1|P a g e

A
SUMMER TRAINING REPORT
ON
MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY AIRTEL FOR
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Submitted for partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of degree

Of Bachelor of Business Administration
(Session 2015-18)

Supervision by Submitted by
Ms. Madhu Sarthak Chauhan
(Assistant professor) 02412401715
DIRD BBA (Gen), 5th SEM

DELHI INSTITUTE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

(Affilirated to G.G.S.I.P University)
Nangli Poona,delhi-36
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INDEX

1. Declaration ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

2 Certificate by Guide………………………………………………………………………………..………………….………..

3. Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………………………..………………………..

4. Chapter 1-Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..………………………....

a) Telecom sector: a global scenario

b) Indian telecom sector
c) Objectives of study
d) Research Design
e) Limitations of Study

5. Chapter 2- Company Profile……………………………………………………………………………..………………….

a) Introduction to Airtel
b) Vision of Airtel
c) Products and Services
d) History of Airtel

6. Chapter 3-Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

a) Sample Plan
b) SWOT Analysis
c) Object 1: To know Factors Responsible and Marketing
Strategies adopted by Airtel for Market Success
d) Object 2: To know effect of Marketing Strategies of Airtel
Customer Satisfaction as Compared to Vodafone, IDEA & BSNL
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7. Chapter 4-Recommendations and Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..

a) Findings
b) Recommendations
c) Conclusion

8. Bibliography………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………….…..

9. Annexure………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………...………
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DECLARATION

I the undersigned solemnly declare that the report of the project work entitled
“Marketing Strategies adopted by Airtel for customer satisfaction” is based my own work
carried out during the course of my study under the supervision of Ms. Adha Chaudhary.

I assert that the statements made and conclusions drawn are an outcome of the project
work. I further declare that to the best of my knowledge and belief that the project report
does not contain any part of any work which has been submitted for the award of any other
degree/diploma/certificate in this University or any other University.

__________________

(Signature of the Candidate)

Sarthak Chauhan

10-17
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CERTIFICATE BY GUIDE

This to certify that the report of the project submitted is the outcome of the project work entitled
“Marketing Strategies adopted by Airtel for customer satisfaction” carried out by Sarthak
Chauhan bearing Enrollment No.:……….. Carried by under my guidance and supervision for the
award of Degree in Bachelor of Business Administration of Indraprastha University, New Delhi.

To the best of the my knowledge the report

i) Embodies the work of the candidate him/herself,

ii) Has duly been completed,
iii) Fulfils the requirement of the ordinance relating to the BBA degree of the University
and
iv) Is up to the desired standard for the purpose of which is submitted.

_______________________

(Signature of the Guide)

Ms. Madhu

Asst. Professor

GGSIPU
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am thankful to many people whose timely help and guidance has helped us to conduct this
research successfully. I would also like to express my thankfulness to Asst. Prof Ms. Madhu and
Faculty of GGSIPU, for giving me an opportunity to pursue this project.

I also wish to thank all those respondents who were patient enough in giving answer to the
questionnaire.

Finally, I would like to extend my grateful thanks to all my friends and Faculty members
GGSIPU whose assistance has a lot to me personally for the completion of this research.

____________________

(Signature of the student)

Sarthak Chauhan

10-17

BBA 3rd Semester

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Chapter – I

Introduction
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TELECOM SECTOR: A GLOBAL SCENARIO

The Indian telecom market has been displaying sustained high growth rates. Riding on
expectations of overall high economic growth and consequent rising income levels, it offers an
unprecedented opportunity for foreign investment. A combination of factors is driving growth in
the telecom market, promising rich returns on investments. India is the fourth largest telecom
market in Asia after China, Japan and South Korea.

The Indian telecom network is the eighth largest in the world and the second largest among
emerging economies.

The Indian telecom market size of over US $ 8 billion is expected to increase three fold by 2012.
The expansion of the telecom industry in India has been fueled by a massive growth in mobile
phone users, which has reached a level of 10 million users in December 2002, an increase of
nearly 100 per cent in 2002.

This exponential growth of mobile telephony can be attributed to the introduction of digital
cellular technology and decrease in tariffs due to competitive pressures. For the first time in
India, the growth of cellular subscriber base has exceeded the fixed line subscriber base.
However, cellular penetration is still 1 per cent as compared to world average of around 16 per
cent
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INDIAN TELECOM SECTOR

Indian Telecom sector, like any other industrial sector in the country, has gone through many
phases of growth and diversification. Starting from telegraphic and telephonic systems in the
19th century, the field of telephonic communication has now expanded to make use of advanced
technologies like GSM, CDMA, and WLL to the great 3G Technology in mobile phones. Day by
day, both the Public Players and the Private Players are putting in their resources and efforts to
improve the telecommunication technology so as to give the maximum to their customers.

The Indian telecom sector can be broadly classified into Fixed Line Telephony and mobile
telephony. The major players of the telecom sector are experiencing a fierce competition in both
the segments.

The major players like BSNL, MTNL, and VSNL in the fixed line and Airtel, Vodafone (Hutch),
Idea, Tata, Reliance in the mobile segment are coming up with new tariffs and discount schemes
to gain the competitive advantage.

The Public Players and the Private Players share the fixed line and the mobile segments.
Currently the Public Players have more than 60% of the market share
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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

OBJECTIVE 1: To know factors responsible and marketing strategies adopted by Airtel for
market success.

OBJECTIVE 2: To know effect of marketing strategies of Airtel on customer satisfaction as

compared to Vodafone, Idea & BSNL.
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Research design

This study is conducted to now the Position of Airtel in the market and to know that how it try to
penetrate into the market to satisfy the needs of the customers. So following research designs are
used for this study:

1. Exploratory Research Design: Exploratory research studies are also termed as formulative
research studies. The main purpose of such studies is that of formulating a problem for more
precise investigation or of developing the working hypotheses from an operational point of view.

2. Descriptive Research Design: Descriptive research studies are those studies which are concerned
with describing the characteristics of a particular individual, or of a group, whereas diagnostic research
studies determine the frequency with which something occurs or its association with something else.

3. Casual Research Design: In this research the hypotheses is tested for cause and effect
relationship.
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Data collection

Sources of Data

Primary:

 Structured questionnaire.
 Interviews.
 Visits.

Secondary:

 Books, Journals, Magazines, Newspapers.

 Industry reports.
 Company’s internet site.
 Some other relevant study material and websites.
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Limitation of Study

The study has following limitations:

1. Lack of contact with company personnel acted as hindrance in the study.

2. The study is based on the limited knowledge & information provided by the marketing
personals and individuals who were available for interview.

3. The size of the sample is too small looking to the nature of the study and due to time and
money constraints relatively smaller sample was chosen.

4. The basis of selection of sample for the study was vague. Randomly individuals were picked
to provide their responses on the questionnaire.

5. The study was limited only to Hoshiarpur region due to constraint of Time.

6. The sample size taken for the study was small as the time allotted for the study was very less.

.
7. At times the customers using Airtel services were not willing to respond, hence lots of efforts
made to convince them to fill the questionnaires.

Keeping in mind these constraints, best efforts were made to represent the whole view of
competitive strategies prevailing in telecom sector.
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Chapter – 2

Company Profile
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INTRDUCTION TO AIRTEL

India's largest and world's third largest cellular service provider with more than 82 million
subscribers –Bharti Airtel is a merger between Bharti Group and Airtel it’s a well know Ned
brand in India as well as Asia . Owned by Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal. Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is
The flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. 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 agri 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 technology across 23 telecom circles while the Airtel Telemedia
Services business offers broadband & telephone services in 95 cities and has recently launched
India's best Direct-to-Home (DTH) service, Airtel digital TV. The Enterprise services provide
end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national & international long distance
services to carriers.
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Cash Flow Statement of Airtel 2016-17

For the year For the year
Particulars ended ended
March 31, 2017 March 31, 2016
Cash flows from operating activities
(Loss) / profit before tax (85,095) 102,542
Adjustments for:
Depreciation and amortisation 122,034 95,753
Finance costs 52,546 35,453
Finance income (23,421) (15,708)
Exceptional items 152,405 (2,925)
Employee share-based payment expenses 298 209
Other non-cash items 795 434

Operating cash flow before changes in working capital 219,562 215,758

Changes in working capital

Trade receivables (151) (3,087)
Trade payables 27,092 9,556
Inventories 14 68
Provisions 180 48
Other financial and non-financial liabilities 225 5,816
Other financial and non-financial assets (20,827) (11,863)

Net cash generated from operations before tax 226,095 216,296

Income tax paid (14,439) (21,797)

Net cash generated from operating activities (a) 211,656 194,499

Cash flows from investing activities

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Purchase of property, plant and equipment (156,143) (111,568)

Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment 3,053 4,853
Purchase of intangible assets (179,939) (71,709)
Net proceeds from current investments 47 47,376
Proceeds from buyback of share by subsidiary 12,350 -
Proceeds from sale of investment of subsidiaries 146,223 -
Investment in joint venture / associate - 113
Investment in subsidiaries (74,283) (111,685)
Advances given to subsidiaries (98,797) (17,773)
Loan repayment by subsidiaries 82,288 26,517
Dividend received 16,511 9,470
Interest received 5,858 4,513

Net cash used in investing activities (b) (242,833) (219,893)

Cash flows from financing activities

Proceeds from borrowings 140,419 74,520
Repayment of borrowings (122,391) (38,490)
Net proceeds / repayment of short-term borrowings 32,832 (3,316)
Interest and other finance charges paid (10,850) (5,087)
Proceeds from exercise of share options 3 231
Dividend paid (including tax) (5,456) (8,874)

Net cash generated from financing activities (c) 34,557 18,984

Net increase / (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

3,380 (6,410)
during the year (a+b+c)
Add: Cash and cash equivalents as at the beginning of the
(2,558) 3,852
year

Cash and cash equivalents as at the end of the year

822 (2,55
(refer Note 15)
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Balance Sheet of Airtel 2016-17

As of As of As of
Particulars Notes March 31, March 31, April 1,
2017 2016 2015
Assets
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment 6 381,176 312,673 258,156
Capital work-in-progress 6 11,818 28,588 26,898
Intangible assets 7 734,052 606,582 277,892
Intangible assets under development 7 84,184 9,715 64,108
Investment in subsidiaries, joint ventures
8 459,538 698,913 652,478
and associates

Financial assets
- Investments 8 52 52 52
- Derivative instruments 9 213 396 154
- Loans and security deposits 10 10,389 28,861 42,892
- Others 11 556 598 487
Deferred tax assets (net) 12 8,875 23,070 27,241
Other non-current assets 13 39,854 26,622 17,041

1,730,707 1,736,070 1,367,399

Current assets
Inventories 39 53 94

Financial assets
- Investments 8 - 8 47,567
- Derivative instruments 9 634 462 168
- Trade receivables 14 32,118 31,724 33,047
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- Cash and cash equivalents 15 1,087 466 3,852

- Loans 10 72,081 43,376 40,552
- Others 11 8,772 13,959 9,665
Current tax assets (net) 15,297 820 -
Other current assets 13 32,952 23,342 12,945
Assets-held-for-sale 5 13,729 - -

176,709 114,210 147,890

Total Assets 1,907,416 1,850,280 1,515,289

Equity and Liabilities

Equity
Share capital 16 19,987 19,987 19,987
Other equity 992,086 1,097,304 1,037,395

1,012,073 1,117,291 1,057,382

Non-current liabilities

Financial liabilities

- Borrowings 17 503,421 414,570 194,209

- Derivative instruments 9 186 8 121

- Others 18 21,881 20,736 19,713
Deferred revenue 18,321 16,984 15,887
Provisions 19 2,330 2,223 1,926

546,139 454,521 231,856

Current liabilities

Financial liabilities
- Borrowings 17 65,478 6,999 6,259
- Current maturities of long-term
17 33,451 33,434 13,171
borrowings
- Derivative instruments 9 1,662 696 223
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- Trade Payables 21 149,698 119,706 105,769

- Others 18 55,671 78,772 65,250
Deferred revenue 30,311 29,485 28,726
Provisions 19 1,291 1,189 1,174
Current tax liabilities (net) - - 507
Other current liabilities 20 11,642 8,187 4,972

349,204 278,468 226,051

Total Liabilities 895,343 732,989 457,907

Total Equity and Liabilities 1,907,416 1,850,280 1,515,289

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VISION OF AIRTEL

Airtel will be the most loved brand enriching the lives of millions.

“Enriching lives means putting the customers at the heart of everything we do. We will meet
their needs based on our deep understanding of their ambitions, wherever they are. By having
this focus we will enrich our own lives and those of our other key stake holders. Only then will
we be thought of as exciting, innovation on their side and a truly world class company.”
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Products and Services

Services offered by Bharti Airtel can be classified into:

Mobile services – Based on number of customers Bharti Airtel is largest mobile service operator
in India. This company offers mobile services based on GSM technology. For convenience of its
customers Bharti Airtel has both pre- paid and postpaid facilities.

Enterprise business – Bharti Airtel provides integrated services comprising mobile, telephone,
broadband, data and connectivity services internationally as well as nationally for small, medium
and large scale enterprises. Its carrier service provides network connectivity through optic fiber
over a distance of more than 35,000 km. Bharti Airtel is a member of South East Asia – Middle
East – Western Europe – 4 consortiums which include 15 global telecommunication service
providers.

Airtel Telemedia Services – This Company offers high speed broadband services through
landlines in 94 cities.
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History of Airtel

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 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.’2009; Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010,
Airtel began operating in Bangladesh.
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BOARD OF DIRECTOR’S PROFILE

1. Rakesh Bharti Mittal: Non-Independent and Non-Executive Director

Sunil Bharti Mittal is the Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises which has interests in
telecom, retail, realty, financial services and agri-products. Bharti Airtel, the group’s flagship
company, is a global telecommunications company with over 295 million customers across
South Asia and Africa. Bharti has joint ventures with several global leaders: Singtel,
Softbank, AXA and Del Monte.
Sunil is currently the Vice Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). He
also serves on the Prime Minister of India’s Council on Trade & Industry, World Economic
Forum’s International Business Council, Telecom Board of International Telecommunication
Union (ITU), Commissioner of the Broadband Commission, and the Singapore Prime
Minister’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council. He has been appointed by the Prime
Minister of India as Co-Chair of the India-Africa Business Council and India-Sri Lanka CEO
Forum as well as member of the India-US, India-UK and India-Japan CEO Forums. Earlier,
he served as the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII, 2007-08), the premier
industry body in India.Sunil is a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest
civilian awards. He has also been awarded the INSEAD Business Leader for the World
Award 2011 and the NDTV Profit Business Leadership Award 2011 for “Corporate
Conscience”. Earlier, he received the Global Economy Prize 2009 by The Kiel Institute,
Germany and the US-India Business Council also honored him with the ‘Global Vision’
Award 2008. Sunil has received the GSM Association Chairman's Award for 2008. He is
also a member of the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs, Babson College, and
Wellesley, Massachusetts.
An alumnus of Harvard Business School, Sunil is on Harvard University’s Global Advisory
Council, Board of Dean’s Advisors of Harvard Business School and Executive Board of the
Indian School of Business. He is also a Trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace.
Sunil believes that a responsible corporate has a duty to give back to the community in which
it operates. This belief has resulted in the Bharti Foundation, which operates 254 schools as
well as remedial centers and renders quality support to government schools, providing
holistic education to over 46,000 under-privileged children in rural India. Sunil was ranked
among the Top 25 Philanthropists in the World in 2009 by the Barron’s Magazine. He is also
a Member of the Board of Trustees of Qatar’s Education Above All Foundation, an initiative
of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser.

2. Akhil Gupta: Chairman Of The Board

Akhil is the Vice Chairman of Bharti Group and Executive Chairman of Bharti Infratel
Limited. He has been closely associated with a range of strategic, financial, mergers and
acquisitions and business performance issues of the group. He has conceptualized and
implemented the transformational initiatives that include the outsourcing deals undertaken by the
group in the areas of Information Technology (IT) with IBM, Network Management with
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Ericsson & NSN and outsourcing of Call Centers Management to leading International BPOs. He
has also been responsible for the separation of passive mobile infrastructure and forming Indus
Towers - a Joint Venture with Vodafone and Idea, which has become the largest tower company
in the world and is a unique example of collaborating at the backend while competing at the front
end. With innovative thought leadership, he has helped Bharti Airtel in becoming the lowest cost
producer of minutes worldwide while ensuring that it provides good margin despite the lowest
tariffs in the world.

In June 2010, he was instrumental in executing the acquisition of Zain Group’s mobile
operations in 15 countries across Africa for an enterprise valuation of USD10.7 billion which is
the second largest outbound deal by an Indian company.

He has played a pivotal role in Bharti’s phenomenal growth right since inception. He has been
closely involved from the very beginning in the growth of Bharti in the telecommunication
services sector – both organically and by way of various acquisitions. He has led the formation
of various partnerships for Bharti with leading international operators like British Telecom,
Telecom Italia, Singapore Telecom and Vodafone in addition to induction of leading financial
investors like Warburg Pincus, Temasek, KKR, Qatar Foundation Endowment, AIF and Sequoia
among many other Private Equity funds. He has also been instrumental in raising several billion
dollars by way of project finance for the Group over the years from global banks & bond
markets.

He has also spearheaded the successful public listings of both Bharti Airtel (2002) and Bharti
Infratel (2012). Post the listings, he has led the investor interactions and has been instrumental in
introducing Global benchmarks like full Quarterly audits and transparent Quarterly reports to
provide all relevant information to investors & stakeholders. Consequently, Bharti Airtel has
been constantly awarded highest ratings for Corporate Governance and is acknowledged globally
for highest standards of ethics.

He is currently the Chairman of TAIPA (Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association) and
President of TSSC (Telecom Sector Skill Council). He represents the Indian Telecom Industry
and Bharti regularly at various forums and important seminars in India and abroad.

He is a Chartered Accountant by qualification with over 30 years of professional experience. He

has also done an “Advanced Management Program” at the Harvard Business School in the year
2002.

He was recently awarded the 'CEO of the Year' award at the National Telecom Awards 2012. He
was also honored for ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Telecom Sector’ by industry’s leading
telecom magazine – tele.net.
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In 2010, he was awarded the Asia Corporate Dealmaker Award at the Asia – Pacific M&A
ATLAS Awards. The Award recognizes his leadership in executing Bharti Airtel’s acquisition of
Zain Group’s mobile operations in 15 countries across Africa for an enterprise valuation of
USD10.7 billion. He has also been inducted to the CFO India – ‘Hall of Fame’ in recognition of
his contribution to the world of finance.

In 2009, he was conferred the “CA Business Achiever Award”. The Award instituted by the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) acknowledges the Chartered Accountants in
the industry who have demonstrated excellence in the way they conduct their profession are
exemplary role models in the industry and have created value to their company's stakeholders on
a sustainable basis.

In 2006, he won three awards at the first ‘CNBC TV18 CFO Awards for India’ hosted by Ras Al
Khaimah Free Trade Zone in UAE. The awards panel voted him as ‘Best CFO of the Year’ and
‘Best Performing CFO in the Telecommunications Sector’. In addition, he won the ‘Best CFO of
the Year - People's Choice Award’.

3. Bharat Sumant Raut: Independent and Non-Executive Director

Bharat Sumant Raut is an Independent and Non-Executive Director of the Company. He

holds a bachelor’s degree in Law and bachelor's degree in Commerce from University of
Bombay. He is also a Certified Chartered Accountant and a fellow member of ICAI.

He has 42 years of experience in the fields of accountancy and law. He was, in the past,
associated with Sharp and Tannan, Chartered Accountants as a Partner, with Price Waterhouse,
Chartered Accountants as a Partner and with B S R & Co., Chartered Accountants and B S R &
Associates, Chartered Accountants as their Founding Partner. He is a practicing lawyer since
2006. He is currently an independent director on the board of various companies.

4. Devender Singh Rawat: MD and CEO

Devender Singh Rawat is the Managing Director and CEO of the Company. He joined the
Company as the CEO in August 2010. The Company achieved a major milestone of being listed
on the two Indian bourses in December 2012 under his leadership.

He is a member of the Executive Council Committee of Tower and Infrastructure Providers

Association (TAIPA). He is also a member of the Northern Regional Council of Confederation
of Indian Industry (CII).
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He holds a bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication from Osmania University,

Hyderabad, and comes from a defense services background where he spent initial years as an
officer with the Indian Air Force. He has over 20 years of in-depth experience around business
unit ownership, P&L management, B2B sales, technology, and regulatory interfaces within the
telecom domain - both from supplier and operator perspective.

5. Jitender Balakrishnan: Independent and Non-Executive Director

Jitender Balakrishnan is an Independent and Non-Executive Director of the Company. He holds
a bachelors' degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Madras and a diploma in
Industrial Management from University of Bombay.

He has 39 years of experience, which includes his experience in the financial sector with IDBI
Bank Limited where he was the Deputy Managing Director and thereafter an advisor to IDBI
Bank Limited. He is currently an advisor to various corporates and is an independent director on
the board of various companies.

6. Leena Srivastava: Independent and Non-Executive Director

Leena Srivastava is an Independent and Non-Executive Director of the Company. She holds
a degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in recognition of
the research work on 'modelling resource trade-offs in rural agro-ecosystem-a multiple objective
programming approach'. She is the Vice Chancellor and Executive Director of TERI University,
Delhi.

She has worked on range of issues covering energy for economic growth, climate and
environment. She is also a member of Energy Partnership Advisory Board of World Economic
Forum, International Advisory Committee of The Coca Cola Company, Caterpillar's Sustainable
Development Advisory Board and Foresight Advisory Council of Suez Environment.

7. Mark Chin Kok Chong: Non Independent and Non-Executive Director

Mark Chin Kok Chong is a Non-Independent and Non-Executive Director of the Company.
Mr. Chong was appointed Chief Executive Officer, International, SingTel Group on 14 January
2013. He is responsible for the growth of SingTel Group's international affiliates, strengthening
its relationships with overseas partners and driving regional initiatives for scale and synergies.
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Prior to this, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Advanced Info Service Plc (AIS), the
Group's associate in Thailand, in charge of sales and marketing products, network operations, IT
solutions, customer and services management. He joined SingTel in 1997 and has held various
positions in sales and marketing including Executive Vice President of Networks managing
SingTel's fixed, wireless and international networks, including the newly rolled out the NextGen
Nationwide Broadband Network. Before SingTel, Mr. Chong was a member of the Singapore
Administrative Service from 1990 to 1997. Mr. Chong has represented SingTel on the Boards of
OpenNet, Globe Telecom, CSLox (Thailand) and other submarine cable joint venture companies.

8. Narayanan Kumar: Independent and Non-Executive Director

Narayanan Kumar is an Independent and Non-Executive Director of the Company. He is a

fellow member of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. He has 40 years of experience in
various sectors. He is the Vice Chairman of the Sanmar Group, Chennai and is the Honorary
Consul General of Greece in Chennai.

He is also a member of the Board of Governors of Institute for Financial Management &
Research and a governing council member of the AU-KBC Research Centre (Anna University).
He is the Chairman of National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies, which is a
constituent of Quality Council of India. He has in the past been associated with the
Confederation of Indian Industry as its President.

9. R P Singh: Independent and Non-Executive Director

R P Singh is an Independent and Non-Executive Director of the Company. He (born October

1951) passed his Post Graduation in Mathematics from Advanced Centre for Pure Mathematics,
Punjab University, Chandigarh in 1973 and after a brief stint of teaching Pure Mathematics &
Statistics to graduate classes, joined the Administrative Service.

Apart from the regular field assignments for the I.A.S. Officers, he has wide experience in
regulatory areas of Finance, Industry, Urban Development and infrastructure. He worked both as
Commissioner of Hyderabad Municipal Corporation & Vice Chairman of Hyderabad Urban
Development Authority. He had long stints as Managing Director of Andhra Pradesh Industrial
Development Corporation & Commissioner of Taxation in Andhra Pradesh. He was posted to
Punjab & Sind Bank as Chairman in March, 2005 when the Bank was in continuous losses and
had accumulated historically highest NPAs (19%). He spent four and half years in the Bank
during which the Bank recorded highest growth in the Industry and the NPAs came down to
lowest level in the whole industry (0.6% gross). As Secretary in the Department of Industrial
Policy & Promotion, his major initiatives were:
29 | P a g e

1) Rationalization and consolidation of FDI policy

2) Re-inventing and establishing the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project (DMIDC)

3) Putting together the manufacturing policy for the country.

After retirement from the Indian Administrative Service, he was selected by the Government of
India for appointment as Chairman, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Major policy
initiatives like rescheduling of premium payable to Government, exit policy etc. during his
tenure retrieved the sector from a slump. An innovative dispute resolution mechanism saw
amicable settlements of disputes amounting to more than Rs. 17000 crores. At present, he is
holding the directorship with Maruti Suzuki India Limited.
30 | P a g e

Chapter 4

Data Analysis
31 | P a g e

Sample Plan

Random Sampling

Sampling design is an important part of research methodology. Here the study was conducted at
different locality in the market regarding the product and strategies of Airtel. Keeping in mind
the size of universe & the constraints of time a sample was selected from the universe. Random
sampling method was used to select the sample from the universe.

Sample size

Total 50 respondents were taken for conducting this research about the Airtel.

Methodology & Presentation of Data

 The data collected are coded in the tables and charts to make the things presentable and
more effective. The tables and charts help us to understand the given information more
easily.

 Bar Tables
 Pie Charts
32 | P a g e

DATA ANLYSIS

SWOT analysis was done to know the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of Airtel
which was helpful to conduct the further research to evaluate market strategies used by the Airtel
to satisfy the customers and to study the effects of these strategies on the customers

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTH WEAKNESS

 Very focused on telecom.  Price Competition from BSNL

And MTNL.
 Leadership in fast growing
Cellular segment.  Untapped Rural market.

 Pan-India footprint.

 The only Indian operator, other than

VSNL, with international submarine
cable.
33 | P a g e

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

 The fast-expanding IPLC market.  Competition from other cellular and

mobile operators.
 Latest technology and low cost
advantage.  Saturation point in Basic
Telephony service.
 Huge market.

STRENGTHS

Very focused on telecom. Bharti Airtel is largely focused on the Telecom, around 93% of the
total revenue comes from telecom (Total Telecom revenue Rs 3,326).

Leadership in fast growing cellular segment. Airtel is holding leadership position in cellular
market. Bharti Airtel is one of India's leading private sector providers of telecommunications
services based on an aggregate of 27,239,757 customers as on August 31, 2006, consisting of
25,648,686 GSM mobile and 1,591,071 broadband & telephone customers.

Pan India footprint. Airtel offers the most expansive roaming network letting you roam
anywhere in India with its Pan-India presence, and trot across the globe with International
Roaming spread in over 240 networks. The mobile services group provides GSM mobile services
across India in 23 telecom circles, while the B&T business group provides broadband &
telephone services in 92 cities.
34 | P a g e

The only operator in India other than vsnl having

International submarine cables. Airtel, the monopoly breaker

Shattered the Telecom monopoly in the International Long Distance space with the launch of
International Submarine cable Network i2i jointly with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. in
the year 2002. This has brought a huge value to the IPLC customers, delivering them an option
besides the incumbent carrier, to connect to the outside world.

WEAKNESS

Price Competition from BSNL and MTNL. Airtel is tough competition from the operators like
BSNL and MTNL as these two operators are offering services at a low rate.

Untapped Rural market. Although Airtel have strong Presence throughout the country but still
they are far away from the Indian rural part and generally this part is covered by BSNL so
indirectly Airtel is losing revenue from the rural sector.
35 | P a g e

OPPORTUNITIES

The fast extending iplc market. An IPLC (international private leased circuit) is a point-to-
point private line used by an organization to Communicate between offices that are
geographically dispersed throughout the world. An IPLC can be used for Internet access,
business data exchange, video conferencing, and any other form of telecommunication. Airtel
Enterprise Services and SingTel jointly provide IPLCs on the Network i2i. The Landing Station
in Singapore is managed by SingTel and by Airtel in Chennai (India). Each Landing Station has
Power Feeding Equipment, Submarine Line Terminating Equipment and SDH system to power
the cable, add wavelengths and convert the STM-64 output to STM-1 data streams respectively.

Latest technology and low cost advantage. The costs of introducing cellular services for Airtel
are marginal in nature, as it needs only to augment its cellular switch/equipment capacity and
increase the number of base stations. The number of cities, towns and villages it has covered
already works to its advantage as putting more base stations for cellular coverage in these areas
comes with negligible marginal cost. Besides such cost advantages, it has also other cost
advantages for the latest cellular technology. As a late entrant into the cellular market, it has dual
advantage of latest technology with modern features, unlike other private cellular operators who
started their service more than 4-5 years back and low capital cost due to advantages of large
scale buying of cellular switch/equipment.

Huge market. The cellular telephony market is presently expanding at a phenomenal / whopping
__ rate every year and there is still vast scope for Airtel to enter /expand in this market. Besides
there is a vast rural segment where the cellular services have not made much headway and
many customers are looking towards Airtel for providing the service to them. With its wide and
extensive presence even in the remotest areas, Airtel poised to gain a big market share in this
segment when it expands cellular services into the rural areas.
36 | P a g e

THREATS

Competition from other cellular. It is time for BSNL to Improve/expand its cellular services.
Fierce and cut-throat competition is already in place with the markets ever abuzz with several
tariff reductions and announcement of attractive packages, trying to grab most of the ‘mind
share’ of the ‘king’ - ‘the consumer’, whose benefits are increasing with passing of everyday. If
BSNL is not innovative and agile, its cellular service will be a flop. It needs to be proactive with
attractive packaging, pricing and marketing policies lest its presence in the market be treated
with disdain by the private cellular companies. The launch of WLL services by Reliance
Infocomm has aggravated the situation.

Market maturity in basic telephony segment. Although Airtel entered in the basic telephony
market it’s a biggest there for the company as the basic telephony market has reached.
37 | P a g e

OBJECTIVE 1: TO KNOW FACTORS RESPONSIBLE AND MARKETING STRATEGIES

ADOPDED BY AIRTEL FOR MARKET SUCCESS.

FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR MARKET SUCCESS

OF AIRTEL:

 According to my analysis, the Airtel is very keen with their marketing strategy in the
competitive world. There are certain parameters which tell us about that how Airtel
became the market leader.

1. FIRST MOVER ADVANTAGE:

 In the initial days due to high tariff rates cellular players had to impose high call charges
on their customers and the handsets were costly.

 Naturally, they targeted the elite, up market professionals and entrepreneurs as

customers. Airtel was positioned as an asp rational and lifestyle brand.

 It was pitched not merely as a mobile service, but as something that gave consumer a
badge value. The Brand was developed to connote leadership in network, innovations,
offerings and services.

 The taglines like "Airtel celebrates the spirit of leadership" and "The first choice of
the corporate leaders" emphasized that stance.

 The “Leadership” campaign was reportedly successful and resulted in a marginal

improvement in Airtel performance.
38 | P a g e

2. HIGHLY FOCUSED ON TELECOM:

 Bharti Airtel is largely focused on the telecom; around 93% of the total revenue comes
from telecom (Total telecom revenue Rs 3,326).

3. LEADERSHIP IN FAST GROWING CELLULAR SEGMENT:

 Airtel is holding leadership position in cellular market. Bharti Airtel is one of India's
leading private sector providers of telecommunications services based on an aggregate of
27,239,757 customers as on August 31, 2006, consisting of 25,648,686 GSM mobile and
1,591,071 broadband & telephone customers.

4. PAN INDIA FOOTPRINT:

 Airtel offers the most expansive roaming network. Letting you roam anywhere in India
with its Pan-India presence, and trot across the globe with International Roaming spread
in over 240 networks.

 The mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom
circles, while the B&T business group provides broadband & telephone services in 92
cities.

5. HEAVY BRAND PROMOTION STRATEGY:

 Hence Bharti decided to “humanize” the brand “Airtel” to gain competitive advantage.

 In august 2000 Bharti launched its new ”Touch Tomorrow” campaign which aimed at
strengthening its relationship with its customers and make the brand „softer‟ to cater a
wide variety of people across the society.
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PROMOTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS:

 Most of the respondents said that Promotional campaign influenced their decision to
shift to the Airtel

 Airtel basically uses two appeal to connect to the users

 Emotional

 Humorous

 Attracting

 Brands stray when they try to be different for the sake of being different. The desire to
be different is pretty common in advertising.

 In 2002, Airtel signed on music composer A.R.Rehman and changed its tune to "live
every moment": rah man’s signature tune for Airtel is the most downloaded
ringbone in India. But that was just part of the ongoing communication.

 The following year Airtel adopted the "express yourself" positioning, which is also its
current tagline.

 Youth icons like Shahrukh khan and Sachin Tendulakar were brought in as brand
ambassadors to attract youngsters Add campaign with an eye on the rural market
40 | P a g e

6. HUGE NETWORK COVERAGE:

 A combination of the following 4-key performance indicators largely determines the

overall service quality: system coverage; call blockage; voice quality; and dropped call
rate.

 System coverage

 Call blockage

 Voice quality

 Dropped call rate

Source:--According to the national survey report Airtel minimum complaints of all of these
above stated problems were found to be minimum in case of Airtel. So we can say that Airtel is
providing comparatively far better service to the users.

7. PROACTIVE AND INNOVATIVE SERVICES:

 According to the responses obtained the most critical factor in this regards is the fresh
experience which Airtel provides to its consumers time to time.

 Black berry

 Start or stop service at any time

 Facilities provided

 News services
41 | P a g e

 Car insurance

 Fund transfer

 Bill payment system

 Payment for ticket

 Payment of electricity bills

 Bharti Airtel Launches „Special Five‟ to Empower Its Customers.

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OVERALL ANALYSIS OF MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE AIRTEL

TO GET MARKET SUCCESS

1. MARKET SHARE GROWTH STRATEGY:

According to my analysis, in the competitive environment, every market player is losing his
profit margin, so the organizations are trying to give more emphasis market share growth. So
Airtel is emphasizing on the market share growth by providing:

 NEW USAGE STRATEGY: Airtel is trying to increase the new usage strategy by
providing various new usage of the Airtel connection (through value added services)for
example:-- Start or stop service at any time, News services, Car insurance, Fund transfer,
Bill payment system.

 MORE USAGE STRATEGY: Airtel is emphasizing on the increase the use of the
product.

For example:

 In the postpaid connection , as the fixed amount per month increases , the call rate
decreases simultaneously

 In prepaid connections, various types of STV vouchers are available to promote the use
of the service, so that customers will frequently use the service more and more.

 Bharti Airtel Launches „Special Five‟ to Empower Its Customers to promote them to
make more and more call.
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2. MARKET EXPANSION STRETEGY:

The analysis of the given strategy clearly shows that Airtel is trying to achieve their marketing
goals by expanding their market by two ways:

GROW SALES WITH EXISTING GROW SALES WITH NEW AND

PRODUCTS INNOVATIVE SERVICES
 Marketers are trying to provide on the  Airtel is trying to increase their market
existing services to increase their sales. by providing regularly updated versions
or refinements to existing plans or
 This strategy is majority adopted by services and by introducing new plan or
organization because they are very keen service.
to make a better performance of their
existing plan or service.  The example given in product variants
category is fall under this category also.
Examples:--Various kinds of sales promotion
techniques are given by the organization on Examples:--
their existing plan or service to enhance the
market of that one.  News services
 Car insurance
 Fund transfer
 Bill payment system

3. STATUS QUO STRATEGY:

 This strategy looks to maintain the current position in the market, such as maintaining the
same level of market share.
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OBJECTIVE 2: TO KNOW EFFECT OF MARKETING STRATEGIES OF AIRTEL ON

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AS COMPARED TO VODAFONE, IDEA & BSNL.

Q1: Which mobile connection do you have?

PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS

Airtel 20
Vodafone 13
Idea 6
BSNL 11

No. of Respondents
BSNL
Idea 22%
12%

Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
Vodafone
26% BSNL

Airtel
40%

INTERPRETATION: As area of study is Hoshiarpur, where Airtel provides huge network area
including small villages, Airtel is the leader. Idea is not preferred because of bad network
coverage.
45 | P a g e

Q2: What kind of service you have?

PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS

Pre-Paid 40
Post-Paid 10

NO.OF RESPONDENTS
Post-Paid
20%

Pre-Paid
Post-Paid

Pre-Paid
80%

INTERPRETATION: Pre-paid customers are more in numbers because of easy and small Pre-
Paid recharge facilities.
46 | P a g e

Q3: Overall, how would you rate your service provider?

BRAND EXCELLENT GOOD POOR

AIRTEL 8 12 0
VODAFONE 2 7 4
IDEA 1 2 3
BSNL 2 6 3

RESPONDENTS RATING OF THEIR SERVICE

PROVIDER
12
12

10
8
NO.OF RESPONDENTS

8 7
6 EXCELLENT
6 GOOD
4 POOR
4 3 3
2 2 2
2 1
0
0
AIRTEL VODAFONE IDEA BSNL

INTERPRETATION: From the graph it is clear that Airtel is the most excellent and good
service provider as 8 out of 20 believe that the service of company is excellent. BSNL &
Vodafone also have better positions but Idea is considered poor because of inefficient services.
47 | P a g e

Q4: Why you chose your service provider?

PARTICULARS BRAND IMAGE CALL RATES VAS

AIRTEL 14 1 5
VODAFONE 2 4 7
IDEA 1 2 3
BSNL 3 5 3

RESPONDENTS RATING FOR CHOSING THEIR

SERVICE PROVIDER
14
14

12

10
No. of Respondents

BRAND IMAGE
8 7
CALL RATES

6 5 5 VAS
4
4 3 3 3
2 2
2 1 1

0
AIRTEL VODAFONE IDEA BSNL

INTERPRETATION: Above graph shows that Airtel has a big brand name as compared to
other service providers because of its aggressive marketing strategies. Customers of Airtel do not
bother about the high price services.
48 | P a g e

Q5: In thinking about your most recent experience with the company, how much satisfied
are you with the Customer Care Service?

BRAND SATISFIED NEUTRAL DISSATISFIED

AIRTEL 12 7 1
VODAFONE 5 6 2
IDEA 4 1 1
BSNL 0 2 9

RESPONDENTS SATISFACTION WITH CUSTOMER

CARE

20 1
18
16 7
No. of Respondents

14 DISSATISFIED
2
12
NEUTRAL
10
6
8 9 SATISFIED
12 1
6 1
4 5 4
2 2
0
0
AIRTEL VODAFONE IDEA BSNL

INTERPRETATION: From the above data interpretation we can conclude that Airtel is the
best service provider of Customer Care Service. It has been also found in some of the articles
that Airtel is expending more on its Customer Care Service as compared to other competitors in
the market. The Idea service is also good as most of the users have rated it as satisfied service
provider. But BSNL is found to be not satisfactory service provider.
49 | P a g e

Q6: If you get a chance to change your service provider, will you do so?

BRAND YES NO MAY BE

AIRTEL 2 14 4
VODAFONE 4 4 5
IDEA 3 0 3
BSNL 2 7 2

RESPONDENTS RATING FOR CHANGING THEIR

SEVICE PROVIDER
14
14

12
No. of RespondenT

10
7 YES
8
NO
6 5
4 4 4 MAY BE
4 3 3
2 2 2
2
0
0
AIRTEL VODAFONE IDEA BSNL

INTERPETATION: Above data analysis shows that the AIRTEL Customers are satisfied with
its services and they do not want to change their service provider. BSNL customers are also
satisfied with its low call rates and cheap value added services. The Idea & Vodafone customers
are willing to change their operator because of bad coverage area.
50 | P a g e

Chapter 5
Recommendations and Conclusion
51 | P a g e

Findings of the study

Strategic alliance

The company has a strategic alliance with SingTel. The investment made by SingTel is one of
the largest investments made in the world outside Singapore in the company. The company also
has a strategic alliance with Vodafone. The investment made by Vodafone in Bharti is one of the
largest single foreign investments made in the Indian telecom sector. The company’s mobile
network equipment partners include Ericsson and Nokia. In the case of the broadband and
telephone services and enterprise services (carriers), equipment suppliers include Siemens,
Nortel, Corning, among others. The Company also has an information technology alliance with
IBM for its group-wide information technology requirements and with Nortel for call center
technology requirements.

Outsourcing

The call center operations for the mobile services have been outsourced to IBM Daksh, Hinduja
TMT, and Teletech & Mphasis.
_
Overseas Market

Airtel is looking for overseas market and already started operation in Nigeria and Seychelles.

Competition

Airtel is facing strong competition from MTNL and BSNL Vodafone in spite of the fact they are
far away from Airtel technologically but these two have an inside reach in rural and urban area
and have low tariff rates.
52 | P a g e

Brand Ambassador

Airtel have strong brand ambassador, Sachin Tendulkar, Shahrukh khan and A. R. Rehman to
promote their product and services.

Leader in Telecom market

Airtel is holding a position of Market Leader by having 21 percent of the total market share.

Aggressive Advertisements

Airtel promotes its products with aggressive advertisements in TV, Newspapers and Magazines
etc. It has created a brand image in the minds of people.
53 | P a g e

Recommendation

 Airtel should try to reduce the prices of its services because it is getting tough
competition from BSNL. Airtel should reduce its call rates to take over BSNL.

 It is the time not only to survive but to sustain in the market for a long time. For this
Airtel has to work on its all marketing strategies, marketing, promotion, brand image etc.

 Airtel has to take Vodafone Very seriously and update its own strategies from time to
time, because Vodafone is giving tough competition.

 With aggressive marketing strategies Airtel has to target rural India as 70% of population
of India lives in these areas.

 Airtel should also focus on Post-Paid connections to target more customers.

 The age groups other than youth (between 20 years to 28 years) should also be targeted to
increase the customers.

 The existing customers should also be given equal importance as new targeted customers.
New and interesting schemes should be offered to retain the existing customers.
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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 28.

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.

From the comparison and deep analysis of every aspect of business of Telecom companies we
can conclude that Bharti Airtel has more work in every field of communication business.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. http://www.scribd.com/doc/15684486/Marketing-Report-on-Bharti-Airtel

2. http://www.slideshare.net/goel.gauravgoel/study-of-telecom-sector

3.
http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Business%20Strategy/Bharti%20Airtel%20Limi
ted%20and%20the%20Indian%20Telecom%20Sector.htm

4. http://www.bharatbook.com.

5. planningcommission.gov.in/reports/genrep/.../1_bg2020.doc

6. www.reportbuyer.com/.../mobile-services-to-mobilise-the-indian-telecom-sector-in-future/

7. www.ficci.com/telecom.htm

8. tutor2u.net/business/strategy/competitor_analysis.htm

9. http://www.airtel.in/
56 | P a g e

Annexure

Questionnaire

NAME ……………………

ADDRESS ……………….

Q1: Which mobile connection do you have?

 Airtel
 Vodafone
 Idea
 BSNL

Q2: What kind of service you have?

 Pre-Paid
 Post-Paid

Q3: Overall, how would you rate your service provider?

BRAND EXCELLENT GOOD POOR

AIRTEL
VODAFONE
IDEA
BSNL
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Q4: Why you chose your service provider?

PARTICULARS BRAND IMAGE CALL RATES VAS

AIRTEL
VODAFONE
IDEA
BSNL

Q5: In thinking about your most recent experience with the company, how much satisfied are
you with the Customer Care Service?

BRAND SATISFIED NEUTRAL DISSATISFIED

AIRTEL
VODAFONE
IDEA
BSNL

Q6: If you get a chance to change your service provider, will you do so?

BRAND YES NO MAY BE

AIRTEL
VODAFONE
IDEA
BSNL

Thank you very much for giving your time.