of all villages in the country and provide reliable media to

all exchanges by the year 2002.

Fig: Tele-Density

Growth Post-Reform

From the above graph we see that:

Growth started in phase I of the reform 1998-2003.

Growth during phase I was not exponential due to the apprehensions private

players had for the government policies.

Phase II growth was mobile driven and was consequent to certain decisions taken

by the govt.

TRAI facilitated huge reduction in forborne tariffs in 2003-05.

Allowed handsets sales in instalments.

The growth in tele-density each year in 2003-04 (2%) and 2004-05 (2%) has been

greater than the growth in the last 50 years 1948-98.

In phase III each year the growth has been greater than 4.5%

Michael Porter’s “Five forces model” describes the threats to a company’s competitive

advantage in an industry. Here is a breakdown of the "five forces model:”

1. Degree of rivalry of existing industry competitors.


7


2. Degree of barriers to entry by new competitors in the industry.

3. Threat of substitute products/services.

4. Bargaining power of buyers.

5. Bargaining power of suppliers.

Below are five areas that exemplify the concepts of the “five forces” and show how

trends can really be pressures on an organization’s competitive nature:

Industry Consolidation: As in the wireless / cellular service provider market,

this can mean threats from existing companies who consolidate their position and

acquire additional market share by purchasing their competition (Rivalry).

Wireless Local-Area Networks: The Internet and broadband-based VoIP market

could soon face competitors from the wireless / cellular service providers

(Substitutes) via wireless local area networks, WLANs.

Security/Fraud: When we think about using a free VoIP service, like Skype, we

do not necessarily think about fraud. However, when you start looking at the pay

VoIP services, fraud becomes a much larger issue (Barriers to Entry).

Pricing: Wireless / cellular and traditional phone service providers have seen

demands from consumers drive their price per minute via lower tiered minute and

flat rate plans. Pay VoIP providers are entering not at the top, but closer to the

bottom of these pricing levels (Buyers).

Broadband Access: The penetration rate of broadband access, the lifeblood of

pay VoIP services, is around 55 to 60 percent. This effectively caps the number of

customers that have access to VoIP services and places more power in the hands

of the broadband access providers (Suppliers).


8


These conditions create a highly competitive environment particularly for the pay VoIP

market. However, in this highly lucrative industry; telecom service providers need to

create a competitive advantage to become or stay successful.

The Telecom sector in India exhibits the features of an oligopoly form of market

structure.

Key Features of Oligopoly

A few firms selling similar product

Each firm produces branded products

Likely to be significant entry barriers into the market in the long run which allows

firms to make supernormal profits.

Interdependence between competing firms. Businesses have to take into account

likely reactions of rivals to any change in price and output.

Major Players

There are three types of players in telecom services:

State owned companies (BSNL and MTNL)

Private Indian owned companies (Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices,)

Foreign invested companies (Hutchison-Essar, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Escotel,

Idea Cellular, BPL Mobile, Spice Communications)

1) The Indian Telecom sector is controlled by a few major players Bharti Airtel,

Vodafone (Earlier Hutch), Idea Cellular, BSNL, Tata Tele Services and Reliance

Infocomm. Players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, regional players

like Spice, Aircel, BPL, etc sell similar products SIM (Subscriber Identity

Module) cards for mobile phones. They also provide Value Added Services such


9


as ring tones, news, etc by charging some price. Companies like Reliance

Infocomm and Tata Tele Services are CDMA providers.

Fig: Market share of the top telecom players (%)

Concentration Ratio: The degree by which an industry is dominated by a few large

firms. Calculation of four- firm concentration ratio:


10


RESEARCH OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY

Research Objective:

This study will try to analyze how Airtel keeps hold of its market because of its great

marketing strategies with the following objectives:

To identify the factors considered by the Airtel in making the marketing strategies

for their business

To identify how effectively Airtel is currently using his marketing strategies to

attract new customers

To identify the current marketing strategies of Airtel

To suggest them effective marketing strategies to get success in the current

competitive environment in the telecommunication industry

Research Methodology:

First I will review the existing literature concerned with how Airtel keeps hold of its

market because of its great marketing strategies. Once I am through with the subject I

will have a better understanding of it. A thorough research will be conducted among the

executives in the company. The primary as well as secondary data collection method will

be used in this research.

Primary Data:

Primary data will be collected by structured interviews. Executives will be interviewed

with the help of questionnaire. I will be interviewing Airtel employees. The questionnaire

will be close ended question as per my mentor’s guidance Analyzing quantitative data

will be presented with the help of bar graphs and charts. Quantitative data can also be


11


analysed through statistical tools eg sorting your data into categories and locating subset

of these of these data according to its criteria.

Secondary Data:

The secondary data in this research will be collected through news articles, journals,

magazine, peer reviews and published databases. A comprehensive of the collected data

will be presented with the help of tables, charts and graphs.

Sample Size:

To conduct this research work the researcher has taken 30 manager level employees

Sampling Area: Company executives who have good knowledge about marketing

strategy of the company


12


LITRATURE REVIEW

"Marketing" is an instructive business domain that serves to inform and educate target

markets about the value and competitive advantage of a company and its products.

“Value” is worth derived by the customer from owning and using the product.

“Competitive Advantage” is a depiction that the company or its products are each doing

something better than their competition in a way that could benefit the customer.

Marketing is focused on the task of conveying pertinent company and product related

information to specific customers, and there are a multitude of decisions (strategies) to be

made within the marketing domain regarding what information to deliver, how much

information to deliver, to whom to deliver, how to deliver, when to deliver, and where to

deliver. Once the decisions are made, there are numerous ways (tactics) and processes

that could be employed in support of the selected strategies. As Marketing is often

misinterpreted as just advertising or sales, Chris Newton, in What is marketing?

(Marketing Help Online, 2008), defined marketing as every strategy and decision made in

the following twelve areas:

Identifying and quantifying the need in the marketplace

Identifying and quantifying the target markets

Identifying the optimum cost effective media – online and offline - to reach the

target markets

Reviewing the priorities of the product offering in your overall product mix

‘matrix’

Identifying and developing the most effective distribution channels, be they

wholesaler networks, partnering alliances, franchising, or any number of conduits

to the market.

Testing different ways of packaging the concepts or products to find their most

'easy-to-sell' form


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Testing to find the optimum pricing strategies

Developing effective promotional strategies and effective advertising and

supporting collateral, offers, and launch strategies

Developing and documenting the sales process

Finding the optimum execution of the sales process – through testing of selling

scripts, people selection, supporting collateral, skills and attitudinal training,

tracking, measuring and refining

Ensuring that sales projections reflect realistic production capacities

Developing nurture programs to optimise the lifetime value of the customer

The goal of marketing is to build and maintain a preference for a company and its

products within the target markets. The goal of any business is to build mutually

profitable and sustainable relationships with its customers. While all business domains

are responsible for accomplishing this goal, the marketing domain bears a significant

share of the responsibility. Within the larger scope of its definition, marketing is

performed through the actions of three coordinated disciplines named: “Product

Marketing”, “Corporate Marketing”, and “Marketing Communications

Two levels of marketing

Strategic marketing: attempts to determine how an organization competes against its

competitors in a market place. In particular, it aims at generating a competitive advantage

relative to its competitors. Operational marketing: executes marketing functions to attract

and keep customers and to maximize the value derived for them, as well as to satisfy the

customer with prompt services and meeting the customer expectations. Operational

Marketing includes the determination of the porter's five forces.


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4 Ps

In the early 1960s, Professor Neil Borden at Harvard Business School identified a

number of company performance actions that can influence the consumer decision to

purchase goods or services. Borden suggested that all those actions of the company

represented a “Marketing Mix”. Professor E. Jerome McCarthy, also at the Harvard

Business School in the early 1960s, suggested that the Marketing Mix contained 4

elements: product, price, place and promotion. In popular usage, "marketing" is the

promotion of products, especially advertising and branding. However, in professional

usage the term has a wider meaning which recognizes that marketing is customer-

centered. Products are often developed to meet the desires of groups of customers or

even, in some cases, for specific customers. E. Jerome McCarthy divided marketing into

four general sets of activities. His typology has become so universally recognized that his

four activity sets, the Four Ps, have passed into the language.

Product: The product aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the actual

goods or services, and how it relates to the end-user's needs and wants. The scope of a

product generally includes supporting elements such as warranties, guarantees, and

support.

Pricing: This refers to the process of setting a price for a product, including discounts.

The price need not be monetary - it can simply be what is exchanged for the product or

services, e.g. time, energy, psychology or attention.

Promotion: This includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling,

branding and refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand, or company.

Placement (or distribution): refers to how the product gets to the customer; for

example, point of sale placement or retailing. This fourth P has also sometimes been

called Place, referring to the channel by which a product or services is sold (e.g. online

vs. retail), which geographic region or industry, to which segment (young adults,

families, business people), etc. also referring to how the environment in which the

product is sold in can affect sales. These four elements are often referred to as the


15


marketing mix, which a marketer can use to craft a marketing plan. The four Ps model is

most useful when marketing low value consumer products. Industrial products, services,

high value consumer products require adjustments to this model. Services marketing must

account for the unique nature of services. Industrial or B2B marketing must account for

the long term contractual agreements that are typical in supply chain transactions.

Relationship marketing attempts to do this by looking at marketing from a long term

relationship perspective rather than individual transactions.

As a counter to this, Morgan, in Riding the Waves of Change (Jossey-Bass, 1988),

suggests that one of the greatest limitations of the 4 Ps approach "is that it unconsciously

emphasizes the inside–out view (looking from the company outwards), whereas the

essence of marketing should be the outside–in approach". Nevertheless, the 4 Ps offer a

memorable and workable guide to the major categories of marketing activity, as well as a

framework within which these can be used.

7 P’s

As well as the standard four P's (Product, Pricing, Promotion and Place), services

marketing calls upon an extra three, totaling seven and known together as the extended

marketing mix. These are:

People: Any person coming into contact with customers can have an impact on overall

satisfaction. Whether as part of a supporting service to a product or involved in a total

service, people are particularly important because, in the customer's eyes, they are

generally inseparable from the total service . As a result of this, they must be

appropriately trained, well motivated and the right type of person. Fellow customers are

also sometimes referred to under 'people', as they too can affect the customer's service

experience, (e.g., at a sporting event).

Process: This is the process(es) involved in providing a service and the behaviour of

people, which can be crucial to customer satisfaction.


16


Physical evidence: Unlike a product, a service cannot be experienced before it is

delivered, which makes it intangible. This, therefore, means that potential customers

could perceive greater risk when deciding whether to use a service. To reduce the feeling

of risk, thus improving the chance for success, it is often vital to offer potential customers

the chance to see what a service would be like. This is done by providing physical

evidence, such as case studies, testimonials or demonstrations.

Personalization: It is here referred customization of products and services through the

use of the Internet. Early examples include Dell on-line and Amazon.com, but this

concept is further extended with emerging social media and advanced algorithms.

Emerging technologies will continue to push this idea forward.

Participation: This is to allow the customer to participate in what the brand should stand

for; what should be the product directions and even which ads to run. This concept is

laying the foundation for disruptive change through democratization of information.

Peer-to-Peer: This refers to customer networks and communities where advocacy

happens. The historical problem with marketing is that it is “interruptive” in nature,

trying to impose a brand on the customer. This is most apparent in TV advertising. These

“passive customer bases” will ultimately be replaced by the “active customer

communities”. Brand engagement happens within those conversations. P2P is now being

referred as Social Computing and is likely to be the most disruptive force in the future of

marketing.

Predictive modeling: This refers to algorithms that are being successfully applied in

marketing problems (both a regression as well as a classification problem).

Product

Steps in product design

Design and development of product ideas.

Selection of and sifting through product ideas.


17


Design and testing of product concept.

Analysis of business instead of product concept.

Design and testing of emotional product.

Packaging

Requirements of good packaging

Functional - effectively contain and protect the contents

Provide convenience during distribution, sale, opening, use, reuse, etc.

Be environmentally responsible

Be cost effective

Appropriately designed for target market

Eye-catching (particularly for retail/consumer sales)

Communicate attributes and recommended use of the product and package

Compliant with retailers' requirements

Promotes image of enterprise

Distinguishable from competitors' products

Meet legal requirements for product and packaging

Point of difference in service and supply of product.

For a perfect product, perfect colour.


18


Forms of packaging

Specialty packaging — emphasizes the elegant character of the product

Packaging for double-use

Combination packaging two or more products packaged in the same container

Kaleidoscopic packaging — packaging changes continually to reflect a series or

particular theme

Packaging for immediate consumption — to be thrown away after use

Packaging for resale — packed, into appropriate quantities, for the retailer or

wholesaler

Trademarks

Significance of a trademark

Distinguishes one company's goods from those of another

Serves as advertisement for quality

Protects both consumers and manufacturers

Used in displays and advertising campaigns

Used to market new products

Brands

A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes products and

services from competitive offerings. A brand represents the consumers' experience with

an organization, product, or service. A brand has also been defined as an identifiable

entity that makes a specific promise of value. Co-branding involves marketing activity

involving two or more products


19


Pricing

Pricing refers to the amount of money exchanged for a product. This value is determined

by utility to the consumer in terms of money and/or sacrifice that the consumer is

prepared to give for it.

Increase sales volume

Increase revenue

Achieve or increase profits

Increase or maintain market share

Eliminate competition

Achieve advantages of mass production

Factors influencing price-determination

Production and distribution costs

Substitute goods available

Normal trade practices

Fixed prices

Reaction of distributors

Reaction of consumers

Nature of demand:

elastic/inelastic

Form of market:


20


Perfect competition

Monopolistic competition

Monopoly

Oligopoly

Steps to determine price

Determine market share to be captured

Set up price strategy

Estimate demand

Evaluate competitors' reactions

Channels

Manufacturer to consumer (most direct)

Manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer (traditional)

Manufacturer to agent to retailer to consumer (current)

Manufacturer to agent to wholesaler to retailer to consumer

Manufacturer to agent to customer ( ex : DCL,AMWAY )

Manufacturers

Reasons for direct selling methods

Manufacturer wants to demonstrate goods.

Wholesalers, retailers and agents not actively selling.


21


Manufacturer unable to convince wholesalers or retailers to stock product.

High profit margin added to goods by wholesalers and retailers.

Middlemen unable to transport

Reasons for indirect selling methods

Manufacturer does not have the financial resources to distribute goods.

Distribution channels already established.

Manufacturer has no knowledge of efficient distribution.

Manufacturer wishes to use capital for further production.

Too many consumers in a large area; difficult to reach.

Manufacturer does not have a wide assortment of goods to enable efficient

marketing.

Direct on-selling advantages.

Reasons for using wholesalers

Bear risk of selling goods to retailer or consumer

Storage space

Decrease transport costs

Grant credit to retailers

Able to sell for the manufacturers

Give advice to manufacturers

Break down products into smaller quantities


22


Reasons for bypassing wholesalers

Limited storage facilities

Retailers' preferences

Wholesaler cannot promote products successfully

Development of wholesalers' own brands

Desire for closer market contact

Position of power

Cost of wholesalers' services

Price stabilisation

Need for rapid distribution

Make more money

Ways of bypassing wholesalers

Sales offices or branches

Mail orders

Direct sales to retailers

Travelling agents

Direct Orders


23


Agents

Commission agents work for anyone who needs their services. They do not

acquire ownership of goods but receive del credere commission.

Selling agents act on an extended contractual basis, selling all of the products of

the manufacturer. They have full authority regarding price and terms of sale.

Buying agents buy goods on behalf of producers and retailers. They have an

expert knowledge of the purchasing function.

Brokers specialize in the sale of one specific product. They receive a brokerage.

Factory representatives represent more than one manufacturer. They operate

within a specific area and sell related lines of goods but have limited authority

regarding price and sales terms.

Marketing communications

Marketing communications breaks down the strategies involved with marketing messages

into categories based on the goals of each message. There are distinct stages in

converting strangers to customers that govern the communication medium that should be

used.

Advertising

Paid form of public presentation and expressive promotion of ideas

Aimed at masses

Manufacturer may determine what goes into advertisement

Pervasive and impersonal medium

Functions and advantages of successful advertising


24


Task of the salesman made easier

Forces manufacturer to live up to conveyed image

Protects and warns customers against false claims and inferior products

Enables manufacturer to mass-produce product

Continuous reminder

Uninterrupted production a possibility

Increases goodwill

Raises standards of living (or perceptions thereof)

Prices decrease with increased popularity

Educates manufacturer and wholesaler about competitors' offerings as well as

shortcomings in their own.

Objectives

Maintain demand for well-known goods

Introduce new and unknown goods

Increase demand for well-known goods/products/services

Requirements of a good advertisement

Attract attention (awareness)

Stimulate interest

Create a desire

Bring about action


25


Eight steps in an advertising campaign

Market research

Setting out aims

Budgeting

Choice of media (television, newspaper, radio)

Choice of actors (New Trend)

Design and wording

Co-ordination

Test results

Personal sales

Oral presentation given by a salesman who approaches individuals or a group of potential

customers:

Live, interactive relationship

Personal interest

Attention and response

Interesting presentation

Sales promotion

Short-term incentives to encourage buying of products:

An example of this is coupons or a sale. People are given an incentive to buy, but it does

not build customer loyalty, nor encourage repeat buys in the future. A major drawback of


26


sales promotion is that it is easily copied by competition. It cannot be used as a

sustainable source of differentiation.

Marketing Public Relations (MPR)

Stimulation of demand through press release giving a favourable report to

a product

Higher degree of credibility

Effectively news

Boosts enterprise's image

Customer focus

Many companies today have a customer focus (or customer orientation). This implies that

the company focuses its activities and products on consumer demands. Generally there

are three ways of doing this: the customer-driven approach, the sense of identifying

market changes and the product innovation approach. In the consumer-driven approach,

consumer wants are the drivers of all strategic marketing decisions. No strategy is

pursued until it passes the test of consumer research. Every aspect of a market offering,

including the nature of the product itself, is driven by the needs of potential consumers.

The starting point is always the consumer. The rationale for this approach is that there is

no point spending R&D funds developing products that people will not buy. History

attests to many products that were commercial failures in spite of being technological

breakthroughs.

A formal approach to this customer-focused marketing is known as SIVA Solution,

Information, Value, Access). This system is basically the four Ps renamed and reworded

to provide a customer focus. The SIVA Model provides a demand/customer centric

version alternative to the well-known 4Ps supply side model (product, price, place,

promotion) of marketing management.


27


Product -> Solution

Promotion -> Information

Price -> Value

Place ->Access

The four elements of the SIVA model are:

Solution: How appropriate is the solution to the customer's problem/need?

Information: Does the customer know about the solution? If so, how and from whom do

they know enough to let them make a buying decision?

Value: Does the customer know the value of the transaction, what it will cost, what are

the benefits, what might they have to sacrifice, what will be their reward?

Access: Where can the customer find the solution? How easily/locally/remotely can they

buy it and take delivery?

This model was proposed by Chekitan Dev and Don Schultz in the Marketing

Management Journal of the American Marketing Association, and presented by them in

Market Leader - the journal of the Marketing Society in the India.

Product focus

In a product innovation approach, the company pursues product innovation, then tries to

develop a market for the product. Product innovation drives the process and marketing

research is conducted primarily to ensure that a profitable market segment(s) exists for

the innovation. The rationale is that customers may not know what options will be

available to them in the future so we should not expect them to tell us what they will buy

in the future. However, marketers can aggressively over-pursue product innovation and

try to overcapitalize on a niche. When pursuing a product innovation approach, marketers

must ensure that they have a varied and multi-tiered approach to product innovation. It is

claimed that if Thomas Edison depended on marketing research he would have produced


28


larger candles rather than inventing light bulbs. Many firms, such as research and

development focused companies, successfully focus on product innovation (Such as

Nintendo who constantly change the way Video games are played). Many purists doubt

whether this is really a form of marketing orientation at all, because of the ex post status

of consumer research. Some even question whether it is marketing. An emerging area of

study and practice concerns internal marketing, or how employees are trained and

managed to deliver the brand in a way that positively impacts the acquisition and

retention of customers (employer branding). Diffusion of innovations research explores

how and why people adopt new products, services and ideas.

A relatively new form of marketing uses the Internet and is called Internet marketing or

more generally e-marketing, affiliate marketing, desktop advertising or online marketing.

It typically tries to perfect the segmentation strategy used in traditional marketing. It

targets its audience more precisely, and is sometimes called personalized marketing or

one-to-one marketing. With consumers' eroding attention span and willingness to give

time to advertising messages, marketers are turning to forms of permission marketing

such as branded content, custom media and reality marketing.

The use of herd behavior in marketing.

The Economist reported a recent conference in Rome on the subject of the simulation of

adaptive human behavior.[5] Mechanisms to increase impulse buying and get people "to

buy more by playing on the herd instinct" were shared. The basic idea is that people will

buy more of products that are seen to be popular, and several feedback mechanisms to get

product popularity information to consumers are mentioned, including smart-cart

technology and the use of Radio Frequency Identification Tag technology. A "swarm-

moves" model was introduced by a Princeton researcher, which is appealing to

supermarkets because it can "increase sales without the need to give people discounts."

Large retailers Wal-Mart in the United States and Tesco in Britain plan to test the

technology in spring 2009. Other recent studies on the "power of social influence"

include an "artificial music market in which some 14,000 people downloaded previously

unknown songs" (Columbia University, New York); a Japanese chain of convenience


29


stores which orders its products based on "sales data from department stores and research

companies;" a Massachusetts company exploiting knowledge of social networking to

improve sales; and online retailers who are increasingly informing consumers about

"which products are popular with like-minded consumers" (e.g., Amazon, eBay).


30


COMPANY PROFILE

Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, one of Asia’s leading integrated telecom

services providers with operations in India and Sri Lanka. Bharti Airtel since its

inception, has been at the forefront of technology and has pioneered several innovations

in the telecom sector.

The company is structured into four strategic business units - Mobile, Telemedia,

Enterprise and Digital TV. The mobile business offers services in India and Sri Lanka.

The Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone services in 95 Indian

cities. The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home TV services across India. The

Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and

national and international long distance services to telcos.

Highlights

REC signs multi-year contract with Airtel for Network Management services

Issued in public interest by Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel to Observe Silent period from December 31, 2009

Airtel digitial TV replaces Worldspace radio channels

Bharti Airtel’s Middle East Connect Network to serve global carriers in the region

Bharti Airtel presents India’s First Mobile Phone Usage Survey

Our Brand

Airtel was born free, a force unleashed into the market with a relentless and unwavering

determination to succeed. A spirit charged with energy, creativity and a team driven “to


31

http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/About%20Bharti%20Airtel/bharti+airtel/media+centre/bharti+airtel+news/mobile/pg-bharti-airtel-presents-indias-first-mobile-phone-usage-survey

http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/About%20Bharti%20Airtel/bharti+airtel/media+centre/bharti+airtel+news/enterprise/pg-bharti-airtels-middle-east-connect-network-to-serve-global-carriers-in-the-region

http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/About%20Bharti%20Airtel/bharti+airtel/media+centre/bharti+airtel+news/dth/pg-airtel-digitial-tv-replaces-worldspace-radio-channels

http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/About%20Bharti%20Airtel/bharti+airtel/media+centre/bharti+airtel+news/corporate/pg-bharti-airtel-to-observe-silent-period-from-december-31-2009

http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/About%20Bharti%20Airtel/bharti+airtel/media+centre/bharti+airtel+news/mobile/pg-issued-in+public-interest-by-bharti-airtel

http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/About%20Bharti%20Airtel/bharti+airtel/media+centre/bharti+airtel+news/enterprise/pg-rec-signs-multi-year-contract-with-airtel-for-network-management-services


seize the day” with an ambition to become the most globally admired telecom service.

Airtel, in just ten years of operations, rose to the pinnacle to achivement and continues to

lead.

As India's leading telecommunications company Airtel brand has played the role as a

major catalyst in India's reforms, contributing to its economic resurgence.

Today we touch peoples lives with our Mobile services, Telemedia services, to

connecting India's leading 1000+ corporates. We also connect Indians living in USA, UK

and Canada with our callhome service.

Our Vision & promise

“We at Airtel always think in fresh and innovative ways about the needs of our customers

and how we want them to feel. We deliver what we promise and go out of our way to

delight the customer with a little bit more”

For Your Business

Airtel is proud to be the trusted communications partner to India’s leading organisations,

working for them to meet the challenges of growth. Across India. Beyond India.

We offer a full suite of business communication services across data, voice and managed

services. Our solutions are tailored to fit your particular needs.

We are a part of the Bharti Group. We have always been challenging the limits of

innovation and striving to find new and better ways of doing things.

Our people are committed to helping you succeed. We will stick with you through thick

and thin.


32


Innovation Fund

“Innovation has been at the core of our company's DNA-be it our unique business model

based on outsourcing or world-class products and services. The Bharti Airtel Innovation

Fund is a pioneering step to promote innovation and help budding entrepreneurs realise

the dream of running their own enterprise. We are confident that this initiative will

promote the twin pillars of innovation and entrepreneurship to usher in path breaking

changes in the sector.”

Bharti Airtel Innovation Fund (BAIF or the Fund) is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship

and innovation in the field of telecommunication services. The objective of the Fund is to

give opportunities to budding entrepreneurs with a vision to build businesses based on

innovation. The Fund has an initial corpus of Rs 200 crores. BAIF provides seed money

to entrepreneurs who may not otherwise be able to access funds to realize their dreams.

Certified Organisation

Bharti Airtel, Asia's leading integrated telecom services provider announced that it is now

a fully ISO 27001:2005 Certified Organization. The ISO 27001:2005 certification from

BSI: British Standards Institute ensures a high quality information security environment

in Airtel and is one of the most stringent information security standards in the world.

With this achievement, Bharti Airtel has successfully institutionalized a strong security

foundation based on a robust Information Security Management System that is process

oriented, person-independent and self-sustaining.

With a total of 29 certificates awarded under the ISO 27001:2005 Certification Program,

Airtel has the unique distinction of being awarded the largest number of certificates to

any company in India across sectors and is amongst one of the largest in the world. The

ISO 27001:2005 certification program encompassed all strategic business units - Mobile

Services, Enterprise Services and Telemedia Services, covering around 300 locations.

The scope included all central and zonal office locations, data centers, network zones,

landing stations, switch locations and Airtel Center. In terms of personnel, the scope

included all employees of Bharti Airtel.


33


"The completion of the program is a significant milestone in the journey towards our

2010 vision of being the most admired brand in India. With around 40,000 information

assets under security management, it is a momentous achievement by the team at Airtel

to have made this certification program a huge success" said, Dr Jai Menon, Director

Technology & Customer Service, Airtel. He added, "This certification will help build

trust and confidence amongst our customers and further enhance the confidence of our

employees in operational processes."

The journey to be a ISO 27001:2005 compliant organizations began with the BISP

(Bharti Information Security Policy) being launched in 2003, followed by a great deal of

technology rollout through outsourcing beginning 2004, and a systemized approach for

certification starting 2005 with the first certification being awarded in 2006. Airtel

achieved complete enterprise-wide certification in February, 2009.

ISO develops and publishes standards that establish best practices across a variety of

industries. The ISO 27001:2005 certification is an endorsement of Bharti Airtel

commitment to deliver managed and monitored security solutions that are benchmarked

to the highest international standards.

About Bharti Airtel Limited

Bharti Airtel Limited, a group company of Bharti Enterprises, is Asia's leading integrated

telecom services provider with operations in India and Sri Lanka with an aggregate of

over 91 million customers as of end of January 2009, consisting of 88.38 million mobile

customers. Bharti Airtel Limited has been voted as India's most innovative company, in a

survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal.

Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units - Mobile services, Telemedia

services and Enterprise services. The mobile business offers services in India and Sri

Lanka. The Telemedia business provides broadband and telephone services in 95 cities,

DTH services and has recently forayed into the IPTV services. The Enterprise business

provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and

international long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the


34


Airtel brand. Airtel's high-speed optic fibre network currently spans over 90,205 kms

covering all the major cities in the country. The company has two international landing

stations in Chennai that connects two submarine cable systems - i2i to Singapore and

SEA-ME-WE-4 to Europe.


35


MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRTEL

Search engine marketing

Search engine marketing, or SEM, is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to

promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs)

through the use of paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion.

Search engine optimization consultants expanded their offerings to help businesses learn

about and use the advertising opportunities offered by search engines, and new agencies

focusing primarily upon marketing and advertising through search engines emerged.

Advertise on 2800 keywords

• 30% of total signups coming from Google SEM for all the countries.

• Real-time monitoring to optimise traffic

• Cost per click

Five buckets of advertising on SEM

• Airtel brand terms- all possible permutations and combinations around the word

Airtel

• Calling cards – keywords around two main theme Call India and India Calling

Card

• Competition – keep track and update any new competitors aggressively on SEM

• Context- the ad appears when a person is reading articles about call india etc.

• Long tail keyword themes – innovative keyword themes


36

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_inclusion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contextual_advertising

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_per_click

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_marketing


Third Party Ad Serving – What Is It?

Third party ad serving is the technology that pushes ads out to websites and allows

advertisers to track the performance of these ads. Almost every banner ad, interstitial, or

paid search listing is delivered by or tracked by a third party ad server.

Why do advertisers rely on third party ad serving technology?

A third party ad server allows advertisers to know how many times an advertisement has

been served, the number of clicks associated with the ad, conversions resulting from the

ad, etc…And these sites are Google, Yahoo, MSN, BloomsandBulbs.com, and

FlowerPower.net. I want to buy search ads (text listings on Google, Yahoo, and MSN)

and banner ads on BandB.com and FP.net. I could create text ads for Google, Yahoo,

and MSN and have them link directly to jimsflowerpots.com, I could also do the same for

the banner ads for BandB.com and FP.net.

3rd Party Advertising

- Innovations give better CTR (click through rate)

- Text ads on rediff and other sites give better CTR as compared to flash banners

- Deeper penetration by using regional sites like Dinamalar, Divya bhaskar etc as

well as ad networks

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate Marketing is an Internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards

one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's

marketing efforts.Affiliate marketing overlaps with other Internet marketing methods to

some degree, because affiliates often use regularadvertising methods. Those methods

include organic search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, e-mail

marketing, and in some sense display advertising.

The Affiliate Marketing industry has four core players at its heart: the Merchant (also

known informally as 'Retailer' or 'Brand'), the Network, the Publisher (also known


37

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affiliate_network

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_advertising

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_marketing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_marketing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_marketing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affiliate_(commerce)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet

http://eccobay.wordpress.com/2006/05/19/third-party-ad-serving-what-is-it/


informally as 'the Affiliate') and the Customer, Affiliate marketing—using one website to

drive traffic to another—is a form of online marketing, which is frequently overlooked by

advertisers. [1] While search engines, e-mail, and website syndication capture much of the

attention of online retailers.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity

of traffic to a web site from search engines via "Organic", "Algorithmic" or "Natural"

search results rather than Pay Per Click (PPC).Traffic exists on Google as well as the

other major search engines.Search Engine Optimization is the process of studying that


38

http://www.deeho.co.uk/search_engine_optimization/organic_traffic.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engines

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affiliate_marketing#cite_note-practguidebook-0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_marketing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_traffic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Affiliate_Marketing_Illustration.png


traffic for a specific keyword, theme or area. We can then ascertain your ROI(Return on

Investment) before any work is carried out.

Once we know the traffic volumes available for your business area, we can make

amendments to your site in order to position it it the traffic stream for the highest traffic,

themed keywords.This ensures that once your site reaches the top ten for each keyword

your site will receive a know volume of traffic on a daily basis.

Ninety Nine percent of Web Site Design is carried out by designers who know little if

anything about Search Engines or Optimization. This can create major problems for

their customers who initially fail to realise that the construction of their website will

effect its ability to rank well in the major Search Engines.


39

http://www.deeho.co.uk/search_engine_optimization/traffic_volumes.shtml

http://www.deeho.co.uk/search_engine_optimization/return_on_investment.shtml


Airtel CallHome Ranking in Google.com


40

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Typical-serp.png


Online Reputation Management

ORM is the practice of consistent research and analysis of one’s personal or professional,

business or industry reputation as represented by the content across all types of online

media.

Why ORM

• Influence consumer perception

• Respond to / protect against negative reviews

• Thwart competitor attacks and bogus reviews

• Improve online brand / service awareness

3 steps of ORM

1. Monitor: Monitor and track what is Being Said Online

2. Analyze: Analyze How the visible information affects your Brand, your reputation.

3. Influence: Influence the results by participating in the conversation and eliminating

negative Sites.


41


Ranking of Negative postings in Google.com

Keywords URL22-Oct-08

02-Jan-09

Position

Position

AirtelCallHome

http://blog.amanthan.com/2006/12/airtelcallhome-sucks-big-time.html 2

Removed

AirtelCallHome

www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/airtel-call-home-c44386 3

Removed

AirtelCallHome http://blog.amanthan.com/category/airtelcallhome 4 20

AirtelCallHome

http://www.consumercomplaints.in/complaints/airtelcallhome-c28730.html 5

Removed

AirtelCallHome

http://www.consumercomplaints.in/bycompany/airtelcallhome-a17214.html 6

Removed

AirtelCallHome

www.consumercomplaints.in/complaints/airtelcallhome-c105314.html 12

Removed

AirtelCallHome

www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/poor-service-c36248.html 14

Removed

AirtelCallHome

http://pratti.wordpress.com/2006/12/23/airtel-call-hell-aka-airtelcallhome/ 18

Removed

AirtelCallHome

www.complaints.com/2006/december/19/Airtel_call_home_service_15051 19 27

AirtelCallHome

garvitindian.sulekha.com/blog/post/2006/12/beware-of-airtelcallhome.htm 20

Removed

AirtelCallHome

http://www.desifans.com/calling_cards/phone_cards/index.php?post=13 22

Removed

AirtelCallHome

http://www.desifans.com/calling_cards/phone_cards/index.php?post=4 16 10

Social Networking Sites


42

http://www.desifans.com/calling_cards/phone_cards/index.php?post=4




http://www.complaints.com/2006/december/19/Airtel_call_home_service_15051

http://www.complaints.com/2006/december/19/Airtel_call_home_service_15051


A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social

relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities. A social network

service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social

links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web

based and provides means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-

mail and instant messaging. Although online community services are sometimes

considered as a social network service in a broader sense, social network service usually

means an individual-centered service whereas online community services are group-

centered.

The main types of social networking services are those which contain category divisions

(such as former school-year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with

self-description pages) and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods

now combine many of these, withFacebook, Bebo and Twitter widely used

worldwide; MySpace and LinkedIn being the most widely used in North America;

Nexopia (mostly inCanada); Bebo, Hi5, StudiVZ (mostly in Germany), iWiW (mostly in

Hungary), Tuenti (mostly in Spain), Decayenne, Tagged, XING; Badoo and Skyrock in

parts of Europe; Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America; and Friendster,

Mixi, Multiply, Orkut, Wretch, Xiaonei andCyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands and

Orkut and Facebook in India.

Typical structure

In general, social networking services allow users to create a profile for themselves, and

can be broken down into two broad categories: internal social networking (ISN); and

external social networking (ESN) sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Bebo.

Both types can increase the feeling of community among people. An ISN is a

closed/private community that consists of a group of people within a company,

association, society, education provider and organization or even an "invite only" group

created by a user in an ESN. An ESN is open/public and available to all web users to

communicate and are designed to attract advertisers. ESN's can be smaller specialised

communities (i.e. linked by a single common interest eg The Social Golfer,


43

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySpace


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyworld

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiaonei

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wretch_(website)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiply_(website)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_America

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_America

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi5_(website)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyrock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badoo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XING

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagged

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decayenne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuenti

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IWiW

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studivz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi5_(website)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexopia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinkedIn


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_community

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_community

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_messaging

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_based

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_based

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_relation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_relation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network


ACountryLife.Com, Great Cooks Community) or they can be large generic social

networking sites (eg MySpace, Facebook etc).

Social networking sites typically have a section dedicated to comments by friends. On

Friendster, this section is called "Testimonials". On Facebook, this section is called "The

Wall". In the beginning, this was a feature that encouraged people to write messages

about the person in the profile. But over time, people started writing creative testimonials

back, creating a form of conversation

Social network hosting service

A social network hosting service is a web hosting service that specifically hosts the user

creation of web-based social networking services, alongside related applications.

Business model

Few social networks currently charge money for membership. In part, this may be

because social networking is a relatively new service, and the value of using them has not

been firmly established in customers' minds. Many do not charge money because these

social networks are not much more novel than the forums.

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking website that is operated and privately owned by

Facebook, Inc. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal

profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks

organized by city, workplace, school, and region. The website's name stems from the

colloquial name of books given at the start of the academic year by university

administrations with the intention of helping students to get to know each other better.

Orkut


44

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_hosting_service


Orkut is a social networking website that is owned and operated by Google Inc. The

service is designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships

Although Orkut is less popular in the United States than competitors Facebook and

MySpace, it is one of the most visited websites in India and Brazil. In fact, as of

December 2009, 51.09% of Orkut's users are from Brazil, followed by India with 20.02%

and United States with 17.28%

Email Marketing

E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of

communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience. In its broadest sense,

every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail

marketing. However, the term is usually used to refer to:

sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with

its current or previous customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat

business,

sending e-mails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing

current customers to purchase something immediately,

adding advertisements to e-mails sent by other companies to their customers, and

sending e-mails over the Internet, as e-mail did and does exist outside the Internet

(e.g., network e-mail and FIDO).

Researchers estimate that United States firms alone spent US$400 million on e-mail

marketing in 2006

Advantages

E-mail marketing (on the Internet) is popular with companies for several reasons:


45

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDO


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertisements

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_loyalty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_mail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_marketing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service


A mailing list provides the ability to distribute information to a wide range of

specific, potential customers at a relatively low cost.

Compared to other media investments such as direct mail or printed newsletters,

e-mail is less expensive.

An exact return on investment can be tracked ("track to basket") and has proven

to be high when done properly. E-mail marketing is often reported as second only

to search marketingas the most effective online marketing tactic.[2]

The delivery time for an e-mail message is short (i.e., seconds or minutes) as

compared to a mailed advertisement (i.e., one or more days).

An advertiser is able to "push" the message to its audience, as opposed to website-

based advertising, which relies on a customer to visit that website.

E-mail messages are easy to track. An advertiser can track users

via autoresponders, web bugs, bounce messages, unsubscribe requests, read

receipts, click-throughs, etc. These mechanisms can be used to measure open

rates, positive or negative responses, and to correlate sales with marketing.

Advertisers can generate repeat business affordably and automatically.

Advertisers can reach substantial numbers of e-mail subscribers who have opted

in (i.e., consented) to receive e-mail communications on subjects of interest to

them.

Over half of Internet users check or send e-mail on a typical day.[3]

Specific types of interaction with messages can trigger (1) other messages to be

delivered automatically, or (2) other events, such as updating the profile of the

recipient to indicate a specific interest category.

E-mail marketing is paper-free (i.e., "green").


46

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_marketing#cite_note-2


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_open_rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_open_rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click-through

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_receipts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_receipts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounce_message

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_bugs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoresponder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_tracking

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_marketing#cite_note-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_marketing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_on_investment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsletters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_mail


Tracking and response metrics enables tuning and optimisation of the E-mail

marketing channel by a process of testing different variants and calculation of

statistically significant results.

E-mail is popular with digital marketers, rising an estimated 15% in 2009 to

£292m in the UK.

Airtel generally get 25% response in our promotional campaigns, we use Cheetah

Mail for our campaigns that tell us:

- mails opened

- mails bounced

- URLs and Buy Now clicked

- complete tracking

Mobile service provider Airtel which claims to have a strong footprint in 20 states in the

country, has forged a strategic mobile alliance with online destination MSN India and

Mobile 365 which deals with mobile messaging services. Airtel customers will now be

able to access their MSN Hotmail accounts via two-way short message service (SMS), as

well as send and receive messages using MSN Messenger via their Airtel mobile phone.

With this new service, users of MSN Hotmail will have the option to receive email sent

to their MSN Hotmail accounts via SMS on their Airtel mobile phones whenever and

wherever they are. They will also be able to reply to those email messages directly to the

senders inbox using SMS, as well as perform other common tasks directly from their

phone. The 'MSN Messenger over SMS' service is also a form of two-way SMS, which

enables users and their MSN Messenger buddies to keep in touch with each other at any

time via a PC and any mobile phone that supports SMS technology.


47

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_tracking


PRODUCT OFFERING

My Plan – 299

249 Delight

Supersaver 399

399 full value

All-in-one 699

1299 pack

2499 pack

125 pack (for government employee)

Corporate plan:

CUG-EMI-249

CUG-249 (R1)

CUG- 249 AES

CUG Gold- 299

CUG platinum- 399

Toppings Available

Local Mobile pack

Local Airtel pack

Local Landline pack

Night pack

STD pack

Local SMS pack

Local + National SMS pack

International pack

SITE MAP OF ORGANIZATION


48


At present, AirTel has been operating with a footprint in 15 states covering all 4 metros

providing with a choice of postpaid, prepaid, short messaging service and Multi media

Service.

Following are the states where AirTel has been working:

Andra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka,

Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, and Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal.

Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai(4 Metro Cities).

Services of the organization

AirTel provides a host of value added services. These services are divided in to six

headings as per customer needs:

Fun Unlimited


49


Voice unlimited.

Ring tones and downloads.

AirTel messengers.

Mobile Plus

Dial a service.

Short Message Service (SMS).

Information Service.

Send and receive E-Mail.

Mobile Banking.

Anytime anywhere

Reach me.

Roaming.

Business on the Move

GPRS

AirTel Tango WAP Services

Multimedia Service (MMS)

FAX & Data Services

Call Management


50


Call line identification (CLIP).

Call line identification Restriction (CLIR).

Call Waiting.

Call Divert.

Others

STD / ISD Facility.

Safe Custody.

Itemized Billing.

Services offered by the company

1. AirTel Prepaid

Bharti Enterprises, India's leading integrated telecom service provider gives AirTel

Prepaid Ready Cellular Card and Recharge Cards are available, all over the city at our

retail outlets including 24 hour outlets. AirTel gives maximum benefits as it has no rental,

no bills, and no deposits. It gives crystal clear communication all over the cities in

Karnataka.

Total Cost Control

Enjoy the liberty of total cost control with your AirTel Pre-paid! Re-charge as much as

you feel the need to! Now that's what we call complete freedom!

No Rentals and No deposits


51


Buy an AirTel prepaid card without having to pay any rentals!. Your AirTel prepaid card

comes without you having to pay hefty deposits!

STD /ISD facility till the last rupee

Now experience complete freedom like never before with AirTel! Our STD / ISD facility

allows you to make long distance calls in India and Overseas from your cellular phone!

Instant Balance Inquiry

Check your talk-time instantly by calling our toll-free number!

60 second pulse

AirTel provides you with a 60-second pulse rate! Freedom for you to experience like

never before!

Instant Recharge

Avail of instant recharge on your AirTel prepaid card with just a few simple steps!

24-hour recharge facility

With our round-the-clock recharge facility, recharge you AirTel prepaid card anytime,

anywhere!

Caller Line Identification

Call Line Identification gives you the power to know the phone number of the calling

party even before you answer the call, thus giving you the choice to either reject or take

the call. It provides the added advantage of saving the incoming number directly in the

Handset Phone Book. So that the next time you want to call the same person, you don't

need to retype his number, simply use your phone book.

Call Divert, Call Hold and Call Wait


52


Avail of special services like call waiting, call hold and call divert – all with your AirTel

prepaid card!

Short Messaging Service (SMS)

With AirTel’s Short Messaging Service (SMS), send messages and jokes to your friends

and colleagues, anytime anywhere!

SMS based Information Services

With AirTel’s SMS based information services; you can get up to-the-minute cricket

scores, order flowers as well as send couriers or check your daily horoscope!

Voice Mail service

Voice Mail lets you receive messages even when your handset is switched off or when

you are outside the coverage area. You can listen to your messages whenever you feel

like, from anywhere in the world. Voice Mail can store up to 75 messages.

Widest availability

AirTel prepaid ready cellular card are available all over the city at over 7000 retail outlets

including 24 hours outlets.

Incoming, out going Rates And Rate Plan

Easy Talk Plan

Pulse Rate 60 seconds

Incoming Calls (Rs.) Free

LOCAL CALLS

To GSM Mobile/WLL (Rs.) 1/min

To Landline (Rs.) 1/min


53


To AirTel (Rs.) 1/min

STD (To GSM and WLL-M)

All India(Rs.) Rs. 1.50/min

To AirTel (Rs.) Rs. 1.50/min

STD (To Landline)

All India(Rs.) Rs. 1.50/min

ISD

America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Canada (Rs.)

Rs. 6.40 /min

Gulf countries & Africa

& SAARC countries(Rs.)

Rs. 9.20 /min

Other countries(Rs.) Rs.9.20 /min

SMS

SMS Local(Rs.) Re.1/msg ,

SMS National(Rs.) Rs. 1.50/message

SMS International(Rs.) Rs. 5/message

Value Added Services(Rs.) Rs. 3/message

SMS to local CDMA at Rs.1/msg. In case the customer would like to cancel the daily

rental, customer to send "AirTel One Cancel" as SMS to 222 and will be migrated to the

"AirTel Easy Talk" tariff plan without daily rentals.

AirTel Postpaid


54


AirTel postpaid connection offers enhanced full rate with distortion free high clarity

voice. It provides seamless, crystal clear noncongested, easy accessible, network and

finest 24 Hours customer service facility.

Experience complete freedom

AirTel welcomes you to a vibrant world of unlimited opportunities. More exciting,

innovative yet simple new ways to communicate, just when you want to, not just through

words but ideas, emotions and feelings. To give the unlimited freedom to reach out to

special people in special way.

As an AirTel Post-paid customer you can enjoy the following facilities -

Easy Billing

Now enjoy the luxury of viewing details of your last 3 billing cycles and the convenience

of paying your AirTel bill online! Experience complete freedom with AirTel!

Call Divert, Call Hold and Call Wait

Avail of special services like call waiting, call hold and call divert – all with your AirTel

postpaid connection!

Short Messaging Service (SMS)

With AirTel’s Short Messaging Service (SMS), send unlimited messages and jokes to

your friends and colleagues, anytime anywhere!

Caller Identification

Call Identification gives you the power to know the phone number of the calling party

even before you answer the call, thus giving you the choice to either reject or take the

call. It provides the added advantage of saving the incoming number directly in the


55


Handset Phone Book. So that the next time you want to call the same person, you don't

need to retype his number, simply use your phone book.

Voice Mail

Voice Mail lets you receive messages even when your handset is switched off or when

you are outside the coverage area. You can listen to your messages whenever you feel

like, from anywhere in the world. Voice Mail can store up to 75 messages, with each

message of two-minute duration.

STD/ISD Facility

Now experience complete freedom like never before with AirTel! Our STD/ISD facility

allows you to make long distance calls in India and Overseas from your cellular phone!

Roaming (National and International)

AirTel’s Roaming service allows you to use your mobile phone to make or receive calls

from almost anywhere in India and abroad! Enjoy roaming within the country as well as

across international destinations!

Incoming, out going Rates & Rate Plan

AirTel One 250 SUK

Pulse Rate 60 sec

Incoming Calls(Rs.) 1/min

Making Calls(Rs.) 1.50/min

STD (To GSM and WLL-M)

All India (Rs.) Rs.1.50 /min

To AirTel (Rs.) Rs. 1.50 /min


56


STD (To landline)

All India (Rs.) Rs.1.50/min

ISD

America, Europe, Asia, Oceania & Canada (Rs.) Rs.16.99

Other countries, & SAARC countries (Rs.) Rs.40.00

SMS

SMS Local(Rs.) 50 ps

SMS National(Rs.) Rs.1.50ps

SMS International(Rs.) Rs.5

Value Added Services(Rs.) Rs.3

SMS to local CDMA (Reliance, Tata Indicom) at Rs.1msg.

In case the customer would like to cancel the daily rental, customer to send "AirTel One

Cancel" as SMS to 222 and will be migrated to the "AirTel Easy Talk" tariff plan without

daily rentals.


57


GROWTH AND STATUS OF THE ORAGANIZATION

AirTel has an aggregate of 4.5 million customers during the period of 2003-2004. The

market share of the company is 26 %. In June 2003 the company made gross investment

of over 10,650 crore (US$ 2.3 billion) in building telecom in India during the year ended

June 30 2003 mobile services represented approximately 63% of their total revenue.

According to the survey conducted by economic times “Most Trusted Brands” 2003.

AirTel stands in the third position among all the telecom.

Consequently for 4 years 1997 to 2000, AirTel has been noted as the best Cellular service

in the country and won the Techies award. The Asia pacific award for the most

innovative human resources practices in 2000. The Golden Peacock National Training

Award for excellence in training practices in 2000. The Golden Peacock National Quality

Award in 2001.

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY

Airtel to “Touch Tomorrow” with a new brand vision

The Bharti Mobile promoted AirTel cellular service will go in for 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", which underscores a more caring, more customer centric

organization. Aimed at re-engineering its image as just simply a cellular service provider

to an all out information communications services provider, Touch Tomorrow is meant to

embrace the new generation of mobile communication services and the changing scope of

customer needs and aspirations that come along with it

The new communication is about a new dimension in the cellular category 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 of which will communicate overall brand

philosophy and the second products and services. According to Mr. Jagdish Kini, Chief


58


Operating Officer, Bharti Mobile Limited, Karnataka "We are adopting a new brand-

platform - Touch Tomorrow - not only to reflect our corporate ethos but also business

strategy".

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 enhanced promotional drive to

establish the brand's presence.

Life time Plan

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 to buy Taiwanese manufactured Bird mobile handsets for as low as Rs.

1,399.

The move is aimed at stopping the churn in the pre-paid subscriber base. Once a

subscriber takes this plan, he will always be an Airtel subscriber whether the mobile is

being used or not.

MARKET SITUATION

At the time of launch

The first mover in the market was Airtel which launched its services in Delhi in Aug

1995 (Informal launch). Essar Cellphone followed by 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 independently tried to spread awareness and educate the people

Once the networks were commercially launched, it became a number game with a

multitude of schemes being offered to woo customers Initially the cellphone was

perceived as a status symbol and utility took a back seat The target segment in Delhi were


59


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

operators to break-even by rapidly expanding their markets. In the first 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 industry with the two

companies differentiating either on value-added 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 the number of subscribers. Essar is trying to counter this by emphasising

on the reach of its network and the quality of its service. However, Essar is somewhat

not been very successful largely due to the inconsistency in advertising

To promote themselves, both the players have been dependent on tactical advertising

However, they have restrained from using comparative advertising Hoardings have been

a very popular medium for carrying the advertisements Airtel has also been advertising

on television using the Bharti Telecom name.

SALES DEPARTMENT AND STRATEGY

A. Major Accounts (Direct Channel)

Handles corporate (named and famed) accounts

Forecasting of sales

Mapping the accounts

Providing after sales support to the subscribers.

Maintaining call reports for records.


60


Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the requirement of the

market.

B. IDC (indirect Channel)

Handling distribution

Maintaining records and level check of the channel partner

Liaisoning between the channel partner and the company.

Target achievement

Training the executives of the channel

C. Distribution Support

1. Logistics

Monitor handset and SIM card requirements of channel partners and co-

ordinate with stores

Settle areas of concerns such as incentive claims of channel partners

2. Rental

Provide cellular services (SIM cards) on rent.

Provide cellular phones on rent

Useful for people visiting Delhi for a short interval.

3 Telesales

Call customers and generate sales lead.

Follow up with the customers, if they need any assistance


61


Pass on the sales lead to the channel department.

4 Audit

Consultant to the AirTel showrooms.

Monitor the operations at the AirTel distribution outlets Organize training.

5. Retail

Locate shops to open retail counters.

Monitor the retail counters.

MARKET SEGMENTATION

Segmentation is beneficial because of better predictability of the target consumer group,

minimization of risk exposure, better ability to fine-tune a product / service to the

requirement of target buyer and the resultant ease in designing a proper designing

marketing mix strategy In this case segmentation is on the bade of income.

In evaluating different market segments the company looks at two factors The overall

attractiveness of the segments and the company's objectives & resources The present

market for Cellular phones, pagers and conventional phones is as follows

Premium Middle Economy

Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower

Cellular Phones X X X - - -

Pager X X X X - -

Conventional Phones X X X X X -

X Market Segment Targeted


62


TARGET MARKET SEGMENT

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 tourists during their stay in the capital

About 60% of the clientele are top executives of corporate houses. About 15% are

foreign organisations and the rest are professionals and small businessmen. During the

introduction stage there was intense pressure to get consumers across to hook up with

their brand, because getting them to switch brand loyalty later would be hard

So far Airtel marketers have been concentrating totally on the business 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

The product is sought to be positioned as a business efficiency tool. a lifestyle revolution

and a status symbol The emphasis is to remove misconception that the cellphone is an

expensive means of communication and drive home the point that the cellphone is

actually a day-to-day utility

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.

Effective product segmentation has to be carried on continuously because basic services

can be and will be copied and in time become expected component of the product. Airtel


63


seeks to carry out this segmentation through provision of new information services and

making new facilities available. The product policy and planning depends on the stage of

the product life cycle. At present the cellular phone market has reached the maturity

stage. Since, 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 by offering suitable "product bundling".

This involves the selection of the suitable hardware (handset) and its software (its

services.) with reasonable price in order to deliver maximum price performance to its

customers. In addition, it offers free Airtime services and other concessions to make the

prices and thus the product more attractive. It has also opened a 24 hours customer

service.

Only price doesn't serve as an effective differentiator, value added services become the

effective differentiator.

The "Value Added Services" provided from Airtel are:-

1) Voice Mail service

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 mail box which can be later

retrieved by the user

2) Short Message Service

The short message service is like a two-way pager. It gives an option of sending and

receiving text messages directly from one mobile phone to another without the

intervention of an operator.

3) Mobile Fax 1 Data Service

This service helps the subscriber to send and receive Faxes, access E-mail, download

computer files from other systems and remotely log on to another computer and surf the

Internet.


64


4) Cash Card

The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the buyers to buy air time

in advance. All it requires is the payment of an initial amount. This is a useful service

for people who travel to Delhi often and those who want to control the expenses on their

calls.

5) Caller ID

Displays calling person's number.

6) Outgoing call restriction

To prevent or limit outgoing calls, for example, in peak hours. Also possible to exclude

one or several countries, or any geographical region, to permit only local calls, or to limit

the outgoing calls to a listed number.

7) Call forward

Incoming calls can be forwarded to another fixed or mobile phone.

Besides these some other services provided by Airtel are - Call conferencing, Call

Broadcast et cetera.

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 getting increases to subscribe may

be easier than getting them to talk since they will find it costlier to use the mobile phone

as compared to a conventional phone [if is believed that initially cellphones would be

used buy]

8) Roaming Facility

Roaming facility is available while the subscriber is travelling. The billing is done in the

home network (Delhi). Roaming facility is available manually* as well as semi-

automatically. Once a subscriber is In any other city or country, where a GSM network is


65


available, simply insert the SIM card of the local operator Into your handset and start

talking.

* Manual Roaming means a separate SIM card is provided for each city

** Semi automatic roaming means one card has the facility for different cities.

AIRTEL'S MARKETING ORIENTATION.

Since this is a high-involvement expensive product, the service provider has to fully take

care of the customers.

a) They take personal responsibility to "get" the answer for any problem faced by the

customer

b) They anticipate customers' problems and take pro-active steps to prevent them

c) They give answers to the questions & requests, quickly & efficiently.

d) They have a positive tone & manner while interacting with customers.

e) They end the interaction on a positive or a humorous note-making the last 30

seconds count.

Airtel realises that attracting people 'Is easy but converting them into loyal customers is

hard, hence emphasis is on maintaining a 'Smiling and a Friendly Atmosphere' to please

and retain the customer.

PRICE AND PRICING POLICY

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 needs of different category of

customers- Generally, the cellular services 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 to the government for using airtime.


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Marketing Strategy Adopted by Bharti

Bharti has spent a considerable amount on advertising its mobile phone service, Airtel.

Besides print advertising, the company had put up large no of hoardings and kiosks in

and around Delhi.

The objective behind designing a promotion campaign for the ‘Airtel’ services is to

promote the brand awareness and to build brand preferences.

It is trying to set up a thematic campaign to build a stronger brand equity for Airtel.

Since the cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also the fact that a Cellular phone

is a high involvement product, price doesn't qualify as an effective differentiator. The

image of the service provider counts a great deal. Given the Cell phone category, it is the

network efficiency and the quality of service that becomes important. What now the

buyer is looking at is to get the optimum price-performance package. This also serves as

an effective differentiator

Brand awareness is spread through the' campaigns and brand preference 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 Delhiites’s mind,

the Airtel campaign began to focus on the utility of Cellphone. In the first four months

alone Airtei's advertisement spend exceeded Rs. 4 crores.

As of today the awareness level Is 60% unaided. This implies that if potential or

knowledgeable consumers are asked to name a Cellular 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.).


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Brand strength of a product or the health of a brand is measured by the percentage score

of the brand on the above aided and the unaided tests. The figures show that Airtel is a

healthy and a thriving brand.

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 "first mover every time" and that of a "market leader".

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 curve in the maturity stage.

The diagram on the left hand side shows the percentage of the users 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 segment cannot be neglected.

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 plethora of incentives and

discounts. Concerts like the "Freedom concert" are being organised by Airtel in order to

promote sales. The media 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 print

advertisements and hoarding are placed in those strategic areas which most likely to catch

the attention of those who need a cellular phone. The product promise (which might cost

different 1 higher) is an important variable in determining the target audience.

Besides this, other promotional strategies that Airtel has adopted are .


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(i) People who have booked Airtel services have been treated to exclusive premiers

of blockbuster movies. Airtel has tied up with Lufthansa to offer customer bonus miles

on the German airlines frequent flier's programs.

(ii) There have been educational campaigns, image campaigns, pre launch

advertisements, launch advertisements, congratulatory advertisements, promotional

advertise-ments, attacking advertisements and tactical advertisements.

DISTRIBUTION

The- company whose operations are concentrated in and around Delhi. It 27 Franchisees

and 15 Distributors- They also have 8 'instant access cash card counters- Each franchises

or distributor can have any number of dealers under him as long as the person is approved

by the Airtel authority. Each franchises has to invest Rupees Ten Lakhs. to obtain a

franchise and should employ an officer recruited by Airtel. This person acts as an liaison

between the company and the franchises. The franchises can it any number of dealers as

long as their territories do not overlap. But unfortunately Airtel has not been very

successful in 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


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Company

Franchisee Distributor

Dealers Dealer

Customer Customer


customers and they are sent through the liaison officer on a day-to-day basis to Airtel.

The dealer has to invest Rupees. One Lakh as an initial investment. The dealer of Airtel

are not allowed to provide any other operators' service.

Target set for distributors and the dealers is 100 -150 activations per month. Hence the

dealers can also go for their own promotions like banners and discounts on festivals etc.

The dealer provides service 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.

The complaints encountered by the franchisees and dealers are either handset being non-

functional or the SIM Card not getting activated. Anything more complicated is referred

to the main Airtel office in Delhi.

WHAT DOES AIRTEL OFFER?

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 him/her manage his/her time like

never before.

An Airtel subscriber is provided with a Subscriber Identity Module Card (SIM card) -

that is the key to operating his/her cellular phone. His card activates Airtel cellular

services and contains a complete micro-computer 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, enter the PIN code and it becomes 'your' personal phone'.

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

The pattern of cellphone subscriber growth observed elsewhere in the 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.


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introduction growth maturity

Marketing Objectives

Create product awareness and trial

Maximise market share Maximise profits whole defending market share

Strategies

Product Offer a basic

product/ service.

Offer value added

services

Increase in number

of value added

services.

Price Charge cost- plus Price to penetrate

market

Price to match or

best competitors

Distribution Build selective

distribution

Build Intensive

distribution.

Build more

intensive

distribution.

Advertising Build product

awareness among

early adopters and

dealers.

Build awareness

and interest in the

mass market

Stress brand

differences and

benefits.

Sales Promotion Use heavy sales

promotion to entice

people to subscribe.

Increase to build

and maintain

relationships with

customers.

Increase to

encourage brand-

switching.


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PRIMARY FINDING AND ANALYSIS

1. Age Group:

Age group

05

1015202530

10-20 20-40 Above 40

Age

No.

of R

espo

nden

ts

2. Gender:

Gender

58%

42% Male

Female


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3. Which type of connection do you prefer?

Connection

58%

42% Prepaid

Postpaid

Through the above analysis we can easily find out that, majority of the people still prefer

prepaid connections more. There are 58% people who prefer prepaid connections

whereas 42% people prefer postpaid connection in west Nagpur area. shows that there is

tough competition for prepaid. It is because of billing problems in postpaid connections.

4. Whose service(s) are you rendering now?

50%50%

Airtel

Idea

Through the above analysis it is found that 50% people prefer Airtel connection and 50%

people prefer Idea connection.


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5. How long have you been using this connection of your service provider?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Less than3 months

3-6months

6-12months

1-2 years 2-3 years More than3 years

Duration

No. o

f Res

pond

ents

AirtelIdea

The above graph shows that more no. of people is keeping Airtel and Idea connection

from 1-2 years. These factors are responsible to gain the market share over the

competitor. Whereas there are few who are associated with service provider less than 3

months.


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6. What are the key factors/reasons for your association with current cellular service

provider?

0123456789

Awar

enes

s of

the

serv

ice

prov

ider

Frie

nds

Rec

omm

ende

d

Ret

aile

rIn

fluen

ced

Adve

rtise

men

tR

ecom

men

ded

Oth

er R

easo

ns

Factors/Reasons

No.

of R

espo

nden

ts

AirtelIdea

From the above graph it is clear that people are using Airtel because their friends had

recommended. Whereas people are using Idea because of advertisement attraction. After

that awareness of the service provider is the factor which influenced customer to render

the service.


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7. How do you find the behavior of customer care executives of your service provider?

0123456789

Professional &prompt

Warm &helpful

NotResponding

Lazy & slow

Behavior

No. o

f Res

pond

ents

Airtel

Idea

Acceptance or rejection of any product is largely depended on the services provided by

the customer care which is also known as after sales service or Customer Relationship

Management (CRM). If a company provides better services to the customer by solving

their queries, it can be successful to retain them. Similarly, in case of the telecom service

providers play a major role to retain customers by solving their problems.

As per the survey conducted and its findings, it was concluded that Airtel is the leader in

maintaining the good relations with its customers and it solves customers’ problems

efficiently and effectively than Idea. But still people feel that customer care executives

are not responding and lazy & slow.


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8. What kind of expectations do you have from your service provider?

Improved Service

14%

Good Network 24%

Cheap Call rates 32%

Cheap SMS 22%

Cheap Roaming charges

8%

As per the research, the people of west Nagpur are more inclined towards cheap call rates

of their service providers followed by the good network. After that people expects cheap

SMS, improved service and cheap roaming charges from their service provider.


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9. Rate your satisfaction level with your service provider

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Very Good Good Satisfied Bad Very Bad

AirtelIdea

Customers’ satisfaction plays a crucial role for the service provider. It is found that more

number of people are satisfied with Idea whereas same number of people thinks that

Airtel and Idea is good. It shows that satisfaction level of Airtel and idea is near about

same.


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10. How much do you spend per month on your mobile connection?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Rs.100 Rs. 200 Rs. 500 More than Rs.500

AirtelIdea

Spending pattern is also another criterion which is crucial for any telecom service

providers. Customers’ spending habits ultimately help in deciding their loyalty towards

the product. For example, if a customer frequently spends money on the same product

then it shows that he prefers to buy that product than other products which ultimately

leads to his loyalty towards that brand.

Above graph shows that more no. of people spend more than Rs. 500 for their mobile

connection. Then the people are spending upto Rs. 500.


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11. Given a choice with same number, which service provider will you select?

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Reliance Vodafone BSNL Tata Indicom

Airtel

Idea

As per the above chart suggests and as per the findings, it can be seen that Airtel people

have Vodafone as preference opinion whereas Idea people have both Reliance and Tata

Indicom because of their good network coverage.


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12. How do you find STD rates of your service provider?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Costly Affordable Economical Unaffordable

AirtelIdea

As the above chart shows both Airtel and Idea customers find the STD rates of both

service providers are costly. Whereas few customers feel that STD rates are affordable,

economical and unaffordable.


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13. Do you find availability of network of your service provider at following area?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Remote Area Hill Stations Outskirts

Airtel

Idea

As per the findings, it was found that Idea has very good network coverage in remote

area. Airtel and Idea shoes very close competition for coverage. Because in Hill stations

and outskirts it more or less same.


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14. What are the different schemes provided by your service provider?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

SMS Talktime FestivalSchemes

Other

AirtelIdea

As the graph shows, the customers’ preferences in case of Idea and Airtel is same with

both the schemes SMS and talk time as the preference is same for both.


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15. How long do you have to wait in customer care?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Up to 1minute

2 minutes 3-5 minutes 6-10minutes

11 minutesor more

AirtelIdea

The customer’s liking about a particular service provider is also depended on how the

customer care executive solves his problem and how much time he takes to reach the

customer. So, here the data is collected on the basis of how much a customer has to wait

while calling the customer care.

The data reveals that majority of the customers have to wait for 6-10 minutes. Then some

customers have to wait for 3-5 minutes. There are less number of customers who have to

wait for 11, 2 and upto 2 minutes.


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16. Are you aware of 3G technology?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Airtel Idea

YesNo

There are new inventions and technologies come up in the market to enhance the

competition and make the usage much faster and also useful as well as easy to use. 3G

technology is one of those technologies. In the survey, it was asked to the customers

whether they are aware of new 3G technology or not. The results are mentioned in the

above chart. Airtel customers are aware about 3G than Idea customers. It can be seen that

there is very less difference between awareness about 3G in Airtel and Idea customers.


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RECOMMENDATION

On the basis of the primary research and secondary research, the following

recommendations can be concluded:

Lowering the tariff plans of service providers will increase more competition.

Bringing more up gradation in VAS for the betterment of the users.

Improvement of network infrastructure in both the urban and the rural areas.

Reducing the STD and ISD charges for the users.

Companies can provide new and different schemes to their customers.

After talking to customer care executives of telecom sector, the following

recommendations can be concluded as a part of their strategies for acquiring or retaining

new customers:

The telecom operators should take less time for the solving customer’s queries.

Majority of the operators focus on the special occasions to launch new schemes

but they can also launch schemes on weekly or monthly basis to attract new

customers.

Customer care executives should concentrate more on pre-paid connections for

the price sensitive customers and post-paid connections for business class people

or high class people. They should use their media tools accordingly.

They should concentrate more on the attributes like talk-time facility, network,

voice clarity etc apart from SMS, VAS and schemes.

They should focus more on VAS like GPRS facilities, games, astrology, and

music for young people and business news for business people.

They should also focus on new technologies like 3G.

They should also focus on pilot projects before launching a product, especially in

case of rural areas.


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CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION

India has one of the world’s largest telecommunication networks. The telecom story

continues to be the best evidence of the efficacy of the reforms process. In just six years,

the number of mobile subscribers has gone up from just about one million to 100 million,

a subscriber base that only four other countries China, the US, Japan and Russia can

boast of. None can doubt the correlation between this explosive growth in numbers and

the steep decline in the cost of the mobile phone and of its usage.

After analyzing the findings of the research, it can conclude that Airtel is the leader in

customer service and availability. The maximum no. of people who use the mobile is in

the age group of 20 to 28. Prepaid is popular type of mobile connections, as they are

consumer friendly and recharging the connection is not a problem. People do not prefer

postpaid because of billing problems.

Maximum no. of people spends more than Rs 500 on their connections. As Airtel is the

only company having the maximum no of mobile connections so it must seriously look

into the loop holes of the existing customer service department.

We can say that in spite of so many competitors in the market Airtel is having a good

position just because every time, it tries its best to understand the need of its important

customers.

Idea is having particular customer potential. Mostly it is preferred by business class

people because of availability of network. Idea provides the same scheme as that of

Airtel. People also spend more money on Idea connection.

Considering both Airtel and Idea have same features and benefits. Only the difference is

between the subscriber base. Airtel has more subscriber base than that of Idea.

Recently both Airtel and Idea has launched 1 paisa / second scheme to compete with

TATA DOCOMO. This shows that service providers are more into competition trend

which should be followed by them to sustain in the market.


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reports:

1. DoT Report 2008-09

2. TRAI Report 2008-09

3. TRAI Report 2007-08

4. COAI Report 2008

5. COAI Report 2009

Articles:

1. Bernhard Goldberger- 19th Bled e-Conference eValues

2. The Economic Times

Websites:

1. www.airtel.in

2. www.ideacellular.com

3. www.dot.gov.in

4. www.wikipedia.org

5. www.micrositemobile.com


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http://www.micrositemobile.com/

http://www.wikipedia.org/

http://www.dot.gov.in/

http://www.ideacellular.com/

http://www.airtel.in/


COPY OF QUESTIONNAIRE

Put a tick ( ) for the right option.

1. Age Group: 10-20 20-40 Above 40

2. Gender: Male Female

3. Which type of connection do you prefer?

Pre-paid Post-paid

4. Whose service(s) are you rendering now?

Airtel Idea

5. How long have you been using this connection of your service provider?

Less than 3 months 6-12 months

3-6 months 1-2 years

2-3 years More than 3 years

6. What are the key factors/reasons for your association with current cellular service

provider?

Awareness of the service provider Friends Recommended

Retailer Influenced Advertisement Recommended

Other Reasons

7. How do you find the behavior of customer care executives of your service provider?


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Professional & prompt Not Responding

Warm & helpful Lazy & slow

8. What kind of expectations do you have from your service provider?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

9. Rate your satisfaction level with your service provider.

Very Good Good Satisfied Bad Very Bad

10. How much do you spend per month on your mobile connection?

________________________________________________________________________

11. Given a choice with same number, which service provider will you select?

Tata Indicom BSNL

Reliance Vodafone

12. How do you find STD rates of your service provider?

________________________________________________________________________

13. Do you find availability of network of your service provider at following area?

Remote Area Hill Stations Outskirts

14. What are the different schemes provided by your service provider?

SMS Talk-time Festival Schemes Other

15. How long do you have to wait in customer care?


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Up to 1 minute 3-5 minutes

2 minutes 6-10 minutes

11 minutes or more

16. Are you aware of 3G technology?

Yes No


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MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRTEL

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