Customer Preference While Selecting a Broadband Plan 1

CUSTOMER PREFERENCE WHILE SELECTING A BROADBAND PLAN

A

Project Report

On

“Customer Preference while Selecting a Broadband plan”

At

AIRTEL LTD

FROM: 18th MAY, 2015 to 17th JULY, 2015

For the particular fulfillment of Degree of“Master of Business Administration”

South Gujarat University Surat

Submitted By:

BABU JENA T. (31)

MBA 2ND SEM

Submitted To:

Prof. HITESH PARMAR

Department of business & Industrial of ManagementMBA PROGRAMME

SURAT

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AcknowledgementFirst and foremost, I will admire special thanks to the Almighty God for sustaining the

enthusiasm with which plunged into this endeavor.

This project is successful largely due to the effort of a number of wonderful people who have always

given their valuable advice & lent a helping hand. I sincerely appreciate the inspiration; support and

guidance of all those people who have been instrumental in making this project a success.

I want to bid my heartiest thanks to my mentor Dr. Hitesh Parmar sir who assigned me this

below mentioned project topic and helped me at every step during the preparation of the work

of study “A Study on Preference ofconsumer while selecting a broadband plan in surat”.

Then I want to thanks Airtel Ltd. of Surat for giving me the opportunity to do my internship

in the organization. It won’t have been possible for me to this report without the guidance and

assistance from Mr.Nitin Srivastava, sales manager. Writing this report appeared to be a great

experience to me. It added a lot to my knowledge when I was working on this project. If I

say that this project is one of my memorable experience in student life, than it would not be

wrong.

The inception of this project has been a great learning experience, and also has put in place

all fragmented ideas in various areas within me to more logical and meaningful results. I want

to thanks my college library for their rich sources of knowledge and internet facilities.

I am highly obliged to my support team at Airtel to help me during my training period. It is

my foremost duty to thank all my respondents, who helped me to complete my fieldwork

without whom this project was not possible. I would also like to thanks especially to all the

faculty members of Department of Business & Industrial Management for their support and

guidance.

Last but not the least I place a deep sense of gratitude to my family members and my friends who have been constant source of inspiration during the preparation of this project work.

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DECLARATION

I declare that this project report entitled “To study the preference of consumers of Surat city

while selecting a Broadband plan” is the result of my own work carried out during May to

July 2015-2016 and has not been previously submitted to any other university or institute for

any other purpose by me or by any other person.

I will not use this project report in future to use as submission to any other university or

institute without written permission of my guide.

I also promise not to permit any other person to copy from this report in any form.

If we were found or caught as defaulter of above declaration, I know that our present of

future submissions may become invalid and/ or may not be permitted to appear in the final

exam.

Place: ------------------------------

Date : (Babu Jena T.)

Executive SummaryDBIM


The title of the project is “To study the preference of consumers of Surat city while selecting

a Broadband plan during May - July 2015”. The main objective of the study was to know

how the preference of the consumers of broadband while selecting a Broadband planand to

identify the factors that are affecting a consumer while selecting a broadband provider. As a

part of my study I covered most of the areas in Surat including places like Ghod Dhod, Ring

Road, Citylight, Vesu, Bhatar and Adajan. For the research study, descriptive research has

been used. The sampling technique used for this study was simple random sampling and the

sample size was 100.

The required primary source of data is collected from general public through personal survey,

questionnaire, mail survey has been used and an empirical study is done for knowing their

preference while selecting a broadband plan.

In questionnaire open ended, choice question, ranking question and grid type questions have

been used. The samples have been selected by using Convenience sampling method. For the

purpose of analysis SPSS have been used further charts and tables are used for the purpose of

interpretation

But here many limitations were faced like limited knowledge of research, limited span

related to Surat area only, lack of experience and respondents were sleeted as per

convenience sampling.

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Table of Contents PAGE NO.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction to the study.

61.2 Industry profile.

101.3 Company profile.

241.4 Company history.

251.5 Chairman profile. 34

1.6 Organization structure.36

1.7 Management profile37

CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY OBJECTIVE 40 LITERATURE REVIEW 41 RESEARCH DESIGN 42 DATA COLLECTION METHOD 42 PERIOD OF STUDY 43 NEED & SCOPE 44 LIMITATION OF STUDY 44

CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS 45CHAPTER 5 FINDING AND RECOMMENDATION 67

ANNEXURE 70 BIBLOGRAPHY

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List of tablesTable No.

Titles Page No.

1 Table showing necessity of net connection for the consumers:2 Table showing the type of connection used by the consumers.3 Table showing purpose of internet usage by respondents. 4 Table showing reason for choosing broadband connection for

Price 5 Table showing reason for choosing broadband connection for

Service quality 6 Table showing reason for choosing broadband connection for

Offers7 Table showing reason for choosing broadband connection for

Speed & Security8 Table showing reason for choosing broadband connection for

Brand Name9 Table showing the expense made by the consumer behind

broadband10 Table showing the type of plan which consumers like to have.11 Table showing the speed which a consumer like to have for

broadband12 Table showing the preference of consumers priority for broadband

plan for Speed13 Table showing the preference of consumers priority for broadband

plan for Security14 Table showing the preference of consumers priority for broadband

plan for Safety15 Table showing the preference of consumers priority for broadband

plan for usage16 Table showing the preference of consumers priority for broadband

plan for After sales service17 Table showing sources from which they came to select a

broadband plan18 Table showing Preferences towards the Value Added Service

offered:19 Table showing the preference of which VAS is to be provided:20 Table showing which broadband provider the consumer prefer to

use:21 Table Showing the preference towards a demo while selecting a

broadband provider:

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1.1 Introduction to the study: The summer internship project entitled “A study on customer perception while selecting a

broadband plan” was carried out by me as a part of my studies. Due to this project I have got

an excellent opportunity to apply theoretical thing which I have learnt during classroom

session in practical outfield.

Airtel broadband is working so well in Surat with a growing number of customers by making

its own brand identity and quality of service provided by them. It has connected approx. 600

residential as well as commercial buildings with an aim to provide quality service in different

area of surat. The study is mainly conducted in those area only which is connected by Airtel

in a way to know the satisfaction level of customer using Airtel broadband.

I am doing my research project on this particular topic because I believe that it will help me

to know more about customer preferences, customer buying behaviour, competitors strategies

and interacting with customers. The research work will also help the company to know more

about customer preference and also about their competitor’s strategies. The research will also

help Airtel to build good customer relationship.

Customer:

A customer (sometimes known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a good,

service, product, or idea, obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier for a monetary or other

valuable consideration. Customers are generally categorized into two types:

An intermediate customer or trade customer (more informally: “the trade”) who is

a dealer that purchases goods for re-sale.

An ultimate customer who does not in turn re-sell the things bought but either

passes them to the consumer or actually is the consumer.

A customer may or may not also be a consumer, but the two notions are distinct, even though

the terms are commonly confused. A customer purchases goods; a consumer uses them. An

ultimate customer may be a consumer as well, but just as equally may have purchased items

for someone else to consume. An intermediate customer is not a consumer at all. The

situation is somewhat complicated in that ultimate customers of so-called industrial goods

and services (who are entities such as government bodies, manufacturers, and educational and

medical institutions) either themselves use up the goods and services that they buy, or

incorporate them into other finished products, and so are technically consumers, too.

However, they are rarely called that, but are rather called industrial customers or business

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to business customers. Similarly, customers who buy services rather than goods are rarely

called consumers.

Six Sigma doctrine places (active) customers in opposition to two other classes of people:

not-customers and non-customers. Whilst customers have actively dealt with a business

within a particular recent period that depends on the product sold, not-customers are either

past customers who are no longer customers or potential customers who choose to do

business with the competition, and non-customers are people who are active in a different

market segment entirely. Geoff Tennant, a Six Sigma consultant from the United Kingdom,

uses the following analogy to explain the difference: A supermarket’s customer is the person

buying milk at that supermarket; a not-customer is buying milk from a competing

supermarket, whereas a non-customer doesn't buy milk from supermarkets at all but rather

“has milk delivered to the door in the traditional British way”. Tennant also categorizes

customers another way, that is employed outwith the fields of marketing. Whilst the

intermediate/ultimate categorization is used by marketers, market regulation, and economists,

in the world of customer service customers are categorized more often into two classes:

An external customer of an organization is a customer who is not directly connected

to that organization.

An internal customer is a customer who is directly connected to an organization,

and is usually (but not necessarily) internal to the organization. Internal customers

are usually stakeholders, employees, or shareholders, but the definition also

encompasses creditors and external regulators.

Customer Preference

"Consumer preference" is a marketing term meaning a consumer likes one thing over

another. For instance, a trend may indicate consumers prefer using debit cards over credit

cards to pay for goods. Companies rely on surveys, information and data in order to

customize products and use services based upon consumer

Preferences

Consumer preference is a measurement of consumer attitudes about products, services or

brands. While it’s always been smart to keep consumer happy, the term Consumer

preference became popularized in the 1980’s with the total quality movement.

Consumer preference is a term, which measure how products and services supplied by a

company meet or surpass customer expectation.

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Consumer preference is a general term applied to all facets of marketing products and

services. This is not to be confused with the more-specific term brand preference, which

relates to consumers preferring one brand over competing brands. If one brand is unavailable,

consumers will likely choose another brand to fill the gap.

A revealed preference is also a subset of consumer preferences in that companies determine

consumption behavior based upon sales numbers.

Necessity of Consumer PreferenceThe preferences of the consumers are a positive motivation, expressed by the affective

compatibility towards a product, service or trading form. We’re not dealing with an internal

bodily function, but a quality of objects that aims to fulfill our needs, quality acquired within

the connection between man and the merchandise able to fulfill these needs.

Preferences can be triggered by: the features related to the material substance of the goods

(shape, size, print, taste, colour, consistency, package, etc.); elements referring to label, name,

use instructions that accompany the product; the statute granted to the person owning and

using that particular product1. Theoreticians, at some point, had the tendency to limit the

preference to the concept of choice; however choice and preference are two radically

different entities: the first one is an action and the other one, a state of mind2. Preferences are

the result of a long-term relationship between the brand and the consumer, as the latter learns

to associate the brand with a symbol and perceive it as having high quality. Following these

deep connections created over the course of time, a strong emotion is developed which lies on

the basis of preferences, remaining present even in the absence of the friendly symbol or of

any other component feature.

Although a hardly comprehensible concept, it has been demonstrated that the consumers’

preference can be measured effectively, and that their study can provide a more thorough

understanding on the choices consumers make, when they decide to select a particular offerer

as against the other, or even when they decide to continue the relationship with the offerer in

time. Additionally, conducted studies have established various concepts related to the

preference, such as the concept of the formed preference which underlines the idea that the

consumers’ preferences are not better defined, but rather formed along the process of

choosing, a constructive point of view which suggests that different tasks and contexts

highlight different aspects of the options, the consumer concentrating on different

considerations leading to inconsistent decisions.

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Knowledge of consumer preferences is especially important with respect to the various

activities carried out at the organizational level, necessary for its survival. For instance, if an

entrepreneur must determine what features must have the product he wants to create, he will

interview more potential buyers, asking them to mention the level of preference for each

separate feature. The consumer preferences and behavior represent the basis of the pretesting

models for the new products , which implies determining the functional relationships between

the buyer’s opinion concerning a product, testing it and the purchase behavior. The level of

preferences is one of the variables that need to be taken into account when identifying the

strong and weak points of the competitors. By measuring the consumer preferences before

and after carrying out an advertising campaign, the transmitter may evaluate its success or

failure4.The preferences towards certain products or brands may constitute the theme of a

survey supplying information concerning the relative non-consumers, since attracting these

represents an important means of increasing the sales volume up to the maximum limits of

market potential. The companies constantly increasing the level of reminding and of

preference shall attain an inevitable increase in market share and profitability. The size of

profits is less important than managing to consolidate consumer preferences towards its

products.

More frequent are the situations that emphasize the necessity of knowing this dimension of

the consumers’ behaviour.

After determining consumer preferences towards a brand, the producer may take the

following measures, with a view to increase preferences for that brand: change the product;

change beliefs concerning the brand; change beliefs concerning the competing brands;

change the importance of features; attract attention towards neglected features; change the

consumers’ ideals.

In addition, in order to attract consumers’ preferences towards their own brands, producers

and retailers may chose the option of “renting” those brands having won the preferences of

consumers (names or symbols previously created by other producers, names of celebrities,

names of movie characters etc.).

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Fundamentals of studying the consumers’ preferences The theory of rational choice comprises attitude components which, in the end, represent the

basis of forming a preference. This theory gives us a model contributing to a better

understanding of the way consumers’ preferences are formed and providing us, in an

appropriate way, with the necessary means of researching and foreseeing the evolution of the

consumers’ preferences.

After analysing the way consumers’ preferences are formed from the point of view of the

theory of rational choice, we can state that, in order to understand the consumers’

preferences, it is necessary to determine their demands and desires regarding the

performance (functionality) involved in the purchase, the expected emotional results, as

well as the subjective standards consumers use to identify the tendency for a product or a

service as against the others.

1.1 Industry profile:

The telecom industry has been divided into two major segments:

I. Fixed cellular services and

II. Wireless cellular services.

In today’s information age, the telecommunication industry has a vital role to play.

Considered as the backbone of industrial and economic development, the industry has been

aiding delivery of voice and data services at rapidly increasing speeds, and thus, has been

revolutionising human communication. Although the Indian telecom industry is one of the

fastest- growing industries in the world, the current teledensity or telecom penetration is

extremely low when compared with global standards.

India’s teledensity of 36.98% in FY09 is amongst the lowest in the world. Further, the urban

teledensity is over 80%, while rural teledensity is less than 20%, and this gap is increasing.

As majority of the population resides in rural areas, it is important that the government takes

steps to improve rural teledensity. No doubt the government has taken certain policy

initiatives, which include the creation of the Universal Service Obligation Fund, for

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improving rural telephony. These measures are expected to improve the rural teledensity

and bridge the rural-urban gap in tele-density.

1.1.1 History of Tele-communication:

The history of Indian telecom can be started with the introduction of telegraph. The Indian

postal and telecom sectors are one of the world’s oldest. In 1850, the first experimental

electric telegraph line was started between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour. In 1851, it was

opened for the use of the British East India Company. The Posts and Telegraphs department

occupied a small corner of the Public Works Department, at that time. The construction of

4,000 miles (6,400 km) of telegraph lines was started in November 1853. These connected

Kolkata (then Calcutta) and Peshawar in the north; Agra , Mumbai (then Bombay) through

Sindwa Ghats, and Chennai (then Madras) in the south; Ootacamund and Bangalore.

William O’Shaughnessy, who pioneered the telegraph and telephone in India, belonged to

the Public Works Department, and worked towards the development of telecom throughout

this period. A separate department was opened in 1854 when telegraph facilities were

opened to the public.

In 1880, two telephone companies namely The Oriental Telephone Company Ltd. and The

Anglo- Indian Telephone Company Ltd. approached the Government of India to establish

telephone exchanges in India. The permission was refused on the grounds that the

establishment of telephones was a Government monopoly and that the Government itself

would undertake the work. In 1881, the Government later reversed its earlier decision and a

licence was granted to the Oriental Telephone Company Limited of England for opening

telephone exchanges at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Ahmadabad and the first formal

telephone service was established in the country.

On 28 January 1882, Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor General of India’s Council

declared open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The exchange in

Calcutta named the "Central Exchange" had a total of 93 subscribers in its early stage. Later

that year, Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange.

Further developments and milestones

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Pre-1902 – Cable telegraph

1902 – First wireless telegraph station established between Sagar Island and Sand

head.

1907 – First Central Battery of telephones introduced in Kanpur.

1913–1914 – First Automatic Exchange installed in Shimla.

1927 – Radio-telegraph system between the UK and India, with Imperial Wireless

Chain beam stations at Khadki and Daund. Inaugurated by Lord Irwin on 23 July by

exchanging greetings with King George V.

1933 – Radiotelephone system inaugurated between the UK and India.

1953 – 12 channel carrier system introduced.

1960 –First subscriber trunk dialling route commissioned between Lucknow and

Kanpur.

1975 –First PCM system commissioned between Mumbai City and Andheri

telephone exchanges.

1976 – First digital microwave junction.

1979 – First optical fibre system for local junction commissioned at Pune.

1980 – First satellite earth station for domestic communications established at

Sikandarabad, [{Uttar Pradesh} Noida Sector 62SCMS].

1983 – First analogue Stored Programme Control exchange for trunk lines

commissioned at Mumbai.

1984 – C-DOT established for indigenous development and production of digital

exchanges.

1995 – First mobile telephone service started on non-commercial basis on 15 August

1995 in Delhi.

1995 – Internet Introduced in India starting with Laxmi Nagar, Delhi 15 August 1995.

1.1.2 Liberalisation and privatisation:

Liberalisation of Indian telecommunication industry started in 1981 when Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi signed contracts with Alcatel CIT of France to merge with the state owned

Telecom Company (ITI), in an effort to set up 5,000,000 lines per year. But soon the policy

was let down because of political opposition. Attempts to liberalise the telecommunication

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industry were continued by the following government under the prime-minister-ship of Rajiv

Gandhi. He invited Sam Pitroda, a US-based Non-resident Indian NRI and a former Rockwell

International executive to set up a Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) which

manufactured electronic telephone exchanges in India for the first time. Sam Pitroda had a

significant role as a consultant and adviser in the development of telecommunication in India.

In 1985, the Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from Indian Post &

Telecommunication Department. DoT was responsible for telecom services in entire country

until 1986 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Videsh Sanchar Nigam

Limited (VSNL) were carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of metro cities (Delhi

and Mumbai) and international long distance operations respectively. The demand for

telephones was ever increasing and in the 1990s Indian government was under increasing

pressure to open up the telecom sector for private investment as a part of Liberalisation-

Privatisation - Globalisation policies that the government had to accept to overcome the

severe fiscal crisis and resultant balance of payments issue in 1991. Consequently, private

investment in the sector of Value Added Services (VAS) was allowed and cellular telecom

sector were opened up for competition from private investments. It was during this period

that the Narsimha Rao-led government introduced the National Telecommunications policy

(NTP) in 1994 which brought changes in the following areas: ownership, service and

regulation of telecommunications infrastructure. The policy introduced the concept of

telecommunication for all and its vision was to expand the telecommunication facilities to all

the villages in India.

Liberalisation in the basic telecom sector was also envisaged in this policy. They were also

successful in establishing joint ventures between state owned telecom companies and

international players. Foreign firms were eligible to 49% of the total stake. The multi-

nationals were just involved in technology transfer, and not policy making.

During this period, the World Bank and ITU had advised the Indian Government to liberalise

long distance services to release the monopoly of the state owned DoT and VSNL and to

enable competition in the long distance carrier business which would help reduce tariff's and

better the economy of the country. The Rao run government instead liberalised the local

services, taking the opposite political parties into confidence and assuring foreign

involvement in the long distance business after 5 years. The country was divided into 20

telecommunication circles for basic telephony and 18 circles for mobile services. These

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circles were divided into category A, B and C depending on the value of the revenue in each

circle. The government threw open the bids to one private company per circle along with

government owned DoT per circle. For cellular service two service providers were allowed

per circle and a 15 years licence was given to each provider. During all these improvements,

the government did face oppositions from ITI, DoT, MTNL, VSNL and other labour unions,

but they managed to keep away from all the hurdles.

In 1997, the government set up TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) which

reduced the interference of Government in deciding tariffs and policy making. The political

powers changed in

1999 and the new government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was more pro-

reforms and introduced better liberalisation policies. In 2000, the Vajpayee government

constituted the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) through an

amendment of the TRAI Act, 1997. The primary objective of TDSAT's establishment was to

release TRAI from adjudicatory and dispute settlement functions in order to strengthen the

regulatory framework. Any dispute involving parties like licensor, licensee, service provider

and consumers are resolved by TDSAT. Moreover, any direction, order or decision of TRAI

can be challenged by appealing in TDSAT. The government corporatised the operations wing

of DoT on 1 October 2000 and named it as Department of Telecommunication Services

(DTS) which was later named as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). The proposal of

raising the stake of foreign investors from 49% to 74% was rejected by the opposite political

parties and leftist thinkers. Domestic business groups wanted the government to privatise

VSNL.

Finally in April 2002, the government decided to cut its stake of 53% to 26% in VSNL and to

throw it open for sale to private enterprises. TATA finally took 25% stake in VSNL. This was

a gateway to many foreign investors to get entry into the Indian Telecom Markets. After

March 2000, the government became more liberal in making policies and issuing licences to

private operators. The government further reduced licence fees for cellular service providers

and increased the allowable stake to 74% for foreign companies. Because of all these factors,

the service fees finally reduced and the call costs were cut greatly enabling every common

middle-class family in India to afford a cell phone. Nearly 32 million handsets were sold in

India. The data reveals the real potential for growth of the Indian mobile market. Many

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private operators, such as Reliance Communications, Tata Indicom , Vodafone, Loop Mobile,

Airtel, Idea etc., successfully entered the high potential Indian telecom market.

In March 2008 the total GSM and CDMA mobile subscriber base in the country was 375

million, which represented a nearly 50% growth when compared with previous year. As the

unbranded Chinese cell phones which do not have International Mobile Equipment Identity

(IMEI) numbers pose a serious security risk to the country, Mobile network operators

therefore suspended the usage of around 30 million mobile phones (about 8% of all mobiles

in the country) by 30 April. Phones without valid IMEI cannot be connected to cellular

operators. 5–6 years the average monthly subscribers additions were around 0.05 to 0.1

million only and the total mobile subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 millions.

However, after a number of proactive initiatives taken by regulators and licensors, the total

number of mobile subscribers has increased rapidly to over 929 million subscribers as of May

2012.

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

CDMA (code-division multiple access) technologies in the mobile sector. In addition to

landline and mobile phones, some of the companies also provide the WLL service. The

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

can be activated with a monthly commitment of US$0.15 only. In 2005 alone additions

increased to around 2 million per month in 2003–04 and 2004–05.

1.1.3 Role in India’s Development:

Contribution to GDP:

According to the UNCTAD, there is a direct correlation between the growth in mobile

teledensity and the growth in GDP per capita in developing countries, which tend to have a

high percentage of rural population. The share of the telecom services industry in the total

GDP has been rising over the past few years (the telecom sector contribution in GDP went up

from 2.52% in FY05 to 2.83 in FY07).

Employment:

The Indian telecommunication industry employs over 400,000 direct employees and about

85% of these employees are from government- owned companies. The ratio of number of

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subscribers to employees, an indication of efficiency and profitability, is much higher for

private companies than for government companies.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI):

Foreign direct investment has been one of the major contributors in the growth of the Indian

economy, and therefore, the need for higher FDI is felt across sectors in the Indian economy.

The telecom sector has played a crucial role in attracting FDI in India. The share of telecom

sector in the total FDI inflows in India has gone up to 10% in FY09 as compared with just

3% in FY05. The telecom sector requires huge investments for its expansion as it is capital-

intensive and FDI plays a vital role in meeting the fund requirements for expansion of the

telecom sector. Telecom accounts for almost 10% of the total FDI inflows in the country and

has been the third-largest sector to attract FDI in India in the post-liberalisation era The

Indian telecom industry has been an attractive avenue for foreign investors over the years. As

per DIPP figures, the cumulative FDI inflow during August 1991 to June 2009 period, in the

telecommunication sector amounted to US$ 113 bn. FDI calculation takes into account radio

paging, cellular mobile and basic telephone services in the telecommunication sector. In the

2004-05 Budget, the government raised the FDI limit from 49% to 74% in the telecom

services segment subject to retention of local management control. According to the new

norms, 26% share out of the 74% should be held by an Indian company or an Indian citizen

with Indian management. Further, 100% FDI is permitted in telecom manufacturing, category

I infrastructure providers, ISPs without gateway, call centres and IT-enabled services.

Further, direct or indirect FDI up to 74% is permitted subject to licensing and security

requirements for ISPs with gateways, radio paging operators and category II infrastructure

providers. The relaxation in FDI norms has attracted many foreign telecom majors to the

sector. The presence of foreign players has not only encouraged faster infrastructure

development and upgradation but also has opened up the domestic industry to foreign

competition.

Since 2004, there has been a large inflow of FDI in the sector. During 2004-05 and 2005-06,

a period during which the FDI norms were relaxed, the FDI inflow grew by an astounding

300% to US$ 624 mn in 2005-06 from merely US$ 125 mn in 2004-05. The inflow of FDI

has provided tremendous impetus to the sector in the past few years and the attractiveness of

the sector has kept FDI inflows growing steadily. During FY09 the FDI in the telecom sector

at US$ 2,558 mn was 103% higher than that seen in FY08 at US$ 1,261 mn. Further, the FDI

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in the sector has already reached US$ 2010 mn for a six month period of FY10 (Apr-Sep 09)

and is expected to surpass the total FDI for FY09.

The government’s liberalised FDI policies have resulted in several foreign companies

entering into the Indian markets. The influx of foreign players in the Indian telecom industry

has led to capacity creation, and better infrastructure, which in turn has bettered the network

quality. The rise in FDI has also enabled technology transfer, market access and has

improved organisational skills; going forward, FDI could be used for providing telecom

services to rural areas, where teledensity is still very low. The change in FDI policy that has

raised the FDI limit from 49% to 74% for the sector has made it more attractive for foreign

players. In the long run the growth prospects of telecom players that have foreign partners

will improve and other players will get new avenues to raise capital.

Growth of IT-ITeS and Financial Sector:

India has entered the league of countries with the most-advanced telecommunication

infrastructure after the industry was deregulated. Furthermore, deregulation has stimulated

India’s economic growth through industry growth and through rise in investments. It is

evident that a well-developed communication sector improves access to social networks,

lowers transaction costs, increases economic opportunities, widens markets, and provides

better access to information, healthcare and educational services. The growth in Indian

telecom sector has been concomitant with overall growth in GDP, government revenue,

employment et al. Besides, telecommunication has increased efficiency, reduced transaction

costs, attracted investments and has created new opportunities for business and employment.

The NTP-99 was particularly helpful for the ITeS-BPO industry as it ended the government

monopoly in international calling by introducing IP telephony. After the introduction of IP

telephony, there was rapid growth in the number of data processing centres and inbound/

outbound call centres, which ultimately led to the outsourcing revolution in India. The

telecom sector has been instrumental in creating jobs for a vast pool of talented and

knowledge professionals in the IT and ITeS-BPO industry, which thrives on reliable

telecommunication infrastructure.

India has become an important outsourcing destination for the world and the boom in this

sector also has transformed India’s economic dynamics. The evolution of telecom sector has

brought about a revolutionary change in the way some businesses operate.

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Both the financial and the IT-ITeS segments rely on good domestic as well as international

network connectivity; therefore, there is a need for a sound telecommunication network.

Factors Facilitating Growth of the Sector:

The phenomenal growth in the Indian telecom industry was brought about by the wireless

revolution that began in the nineties. Besides this, the following factors also aided the growth

of the industry.

Liberalisation:

The relaxation of telecom regulations has played a major role in the development of the

Indian telecom industry. The liberalisation policies of 1991 and the consequent influx of

private players have led the industry on a high growth trajectory and have increased the level

of competition. Post-liberalisation, the telecom industry has received more investments and

has implemented higher technology.

Increasing Affordability of Handsets:

The phenomenal growth in the Indian telecom industry was predominantly aided by the

meteoric rise in wireless subscribers, which encouraged mobile handset manufacturers to

enter the market and to cater to the growing demand. Further, the manufacturers introduced

lower-priced handsets with add-on facilities to cater to the increasing number of subscribers

from different strata of the society. Now even entry-level handsets come with features like

coloured display and FM radio. Thus, the falling handset prices and the add-on features have

triggered growth of the Indian telecom industry.

Prepaid Cards Bring in More Subscribers:

In the late nineties, India was introduced to prepaid cards, which was yet another milestone

for the wireless sector. Prepaid cards lured more subscribers into the industry besides

lowering the credit risk of service providers due to its upfront payment concept. Prepaid cards

were quite a phenomenon among first-time users who wanted to control their bills and

students who had limited resources but greater need to be connected. Pre-paid cards greatly

helped the cellular market to grow rapidly and cater to the untapped market. Further, the

introduction of innovative schemes like recharge coupons of smaller denominations and life

time incoming free cards has led to an exponential growth in the subscriber base.

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Introduction of Calling Party Pays (CPP):

The CPP regime was introduced in India in 2003 and under this regime, the calling party who

initiated the call was to bear the entire cost of the call. This regime came to be applicable for

mobile to mobile calls as well as fixed line to mobile calls. So far India had followed the

Receiving Party Pays (RPP) system where the subscriber used to pay for incoming calls from

both mobile as well as fixedline networks. Shifting to the CPP system has greatly fuelled the

subscriber growth in the sector.

Changing Demographic Profile:

The changing demographic profile of India has also played an important role in subscriber

growth. The changed profile is characterised by a large young population, a burgeoning

middle class with growing disposable income, urbanisation, increasing literacy levels and

higher adaptability to technology. These new features have multiplied the need to be

connected always and to own a wireless phone and therefore, in present times mobiles are

perceived as a utility rather than a luxury.

Increased Competition & Declining Tariffs:

Liberalisation of the telecom industry has fuelled intense competition, especially in the

cellular segment. The ever-increasing competition has led to high growth of subscribers and

has put pressure on tariffs, which have seen a sharp drop over the years. When the cellular

phones were introduced, call rates were at a peak of Rs 16 per minute and there were charges

for incoming calls too. Today, however, incoming calls are no longer charged and outgoing

calls are charged at less than a rupee per minute. Thus, the tariff war has come a long way

indeed. Increased competition and the subsequent tariff war has acted as a major catalyst for

attracting more subscribers. Apart from these major growth drivers, an improved network

coverage, entry of CDMA players, growth of value-added services (VAS), advancement in

technology, and growing data services have also driven the growth of the industry.

Outlook:

The telecom industry in India has experienced exponential growth over the past few years

and has been an important contributor to economic growth; however, the cut-throat

competition and intense tariff wars have had a negative impact on the revenue of players.

Despite the challenges, the Indian telecom industry will thrive because of the immense

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potential in terms of new users. India is one of the most- attractive telecom markets because it

is still one of the lowest penetrated markets. The government is keen on developing rural

telecom infrastructure and is also set to roll out next generation or 3G services in the country.

Operators are on an expansion mode and are investing heavily on telecom infrastructure.

Foreign telecom companies are acquiring considerable stakes in Indian companies.

Burgeoning middle class and increasing spending power, the government’s thrust on

increasing rural telecom coverage, favourable investment climate and positive reforms will

ensure that India’s high potential is indeed realised.

1.1.4 History of Internet:

The history of the Internet in India started with launch of services by VSNL on 15 August

1995. They were able to add about 10,000 Internet users within 6 months. However, for the

next 10 years the Internet experience in the country remained less attractive with narrow-

band connections having speeds less than 56 kbit/s (dial-up). In 2004, the government

formulated its broadband policy which defined broadband as "an always-on Internet

connection with download speed of 256 kbit/s or above."

From 2005 onward the growth of the broadband sector in the country accelerated, but

remained below the growth estimates of the government and related agencies due to resource

issues in last-mile access which were predominantly wired-line technologies. This bottleneck

was removed in 2010 when the government auctioned 3G spectrum followed by an equally

high profile auction of 4G spectrum that set the scene for a competitive and invigorated

wireless broadband market. Now Internet access in India is provided by both public and

private companies using a variety of technologies and media including dial-up (PSTN),

xDSL, coaxial cable, Ethernet, FTTH, ISDN, HSDPA (3G), WiFi, WiMAX, etc. at a wide

range of speeds and costs. As per IAMAI India will have the world's second largest number

of Internet users with over 300 million by December 2014.

According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the Internet user base in

the country stood at 190 million at the end of June, 2013. As of October, 2013 report, it is

over 205 million. The number of broadband subscribers at the end of May 2013 was 15.19

million. Cumulative Annual Growth rate (CAGR) of broadband during the five-year period

between 2005 and 2010 was about 117 per cent. DSL, while holding slightly more than 75%

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of the local broadband market, was steadily losing market share to other non-DSL broadband

platforms, especially to wireless broadband.

There were 161 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offering broadband services in India as of

31 May 2013. The top five ISPs in terms subscriber base were BSNL (9.96 million), Bharti

Airtel (1.40 million), MTNL (1.09 million), Hathaway (0.36 million) and You Broadband

(0.31 million).

Cyber cafes remain the major source of Internet access. In 2009, about 37 per cent of the

users access the Internet from cyber cafes, 30 per cent from an office, and 23 per cent from

home. However, the number of mobile Internet users increased rapidly from 2009 on and

there were about 274 million mobile users at the end of September 2010, with a majority

using 2G mobile networks. Mobile Internet subscriptions as reported by the Telecom

Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in March 2011 increased to 381 million. One of the

major issues facing the Internet segment in India is the lower average bandwidth of

broadband connections compared to that of developed countries. According to 2007 statistics,

the average download speed in India hovered at about 40 KB per second (256 kbit/s ), the

minimum speed set by TRAI, whereas the international average was 5.6 Mbit/s during the

same period. In order to attend this infrastructure issue the government declared 2007 as "the

year of broadband". To compete with international standards of defining broadband speed the

Indian Government has taken the aggressive step of proposing a $13 billion national

broadband network to connect all cities, towns and villages with a population of more than

500 in two phases targeted for completion by 2012 and 2013. The network was supposed to

provide speeds up to 10 Mbit/s in 63 metropolitan areas and 4 Mbit/s in an additional 352

cities. Also, the Internet penetration rate in India is one of the lowest in the world and only

accounts for 8.4% of the population compared to the rate in OECD counties, where the

average is over 50%.

Another issue is the digital divide where growth is biased in favour of urban areas; according

to 2010 statistics, more than 75 per cent of the broadband connections in the country are in

the top 30 cities. Regulators have tried to boost the growth of broadband in rural areas by

promoting higher investment in rural infrastructure and establishing subsidized tariffs for

rural subscribers under the Universal service obligation scheme of the Indian government.

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As of May 2014, the Internet was delivered to India mainly by 9 different undersea fibres,

including SEA-ME-WE 3 , Bay of Bengal Gateway and Europe India Gateway), arriving at 5

different landing points.

1.1.5 History of Broadband in INDIA: Broadband is the common term for a high bandwidth internet connection. The current

definition of broadband in India is ‘always on' with the speed of more than 256 Kbps. By this

yardstick, India has around 9 million broadband customers. In western countries like Finland

the 1 Mbps is already available to 90% of the citizens and the government is planning to

provide 100 mbps by 2013 to all its citizens. TRAI has recommended raising the definition

of broadband to 2 Mbps in India. If we consider 2 mbps speed the total broadband

connections will come down to 200,000 subscribers. The high cost of providing broadband

connection through wire line, contributed to this slower growth. With the launch of 3G and

BWA, the country is now poised to witness huge growth in broadband connections. 3G is

promising 14 mbps speed and BWA could deliver 100 mpbs. The main driver for the growth

of broadband will be applications like watching online video, using IP based telephony

services, and downloading music files.

VSNL launched Internet services in August 1995 in India. Till November 1998, VSNL was

the monopoly provider of internet services in the country. The Government allowed

provisioning of internet services by private operators in 1998 and the ISP licences were

issued with liberal conditions. There was no licence fee and the policy allowed unlimited

number of players who could install their own international gateways and decide their own

tariff plans.

The Government of India announced the Broadband policy during 2005. Even though India

continues to be one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world, the growth of

Broadband is not very spectacular till now. There are around 180 operational ISPs in the

country as on date but a very few players control the entire broadband market. It is estimated

that 90% of the connections are with 10% of the ISP providers.

As the PC penetration is very low in the country, the Indian population depends on the cyber

cafe’s for their internet requirement. There are around 10,000 cyber cafes’ in the country and

nearly 60% of the subscribers access to the internet through these cyber cafes’.

The monthly broadband subscription starts from Rs 199 (US $ 4.50) and the Government is

also taking initiative to make computers available under Rs 10000 (US $ 226). The low cost

broadband has helped increase internet usage in the country. The growth of e-commerce like

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mobile banking increased demand for .in domain registrations are the other factors indicating

the growth the internet usage in the country. The other initiative which will further improve

the growth is the development of local language fonts and localization of content issues.

According to an IAMAI study, Indian customers use internet for e-mail and instant messages

(98%) job search (51%) banking (32%) bill payment (18%) stock trading (15%) and

matrimonial search (15%).

Broadband access technology:

Broadband technology uses different access media.

a) Digital subscriber line (DSL)

b) Cable modem

c) Wireless access through handsets and data card

d) Optical fiber access

Globally 90% use DSL, mobile wireless and cable modem to access internet. While DSL,

Cable modem and Optical fiber are wired access, handsets and data card are providing

wireless access. The Government has created a roadmap for extending affordable broadband

connectivity to all villages by augmenting optical fiber in the country. The Government is

proposing to support the operators by subsidizing consumer premise equipment through USO

Fund. The launch of 3G and BWA services during the early next year is expected to provide

more affordable access and make broadband a mass market consumer proposition in India.

Wimax Vs LTE

The Government has recently concluded the sale of BWA (Broadband Wireless Access)

spectrum through an open, transparent and highly successful auction. While the RIL owned

Infotel has successfully bid for all the 22 circles, Aircel won 8 circles, Bharti Airtel and

Qualcomm won in 4 circles, Tikona won 5 circles and Augere 1 circle. The State owned

BSNL and MTNL have already been given spectrum, ahead of the private players. The

BWA operators have to choose between Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

(Wimax) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) as the core technology for offering wireless

broadband services. LTE which is a future technology is expected to come in the two years.

Wimax was launched 5 years back and available to the Indian operators.

Broadband subscriber base in India is 9.45 million in June 2010. The current house hold

penetration level is 3%.This is totally inadequate if we consider the 4% population who are in

the upper middle and higher class category. The house hold penetration in other Asian

countries like Vietnam is 20%, Japan 65% and South Korea 97%. The household penetration

is expected to go up very soon after the launch of 3G and BWA. But this will help only the

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upwardly mobile users. If the broadband has to go to rural areas, the mobile operators need to

be encouraged through government policies. Broadband is going to be the most fundamental

game changer for India as it will create substantial difference in education, banking and travel

and revolutionize music and entertainment. The country deserves a revolution in broadband

just as it has in mobile telephone.

1.2 Company profile:

Bharti Entreprise:

Bharti enterprise was founded in 1976, by Sunil Bharti Mittal, has grown from being a

manufacturer of bicycle parts to one of the largest and most respected business groups in

India. With its entrepreneurial spirit and passion to undertake business projects that are

transformational in nature, Bharti has created world- class businesses in telecom, insurance,

retail, and foods.

Bharti started its telecom services business by launching mobile services in Delhi (India) in

1995. Since then there has been no looking back and Bharti Airtel, the group’s flagship

company, has emerged as one of the top telecom companies in the world and is amongst the

top four wireless operators in the world. Through its global telecom operations Bharti group

operates under the ‘Airtel’ brand in 20 countries across Asia and Africa– India, Sri Lanka,

Bangladesh, Seychelles, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of

Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone,

Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. In addition, the group also has mobile operations in Jersey

and Guernsey.

Over the past few years, Bharti has diversified into emerging business areas in the fast

expanding Indian economy. The group has forayed into the retail sector by opening retail

stores – small and medium formats. The group offers – life insurance and general insurance

to customers across India. Bharti also serves customers through its fresh and processed foods

business. The group has growing interests in other areas such as mobile internet, real estate,

training and capacity building, and distribution of telecom / IT products. What sets Bharti

apart from the rest is its ability to forge strong partnerships. Over the years some of biggest

names in international business have partnered Bharti.

Currently, SingTel, Qatar Foundation Endowment, IBM, Ericsson, Nokia Siemens and

Alcatel-Lucent are key partners in telecom. AXA Group is the partner for the insurance

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business and Del Monte Pacific for the processed foods division. Bharti strongly believes in

giving back to the society and through its philanthropic arm the Bharti Foundation it is

reaching out to over 39,000 underprivileged children and youth in India.

1.3 Company History:

In 1984, Sunil Mittal started assembling push-button phones in India, which he earlier used to

import from a Taiwan company, Kingtel, replacing the old fashioned, bulky rotary phones

that were in use in the country then. Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) was incorporated and

entered into a technical tie up with Siemens AG of Germany for manufacture of electronic

push button phones. By the early 1990s, Bharti was making fax machines, cordless phones

and other telecom gear. He named his first push-button phones as 'Mitbrau'.

In 1992, he successfully bid for one of the four mobile phone network licences auctioned in

India. One of the conditions for the Delhi cellular license was that the bidder have some

experience as a telecom operator. So, Mittal clinched a deal with the French telecom group

Vivendi. He was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify the mobile telecom business

as a major growth area. His plans were finally approved by the Government in 1994 and he

launched services in Delhi in 1995, when Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) was formed to offer

cellular services under the brand name Airtel. Within a few years Bharti became the first

telecom company to cross the 2-million mobile subscriber mark. Bharti also brought down

the STD/ISD cellular rates in India under brand name 'Indiaone'.

In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations

to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell

Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in

Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on Bombay

Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone

operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of

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

Nicobar. This expansion allowed it to offer voice services all across India. Airtel Centre,

Gurgaon Airtel launched “Hello Tunes”, a Caller ring back tone service (CRBT), in July

2004 becoming to the first operator in India to do so. The Airtel theme song, composed by

A.R. Rahman, was the most popular tune on that year. In May 2008, it emerged that Airtel

was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa based

Telecommunications Company with coverage in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

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The Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100%

stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm.

However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the talks, while The Economist

magazine noted, “If anything, Bharti would be marrying up,” as MTN has more subscribers,

higher revenues and broader geographic coverage. However, the talks fell apart as MTN

group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new

company. In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it was in talks with MTN and the

companies agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July 2009. Talks

eventually ended without agreement, some sources stating that this was due to opposition

from the South African government. In 2009, Bharti negotiated for its strategic partner

Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the fixed line business. Later, Bharti

Airtel awarded the three-year contract to Alcatel-Lucent for setting up an Internet Protocol

access network across the country. This would help consumers access internet at faster speed

and high quality internet browsing on mobile handsets. In 2009, Airtel launched its first

international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In June 2010, Bharti acquired the African business

of Zain Telecom for $10.7 billion making it the largest ever acquisition by an Indian telecom

firm. In 2012, Bharti tied up with Wal-Mart, the US retail giant, to start a number of retail

stores across India. In 2014, Bharti planned to acquire Loop Mobile for INR 7 billion, but the

deal was called off later.

1.3.1 Bharti Airtel:

Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company

headquartered in New Delhi, India. It operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa, and

the Channel Islands. Airtel provides GSM, 3G and 4G LTE mobile services, fixed line

broadband and voice services depending upon the country of operation. It is the largest

cellular service provider in India, with 228.25 million subscribers as of April 2015. Airtel is

the largest mobile operator in South Asia and the third largest in the world with a 303 million

subscriber base. Airtel was named India’s second most valuable brand in the first ever Brandz

ranking by Millward Brown and WPP plc.

Airtel is credited with pioneering the business strategy of outsourcing all of its business

operations except marketing, sales and finance and building the 'minutes factory' model of

low cost and high volumes. The strategy has since been adopted by several operators. Airtel’s

telecom equipment is provided and maintained by Ericsson and Nokia Solutions and

Networks whereas IT support is provided by IBM. The transmission towers are maintained

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by subsidiaries and joint venture companies of Bharti including Bharti Infratel and Indus

Towers 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, which allowed Airtel to

provide low call rates of 1/minute (US$0.02/minute).₹

Vision and values:

Our vision

Building a brighter tomorrow by:

Always empowering and backing our people.

Being loved and admired by our customers and respected by our partners.

Transforming millions of lives and making a positive impact on society.

Being brave and unbounded in realizing our dreams.

Our values

Empowerment

We respect the opinions and decisions of others. We encourage and back people to do their

best.

Entrepreneurship

We always strive to change the status quo. We innovate with new ideas and energise with a

strong passion and entrepreneurial spirit.

Transparency

We believe we must work with honesty, trust and the innate desire to do good.

Impact

We are driven by the desire to create a meaningful difference in society.

Flexibility

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We are ever willing to learn and adapt to the environment, our partners and the customers’

evolving needs.

Airtel Logo:

Our unique symbol is an interpretation of the ‘a’ in Airtel. The curved shape & the gentle

highlights on the red colour make it warm & inviting, almost as if it were a living object. It

represents a dynamic force of unparalleled energy that brings us and our customers closer.

Our specially designed logo type is modern, vibrant & friendly. It signals our resolve to be

accessible, while the use of all lowercase is our recognition for the need for humanity.

Red is part of our heritage. It is the colour of energy & passion that expresses the dynamism

that has made Airtel the success it is today, in India, and now on the global stage.

Telemedia:

Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units:

I. Mobile services,

II. Telemedia services and

III. Enterprise services.

Mobile services: The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using

GSM technology across 23 telecom circles.

Telemedia services: The Telemedia business provides broadband & telephone services

in 94 cities and is foraying into the IPTV and DTH segments. Under the Telemedia

segment, Airtel provides broadband internet access through DSL, internet leased lines

as well as MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) solutions, as well as IPTV and fixed

line telephone services. Until 18 September 2004, Bharti provided fixed line telephony

and broadband services under the Touchtel brand. Bharti now provides all telecom

services including fixed line services under a common brand Airtel. As of September

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2012, Airtel provides Telemedia services to 3.3 million customers in 87 cities. As on 30

November 2012, Airtel had 1.39 million broadband subscribers. Airtel Broadband

provides broadband and IPTV services. Airtel provides both capped as well as

unlimited download plans. However, Airtel’s unlimited plans are subject to free usage

policy (FUP), which reduces speed after the customer crosses a certain data usage limit.

In most of the plans, Airtel provides only 512kbit/s beyond FUP, which is lower than

the TRAI specified limit of half the subscriber’ original speed. The maximum speed

available for home users is 16Mbit/s.

In May 2012, Airtel Broadband and some other Indian ISPs temporarily blocked file

sharing websites such as vimeo.com megavideo.com, thepiratebay.se etc. without

giving any legal information to the customers.

Enterprise services: The Enterprise services provide end-to- end telecom solutions to

corporate customers and national & international long distance services to carriers. All

these services are provided under the Airtel brand.

Airtel’s high-speed optic fibre network currently spans over 67,138 kms covering all

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

Chennai that connects two submarine cable systems - i2i to Singapore and SEA-ME-

WE-4 to Europe.

Milestones:

1980-84

Bharti Overseas Trading Corporation set up. Bharti imports and markets stainless

steel products, brass and plastic products, and zip fastners etc. Bharti ties up with

Suzuki, Japan to import and distribute portable gensets. By 1984 Bharti is the largest

importer of portable gensets in India.

1985-88

Bharti makes it entry into the telecom sector with Bharti Telecom. Enters into a

technical tie-up with Siemens AG of Germany and becomes the first company in

India to manufacture electronic push button telephones in Gurgaon. Bharti Telecom’s

Ludhiana factory commences operations for manufacturing push button phones.

Bharti also makes an entry into India’s pharma sector with Bharti Healthcare, which

manufactures empty hard gelatin capsules.

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1989

Bharti ties-up with Takacom Corporation, Japan to become the first company in India

to manufacture telephone answering machines.

1990

Bharti ties-up with Lucky Gold Star, South Korea to become the first company in

India to manufacture cordless telephones.

1991

Bharti Telecom’s products reach international markets. Company signs OEM contract

with Sprint, USA for manufacture and export of telephone sets.

1992

Bharti Cellular Ltd. is born. Bharti forms a consortium with SFR-France, Emtel

Mauritius and MSI-UK, to bid for mobile service provider licenses in Indian metros.

1993

Bharti Telecom’s Gurgaon factory becomes the first manufacturer of push button

phones to be awarded ISO 9002 accreditation. Bharti provides technical assistance to

Uganda for manufacture of push button phones.

1994

Bharti wins GSM mobile service provider licence for Delhi NCR. Bharti Telecom’s

Ludhiana factory gets ISO 9002 accreditation.

1996

Airtel launched mobile services in the state of Himachal Pradesh, the first by any

private telco. Telecom Italia acquires 20% equity interest in Bharti Tele- Ventures.

Bharti Telenet bids for fixed line licence in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Bharti forays

into manufacture of HDPE Silicore ducts. Form a joint venture with Dura-Line Corp,

USA.

1997

British Telecom acquires equity interest in Bharti Cellular. Airtel becomes the first

mobile service provider in the country to cross the 100,000 customers mark. Bharti

gets licence to provide comprehensive telecom services in Seychelles. Bharti wins

fixed-line service provider licence for Madhya Pradesh. Becomes the first private

company in India to win a fixed-line licence. Bharti Telecom and British Telecom

form joint venture - Bharti BT Ltd. – for offering VSAT services. Bharti-Duraline

commences operations. Becomes the first company in India to manufacture HDPE

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Silicore Ducts. Bharti Telecom emerges as the largest manufacturer of telephones in

India with a capacity of 200,000 units.

1998

Bharti becomes the first Indian company to offer telecom services in international

markets. Launches mobile services in Seychelles. Bharti launches India’s first private

fixed line service in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. British Telecom consolidates its equity

interest in Bharti Cellular to 44%. Bharti BT Internet, a joint venture of Bharti

Telecom and British Telecom, formed for providing ISP services. Bharti commissions

India’s first private sector transmission network between Bhopal and Indore.

2000

Bharti and Singtel, Asia’s leading telco, form strategic partnership. Singtel invests $

400 million in Bharti. New York Life International acquires a 3% equity interest in

Bharti Cellular. Bharti acquires majority stake in SkyCell, establishes presence in the

Chennai circle. Bharti and Singtel announce a $ 650 million partnership for undersea

optic fibre cable between India and Singapore. Bharti and Singtel form Bharti

Telesonic to operate and manage National Long Distance operations. Mantra Online

launches India’s first International Satellite Gateway.

2001

Bharti wins mobile service provider licences in 8 circles and fixed- line service

provider licences in 4 circles. Bharti’s mobile service provider licence in Punjab is

restored. Bharti acquires Spice Cell and enters theKolkata circle. Bharti Telesonic

launches National Long Distance services under the ‘IndiaOne’ brand. Bharti

launched “Touch Tel” its fixed line service brand, launches fixed line services in

Haryana. Forms joint venture with SingTel for a submarine cable landing station

between India and Singapore. SingTel, Warburg Pincus, AIF, IFC, NYLIFand Seejay

Cellular make equity investments of approximately US$ 481.30million in Bharti Tele-

Ventures and through Bharti Telecom. Bharti acquires British Telecom’s equity

interests in Bharti Cellular, Bharti BT and Bharti BT Internet. Bharti acquires three

additional ISP licenses. Bharti Telesonic enters into a license agreement with DoT to

provide national long distance services across India.

2002

Bharti goes public, completes India’s first 100% book building issue and gets listed

on the National stock Exchange, Bombay Stock Exchange and the Delhi Stock

Exchange on February 18, 2002. Bharti launches mobile services in Gujarat, Haryana,

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Kerala, Madhya Pradesh circle, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar

Pradesh (West) Bharti enters into a license agreement with the DoT to provide

International Long Distance services in India. Becomes India’s first private

telecommunications services provider to launch International Long Distance services.

Bharti launched fixed-line services in the Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

2003

Bharti enters the business outsourcing segment. Forms Teletech Services Ltd in

partnership with Teletech Holdings (USA). Airtel becomes India’s largest GPRS

network.

2004

Bharti, in a first in the telecom industry, signs a 10 year comprehensive IT

outsourcing deal with IBM. Bharti heralds a new paradigm in telecom, outsources

mobile network to Ericsson and Nokia in mutli-million dollar managed networks

deals. Bharti clocks revenues in excess of a billion dollars annually. Registers profits

in excess of $150 million. Bharti & Rothschild form a 50:50 JV – FieldFresh- for

linking India’s farms to the world. Bharti launches mobile services in Uttar Pradesh

(East), West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir and Orissa. Airtel exclusively brings globally

acclaimed Blackberry to India.

2005

Bharti becomes India’s first mobile service provider to complete a national footprint

in all 23 telecom circles. Vodafone picks up 10% equity interest in Bharti for $1.5

billion, making it the single largest foreign investment in the country. Bharti continues

to build on its successful business model based on outsourcing. Enters into agreement

with four global BPOs - Hinduja TMT, IBM-Daksh, Mphasis & Teletech Services -

and Nortel to provide world-class customer care services. Bharti marks its foray into

financial services. Forms joint venture with Axa of France to offer life insurance

products. Bharti and IBM announce a Joint Go to Market program to offer managed

services in India. WestBridge Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital and Cisco Systems

pick up 10% stake in Bharti Telesoft.

2006

Bharti and Wal-Mart sign Memorandum of Understanding to jointly explore Retail

opportunities in India. Bharti becomes the first Indian telecom operator to launch 3G

services, starts 3G operations in Seychelles. Bharti wins mobile service provider

licence in Jersey and Guernsey, Channel Islands, Europe. Bharti Axa Life Insurance

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launches national operations. Bharti and its Associates commit a corpus of Rs 200

crores to Bharti Foundation to provide education to underprivileged children in

villages across India.Bharti Televentures rechristened as Bharti Airtel.

2007

Bharti becomes the fastest private telecom company in the world to cross the 50

million mark. Enters the league of top 5 mobile companies in the world. Bharti

launches Mobile Money Transfer pilot project in India in partnership with GSMA.

Bharti outlines strategic roadmap for its Retail venture. Commits investment of up to

US $ 2 to 2.5 billion by 2015. Bharti and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. form a joint venture

Bharti Wal-Mart Private Limited, for wholesale cash and-carry and back-end supply

chain management operations in India. Bharti brings in Del Monte as a strategic

partner in FieldFresh to enhance focus in the processed food segment. Bharti makes

its European debut. Launches mobile services in Jersey, Channel Islands. Bharti

Teletech manufactures its 20 millionth telephone. Bharti received licence to offer

Direct to Home (DTH) Satellite TV services in India. Jersey Airtel launches services,

brings a range Of innovative products and services to customers in Jersey under

Airtel-Vodafone brand. Sunil Bharti Mittal chosen for Padma Bhushan, one of India’s

highest civilian honours. Bharti and Axa form joint ventures to launch General

Insurance and Asset Management services in India. Bharti wins licence to offer

mobile services in Sri Lanka. Bharti Telesoft acquires Jatayu Software.

2008

Bharti launches its first set of retail stores in Ludhiana under the ‘easy day’ brand.

Bharti crosses 60 million telecom customers landmark. Bharti launches services in

Guernsey, Channel Islands. Bharti joins hands with Idea and Vodafone to form Indus

Towers – an independent tower infrastructure company. Eight leading international

leading PE funds pick up stake worth $1.25 billion in Bharti Infratel – Bharti’s tower

infrastructure company.

2009

Bharti Airtel launches its services in Sri Lanka (2G/3G network). Bharti Foundation

sets up Bharti Centre for Communication in partnership with Indian Institute of

Technology, Mumbai. Bharti Airtel and Alcatel-Lucent form JV to manage Bharti

Airtel’s pan-India Broadband and Telephone services. Bharti Walmart launches first

Cash & Carry Store under Best Price Modern Wholesale brand. Bharti Telesoft

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renamed ‘Comviva.’ Bharti Airtel launches iPTV service; Digital TV interactive.

Bharti Airtel crosses the 100 million telecom customers mark.

2010

Bharti Airtel unveils new youthful and dynamic global identity –‘Airtel’. Bharti Airtel

acquires 70% stake in Warid Telecom, Bangladesh. Bharti Airtel acquires the mobile

operations of Zain in 15 African countries. Becomes the fifth largest mobile operator

in the world.

2011

Airtel launches 3G launch services in Bangalore

2012

Airtel launches mobile services in Rwanda Airtel crosses 50 million customers mark

in Africa. Bharti Airtel becomes the fourth largest mobile operator in the world.

Bharti Airtel crosses 200 million customer (mobile, fixed line & DTH) milestone in

India Bharti and Qualcomm announce partnership for 4G Airtel launches India’s first

4G service in Kolkata.

2013

Bharti Airtel hives of Data Centre and Managed Services (DCMS) business to create

a wholly- owned subsidiary Nxtra Data Limited. Airtel acquires Warid’s Uganda

Operations. Bharti Airtel announces long-term strategic investment from Qatar

Foundation Endowment. Airtel acquires Warid’s Congo Brazzaville Operations.

2014

Airtel crosses 200 million mobile customer mark in India. Airtel launches its first 4G

service in Africa. Airtel Seychelles amongst Africa’s first state-of-the-art FD-LTE

networks to deliver best-in-class wireless broadband experience.

1.4 Chairman profile:

Sunil Bharti Mittal is the Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises which has interests in

telecom, retail, realty, financial services and agri-products. Bharti Airtel, the group’s flagship

company, is a global telecommunications company with operations across South Asia and

Africa. Bharti has joint ventures with several global leaders: Singtel, SoftBank, AXA and Del

Monte. Sunil is currently the Vice Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce

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(ICC). He also serves on the Prime Minister of India’s Council on Trade & Industry, World

Economic Forum’s International Business Council, Telecom Board of International

Telecommunication Union (ITU), Commissioner of the Broadband Commission, and the

Singapore Prime Minister’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council.

He has been appointed by the Prime Minister of India as Co-Chair of the India-Africa

Business Council and India-Sri Lanka CEO Forum as well as member of the India-US, India-

UK and India-Japan CEO Forums. Earlier, he served as the President of the Confederation of

Indian Industry (CII, 2007-08), the premier industry body in India.

Sunil is a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian awards. He has also

been awarded the INSEAD Business Leader for the World Award 2011 and NDTV Profit

Business Leadership Award 2011 for “Corporate Conscience”. Earlier, he received the

Global Economy Prize 2009 by The Kiel Institute, Germany and the US- India Business

Council also honoured him with the ‘Global Vision’ Award 2008. Sunil has received the

GSM Association Chairman's Award for 2008. He is also a member of the Academy of

Distinguished Entrepreneurs, Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts. An alumnus of

Harvard Business School, Sunil is on Harvard University’s Global Advisory Council, Board

of Dean’s Advisors of Harvard Business School and Executive Board of the Indian School of

Business. He is also a Trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a

Member of the Board of Directors of the Qatar Foundation Endowment.

Sunil believes that a responsible corporate has a duty to give back to the community in which

it operates. This belief has resulted in the Bharti Foundation, which operates 254 schools as

well as remedial centers and renders quality support to government schools, providing

holistic education to over 50,000 under-privileged children in rural India. Sunil was ranked

among the Top 25 Philanthropists in the World in 2009 by the Barron’s Magazine. He is also

a Member of the Board of Trustees of Qatar’s Education Above All Foundation, an initiative

of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser.

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1.5 Organization structure:

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1.6 Management profile:

Bharti Airtel announces new organisation structure for its India and South Asia operations

New structure to drive the next phase of company’s growth

• Creation of B2C and B2B business verticals for enhanced business efficiency and employee

value

• Transformation from a ‘technology’ facing organisation structure to a ‘customer’ facing one

• Will provide enhanced empowerment to employees

New Delhi, July 7, 2011:

Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries

across Asia and Africa, today announced a new organization structure for its operations in

India and South Asia. The new structure, which will be effective starting August 1, 2011, is

aimed at driving greater business and functional synergies, providing a common interface to

customers, and creating a de-layered and more agile organization. In addition, the new

structure will provide more meaningful, empowered roles and enhance employee

engagement. Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, said

“Bharti Airtel has always adopted transformational business models that have set the industry

benchmark. As we move into the next phase of our growth journey, this new organization

structure marks a major step towards building an organization of the future.

Customers are at the core of our business and with this new structure we are proactively

creating an integrated customer centric organisation. I am confident that this will provide us a

solid platform to achieve our vision of making Airtel the most loved brand enriching the lives

of millions.”

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The transformed organization structure will have two distinct Customer Business Units

(CBU) with clear focus on B2C (Business to Customer) and B2B (Business to Business)

segments.

Bharti Airtel’s B2C business unit will comprehensively service the retail consumers, homes

and small offices, by combining the erstwhile business units - Mobile, Telemedia, Digital

TV, and other emerging businesses (like M-commerce, M-health, M-advertising etc).

The B2C organization will consist of Consumer Business and Market Operations. The

Consumer Business group will lead the overall B2C strategy and will focus on customer

experience, product and service innovation (including data, VAS, new products/ services),

and build an ecosystem around the B2C services. K Srinivas will lead this vertical as the

President, Consumer Business: Market Operations group will lead the ‘go-to-market’

strategy. This vertical will take products and services to customers in South Asia with speed

and efficiency. Market Operations will complement the Consumer Business by building a

robust ‘go-to-market’ ecosystem and leverage Bharti Airtel’s vast distribution reach. Market

Operations in India & South Asia will be divided in three regions, each headed by an

Operations

Director: the North, East & Bangladesh operations will be headed by Ajai Puri; South & Sri

Lanka operations will be headed by Vineet Taneja; and operations in the West will be headed

by Raghunath Mandava (along with National Distribution portfolio). The B2B business unit

will continue its focus on serving large corporate and carriers through Bharti Airtel’s wide

portfolio of telecommunication solutions. The B2B organization will continue to be led by

Drew Kelton.

In their new roles K Srinivas, Ajai Puri, Raghunath Mandava and Vineet Taneja, along with

Drew Kelton, will report to Sanjay Kapoor, CEO – India & South Asia. Atul Bindal, who has

successfully led the Mobility Business for over 2 years, will move into a role within the

Group.

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Changing Lives

How our Mobile towers are reducing carbon footprint?

Mobile towers are the lifeline of any cellular network. A smooth network depends on

uninterrupted and adequate supply of power. In many parts of India, power supply is erratic.

Most towers have a diesel generator backup. The telecom industry, with over 3,80,000

towers, is the largest consumer of diesel today.

Bharti Infratel, one of India’s top tower companies, has taken a pioneering step towards

replacing diesel generators with solar energy, reducing Co2 emissions by 2.5 tonnes per

tower every year.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The success of the analysis mostly depends on the methodology on which it is carried out.

The appropriate methodology will improve the validity of the findings.A proper methodology

will be helpful to get true and fair outcomes.

(2.1) OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The summer internship study helps the student to check whether the theory and practice

actually matches. Organizational exposure helps the student to know how effectively they

performed in the market. As well as the Summer training helps to know the corporate world

in real sense.

a) The primary objectives of the study was,

To study the preference of Broadband consumer's & factors affecting Preference of

broadband consumer of Surat City.

b) The secondary objectives of the study was,

i. To study the Demand of Airtel Broadband

ii. To study the perception of the consumer while choosing a broadband plan.

iii. To examine the problems faced by the consumer while using Airtel broadband

iv. To know the awareness of the offers of Airtel broadband in consumers

v. To identify the factors affecting the customer preferences.

vi. To make suggestion, if any to improve existing condition.

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Literature Review

1. R.SARANYA., M.Phil Research scholar conducted a study on “A Study on

Consumer Preference Towards Airtel Broadband Connectivity in Triuchirapalli

Town" main objective of the study is to know the perception and satisfaction level of

the consumer while using Airtel Broadband and the factor that are influencing the

consumer perception. They found that quality plays a major role while selecting Airtel

broadband

2. Padma K. JHA (2010) conducted “A study on consumer behaviour of Airtel

broadband services” the main objectives were to analyse the satisfaction level of

customers towards Airtel broadband services and to find out the consumer awareness.

His findings were sixty eight percent people are aware of Airtel broadband. Airtel

subscribers are very much satisfied by the services and don’t want to switch over to

other brands.

3. Dr. Mohd Rafi Bin Yaacob conducted “A study on determinants of Customer

Satisfaction towards Broadband Services in Malaysia”, to examine association

between level of customer’s satisfaction of broadband service with price factors. To

determine the customer’s satisfaction level on stability of broadband services and his

findings were broadband customers were price sensitive and higher pricing from each

broadband provider would lead to low demand. It was easy for them to get connected

at anytime and anyplace, the stability of internet service was important to them and

they would consider changing to other broadband service provider due to stability

factor.

4. Abdur Rahman BRAC Business school BRAC university conducted “ A study on

customers satisfaction level of prepaid subscribers of airtel broadband in Bangladesh

limited” The broad objective of this report is to find out the customer satisfaction

level of Airtel broadband prepaid customers. and to figure out specific areas of

dissatisfaction of Airtel prepaid users. His findings were the major areas for customer

satisfaction are the availability of the recharge card / load for prepaid, the affordability

of new prepaid connection tariffs, features of the prepaid packages, value added

services , customer services through customer care line , after sale services, etc. the

study revealed airtel to upgrade its network coverage as soon as possible.

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5. V.Varatharaj(Asst.professor)in management, S.Vasantha Associate professor in

management, R.Varadharajan associate professor in statistics, school of management

studies, VELS university,conducted “ An empirical view on customer perception and

satisfaction towards BSNL broadband connection in Chennai city” their main

objectives were to study the customer perception and satisfaction towards BSNL

broadband connection in Chennai city, and to identify the factors that influences the

customer to select BSNL broadband services, to suggest strategies to improve the

service of BSNL broadband. They found that respondents were satisfied with brand

image, additional services, cost, advertisements,and accessibility.

i. Area of the study:

The study was mainly concentrated on surat city covering the Areas of Ring road, Adajan,

Bhatar , Citylight ,Ghoddod , Vesu etc.

ii. Research Design:

Descriptive Research: Descriptive research includes survey and fact-findings enquire of

different kinds. The major purpose of descriptive research is description of the state affairs, as

it exists at present for first time.

Descriptive research is to be used to collect information about preference of broadband

consumer Therefore, it is used in the study to describe the characteristics or behaviours of a

particular population in a systematic and accurate fashion. In descriptive also Cross Sectional

design will be used. In cross sectional research designs sample taken out of population is

analyzed only once at a particular time interval.

iii. Data Collection

Primary Information:-The nature of present study is highly based on information collected

from the various respondents through a complete questionnaire.

Secondary data has also taken From the airtel broadband database. While collect the data

through website, journals, articles and other available related literatures on the topic.

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InstrumentQuestionnaire is used for the research work. Questions used in this research are Open ended

questions, multiple choice single questions and Single choice single question.

Personal Survey Method – In-home Personal Survey Method is to be used to collect

responses through Questionnaire. Respondents are contacted in their Offices and homes in

order to collect information from them.

Electronic Survey Method – Mail Survey Method is also used by sending e-mails of

Questionnaire and making it filled by the Respective Respondent through e-mail.

iv. Sampling Design:

The sampling design consists of the sample to be choosen for the purpose of survey The non–

probability respondents have been researched by selecting the persons who use the broadband

connection

v. Population:

All customers using broadband connection in surat are taken as the population.

vi. Sample Size:

From the Population, sample sizes of 100 customers were selected for the purpose of the study.

vii. Sampling Method:

Convenience sampling was used, based on the willingness and availability of the respondents.

The study was conducted on consumers with different type of business.

viii. Research period:

The time for the project was limited to 60 days only (from 18 May - 18 July). From this, 18

days was spent for the collection of data.

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2.3 NEED AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY

In today’s corporate world to survive in this world depends on the performance of the

company and be unique in providing new schemes and offers to consumer. Consumer

Preference helps every organization to serve the customers as per their needs and also to

provide with such a product that is liked by consumers.

This research is aimed at to identify the factors that are affecting a consumer while selection

of a broadband plan and improve company's position in the market. The information gathered

through this research can be used by the company to improve its services and to preapre such

offers which is accepted by consumer. This can increase the sales of the company and its

overall performance.

Thus this research study is done to provide the organization information about the plans

which a company should be making to get more consumers and also to try more customer

awareness. The study also gives the idea about the market position of the Airtel broadband.

2.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

a) Few respondents might be hesitant to divulge their information regarding broadband

b) The respondents are less interested in answering the questionnaire, as they felt that it is

an interruption to their regular work.

c) The sample was restricted to 100 customers, which may restrict the scope and

completion of study.

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Analysis and Interpretation

1) AGE OF THE CUSTOMER:

Table showing Age group of consumersAge Group No. of respondents Percentage

Below 18 14 14

18 – 35 Years 68 68

35 – 55Years 11 11

Above 55 7 7

Total 100 100

Below 18 18 – 35 Years 35 – 55Years Above 550

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

14

68

11 7

Age Group

Age Group

INTERPERTATION

In this study, Most of respondent were in age bracket of 18 years to 55 years. In the age wise

distribution of respondents, 68% were in the age group of 18years to 35 years. And 11% were

in age group of 35 years to 55 years. 14% were in age group of below 18 & only 7% were

above 55 age group people. So, in age wise distribution majority is of 18 years to 35 years.

2) GENDER OF THE CUSTOMER

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Table showing Gender of the consumers:

Gender No. of respondents Percentage

Male 72 72

Female 28 28

Total 100 100

Male Female0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

72

28

Gender Wise Distribution

Series 1

INTERPERTATION

In the gender wise distribution of respondents, majority is of male member, who were 72%

and female member were only 28 %

2) OCCUPATION OF THE CUSTOMER

Occupation No. of respondents Percentage

Business 24 24

Service 34 34

Professional 19 19

Student 15 15

Others 8 8

Total 100 100

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24

34

1915

8

OCCUPATION

BusinessServiceProfessionalStudentOthers

INTERPERTATION

In the study, occupation wise distribution was done. Where customer doing the service

holds the majority, which was 34% and it was followed by customer doing Business, which

was 24%. And a professional holds the third position with 19%. And students and Others

were in minority with 15% and 8% respectively.

Table showing necessity of net connection for the consumers:

Table 1Opinion No. of respondents Percentage

Very much needed 74 74

Some what needed 23 23

Not so needed 3 3

Total 100 100

Chart 1

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Much Needed Some what Not so 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80 74

23

3

No of Respndent

INTERPERTATION

The Interpretation is that 74 % of the Respondent are primarily depending on Internet usage

as the service is very much needed by them. And 23 % of the Respondent are using it as

supporting activity for doing their minor usage as per there convenience. Only 3 % of the

Respondent are thinking that internet is not necessary for doing there usage there opinion is

that it is not required by them.

Table showing the type of connection used by the consumers.

Table 2

Connection type No. of respondents Percentage

Broadband 94 94

Dial-up 0 0

GPRS 0 0

others 6 6

Total 100 100

Chart 2

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Broadband Dial-up GPRS others 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

No of Respondent

No of Respondent

INTERPERTATION

The Interpretation is that the 94% sample units were using Broadband connection and 6% of

them were using other type of connection for internet usage. We can say that generally people

prefer to use the broadband service and people are also getting good usage experience so

there is a good market for the broadband provider. As well as many broadband and ISP

provider has entered in this field. The competition is between the private and public but there

is main competition between the private Broadband providers.

Table showing purpose of internet usage by respondents. Connection type No. of respondents Percentage

Education 31 31

Business 27 27

Social networking 35 35

others 7 7

Total 100 100

Table-3 Chart 3

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31%

27%

35%

7%

No of RespondentEducaton Business Social Networking Others

INTERPRETATION

The Interpretation is that 31% of the sample units were using the broadband service for the

use of their educational purpose ,while 27% of them used for their day to day business

activities, 35% of the sample are using the broadband for using the social networking site

number of sample is more for using this service and the remaining sample of 7% are using it

for other purpose .

Table showing reason for choosing broadband connection for Price

Table-4Ranking No. of responses Percentage

Strongly Disagree 3 3

Disagree 5 5

Neutral 8 8

Agree 29 29

Strongly Agree 55 55

Total 100 100

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Chart 4

3%5%

8%

29%

55%

Responses

Strongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly Agree

INTERPERTATION

The interpretation from the above chart is that price can be considered as a major factor

which determines the choice of broadband provider. Among the responses 55% have an

opinion that the strongly agree on price factor and 29% Agree on price as factor while the

remaining response toward neutral, disagree, strongly disagree is minor i.e. 8%,5% & 3%

Price should be decided considering the usage plans.

Table showing reason for choosing broadband connection for Service quality

Table 5Ranking No. of responses Percentage


Disagree 17 17

Neutral 11 11

Agree 25 25


Total 100 100

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Chart 5

11%

17%

11%25%

36%

Responses


INTERPERTATION

The interpretation is made that service of the broad band provider also affect the preference

of consumers while selecting a plan 36% of samples have strongly agreed , 25% of them

agreed, 17% of them disagreed and 11% for both are neutral so it is also a crucial factor.

Service is to be also provided by the provider which match their choice

Table showing reason for choosing broadband connection for Offers Table 6

Ranking No. of responses Percentage


Disagree 11 11

Neutral 16 16

Agree 31 31


Total 100 100

Chart 6

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2% 11%

16%

31%

40%

Responses


INTERPERTATION

The interpretation is made that offers most likely attract the consumers while selecting a plan

40% of samples have strongly agreed they wish to choose a broadband with variety of offers ,

31% of them agreed, 16% of them disagreed and 11% are neutral & 2% has strongly

disagree so it is a decisive factor

Table showing reason for choosing broadband connection for Speed & SecurityTable 7

Ranking No. of responses Percentage


Disagree 15 15

Neutral 17 17

Agree 35 35


Total 100 100

Chart 7

9%15%

17%

35%

24%

Responses


INTERPERTATION

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The interpretation is made that speed and security of data has been needed by most of the

clients of the broadband consumer totally 69% have agree and strongly agree for the purpose

of speed while 17% remain on neutral side & 15%have disagree and 9% strongly disagreed

so a broadband provider should consider speed and security.

Table showing reason for choosing broadband connection for Brand Name Table 8

Ranking No. of responses Percentage Strongly Disagree 19 19

Disagree 23 23

Neutral 7 7

Agree 38 38


Total 100 100

Chart 8

19%

23%

7%

38%

13%

Responses


INTERPERTATIONIt could be said that consumer likely to prefer a brand name having broadband provided

because 38% of sample has agree that they want a brand while 23%of them also disagree so

consumer like to have a broadband with brand name.

So overall we can say that price and offers are the important factors that determine the

consumers choice so focus should be kept for low price and variety of offer plus with good

service

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Table showing the expense made by the consumer behind broadband

Table 9Amount No. of respondents Percentage

Below 1000 33 33

1000-2500 41 41

2500-5000 22 22

Above 5000 4 4

Total 100 100

Chart 9

>1000 1000-2500 2500-5000 <50000

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

No of respondent

No of respondent

INTERPERTATIONThe interpretation is that 33 % of the customers have Data (internet) billing below 1000/- .

while the most 41 % of the customers have billing in between 1000 and 2500.so the major of

the response is that they want a less costly expense towards their broadband. 22 % of the

customers have billing of between 2500 and 5000. The remaining 5 % of the customers have

data billing above 5000/- Rs. It shows the monthly expenditure of the respondents.

Table showing the type of plan which consumers like to have. Table 10

PLANS No. of respondents Percentage

Monthly 29 29

Quarterly 18 18

Half yearly 39 39

Yearly 14 14

Total 100 100

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Chart 10

29%

18%

39%

14%

Responses

MonthlyQuarterlyHalf yearlyYearly

INTERPERTATION

The interpretation can be made that consumer are likely to go for the half yearly plan more

because it provide them various benefits so there is 39%of sample choosing the half yearly

plan. While 29% prefer monthly plan so they can enjoy as per their needs 18% like to have

the quarterly and only 14% like to have yearly

Table showing the speed which a consumer like to have for broadband Table 11

Speed No. of respondents Percentage

512kbps 13 13

1mbps 20 20

2mbps 32 32

4mbps 21 21

8mbps 10 10

Above 8mbps 4 4

Total 100 100

Chart 11

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512kbps

1mbps

2mbps

4mbps

8mbps

Above 8mbps

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

13

20

32

21

10

4

Responses

Responses

INTERPERTATION

So it could that most of the population like to have an speed of 2mbps as well as it is also

widely used now a days 32% of consumer use it and 4mbps is also used by 21% so people are

preferring to have high speed with a span of time but the market for above 4mbps is very less

its just 10% for 8mbps and 4% for above 8 mbps.

Table showing the preference of consumers priority for broadband plan for

Speed

Table 12

Ranking No. of respondents Percentage

Poor 9 9

Fair 25 25

Average 34 34

Good 26 26

Excellent 6 6

Total 100 100

Chart 12

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9

25

34

26

6

Speed

PoorFairAverageGoodExcellent

INTERPERTATION

The interpretation of the above chart is that mostly the consumer want a plan which provide

them a good speed 34% have showed a response that there is a Average speed required and

26% have said a good speed required 25% are there who require fair speed and 9% who agree

to use the poor speed.

Table showing the preference of consumers priority for broadband plan for Security

Table 13


Poor 16 16

Fair 14 14

Average 20 20

Good 18 18

Excellent 32 32

Total 100 100

Chart 13

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16

14

2018

32

Security


The interpretation is that most people believe they want there data to be secured while they

use a broadband plan because most of then are household user and businessmen. 32% require

excellent security in their broadband plan 26% require Good security in their broadband plan

and 14% are with fair security and 16% are with poor.

Table showing the preference of consumers priority for broadband plan for Safety

Table 14Ranking No. of respondents Percentage

Poor 13 13

Fair 7 7

Average 26 26

Good 36 36

Excellent 18 18

Total 100 100

Chart 14

137

26

36

18

Safety


INTERPERTATION

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The interpretation for this chart is that people requires their broadband to work

continuously because they don’t want any downtime so the sample have given the following

result which is they require 18% excellent in safety and 36% in Good and 26% in average

and 13% in poor and 7% in fair.

Table showing the preference of consumers priority for broadband plan for usage

Table 15Ranking No. of respondents Percentage

Poor 7 7

Fair 19 19

Average 14 14

Good 21 21

Excellent 39 39

Total 100 100

Chart 15

7 19

1421

39

Usage


INTERPERTATION

Usages is required by most of the broadband user. Every Broadband user wish to use do

more usage of his plan to use it optimally so the result which are gathered is 39% require

excellent usages. 21% with Good 14% is average and 19% with fair while only 7% are with

poor.

Table showing the preference of consumers priority for broadband plan for After sales service

Table 16

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Poor 5 5

Fair 18 18

Average 17 17

Good 39 39

Excellent 21 21

Total 100 100

Chart 16

5 18

17

39

21

After Sales Service


INTERPERTATION

After sales service is required by every consumer they want a broadband provider which

provide them a good after sales service. The consumer generally prefers a broadband

provider who is good with his after sales service performance. 39% requires that their after

sales service should be very fast and accurate and 21% require Excellency in that while 17%

are agreed with average service. 18% with fair and 5% with poor.

Table showing sources from which they came to select a broadband plan

Table 17

SOURCE No. of respondents Percentage

Relatives 27 27

Office 16 16

Newspaper 25 25

Others 32 32

Total 100 100

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Chart 17

Relatives Office Newspaper Others0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

27

16

25

32

respones

respones

INTERPERTATION

As we can see that major of the samples has gathered information from other sources that

might be the results of advertising or the effort of salesmen or it might be the use of internet

information. 32% of samples have selected the other sources that means they got the

information through Salesmen or other media. 25% of the samples have selected Newspaper

so it is also a good source. While that 27% of them from their relatives or peer friends and

16% of them have selected the broadband plan through office usage.

Table showing Preferences towards the Value Added Service offered:

Table 18

CHOICE No. of respondents Percentage

YES 87 87

NO 13 13

Total 100 100

CHART 18

DBIM


87%

13%

CHOICES

YESNO

INTERPERTATION

The interpretation could be made that mostly consumers are willing to have some extra Value

Added Services (VAS) to be offered by the broadband provider to get the extra benefits. 87%

of the samples want the VAS of the broadband provider while only 13% of the samples of

said no to the VAS services.

Table showing the preference of which VAS is to be provided:

Table 19

VAS No. of respondents Percentage

Free Wi Fi Router 26 26

Calling Packs 19 19

One Month Free Subscription 31 31

Free Installation 24 24

Total 100 100

Chart 19

DBIM


Free Wi Fi Router Calling Packs One Month Free

SubscriptionFree Installation

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

26

19

31

24

VAS

VAS

INTERPERTATION

It could be stated that people would like to have one month free subscription of their

broadband plan 31% have preferred towards one month subscription and 26% of the

respondents have said that they want free Wi Fi router & 24% have like to use the service of

free installation. 19% have showed interest in the calling packs.

Table showing which broadband provider the consumer prefer to use:TABLE 20

Broadband provider No. of respondents Percentage

BSNL 9 9

Airtel 24 24

Reliance 15 15

Airlink 4 4

Tikona 6 6

You Broadband 18 18

Hathaway 20 20

Others 3 3

TOTAL 100 100

Chart 20

DBIM


BSNL

Airtel

Reliance

Airlink

Tikona

You Broadband

Hathaway

Others

0 5 10 15 20 25

9

24

15

4

6

18

20

3

Broadband Provider

Broadband Provider

INTERPERTATION

From the above chart it could be said Airtel is having major market shares in broadband

sector but Airtel is also facing a tough competition from Hathaway & You Broadband they

also have captured the market. Airtel is having a total 24% of Shares, Hathaway is just behind

it with 20% of shares, You Broadband has 18% of market shares, Reliance is also having a

market share of 15%. While the share of BSNL is 9%. Tikona, Airlink & other broadband

provider have a share of 6%, 4% & 3%.

Table Showing the preference towards a demo while selecting a broadband provider: TABLE 21

CHOICE No. of respondents Percentage

YES 83 83

NO 17 17

Total 100 100

Chart 21

DBIM


YES NO

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

83

17

Demo

Demo

INTERPERTATION

The interpretation could be made that mostly the consumer like to have a demo while

selecting a broadband plan. 87% of the samples when asked that do they want to have a

demo of the service they said yes. While only 13% of the respondent said that they can take

the plan without a demo

DBIM


FINDING AND RECOMMENDATION

FINDING OF THE STUDY

(1) Most of the respondent was in the age group of 18 to 35 years. This age group consists of

68% of total respondent.

(2) Most of the respondent were male members. And female members were in minority under

study. Male member consist of 72% of the total respondent.

(3) Most of the respondent under study were doing Service people, of the total respondent

were 34% of service. And 24% were doing service. And 19% were professional. And student

& other were in minority i.e 15% and 8%.

(4) Major of the respondent are using or willing to use the Broadband connection. In the

research 94% of the people has said that they want to have a broadband connection while 6%

is for other which is minor .

(5) 35% of the respondent have said that they use the internet service for the sake of social

networking sites. While 31% is for Education & 27% is for business purpose

(6) Price, After sales service and Offers of the ISP (Internet Service Provider) plays a major

role in the selection of the broadband service 55% of respondent have strongly agreed that

they elect on basis of price and 40% had preferred a broadband provider who provides a

variety of offers.

(7) Majority of the respondents have agreed to spend an amount of Rs.1000 – 2500. There are

41% of people who are ready for it. While 33% has agreed for an amount below 1000 Rs.

(8) When respondents were asked about what type of plan they would take then 39% of

respondents have agreed to take a half yearly plan the reason could be some extra benefits

offered in that plan. 29% have preferred a monthly plan.

(9) People like to use the speed of 2mbps as they are happy with it. 32% of respondent has

preferred it while there are some who like to use 4mbps there are 21% of people who want

that speed.

DBIM


(10) People would tend towards those provider who provide Value Added Service with the

Broadband plan. 87% of the people have agreed to have a broadband plan which provide a

VAS pack with the plan.

(11) Airtel Broadband is having the maximum market share in the broadband sector. It has

captured an 24% of the market. But there is tough competition from Hathaway, You

Broadband, Reliance.

(12) People like to have a demo before taking a broadband plan. In the research 83%of the

respondent have preferred a brand that provides a demo.

CONCLUSION:

(1) From the study it can be concluded that most of the people are willing to use the

broadband service as it is cheaper so there is a good market for it.

(2) For keeping a customer retain with the company it is necessary for the company to

provide him with the benefits of extra discounts or bonus offers.

(3) Price & offers plays a major role for a consumer while selecting a broadband plan

from an internet service provider.

(4) There is lack of awareness about the offers of Airtel broadband, so necessary steps

should be taken to make it aware.

(5) Consumer are willing to prefer a brand which have a quick resolution to their

complaints. After sales service of the provider should be well enough

DBIM


RECOMMENDATION:

(1) Airtel is having the major market share in broadband but it needs to innovate with

new offers and discount scheme for customers.

(2) Airtel is losing the chance of getting extra consumers in area like varrachha due to

connection problem so it needed to be sort out.

(3) Airtel has to expand its RSU (Remote Switching Unit) to cover more consumer as

well as it is losing the market because these reason.

(4) Airtel is not up to the mark in retaining it existing customer the reason is that they are

not provided any bonus offer or extra discounts.

(5) Airtel has less number of buyer in educational institution. So it should make some

effort to cover them.

(6) Airtel should also try to introduce the Day and Night plans to attract the consumer.

(7) Airtel consumers are not aware of the online help provided to them by Airtel to

overcome the troubleshoot problems while using internet.

(8) Airtel is facing a tough competition from You Broadband, Hathaway, and Reliance. It

should develop necessary stratergies to overcome them.

DBIM


ANNEXUERE

Dear sir/Madam,

I Mr. Babu Jena T. pursuing MANAGEMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION(MBA) from DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT (DBIM), VEER NARMAD SOUTH GUJARAT UNIVERSITY (VNSGU) conducting a research study titled “Consumer Preference While Selecting A Broadban Plan.” This research is only for study(educational) purpose.Your paticipation is voluntary and all responses will be kept confidential. I request you to give 10 to 15 minutes from your precious time to fill this questionnaire.Your participation will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Yours sincerely,

Babu Jena.

Name : .............................................................

Age : Below 18 18 – 35 Years

35 – 55Years Above 55lakh

Gender : Male Female

Occupation : Business Service Professional Student Other

Income : below 1 lakh 1- 3 lakh 3 - 5 lakh Above 5

1. The necessity of internet connection for you is:

very much needed some-what needed not needed

2. Which type of connectivity do you use ?

GPRS Broadband

Dial-up Others.

3. For what purpose do you use internet ?

Education Business

Social-networking Others

DBIM


4. What is the reason behind to choose a particular Broadband provider?

NO. Features StronglyDisagree

Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree

1 Price2 Service quality3 Offers4 Speed &

Security5 Brand Name

5. How much amount do you spend behind your broadband plan per month ?

>1000 1000 to 2500 2500 to 5000 <5000

6. Which type of plan you generally like to prefer ?

Monthly Quarterly Half yearly Yearly

7. Which speed you Generally like to use for a broadband plan ?

512kbps 1mbps 2mbps 4mbps

8mbps More than 8mbps

8. Rate the following on your preference which you like to have :

NO. Features Poor Fair Avg Good Excellent1 Speed2 Security of data3 Safety4 Usage experience5 After sales service

9. By which source you came to select a particular broadband provider ?

Relatives Office use Newspaper Other source

If other please mention........................................ .

DBIM


10. Will you choose a broadband plan which provide you Value Added Service (VAS)?

Yes No

11. Which of the following VAS would you like to have?

Free Wi Fi Calling Packs

One month free subscription Free installation

12.Which Broadband provider you like to have ?

BSNL Reliance Airtel Airlink

You Broadband Tikona Hathaway Others

If other please mention........................................ .

13. Would you prefer a Broadband provider which gives a demo ?

Yes No

14. Do you have any suggestion about the preference of Broadband provider?

..........................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................

..

Thank you

DBIM


Bibliography:

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_in_India 2. www.articlesbase.com/communication-articles/broadband-growth-in-india-3088675.html 3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer 4. www.ask.com/world-view/definition-consumer-preference-b99ccd5791e4ba19 5. www.academia.edu/8739288/

CONSUMER_PREFERNCE_TOWARDS_AIRTEL_BROADBAND_CONNECTIVITY_UNDER_THE_HEADING_OF_MARKETING

6. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtel 7. www.airtel.in/about-bharti/about-bharti-airtel 8. www.airtel.in/about-bharti/investor-relations/company-profile/organization-structure 9. Www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/bharti-airtel-ltd/infocompanyhistory/companyid-

2718.cms10. www .globeco.ro/.../geo_2013_vol1_art_ .

DBIM

http://www.globeco.ro/.../geo_2013_vol1_art_

http://Www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/bharti-airtel-ltd/infocompanyhistory/companyid-2718.cms

http://Www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/bharti-airtel-ltd/infocompanyhistory/companyid-2718.cms

http://www.airtel.in/about-bharti/investor-relations/company-profile/organization-structure

http://www.airtel.in/about-bharti/about-bharti-airtel

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtel

http://www.academia.edu/8739288/CONSUMER_PREFERNCE_TOWARDS_AIRTEL_BROADBAND_CONNECTIVITY_UNDER_THE_HEADING_OF_MARKETING



http://www.ask.com/world-view/definition-consumer-preference-b99ccd5791e4ba19

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer

http://www.articlesbase.com/communication-articles/broadband-growth-in-india-3088675.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_in_India

Customer Preference While Selecting a Broadband Plan 1

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