Comparative analysis of various companies of telecom industry
Transcript of Comparative analysis of various companies of telecom industry
A
RESEARCH REPORT
ON
“Comparative Analysis of various Companies of Telecom Industry”
Submitted
To
Kurukshetra University, KurukshetraIn the
Partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degreeOf
MASTER’S OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
SESSION (2013-2015)
SUBMITTED TO: - SUBMITTED BY:-KURUKSHETRA UNIVERSITY, Name: VershaKURUKSHETRA Class: MBA 4th sem College Roll No.: 13501 University Roll No: 3010921
KARNAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & MANAGEMENT, KARNAL (Approved by AICTE, Affiliated to Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra)
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is my pleasure to be indebted to various people, who directly or indirectly contributed in the development of this work and who influenced my thinking, behavior, and acts during the course of study.
I express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Sachin Wadhwa, worthy Director for providing me an opportunity to undergo Research Project on “Comparative Analysis of various Companies of Telecom Industry”
I am thankful to Ms. Isha Kalra, Head of the Department, MBA for her support, cooperation, and motivation provided to me during the research for constant inspiration, presence and blessings.
I also extend my sincere appreciation to Ms. Rekha who provided her valuable suggestions and precious time in accomplishing my project report.
Lastly, I would like to thank the almighty and my parents for their moral support and my friends with whom I shared my day-to-day experience and received lots of suggestions that improved my quality of work.
Versha
University Roll no. 3010921
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DECLARATION
I, Versha student of MBA 4th Semester, studying at Karnal Institute of Technology and Management, Karnal, hereby declare that the Research Report on “Comparative Analysis of various Companies of Telecom Industry” submitted to Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra in partial fulfillment of Degree of Master’s of Business Administration is the original work conducted by me.
The information and data given in the report is authentic to the best of my knowledge.
This Research Report is not being submitted to any other University for award of any other Degree, Diploma and Fellowship.
Versha
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ABSTRACT
Customer satisfaction has been the major challenge for the companies to retain the
customers. Almost every brand in the market today has reached parity in terms of
the features and technology. Almost every big brand in the market today meets a
certain threshold level of product and service performance. But certain brands
exceed customer expectations.
It is getting tougher for marketers to retain the customers. Till a few years back,
they could be reasonably certain that they would retain a customer’s who was
satisfied with the product and the quality of service they were providing. That is no
longer enough. Study after study shows that customer’s satisfaction alone is no
longer a real measure of loyalty. Companies now need to try harder and absolutely
delight the customer if want to retain him in their fold.
-
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER-2 LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER-3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
-RESEARCH DESIGN
-STATISTICAL TOOLS
-DATA COLLECTION
-SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
CHAPTER-4 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
CHAPTER-5 FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS, CONCLUSION
-ANNEXURES
-QUESTIONNAIRE
-BIBLIOGRAPHY
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
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TELECOM INDUSTRY AT A GLANCE
1.1 ABOUT INDIAN TELECOM SECTOR
The telecom services have been recognized the world-over as an important tool for socio-
economic development for a nation. It is one of the prime support services needed for rapid
growth and modernization of various sectors of the economy. Indian telecommunication sector
has undergone a major process of transformation through significant policy reforms, particularly
beginning with the announcement of NTP 1994 and was subsequently re-emphasized and carried
forward under NTP 1999. Driven by various policy initiatives, the Indian telecom sector
witnessed a complete transformation in the last decade. It has achieved a phenomenal growth
during the last few years and is poised to take a big leap in the future also.
Evolution of the industry-Important Milestones
Year History of Indian Telecommunications1851 First operational land lines were laid by the government near Calcutta(seat of British power)
1881 Telephone service introduced in India
1883 Merger with the postal system
1923 Formation of Indian Radio Telegraph Company (IRT)
1932 Merger of ETC and IRT into the Indian Radio and Cable Communication Company (IRCC)
1947 Nationalization of all foreign telecommunication companies to form the Posts, Telephone and
Telegraph (PTT), a monopoly run by the government's Ministry of Communications
1985 Department of Telecommunications (DOT) established, an exclusive provider of domestic and
long-distance service that would be its own regulator (separate from the postal system)
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1986Conversion of DOT into two wholly government-owned companies:
TheVidesh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) for international and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam
Limited (MTNL)for service in metropolitan areas.
1997 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India created.
1999 Cellular Services are launched in India. New National Telecom Policy is adopted.
2000 Dot becomes a corporation, BSNL
Status of Telecom Sector
The Indian Telecommunications network with 621 million connections (as on March 2010) is the
third largest in the world. The sector is growing at a speed of 45% during the recent years. This
rapid growth is possible due to various proactive and positive decisions of the Government and
contribution of both by the public and the private sectors. The rapid strides in the telecom sector
have been facilitated by liberal policies of the Government that provides easy market access for
telecom equipment and a fair regulatory framework for offering telecom services to the Indian
consumers at affordable prices. Presently, all the telecom services have been opened for private
participation. The Government has taken following main initiatives for the growth of the
Telecom Sector:
Liberalization
The process of liberalization in the country began in the right earnest with the announcement of
the New Economic Policy in July 1991. Telecom equipment manufacturing was delicensed in
1991 and value added services were declared open to the private sector in 1992, following which
radio paging, cellular mobile and other value added services were opened gradually to the private
sector. This has resulted in large number of manufacturing units been set up in the country. As a
result most of the equipment used in telecom area is being manufactured within the country. A
major breakthrough was the clear enunciation of the government’s intention of liberalizing the
telecom sector in the National Telecom Policy resolution of 13th May 1994.
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1.1.2 REGULATORS OF THE TELECOM INDUSTRY
Dot
The Department of Telecommunications is part of the Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology in the executive branch of the Government of India. Telecom
services have been recognized the world- over as an important tool for socio-economic
development for a nation and hence telecom infrastructure is treated as a crucial factor to
realize the socio-economic objectives in India.
Accordingly, the Department of Telecom has been formulating development policies for the
accelerated growth of the telecommunication services. The Department is also responsible for
grant of licenses for various telecom services like Unified Access Service Internet and VSAT
service. The Department is also responsible for frequency management in the field of radio
communication in close coordination with the international bodies. It also enforces wireless
regulatory measures by monitoring wireless transmission of all users in the country.
TRAI
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI (established 1997) is the
independent regulator established by the Government of India to regulate the
telecommunications business in India.
The mission of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is to ensure that the
interests of consumers are protected and the same time to nurture conditions for the
growth of telecommunications, broadcasting and cable services in a manner and at a pace
which will enable India to play a leading role in the emerging global information society.
They also check that telecom regulators work according to the rules and regulations and
maintain favorable competition in the market.
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1.1.3 TELECOM REFORMSTelecom services and most of the manufacturing activities were totally under Government domain till Telecom Reforms began in 1980s with the launch of a “Mission Better Communication” Programmed. Private manufacturing of equipment for customers' use was allowed in 1984 and the Centre for Development of Telemetric (C-DOT) was established for the development of indigenous technologies. Two large corporate entities were spun off from Dot namely, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) in February 1986 for Delhi and Mumbai and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) in March 1986 for all international services. TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) spun off BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) for meeting the requirements of telecommunication and other services on all India bases. This began the process of corporatization of services that had hitherto been under a Government department.
ENTRY OF PRIVATE SECTOR A paradigm shift in government policy came in the early nineties when the telecommunication sector was opened up to the private sector. The process of entry of private operators in providing telecommunication services in india commenced in 1992.
apart from privatizing basic telephone services government also decided to introduce a number of value added services through private operators, such as cellular mobile telephones, radio paging, e-mail, internet, closed user groups (cug), etc., which add to the value of the existing basic telephone services.
1.1.4 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
Telecom Landscape In India Has Changed Completely Since Liberalization And Monopolies In Telecom Sector Have Been Replaced With Competitive Regime (Oligopolies). It Is A Well-Known Fact That BSNL Was Carved Out Of Erstwhile DOT To Provide Level Playing Field To Private Telecoms. Since Then Many New Business Firms Have Entered In The Arena And Today There Is Merciless Cutthroat Competition In This Sector.
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Even Though Competition Is Bonanza For Subscribers But For Corporate It Is The Question Of Survivability. If They Are Not In A Position To Earn Sufficient Revenue From The Operations Which Not Only Meets Their Growth And Expansion Plans But Are Necessary For Paying All Government Levies And Dues As Revenue Share, Spectrum Charges, USO Fund Contribution Etc. As Well As Meeting Internal Requirements Like Operation And Administration Expenditures, Staff Costs, Interest And Repayment Of Debt Etc.
Corporate Are Also Under Tremendous Pressure From Investors To Show Better Results So That They Also Get Handsome Returns On Their Investments In The Form Of Dividends Or Appreciation In Share Values. To Meet All Such Requirements Corporate Management Some Time Indulges Into Creative Accounting To Artificial Boost The Profit Figures Because At The End Of Day It Is The Profit, Which Matters Most To Any Business Organization If It Is Not A Non-Profit Organization.
There Is Mandatory Requirement For All Companies To File Following Three Audited Statements To Company Law Board At The Closure Of Every Financial Year I.E. Balance Sheet As On The Last Day Of Financial Year, Profit And Loss Account For The Whole Accounting Year And Cash Flow Statement. For Stake Holders And Investors It Becomes Necessary To Look Beyond The Figures Quoted In These Statements And Carry Out The In Depth Financial Analysis To Take Appropriate Decision Regarding Their Investment And Other Important Decisions. In Respect Of BSNL Analysis Carried Out Is Based On Its Audited Balance Sheet And Profit And Loss Accounts Taken From Its Annual Reports.
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1.1.5 ROLE OF COMMUNICATION SERVICES IN NATIONAL
GROWTH:Proportion of communication services in GDP is increasing at faster rate, as it is evident from the
following table.
SHARE % IN GDP GROWTH
CONSTRUCTION 5.4 7.3
HOTEL 1.1 4.0
RAILWAYS 1.1 5.7
COMMUNICATION 3.5 22.0
BANKING & INSURANCE 6.9 11.6
TRADE 14.0 4.5
TRANSPORT 4.3 6.0
TABLE1.1: TABLE SHOWING THE SHARE OF SERVICE SECTOR IN
GDP
FROM ABOVE TABLE IT IS CLEAR THAT GROWTH RATE (22%) OF COMMUNICATION
SERVICES IN GDP IS HIGHEST AND PROPORTION AND IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION
SERVICES IS CONTINUOUSLY INCREASING. IT IS CONSIDERED AS GROWTH ENGINE FOR
OVERALL ECONOMIC GROWTH. GRAPH GIVEN BELOW INDICATES THE EXPONENTIAL
GROWTH OF TELECOMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE IN INDIA. AS OF NOW TOTAL
TELEPHONES (BASIC + MOBILE) OF ALL OPERATORS PUT TOGETHER HAS CROSSED
30CRORES.
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1.1.6 TARGETS SET BY THE GOVERNMENT
1. Network expansion
800 million connections by the year 2012.
2. Rural telephony
200 million rural subscribers by 2012
Reduce urban-rural digital divide from present 25:1 to 5:1 by 2010.
3. Broadband
20 million Broadband connections by 2010
Broadband with minimum speed of 1 mbps.
Broadband coverage for all secondary & higher secondary schools and public
health care centres by the end of year 2010.
Broadband coverage for all Grampanchayats by the year 2010
Broadband on demand is every village by 2012
4. Manufacturing
Making India a hub for telecom manufacturing by facilitating more and more
telecom specific SEZs.
Quadrupling production in 2010.
Achieving exports of 10 billion during 11th Five year plan.
5. Research & Development
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Pre-eminence of India as a technology solution provider.
Comprehensive security infrastructure for telecom network.
Tested infrastructure for enabling interoperability in Next Generation Network.
1.1.7 NETWORK EXPANSION
The telecom sector has shown robust growth during the past few years. It has also undergone a
substantial change in terms of mobile versus fixed phones and public versus private participation.
The following data shows the growth trend of telecom sector from last five years:
The number of telephones has increased from 54.63 million as on 31.03.2003 to 621.28 million
as on 31.03.2010. Wireless subscribers increased from 13.3 million as on 31.03.2003 to 584.32
million as on 31.03.2010. Whereas, the fixed line subscribers decreased from 41.33 million in
31.03.2003 to 36.95 million in 31.03.2010. The broadband subscribers grew from a meager 0.18
million to 8.76 million as on 31.03.2010.
Trend in Tele-density
Tele-density in the country increased from 5.11% in 2003 to 52.74 % in March 2010. In the rural
area Tele-density increased from 1.49% in Mar 2003 to 24.31% in March 2010 and in the urban
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areas it is increased from 14.32% in Mar 2003 to119.45% in March 2010.This indicates a rising
trend of Indian telecom subscribers.
Rural Telephony
Apart from the 200.77million fixed and WLL connections on March 2011 provided in the rural
areas, 570000 uncovered VPTs have been provided as on March 2011. Thus, 96% of the villages
in India have been covered by the VPTs. More than 3 lakh PCOs are also providing community
access in the rural areas. Further, Mobile Gramin Sanchar Sewak Scheme (GSS) a mobile Public
Call Office (PCO) service is provided at the doorstep of villagers. At present, 2772 GSSs are
covering 12043 villages. Also, to provide Internet service, Sanchar Dhabas (Internet Kiosks)
have been provided in more than 3500 Block Headquarters out of the total 6337 Blocks in the
country. The target of 80 million rural connections by 2011 have already met during year 2008
itself. USOF subsidy support scheme is also being utilized for sharing wireless infrastructure in
rural areas with about 19,000 towers by 2012.
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Market Shares of Rural Subscribers
Market Shares of Wire line Subscribers
1.1.8 INDIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS AT A GLANCE
(As on 31st March 2010)
Rank in world in network size 3rd
Tele-density (per hundred populations) 52.74
Telephone connection (In millions)
Fixed 36.95
Mobile 548.32
Total 621.28
Village Public Telephones inhabited (Out of
5,93,601 uncovered villages)
5,69,385
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Foreign Direct Investment (in millions) (from
April 2000 till March 2010)
4070
Licenses issued
Basic 2
CMTS 38
UAS 241
Infrastructure Provider I 219
ISP (Internet) 371
National Long distance 29
International Long Distance 24
TABLE SHOWING THE STATUS OF TELECOMMUNICATION SECTOR AT A GLANCE
Opportunities
India offers an unprecedented opportunity for telecom service operators, infrastructure vendors,
manufacturers and associated services companies. A host of factors are contributing to enlarged
opportunities for growth and investment in telecom sector:
An expanding Indian economy with increased focus on the services sector
Population mix moving favorably towards a younger age profile
Urbanization with increasing incomes
Investors can look to capture the gains of the Indian telecom boom and diversify their operations
outside developed economies that are marked by saturated telecom markets and lower GDP
growth rates.
Inflow of FDI into India’s telecom sector during April 2000 to Feb. 2010 was about Rs 405,460
million. Also, more than 8 per cent of the approved FDI in the country is related to the telecom
sector.
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1.2 COMPANY PROFILE
BSNL: BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED
Type State-owned enterprise
Industry Telecommunications
Headquarters New Delhi, India
Key people Rakesh Kumar
Upadhyay(CMD)
Revenue 32,045crore(US$7.15billion)
Net income -1,822crore(US$-.41billion)
Total assets 132,243crore (US$29.49 billion
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. formed on 1 st October ‘2000, is one of the largest & leading public
sector units providing comprehensive range of telecom services in India.
BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country & now focusing on improving it,
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MISSION
expanding the network, introducing new telecom services with ICT applications in villages &
winning customer's confidence.
Today, it has about 43.74 million line basic telephone capacity, 8.83 million WLL capacity,
72.60 million GSM capacity, 37,885 fixed exchanges, 68,162 GSM BTSs, 12,071 CDMA
Towers, 197 Satellite Stations, 6,86,644 RKm. of OFC, 50,430 RKm. of microwave network
connecting 623 districts, 7330 cities/towns & 5.8 lakhs villages .
BSNL is the only service provider, making focused efforts & planned initiatives to bridge the
rural-urban digital divide in ICT sector. In fact there is no telecom operator in the country to beat
its reach with its wide network giving services in every nook & corner of the country & operates
across India except New Delhi & Mumbai. Whether it is inaccessible areas of Siachen glacier or
North-Eastern regions of the country, BSNL serves its customers with a wide bouquet of telecom
services namely Wire line, CDMA mobile, GSM mobile, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service,
MPLS-VPN, VSAT, VoIP, IN Services, FTTH, etc.
Be the leading telecom service provider in India with global presence.
Create a customer focused organization with excellence in customer care, sales and
marketing.
Leverage technology to provide affordable and innovative telecom service/products across
customer segments.
Be the leading telecom service provider in India with global presence.
Generating value for all stakeholders - employees, shareholders, vendors & business
associates
Maximizing return on existing assets with sustained focus on profitability.
Becoming the most trusted preferred and admired telecom brand.
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VISION
OBJECTIVES
To explore International markets for Global presence
Creating a customer focused organization with excellence in customer care, sales&
marketing:-
Developing a marketing and sales culture that is responsive to customer needs.
Excellence in customer service-‘friendly, reliable, time bound, convenient and
courteous service’.
Leveraging technology to provide affordable and innovative products/ services across
customer segments:-
Offering differentiated products/services tailored to different service segments.
Providing reliable telecom services that are value for money.
Providing a conducive work environment with strong focus on performance:-
Attracting talent and keeping them motivated.
Enhancing employee’s skills and utilizing them effectively.
Encouraging and rewarding individual and team/group performance.
Establishing efficient business processes enabled by IT:-
Changing policies and processes to enable transparent, quick and efficient
decision making.
Building effective IT systems and tools.
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To be the Leading Telecom Services provider by achieving higher rate of growth so as to
become a profitable enterprise.
To provide quality and reliable fixed telecom service to our customer and thereby increase
customers confidence.
To provide customer friendly mobile telephone service of high quality and play a leading role
as GSM operator in its area of operation.
Strategy for:
Rightsizing the manpower.
Providing greater customer satisfaction.
Contribute towards:
Broadband customers base of 20 Million in India by the end of 2011-12 as per
broadband policy 2004.
Providing telephone connections in villages as per Government policy.
To leverage the existing infrastructure of BSNL for facilitating implementation of
other government programmes and initiatives particularly in the rural areas.
3.1.1MAIN SERVICES BEING PROVIDED BY BSNL
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BSNL provides almost every telecom service, however following are the main Telecom Services being
provided by BSNL in India:-
Universal Telecom Services Fixed wire line services & Wireless in Local loop (WLL) using
CDMA Technology called bfone and Tarang respectively. BSNL is dominant operator in fixed
line. As on March 31, 2010 (end of financial year) BSNL had 76% share of fixed and WLL
phones.
BSNL Mobile Pre-paid Mobile
Cellular Mobile Telephone Services: BSNL is major provider of Cellular Mobile Telephone
services using GSM platform under brand name Cellone. Pre-paid Cellular services of BSNL are
known as Excel. As on March 31, 2010 BSNL had 17% share of mobile telephony in the
country.
BSNL Broadband
Internet: BSNL is providing internet as dial-up connection (Sancharnet) and ADSL-Broadband
Data one. BSNL has around 50% market share in broadband in India. BSNL has planned
aggressive rollout in broadband for current financial year.
Intelligent Network (IN): BSNL is providing IN services like tele-voting, toll free calling,
premium calling etc.
3G Services: 3G Technology Provides high speed data services (2 Mbps to 14.4 Mbps) as
compared to:- (a) GPRS: which provides 110 kbps (b) EDGE: which provides 384 kbps. In 3G
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Technology Services such as High Speed Internet, Video Conferencing, Video streaming,
gaming, Video on Demand, Full track music, Multi screen TV, Video ring tone etc., are offered.
1.3 AIRTEL
Industry Telecommunications
Founded 7 July 1995
Founder(s) Sunil Bharti Mittal
Headquarters New Delhi, India
Profit $2.079 billion (2010)
Total assets $15.527 billion (2010)
Total equity $9.491 billion (2010)
Parent Bharti Enterprises(63.45%)
SingTel (32.15%)
Vodafone (4.4%)
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Bharti Airtel Limited commonly now known as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications
company that operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. It
operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or 3G services depending upon the
country of operation. Airtel is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world with about
230.8 million subscribers across 19 countries at the end of June 20. It is the largest cellular
service provider in India, with over 171.85 million subscribers as of August 2011. Airtel is the
3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China
Unicom.
Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephony and second largest provider of fixed
telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services. It
offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti
Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve this Cisco Gold Certification. To
earn Gold Certification, Bharti Airtel had to meet rigorous standards for networking competency,
service, support and customer satisfaction set forth by Cisco. The company also provides land-
line telephone services and broadband Internet access (DSL) in over 96 cities in India. It also
acts as a carrier for national and international long distance communication services. The
company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable
connecting Chennai and Singapore.
It is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource everything except
marketing and sales and finance. Its network (base stations, microwave links, etc.) are
maintained by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei, business support by IBM and
transmission towers by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India).Ericsson agreed for the
first time, to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather
than being paid up front. This enabled the company to provide pan-India phone call rates of Rs.
1/minute (U$0.02/minute). Call rates have come down much further. During the last financial
year [2009–10], Bharti has roped in a strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network
infrastructure for the Telemedia Business.
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1.4 IDEA
CELLULAR
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Industry Telecommunications
Founded 1995
Headquarters Mumbai, India
Revenue 15,389.00 crore2011
Total assets US$5.334 billion
Parent Aditya Birla Group (49.05%)
Axiata Group Berhad (15%)
Providence Equity (10.6%)
Idea Cellular, usually referred to as Idea, is an Indian wireless telecom company based
in Mumbai, India. Idea is the 3rd largest mobile services operator in India, in revenue terms, and
recorded of over 98.4 million customers as of August 2011.
IDEA Cellular is a publicly listed company, having listed on BSE & NSE in March 2007. It is
the 3rd largest mobile services operator in India with wireless revenue market share at 13.9 % in
Q1 FY2012. Idea has joined the select global operator’s club servicing over 100 million
subscribers, as of September 2011. Idea is a pan-India integrated GSM operator and has its own
NLD and ILD operations, and ISP license.
With traffic in excess of a billion minutes a day, Idea ranks among the Top 10 country operators
in the world. Idea operates across all 22 service areas with 2G services, and 3G services are
being progressively rolled out to cover over 3,000 towns by FY 2012.
Idea has a network of over 70,000 cell sites covering the entire length and breadth of the country.
Idea has over 3,000 Service Centres servicing Idea subscribers across the country, including 450
special Experience Zones for 3G promotion. Idea’s service delivery platform is ISO 9001:2008
certified, making it the only operator in the country to have this standard certification for all 22
service areas and the corporate office.
Idea’s strong growth in the Indian telephony market comes from its deep penetration in non-
urban & rural markets. It has the highest share of rural subscribers as a percentage of total
subscribers, amongst other GSM players. In fact, 2 out of every 3 new Idea subscribers come
from rural/ semi-urban India. Idea Cellular Limited (IDEA Cellular) is a mobile services operator
in India. Idea is a pan-India integrated global system for mobile communication (GSM) operator
and has its own national long distance (NLD) and international long distance (ILD) operations.
IDEA Cellular is an Aditya Birla Group Company.
The Company provides mobile services in all 22 service areas of India. The Company operates
in two business segments: Mobility Services and Long Distance. Mobility Services provide GSM
based mobile and related telephony services. Long Distance provides national and international
long distance services. In March, 2011, the Company launched its 3G services and same is
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extended to 9 out of these 11 service areas. On January 20, 2011, the Company launched mobile
number portability (MNP), an invite to all Indian mobile customers to change their wireless
operator, while retaining their mobile number.
1.5 RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS
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Industry Telecommunications
Founded 2004
Headquarters Mumbai, India
Revenue 22766.00 crore2011
Total assets 80395 crore
Parent Reliance Group
Reliance Communications Ltd. (commonly called RCOM) is an Indian broadband and
telecommunications company headquartered in Navi Mumbai, India. RCOM is the world's
16th largest mobile phone operator with over 150 million subscribers. Established on 2004, a
subsidiary of the Reliance Group. The company has five segments: Wireless segment
includes wireless operations of the company; broadband segment includes broadband
operations of the company; Global segment include national long distance and international
long distance operations of the company and the wholesale operations of its subsidiaries;
Investment segment includes investment activities of the Group companies, and Other
segment consists of the customer care activities and direct-to-home (DTH) activities.
It ranks among the top 5 telecommunications companies. Reliance Communications
corporate clientele includes 2,100 Indian and multinational corporations, and over 800
global, regional and domestic carriers. The company has established a pan-India, next-
generation, integrated (wireless and wire line), convergent (voice, data and video) digital
network that is capable of supporting services spanning the entire communications value
chain, covering over 24,000 towns and 600,000 villages. Reliance Communications owns
and operates the next-generation IP-enabled connectivity infrastructure, comprising over
190,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable systems in India, USA, Europe, Middle East and the
Asia Pacific region.
Main subsidiaries:
Reliance Telecommunication Limited (RTL)
In July 2007, the company announced it was buying US-based managed ethernet and
application delivery services company Yipes Enterprise Services for a cash amount of 1200
crore (the equivalent of US$300 million). The deal was announced of the overseas
acquisition, the Reliance group has amalgamated the United States-based Flag Telecom for
$210 million (roughly 950 crore). RTL operates in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal
Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Assam, Kolkata and Northeast, offering GSM services.
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1.6 VODAFONE
Industry Telecommunications
Founded 1991
Type Public Limited Company
Headquarters London, UK
Profit $2.079 billion (2010)
Total assets $15.527 billion (2010)
Parent Bharti Enterprises(63.45%)
SingTel (32.15%)
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Vodafone (4.4%)
Vodafone Group (LSE: VOD, NASDAQ: VOD) is a British multinational
telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's
largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-
largest measured by subscribers (behind China Mobile), with over 391 million subscribers as
of September 2011.
Vodafone owns and operates networks in over 30 countries and has partner networks in over
40 additional countries. It owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the largest mobile
telecommunications company in the United States measured by subscribers. The name
Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen by the company to "reflect the provision of
voice and data services over mobile phones".
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 £89.4 billion as of 23
December 2011, the second-largest of any company listed on the London Stock Exchange. It
has a secondary listing on NASDAQ.
Vodafone India, formerly Vodafone Essar and Hutchison Essar, is the third largest mobile
network operator in India after Airtel and Reliance Communications. It is based in Mumbai,
Maharashtra and which operates nationally. It has approximately 146.84 million customers as
of November 2011.
On July 2011, Vodafone Group agreed terms for the buy-out of its partner Essar from its
Indian mobile phone business. The UK firm paid $5.46 billion to its Indian counterpart to
take Essar out of its 33% stake in the Indian subsidiary. It will leave Vodafone owning 74%
of the Indian business, while the other 26% will be owned by Indian investors, in compliance
with Indian law. On 11 February, 2007, Vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest
of 67% held by Li Ka Shing Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion, pipping Reliance
Communications, Hinduja Group, and Essar Group, which is the owner of the remaining
33%. The whole company was valued at USD 18.8 billion. The transaction closed on 8 May,
30
2007. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India with
good presence in the metros.
Vodafone India provides 2.75G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM
technology. Vodafone India launched 3G services in the country in the January-March
quarter of 2011 and plans to spend up to $500 million within two years on its 3G networks.
CHAPTER 2
31
LITRATURE REWIEW
32
INTRODUCTION
The growth in demand for telecom services in India is not limited to basic telephone services. India has witnessed rapid growth in cellular, radio paging; value added services, internet and global communication by satel item (GMPCS) services. The agents of change, as observed from international perspective, have been broadly categorized into economic structure, competition policy and technology. Economic reforms and liberalization have driven telecom sector through several transmission channels of which these three categories are of major significance.
The effective research cannot be accomplished without critically studying what already exists in the form of general literature and specific studies. Therefore, it is considered as an important pre-requisite for actual planning and execution of research project. This helps to formulate hypotheses and framework for further investigation. In this research, the survey of literature has been classified into two parts - studies related to telecom sector and studies related to marketing strategies. STUDIES RELATED TO GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIAN TELECOM SECTOR Muller (1990)1 in his a research focuses that the success of the mobile commerce can be attributed to the personal nature of wireless devices. Adding to this are its unique features of voice and data transmission and distinct features like localization, feasibility and convenience. The sustained growth of the mobile commerce around the world has been more because of the transfer of technology according to the needs of localy.
National Telecom Policy (1999)2 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.
According to Wellenius and Stern (2001)3
information is regarded today as a fundamental factor of production, alongside capital and labor. The information economy accounted for one-third to one-half of gross domestic product (GDP) and of employment in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in the 1980s and is expected to reach 60 percent for the European Community in the year 2000. Information also accounts for a substantial proportion of GDP in the newly industrialized economies and the modern sectors of developing countries.
Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) 16th Annual Report (2002)4 India like many other countries has adopted a gradual approach to telecom sector reform through selective privatization and managed competition in different segments of the telecom sector. India introduced private competition in value-added services in 1992 followed by opening up of cellular and basic services for local area to competition. Competition was also introduced
33
in National Long Distance (NLD) and International Long Distance (ILD) at the start of the current decade.
World Telecommunication Development Report (2002)5 explains that network expression in India was accompanied by an increase in productivity of telecom staff measured in terms of ratio of number of main lines in 69 .
Indian Telecommunication Statistics (2002)6 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.
A study by Jeanette Carless on and Salvador Arias (2004)10 wireless substitution is producing significant traffic migration from wire line to wireless and helping to fuel fierce price competition, resulting in margin squeezes for both wire line voice tariffs in organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Countries have fallen by an average of three percent per year between 1999 and 2003.
T.V. Ramachandran (2005) 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.
ASEAN India Synergy Sectors (2005)13 point out that high quality of telecommunication infrastructure is the pillar of growth for information technology (IT) and IT enabled services. Keeping this in view, the focus of 71 telecom policy is vision of world class telecommunication services at reasonable rates. Provision of telecom services in rural areas would be another thrust area to attain the goal of accelerated economic development and social change. Convergence of services is a major new emerging area.
segments in the cellular market were the youth segment and business class segment. The youth segment at the inaugural session of cellular summit, 2005, the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran had proudly stated that Indian telecom had reached the landmark of 100 million telecom subscribers of which 50% were mobile phone users. Whereas in African countries like Togo and Cape Verde have a coverage of 90% while India manages a merely mobile coverage of 20%.
34
Marine and Blanchard (2005)16 identifies the reasons for the unexpected boom in mobile networks. According to them, cell phones, based on Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) standard require less investment as compared to fixed lines. Besides this, a wireless infrastructure has more mobility, sharing of usage, rapid profitability. Besides this, usage of prepaid cards is the extent of 90% simplifies management of customer base. Moreover, it is suitable to people’s way of life-rural, urban, and sub-urban subscribers.
Illustrating the lead achieved by Gujarat. According to Business and Economy (2005)17 the catalyst for Indian mobile operators in the future will undoubtedly be increased marketing and advertisement expenditure, along with better deals for mobile phone users like the previously mentioned full talk time Rs. 10 recharge card, will go a long way in not only retaining customers but also acquiring the vast market of lowered customers who are extremely sticky about value for money and have extremely low loyalties and almost non-existent switching costs.
According to Oliver Stehmann (2005)18the telecommunications industry is characterized by rapid innovation in the service and the transmission market. The legally protected public or private monopolist does not have the same incentive to foster innovation that would exist in a competitive environment. Thus, state intervention based on the natural monopoly argument neglects dynamic aspects, which are crucial in the telecommunications sector. Marketing White book (2005)19 explains with support of detailed data that bigger players are close to 20% of the market each. In CDMA market, it is Reliance Infocom and Tata Teleservices are dominating the scene whereas Airtel is lead in GSM operators. Between 2003 and 2004, the total subscriber base of the private GSM operators doubled. It rose from 12.6 million subscribers at the end of March 2003 to 26.1 million by the end of March 2004. And yet that 100% growth rate notwithstanding, total industry revenue for 2003-04 was around Rs. 8308 crores. Compared to Rs. 6400 crores that industry grossed in 2002-2003, that is an increase of 30%.
According Economic Times (2005)20Indian mobile phone market is set to surge ahead since urban India has a teledensity of 30 whereas rural India has a teledensity of 1.74. It indicates that the market is on ascent, with more than 85000 villages yet is come under teleconnectivity.
.
Virat Bahri (2006) explains the viewpoint of Sam Pitroda the Chairman of Worldtel that identifies opportunities for investments in telecommunications. He analyses that there is an increasing role for telecom in e-governance in India. According to him, technology can be leveraged to take India’s 74 development to next level.
According to Snyder (2006)23 Communications is a process that allows information to pass between a sender and one or more receiver’s and. the transfer of meaningful information or ideas from one location to a second location. Communications is a human process; humans communicate by sending information between themselves. Whereas, telecommunication is the transmission of data or information over a distance. Tele is a Greek word meaning at a distance, far off. Thus, it classifies smoke signals, semaphore flags, lanterns and signal flares, telegraph systems, televisions, telephones, written letters, and hand signals as capabilities that support
35
telecommunications. The problems with these communications forms include reliability, speed of transmission, and comprehension purposes.
According to Rohit Prasad & V.Sridhar (2007)24 this is one of the first such attempt to analyze the tradeoffs between low market power and economics of scale for sustained growth of mobile services in the country. Our analysis of the data on mobile services in India indicates the existence of economies of scale in this sector. We also calculate the upper bound on the optimal number of operators in each license service area so that policies that make appropriate tradeoffs between competition and efficiency can be formulated.
STUDIES RELATED TO TECHNOLOGY UPGRADATION IN TELECOM SECTOR
Uehara (1990); King (1990); Glynn (1992); Mutoh (1994)26 emphasized that technological changes in the telecom and computers have radically changed the business scenario. In turn, the new demands of business have spurred many telecom based technological innovations. In order to exploit these innovations for competing in global markets, business community has been putting pressures on governments to revise the policy, regulation and structure of the telecom sector. Several countries across the world have responded by restructuring the state controlled telecom provider, increasing private participation and deregulating service provisions.
Business Today (1992) pointed out that due to lack of technical and financial resources especially foreign exchange, the DOT generally lagged behind in its level of technology. India’s indigenization program in the switching segment carried out by C-DOT was successful in the introduction of rural exchanges designed especially for Indian conditions characterized by dust, heat and humidity. According to Economic Commission for Europe (2000)28 this transition of the telecommunication area is mainly technology driven. The borderline between computers and electronics, on the one hand, and telecommunications, on the other, is disappearing. This convergence of technologies has led to the acceleration of the innovation process, which
36
CHAPTER 3 RESEACH METHODOLOGY
37
2.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
To get an overview of Telecom Industry.
Explore the services and products offered by the telecom service provider to
individual customers.
Understand the perception of the customers with respect to services offered by
telecom service provider.
To study the customer satisfaction and understand the current market scenario
in Telecom Sector.
Conclude and enumerate the innovations required to reduce the misconception
and increase the customer base of telecom service provider.
2.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The purpose of research is to discover answers to the questions through the application of
scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which
has not been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own specific purpose, we may
think of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad categories:
To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it.
To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group.
To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated
with something else.
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be
understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we study the various
steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in studying his research problem along with the
logic behind them.
38
2.3 RESEARCH DESIGN
Descriptive Research:
Descriptive research, also known as statistical research, describes data and characteristics about
the population or phenomenon being studied. Descriptive research answers the questions who,
what, where, when and how.
The description is used for frequencies, averages and other statistical calculations. Often the best
approach, prior to writing descriptive research, is to conduct a survey investigation. Qualitative
research often has the aim of description and researchers may follow-up with examinations of
why the observations exist and what the implications of the findings are.
Sample
Sample Size: 100
Survey: Questionnaire
2.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Scope of the study is to understand the various services and the products offered by the
Telecom Service provider to the customers and to find out the perception of customers
about the services being offered and the customer expectations.
An effort is also made to suggest some effective measures of raising the customer
satisfaction level to Telecom Service provider.
The study was done taking five telecom service provider into consideration. They are
BSNL, Idea, Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance.
The customers chosen for the survey are those who are rendering services of the public or
private sector for reasonable time and therefore are analyzed for their level of satisfaction
about the services being provided to them.
The survey was restricted to the customers in Delhi.
39
2.5 METHODOLOGY:
The report aims to assimilate data about the various aspects of telecom services, to analyze the
perceptions of the customers regarding the services offered in Calling and messaging services
and their relative expectations. We have taken 5 Telecom Service providers which represent the
Public and Private telecom Industry in India-
BSNL
Airtel
Vodafone
Idea
Reliance
The criteria for selecting these Telecom Service Provider were their customer base. We have
limited our Service Category to the core services in Telecom and a few specialized services like
3G and mobile banking.
The report is a mixture of Secondary and Primary data, with Questionnaires being our
major instrument to collect primary data.
Major topics we have attempted to cover in this project are to: -
Explore the services and products offered by the Telecom Service Provider to
individual customers.
Understand the perception of the customers with respect to services offered to them.
Study different Growth drivers which act as an effective tool of development in the
Telecom Industry.
2.6 SAMPLING PLAN:
Sampling Unit:
Sampling unit has been done on Grade scale from 1 to 5 for each question.
Sampling Technique:
40
The sampling was done by Filling up common questionnaires with 15 questions under
consideration by customers which provide the services of different telecom giants to the
customers.
Sample Size:
The sample size of the customers was 100.
2.7 DATA COLLECTION METHOD:
Secondary Data:
In order to have a proper understanding of the Telecom sector, a depth study was done from the
various sources such as Books like Telecommunication Network by J.E. Hood, Mobile
Communication by Jochen Schiller, Magazines like Alcatel Lucent on mobile and broadband
services were reviewed. A lot of data is also collected from the official websites of the telecom
service providers and the articles from various search engines like Google, yahoo search and
answers.com.
Primary Data:
The primary data was collected by means of a survey. Questionnaires were prepared and
customers were approached to fill up the questionnaires. The questionnaire contains 15 questions
which reflect on the type and quality of services provided by the Telecom sector to the
customers. The filled up information was later analyzed to obtain the required interpretation and
the findings.
2.8 FIELD WORK:
For the customers ‘cold calling’ was the approach employed. The customers coming to the
retailers were approached and as per their convenience and acceptance the questions were put to
them and the answers given by them duly filled up. Here too probing was employed where
deemed necessary.
41
CHAPTER 4FINDINGS AND
ANALYSIS OF DATA
ANALYSIS OF DATA
42
3.1 SEGMENTS OF TELECOMMUNICATION
Telecommunication sector in India can be divided into two segments: Fixed Service Provider
(FSPs), and Cellular Services. Fixed line services consist of basic services, national or domestic
long distance and international long distance services. The state operators (BSNL and MTNL),
account for almost 90 per cent of revenues from basic services. Private sector services are
presently available in selective urban areas, and collectively account for less than 5 per cent of
subscriptions. However, private services focus on the business/corporate sector, and offer
reliable, high- end services, such as leased lines, ISDN, closed user group and
videoconferencing.
Cellular services can be further divided into two categories:
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
The GSM sector is dominated by Airtel, Vodafone-Hutch, and Idea Cellular, while the CDMA
Sector is dominated by Reliance and Tata Indicom. Opening up of international and domestic
long distance telephony services are the major growth drivers for cellular industry. Cellular
operators get substantial revenue from these services, and compensate them for reduction in
tariffs on airtime, which along with rental was the main source of revenue. The reduction in
tariffs for airtime, national long distance, international long distance, and handset prices has
driven demand.
Classification of Telecommunication services
1. Basic services/Fixed line services
2. Cellular services
3. Internet Service Provider (ISP)
The telecom sector has shown robust growth during the past few years. It has also undergone a
substantial change in terms of mobile versus fixed phones and public versus private participation.
43
1) Fixed Line Overview:
A monopoly sector controlled by Government until 1996
Today 6 service providers, 2 State Owned, rest private
Subscriber base 40.48 million (September 2011)
Sector growth slowed since mobile tariffs fell
Only 1.83 million subscribers were added in one year (May 2010-May 2011)
Increased competition from CDMA Services
The major players like BSNL, MTNL, and VSNL in the fixed line 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.
There were 94.65 million telephony customers added during the year of 2010-11. Indian
telephony has achieved the growth of 53% from 2010 to 2011. Tele-density can be described as
telephones per hundred populations.
In India, fixed line service is firstly run by BSNL/MTNL and after there are several other private
44
62
38
PublicPrivate
players too, such as Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices and Airtel fixed line is facing stiff
competition from mobile telephones. The competition has forced the fixed line services to
become more efficient. The fixed line network quality has improved and connectionsare now
usually available on demand, even in high density urban areas. There were 1.12 million fixed line
subscribers added during March-2010. With this, total 49.42 million fixed line subscribers were
added in March- 2011.
2) Wireless Overview:
29 million GSM, 9 million CDMA subscribers (June 2011)
Both GSM 900 & 1800 present
CDMA operators use 1800 MHz Band
Number portability is missing
Government is yet to make decision on 3G spectrum
India's telecom sector is carved into 23 circles or zones, classified as "metro" and "A", "B" and "C" circles, based on subscriber potential
Unified licensing introduced in 2004
As a part of Unified license policy, 15% of operator revenues go to the government
To operate, each circle requires a different license
Lowest call tariffs in the world -- as low as one Euro cent a minute on average
The Wireless (Mobile and WLL) Market has reached 129.54 million as on 30 thSeptember 2010
against 112.14 million subscribers in the previous quarter. During this quarter, 17.4 million
subscribers were added, thus recording a growth of 15.52%. By the end of March 2011, total wireless
subscribers were increased to 1725.11 lakhs..
45
• Cable TV
New technological developments in cable TV networks have made it possible to send data
in both directions via usage of different channels on separate blocks of 6 MHz frequencies,
making Internet access over cable TV a viable solution. Presently, there are 71millions Cable TV
subscribers in India, hence one can assume that this last mile infrastructure reaches more people
than even the copper loop infrastructure (40 millions) and can be leveraged in providing cable
operators with a new business model while giving a stimulus to broadband penetration. However,
this cable TV network requires lot of up-gradation, and, in turn, added cost. In the US and
Canada, the cable TV network is a dominant form of access for broadband services.
• Direct to Home
DTH is another technology that could be used for providing broadband services. At
present, it is being used for TV transmission only; however, it can be utilized as the downlink path
for providing broadband connections. Uplink (connectivity to the ISP equipment/node) shall
have to be through independent connections, may be, through dial up/GPRS/EDGE, but the cost
of the uplink is the main issue to determine success and popularity of this option.
• Satellite
The provision for broadband using satellite is another option but the cost of such a network
is extremely high. Hence, satellite can at best be used in remote and inaccessible hilly areas but
it might not be the most appropriate option where other technologies can provide cheaper
broadband service.
• Fiber Optics
The fiber optics technology can provide unlimited bandwidth and the national long
distance network has major deployment of this technology. This technology has also replaced
the copper network in the intra-city backbone network. The fiber-based models are capable of
46
providing a huge amount of bandwidth in the last mile, as well as, provide a true IP and
converged network that can deliver high quality voice, data, and video. Fiber to the Curb (FTTC)
and Fiber to the Home (FTTH) networks make use of fiber cable into the last mile. Such a
network is quite suitable for providing high- speed broadband services. Some operators have
implemented overlay optical fiber networks in big towns for providing large bandwidths to
industrial and big commercial organizations. However, their initial deployment cost is very high,
mainly due to the high cost of laying the cable.
• Wireless Technology
Wireless network is another option to provide wider broadband access solutions. Initially,
wireless networks were considered a solution for providing telecom facilities to harsh
landscapes and lightly populated areas where it was difficult to provide conventional wire-line
networks, as the cost of wireless networks were comparatively higher. Technological
developments in the wireless facility during the last one- decade have completely changed the
telecom scenario.
Mobile services have taken over the fixed line network on account of reduction in the cost of
the equipment, ease of installation, operation and maintenance, flexibility for service providers,
and convenience to end users. Wherever the penetration of copper loops is not widely spread, the
laying of new copper cables and optical fiber cables is an expensive option due to high cost of
right-of-way and high operational cost. Therefore, wireless-based access is an ideal solution for
widespread last mile coverage through a combination of different technologies like WiMax,
Wi-Fi, etc. These technologies have the added advantage of interoperability and economy of
scale due to international standardization. However, for the deployment of any wireless
technology, suitable and sufficient spectrum availability and its efficient utilization is a must.
• Wireless fidelity
• WiMax
47
Wi Max (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) is a high- speed wireless
technology that supports fixed, nomadic, portable, and mobile access. It is claimed that WiMax
can provide speeds up to 14.4 Mbps and is likely to support much higher speeds with further
advancement. Due to the support for higher speeds, wider coverage and ease of installation,
WiMax is considered one of the most promising technologies to provide high-speed Internet.
INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND INCENTIVES
An attractive trade and investment policy and lucrative incentives for foreign collaborations
have made India one of the world’s most attractive markets for the telecom equipment
suppliers and service providers.
No industrial license required for setting up manufacturing units for telecom
equipment.
100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is allowed through automatic route for
manufacturing of telecom equipments.
Payments for royalty, lumpsumfee for transfer of technology and payments for use of
trademark/brand name on the automatic route.
Foreign equity of 74% (49 % under automatic route) permitted for telecom services -
basic, cellular mobile, paging, value added services, NLD, ILD, ISPs - and global
mobile personal communications by satellite.
Full reparability of dividend income and capital invested in the telecom sector.
3.2NETWORK EXPANSION
The telecom sector has shown robust growth during the past few years. It has also undergone
a substantial change in terms of mobile versus fixed phones and public versus private
48
participation.
The number of telephones has increased from 54.63 million as on 31.03.2003 to 621.28
million as on 31.03.2010. Wireless subscribers increased from 13.3 million as on 31.03.2003
to 584.32 million as on 31.03.2010. Whereas, the fixed line subscribers decreased from
41.33 million in 31.03.2003 to 36.95 million in 31.03.2010. The broadband subscribers grew
from a meager 0.18 million to 8.76 million as on 31.03.2010.
INDUSTRY GROWTH DRIVERS
Fixed Line Segment.
Capacity expansion of fixed line exchanges helped consumers avail
Quick connections.
Quick connection availability boosted number of fixed line
Wireless Segment.
Vast geographic expanse of India acted as a catalyst to boost mobility.
Low call costs since 2002 fueled the wireless segment.
Narrowing gap of call costs between fixed and wireless convinced
Customers to subscribe to wireless connections.
Nationwide roaming facilities on GSM.
SMS facility.
Internet + Subscription bundling.
The rationale behind the above segmentation is to identify customers on the basis of their stage
in life and hence to tailor-make schemes for each customer segment. The different segments are
explained as follows:
Youth:-
49
Over the years, service providers have started giving greater attention to this segment, as it has
emerged as one of the biggest users of mobile phones. For the youth, mobile phones are not just a
necessity, but rather an indispensable accessory. This segment particularly values prepaid
schemes with free SMS services. It is further differentiated into various micro-segments based
on age and gender. For instance, youngsters in the age group of 19 to 23 years generally have a
large circle of friends and more access to money. Companies thus focus on providing services
like group talk and group SMS to these people. This segment is very dynamic as its needs keep
changing very frequently, driven by the latest trends and fads. For instance, downloading new
ring-tones is the latest fad among the youth today. This is a huge revenue source for service
providers and so they need to keep up with the changing tastes of this segment.
Young Professionals:-
People entering the workforce and thus moving out of the dependent bracket constitute this
market segment. They generally prefer using post paid schemes with value added services like
information about stock markets, news updates and so on.
Small and Medium Enterprise:-
This segment mainly consists of people who are switching over from landlines to mobile
phones, seeking a cost advantage. The focus here is on economy-packages rather than value
added services.
Family:-
Family as a segment consists of more number of dependents. These dependents are serviced
by prepaid schemes. Geographically dispersed families tied by the same cellular service
providers may get cost advantages in terms of lower pulse rates.
Special:-
50
The 'Special' category includes a small but growing segment which requires largely customized
services sought by celebrities, politicians, CEOs and the super-rich. Tailor made schemes for each
segment have been a great success so far. This customization, however, has reached such a stage
that every service provider has numerous schemes being provided at the same time. Being short
term schemes, they keep changing frequently and customers thus start switching from one
service provider to another based on the attractiveness of the scheme. This has brought down
customer loyalty and hence service providers are finding it difficult to retain existing customers. It
is estimated that in the near future the plethora of schemes provided by the different service
providers will stop being a differentiating factor.
Market Factors:-
There are basically two market factors which are considered while segmenting the market as
well as deciding the strategic moves for the markets and competition.
1) Strategic Factors
Success Factors:-
It is very important for any company or service provider to stay in the market for a long period
otherwise it will be out of the market and suffer a lot. To taste the success, companies have to
perform well continuously and make their customers happy all the time by proper CRM and
other techniques. Apart from that, there are two types of factors for these companies: (1) shall
have and (2) must have factors.
1. Age Group:
51
20-30
30-40
Above 40
20-30
30-40
Above 40
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
No. of Respondents
2. Gender
Male
Female
3. Which type of connection do you prefer?
52
68
32
MaleFemale
62
38
Prepaid Postpaid
Interpretation
Majority customers prefer prepaid connections over postpaid connection. Out of total
sample 62% people prefer using prepaid connection rather than postpaid connection.
4. Which technology do you prefer?
GSM (Global Sim Module)
CDMA (Code division Multiple Access)
Both
Interpretation
53
62
38
Prepaid Postpaid
69
26
5
GSMCDMABoth
As per the data, it can be analyzed that in spite of tough competitions between GSM and CDMA
service providers, the GSM has earned a huge market share with 69%. There are only 5%
people who are willing to use both the technologies. Only 26 % people prefer CDMA which is
very less compared to the level of competition and GSM's market share
5. Whose service(s) you are rendering now?
Interpretation
Through the above analysis, we can easily find out that majority of the customers prefer
Vodafone, but in 26% customers prefer Airtel as their preferred connection. Vodafone is clear
winner whereas customer preference of Reliance is very low. Data shows that BSNL still has
its presence and it is still preferred by the customers because of different schemes like Vidyarthi
plan, low call rates etc.
6. How long have you been using this connection of your service provider?
54
13
26
30
20
92
BSNLAIRTELVodafoneIDEARELIANCEOthers
< 3 months
3-6 months
6-12 months
> 1 year
Interpretation
From the above analysis, it can be found that, 42% of the total people have kept their connection
for more than a year period. Whereas, only 18% of the total people prefer to keep the existing
connection for 3-6 months. The graph also reveals that more the duration is, more people prefer
to keep the existing connection.
7. What is the satisfaction level of your service provider?
Very Bad
55
< 3 months 3-6 months 6-12 months > 1 year0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
12
18
28
42
Bad
Satisfactory
Good
Very Good
Very bad Bad Satisfactory Good Very Good0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
4
13
42
26
15
Interpretation
Customers' satisfaction plays a crucial role for the service providers. 42% people found the
services provided by their service provider satisfactory, whereas 15% of the people find their
services very good and are happy to be their current service provider. Though, there are also
people who are not happy with their connections.
8. Are you aware of role of telecom services in providing broadband without
using cable TV network?
5639
61
YesNo
Interpretation
As per the findings and from the above chart, it can be found out that people are not much aware
of the broadband services without using cable TV network. 69.54% people are unaware of this
facility and only 31.27% people are aware of it.
9. What kind of expectations do you have from your service provider?
Price Voice Quality Network Good Services0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35 32
12
35
21
Interpretation
As per the research, people ofthe city are more inclined towards network of their service
providers followed by prices offered by service providers. Here, the price not only includes
amount of the pre-paid or post-paid connection but it also includes different schemes, tariff plans
etc. As per the data, almost 35% of the sample selected prefer network as a priority than the other
features. Customers are mainly looking for the money's worth so price is a second highest factor
for them.
10. How much do you spend per month on your mobile connection?
57
39
61
YesNo
Upto 500
501-1000
1001-1500
More than 1500
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
12
27
40
21
29
44
18
9
PrepaidPostpaid
Interpretation
Spending pattern is also another criterion which is crucial for any telecom service providers.
Customers' spending habits ultimately help in deciding their loyalty towards the product. For
example, if a customer frequently spends money on the same product then it shows that he
prefers to buy that product than other products which ultimately leads to his loyalty towards that
brand.
Maximum spending is between Rs. 501- Rs.1000 ranges, done by 43.71% of the total Postpaid
connection users out of surveyed people. Whereas, the lowest spending is in the range of above
Rs. 1500 by 8.9% people. Whereas, in case of Pre-paid connections, highest spending is done up
to Rs. 500-1000 which is done by 72.22% of the total surveyed people and the lowest is in the
range of more than Rs. 1500 which is done only by 8-9% people. Here, it can be also seen the
usage difference in the range of Rs. 501- Rs. 1000.
11. How do you find the behavior of customer care executives of your service
provider?
58
Professional Warm & Helpful Lazy and Slow No responding0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
5047
27
16
10
Interpretation
Acceptance or rejection of any product is largely depended on the services provided by the
customer care which is also known as after sales service or Customer Relationship Management
(CRM). If a company provides better services to the customer by solving their queries, it can be
successful to retain them. Similarly, in case of the telecom service providers play a major role to
retain customers by solving their problems. As per the survey, it was found that around 47% of
the surveyed people find the executives are professional and prompt in their approach and only
16% customers feel that they are lazy and slow in their approach and % customers are not happy
with the services which means customer care executives are not responding to them properly.
12. What do you think about the competition in the market?
233
52
13
No ChoiceSome ChoiceEnough ChoiceCan't say
Interpretation
59
There is a huge competition in the market in today's scenario. Many companies try to gain as
many customers as they can by providing them different schemes and try to retain the existing
customers with the same. So competition is an important factor and plays an important role to
earn more market share.
13. Rate the following attributes of your service provider.
1. Customer Care
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance0
102030405060708090
100
Very GoodGoodAveragePoorVery Poor
Percentage Breakup
Interpretation
60
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNLReliance
Very Poor 2 2 4 12 9Poor 2 4 9 32 11Average 7 5 41 28 19Good 20 35 19 11 29Very Good 69 54 27 17 32
As per the survey conducted and its findings, it was concluded that Airtel is leader in
maintaining a good relations with its customers and it solves customers' problems efficiently and
effectively. It has got the highest preference by the customers with 69%, followed by Vodafone
with 54%. The lowest preference is of BSNL. Its customer care is not as good as the other
players in the market, as per the findings. It is preferred by only 17% customers
2) Per call charges:
2.1) ISD (International Subscriber Dialing)
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Very GoodGoodAveragePoorVery Poor
Percentage Breakup
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNLReliance
Very Poor 6 9 12 9 20Poor 12 19 29 11 29Average 23 22 28 27 21Good 30 27 14 25 14Very Good 29 23 17 28 16
Interpretation
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As per the findings, it was concluded that, once again Airtel's ISD charges are very good
compared to the other operators. 29% people think that it has very good ISD charges, followed
by BSNL and Vodafone having 28% and 23% preference respectively. The poorest ISD call
charges are of Reliance which is voted by 20% people. Among the average category, highest is
28% of Idea which means 28% customers feel that Idea has an average ISD call charges.
2.2) STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialing)
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Very GoodGoodAveragePoorVery Poor
Percentage Breakup
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNLReliance
Very Poor 12 7 9 6 14Poor 15 9 16 14 13Average 19 31 26 12 29Good 24 25 27 31 26Very Good 30 28 22 37 18
Interpretation
As the graph shows, it can be said that STD call charges are very good in case of BSNL, 37%
people prefer that, followed by Airtel and Vodafone which is preferred by 30% and 28.66%
customers respectively. In case of very poor category, Reliance is having the poorest STD call
rates with 14.02% customers' preference.
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3) Message Service
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Very GoodGoodAveragePoorVery Poor
Percentage Breakup
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNLReliance
Very Poor 6 5 11 13 10Poor 11 15 17 32 31Average 31 21 34 12 25Good 22 23 12 19 14Very Good 30 36 26 24 20
Interpretation
From the survey, the information related to message service was found and it was concluded that
Vodafone provides the best messaging services to its customers and it is preferred by 36.20%
customers, followed by Airtel with 30.41% customer preference. In case of the poorest message
service, BSNL is rated highest with 13.89% customers, followed by Idea with 11.63%. There is
very close rating in very poor section. Reliance is just behind Idea with 10.11% rating. In case of
average rating, Idea is at the top place with 33.91% customer preference, followed by Airtel with
31.01% ratings.
63
4) Network
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Very GoodGoodAveragePoorVery Poor
Percentage Breakup
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNLReliance
Very Poor 4 2 9 13 13Poor 7 6 11 17 19Average 14 16 24 28 27Good 43 29 22 18 21Very Good 32 47 34 24 20
Interpretation
As per the findings on the basis of this attribute, it was found that Vodafone has very good
network coverage with 47% rating, followed by Ideawith 34.24% rating. It shows very close
competition for network. BSNL got this higher average rating because according to the survey,
people also take roaming network into consideration and on the basis of that it was found that.
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5) Schemes
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Very GoodGoodAveragePoorVery Poor
Percentage Breakup
AirtelVodafone Idea BSNL
Reliance
Very Poor 6 7 11 4 6Poor 12 9 21 18 14Average 37 29 21 22 17Good 19 23 24 29 29Very Good 26 32 23 27 34
Interpretation
As the graph shows, the customers' preferences in case of service providers' different schemes
are maximum in case of Vodafone for its new schemes related to -- as per the customers'
responses and findings. Airtel is rated highest among the average category with 37% customer
preference. Here, the graph also shows that there is a close competition between BSNL and
Reliance in case of good rating category because of its cheap schemes related to talk time and
validity. Vodafone is just behind Reliance with 32% rating.
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6) Talk time and Validity
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Very GoodGoodAveragePoorVery Poor
Percentage Breakup
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNLReliance
Very Poor 3 7 5 4 5Poor 15 9 10 12 10Average 18 19 31 20 28Good 28 29 26 23 26Very Good 36 36 28 41 31
Interpretation
Customers' choices differ from area to area. Here,it was found from the gathered information that
BSNL has got very good talk time and validity. In spite of the close competition, BSNL has
leaded the market with 41% customers' preferences, followed by Airtel and Vodafone with
35.70% and 36% ratings respectively. In case of the average customers' preferences, Idea is a
leader with 31% ratings followed by Reliance with 28% customer ratings.
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7) Value Added Services (VAS)
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Very GoodGoodAveragePoorVery Poor
Percentage Breakup
AirtelVodafone Idea BSNL
Reliance
Very Poor 3 4 10 11 10Poor 2 7 7 22 18Average 17 14 25 24 21Good 37 32 27 19 25Very Good 41 43 31 24 26
Interpretation
As the above graph clearly depicts that extra benefits i.e. VAS are very well provided by
Vodafone with 43.06% followed by Airtel with 41% customers' preference. There is a tough
competition between Vodafone and Airtel in the market. But the poorest and the lowest VAS are
provided by BSNL as per the customers' preferences survey. It has the highest rating i.e. the
poorest rating of 11%. The average VAS preferred by the customers is of Idea which has the
rating of 25%.
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8) Availability:
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Very GoodGoodAveragePoorVery Poor
Percentage Breakup
AirtelVodafone Idea BSNL
Reliance
Very Poor 5 4 3 7 8Poor 7 7 6 10 12Average 12 10 33 13 29Good 32 33 27 31 23Very Good 42 46 31 39 28
Interpretation
As the above graph reveals, the very good availability of the telecom brand is Vodafone having
45% customers' ratings. Airtel is at the second place with the minor difference of 42%. There is a
tough competition going on among Vodafone, Airtel and BSNL in case of availability as per the
data gathered. The average availability is of Idea with 33% followed by Reliancewith 29%. Very
poor availability is of Reliance. It has got 8% customers' ratings.
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9) Billing system:
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Very GoodGoodAveragePoorVery Poor
Percentage Breakup
AirtelVodafone Idea BSNL
Reliance
Very Poor 2 3 2 11 6Poor 6 5 6 16 14Average 15 20 27 23 24Good 36 33 28 22 25Very Good 41 39 37 28 31
Interpretation
As the above graph shows, the billing system is very good of Airtel with 41% customer
preferences followed by 39% of Vodafone. As it can be seen from the graph that all the operators
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10) Voice clarity:
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Very GoodGoodAveragePoorVery Poor
Percentage Breakup
AirtelVodafone Idea BSNL
Reliance
Very Poor 3 2 4 8 6Poor 5 4 3 14 10Average 11 12 23 18 19Good 37 33 31 29 31Very Good 44 49 39 31 34
Interpretation
From the survey conducted and from the above graph, it was concluded that voice clarity is
much better of Vodafone which is rated highest having 49% customers' preferences. At the
second place, it is Airtel with 44% rating. The average quality of voice clarity is of Idea with
70
23% ratings. Voice clarity of Reliance and BSNL got low customer preference as compared to
others. BSNL has the poorest voice clarity and rated as the worst operator by 8% people.
FINDINGS
There is a huge competition in the market in today's scenario. Many companies try to gain as
many customers as they can by providing them different schemes and try to retain the existing
customers with the same. So competition is an important factor and plays an important role to
earn more market share.
As per the survey, it was found from this question that there are only 2% customers who do not
have any choice to choose their service providers and change them if they are not satisfied with
their services and facilities. But 33% customers said that they have some choice and 52% said
that they have enough choice for the same. But 13% customers were in dilemma and were no
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3.3CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
The telecom sector has been one of the fastest growing sectors in the Indian economy in thepast
4 years. This has been witnessed due to strong competition that has brought downtariffs as well
as simplification of policy environment that has promoted healthy competition among various
players.
The mobile sector alone has been growing rapidly and has emerged as the fastest growingmarket
in the whole worlds. Currently of a size nearing 70 million (GSM and CDMA), thissector is
expected to reach a size of nearly 300 million subscribers by financial year 2013.The
government has eased the rules regarding inter circle and intra circle mergers. This hasled to a
slew of mergers and acquisitions in the recent past. Also as the sector is movingcloser to
maturity, further consolidation is a reality and this will lead to the survival of moreprofitable
players in this segment.
In order to further promote the use of Internet in the country the government is takingproactive
steps to develop this sector with the help of the various players in this segment.For this purpose,
the use of broadband technology is being mooted and this will go a longway in improving the
productivity of the Indian economy as well as turn out to be the nextbig opportunity for telecom
companies after the mobile communications segmentNon-voice services and VAS are the gold
72
mines. The big takeoff is expected with the rolloutof 3G services in early 2012, once the
spectrum issues are sorted out.
Internet users base fast reaching near the English speaking population base. Local languageand
content required for further growth Infrastructure equipment cost is down to a fraction of what
prevailed just a few years ago.Operators can plan better expansion plan nowIncreased viability
for the operators to expand to semi-urban and rural markets, hence,accelerate growth furtherIt’s
not without reason that India is tipped to be the world’s third-largest economy by 2050!
CHAPTER 5
73
CONCLUSIONS
IMPLICATIONS AND
RECOMADATIONS
CONCLUSION
IDEA IS THE BEST SORCE OF NETWORK CONNECTION
74
Cellular, usually referred to as Idea, is an Indian wireless telecom company based in Mumbai,
India. Idea is the 3rd largest mobile services operator in India, in revenue terms, and recorded of
over 98.4 million customers as of August 2011.
IDEA Cellular is a publicly listed company, having listed on BSE & NSE in March 2007. It is
the 3rd largest mobile services operator in India with wireless revenue market share at 13.9 % in
Q1 FY2012. Idea has joined the select global operator’s club servicing over 100 million
subscribers, as of September 2011. Idea is a pan-India integrated GSM operator and has its own
NLD and ILD operations, and ISP license.
With traffic in excess of a billion minutes a day, Idea ranks among the Top 10 country operators
in the world. Idea operates across all 22 service areas with 2G services, and 3G services are
being progressively rolled out to cover over 3,000 towns by FY 2012.
Idea has a network of over 70,000 cell sites covering the entire length and breadth of the country.
Idea has over 3,000 Service Centres servicing Idea subscribers across the country, including 450
special Experience Zones for 3G promotion. Idea’s service delivery platform is ISO 9001:2008
certified, making it the only operator in the country to have this standard certification for all 22
service areas and the corporate office.
Idea’s strong growth in the Indian telephony market comes from its deep penetration in non-
urban & rural markets. It has the highest share of rural subscribers as a percentage of total
subscribers, amongst other GSM players. In fact, 2 out of every 3 new Idea subscribers come
from rural/ semi-urban India. Idea Cellular Limited (IDEA Cellular) is a mobile services operator
in India. Idea is a pan-India integrated global system for mobile communication (GSM) operator
and has its own national long distance (NLD) and international long distance (ILD) operations.
IDEA Cellular is an Aditya Birla Group Company.
75
The Company provides mobile services in all 22 service areas of India. The Company operates
in two business segments: Mobility Services and Long Distance. Mobility Services provide GSM
based mobile and related telephony services. Long Distance provides national and international
long distance services. In March, 2011, the Company launched its 3G services and same is
extended to 9 out of these 11 service areas. On January 20, 2011, the Company launched mobile
number portability (MNP), an invite to all Indian mobile customers to change their wireless
operator, while retaining their mobile number.
IMPLICATIONS
The telecom sector has been one of the fastest growing sectors in the Indian economy in thepast
4 years. This has been witnessed due to strong competition that has brought downtariffs as well
as simplification of policy environment that has promoted healthy competition among various
players. The mobile sector alone has been growing rapidly and has emerged as the fastest
growingmarket in the whole worlds. Currently of a size nearing 70 million (GSM and CDMA),
thissector is expected to reach a size of nearly 300 million subscribers by financial year
2013.The government has eased the rules regarding inter circle and intra circle mergers. This
76
hasled to a slew of mergers and acquisitions in the recent past. Also as the sector is
movingcloser to maturity, further consolidation is a reality and this will lead to the survival of
moreprofitable players in this segment.
No wonder if it happens much earlierInvestors can look to capture the gains of the Indian
telecom boom and diversify theiroperations outside developed economies that are marked by
saturated telecom markets andlower GDP growth rates.At a time when global telecom majors
are struggling to cope with their losses and the rolloutof 3G networks, which has been a non-
starter for close to a year now; India, with its telecomsuccess story, represents an attractive and
lucrative destination for investment.
According to the study done on Customer perception of Telecom Sector. It has been concluded
that
Vodafone and Airtel cover the maximum amount of market share. The reason for
having such positive customer perception is due to the service quality and
network service, for which customers demand and expect the most.
The study reveals that BSNL has been a major player in Telecom Sector but due
to the new and fresh entrants in the Telecom market, the market position of BSNL
has decreased. From the leader to loser, If the same trend continues in the next
few years than we can see death of this giant company.
Idea has been a consistent player but it still needs to backup to capture more
market by enhancing its services and quality.
Reliance is one of the leading Telecom Service providers which provide CDMA
technology to its customers. New schemes like free talk-time on the same
77
network has led Reliance to make sustainable development in the market. It has to
come up with more services to compete with the major players of GSM like
Vodafone and Airtel.
RECOMMENDATIONS
On the basis of the primary research and secondary research, the following recommendations can
be concluded:
Lowering the tariff plans of service providers will increase morecompetition.
In order to allow technological up gradation, segment policies should be technology-neutral,
and not specifically prescriptive.
Resolve spectrum allocation and create need-based licensing of spectrum bandwidth to
facilitate the policy of unlimited new entrants in basic services.
78
Pass rules on number portability (service migration) to allow free market conditions for
fixed line customers, without taxing new entrants or consumers for moving away from a
monopoly service provider.
Bringing more up gradation in VAS for the betterment of the users.
Improvement of network infrastructure in both the urban and the rural areas.
Reducing the call rates for the users.
More FDI inflows can be enhanced.
More Direct To Home (DTH) services will give benefits to the customers.
CDMA technology providers i.e. TATA and Reliance are slowly coping up with the
competition with GSM operations which gives a good benefit to the end users. These
operators should also indulge into providing various services.
The above recommendations for customer's satisfaction can be shown from the chart
below:
79
After talking to customer care executives of telecom sector, the following recommendations can
be concluded as a part of their strategies for acquiring or retaining new customers:
The telecom operators should take less time for solving customer’s queries.
Majority of the operators focus on the special occasions to launch new schemes but they
can also be advised to launch new schemes on weekly or monthly basis to attract new
customers.
TV media is more effective for the operators as per the findings. But they should also
focus on radio and newspapers for more effectiveness.
Customer care executives should concentrate more on pre-paid connections for the price
sensitive customers and post- paid connections for business class people. They should
use their media tools accordingly.
They should concentrate more on the attributes like talk-time facility, network, voice
clarity etc. apart from SMS, VAS and other schemes.
They should focus more VAS like GPRS facilities, games, astrology and music for
young people and business news for business people.
Telecom service provider should also focus on pilot projects before launching a product
80
or service specially in case of rural areas
REFRENCESREFRENCESBooks:
1. C.R.Kothari, “Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques”, 2nd Edition.
2. J.E. Hood, “Telecommunication Network”, 2nd Edition.
3. Jochen Schiller, “Mobile Communication”, 2nd Edition.
4. Naresh K. Malhotra, Satyabhushan Dash, “ Marketing Research”, 5th Edition, Pearson
Education.
Web links:
1. http://www.bsnl.co.in/company/result2010/AR%202009-10.pdf
2. http://mp.bsnl.co.in/course_material/e1e2/finance
3. http://www.trai.gov.in/Default.asp
4. www.bsnl.co.in
5. www.airtel.in
6. www.dot.gov.in/osp/Brochure/Brochure.htm
7. www.ideacellular.com
8. www.investopedia.com
9. www.telecomnewsindia.com/2011/.../national-telecom-policy-2011-p
10. http://www.financialexpress.com/news/airtel_brand_promotion_in_india
11.http://www.cci.in/pdf/surveys_reports/indias_telecom_sector.pdf
81
Reports and Publications:
1. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Annual Report 2010-11.
2.DoT (Department Of Telecommunication), Annual Report 201
ANNEXUREThis survey is conducted for the purpose of finding out the feasibility of the telecomservice providers and to find out the customer perception.
Name -----------------------
Occupation -----------------------
Designation ----------------------
Q1. Age Group 20-30 30-40 Above 40
Q2. Gender M F
Q3. Which type of connection do you prefer?
Postpaid - Prepaid
Q4. Which technology do you prefer?
GSM (Global Service for Mobile)
CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)
Both
Q5. Whose service(s) are you rendering now?
Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance Others
82
Q6. How long have you been using this service provider?
Less than 3 months
3-6 months
6-12 months
More than 1 year
Q7. Rate your satisfaction level of your service provider?
Very bad Bad Satisfactory Good Very Good
Q8. Are you aware of role of telecom services in providing broadband without using cable TV network?
Yes No
Q9. What kind of expectations do you have from your service provider?
Price Voice Clarity Network Good Services
Q10How much do you spend per month on mobile connection?
upto Rs 500
Rs. 501 -1000
1001-1500
More than 1500
Q11How do you find the behavior of customer care executives of your service provider?
Professional Warm and Helpful Lazy No response
83
Q12 What do you think about the competition in the market?
No choice Some choice enough choice Can’t Say
Q13. Given a choice with same number, which service provider will you select?
BSNL Airtel Idea Vodafone Reliance None of them
Q14. How will you rate the following attributes of your service provider?
No. Attributes Very good Good Average Poor V poor1 Customer care2 Per call charges
ISDSTD
3 Message Service4 Network5 Schemes6 Talk time7 Value added
service8 Availability9 Billing System
84
85