ABOUT TELECOM INDUSTRY

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%, India telecom-industry has the

highest growth rate in the world.

. History of Indian telecommunications started in 1851 when the

operational landlines 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

services and the government considered it best to 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 (DOY) was established. It

was an exclusive provider of domestic and long-distance services that would be its own

regulator (separate from postal system). In 1986, two wholly government-owned

companies were created; the videsh sancher nigam limited (VSNL) for international

telecommunications and mahanagar telephone nigam limited (MTNL) for services 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 services and lower tariffs, led indian policy makers to initiate

a change process finally resulting in opening up of telecom services 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.

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 percent of revenues from basic

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

collectively account for less than 5 percent of subscription. 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, Idea cellular, while the CDMA

sector is dominated by Reliance and Tata Indicom opening up 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

EVOLUTION OF THE INDUSTRY – IMPORTANT MILESTONES

YEAR Description

1851 First operational land lines were laid by govt. near Calcutta(seat

of British power)

1881 Telephone service introduced in India

1883 Merger with the postal system

1923 Formation of Indian Radio telegraph company (IRT)

1932 Merger of ETC and IRT into the Indian Radio and

communication company (IRCC)

1947 Nationalization of all foreign telecommunication companies to

from the posts, telephone and telegraph(PTT), a monopoly run by

the government ‘s Ministry of communication

1985 Department of telecommunications (DOT) established, an

exclusive provider of domestic and long-distance service that

would be its own regulator (separate from the postal system)

1986 Conversion of DOT into two wholly government-owned

companies: the videsh sanchar nigam limited (VSNL) for

international telecommunications and Mahanagar telephone

nigam limited (MTNL) for service in metropolitan areas.

1997 Telecom Regulator Authority of India created

1999 Cellular Services are launched in India. new national telecom

policy is adopted.

2000 Do T becomes a corporation, BSNL

2001 Mobile phone subscribes exceeded 5.5 million in April ,

representing an 80% penetration of the population

2002 Mobile phone subscribes exceeded 5.5 million in April ,

representing of thepopulation

2003 The number of broadband Internet customers exceeded one

million in January

2004 Hutchison 3G HK Limited launched the fisrt third generation

mobile (3G) services in Hong Kong in January

2005 Sunday 3G (Hong Kong) Limited Launched its 3G services in

June

2006 The number of 3G subscribers exceeded 1 million in july. The

number of household covered by at least two self-built customer

access network increased to 76% of the total number of

households in October

2007 The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance (UEMO) came

into force on 1 June and was fully implemented on 22 December.

Three Do-not-call Registers for faxes, short messages and pre-

recorded telephone messages were activated in phases.

2008 Complete withdrawal of mandatory Type II

interconnection at the telephone exchange level in July .

2009 THE 2.5-2.6 GHz band for broadband Wireless Access (BWA)

was auctioned with a total spectrum utilization fee exceeding

HK$1.5 billion in January

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 (Vodafone-Essar, Bharti Tele-Ventures ,Escotel ,Idea

Cellular, BPL Mobile ,Spice Communication)

India’s mobile telecom sector is one of the fastest growing sectors. Unlike in

the 1990s when the mobile phone was an elitist product, mobile operators now tap a

mass market with mass marketing techniques. “Unified licensing” rules allow basic and

mobile operators into each other’s territory, and have ushered in perhaps the final phase

of industry consolidation.

It seems that only companies with deep pockets can effectively compete

as primary operators mobile markets. Economics of scale, scope and end-to-end presence in long-

distance as well as local telecom are desirable.

There are, besides, new challenges. Operators have to find new growth

drivers for the wire line business. There are problems of getting broadband to take off, of

technology choice, of when to introduce new technologies and of developing a viable business

model in an era of convergence.

GROWTH OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY:

India has the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. The mobile

services were commercially launched in August 1995 in India. In the initial 5 to 6years

the average monthly subscribers additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million only and the

total mobile subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 millions. However, after

the number of proactive initiatives taken by regulator and licensor, the monthly sub-

scribers additions increased to around 2 million per month in the year 2003 to 2004 and

2004 to 2005.

Although mobile telephones followed the new telecom policy 1994, growth

was tardy in the early years because of the high price of handsets as well as the high

tariff structure of mobile telephones. The new telecom policy in 1999, the industry

heralded several pro consumer initiatives. Mobile sub-scribers additions started picking

up. The number of mobile phones added throughout the country in 2003 was 16 million,

followed by 22 million in 2004, 32 million in 2005, and 65 million in 2006. The only

countries with more mobile phones then India with 156.31 million mobile phones are

china- 408 million and U.S.A – 170 millions

India has opted for the use of both the GSM (global system for mobile

communications) and CDMA (code – division multiple access) technologies in the

mobile sector.

The mobile tariffs in India have also become lowest in the world. A new

mobile connection can be activated with a monthly commitment of US $ 5 only. In 2005

alone 32 million handsets were sold in India. The data reveals the real potential for

growth of the Indian mobile market.

CELLULAR SERVICES PROVIDERS:

As an aprl 2007 India has 167 million mobile phones sub scribers out of this

125 million of GSM users and 41 million CDMA users BHARATHI AIRTEL, BSNL,

VODAFHONE, IDEA, AIRCEL, MTNL are the main GSM providers in India. Reliance

communication and TATA Indicom are the main CDMA providers in India.

BHARATHI AIRTEL:

Airtel is providing cellular services in Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai, Andhra

Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala,

Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, UP, and

West Bengal, Airtel is the number one cellular service provider in India using GSM

technology, Airtel has 23% market share in India with a total sub scriber with base of 38

million.

RELIANCE COMMNICATION:

Reliance has both CDMA and GSM networks and total sub scribers base of 29

million or 17% market share. It has GSM network in Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh,

Kolkata, north east Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and west Bengal reliance has introduced

GSM network in Andhra Pradesh in 2008. Reliance has CDMA network in other state

and cities.

BSNL:

BSNL is a state owned telecom company. Which has GSM presence in almost every

cities and towns. BSNL has 27 millions sub scribers with a market share of 16%.

VODAFONE:

VODAFONE is another emerging GSM provider in India with coverage in Kerala,

Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh with total sub scribe

base of 27 millions.

TATA INDICOM:

TATA Indicom is a main CDMA provider in India with 16 million sub scribers all over

India. TATA Indicom has every cities and state in India.

NEED AND SIGNIFICATION OF STUDY

Same procedure is followed in the rural areas but the distribution system is

completely different from Urban Area and the Margin is also different Company’s

supply system to the territory manager is same procedure as per urban areas. The

products at first distributed to the RS (Rural Super).They have a margin of

0.7%.Products are supplied from the RS to the RD (Rural Distributors).They have a

margin of 1.1%.As per same Urban system few FSB works under each RD and they

supply the products to the individual retailers. The retailers have a margin of2.5%

and 2.7% ( 2.5% on RCV of Rs. 10/- and 2.7% on other RCVs) So, from this above

analysis and distribution channel system, the outcomes are.

The company is spending nearly 4% in Urban Areas.

In Rural Areas the company is spending a margin nearly 4.5%.(So the

company has been taken a great step in sales maximization in rural areas that

they will be able to reduce the margin and will not have a loss in rural areas.)

Stock system in distribution: The complete stock maintenance procedure is

categorically divided in two parts.

Stock to be Maintained by Distributor

Stock to be Maintained by Retailer

In the case of Distributor: The distributor has to keep the LAPU balance for

minimum 7 days; Here 35% of the value must be in RCV. In the case of

Retailer:

METHODOLOGY

INTRODUCTION:-

Research Methodology is a method to solve the research problems

systematically. It guides us in conducting the research scientifically. It consists of

different steps that the generally adopted by the researcher to study the research

problem along with logic behind them. It is necessary for the researcher to develop

certain tests Weighted Average Method, Chi-Square Test, etc. In general the

application of research methodology is wider than that of research methodology.

We must inform why we are using a particular method. The research methodology

adapted for the present study has been systematic and was done in accordance to the

objectives set which has been detailed as below:

RESEARCH – DEFINITION

Research is a process in which the researcher wishes to find out the end result for a

given problem and thus the solution helps in future course of action. According to

Redman and Mory research is defined as a "Systemized effort to lin new

knowledge."RESEARCH – DESIGN

Research design is the specification of methods and procedures for

acquiring the information needed to structure or to solve problem Research design is

defined as:- “A research design is the arrangement of conditions, for collection and

analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose

with economy in procedure

SOURCES OF DATA

The two main sources of data for the present study have been primary data and

secondary data.

1. Primary Data:

Primary data consists of original information collected for specific purpose. The

primary data for this research study was collected through a direct survey with the

viewers guided by a structured questionnaire. The questions were structured and direct

as to make viewers understand easily.

2. Secondary Data:

Secondary data consists of information that already exists somewhere, having

been collected for specific purpose in the study. The secondary data for this study

collected from various books, company websites, and from company brochures.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD:

The methodology adopted to collect the primary data was Interview schedule,

which includes a structured questionnaire to be given to the respondents. The

respondents would be guided by the interviewer to fill the questionnaire, without

revealing the purpose for which the study is being conducted to the respondents.

COLLECTION OF DATA THROUGH QUESTIONNAIRES

This method of data collection is quite popular, particularly in case of big

enquires. It is being adopted by private individuals, research workers, private and public

organizations and even by governments. In this method a questionnaire is sent (usually bye

post) to the persons concerned with a request to answer the questions and return the

questionnaire. A questionnaire consists of a number of questions printed or typed in a

definite order on a form or set of forms. The questionnaire is given to respondents who

are expected to read and understand the questions and write down the reply in the space

meant for the purpose in the questionnaire itself. The respondents have to answer the

questions on their own.

The merits claimed on behalf of this method are as follows:

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1) It is free from the bias of the interviewer; answers are in respondent's own

words.

2) Respondents have adequate time to give well thought out answers.

3) Respondents, who are not easily approachable, can also be reached

conveniently.

4) Large samples can be made use of and thus the results can be made more

dependable and reliable.

The main demerits of this system can also be listed here:

1) Low rate of return of the duly filled in questionnaires; bias due to no-

response is often indeterminate.

2) It can be used only when respondents are educated and cooperating.

3) The control over questionnaire may be lost once it is given.

4) There is inbuilt inflexibility because of the difficulty of amending the

approach once quest there is also the possibility of ambiguous replies or

omission of replies altogether, to certain questions; interpretation of omissions

is difficult.

5) It is difficult to know whether willing respondents are truly representative.

Before using this method, it is always advisable to conduct 'pilot study' (Pilot

Survey) for testing the questionnaires. In a big enquiry, the significance of pilot

survey is felt very much. Pilot survey is in fact the replica and rehearsal of the main

survey. Such a survey, being conducted by experts, brings to the light the weakness (if

any) of the questionnaires and of the survey techniques. From the experience gained in

this way, improvement can be effected,

The term questionnaire refers to a self-administered process whereby the

respondent himself read the questions and records his answer without the assistance of

an interviewer.

STATISTICAL TOOLS

Statistical tools are to obtain finding and average information in logical

sequence from the data collected. After tabulation of data, researcher used the following

Quantitative techniques.

Percentage analysis

Charts

Chi - square test

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Interval estimation

Weighted average method

1) The survey is limited to Twin Cities (Hyderabad and Secunderabad) only.

Hence the results attained by this study may not be universally applicable.

2) Due to the Time constraint and Cost involved, the sample size is limited to

280 respondents.

3) The data is collected from the opinion of the customers and any bias in their

opinion will have an impact on the findings of the study.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The present study is conducted by keeping the following objectives in mind.

To study the present status of telecom industry in India and to know about

various telecom service providers.

To understand about the concept of Distribution Channel setup and marketing

activities and to know how it is important for a telecom industry.

To identify various factors effecting Distribution Channel Setup for telecom

services especially services of Airtel Limited.

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FRAME WORK OF THE STUDY

CHAPTER-1:

It deals with introduction to Distribution Channel Setup and Marketing

activities, need for study, and objectives of study, methodology and limitations of the

study.

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CHAPTER-2:

Is the overview of BHARATHI Airtel Pvt Ltd. It gives the information

recording the history and growth of Airtel PVT Ltd., and different functional and

organization structures of the BHARATHI Airtel PVT Ltd.,

CHAPTER-3:

is the theoretical frame work of Distribution Channel Setup and Marketing

activities. It gives in detailed concepts, types, determinants and objectives of Distribution

Channel Setup. It also includes customer relationship management.

CHAPTER-4:

Is the data analysis of Distribution Channel Setup and Marketing activities

of BHARATHI Airtel PVT Ltd., it consists of interpretations of the questionnaires at

Airtel ltd.,

CHAPTER-5: This is the last chapter is the summary and sugges

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LIMITATIONS:

The survey is restricted to very few areas because of which data was not

comprehensive and may not be fully representative.

The information provided by the customers was not perfect because of which

accurate findings cannot be made.

Because the time period for the project was limited to eight weeks I could not

able to survey number of customers.

ORGANIZATION PROFILE OF BHARATHI AIRTEL

Bharti Airtel limited is a leading global telecommunications company with

operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. The company offers mobile voice &

data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions

for enterprises and national & international long distance services to carriers. Bharti

Airtel has been ranked among the six best performing technology companies in the

world by business week. Bharti Airtel had 200 million customers across its operations.

Highlights

» Meet the airtel Wave - the name lakhs have chosen for the new

airtel symbol

» Bharti Airtel Limited announces its fourth quarter and full year

ended results on May 05, 2011

» Now enjoy the magic of HD on airtel digital TV's 3D ready HD

Recorder!

» now upload your photos online and get the prints at your doorstep

with airtel photos

» Bharti Airtel and Apple to bring iPhone 4 to India

» airtel digital TV adds two new interactive services – I Darshan &

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I Goodlife

Business Divisions

Bharti Airtel offers GSM mobile services in all the 23-telecom circles of India and is the

largest mobile service provider in the country, based on the number of customers.

Know More

The group offers high-speed broadband internet with the best in class network. With

Landline services in 94 cities, we help you stay in touch with your friends & family and

keep you updated round the clock

Know More

Enterprise Services provides a broad portfolio of services to large Enterprise and Carrier

customers. This division comprises of the Carrier and Corporate business unit.

Enterprise Services is regarded as the trusted communications partner to India's leading

organizations, helping them to meet the challenges of growth.

Know More

Discover the magical experience of digital enterainment with airtel. From DVD quality

picture and sound, the best and widest variety of channels and programmes to the best

on-demand content on airtel Live, your TV viewing experience change forever with

digital TV from airtel! Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel Limited (NSE: BHARTIARTL, BSE: 532454), commonly known

as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 19 countries across

South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. It operates a GSM network in all countries,

providing 2G or 3G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the fifth

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largest telecom operator in the world with over 207.8 million subscribers across 19

countries at the end of 2010. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with over

152.5 million subscribers at the end of 2010.[2] Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country

mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom..

Airtel also offers fixed line services and broadband services. It offers its telecom

services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the

first Indian telecom service provider to achieve this Cisco Gold Certification. To earn

Gold Certification, Bharti Airtel had to meet rigorous standards for networking

competency, service, support and customer satisfaction set forth by Cisco.[3] The

company also provides land-line telephone services and broadband Internet access

(DSL) in over 96 cities in India. It also acts as a carrier for national and international

long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing

station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and

Singapore.

It is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource

everything except marketing and sales and finance. Its network (base stations,

microwave links, etc.) are maintained by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network and

Huawei.,[4] business support by IBM and transmission towers by another company

(Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India).[5] Ericsson agreed for the first time, to be paid by the

minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid up

front. This enabled the company to provide pan-India phone call rates of Rs. 1/minute

(U$0.02/minute). Call rates have come down much further.[6] During the last financial

year [2009-10], Bharti has roped in a strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the

network infrastructure for the Telemedia Business.

History

Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Sunil Mittal was into an

agreement with Germany's Siemens to manufacture the company's push-button

telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Sunil Bharti Mittal incorporated Bharti

Telecom Limited (BTL) and his company became the first in India to offer push-button

telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. This first-mover advantage

allowed Sunil Mittal to expand his manufacturing capacity elsewhere in the

telecommunications market. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the

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country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Sunil Mittal won a

bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Sunil Mittal incorporated the

cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched service in Delhi. In 1996,

cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired

control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to Karnataka and Andhra

Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In

2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went

public in 2002, and the company was listed on Bombay Stock Exchange and National

Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone operations were rebranded under

the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of Hexacom and entered

Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and Nicobar.

In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010,

Airtel began operating in Bangladesh and 16 African countries.

Today, Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India and fifth largest in the

world. Worldwide Presence

Coverage map of BHARATHI Airtel across 19 countries

Airtel is the 5th largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscriber base and has

a commercial presence in 19 countries and the Channel Islands.

Its area of operations includes:

The Indian Subcontinent:

Airtel Bangle, in Bangladesh

Airtel, in India

Airtel Sri Lanka, in Sri Lanka

Airtel Africa, which operates in 16 African countries:

Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon,

Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania,

Uganda and Zambia.

Bharti Airtel has about 207.8 million subscribers worldwide - 152.5 million in

India, 50.3 million are in Africa, 3.2 million in Bangladesh and 1.8 million in Sri Lanka

as of the end of 2010. The numbers include mobile services subscribers in 19 countries

and Indian Telemedia services and Digital services subscribers.

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In May 2008, it emerged that Bharti Airtel was exploring the possibility of

buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with

coverage in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported

that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which

would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides

emphasize the tentative nature of the talks, while The Economist magazine noted, "If

anything, Bharti would be marrying up," as MTN has more subscribers, higher revenues

and broader geographic coverage.[18] However, the talks fell apart as MTN group tried

to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company.

In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it is in Talks with MTN and

companies have now agreed discuss the potential transaction exclusively by July 31,

2009.[20] Bharti Airtel said in a statement "Bharti Airtel Ltd is pleased to announce that

it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group".

Talks eventually ended without agreement, due to the South African government

opposition.

Zain

In March 2010, Bharti struck a deal to buy the Kuwait firm's mobile operations in

15 African countries, in India's second biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel's $13

billion buy of Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel completed its $9 billion acquisition of African

operations from Kuwait's Zain, making the firm the world's No. 5 wireless carrier by

subscribers.

Rebranding

On 18 November 2010, Airtel rebranded itself in India in the first phase of a

global rebranding strategy. The company unveiled a new logo with 'airtel' written in

lower case. Designed by London-based brand agency, Brand Union, the new logo is the

letter 'a' in lowercase, with 'airtel' written in lowercase under the logo.

On November 23, 2010, Airtel's Africa operations were rebranded to 'airtel'. Sri

Lanka followed on November 28, 2010 and on December 20, 2010, Warid Telecom

rebranded to 'airtel' in Bangladesh.

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Sponsorship

On May 9, 2009 Airtel signed a major deal with Manchester United Football

Club. As a result of the deal, Airtel gets the rights to broadcast the matches played by the

team to its customers.

Bharti Airtel signed a five-year deal with ESPN Star Sports to become the title sponsor

of the Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament. The tournament itself is named

"Airtel Champions League Twenty20."

Signature tune

The signature tune of Airtel is composed by Indian musician A. R. Rahman. The tune

became hugely popular and is the world's most downloaded mobile music with over 150

million downloads.[25] A new version of the song was released on 18 November 2010,

as part of the rebranding of the company. This version too was composed by Rahman

himself Timeline

Logo used by Airtel till 2010 November

The chronology of events since Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated in 1995

1995 Bharti Cellular launched cellular services as "AirTel" in Delhi.

1996 STET International Netherlands NV, or STET, a company promoted by Telecom

Italia, Italy acquired a 20% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures

Bharti Telenet launched cellular services in Himachal Pradesh

1997 British Telecom acquired a 21.05% equity interest in Bharti Cellular

Bharti Telenet obtained a license for providing fixed-line services in Madhya Pradesh

cirlce (and later Chattisgarh).

Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture, Bharti BT, for

providing VSAT services

1998 Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture, "Bharti

BT Internet" for providing Internet services

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First Indian private fixed-line services launched in Indore in the Madhya Pradesh circle

on June 4, 1998 by Bharti Telenet thereby ending fixed-line services monopoly of

Department of Telecom (now BSNL).

1999 Warburg Pincus (through its investment company Brentwood Investment

Holdings Limited) acquired a 19.05% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures

Bharti Tele-Ventures (by acquiring a 63.45% equity interest in SC Cellular Holdings)

acquired an effective 32.36% equity interest in Bharti Mobile (formerly JT Mobiles), the

cellular services provider in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh circles New York Life

Insurance Fund, or NYLIF, acquired a 3% equity interest in Bharti Cellular

2000 Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an effective equity interest of 40.5% in Bharti

Mobinet (formerly Skycell Communications), the cellular services provider in Chennai

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired a 30.2% equity interest of Telecom Italia in Bharti

Telenet and 18.8% from Bharti Telecom thereby making Bharti Telenet a 100%

subsidiary of Bharti Tele-Ventures

SingTel (through its investment company Pastel Limited) acquired STET's 15.3% equity

interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an additional effective 41.64% equity interest in Bharti

Mobile (by acquiring the remaining 36.55% equity interest in SC Cellular) resulting in

Bharti Tele-Ventures holding an effective 74% equity interest in Bharti Mobile.

2001 Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired NYLIF's 3% equity interest in Bharti Cellular

Bharti Telesonic entered into a joint venture, Bharti Aquanet, with SingTel for

establishing a submarine cable landing station at Chennai

Bharti Tele-Ventures issued additional equity for approximately US$ 481.30 million to

SingTel, Warburg Pincus, AIF group, IFC, NYLIF, and Seejay Cellular and Bharti

Telecom

Bharti Cellular acquired a 100% equity interest in Bharti Mobitel (formerly Spice Cell ),

the cellular services provider in Kolkata

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Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired 85% and 15% in Bharti Telespatial from Bharti Telecom

and Intel, respectively

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired a 44% equity interest in Bharti Cellular from British

Telecom, thereby making Bharti Cellular its 100% subsidiary

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an additional 49% equity interest in Bharti Mobinet from

Millicom International and BellSouth International, thereby owning 89.5% equity

interest in Bharti Mobinet, which was further increased to 95.3% following an issuance

of additional equity shares by way of rights issue

Punjab license restored to Bharti Mobile by the Department of Telecom (DoT) and

migration to NTP - 1999 accepted

Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements to provide cellular services in eight new

circles following the fourth operator cellular license bidding process

Bharti Telenet entered into license agreements to provide fixed-line services in the

Haryana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka circles

Bharti Telesonic entered into a license agreement with the DoT to provide national long

distance services across India

Bharti Aquanet, Bharti Telesonic and Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements

with the DoT to provide ISP services in India

Bharti Telesonic launched national long distance services under the brand name of

IndiaOne

Bharti Telenet launched fixed line services in Haryana under the brand name of

"TouchTel".

2002 Enters into a 5-year agreement with Escotel (now called Idea Cellular) and ETL

of the Escorts group to contract leased line connectivity for its cellular operations

Mr. Ravi Akhoury ceases to be Director of Bharti Tele

21

DoT grants ILD Telephony License to Bharti Telesonic, subsidiary of the company

Signs MoU with Telia AB to buy out their 26% stake in Bharti MobileTies up with

Secondary School Certification (SSC) Board, Hyderabad, where Bharti will announce

SSC results to its customers on their mobile phones ICICI Bank ties up with Bharti for

pre-paid mobile cards via ATMs Bharti forays into Mumbai with offers Alpine

International Ltd. and ELM International Ltd. acquire shares of Bharti Tele-Ventures

2003 Airtel breaks interconnectivity with Tata Teleservices in Andhra Pradesh

Company accorded its approval for amalgamation of its subsidiary companies viz: Bharti

Telenet Ltd, Bharti Telesonic Ltd, Bharti Broadband Networks Ltd and Bharti Comtel

Ltd through scheme of Amalgamation. The merged entity would be renamed as Bharti

Infotel Ltd.

Airtel launches Local direct dialling facility in Chennai circle

Bharti Cellular unveils "CareTouch" service

Cellular brand "Airtel" unveils free multimedia messaging services (MMS) for its

customers. The company has also rolled out pan-India GPRS for its corporate

subscribers Launches its `IndiaOne MeetXpress' audio-conferencing service Punjab,

Haryana get free incoming calls from Airtel

AirTel provides SMS facilities to hearing impaired in Chennai

Goa, Maharashtra gets 'voice portal' services by Bharti Cellular

Launches free additional connection to its new subscribers in New Delhi

Mr Sin Hang Boon and Mr Wong Hung Khim have resigned from the Board of Directors

of Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd with effect from February 27, 2003.

Airtel launches its GPRS network in Chennai

Airtel subscribers cross 3 million mark

AirTel unveils RAD system

Mr P M Sinha resigns from the Board of Directors of the Company with effect from

March 31, 2003.

Bharti TeleVentures announces the completion of merger with Bharti Mobitel

Bharti Mobitel Ltd. merged with Bharti Cellular Ltd.

22

"Airtel" and "Touchtel" jointly offer free Touchtel land line for post-paid Airtel

connection

Airtel rolls out voice mail service for pre-paid customers

AirTel unveils new scheme for pre-paid customers giving away free talk time worth Rs

10 crore

Airtel surpasses 4 lakh subscriber base in Karnataka

Bharti announces new tariff plan AirTel 012

Offers 0-1-2, a new cellular package for the customers, which means zero charges on

incoming calls, Re 1 on mobile-to-mobile outgoing calls, Rs 2 on mobile-to-mobile STD

calls

Rolls out Airtel messenger service

AirTel offers bundled handset, connection package for Rs 5715

Airtel slashes SMS rates to 60 paise; excludes Delhi and Mumbai

Bharti cellular, wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Tele-Ventures, increases its stake to

100% in Bharti Mobile

Signs distribution pact with Hathway Cable. With this alliance, Bharti is said to be the

first telecom firm to step into television distribution services

Six cell operators move over from Bharti to VSNL

Airtel augments cellular coverage in Tamil Nadu by including Arcot & Walajapet in its

network

Airtel ties up with Coke in Chennai to sell its "Magic" prepaid cards

AirTel embarks on network expansion in Hyderabad

Airtel unveils IndiaOne Long Distance Calling Card

AirTel introduces unified tariff package in Tamil Nadu and Chennai

Airtel becomes front runner in Karnataka's mobile services market

Bharti Tele launches 'Always on' service to its subscribers

State Bank of India and AirTel announce EMI offer at Rs 299

Bharti and MTV join hands to launch new SIM card

AirTel unveils new post-paid scheme at zero rental

AirTel launches `Happy Plan' in AP

Airtel emerges as the highest selling pre-paid card

Airtel join hands with Alcatel & Videocon to launch new scheme

AirTel service provider touches 5 lakh customers in Punjab

Airtel offers 5 new services for its customers in Mumbai

Bharti launches first dual band network in Delhi

23

Gets 14th place among top 25 Cos in India

Bharti Mobile crosses 4 lakh mobile subscribers in AP

Airtel holds top position in terms of dealer penetration

Prof. V S Raju has been inducted on the Board of Directors of the Company.

Touchtel launches SMS service in fixed line phones in Karnal and Panipat in Haryana.

Airtel unveils special offers in Kerala

AirTel launches InnoWest for the western region

Bharti Tele-Ventures enters into an agreement with Telesystem (Mauritius) Pvt. Ltd

Airtel slashes out going SMS price to 30ps

On December 16, 2003, Airtel announced the launch of expense tracker service, which

provides customers the option of tracking their day-to-day expenses on a daily or

monthly basis. This service will allow a user to track expenses, while on the move by

sending an SMS.

AirTel introduces MTV Club Card in Chennai

2004 Bharti unveils new card for Mecca piligrims

AirTel enrolls 50,000 customers in its mobile service in 60 days

Launches WAP enabled portal Service in Kerala

Bharti Cellular's AirTel has extended its mobile connectivity to Karaikkal, Nagur,

Mannargudi and Kovilpalayam in Tamil Nadu.

Airtel customer base touches new high of 5 lakh mark in Andhra Pradesh

On Pongal, Airtel is launching its first ever MMS downloads in Tamil.

AirTel tie up with MAA TV

Airtel launches Rs 50 pre-paids recharge

AirTel launched a family pack for its post-paid customers in Chennai on January 29.

Bharti Tele-Ventures enters into a three year service agreement with Ericsson

Bharti Tele-Ventures (BTVL) has signed and received unified access service licence to

provide GSM services in Uttar Pradesh (East), West Bengal & Andaman Nicobar,

Orissa, Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir. The licence has been granted to Bharti Cellular

Ltd (BCL), the cellular arm and subsidiary of BTVL.

Airtel and Mobilink, the only GSM cellular service provider in Pakistan, sign the first-

ever bilateral roaming agreement between India and Pakistan

Acquires switching systems from Tekelec

Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd signed an information technology outsourcing deal with

infotech major IBM, estimated to be in the range of 0-750 million for a ten-year period.

Jayant Khosla, new chief executive officer, Mumbai24

Signs MoU to join the South East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-

WE-4) consortium along with 15 other global telecom operators.

Bharti Tele-Ventures has struck a deal with Shyam Telecom to buy out the latter's 67.5

per cent stake in cellular services company Hexacom for Rs 430 crore.

Samsung India Electronics Limited has tied up with cellular operator Bharti for bundling

its mobile handsets with a connection.

The Bharti group finalised a Rs 500-crore deal to share its national long-distance (STD)

network with VSNL in a first-of-its-kind accord between two top telecom service

providers in a bid to optimise capacities in the NLD segment.

Internet gateway and services provider, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) has signed

a Right to Use (RoU) agreement to deploy mobile telephony major, Bharti Tele-

Ventures' existing National Long Distance (NLD) backbone.

Airtel offers talktime transfer service

Airtel has announced money-back guarantee offer in case of call drop or poor network

experience for its subscribers

Bharti launches 2-in-1 card

Airtel launched two-way international roaming and GPRS for prepaid customers in the

Maharshtra and Goa circles

Bharti Tele-Ventures has bagged the Asian MobileNews operator of the year award in

India and the subcontinent

Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd has awarded a million equipment contract to Swedish telecoms

company Ericsson

Bharti Televentures announced formation of a new strategic business unit to offer

various telecom and IT services through a single contact

Bharti Televentures unveiled a mobile portal featuring sports, entertainment and news

among others

Airtel ties up with Micro Tech to set up 'Mcops' vehicle security system

Bharti Tele-Venture on July 19 launched "Caller Tunes" service, a personalized mobile

music service where the caller hears songs and other sound clips instead of the

traditional switchboard ring-ring tone

Airtel, a private telecom services provider, has commissioned its first 24x7 customer

service centre in Andhra Pradesh

Airtel unveils Rs 199 pre paid card

AirTel join hands with Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) to

offer executive MBA programme

25

AirTel introduces new scheme for hearing impaired in Maharashtra & Goa

AirTel inks pact with JP Mobile

Rolls out Enhanced Data Rate for Global Evolution (EDGE) network in Pune on

September 9, 2004, Ties up with Nokia for sale of Nokia 6230, an EDGE-enabled

handset.

AirTel unveils first virtual calling cards in India

BTVL rolls out EDGE services in Bangalore

Airtel rolls out Full Talktime Advantage card

Airtel rolls out wi-fi services in Mumbai

BTVL launches new 'Airtel Broadband Friendly Offer'

Airtel launches GPRS services for pre-paid customers

Airtel partners with ITPO to set up Wi-Fi network in Delhi

Airtel launches EDGE services and a new pre-paid plan for Chennai

Airtel introduces LAS in Karnataka

2005

Airtel launches video services for its GPRS customers on February 22, 2005

Airtel unveils new TV ad featuring Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan

Bharti Tele-Ventures launches telecom network in Andaman & Nicobar

BTVL unveil fixed line, broadband services

Bharti inks 5-m deal with Nokia for rural network expansion

Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd has announced that Airtel, ICICI Bank & VISA have joined

hands to launch mCheq - a revolutionary new service - a credit card on the mobile phone

Airtel introduces BlackBerry Connect in India

Bharti Tele Ventures announces agreement with Vodafone

Airtel unveils 'free flight' offer

Bharti Tele-Ventures launches under sea cable system

2006

Airtel unveils Re 1 STD plans

Airtel launches NetXpert.

Airtel launches Post2Pre recharging service on April 04,2006.

Airtel sets up customer centre

Airtel announced the launch of `Save My Phone Contact' service for its pre-paid and

post-paid customers in Delhi

26

Bharti Tele Ventures bags 'Wireless Service Provider of the Year' & 'Competitive

Service Provider of the Year' awards

Cellebrum join hands with Airtel

Airtel Mega unveiled in Coimbatore

Bharti Airtel Ltd and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership that will offer a range

of software and services for small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India.

Bharti Airtel Ltd on Nov 8, announced a first-of-its-kind alliance with the Adani Group

for establishing an end-to-end modern telecommunication network infrastructure for the

latter's multi-sector special economic zone (SEZ), located near Mundra Port in Kutch

district of Gujarat.

2007

Bharti Airtel has come out with a slew of initiatives including buying out SingTel's 50

per cent stake in joint venture under sea cable company Network i2i

Bharti Airtel on Feb 11, has been awarded QCI-DL Shah National Award on Economics

of Quality.

Bharti Airtel Ltd has announces changes in the operational leadership structure and roles

in the Company effective April 01, 2007.

Bharti Airtel Ltd on April 01, 2007, has announces the reduction in ISD Tariffs for all its

mobile customers in India.

8Airtel signs agreement with HTC for touch screen mobile.

2008

Nokia Siemens Networks on Jan 3 declared that it has been awarded a multi million euro

contract from Bharti Airtel Ltd for deployment of a single interactive voice response

(IVR) platform across 23 circles. The three-year turnkey contract comprises designing,

planning, systems integration and optimisation services to raise overall customer

experience. The new IVR solution will enable Airtel to deliver services such as voice

SMS, televoting, call management services, caller ring back tone and voice portal on a

faster time-to-market basis and, therefore, reduce OPEX costs.

Bharti Airtel Ltd on February 13, 2008 has announced that it has achieved the 60 million

mobile, fixed line and broadband customers.

Bharti Airtel tied up with US-based Apple Inc to bring the popular GSM-based iPhone in

the country.

27

Bharti Airtel Ltd has forged a technology alliance with Infosys Technologies Ltd to

launch its Direct-to-Home (DTH) television services. Infosys, through its digital

convergence platform, will offer a suite of products including devices, application

servers and interactive applications for Airtel's DTH services.

2009

Bharti Airtel signed a five-year managed services deal with Alcatel-Lucent for its fixed-

line and broadband operations.

Bharti Airtel launched the 'Airtel Advantage' initiative. The initiative is aimed at offering

the added advantage to Airtel customers to be in touch with each other at an affordable

rate of 50 paise per minute, be it a national long distance call (STD) or a local call.

In order to create products and services for the small, medium and large enterprises,

Bharti Airtel and Cisco announced a strategic business alliance. The alliance would

combine the strengths of Airtel's network service and Cisco' Internet Protocol (IP)

technologies.

Airtel and mChek announce milestone of 1 Million users and introduce a broad range of

new mCommerce services.

2010

On 14, February 2010, Zain Ghana issued a resolution to accept a $10.7 billion buyout

offer from Bharti Airtel Limited (Bharti) to enter into exclusive discussions until 25

March 2010, regarding the sale of its African unit, Zain Africa BV.

Bharti Airtel submitted its bid for 3G spectrum auction which starts from April 9, 2010.

Bharti Airtel has partnered with US-based software maker VMware Inc. It has done this

in order to focus on the cloud-based managed computer services market.

On May 18, 2010, Airtel won 3G spectrum in 13 circles: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra

Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, West Bengal,

Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East, Jammu & Kashmir for Rs. 12,295 crores.

Bharti Airtel wins broadband spectrum in four circles: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab

and Kolkata for Rs. 3314.36 crores.

On 8, June 2010, Bharti Airtel completed a deal to Zain Telecom's businesses in 15

African countries for $10.7 billion.

On August 11, 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire 100% stake in

Telecom Seychelles for US$62 million taking its global presence to 19 countries.

28

On 20 September 2010, Bharti Airtel said that it has given contracts to Ericsson India,

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Huawei Technologies to set up infrastructure for

providing 3G services in the country.

On 18 November, 2010, Bharti Airtel announced a re-branding campaign wherein, they

would be referred as airtel, with a new logo.

On 20 December 2010, Airtel launched its new identity for Bangladesh subscribers.

On 23 December 2010, Airtel opened its first underground terrestrial fibre optic cable

built in alliance with China Telecom.

2011

On 23 February 2011, Bharti Airtel launched the Europe-India gateway cable system,

along with 16 other global telecom firms. A 15,000 kilometre long cable, between

Mumbai and London.

On 27 February 2011, Bharti Airtel launched its speech recognition based service, 'One

Number, One Voice'

29

INTRODUCTION

Bharti Airtel, formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited (BTVL) is India's

largest and world's third largest cellular service provider with more than 82 million

subscribers as of December 2008. It also offers fixed line services and broadband

services.

SingTel owns over 30% of the Bharti Telecom. Vodafone is also a shareholder of

Airtel with 4% of the shares. Thus making it a sister company of the brand

The Bharti Group has a diverse business portfolio and has created global brands in

the telecommunication sector. Bharti has recently forayed into retail business as

Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd. under a MoU with Wal-Mart for the cash & carry business. It

has successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild Group to

export fresh agric - products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA and has

launched Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd under a joint venture with AXA,

world leader in financial protection and wealth management.

Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, India’s largest integrated and the first

private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles.

Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has

steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with its world class products

and services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three

individual strategic business units (SBU’s) - Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia

Services & Enterprise Services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed

wireless services using GSM

Mobil

Airtel has nationwide presence and is the market leader with a market share of almost

completely(as of May 2010). It is 6th most valued brand according to an annual survey

conducted by Brand Finance and The Economic Times in 2010. [15]

On 19 October 2004, Airtel announced the launch of a BlackBerry Wireless Solution in

India. The launch is a result of a tie-up between Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited

and Research In Motion (RIM).

The Apple iPhone 3G was rolled out in India on 22 August 2008 by Airtel & Vodafone.

Both the cellular service providers rolled out their Apple iPhone 3GS in the first quarter

30

of 2010. However, high prices and contract bonds discouraged consumers and it was not

as successful for both the service providers as much as the iPhone is successful in other

markets of the world. The Apple iPhone 4 was introduced on 27 May 2011 by Airtel

& Aircel.

3G

On May 18, 2010, 3G spectrum auction was completed and Airtel will have to pay the

Indian government  12,295 crore (US$2.74 billion) for spectrum in 13 circles, the most

amount spent by an operator in this auction. Airtel won 3G licences in 13 telecom circles

of India: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh

(east), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East,Jammu &

Kashmir.

On 20 September 2010, Bharti Airtel said that it has given contracts to Ericsson

India, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Huawei Technologies to set up infrastructure

for providing 3G services in the country. These vendors will plan, design, deploy and

maintain 3G-HSPA (third generation, high speed packet access) networks in 13 telecom

circles where the company has won 3G licences. While Bharti Airtel has awarded

network contracts for seven 3G circles to Ericsson India, NSN would manage networks

in three circles. Chinese telecom equipment vendor Huawei Technologies has been

introduced as the third partner for three circles.  On January 24, 2011, Airtel launched

3G services in Bangalore, Karnataka - its largest circle by revenue. With this launch,

Airtel became the third private operator (fifth overall) to launch its 3G services in the

country following Reliance Communications and Tata Docomo. On January 27, 2011,

Airtel launched 3G in Chennai and Coimbatore.

Airtel plans to cover 1,500 cities across 13 circles by the end of March 2012. The

company, which has 3G licences for 13 circles, is also in talks with other service

providers to roll out the services in the remaining 10 circles as part of its roaming

offerings. Airtel had about 3 million 3G subscribers as of May 2011.

31

AIRTEL DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

Distribution procedure and Margins:

In Urban Areas

Airtel directly supply its products to the distributors in Urban Areas through

Territory Manager

Territory Manager distributes the products as per demand for individual

distributors, which is scheduled as per the target for the territory.

In urban areas the Margin for the Distributor is 1.3%.

Distributor distributes the products to the FSEs’. Their job is to supply those

products to the Retailers

The Retailers margin is 2.7% (2.5% margin on RCV Rs.10/- and for all other RCVs

the margin is 2.7%).

In Rural Areas

Same procedure is followed in the rural areas but the distribution system is

completely different from Urban Area and the Margin is also different Company’s

supply system to the territory manager is same procedure as per urban areas. The

products at first distributed to the RS (Rural Super).They have a margin of

0.7%.Products are supplied from the RS to the RD (Rural Distributors).They have a

32

Airtel Company

Urban area

Rural area

Rural super

Rural distributor FSE

Distributor

FSE

Retailer

Retailer

margin of 1.1%.As per same Urban system few FSB works under each RD and they

supply the products to the individual retailers. The retailers have a margin of2.5%

and 2.7% ( 2.5% on RCV of Rs. 10/- and 2.7% on other RCVs) So, from this above

analysis and distribution channel system, the outcomes are.

The company is spending nearly 4% in Urban Areas.

In Rural Areas the company is spending a margin nearly 4.5%.(So the

company has been taken a great step in sales maximization in rural areas that

they will be able to reduce the margin and will not have a loss in rural areas.)

Stock system in distribution: The complete stock maintenance procedure is

categorically divided in two parts.

Stock to be Maintained by Distributor

Stock to be Maintained by Retailer

In the case of Distributor: The distributor has to keep the LAPU balance for

minimum 7 days; Here 35% of the value must be in RCV. In the case of

Retailer:

SALES FORCE:

Selection of sales force

They recruited separate department for sales and work of those employee is to get or

generate more and more revenue for organization.

Training of Sales Force

After Recruitment they are trained their employee for effective working and in this

training period they guided employee. How, when, where, what and to whom we they

can sale their product.

Motivating of sales force

If because of some reason any employee is not able to do their best performance in that

case rather than any action they use motivation as a tool for increasing morale of that

employee.

33

Controlling of sales Force

They also control the sales force because they know the importance of control system in

organization. They are using these entire four step for decide their sales force and each

step they are also Check they are doing right things or not and if they thing changes are

needed than they revised whole process again. That’s why we can see the difference

between Airtel sales growth and other challenger and follower.

Sales Force Automation

A sale force automation is a system that automatically records all the stages in the sales

process. this include a contact management system which tracks all contact that as been

made with a given customer, the purpose of the contact and any follow up that might be

required.

LITERATURE REVIEW

CUSTOMER SATISFICTION

It's a well known fact that no business can exist without customers. In the

business of Website design, it's important to work closely with your customers to

make sure the site or system you create for them is as close to their requirements as

you can manage. Because it's critical that you form a close working relationship

with your client, customer service is of vital importance. What follows are a

selection of tips that will make your clients feel valued, wanted and loved.

Customer Satisfaction in 7 Steps:-

1. Encourage Face-to-Face Dealings:

This is the most daunting and downright scary part of interacting with a customer.

It's important to meet your customers face to face at least once or even twice during the

course of a project. My experience has shown that a client finds it easier to relate to and

work with someone they've actually met in person, rather than a voice on the phone or

someone typing into an email or messenger program. When you do meet them, be calm,

confident and above all, take time to ask them what they need. I believe that if a

potential client spends over half the meeting doing the talking, you're well on your way

to a sale.

34

2. Respond to Messages Promptly & Keep Your Clients Informed:

This goes without saying really. We all know how annoying it is to wait days for

a response to an email or phone call. It might not always be practical to deal with all

customers' queries within the space of a few hours, but at least email or call them back

and let them know you've received their message and you'll contact them about it as soon

as possible.

3. Be Friendly and Approachable:

You can hear a smile through the phone. This is very true. It's very important to be

friendly, courteous and to make your clients feel like you're their friend and you're there

to help them out. There will be times when you want to beat your clients over the head

repeatedly with a blunt object - it happens to all of us. It's vital that you keep a clear

head, respond to your clients' wishes as best you can, and at all times remain polite and

courteous.

4. Have a Clearly-Defined Customer Service Policy

This may not be too important when you're just starting out, but a clearly defined

customer service policy is going to save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. If a

customer has a problem, what should they do? If the first option doesn't work, then

what? Should they contact different people for billing and technical enquiries? If they're

not satisfied with any aspect of your customer service, who should they tell? There's

nothing more annoying for a client than being passed from person to person, or not

knowing who to turn to. Making sure they know exactly what to do at each stage of their

enquiry should be of utmost importance. So make sure your customer service policy is

present on your site -- and anywhere else it may be useful.

5. Attention to Detail (also known as 'The Little Niceties')

Have you ever received a Happy Birthday email or card from a company you

were a client of? Have you ever had a personalized sign-up confirmation email for a

service that you could tell was typed from scratch? These little niceties can be time

Consuming and aren't always cost effective, but remember to do them. Even if it's as

small as sending a Happy Holidays email to all your customers, it's something. It

shows you care; it shows there are real people on the other end of that screen or

35

telephone; and most importantly, it makes the customer feel welcomed, wanted and

valued.

6. Anticipate Your Client's Needs & Go Out Of Your Way to Help Them

Out:-

Sometimes this is easier said than done! However, achieving this supreme

level of understanding with your clients will do wonders for your working

relationship.

7. Honor Your Promises

It's possible this is the most important point in this article. The simple message:

when you promise something, deliver. The most common example here is project

delivery dates. Clients don't like to be disappointed. Sometimes, something may not get

done, or you might miss a deadline through no fault of your own. Projects can be late,

technology can fail and sub-contractors don't always deliver on time. In this case a quick

apology and assurance it'll be ready ASAP wouldn't go amiss

36

CHAPTER

DATA ANALYSIS

1. WHICH MOBILE SERVICE YOU ARE CURRENTLY USING?

A) RELIENCE B) AIRETEL C) DOCOMO D) IDEA E) VODAFONE

Out of 150 samples 60% of the customers are using airetel next 12% customers are using

reliance,7% of the customers are using vodafone, 17% are using idea and 4% are using docomo.

RELIANCE 18

AIRTEL 88

DOCOMO 6

IDEA 25

VODAFONE 11

37

2. How was the network of airtel in your area?

a) Excellent b) average c) good d) bad

60% of the customers said that the network was excellent, 18% customers opted for average,

12% opted for good, 10% opted for bad.

excellent 85

average 25

good 17

bad 15

38

3. Comment on the availability of the recharge vouchers?

a) Available b) not available c) rarely available

87% of the customers opted for available, 6% of them opted for not available, 7% of

them opted for rarely available.

avilable 130not avilable 10rarely avilable 10

39

4. How often you recharge your mobile?

a) Daily b) once in a week c) once in a month

Out of 150 samples 88 customers recharge their mobiles daily, 39 customers recharging

once in a week, 23 customers opted once in month.

daily 88once in a week 39once in a month 23

40

5. Are you satisfied with the promotional offers providing by airtel?

a) yes b) no

Out of 150 respondents 72% of the customer opted for yes which says that they ate

satisfied with the promotional offers providing by airtel and 28% of the respondents are

not satisfied with the offers providing by airtel.

yes 108no 42

41

6. Comment on the advertisements of airtel?

a) Good b) bad c) cache

Out of 150 respondents 75 customers said that the advertisements of airtel are good, 25

respondents opted for bad and 50 respondents said that the advertisements are cache.

good 75bad 25cache 50

42

7. Are you satisfied with the customer service providing by airtel?

a) yes b) no

yes 113no 37

The customer service is the most important aspect in the telecom industry which laid a

bridge between the company and the customer to solve their problems and to take their

valuable suggestions. Out of 150 respondents in my survey 113 customers said that they

are satisfied with the customer service, 37 customers opted that they are not satisfied.

43

8. Which offer you like most in the recent times?

a) 1p/sec b) unlimited sms c) full talk time d) STD offer

1p/sec 45sms 70talktime 25std offer 10

This question analysis the offers and the different marketing developments of airtel in

the current market scenario out of 150 respondents 45customers opted for 1p/sec,70

customers opted for sms offer,25customers opted for talktime offers,10 customers opted

for std offers.

44

9. Which sector you want to improve in airtel?

a) Offers b) network c) talk time d) customer care

offers 78network 43talktime 20customer care 9

This question gives the opinion of the customers in the sectors which they want to

improve out of 150 respondents 78 customers opted for offers, 43 customers opted for

network , 20 customers opted for talk time, 9 customers opted for customer care.

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10. Which mobile service you like other then airtel?

a) Reliance b) docomo c) idea d) Vodafone

RELIANCE 59DOCOMO 25IDEA 25VODAFONE 41

This question helps us to find out the opinion of the customers on the other networks on

which they are interested out 150 respondents 59 opted for reliance, 25 customers opted

for docomo,25opted for idea,41 customers opted for vodafone.

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11. Overall satisfaction on the services providing by airtel?

a) Excellent b) good c) satisfied d) Un satisfied

excllent 91good 28satisfied 22unsatisied 9

This question explains the over all satisfaction of the customers on the services provided

by airtel out of 150 respondents 60% customers opted for excellent, 19% customers

opted for good, 15% opted for satisfied, 6% customers said that they are not satisfied

with the services.

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THE NEW AIRTEL LOGO

As part of its restructuring and repositioning exercise, Bharti unveiled a new brand

architecture that replaced the three-tier architecture. The proposed two-tier architecture

was categorized under two heads – wired and wireless. All the wireless products were

placed under the Airtel brand, which also included Tango, Free net and Magic.

According to company sources, the objective of this new architecture was to establish

Bharti as a global telecom company. The company reportedly allocated Rs 1 billion for

media coverage and other brand building activities. Commenting on the

new brand identity of Airtel, a Bharti spokesperson said, “Airtel's brand identity and

campaign will now have a new younger and international look and feel that builds on the

earlier positioning of ‘Touch Tomorrow,' injected with renewed energy and heightened

optimism.”

According to a Cellular Operator's Association of India (COAI) report, the

cellular market in India was one of the fastest growing markets of the decade. As per the

report, there were over 8.17 million cellular subscribers in India and the number was

expected to grow to over 12 million and 120 million by 2003 and 2008 respectively.

With such high potential, almost all the players were seen focusing on their

positioning, advertising and promotional efforts and on building strategic partnerships.

Bharti was also making efforts to retain its position as the market leader (Refer Exhibit

III for a note on Bharti's moves on the strategic level).However, it still remains to be

seen whether the latest round of repositioning and the strategic partnerships would help

Airtel sustain the competition and retain its leadership in the market. The shift to Live

Every Moment from Touch Tomorrow had nevertheless, proved that Bharti is

consistently on the lookout for best marketing strategies for Airtel.

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ARTICLE ON AIRTEL

Bharti: We pay more for airwaves than others [Telecom]

Times of India, the, Aug 6, 2010

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel has hit back at allegations that it was holding excess

airwaves and told the communications ministry that it has provided best returns to

government for the spectrum it held. The Sunil Mittal-promoted Telco has told telecom

minister A Raja that other mobile phone firms such as Tata’s and Reliance

Communications hold same amount of spectrum but pay 5-6 times lower levies when

compared to it. All telecom companies currently share between 2-6% of their revenues

with the government as spectrum usage charges. Bharti said that in 2009-10, the

company paid 1,265 crore towards spectrum usage charges as against 192 crore and 217

crore for Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Tata’s, respectively. During the same

period, Bharti, in its communication to Raja, claimed that it paid 152 crore for every

MHz of spectrum that it had when compared to 20 crore/MHz and 30 crore/MHz paid by

RCOM and Tatas, respectively Besides, Bharti has also added that based on current

revenues and factoring a marginal 8% growth, in the next 10 years, it would pay about

20,000 crore towards spectrum fee as compared to 2,864 and 2,627 crore by Reliance

Communications and Tata Teleservices, respectively.

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SUGGESTIONS

Following are the few suggestions to AIRTEL for improving the market share and

image of the products concerned.

1. PRODUCT

*Modification must be brought about in AIRTEL, in terms of quality. Its demand should

be increased.

2. PLACE

* The brands must be made available easily in, PCO &general stores.

3. PROMOTION

*Company must undertake extensive promotional activities like advertisements must be

released in different Medias to create brand awareness.

*Free samples should be distributed among the prospects. Sales promotion tools like

gifts, contests and coupons must be given to retailers as well as customers and prospects.

* Catalogues should be distributed among customers.

*To ensure better customer satisfaction & maintain higher level of Customer

relationship management, the billing department has to be more effective & efficient.

*To retain existing customers means offering the best scheme. This would automatically

attract new customers. Airtel need not spend on advertisement to attract new customers.

*Airtel should continue to offer the best toppings to stay at the top. There should be

no compromise in quality and the network facility

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Recommendations

There are following suggestions for marketing strategies for Airtel-

BhartiAirtel needed to maximize its future flexibility and growth

potential adopting business-driven framework of integration, allowing it to

implement and deliver new services rapidly. With competition intensifying in the

Indian telecom services market, needed to find a way to focus on developing new

services that could set it apart from the competition and strengthen its customer

relationships.

Improved cross-selling and targeting and a more seamless, efficient total

customer experience through end-to-end integration customer-facing processes.

Optimization of business processes and infrastructure, through flexible,

standardized integration framework, is needed.

Outsourcing of technology will provide BhartiAirtel to focus resources on

growing the business.

Flexible pricing model will enable Bharti Airtel to avoid major increases in

capital expenditure

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CONCLUSION

After analyzing the findings of the research, I can conclude that Airtel lagged

behind its competitors as far as customer service and availability is concerned. The

maximum no. of people who use the mobile is in the age group of 20 to 30. Cash cards

are the most popular type of mobile connections, as they are consumer friendly and

recharging the connection is not a problem. Maximum no. of people spends 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.

As we know that now airtel has already launched its product with logo “’

Aisi azaadi aur kahan”’ has already became popular in market. So we can say that inspite

of so many competitor in the market Airtel is having a good position just because every

time, it tries its best to understand the need of its important customer.

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QUESTIONNARE

Measurement of customer satisfaction on Airtel

NAME:

AGE:

OCCUPATION:

1. Which mobile service you are currently using?

a)Reliance b)Airtel c)Docomo d)Idea e)Vodafone

2. How was the network of Airtel in your area?

a) Excellent b) average c) good d) bad

3. Comment on the availability of the recharge vouchers?

a) Available b) not available c) rarely available

4. How often you recharge your mobile?

a) Daily b) once in a week c) once in a month

5. Are you satisfied with the promotional offers providing by airtel?

a) yes b) no

6. Comment on the advertisements of airtel?

a) Good b) bad c) cache

7. Are you satisfied with the customer service providing by airtel?

a) yes b) no

8. Which offer you like most in the recent times?

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a) 1p/sec b) unlimited sms c) full talk time d) STD offer

9. Which sector you want to improve in airtel?

a) Offers b) network c) talk time d) customer care

10. Which mobile service you like other then airtel?

a) Reliance b) docomo c) idea d) Vodafone

11. Overall satisfaction on the services providing by airtel?

a) Excellent b) good c) satisfied d) Un satisfied

12. Would you like to give your suggestions to improve the satisfaction level

Of customer?

a) Yes b) no

If yes specify you are suggestions

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Bibliography

www.airtelworld.com

www.google.com

www.india.com

www.trai.gov.in

www.hindustantimes.com

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