A

SUMMER TRAINING PROJECT REPORT

ON

“TO STUDY ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS VODAFONE MOBILE

SERVICE LTD.”

Submitted To:
JAMMU UNIVERSTY

IN THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQIIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF

DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
MANDEEP SINGH
UNDER GUIDANCE OF
Dr. TEJESHWAR SINGH

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES

GOVERNMENT DEGREE COLLEGE, KATHUA

2016
 DECLARATION

I, MANDEEP SINGH pursuing Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) 3nd year from
Jammu University . I hereby declare that this summer training research project report titled “TO
STUDY ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS VODAFONE MOBILE
SERVICE LTD.” is the outcome of my own effort at Vodafone Mobile Service Ltd.,
organization under the guidance Dr. TEJESHWAR SINGH of the same report has not been
submitted earlier to any Institute/University for awarding any degree/diploma of BBA or any
other professional course.

Date: …………. Signature in full: ……………..…

Place: Name MANDEEP SINGH
S.No Contents Page No.

1. CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION 1-40

.

2. CHAPTER 2- REVIEW OF LITRATURE 41-51

3. CHAPTER 3- INDUSTRY AND COMPANY PROFILE 52-77

.

4. CHAPTER 4- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 75-114

.

5. CHAPTER 5- DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 115-120

6. CHAPTER 6- FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND 121-123

CONCLUSIONS

ANNEXURES
QUESTIONNAIRE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to place on my grateful thanks and sincere gratitude to the organization
titled “TO STUDY ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS VODAFONE
MOBILE SERVICE LTD.”for providing me a wonderful chance of working in a prestigious
company.

Any attempt at any level can never be satisfactorily completed without expert guidance. I would
like to thank Mr. Arvind Sharma, (Area Sales Manager) for giving me a lot of their precious
time and inputs to make this project. Her deep knowledge and understanding of the topic is an
inspiration to one and all. My study could not have been completed if I had not been able to get
all the valuable data and reference materials from the company.

I am also thankful to other members of the Marketing Department for making available all the
resources required for the completion of this project report.

MANDEEP SINGH
 PREFACE

Progress is a continuous process. It is relative and absolute. We cannot stop at a certain

destination and declare that target has been achieved and we need not to go further.

In this new are all the countries & their companies are trying their best to improve economic

growth. This trend has created a very complex & competitive environment in the field of

business, trend & win the race a new system of management is much needed. To fulfill this

need a new field of modern science has developed very fast i.e. Master of Business

Administration. In this curriculum there are several phases, which have to be covered &

compelled properly. I was privileged enough to join “VODAFONE ”.

At the completion of the FIFTH semester of BBA I got opportunity to provide them particular

knowledge about each and every aspect of market. It could be in related field’s viz. Human

Resource Management, Marketing or Finance as per their specialization in the course. It is

important because it provides the students about the practical knowledge of the field, which is

very essential beside the theoretical knowledge.

The experience that I have gathered during this period has certainly provided me with an

orientation which, I believe, will help me to shoulder my assignment successfully in near future.

During this period, I have collected all the information of “VODAFONE Corporate Connections

in Kathua Region” through primary and secondary. On the basis of my training program,

However to cover the detailed information in such a short period was not possible
 Chapter-1
Introduction
Customer satisfaction is a term frequently used in marketing . It is a measure of how products
and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction
is defined as "the number of customers, or percentage of total customers, whose reported
experience with a firm, its products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified satisfaction goals.

The Marketing Accountability Standards Board endorses the definitions, purposes, and
constructs of classes of measures that appear in Marketing Metrics as part of its ongoing
Common Language in Marketing Project. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers,
71 percent responded that they found a customer satisfaction metric very useful in managing and
monitoring their businesses.

It is seen as a Key performance indicator within business and is often part of a balanced
scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer
satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business
strategy.

"Within organizations, customer satisfaction ratings can have powerful effects. They focus
employees on the importance of fulfilling customers' expectations. Furthermore, when these
ratings dip, they warn of problems that can affect sales and profitability.... These metrics
quantify an important dynamic. When a brand has loyal customers, it gains positive word-of-
mouth marketing, which is both free and highly effective.

Therefore, it is essential for businesses to effectively manage customer satisfaction. To be able

do this, firms need reliable and representative measures of satisfaction.

"In researching satisfaction, firms generally ask customers whether their product or service has
met or exceeded expectations. Thus, expectations are a key factor behind satisfaction. When
customers have high expectations and the reality falls short, they will be disappointed and will
likely rate their experience as less than satisfying. For this reason, a luxury resort, for example,
might receive a lower satisfaction rating than a budget motel—even though its facilities and
service would be deemed superior in 'absolute' terms.
The importance of customer satisfaction diminishes when a firm has increased bargaining power.
For example, cell phone plan providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, participate in an industry
that is an oligopoly, where only a few suppliers of a certain product or service exist. As such,
many cell phone plan contracts have a lot of fine print with provisions that they would never get
away if there were, say, 100 cell phone plan providers, because customer satisfaction would be
far too low, and customers would easily have the option of leaving for a better contract offer

Why Organizations Focus on Customer Satisfaction

Businesses monitor customer satisfaction in order to determine how to increase their customer
base, customer loyalty, revenue, profits, market share and survival. Although greater profit is the
primary driver, exemplary businesses focus on the customer and his/her experience with the
organization. They work to make their customers happy and see customer satisfaction as the key
to survival and profit. Customer satisfaction in turn hinges on the quality and effects of their
experiences and the goods or services they receive.

Customer Satisfaction

The definition of customer satisfaction has been widely debated as organizations increasingly
attempt to measure it. Customer satisfaction can be experienced in a variety of situations and
connected to both goods and services. It is a highly personal assessment that is greatly affected
by customer expectations. Satisfaction also is based on the customer’s experience of both contact
with the organization (the “moment of truth” as it is called in business literature) and personal
outcomes. Some researchers define a satisfied customer within the private sector as “one who
receives significant added value” to his/her bottom line—a definition that may apply just as well
to public services. Customer satisfaction differs depending on the situation and the product or
service. A customer may be satisfied with a product or service, an experience, a purchase
decision, a salesperson, store, service provider, or an attribute or any of these. Some researchers
completely avoid “satisfaction” as a measurement objective because it is “too fuzzy an idea to
serve as a meaningful benchmark.”4 Instead, they focus on the customer’s entire experience with
an organization or service contact and the detailed assessment of that experience.
For example, reporting methods developed for health care patient surveys often ask customers to
rate their providers and experiences in response to detailed questions such as, “How well did
your physicians keep you informed?” These surveys provide “actionable” data that reveal
obvious steps for improvement. Customer satisfaction is a highly personal assessment that is
greatly influenced by individual expectations

Some definitions are based on the observation that customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction results
from either the confirmation or disconfirmation of individual expectations regarding a service or
product. To avoid difficulties stemming from the kaleidoscope of customer expectations and
differences, some experts urge companies to “concentrate on a goal that’s more closely linked to
customer equity.” Instead of asking whether customers are satisfied, they encourage companies
to determine how customers hold them accountable Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a
measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer
expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business

Customer satisfaction depends on the product’s performance relative to a buyer’s expectation,

the customer is dissatisfied. If preference matches expectations, the customer is satisfied. If
preference is exceeds expectation, the customer is highly satisfied or delighted outstanding
marketing insurance companies go out of their way to keep their customer satisfied. Satisfied
customers make repeat purchases insurance products and tell other about their good experiences
with the product. The key is to match customer expectations with company performance. Smart
insurance company’s aim to delight customers by promising only what they can deliver, then
delivering more than the promise. Consumers usually face a broad array of products and
services that might satisfy a given need. How do they choose among these many marketing
makers offers? Consumers make choices based on their perception of the value and satisfaction
that various products and services deliver.

Customer value is the difference between the values the customer gains from owning and using a
product and the costs of obtaining the products customers from expectations about the value of
various marketing offers and buy accordingly. How do buyers from their
expectations? Customer expectations are based on past buying experiences, the opinion of
friends and marketer and competitor information and promises.
Customer satisfaction with a purchase depends on how well the product’s performance lives up
to the customers’ expectations. Customer satisfaction is a key influence on future buying
behaviour. Satisfied customers buy again and tell others about their good experiences dies-
satisfied customer’s of ten switches to competitors and disparage the products to others. An
insurance provider open only to active duty, retired and separated military members and their
immediate families and therefore not included in the rankings, achieved a satisfaction ranking
equal to that any insurance company.

In general, customer satisfaction with auto insurance providers decreased significantly, with 20
of the 21 companies surveyed decreasing in satisfaction from the previous year. Insurance is the
only carrier that did not experience a decline in satisfaction. Though consumers report their
insurance carriers are resolving their claims and problems faster. Businesses survive because
they have customers who are willing to buy their products or services. However, many
businesses fails to “check in” with their customers to determine whether they are happy or not
and what it will make to make or keep them happy.

according to U.S consumers’ affairs department, it costs five times more to gain a new customer
than to retain an existing one. Other studies have repeated that with just a five percent increase in
Customer retention’s a firm can raise its profitability customers spend salary at first, but with
succeeding years of good experience, they will spend increasingly more.

Depending on the industry and the nature of the bad experience, dissatisfied customers will
complain to 10 to 20 friends and acquaintances, which is three times more than those with good
experiences are. Hence, the negative information is influential, and consumers generally place
significant weight on it when making a decision. If that is not the reason enough, fierce
competitor is needed more and more to differentiate firms from one another. With technology
available to virtually every one today, the traditional features and cost advantages are no longer
relevant. Still product and service quality provides an enormous opportunity to distinguish a firm
from the rest. The Japanese have recognized this and have though us to expect quality. Today’s
consumers do, and they know more about products and services than they ever did.
Customers are the best source of information. Whether to improve an existing product or service
or whether firms are planning to launch something new. There is no substitution for “getting it
from horse’s mouth” When you talk to your customer directly, to increase your odds for
achieving success you “mistake-proof” your decisions and work on what really matters. When
you routinely ask the customers for feedback and involve them in business they, in turn, become
committed to the success of your business.
Customer Satisfaction Measurement: -

A basic and effective base line customer satisfaction survey program should focus on measuring
customer perceptions of how will the company delivers on the critical success factors and
dimensions of the business as defined by the customers:

For example:

 Service Promptness
 Courtesy of Staff
 Responsiveness
 Understanding the customer problem, etc.

The findings of the company performance should be analyzed both with all customers and by
key segments of the customer population. The essential starting point for Customer Satisfaction
Measurement (CMS) is exploratory research. Since satisfaction is about an organization’s ability.
To meet customer requirement one has to start by clarifying with customers exactly what those
requirements are. This is done through exploratory research using focus groups or one to one
depth interviews.

Two main factors determine the accuracy of CMS. The first is the asking the right question and
the second is the asking them to the right people sample of customers which accurately reflects
the customer base.

Three things decide the accuracy of a sample. They are:

 It must be representative.
 It must be randomly selected.
It must be adeq

Improving Customer Satisfaction

Published standards exist to help organizations develop their current levels of customer
satisfaction. The International Customer Service Institute (TICSI) has released The International
Customer Service Standard (TICSS). TICSS enables organizations to focus their attention on
delivering excellence in the management of customer service, whilst at the same time providing
recognition of success through a 3rd Party registration scheme. TICSS focuses an organization’s
attention on delivering increased customer satisfaction by helping the organization through a
Service Quality Model. TICSS Service Quality Model uses the 5 P's - Policy, Processes People,
Premises, Product/Services, as well as performance measurement. The implementation of a
customer service standard should lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction, which in turn
influences customer retention and customer loyalty.

Customer Satisfaction Surveys:

Surveys and questionnaires are the most common marketing research methods. Typically, they
are used to:

 Assess the level of customer satisfaction with a particular product, service or experience
 Identify factors that contribute to customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction;
 Determine the current status or situation of a product or service;
 Compare and rank providers;
 Estimate the distribution of characteristics in a potential customer population; or
 Help establish customer service standards.

Benefits and Challenges:

Surveys allow an organization to quickly capture vital information with relatively little expense
and effort. A primary advantage of this method is its directness: “the purpose is clear and the
responses straightforward.” Additionally, the information gathered by surveys can easily be
analyzed and used to identify trends over time. The public views consumer product polls and
pollsters in a generally positive manner compared to political and other polls. One study found
that at least sixty percent of the public feels that market research about products and services has
a positive impact on society. Seventy percent consider the people who conduct such surveys to
have positive impacts on society.
A major disadvantage of customer surveys is that the responses may be influenced by the
measurement itself through various forms of bias. For example, most surveys are voluntary, and
some researchers have found differences between survey respondents and non-respondents.
People who respond to surveys answer questions differently than those who do not respond, and
late responders answer differently than early responders.

A business ideally is continually seeking feedback to improve customer satisfaction.

"Customer satisfaction provides a leading indicator of consumer purchase intention and loyalty.
Customer satisfaction data are among the most frequently collected indicators of market
perceptions. Their principal use is twofold:

1. "Within organizations, the collection, analysis and dissemination of these data send a
message about the importance of tending to customers and ensuring that they have a
positive experience with the company's goods and services."[1]
2. "Although sales or market share can indicate how well a firm is performing currently,
satisfaction is perhaps the best indicator of how likely it is that the firm’s customers will
make further purchases in the future. Much research has focused on the relationship
between customer satisfaction and retention. Studies indicate that the ramifications of
satisfaction are most strongly realized at the extremes."

On a five-point scale, "individuals who rate their satisfaction level as '5' are likely to become
return customers and might even evangelize for the firm. (A second important metric related to
satisfaction is willingness to recommend. This metric is defined as "The percentage of surveyed
customers who indicate that they would recommend a brand to friends." When a customer is
satisfied with a product, he or she might recommend it to friends, relatives and colleagues. This
can be a powerful marketing advantage.) "Individuals who rate their satisfaction level as '1,' by
contrast, are unlikely to return.
 CHAPTER-2
REVIEW OF LITRATURE
National Telecom Policy (1999) projected a target 75 million telephone lines by the year 2005
and 175 million telephone lines by 2010 has been set. Indian telecom sector has already achieved
100 million lines. With over 100 million telephone connections and an annual turnover of Rs.
61,000 crores, our present teledensity is around 9.1%. The growth of Indian telecom network has
been over 30% consistently during last 5 years.

Indian Telecommunication Statistics (2002) in its study showed the long run trend in supply
and demand of Direct Exchange Lines (DEL). Potential demand for telecom services is much
more than its supply. In eventful decade of sect oral reforms, there has been significant growth in
supply of DEL.

©Economic Survey, Government of India (2002-2003) has mentioned two very important
goals of telecom sector as delivering low-cost telephony to the largest number of individuals and
delivering low cost high speed computer networking to the largest number of firms. The number
of phone lines per 100 persons of the population which is called teledensity, has improved
rapidly from 43.6 in March 2001 to 4.9 in December 2002.

©Adam Braff, Passmore and Simpson (2003)8 focus that telecom service providers even in
United States face a sea of troubles. The outlook for US wireless carriers is challenging. They
can no longer grow by acquiring new customers; in fact, their new customers are likely to be
migrated from other carriers. Indeed, churning will account for as much as 80% of new
customers in 2005. At the same time, the carrier‟s Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is falling
because customers have.

©Dutt and Sundram (2004)9 studied that in order to boost communication for business, new
modes of communication are now being introduced in various cities of the country. Cellular
Mobile Phones, Radio Paging, E-mail, Voice-mail, Video, Text and Video-Conferencing now
operational in many cities, are a boon to business and industry
©T.V. Ramachandran (2005)11 analysed performance of Indian Telecom Industry which is
based on volumes rather than margins. The Indian consumer is extremely price sensitive.
Various socio-demographic factors- high GDP growth, rising income levels, booming knowledge
sector and growing urbanization have contributed towards tremendous growth of this sector. The
instrument that will tie these things together and deliver the mobile revolution to the masses will
be 3 Generation (3G) services.

©Rajan Bharti Mittal (2005)12 explains the paradigm shift in the way people communicate.
There are over 1.5 billion mobile phone users in the world today, more than three times the
number of PCOs. India today has the sixth largest telecom network in the world up from 14th in
1995, and second largest among the emerging economies. It is also the world‟s 12th biggest
market with a large pie of $ 6.4 billion. The telecom revolution is propelling the growth of India
as an economic powerhouse while bridging the developed and the developing economics.
 CHAPTER-3

INDUSRIAL AND COMPANY PROFILE

INDIA's telecommunication network is the second largest in the world by number of telephone
users (both fixed and mobile phone) with 1.053 billion subscribers as on 31 August 2016. It has
one of the lowest call tariffs in the world enabled by mega telecom operators and hyper-
competition among them. India has the world's second-largest Internet user-base. As on 31
March 2016, there were 342.65 million internet subscribers in the country.[7]

Major sectors of the Indian telecommunication industry are telephone, internet and television
broadcast Industry in the country which is in an ongoing process of transforming into next
generation network, employs an extensive system of modern network elements such as
digital telephone exchange and signalling gateways at the core, interconnected by a wide variety
of transmission systems using fibre optics or microwave radio relay networks. The access
network, which connects the subscriber to the core, is highly diversified with different copper-
pair, optic-fibre and wireless technologies. DTH, a relatively new broadcasting technology has
attained significant popularity in the Television segment. The introduction of private FM has
given a fillip to the radio broadcasting in India. Telecommunication in India has greatly been
supported by the INSAT system of the country, one of the largest domestic satellite systems in
the world. India possesses a diversified communications system, which links all parts of the
country by telephone, Internet, radio, television and satellite.[8]

Indian telecom industry underwent a high pace of market liberalisation and growth since the
1990s and now has become the world's most competitive and one of the fastest growing telecom
markets. The Industry has grown over twenty times in just ten years, from under 37 million
subscribers in the year 2001 to over 846 million subscribers in the year 2011.[11] India has the
world's second largest mobile phone user base with over 929.37 million users as of May
2012.[8] It has the world's second largest Internet user-base with over 300 million as of June
2015.

Telecommunication has supported the socioeconomic development of India and has played a
significant role to narrow down the rural-urban digital divide to some extent. It also has helped to
increase the transparency of governance with the introduction of e-government in India. The
government has pragmatically used modern telecommunication facilities to deliver mass
education programmes for the rural folk of India.

Telecommunications in India began with the introduction of the telegraph. The Indian postal and
telecom sectors are one of the worlds oldest. In 1850, the first experimental electric telegraph
line was started between Calcutta and Diamond harbour. In 1851, it was opened for the use of
the British East India Company. The Posts and Telegraphs department occupied a small corner
of the Public Works Department,[15] at that time.

The construction of 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of telegraph lines was started in November 1853.
These connected Kolkata (then Calcutta) and peshawar in the north; Agra, Mumbai (then
Bombay) through Sindwa Ghats, and Chennai (then Madras) in the south; who pioneered
the telegraph and telephone in India, belonged to the Public Works Department, and worked
towards the development of telecom throughout this period. A separate department was opened
in 1854 when telegraph facilities were opened to the public.

In 1880, two telephone companies namely The Anglo-Indian Telephone Company Ltd.
approached the Government of India to establish telephone exchange in India. The permission
was refused on the grounds that the establishment of telephones was a Government monopoly
and that the Government itself would undertake the work. In 1881, the Government later
reversed its earlier decision and a licence was granted to the Oriental Telephone
Company Limited of England for opening telephone exchanges at calcutta.bombay,madras and
ahemdabad and the first formal telephone service was established in the country.[16] On 28
January 1882, Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor General of India's Council declared
open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The exchange in Calcutta
named the "Central Exchange" had a total of 93 subscribers in its early stage. Later that year,
Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange.

Development of Broadcasting: Radio broadcasting was initiated in 1927 but became state
responsibility only in 1930. In 1937 it was given the name all india radio since 1957 it has been
called Akashvani.[19] Limited duration of television programming began in 1959, and complete
broadcasting followed in 1965. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting owned and
maintained the audio-visual apparatus—including the television channel Doordarshan—in the
country prior to the economic reforms of 1991. In 1997, an autonomous body was established in
the name of Prasar Bharti to take care of the public service broadcasting under the Prasar Bharti
Act. All India Radio and Doordarshan, which earlier were working as media units under the
Ministry of I&B became constituents of the body.

Pre-liberalisation statistics: While all the major cities and towns in the country were linked
with telephones during the British period, the total number of telephones in 1948 numbered only
around 80,000. Post independence, growth remained slow because the telephone was seen more
as a status symbol rather than being an instrument of utility. The number of telephones grew
leisurely to 980,000 in 1971, 2.15 million in 1981 and 5.07 million in 1991, the year economic
reforms were initiated in the country.

Liberalisation and privatisation

Liberalisation of Indian telecommunication in industry started in 1981 when Prime

Minister Indira Gandhi signed contracts with Alcatel CIT of France to merge with the state
owned Telecom Company (ITI), in an effort to set up 5,000,000 lines per year. But soon the
policy was let down because of political opposition.[20] Attempts to liberalise the
telecommunication industry were continued by the following government under the prime-
minister-ship of Rajiv Gandhi. He invited Sam Pitroda, a US-based Non-resident Indian NRI and
a former Rockwell International executive to set up a Centre for Development of Telematics(C-
DOT) which manufactured electronic telephone exchanges in India for the first time.[21] Sam
Pitroda had a significant role as a consultant and adviser in the development of
telecommunication in India.[22]

In 1985, the Department of Telecom(DoT) was separated from Indian Post &
Telecommunication Department. DoT was responsible for telecom services in entire country
until 1986 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Videsh Sanchar Nigam
Limited (VSNL) were carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of metro
cities(Delhi andMumbai) and international long distance operations respectively.[21]

The demand for telephones was ever increasing and in the 1990s Indian government was under
increasing pressure to open up the telecom sector for private investment as a part
of Liberalisation-Privatisation-Globalisation policies that the government had to accept to
overcome the severe fiscal crisis and resultant balance of payments issue in 1991. Consequently,
private investment in the sector of Value Added Services (VAS) was allowed and cellular
telecom sector were opened up for competition from private investments. It was during this
period that the Narsimha Rao-led government introduced the National Telecommunications
policy (NTP) in 1994 which brought changes in the following areas: ownership, service and
regulation of telecommunications infrastructure. The policy introduced the concept
of telecommunication for all and its vision was to expand the telecommunication facilities to all
the villages in India.[23] Liberalisation in the basic telecom sector was also envisaged in this
policy.[24] They were also successful in establishing joint ventures between state owned telecom
companies and international players. Foreign firms were eligible to 49% of the total stake. The
multi-nationals were just involved in technology transfer, and not policy making.[20]

During this period, the World Bank and ITU had advised the Indian Government to liberalise
long distance services to release the monopoly of the state owned DoT and VSNL and to enable
competition in the long distance carrier business which would help reduce tariff's and better the
economy of the country. The Rao run government instead liberalised the local services, taking
the opposite political parties into confidence and assuring foreign involvement in the long
distance business after 5 years. The country was divided into 20 telecommunication circles for
basic telephony and 18 circles for mobile services. These circles were divided into category A, B
and C depending on the value of the revenue in each circle. The government threw open the bids
to one private company per circle along with government owned DoT per circle. For cellular
service two service providers were allowed per circle and a 15 years licence was given to each
provider. During all these improvements, the government did face oppositions from ITI, DoT,
MTNL, VSNL and other labour unions, but they managed to keep away from all the hurdles.[20]

In 1997, the government set up TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) which reduced
the interference of Government in deciding tariffs and policy making. The political powers
changed in 1999 and the new government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was
more pro-reforms and introduced better liberalisation policies. In 2000, theVajpayee
government constituted the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT)
through an amendment of the TRAI Act, 1997.[25][26] The primary objective of TDSAT's
establishment was to release TRAI from adjudicatory and dispute settlement functions in order to
strengthen the regulatory framework. Any dispute involving parties like licensor, licensee,
service provider and consumers are resolved by TDSAT. Moreover, any direction, order or
decision of TRAI can be challenged by appealing in TDSAT.[27] The government corporatised
the operations wing of DoT on 1 October 2000 and named it as Department of
Telecommunication Services (DTS) which was later named as Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Limited (BSNL). The proposal of raising the stake of foreign investors from 49% to 74% was
rejected by the opposite political parties and leftist thinkers. Domestic business groups wanted
the government to privatise VSNL. Finally in April 2002, the government decided to cut its stake
of 53% to 26% in VSNL and to throw it open for sale to private enterprises. TATA finally took
25% stake in VSNL.

This was a gateway to many foreign investors to get entry into the Indian Telecom Markets.
After March 2000, the government became more liberal in making policies and issuing licences
to private operators. The government further reduced licence fees for cellular service providers
and increased the allowable stake to 74% for foreign companies. Because of all these factors, the
service fees finally reduced and the call costs were cut greatly enabling every common middle-
class family in India to afford a cell phone. Nearly 32 million handsets were sold in India. The
data reveals the real potential for growth of the Indian mobile market.[28] Many private operators,
such as Reliance Communications, Jio, Tata Indicom, Vodafone, Loop Mobile, Airtel, Idea etc.,
successfully entered the high potential Indian telecom market.

In March 2008 the total GSM and CDMA mobile subscriber base in the country was 375 million,
which represented a nearly 50% growth when compared with previous year.[29] As the unbranded
Chinese cell phones which do not have International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers
pose a serious security risk to the country, Mobile network operatorstherefore suspended the
usage of around 30 million mobile phones (about 8% of all mobiles in the country) by 30 April.
Phones without valid IMEI cannot be connected to cellular operators.[30] 5–6 years 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 a number of proactive
initiatives taken by regulators and licensors, the total number of mobile subscribers has increased
rapidly to over 929 million subscribers as of May 2012.

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.
In addition to landline and mobile phones, some of the companies also provide the WLL service.
The mobile tariffs in India have also become the lowest in the world. A new mobile connection
can be activated with a monthly commitment of US$0.15 only. In 2005 alone additions increased
to around 2 million per month in 2003–04 and 2004–05.

Landline

Until the New Telecom Policy was announced in 1999, only the Government-
owned BSNL and MTNL were allowed to provide land-line phone services through copper
wire in India with MTNL operating in Delhi and Mumbai and BSNL servicing all other areas of
the country. Due to the rapid growth of the cellular phone industry in India, landlines are facing
stiff competition from cellular operators. This has forced land-line service providers to become
more efficient and improve their quality of service. Land-line connections are now also available
on demand, even in high density urban areas. India has over 31 million main line customers.

In August 1995, then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu made the first mobile phone call
in India to then Union Telecom Minister Sukhram. Sixteen years later 4th generation services
were launched in Kolkata.

With a subscriber base of more than 929 million, the Mobile telecommunications system in India
is the second largest in the world and it was thrown open to private players in the 1990s. GSM
was comfortably maintaining its position as the dominant mobile technology with 80% of the
mobile subscriber market, but CDMA seemed to have stabilised its market share at 20% for the
time being. By May 2012 the country had 929 million mobile subscribers, up from 350 million
just 40 months earlier. The mobile market was continuing to expand at an annual rate in excess
of 40% coming into 2010.

The country is divided into multiple zones, called circles (roughly along state boundaries).
Government and several private players run local and long distance telephone services.
Competition has caused prices to drop and calls across India are one of the cheapest in the
world.[34] The rates are supposed to go down further with new measures to be taken by the
Information Ministry.[35]Call drop fine: Telcos warn of raising tariff.[36] In September 2004, the
number of mobile phone connections crossed the number of fixed-line connections and presently
dwarfs the wireline segment by a ratio of around 20:1. The mobile subscriber base has grown by
a factor of over a hundred and thirty, from 5 million subscribers in 2001 to over 929 million
subscribers as of May 2012. India primarily follows the GSM mobile system, in the 900 MHz
band. Recent operators also operate in the 1800 MHz band. The dominant players
are Airtel, Reliance Infocomm, Vodafone, Idea cellular and BSNL/MTNL. There are many
smaller players, with operations in only a few states. International roaming agreements exist
between most operators and many foreign carriers. The government allowed Mobile number
portability (MNP) which enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone
numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another.[37]

Frequency bands[edit]

As of 2016, India has deployed telecom operations in a total of 8 radio frequency bands.[38]

Subscriber base by circle

India is divided into 22 telecom circles:

Landline Wireless
Teledensity
subscriber base in subscriber base in
Telecom circle (September
million(May million(May
2014)[40]
2012) 2012)

Andhra Pradesh &

2.33 66.6 81.06
Telangana

Assam 0.20 14.6 50.41

Bihar & Jharkhand 0.56 62.97 47.66

Delhi 2.9 42.95 232.22

Gujarat & Daman &

1.82 54.32 93.34
Diu
 Landline Wireless
Teledensity
subscriber base in subscriber base in
Telecom circle (September
million(May million(May
2014)[40]
2012) 2012)

Haryana 0.59 23.00 80.31

Himachal Pradesh 0.30 7.41 109.55

Jammu and Kashmir 0.20 6.57 69.98

Karnataka 2.48 56.63 94.20

Kerala &
3.18 34.51 95.96
Lakshadweep

Kolkata(including
1.18 25.25 73.0
West Bengal )

Madhya Pradesh &

1.13 53.30 57.04
Chhattisgarh

Maharashtra & Goa

2.64 71.00 92.20 *
(including Mumbai )
 Landline Wireless
Teledensity
subscriber base in subscriber base in
Telecom circle (September
million(May million(May
2014)[40]
2012) 2012)

Mumbai* 3.0 35.93 Not available *

North East ^** 0.25 8.76 72.00

Orissa 0.40 26.27 63.41

Punjab 1.44 31.17 103.49

Rajasthan 1.14 49.52 76.18

Tamil Nadu(including
Chennai since 3.16 78.96 114.71
2005)[41]

Uttar Pradesh(East) 1.20 77.74 58.09(Combined)*

Uttar Pradesh(West) &

0.79 55.12 58.09(Combined)*
Uttarakhand

West 0.62 46.79 73.40 *

Bengal(including
 Landline Wireless
Teledensity
subscriber base in subscriber base in
Telecom circle (September
million(May million(May
2014)[40]
2012) 2012)

Kolkata)***

^* Population statistics are available state-wise only. ^** North east circle includes Arunachal
Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, & Tripura ^*** West Bengal circle includes
Andaman-Nicobar and Sikkim

Revenue and growth

The total revenue in the telecom service sector was ₹867.2 billion (US$12.9 billion) in 2005–06
as against ₹716.74 billion (US$10.7 billion) in 2004–2005, registering a growth of 21% with
estimated revenue of FY'2011 of ₹8.35 billion (US$120 million). The total investment in the
telecom services sector reached ₹2,006 billion (US$29.8 billion) in 2005–06, up from ₹1,788
billion (US$26.6 billion) in the previous fiscal. Telecommunication is the lifeline of the rapidly
growing Information Technology industry. Internet subscriber base has risen to more than a 121
million in 2011. Out of this 11.47 million were broadband connections. More than a billion
people use the Internet globally. Under the Bharat Nirman Programme, the Government of India
will ensure that 66,822 revenue villages in the country, which have not yet been provided with a
Village Public Telephone (VPT), will be connected. However doubts have been raised about
what it would mean for the poor in the country.

It is difficult to ascertain fully the employment potential of the telecom sector but the enormity of
the opportunities can be gauged from the fact that there were 3.7 million Public Call Offices in
December 2005[69] up from 2.3 million in December 2004.

The Total Revenue of Indian Telecom Services company is likely to exceed ₹2,000
billion (US$30 billion) ( US$44 Bn approx) for FY 11–12 based on FY 10–11 nos and latest
quarterly results. These are consolidated numbers including foreign operation of Bharti Airtel.
The major contributions to this revenue are as follows:
 Airtel ₹65,060 (US$970)
 Reliance Communications ₹31,468 (US$470)
 Idea ₹16,936 (US$250)
 Tata Communications ₹11,931 (US$180)
 MTNL ₹4,380 (US$65)
 TTML ₹2,248 (US$33)
 BSNL ₹32,045 (US$480)
 Vodafone India ₹18,376 (US$270)
 TataTeleservice ₹9,200 (US$140)
 Aircel ₹7,968 (US$120)
 SSTL ₹600 (US$8.90)
 Uninor ₹660 (US$9.80)
 Loop ₹560 (US$8.30)
 Stel ₹60 (89¢ US)
 HFCL ₹204 (US$3.00)
 Videocon Telecom ₹254 (US$3.80)
 DB Etisalat/ Allianz ₹47 (70¢ US)
 Grand Total ₹2,019 billion (US$30 billion
COMPANY PROFILE

Vodafone Group plc is a British multinational telecommunications company, with headquarters

in London.[2] Amongmobile operator groups globally, Vodafone ranked fifth by revenue and
second (behind China Mobile) in the number of connections (435.9 million) as of 2014.

Vodafone owns and operates networks in 26 countries and has partner networks in over 50
additional countries.[4] Its Vodafone Global Enterprise division provides telecommunications and
IT services to corporate clients in 150 countries.

Vodafone has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE
100 Index. It had a market capitalisation of approximately £89.1 billion as of 6 July 2012, the
third-largest of any company listed on the London Stock Exchange. It has a secondary listing
on NASDAQ.

The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone (the latter a sensational spelling of "phone"),
chosen by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile
phones".[7]

The evolution of Vodafone started in 1982 with the establishment of the Racal Strategic Radio
Ltd subsidiary of Racal Electronics, the UK's largest maker of military radio technology, which
formed a joint venture with Millicom called 'Racal', which evolved into the present day
Vodafone.

Evolution as a Racal Telecom brand: 1980 to 1991

Vodafone's original logo, used from 1991 to 1997

In 1980, Sir Ernest Harrison OBE, the then chairman of Racal Electronics, agreed to a deal
with Lord Weinstock of the General Electric Company to allow Racal to access some of GEC's
tactical battle field radio technology. The head of Racal's military radio division, Gerry Whent,
was briefed by Ernest Harrison to drive the company into commercial mobile radio. Whent
visited a mobile radio factory run byGeneral Electric (unrelated to GEC) in Virginia, USA the
same year to understand the commercial use of military radio technology.

Jan Stenbeck, head of a growing Swedish conglomerate, set up an American company, Millicom,
Inc. and approached Racal’s Whent in July 1982 about bidding jointly for the UK’s second
cellular radio licence. The two struck a deal giving Racal 60% of the new company, Racal-
Millicom, Ltd, and Millicom 40%. Due to UK concerns about foreign ownership, the terms were
revised, and in December 1982, the Racal-Milicom partnership was awarded the second UK
mobile phone network license. Final ownership of Racal-Millicom, Ltd was 80% Racal, with
Millicom holding 15% plus royalties and venture firm Hambros Technology Trust holding 5%.
According to the UK Secretary of State for Industry, "the bid submitted by Racal-Millicom
Ltd… provided the best prospect for early national coverage by cellular radio.

Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985 under the new name, Racal-Vodafone (Holdings)
Ltd, with its first office based in the Courtyard in Newbury, Berkshire, and shortly thereafter
Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal Telecommunications Group Limited. On 29 December
1986, Racal Electronics issued shares to the minority shareholders of Vodafone worth
GB£110 million, and Vodafone became a fully owned brand of Racal.

On 26 October 1988, Racal Telecom, majority held by Racal Electronics, went public on
the London Stock Exchange with 20% of its stock floated. The successful flotation led to a
situation where Racal's stake in Racal Telecom was valued more than the whole of Racal
Electronics. Under stock market pressure to realise full value for shareholders, Racal demerged
Racal Telecom in 1991.

Asia-Pacific

Networks in Asia-Pacific

Majority-owned Minority-owned Partner networks

Australia Fiji Afghanistan Armenia

 India Azerbaijan Sri Lanka

New Zealand Malaysia Samoa

Singapore Thailand

Taiwan Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan Vietnam

Vodafone shop at Nadi Airport, Fiji

In July 1993, BellSouth New Zealand's network went live, and October 1993 Vodafone
Australia's network also went live. This was followed in July 1994 by Vodafone Fiji's network
going live. In November 1998, Vodafone purchased BellSouth New Zealand, which later
became Vodafone New Zealand.

In 1999, J-Phone launched the J-sky mobile internet service in response to DoCoMo's i-
Mode service. In December 2002 J-Phone's 3G network went live. On 1 October 2003, J-Phone
became 'Vodafone Japan', and J-Phone's mobile internet service J-Sky became Vodafone Live!.
In March 2006, Vodafone sold Vodafone Japan to SoftBank. In October 2006, SoftBank changed
Vodafone Japan's name to 'SoftBank Mobile'.

On 3 November 2003, Singapore became a part of the community as M1 was signed as partner
network.
In December 2004, Vodafone Australia agreed to deploy high-speed MPLS backbone network
built byLucent Worldwide Services using Juniper hardware.[48]

Then in April 2005, SmarTone changed the name of its brand to 'SmarTone-Vodafone', after
both companies signed a Partner Network Agreement. In August 2005, Vodafone launched 3G
technology in New Zealand, and in October 2005, it began launching 3G technology in
Australia. On 28 October 2005, the Company announced the acquisition of a 10 per cent stake in
India's Bharti Enterprises, which operates the largest mobile phone network in India under the
brand name airtel. On 22 December 2005, the Company announced the completion of the
acquisition of the 10% stake in Bharti Enterprises of India.

The headquarters of Vodafone New Zealand in Auckland City

In January 2006, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka were added to the Vodafone footprint as
Vodafone Group signed a partner network agreement with Telekom Malaysia. On 17 March
2006, Vodafone announced an agreement to sell all its interest in Vodafone Japan toSoftBank for
£8.9 billion, of which £6.8 billion will be received in cash on closing of deal. Vodafone Japan
later changed its name toSoftBank Mobile. In November 2010, Vodafone divested its remaining
Softbank shares.[49] On 9 October 2006, Vodafone New Zealand bought New Zealand's 3rd
largest internet service provider, iHug, and on 1 November 2006, Vodafone Australia signed
the Australian Football League (AFL)'s biggest individual club sponsorship deal with
the Brisbane Lions for seasons 2007, 2008 and 2009.

On 6 February 2007, along with the partnership with Digicel Caribbean (see below), Samoa was
added as a Partner Market. Then on 11 February 2007, the Company agreed to acquire a
controlling interest of 67% in Hutch Essar for US$11.1 billion. At the same time, it agreed to sell
back 5.6% of its airtel stake back to the Mittals. Vodafone would retain a 4.4% stake in airtel.
On 21 September 2007, Hutch was rebranded to Vodafone in India.

On 6 February 2007, Vodafone Group signed a three-year partnership agreement

with Digicel Group. The agreement, which includes Digicel's sister operation in Samoa, will
result to the offering of new roaming capabilities. The two groups will also become preferred
roaming partners of each other. Along with Digicel's markets, the Vodafone brand is now present
in 81 countries, regions, and territories. What is interesting to note, is that as well as being
partners, Digicel and Vodafone are also rival operators in Fiji, where Digicel Fiji recently
launched in October 2008, and Vodafone owns a minority (49%) stake inVodafone Fiji.

On 10 February 2008, Vodafone announced the launching of M-Paisa mobile money transfer
service on Roshan's (Afghanistan's largest GSM operator) network: Afghanistan was added to
the Vodafone footprint.

On 5 September 2008, Vodafone purchased Australia's largest bricks and mortar mobile phone
retailer Crazy John's adding 115 retail stores to its local operations.[50]

On 9 February 2009, Vodafone Australia announced a merger with 3/Hutchison via a joint
venture company VHA Pty Ltd, which would offer products under the Vodafone brand.dtac in
Thailand is signed as a partner network of the Group on 25 March 2009.

On 19 June 2009, Vodafone-Hutchison Australia (VHA) announced the end of its outsourcing of
retail operations. VHA committed to buying back and managing its entire retail operation,
including 208 Vodafone-branded retail outlets Australia-wide. This project was slated to be
completed by 1 September 2009.

On 31 August 2009, VHA enabled an extended 900 MHz 3G UMTS network which functions
outside their 2,100 MHz 3G network, boosting Vodafone's 3G population coverage from around
8% to around 94% on dual-band 900/2,100 MHz 3G UMTS devices.

Nar Mobile in Azerbaijan was signed as a Partner Network on 22 July 2009, while Chunghwa
Telecom of Taiwan was signed on 12 November 2009.

In February 2013, Vodafone together with China Mobile participated in bidding for one of the
two newly opened Myanmar Mobile licences.
In October 2013, it was reported by Reuters that Vodafone planned to invest as much as $2
billion (£1.2 billion) to buy out minority shareholders in Vodafone India.

At the beginning of September 2014, Vinaphone signed a strategic cooperation agreement with
Vodafone.

Products and services

A Vodafone shop selling a range of products in Leeds, England

Products promoted by the Group include Vodafone live!, Vodafone Mobile Connect USB
Modem, Vodafone Connect to Friends, Vodafone Eurotraveller, Vodafone Freedom Packs,
Vodafone 710 and Amobee Media Systems.

In October 2009, it launched Vodafone 360, a new internet service for the mobile, PC and Mac.
This was discontinued in December 2011 after disappointing hardware sales.[76] This was after
The Director of Internet Services resigned in September 2010 tweeting "5 days before I leave
Vodafone. Freedom beckons." In February 2010, Vodafone launched world's cheapest mobile
phone known as Vodafone 150, will sell for below $15 (£10) and is aimed at the developing
world. It will initially be launched in India, Turkey and eight African countries including
Lesotho, Kenya and Ghana.

Mobile money transfer services

In March 2007, Safaricom, which is part owned by Vodafone and the leading mobile
communication provider in Kenya, launched a mobile payment solution developed by
Vodafone. M-PESA is aimed at mobile customers who do not have a bank account, typically
because they do not have access to a bank or their income is insufficient to justify a bank
account. The M-PESA system allows customers to deposit and withdraw cash via local agents,
and transfer money to other mobile phone users via SMS.
By February 2008, the M-PESA money transfer system in Kenya had gained 1.6 million
customers. By 2011 there were fourteen million M-Pesa accounts by which held 40 percent of
the country’s savings.[81] Following M-PESA’s success in Kenya, Vodafone announced that it
was to extend the service to Afghanistan. The service here was launched on the Roshan network
under the brand M-Paisa with a different focus to the Kenyan service. M-Paisa was targeted as a
vehicle for microfinance institutions' (MFI) loan disbursements and repayments, alongside
business-to-business applications such as salary disbursement. The Afghanistan launch was
followed in April 2008 by the announcement of further a further launch of M-PESA in Tanzania,
South Africa and India.

In February 2012, Vodafone announced a worldwide partnership with Visa. To introduce a

Vodafone Mobile Wallet, initially in Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and the UK.
"The Vodafone mobile wallet represents the next stage of the smartphone revolution," says
Vittorio Colao, Vodafone's group CEO. This will enable Vodafone subscribers to pay for goods
and services using their mobile phones instead of coins and banknotes.

mHealth services

In November 2009, Vodafone announced the creation of a new business unit focused on the
emerging mHealth market (the application of mobile communications and network technologies
to healthcare). One of its early success stories is with the Novartis-led "SMS for Life" project in
Tanzania, for which Vodafone developed and deployed a text-message based system that enables
all of the country’s 4,600 public health facilities to report their levels of anti-malarial
medications so that stock level data can be viewed centrally in real-time, enabling timely re-
supply of stock. During the SMS for Life pilot, which covered 129 health facilities over six
months, stock-outs dropped from 26% to 0.8%, saving thousands of lives.

Vodafone Foundation

The Vodafone Foundation is a recognised charity which supports and initiates projects which use
mobile technology to benefit the vulnerable. It is described by Vodafone as ‘Mobile for Good’;
using mobile technology to support good causes. They often work in collaboration with other
charitable groups. Below are some examples of their initiatives:
 TECSOS – mobile phones have been adapted to allow victims of domestic violence to
activate immediate contact with the emergency services if they are in danger
 Paediatric Epilepsy Remote Monitoring System – a monitoring system that allows physicians
to remotely make patient observations
 Safe Taxi System – an initiative in Portugal that consists of technology that taxi drivers can
use to alert police if they are in danger of being assaulted
 Learning with Vodafone Solution – technology that allows teachers in India to use graphical
and multi-media content to enhance their teaching
 The World of Difference UK programme - successful applicants choose charities for which
they work either full-time for two months or part-time for four months (minimum 15 hours a
week). The charities are provided with £2,500, with each winner receiving the balance as a
salary after NI and tax have been paid.

Corporate affairs

Part of the Vodafone campus inNewbury, Berkshire; Vodafone's registered address and UK
headquarters, and its world headquarters until 2009

Senior management

In a period just short of twenty years from its initial public offering, the Company had had just
three Chief Executives. The fourth CEO,Vittorio Colao, stepped up from Deputy Chief
Executive in July 2008. Each of his predecessors made a personal contribution to the
development of the Company.

Sir Gerald Whent, at that time an Executive with Racal Electronics plc, was responsible for the
bid for a UK Cellular Network licence. The Mobile Telecoms division was de-merged, and was
floated on the London Stock Exchange in October 1988 and Sir Gerald became Chief Executive
of Racal Telecom plc. Over the next few years the company grew to become the UK's Market
Leader, changing its name to Vodafone Group plc in the process.

Sir Christopher Gent took over as Chief Executive in January 1997, after Sir Gerald's retirement.
Sir Christopher was responsible for transforming Vodafone from a small UK operator into the
global behemoth that it is today, through the merger with the American AirTouch and the
takeover of Germany's Mannesmann, the Goldman Sachs chief advisor on the deal was Scott
Mead.

Arun Sarin was the driving force behind the Company's move into emerging markets such as
Asia and Africa, through the purchases such as that of Turkish operator Telsim, and a majority
stake in Hutchison Essar in India. Faced with increased competition, and penetration rates above
100% in the more mature European markets, he saw it necessary to diversify from being a
mobile-only business into a company which provided all telecommunications services. This has
seen Vodafone launch DSL and other fixed-line services in markets such as Germany and the
UK.

Chief Executive Tenure

Sir Gerald Whent October 1988 – December 1996

Sir Christopher Gent January 1997 – July 2003

Arun Sarin July 2003 – July 2008

Vittorio Colao Since July 2008

Financial results[edit]

Vodafone reports its results in accordance with International Financial Reporting

Standards (IFRS).
Vodafone has some large minority stakes, which are not included in its consolidated turnover. In
order to provide additional information on the overall scale and growth trends of its business, it
publishes "proportionate turnover" figures, and these are included in the tables below. For
example, if a business in which it owns a 45 % stake has turnover of £10 billion, that equals
£4.5 billion of proportionate turnover for Vodafone. Proportionate turnover is not an official
accounting measure, and Vodafone's proportionate turnover should not be compared with other
companies' statutory turnover.

Vodafone also produces proportionate customer number figures on a similar basis, e.g. if an
operator in which it has a 30 % stake has 10 million customers that equals 3 million
proportionate Vodafone customers.

Year Profit
Turnover Profit for Proportionate
ended 31 before tax Basic eps (pence)
£m the year £m customers (m)
March £m

2015 42,227 1,095 5,917 21.53 446.0

2014 38,346 (5,270) 59,420 42.10 434.0

2013 44,445 3,255 673 0.87 404.0

2012 46,417 9,549 7,003 13.74 446.5

2011 45,884 9,498 7,870 15.20 347.7

2010 44,472 8,674 8,618 16.44 341.1

2009 41,017 4,189 3,080 5.81 302.6

2008 35,478 9,001 6,756 12.56 260

2007 31,104 (2,383) (5,297) (8.94) 206.4

2006* 29,350 (14,835) (21,821) (35.01) 170.6

2005 34,073 7,951 6,518 9.68 154.8

2004 36,492 9,013 6,112 8.70 133.4

*Losses for year to 31 March 2006 reflect write downs of assets, principally in relation to the
Mannesmann acquisition. Proportionate turnover includes £7,100 million from discontinued
operations.

Criticism
UK Uncut protestors outside a Vodafone shop in Liverpool.

In September 2010, an investigation by Private Eye magazine revealed certain details of

Vodafone's tax avoidance activities. It was reported that Vodafone routed the acquisition
of Mannesmann through a Luxembourg subsidiary, set up to avoid paying tax on the deal, and
continued to place its profits in Luxembourg. Following a long legal struggle
with HMRC (during which a senior HMRC official, John Connors, switched sides to become
head of tax at Vodafone), it was eventually agreed that Vodafone would pay £1.25 billion related
to the acquisition. Based on Vodafone's accounts, experts have estimated the potential tax bill
written off as a result of the negotiations was over £6 billion.

The news of this legal tax avoidance sparked angry protests, beginning in October 2010 and
ongoing as of April 2011, outside Vodafone shops across the UK, organised under the banner
of UK Uncut. The first protests caused the simultaneous closure of over a dozen stores, including
the flagship Oxford Street branch.

In 2011, Private Eye magazine and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism alleged that
Vodafone's Swiss branches were run by a single part-time bookkeeper. The report claimed
hardly any business was done from there, indicating that the main purpose of the Zug office was
tax avoidance. The report claimed the money was borrowed from the Swiss branch of the
Luxembourg company, allowing it to take advantage of Luxembourg’s laws, which exempts
foreign branches of companies from tax, and Swiss laws, which almost completely exempt local
branches of foreign companies. According to the expose, this would have otherwise generated a
British tax bill on a little over £2 billion. It said Vodafone publishes a single, combined set of
accounts for its Luxembourg subsidiaries and their Swiss branches. For the one company, profits
worth £1.6 billion were taxed at less than one per cent in 2011, and the profits are likely to have
been attributed to Switzerland. In its response to these allegations, Vodafone has said the Swiss
branch has not been involved in Vodafone’s global financing for a number of years. It is,
therefore, irrelevant in respect to global financing arrangements.

Vodafone was also assessed a US$2.5 billion tax over its acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa's
Indian assets in 2007, a demand that it contests. In a recent event dated 20 January 2012, the
highest Indian court ruled that Vodafone is not liable for taxes and penalties of up to $4.4 billion
(£2.8 billion). However, on February 16, 2016 India's tax department sent Vodafone a renewed
taxi notice of $2.1bn (£1.4bn). Following the siding of the Indian court with Vodafone in 2012
the government changed the laws, to allow firms to be retrospectively taxed.

Vodafone was implicated in the violent suppression of pro-democracy protests in Egypt's 2011
demonstrations. On 27 January, Vodafone, responsible for much of Egypt's telecommunication
infrastructure, shut off all voice and data services for Egyptian citizens and businesses at the
request of the Egyptian Government under Hosni Mubarak. The Daily Telegraph of the UK
reported, "The Egyptian government’s action is unprecedented in the history of the
internet." U.S.-based Internet intelligence firm Renesys stated, "in an action unprecedented in
Internet history, the Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut
down all international connections to the Internet." Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said the
company was obliged by law to comply with the instructions of the Egyptian government. In the
company’s annual general meeting, on 26 June, the campaign groups Access
and FairPensions asked Vodafone to endorse a plan to prevent facing similar demands in the
future.

In Australia, particularly towards the end of 2010, Vodafone have been heavily criticised due to
allegations of poor customer service and severe technical inadequacies, which earned them their
abroad, despite being seemingly able to terminate costs of pay as you go contracts without issue.

nickname "Vodafone" – a website of the same name still exists. In response, they have developed
a "new" network, and now provide a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.
 SWOT ANALYSIS OF VODAFONE

Britain-based Vodafone is the second largest mobile service provider on the planet after China
Mobile. The company has about 435 million subscribers in 26 countries around the world.
Recently, Vodafone reported group revenue of £10.2 billion ($17.3 billion) after the quarter that
ended

in June 2014. While this was up 6.2% on an absolute basis year-on-year given the strong pound
currency, it was down 4.4% on organic basis. Organic revenue measures comparable
performance, therefore excludes any M&A activity and fluctuation in foreign exchange rates.
The company did not disclose profit figures in its most recent financial report but it had a net
profit of £4.6 billion ($7.8 billion) at the end of financial year 2013-14. This excluded the money
it made from selling the Verizon Wireless stake in US. Vodafone provides cellular network voice
and data services in the following countries – Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain,
Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Greece, Czech Republic, Hungary, Albania, Malta,
India, Turkey, Australia, Egypt, New Zealand, Qatar, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Congo,
Mozambique, Lesotho and Kenya. Some of their operations in these countries are through joint
ventures. Vodafone also runs fixed home, enterprise and cable networks in a few regions and
these operations form about 15% of the group’s revenue. Despite having big presence across
various regions, Vodafone has faced multiple challenges in the past few years. Let us do a brief
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis for this telecom giant –

Strengths
 Sluggish economic World’s second largest mobile service provider by subscribers – Vodafone’s
customer base of 435 million in various parts of world is its biggest asset. It is either the market
leader or is among the top 3 service providers in every country. Such strong position often
implies financial leverage, larger capacity to absorb risks and greater capability to steer the
market direction.
 Geographically diversified business – Looking closely at the countries listed above, it is easy to
conclude that Vodafone has a presence in all kinds of mobile markets. Developed markets like
Germany and UK bring bulk of revenue. Then there are markets like India that have immense
growth potential both in voice and data. So declining business in one region can be compensated
by growth in another.
 Developed and advanced network – While not necessarily the trailblazer of LTE network launch
in its areas of operation, Vodafone deployed LTE and high-speed wireless networks in most of
its markets within a few years of spectrum allocation or ecosystem stabilization. In 2010,
Vodafone had LTE running in Germany for the first time. Within the next 2 years, they followed
it up by launching LTE in Portugal, Romania, Spain, UK, Australia, South Africa and many
other nations. Networks in India, Egypt and Turkey are also in the process of upgradation.
Similarly, in the first half of the last decade, the operator was aggressive in providing 3G
services. The overall perception of Vodafone’s wireless network is positive in most countries.
 Strong brand recognition – Aggressive strategy, creative advertising, decent customer service
and employee-friendly policies have helped Vodafone in cementing its place among the better
brands of the world. This makes it easy for them to win new customers and retain the existing
base

Weaknesses
 conditions in Europe – The continent brings in about two-thirds of the revenue for Vodafone.
Consequently, the operator suffered when the European economy was weak over the past few
years. Some of the worst hit nations were Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy. Incidentally,
Vodafone has huge presence in all these countries. Lower disposable income and high
unemployment prompted customers to cut down on their mobile phone bills. The region is now
showing signs of revival but the road to recovery is long.
 Cut throat competition everywhere – In its homeland, Vodafone is pitched against EE (Orange
and Deutsche Telekom), Telefonica’s O2 and Hutchison’s 3 (Three) network. In Spain, it is up
against Telefonica owned Movistar and Orange. Telecom New Zealand and 2degrees are rivals
in New Zealand. Apart from Vodacom, South Africa also has MTN, Cell C and Telkom. The
scenario for Vodafone is similar in other developed and emerging markets. High competition has
hit the bottom line/ARPU and on this end, no respite is expected in the short term.
 Absence from the profitable US market – Vodafone does not provide wireless telecom services
in the United States although it does have a small enterprise business in the country. It sold the
45% stake in Verizon for $130 billion last year. Despite the argument that Sprint and T-Mobile
are weaker, higher tariffs have made sure that all major telcos in America are overall strong
 financially. Unfortunately, lack of presence in USA is a drawback about which Vodafone cannot
do much.

Opportunities

 Project Spring – After returning money to shareholders and paying taxes, Vodafone still made a
net profit of about $40 billion from selling its Verizon share. The telco plans to spend the bulk of
that windfall or about £19 billion ($32.3 billion) on upgrading its European networks to 4G and
LTE and enhance its networks in developing markets to 3G or faster speeds. The LTE coverage
has been achieved in more than half of Europe. This investment is a tremendous long term
opportunity for Vodafone to position itself as the leader of high speed and reliable wireless
services.
 Emerging markets like India – Regions where people still either don’t have mobile phones or use
2G feature phones offer a lot of potential for business development. Vodafone has about 170
million voice subscribers in India and less than 10% of those use 3G data. The company’s India
service revenue grew 10% in the latest quarter. Turkey still hasn’t reached 100% mobile phone
penetration and more than one-third of its population has not used 3G. Likewise, Africa has a lot
of untapped market.
 Fixed telecom and cable services – Vodafone has been aggressively looking to expand towards
non-mobile services in order to diversify its portfolio and generate new sources of income. It
acquired Cable & Wireless in 2012 and thus became unified enterprise communications provider
in UK. Last year, it bought Germany’s largest cable operator, Kabel Deutschland for $10.4
billion and followed that up with a takeover of the Spanish cable provider Ono for about the
same price. Vodafone already provides fixed phone services in a few regions. Clearly, it intends
to evolve into a fully integrated telecom service provider in the long term.

Threats
 Market saturation in Europe – Europe’s share of subscribers is 30%, but it brings in more than
two-thirds of the revenue for Vodafone. This demonstrates the extent of its dependence on the
continent. Since the mobile phone penetration in most of its European markets is about 100%,
the scope of growth, apart from services like LTE, is limited. Not surprisingly, its service
 revenue from the region declined by 7.9% in the recent quarter. The trend has been downwards
for a few years now. If a company’s profits are decreasing in its most important region, it is a big
threat.
 Uncertain regulatory climate – Telecom policy and regulation has been a challenge for the
industry in many parts of the world. In Europe, the big issues are falling mobile termination rates
and reduced roaming charges. Remember, what is good for the customer is not necessarily great
for the service provider. A friendly M&A policy would be a big boost for established players like
Vodafone. EU has been looking at consolidation norms and may allow 3 operators in its member
countries. Regulatory framework looks better in India too, but is still far from being industry-
friendly.
 Over-the-top (OTT) services – An increasing menace for the wireless telecom service providers
has been the rise and rise of OTT. Its simple, if I can talk and see my family halfway across the
world by using WiFi, then why would I use my phone minutes? Skype, WhatsApp, iMessage and
many similar mobile applications have reduced the need to be dependent on the cellular network.
Going forward, this scenario is only going to get worse. Vodafone has introduced bundled plans
and partnered with OTT services to do some damage control.
 India tax case – Litigation is common in telecom industry, but the notorious Vodafone tax case
has kept the operator worried. The dispute arose from Vodafone’s buyout of Hutchison’s India
operations in 2007, a transaction not subject to tax in India. But the nation’s government thinks
otherwise. Despite India’s top court ruling in Vodafone’s favor, the government changed the
laws and the matter is still out for international arbitration. Vodafone’s liability could be as much
as $3.3 billion if it loses.
Irrespective of weaknesses and threats, Vodafone’s business is in no imminent danger. It is a
well-managed company that will survive the headwinds. The Verizon stake sale has immensely
helped in strengthening the operator’s finances and that money is being invested efficiently in
other ventures
 CHAPTER-4

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 “Marketing research means the systematic gathering, recording, analyzing of data about
problems relating to the marketing of goods and services”

METHODOLOGY ADOPTED:

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. Here we study the
various steps generally adopted by the researcher in studying the research methods to continue a
part of research methodology.

In this research, both Primary and Secondary data taken into consideration. The project would be
executed through primary data i.e. questionnaires, discussion with various age groups of
consumer, information from other group of companies, internet data’s.

Primary data: - This is those, which are collected as fresh and for the first Time, and
thus happen to be original in character. There are many ways of data collection of
primary data like questionnaire, observation method, interview method, through
schedules, pantry Reports, distributors audit, consumer panel etc.
Secondary data: - These are those data, which are not collected afresh and are used
earlier also and thus they cannot be considered as original in character. There are many
ways of data collection of secondary data like publications of the state and central govt.,
website, journals, companies reports, reports prepared by researchers, reports of various
associations connected with business, Industries, banks etc. For this project secondary
data was taken from company’s reports and websites.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

1. Type of research: Descriptive research design

2. Sources of data: Primary Data & Secondary Data
3. Primary Data – Questionnaire
4. Secondary Data – Websites
5. Data collection method: Survey Method,
6. Survey Instrument: Questionnaire
7. Method of communication: Collect the data through survey of the
customers of the organization
8. Sample size: 100 Customers
9. Sample unit: Here the researcher has randomly selected the respondents
of Kathua City.
10. Sampling Design: Convenient sampling
 CHAPTER-5

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Q1) Do you have a mobile phone?

Purpose:

The main purpose of this question is to know how many respondents use mobile phone.

Suggestions Yes No

No. of 93 7
respondents

7%

Yes

No

93%

Interpretation:

93% of the respondents are have a mobile phone while 7% of the respondents do not have
a mobile phone
Q2) Are you aware about telecommunications services?

Purpose:

The main purpose behind this question is to know about the awareness of respondents regarding
different telecommunications services and also to know about which
telecommunication(operator’s) service they use.

Suggestions Yes No

No. of respondents 95 5

5%

Yes
No

95%

Interpretation:

95% of the respondents are aware about telecommunications services while 5% are not aware.
Q3. Which operator’s service do you use?

Operator’s service name No. of respondents

Vodafone 87

Airtel 29

Idea 17

Reliance 21

BSNL 5

Tata Indicom 3

3% 2%

Vodafone
13%
Airtel

10% Idea

54% Reliance
BSNL
18%
Tata Indicom

Interpretation:

Major respondents using mobile are enjoying Vodafone services. 16% of the respondents
use Airtel, 6% respondents use Idea while 12%, 4% and 2% respondents use Reliance, BSNL
and Tata Indicom respectively.
Q3) Are you aware about Vodafone?

Purpose:

The purpose behind this question is to know about the awareness of Vodafone among all
the respondents.

Suggestions Yes No

No. of respondents 87 13

awareness

13

yes
no

87

Interpretation:

Here 87% of respondents are aware about Vodafone Services.

Q4) From which source you came to know about Vodafone?

Purpose:

The purpose behind this question is to know from which source the respondents came to
know about Vodafone

Sources No. of respondents

Advertisements 63

Hoardings 52

Newspapers 35

Mouth Publicity 26

15%

36% Advertisements
Hoardings
20%
Newspapers
Mouth Publicity

29%

Interpretation:

36% of the respondents are aware about Vodafone through Advertisements, 29% are aware
because of Hoardings while 20% and 15% of the respondents are aware because of Newspapers
and Mouth Publicity respectively.
Q5) Since how long you are using Vodafone Services?

Purpose:

The purpose behind this question is to know about the usage time of Vodafone customers
i.e. since how long they are using Vodafone services.

Time period No. of respondents

Less than 1 month 12

2-6 months 19

6-12 months 22

More than 1 year 34

14%

Less than 1 month

39%
2-6 months
22%
6-12 months
More than 1 year

25%

Interpretation:

Major Respondents using Vodafone are old customers. 39% of the respondents use Vodafone
services from past more than 1 year while the lowest is 14% respondents using Vodafone
services less than 1 month.
Q6) Which of the following services do you use of Vodafone?

Purpose:

The purpose behind this question is to know which services do the Vodafone customer
use, Pre-Paid or Post-Paid.

Services No. of respondents

Pre-Paid 73

Post-paid 14

16%

Pre-paid
Post-paid

84%

Interpretation:

84% of the respondents use pre-paid services while only 16% of the respondents use post-paid
services.
Q7) Which services are more helpful to you while using Vodafone Services?

Purpose:

The purpose behind this question is to know which services are more helpful to the
respondent while using Vodafone.

Services No. of respondents

Call Rates 27

SMS Rates 48

Network 36

Value Added Services 19

14%
21%

Call Rates
SMS services
Network
28%
Value Added services

37%

Interpretation:

Here major Respondents are youngsters so they mainly use SMS services of Vodafone.
37% of the respondents use Vodafone for SMS services while only 14% of the respondents use
Vodafone for Value Added Services.
Q8) Do you call at customer care?

Purpose:

The purpose of this question is to know how many times and how often the respondents
call at customer care of Vodafone.

Suggestions Yes No

No. of respondents 76 11

13%

Yes
No

87%

Interpretation:

87% of the respondent calls at customer care while 13% respondents do not call at
customer care.
Q(9)If yes, how often you call at customer care?

Time Period No. of respondents

Daily 5

Once a week 12

Once a month 24

Occasionally 35

7%

16%
Daily
46% Once a week
Once a month
Occasionally
31%

Interpretation

Major respondents here call customer care occasionally. 31% respondents respondents call
customer care once a month while 16% and 7% of respondents call once a week and daily
respectively.
Q9) For what reason you call at customer care?

Purpose:

The main purpose of this question is to know the reason of the respondents regarding
calling at customer care.

Reasons No. of respondents

Value Added Services 21
Information regarding new schemes 23
Complaining 42
Other queries 36

17%
Value Added Services
30%
Information regarding
new schemes
19% Complaining

Other queries

34%

Interpretation:

34% of respondents call at customer care for complaining purpose while 30%, 19% and
17% of respondents call customer care for other queries, information regarding new schemes and
value added services respectively.
Q10) Rate the following on the basis of your satisfaction.

Services Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Network 31 29 17 7 3

SMS Rates 6 19 35 24 3

New schemes and 3 14 27 33 10

offers

Customer Care 6 32 29 15 5

Recharge Outlets 12 28 31 14 2

Call Rates 2 20 43 19 3

Value Added 9 24 29 19 6
Services

Services
100%

80%
Poor
60%
Average
40%
Fairly Good
20%
Very Good
0% Excellent
Network SMS rates New Customer Recharge Call rates value
schemes Care outlets added
and offers service
Network:

Purpose:

The purpose of this analysis is to know the perspective of the customers of Vodafone
regarding network service.

Service Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Network 31 29 17 7 3

Network
3%

8%
Excellent
36%
Very Good
20%
Fairly Good
Average
Poor

33%

Interpretation:

Here major respondents are satisfy with the network coverage. 36% of the respondents
are rate the Vodafone’s network excellent, 33% rate it very good, 20% rate it farely good while
8% and 3% rate it average and poor.
SMS Rates:

Purpose:

The purpose of this analysis is to know the perspective of the customers of vodafone
regarding Rates of SMS.

SMS Rates
3% 7%
Excellent

28% Very Good

22%
Fairly Good
Average
40% Poor

Service Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

SMS Rates 6 19 35 24 3

Interpretation:

Here major respondents are not much satisfied with the SMS rates of Vodafone as major
respondents are youngsters. 7% of respondents rate it excellent, 22% rate it very good, 40% rate
it fairly good, 28% rate it average, 3% rate it poor.
New Schemes and Offers:

Purpose:

The main purpose of this analysis is to the respondent’s perspective related to the new
schemes and offers provided by Vodafone.

New schemes and offers

3%

12%
16% Excellent
Very Good
Fairly Good
38% Average
31%
Poor

Service Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

New schemes 3 14 27 33 10
and offers

Interpretation:

Here major respondents are not much satisfied with new schemes and offers of Vodafone.
38% respondents rate new schemes and offers as average, 31% respondents rate it as fairly good,
16% rate it as very good while 12% and 3% rate it as poor and excellent respectively.
Customer Care:

Purpose:

The main purpose of this analysis is to know about the satisfaction of customer care
service provided by Vodafone to their customers.

Customer Care
6%
7%

17% Excellent
Very Good
37% Fairly Good
Average
Poor
33%

Service Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Customer Care 6 32 29 15 5

Interpretation:

Customer care service of Vodafone is better compared to some of the other services. 37%
respondents rate it as very good, 33% rate it as fairly good, 17% rate it as average, and 6% and
7% rate it as poor and excellent respectively.
 Recharge Outlets:

Purpose:

The purpose behind this analysis is to know about the satisfaction of the Vodafone
customers regarding recharge outlets.

Recharge Outlets
2%

14%
16% Excellent
Very Good
Fairly Good
32% Average
36%
Poor

Service Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Recharge Outlets 12 28 31 14 2

Interpretation:

Recharge outlets of Vodafone are majorly rated on fairly good and very good basis. 36%
of the respondents rate it as fairly good, 32% rate it as very good, 16% rate it as average, 14%
rate it excellent and 2% respondents rate it as poor.
 Call Rates:

Purpose:

The purpose behind this analysis is to know about the perception of vodafone customers
regarding different call rates.

Call Rates
4% 2%

22% 23% Excellent

Very Good
Fairly Good
Average
Poor

49%

Service Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Call Rates 2 20 43 19 3

Interpretation:

Major percentage of respondents are not happy with the call rates of Vodafone. 49% of
respondents rate call rates of vodafone as fairly good, 23% rate it as very good, 22% rate it as
average while 4% and 2% respondent rate it as poor and excellent respectively.
 Value Added Services: Purpose:

The purpose behind this analysis is to know about the perception of vodafone customers
regarding Value Added Services.

Value Added Service

7% 10%
Excellent
22% Very Good
28% Fairly Good
Average
Poor
33%

Service Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Value Added 9 24 29 19 6
Services

Interpretation:

Value added services of Vodafone are quite feasible as compared to some of the other
services. 33% respondents rate it as fairly good, 28% rate it as very good, 22% rate it as average
while 10% and 7% rate it as excellent and poor respectively.
Q12) Why you are not using Vodafone Services?

Purpose:

The purpose of this question is to know why other respondents do not use Vodafone
services.

Reasons No. of respondents

Lack of awareness 2

High Prices 6

Poor Services 3

Poor Network 2

15% 16%

Lack of awareness
High Prices
23% Poor services
Poor Network

46%

Interpretation:

6 don’t use Vodafone services because of high prices. 3 respondents don’t use Vodafone
services because of poor services while 2 respondents each don’t use vodafone services because
of lack of awareness and poor network.
Q13) Would you like to recommend Vodafone to others?

Purpose:

The purpose of this question is to know the recommendations of the respondents towards
Vodafone, whether they would like to recommend the Vodafone services to others or not.

Suggestions Yes No

No. of respondents 78 9

10%

Yes
No

90%

Interpretation:

90% of the Vodafone customers would like to recommend Vodafone services to others
while 10% of the Vodafone Customers won’t recommend to others.
 FINDINGS

 93% of the respondents are have a mobile phone while 7% of the respondents do not have
a mobile phone.
 100% of the respondents are aware about telecommunications services.
 16% of the respondents use Airtel, 6% respondents use Idea while 12%, 4% and 2%
respondents use Reliance, BSNL and Tata Indicom respectively.
 100% of respondents are aware about Vodafone Services.
 36% of the respondents are aware about Vodafone through Advertisements, 29% are
aware because of Hoardings while 20% and 15% of the respondents are aware because of
Newspapers and Mouth Publicity respectively.
 39% of the respondents use Vodafone services from past more than 1 year while the
lowest is 14% respondents using Vodafone services less than 1 month.
 84% of the respondents use pre-paid services while only 16% of the respondents use
post-paid services.
 37% of the respondents use Vodafone for SMS services while only 14% of the
respondents use Vodafone for Value Added Services.
 87% of the respondent calls at customer care while 13% respondents do not call at
customer care.
 31% respondents respondents call customer care once a month while 16% and 7% of
respondents call once a week and daily respectively.
 SUGGESTIONS

Following are some of the suggestions given by the researcher so that Vodafone can serve people
and its customers in an improved way:

 Vodafone should decrease call rates for local users.

 Vodafone should provide more offers to Post-Paid customers so that the number of Post-
Paid customers increase.

 Vodafone should bring introduce some new SMS schemes for the youngsters.

 Vodafone should introduce more schemes and offers.

 Vodafone should provide more schemes and offers to its old customers.

 Vodafone should decrease call rates of STD and ISD.

 CONCLUSION

Follwing are the conclusion that the researcher found after the survey.

 From the above analysis the researcher concludes that major respondents are dissatisfied
with some of the major services like call rates, SMS rates and new schemes & offers.
 Major respondents from all respondents use services of Vodafone.
 Major customers of Vodafone are old customers so many of the respondents are satisfied
with the services of Vodafone and thus they would like to recommend Vodafone to others.
 Major respondents using Vodafone use pre-paid services compared to post-paid services.
 Major respondents are youngsters so they need more SMS facilities and low call rates, but
Vodafone dissatisfies these age group (18-25) as their call rates and SMS rates are much
high.
 LIMITATION OF STUDY

Certain limitations do creep in a research study due to constraints of the time, money and human
efforts, the present study is also not free from certain limitation, which were unavoidable.
Although all effort were taken to make the result of the work as accurate as possible as survey
but the survey have following constraints.

Here the researcher’s problems are:-

 A number of customers are not satisfied with services, new schemes and offers.

 A number of customers are not satisfied with the network coverage.

 A number of customers are not satisfied with the current call rates of Vodafone.

 A number of customers are not satisfied with the Free SMS schemes.

 A number of customers are not satisfied with the service of customer care of Vodafone.
ANNEXURE

Questionnaire

Bibliography
 QUESTIONNAIRE

Q1) Do you have a mobile phone?

o Yes
o No
Q2) Are you aware about telecommunications service?

o Yes
o No
If yes, then which operator’s Service do you use?

o Vodafone
o Airtel
o Idea
o Reliance
o BSNL
o Tata Indicom ( If not Vodafone then go to Q12 )
Q3) Are you aware about Vodafone?

o Yes
o No (If No, then go to Q11 )

Q4) From which source you came to know about Vodafone?

o Advertisement
 o Hoardings
o Newspapers
o Mouth Publicity

Q5) Since how long you are using Vodafone services?

o Less than 1 month

o 2-6 months
o 6-12 months
o More than 1 year
Q6) Which of the following services do you use of Vodafone?

o Pre-paid
o Post-paid
Q7) Which services are more helpful to you while using Vodafone services?

o Call rates
o SMS service
o Network
o Value Added Services

Q8) Dou you call at customer care?

o Yes
o No
If yes, how often you call at customer care?

o Daily
o Once a week
o Once a month
o Occasionally
Q9) For what reason you call at customer care?
 o Value added services
o Information regarding new schemes
o Other queries
o Complaining

Q10) Rate the following services on the basis of your satisfaction.

Services Excellent Very Good Fairly good Average Poor

Network

SMS rates

New schemes and offers

Customer Care

Recharge outlets

Call Rates

Value Added Services

Q11) What makes you unaware about Vodafone?

o Less Advertisements
o Less Publicity
 o Others
(If others then mention ________________________)

Q12) Why you are not using Vodafone services?

o Lack of awareness (Multi-choice)

o High Prices
o Poor Services
o Poor network

Q13) Would you like to recommend Vodafone to others?

o Yes
o No
Q14) Give your suggestions to help in serve you better.

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Name: ________________

Age: ___ years

Sex: Male/Female

Contact no.: ___________

Signature: __________
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

1-.Beri.G C, 2010, Marketing Research, Tata MC Graw Hill Education PVT. LTD, ISBN- 13;
978-0-07-062022-3

2- Kotler.Philip,2013,Principle Of Marketing, Arrangement with Person Education Inc. and

Dorling Kindersley Publishing Inc. , ISBN- 978-81-317-1547-5

3- Krishnamoorthy.R, 2011, Introduction to Rural Marketing, Himalaya Publishing house

PVT.LTD. ISBN- 978-93-5024-787-7

4. Hartmam.Laura P, 2013, Perspectives in Business Ethics, ISBN- 13; 978-0-07-062011-13

Websites:

 http://www.vodafone.com/start/media_relations/news/local_press_releases/portugal/p
ortugal_press_release/vodafone_had_highest.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_satisfaction
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutch_(Indian_cellular_company)
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodafone
 http://bora.nhh.no/bitstream/2330/1919/1/Saplitsa%202013.pdf
 www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=606658
 www.iimcal.ac.in/community/consclub/reports/telecom.pdf