“THE IMPACT OF DIFFERENT SALES PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES ON CONSUMER OF GSM NETWORK IN TERMS OF USAGE”

1. A
RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT
ON
“THE IMPACT OF DIFFERENT SALES PROMOTIONAL
STRATEGIES ON CONSUMER OF GSM NETWORK IN TERMS
OF USAGE”
Submitted to
U P Technical University, Lucknow
In the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
(2014-2016)
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF: SUBMITTED BY:
Ms. YATIKA RASTOGI
(ASSTT. PROFESSOR) M.B.A- 4th
Sem.
Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology
(MBA Institute)
(ISO: 9001: 2008 Certified)
5th KM. STONE, DELHI-MEERUT ROAD, GHAZIABAD (U.P)-201003

2. Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology
(MBA Institute)
(ISO: 9001: 2008 Certified)
5th KM. STONE, DELHI-MEERUT ROAD, GHAZIABAD (U.P)-201003
Date: ……………….
TO WHOM SOEVER IT MAY CONCERN
This is to certify that is a bonafide student of MBA 2nd year of this institute for the session
2014-2016 and he has prepared Research Project Report titled“THE IMPACT OF
DIFFERENT SALES PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES ON CONSUMER OF GSM
NETWORK IN TERMS OF USAGE” under institute guidance, for partial fulfillment of
Master of Business Administration (MBA) affiliated to U P Technical University, Lucknow.
I wish him all the best for his future endeavors.
Faculty Name: Dr. Arvind Singh
(Designation) Principal

3. Declaration
I S/o am pursuing Master of Business Administration (MBA) 2nd year from Raj Kumar Goel
Institute of Technology , Ghaziabad in the session 2014-16. I hereby declare that this Research
Project Report titled“THE IMPACT OF DIFFERENT SALES PROMOTIONAL
STRATEGIES ON CONSUMER OF GSM NETWORK IN TERMS OF USAGE”is the
outcome of my own effort, under the guidance of Ms. YATIKA RASTOGI,(ASSTT
PROFESSOR). The same report has not been submitted earlier to any Institute/ University for
awarding any degree/ diploma of MBA or any other professional course. If there will be any
violation of IPR, I will be solely responsible to that and Institute/ University has right to cancel
my degree.
Date: ………………… Sign with Full Name
Place: RKGIT, Ghaziabad

4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Research Project is a bridge connecting the educational qualification and professional
use. It is the path leading to success by shouldering responsibilities under the careful guidance of
seniors and experienced personnel without fear and failure.
It gives me immense pleasure to take the opportunity to remember and thanks the personalities
who have involved with this project work. I express my sincere thanks and deep gratitude who
are directly and indirectly associated in completion of this project.
I would like to thank to Ms. YATIKA RASTOGI,(ASSTT PROFESSOR) for assigning an
extremely challenging project, titled “THE IMPACT OF DIFFERENT SALES
PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES ON CONSUMER OF GSM NETWORK IN TERMS OF
USAGE”without his help the project would have not added enough value. I am extremely
grateful for the time he spent from his busy schedule.

5. TABLE OF CONTENT
Part I:
I. Certification from Institution
II. Declarations
III. Acknowledgement
IV. Executive Summary
V. Index/ Table of Content
VI. List of Tables
VII. List of Figures
Topic Page Number
Part II: Study of Industry
 History of Industry
 Global Scenario
 National Scenario
 Achievements
 Key Players
 Sales & Financial Performance
 SWOT Analysis
Part III: Research Work
1. Objective
2. Discussion of Problems
a. Significance of Problems
b. Concept & Practices
c. Theory & Models related with Problem/ Literature Review
3. Hypothesis
4. Research Methodology
5. Limitations
6. Data Findings
7. Data Analysis
8. Suggestions & Recommendations
9. Conclusion
10. Bibliography
Part IV: Annexure
1. Questionnaire
2. Codebook

6. Introduction of the
study

7. Introduction
Communication has been playing a pivotal role in man’s life from time immemorial inventions
like Radio, Television, Telephone and computer made atremendous change in the world.
Development in the field of communication is at agalloping pace. Due to these advanced
technologies in communication the world hasshrinked in to a global village. Its purpose is to
provide universal connectivity andincrease the efficiency and productivity in all sectors. Mobility
helps one to send andreceive information any time, any where and make one to keep up the pace
in thiscompetitive world. Customer choice about particular product and services which mainly
based onattitude. According to this personal experience influence of Preference group,
Age,Income, Sex and Educational Qualifications. The telecommunication services have made a
rapid stride both in quality andquantity. How ever the users at large are found dissatisfied with
the quality of servicesmade available to them. The process of technological sophistication has
gained themomentum but the users are yet to get the quality service. The managerial experts
feelthat the telecommunication sector needs a conceptualized marketing, which on theother hand
would improve the quality of services and make ways for the generation ofprofits. Due to this
limitations of the telecommunication sector, market for cell phonesemerged in India.
Indian Telecommunication Industry:
Over View At 110.01 million connections Indian Telecom Industry is the fifth largestand fastest
growing in the world. The subscriber base has grown by 40% in 2005 andis expected to reach
250 million in 2007.Over the last 3 years, two out of every threenew telephone connections
they’re wireless. Consequently, wireless now accounts for54.6% of the total telephone subscriber
base, as compared to only 40% in 2003.Wireless subscriber growth is expected to grow at 2.5
million new subscribers everymonth in 2007. The wireless subscriber base skyrocketed from
33.69 million in 2004to 62.57 million in FY 2004 -2005. The wireless technologies currently in
use Indian Telecom Industry are Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code
Division Multiple Access (CDMA). There are primarily 9 GSM and 5 CDMA operators
providing mobile services in 19 telecommunication circles and 4 metro cities, covering more
than 2000 towns across the country. And the numbers are still growing for Indian Telecom
Industry . ‘Telecom Industry in India is regulated by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

8. (TRAI). It has earned good reputation for transparency and competence. Three types of players
exists in Telecom Industry India community –
• State owned companies like - BSNL and MTNL.
• Private Indian owned companies like - Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices.
• Foreign invested companies like – Hutchison-Essar, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Escotel, Idea
Cellular, BPL Mobile, Spice Communications etc.
The ‘ Indian Telecom Industry ‘ services are not confined to basic telephone but it also
extends to internet, broadband (both wireless and fixed), cable TV, SMS,IPTV, soft switches etc.
The bottlenecks for Indian Telecom Industry are:
Slow reform process.
Low penetration. Serviceprovider’s bears huge initial cost to make in roads and achieving break-
even is difficult.Huge initial investments. Limited spectrum availability and interconnection
charges between the private and state operators.
The telecom industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. The NTP1999 aimed at
achieving a tele-density of 15% by 2010 but the same was achieved inSeptember 2006, f
company’s years ahead of the schedule. The tele-density as onSeptember 2007 is 21.85%.
The total number of wireless subscribers in the country - including GSM,CDMA and fixed
mobile - has reached 209.08 million. The total subscriber numberincluding both wireless and
wire line has already crossed 250 mn and is expected totouch 500 mn by 2010 or probably much
earlier to that. Of this the wireless segmentwill largely drive the growth.
With the rapid increase in the cellular base the service providers will berequired to set up
infrastructure to sustain growth and to offer services in new circles.With falling revenue the
cellular companies are looking at means of cutting costs. Aneffective though not very popular
means of cutting costs is infrastructure sharing. InIndia there are few players providing such
services at a very small scale.
Chart showing growth in Indian Cellular Infrastructure

9. Growth of Indian Mobile Industry
India is in 5th place in mobile subscribers behind China, America, Russia and Japan.It may soon
go to cross Japan and Russia. All this happened within a short span of 6years.This is mainly due
to low prices, booming economy and aggressive marketing.Indians who are slow to adopt new
technologies surprisingly embraced these mobiles,including my parents.
India may soon reach third place if this growth continued. Mobile became thenecessary
commodity for Indians. Nokia already established manufacturing base inChennai. LG, Samsung
and Motorola may soon follow Nokia path. 75% of Indianmobile market is occupied by Nokia
followed by Motorola with 13%. Nokia andMotorola achieved this growth by releasing low end
mobiles with basic features.Samsung and Sony Ericcson are mainly targeted high end users.

10. HISTORY OF GSM

11. In 1982, work began to develop a European standard for digital cellular voice
telecommunications when the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications
Administrations (CEPT) created the Groupe Spécial Mobile committee and later provided a
permanent technical support group based in Paris. Five years later, in 1987, 15 representatives
from 13 European countries signed a memorandum of understanding in Copenhagen to develop
and deploy a common cellular telephone system across Europe, and EU rules were passed to
make GSM a mandatory standard.The decision to develop a continental standard eventually
resulted in a unified, open, standard-based network which was larger than that in the United
States.
In 1987 Europe produced the very first agreed GSM Technical Specification in February.
Ministers from the four big EU countries cemented their political support for GSM with the
Bonn Declaration on Global Information Networks in May and the GSM MoU was tabled for
signature in September. The MoU drew-in mobile operators from across Europe to pledge to
invest in new GSM networks to an ambitious common date. It got GSM up and running fast.
In this short 37-week period the whole of Europe (countries and industries) had been brought
behind GSM in a rare unity and speed guided by four public officials Armin Silberhorn
(Germany), Stephen Temple (UK), Philippe Dupuis (France), and Renzo Failli (Italy).[9] In
1989, the Groupe Spécial Mobile committee was transferred from CEPT to the European
Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
In parallel, France and Germany signed a joint development agreement in 1984 and were joined
by Italy and the UK in 1986. In 1986 the European Commission proposed reserving the 900
MHz spectrum band for GSM. The world's first GSM call was made by the former Finnish prime
minister Harri Holkeri to Kaarina Suonio (mayor in city of Tampere) on July 1, 1991, on a
network built by Telenokia and Siemens and operated by Radiolinja.[10] The following year in
1992, the first short messaging service (SMS or "text message") message was sent and Vodafone
UK and Telecom Finland signed the first international roaming agreement.

12. Work began in 1991 to expand the GSM standard to the 1800 MHz frequency band and the first
1800 MHz network became operational in the UK by 1993. Also that year, Telecom Australia
became the first network operator to deploy a GSM network outside Europe and the first
practical hand-held GSM mobile phone became available.
In 1995, fax, data and SMS messaging services were launched commercially, the first 1900 MHz
GSM network became operational in the United States and GSM subscribers worldwide
exceeded 10 million. Also this year, the GSM Association was formed. Pre-paid GSM SIM cards
were launched in 1996 and worldwide GSM subscribers passed 100 million in 1998.
In 2000, the first commercial GPRS services were launched and the first GPRS compatible
handsets became available for sale. In 2001 the first UMTS (W-CDMA) network was launched,
a 3G technology that is not part of GSM. Worldwide GSM subscribers exceeded 500 million. In
2002 the first Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) were introduced and the first GSM
network in the 800 MHz frequency band became operational. EDGE services first became
operational in a network in 2003 and the number of worldwide GSM subscribers exceeded 1
billion in 2004.
By 2005, GSM networks accounted for more than 75% of the worldwide cellular network
market, serving 1.5 billion subscribers. In 2005 the first HSDPA capable network also became
operational. The first HSUPA network was launched in 2007. High-Speed Packet Access
(HSPA) and its uplink and downlink versions are 3G technologies, not part of GSM. Worldwide
GSM subscribers exceeded three billion in 2008.
The GSM Association estimated in 2010 that technologies defined in the GSM standard serve
80% of the global mobile market, encompassing more than 5 billion people across more than 212
countries and territories, making GSM the most ubiquitous of the many standards for cellular
networks.
It is important to note that GSM is a second-generation (2G) standard employing Time-Division
Multiple-Access (TDMA) spectrum-sharing, issued by the European Telecommunications

13. Standards Institute (ETSI). The GSM standard does not include the 3G UMTS CDMA-based
technology nor the 4G LTE OFDMA-based technology standards issued by the 3GPP.
Achievements

14.  Bharti Airtel Lanka positioned among top 50 companies on LMD magazine’s ‘Most
Respected Entities, 2014’ in Sri Lanka.
 Bharti Airtel won two awards – ‘Enterprise Mobile App’ and ‘Unified Communication
Solution’ at the 5th Edition of the Aegis Graham Bell Awards 2014 in New Delhi.
 Bharti Airtel ranked fourth in Brand Finance’s survey for ‘The Most Valuable Indian
Brands of 2014.’
 Bharti Airtel ranked third in The Economic Times and Interbrand’s ‘Best Indian
Brands’ survey for 2014. According to the survey’s brand valuation methodology, the
Company’s brand was valued at ` 294.77 Bn.
 Bharti Airtel won ‘Voice & Data Telecom Leadership Awards 2014’ in three
categories – ‘Top Circles’, ‘Product Innovation’ and ‘Business Services’ at the Voice
& Data Telecom Leadership Forum 2015 in New Delh

16. Company’s global footprint
Find out where Vodafone is present, where they have subsidiaries, affiliatesand partner
networks.View an interactive map by clicking Where you find us below. 2.13 Information for
suppliers, contractors, service providers and consultants This portal provides information for
suppliers, contractors, service providersand consultants wanting to work with Vodafone.They
want you to have as muchinformation as possible about Vodafone, how they work and what is
important to us.That way, they will work together effectively and efficiently – and maintain
thehighest standards of quality, safety, security and responsibility across company’sbusinesses
worldwide. They’re in the business of winning, serving and keeping customers so howthey go
about company’s work and care for them is very important.That’s wherecompany’s partnerships
with you are so critical and it’s why they need you to be clearabout what working with us means.
Do that and y company’s business benefits asmuch as company’ss does. Read on to learn more
about us and share company’s approach to deliveringthe very best for company’s
customers.View more information on how company’sSupply Chain approaches managing
company’s corporate responsibility.

18. KEY
PLAYERS IN
GSM
NETWORK

21. Today, cell phones are the most innovative and most appealing devices to the consumers. Consumers are
more likely to buy cell phones with high-tech features and discriminating appearance in the market. With
this conception, GSM networks have been grown in numbers, and even gain incredible popularity among
cell phone users worldwide. Relatively, many GSM manufacturers in the world are doing different sales
promotion schemes in order to meet the increasing demands of people for cell phones. In order to attract
the consumers, some network service providers offer the users attractive deals, which are not just cost
effective, but as well enable users to utilize their preferred mobile phones efficiently. Many gadget stores
are offering free access of internet with their mobile phones. Seemingly, these stores give the consumers
an opportunity to receive the latest information concerning the cell phones and their deals such as dual
SIM feature, free headsets, SIM among many others.
Furthermore, many GSM networks are providing their customers with amazing benefits to their users that include free use of
their most modern brands provided that the client must comply with all the requirements. In order to get such a deal, a
consumer has to sign a contract for a certain period of time. A customer can just choose what best plan for him or her. By doing
this, the customers have the unlimited call and text access. And the call and text consumption will only be billed on a monthly
basis to the customers. These mobile phones come under various attractive plans in order to make users go for them. However,
these plans are not just cheaper, but as well as they have a lot of incentives in the form of text message, talk time and free gifts
from the cell phone service providers. And so, everyone could make really fantastic returns from the network providers by
choosing the proper plans.
(http://www.indometric.com/tag/gsm-booster/)
The other typeof mobile phone deals are pay as you go cell phones. It is necessary for the user to know that this service is unique
in nature. These deals require no line rental and you may easily change the cell phone network provider as it is needed.
Apparently, thepay as you go cell phone subscriber may save a lot of money on roaming. This type of cell phone deal is the most
suitable for students for the reason that they may keep track on their mobile phone bills. Besides, the service could be utilized by
beginners to spend less on cell phone bills and thus saving some money. As a matter of fact, this deal is one of the most well
loved deals these days by consumers for it offers the consumer more flexibility as well as eliminates the tension about the
payments of monthly bills. Besides, anyone could get inexpensive deals of contract cell phones such as free SIM, cell phone
accessories, free talk time and many more.
(http://www.indometric.com/tag/gsm-booster/)
Additionally, the open to all network cell phones are most preferred by the people who travel a lot. They
have all the chances in this world to switch from one network service provider to another as needed. This
is the third type of deals which are provided among the latest cell phone deals are SIM free cell phones
which bear discounts from the dealers because there is no tie ups with network providers. Cell phone
users must street smart enough to know the various types of deals of cell phone in the market. One can

22. go for a contract, pay as you go, clearance, free SIM among others. It really depends on the requirement
of the user as well as on the budget.
(http://www.indometric.com/tag/gsm-booster/)
Not only that, modern technology of today provides the public a free internet access to different
wholesale mobile phone accessories. Actually, this is the most saving step of shopping online, it
even save your time, money and energy of going to the shopping store. Above all, the customer
would not even stress out of the crowded streets and shopping stores. At the very comfort of
one’s home, anyone can do shopping for the most techie cell phone in town. Modern digital
technologies have already conquered the minds of the people. This is through walkman mobile
phones with high-end camera, blue-tooth handsets and different designs and colors of cell phone
cover. And, all these stuff can be found and shopped online with quite cheap prices as to
compare to the traditional stores. Keep in mind that some market research have found out that
going online will provide the public a thorough scrutiny on a variety of products.
(http://www.indometric.com/tag/gsm-booster/)

23. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
1. To study the range of product & service offered by Vodafone & Other GSM operators.
2. To know the performance of Vodafone & Other GSM operators.
3. To compare the service quality of Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel & BSNL.
4. To offer suitable suggestion based on the findings of the study.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study is confined to preference of which GSM operator’s customers Product is Best towards Mobile
services with Special reference to Vodafone.
This study is an attempt to analyze :
1. The study will help the company to understand the Mobile users choose the particular GSM
connection.
2. The study will help the company to understand the Mobile users consider the particular GSM
connection.
3. The Product OR Brand awareness of mobile users;
4. The Level of Satisfaction of Mobile Users.
5. Problems faced by the Mobile users.
6. Examine the factors which influence the choice of mobile services. And
7. Innovation in service & Product by the response & Suggestions given by the respondents.

24. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
1. The survey was carried only in Madurai City, Madurai Outer & Dindingul, covering limited areas.
Hence minimum number of customer meets.
2. The period of survey was restricted to five months hence information collected they’re limited.
3. The sample of 200 respondents may constitute a limitation due to its smallest nature of sample.
4. Biased opinion of some of the respondents.

25. REVIEW OF
LITERATURE

26. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction:
• Service quality of mobile operators.
• Role of competition in growing Markets in telecom sectors.
• Preference in cellular service providers in the post liberalization era.
Dr. Sanjeev panandikar and Mr. Rahul rajpur studied that comparative studyon service
quality of mobile operators. The objectives were to determine the degree ofsatisfaction of user of
all the services. They revealed that bad quality of service lead todissatisfaction of the consumers
influence in this suggestion. They suggested that theservice quality of mobile operators
concentrate on service performance and givesgood quality of service to the customers.
Srivasatava.R, Jatin bhangde and Nirav Bhatt studied that role of competition in growing
markets in telecom sector. The objectives were to understand the importance of value additions
and pricing strategies. They found that price and poor services customers reason for switched
influence high in this suggestion. They suggested that the telecom sectors to provide extra value
added features and highquality services at competitive price, so that customers do not switch to
otheroperators.
Revathi.S. And Padmavathy.S. Studied that Preference in cellular service providers in post
liberalization. The objectives were to examine the factors influencing the user’s choice. They
found that Lack of coverage influence high in this suggestion. They suggested that the service
providers should try to increase the switching centers to rectify the problem of lack of coverage.

27. SALES
PROMOTION

28. MEANING AND DEFINITION
Sales promotion refers to ‘those marketing activities that stimulate consumer shows and
expositions.Purchasing and dealer effectiveness such as displays, demonstration and various non-
recurrent selling efforts not in the ordinary routine.”
According to A.H.R. Delens: “Sales promotion means any steps that are taken for the purpose of
obtaining an increasing sale. Often this term refers specially to selling efforts that are designed to
supplement personal selling and advertising and by co-ordination helps them to become more
effective.”
In the words of Roger A. Strong, “Sales promotion includes all forms of sponsored
communication apart from activities associated with personal selling. It, thus includes trade
shows and exhibits, combining, sampling, premiums, trade, allowances, sales and dealer
incentives, set of packs, consumer education and demonstration activities, rebates, bonus, packs,
point of purchase material and direct mail.”

29. OBJECTIVES OF
SALES
PROMOTION

30. Sales promotion is a vital bridge or a connecting link between personal selling and advertising.
Sales promotion includes all forms of sponsored communication apart from activities associated
with personal selling. It, thus includes trade shows and exhibits, combining, sampling, premiums,
trade, allowances, sales and dealer incentives, set of packs, consumer education and
demonstration activities, rebates, bonus, packs, point of purchase material and direct mail.
Sales promotion activities are undertaken to achieve the following objectives:
1. To increase sales by publicity through the media which are complementary to press and poster
advertising.
2. To disseminate information through salesmen, dealers etc., so as to ensure the product getting
into satisfactory use by the ultimate consumers.
3. To stimulate customers to make purchases at the point of purchase.
4. To prompt existing customers to buy more.
5. To introduce new products.
6. To attract new customers.
7. To meet competition from others effectively.
8. To check seasonal decline in the volume of sales

31. WHAT ARE THE ROLES
THAT PROMOTION
PLAYS IN MARKETING?

32. Small company promotions play many roles in marketing, designed to produce certain desired
effects. The methods used in achieving these effects may vary, depending on a company's goals,
priorities, markets and industries. Promotions typically include advertising, publicity, sales
promotions and other tactics. The key to producing results through promotions is ensuring that
companies target the right consumers -- those who are more apt to buy their products. Moreover,
the promotional message must be convincing and run frequently enough to achieve the desired
effects.
 INCREASE BRAND AWARENESS
Promotions such as television, radio and magazine advertising increase brand awareness. More
people tend to learn about a particular company or its brands if they frequently see or hear about
them. New companies particularly have to advertise to apprise consumers who they are and what
they offer. This is true with local or even national companies, as brand awareness can be
measured by market, regionally or nationally. It can take many months or even years for
companies to build brand awareness levels that match established competitors.
 PROVIDE INFORMATION
Small companies also use promotions to provide information, notes KnowThis, a popular online
business reference site. Marketers may run press releases to apprise consumers that their
products can help certain ailments. A small consumer products manufacturer may use displays
and pamphlets to describe the benefits of a new health food. High-tech manufacturers often use
in-store videos and demonstrations to show people how to use their products. Promotions can
inform people during all stages of the buying process, including their initial search. Small
business owners also use promotions to inform consumers about price, product features and
outlets that sell their products.

33.  INCREASE CUSTOMER TRAFFIC
Grocery stores, beauty salons and movie theaters use promotions such as frequency programs to
increase customer traffic. A frequency program promotion is designed to reward people the more
they visit and spend with a retailer. Most retailers start their frequency programs by having
customers fill out an application. They then issue cards for customers to use each time they make
a purchase; the cards contain magnetic strips that track purchases through registers and
computers. Frequency card promotions are designed primarily to attract traffic among current
customers. New customers also may be attracted to the promotion if they hear about it.
 BUILD SALES AND PROFITS
The primary objective in using promotions such as advertising, sales promotions and public
relations is to build sales. Promotions are designed to get people to try products and services.
Promoting high-quality products or services aims to get customers to return and spend more
money. Ultimately, companies use promotions to build a loyal customer base, which leads to
greater sales and profits.

34. GSM MARKET IN
INDIA
GSM MARKET IN INDIA
Regional Interest Groups - GSM India

35. With a population of around 1.3 billion growing at roughly 1.9 per cent a year, India is
potentially one of the most exciting GSM markets in the world. India's telecommunications have
undergone a steady liberalisation since 1994 when the Indian government first sought private
investment in the sector. More significant liberalisation followed in 1996 with the licensing of
new local fixed line and mobile service providers. However, it has been the government's New
Telecom Policy (1999) that has had the most radical impact on the development of GSM
services. 'The policy's mission statement is 'affordable communications
for all’; There is a genuine commitment to creating a modern and efficient communications
infrastructure that takes account of the convergence of telecom, IT and media. In addition, the
policy places significant emphasis on greater competition for both fixed and mobile services.'
Competition in the mobile sector has already had a visible impact on prices with calls currently
costing less than 9 cents per minute.
This means that service costs have fallen by 60 per cent since the first GSM networks became
live in 1995. It also helps explain why a recent Telecom Asia survey revealed that more than 70
percent of Indian mobile subscribers felt that prices were now at a reasonable level.
One of the challenges facing GSM operators in India is the diversity of the coverage regions -
from remote rural regions to some of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the world.

36. India has more than 40 networks, which cover the seven largest cities, over 7000 towns and
several Lacs villages.
Such depth of coverage has required enormous investment from India's operators. It is estimated
that more than Rs200 billion had been invested in India's GSM industry by mid-2000, a figure
that is set to be supplemented by a further Rs. 300 billion over the next five years.
The good news is that subscriber growth is beginning to look healthy. With India's lowPC
penetration and high average Internet usage -at 14-20 hours a month per user it is comparable to
the US -the market for mobile data and m-commerce looks extremely promising.
WAP services have already been launched in the subcontinent and the first GPRS networks are
in the process of being rolled out. In the year ahead, GSM India will work with its members to
realise the potential of early packet services in anticipation of the award of 3GSM licences.

37. India fastest growing GSM market
The Cellular Operators Association of India (which includes most of India’s GSM telecom
operators), has reported an addition of 3.50 million GSM connections in April 2013, closing in at
664.4 million subscribers, a 0.53% increase from 660.9 million subscribers in the previous
month.
Globally, the GSM market reached 3.9 billion users in February 2013, adding GSM accounted
for 80 per cent of the new subscriber growth in 2012."Almost every Latin American operator has
chosen GSM. In North America GSM growth is bigger than CDMA (code division multiple
access)," he said. Commenting on the raging debate over GSM versus CDMA in mobile services
arena, Hadden said: "GSM is the world's most successful mobile standard with over 2 billion
users, and is an open mobile standard. It also supports automatic international roaming, which is
a major contributor to business plans.

38. India’s GSM mobile firms’ revenue up 30 percent
India’s private telecoms firms offering GSM-based mobile services reported a 21 percent rise in
revenue in the year to March 2012 but said future growth rates could slow because of heavy
taxes on the nascent industry. Although India’s mobile sector is the world’s fastest growing
major wireless market, it is amongst the highest taxed industries in the country. Mobile carriers
pay as much as 25 percent of their revenue as licence fee, spectrum charges and other taxes. The
Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said revenue for fiscal 2003/04 stood at 83.08
billion rupees ($1.86 billion) compared with 64 billion rupees a year earlier. According to T.V.
Ramachandran, director general at COAI, “These revenue growth rates cannot be maintained
unless there is a concerted effort by the government to cut excessive levies and allow sharing of
infrastructure”
“But the potential to do much better exists as there is still huge demand in the sector.”
Ramachandran said the sector was still losing money but declined to elaborate. Sales jumped
because of a doubling of the GSM (Global System of Mobile Communications) user base as
more people entered the flourishing market thanks to one of the lowest call rates in the world.
But the monthly average revenue per user, a key measure of profitability, declined 17.4 percent
to 432 rupees in the fourth quarter compared with 523 rupees in the first quarter due to a cut in
tariffs and excessive competition among companies.
Growth slowing, demand untapped: The association has not included the financial performance
and the GSM-user base of state-run firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, the second-ranked player,
and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, Ramachandran said. There are 650 million GSM
customers and more than 96 million users of the rival CDMA-based mobile services in the
country.
The pace of growth in monthly additions is increasing after just 8.25 million users took up the
service in April compared with 6.9 million in the previous month. Ramachandran blamed the
slowdown on a majority of small GSM operators being unable to expand networks into rural
swathes where demand remained largely untapped.

39. “Our surpluses are not enough to cover costs of network expansion and financing charges on
loans. We are making money only to cover operating expenses,” he said. Carriers are now
subsidising handset costs to woo users into the underpenetrated industry forecast to have more
than 750 million customers by 2014.

40. THE CDMA CHALLENGE
CDMA players had launched their services with CDMA 2000 1X-based networks, which can
give hi-speed, always-on connectivity to the Internet, and other data services. GSM operators, on
the other hand, have had to migrate from the frustrating experience of WAP (wireless application
protocol) to GPRS, which has not significantly improved the subscriber’s experience of surfing
the Net on/from mobile.
The top brass of GSA, an organisation comprising Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Alcatel and Lucent
Technologies - met on Tuesday in the capital to persuade the operators to adopt EDGE
(Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) and leave GPRS behind as a dream gone sour.
Only Airtel, Vodafone, BPL Mobile and Idea Cellular had launched GPRS, but the data transfer
speeds of GPRS have been abysmal. The field trials gave a speed of around 54 kbps, but the
actual speeds have not exceeded 14-18 kbps, a major reason why GPRS growth has been so
slow. As against the total GSM cellular base of 40 crore, the country has between 9 crore GPRS
users only. In comparison, the two CDMA operators have about 23 crore connections. All these
sets are data compliant. Though no figures are available as to how many use these for data
services, the figure is believed to be respectable as a percentage ratio for CDMA.

41. Will GSM maintain its headstart?
At the GSM Evolution Forum held in New Delhi, GSA president Alan Hadden predicted that
GSM growth will far outstrip CDMA as was happening globally. He felt India could have as
many as 600 million GSM subscribers by 2012-2013 . According to GSA, there are over 2.7
billion GSM subscribers worldwide as against 1.3 billion CDMA customers. The revenue of top
25 global operators from data averages 18 per cent and 22 of these operators run GSM networks.
Overall, there are 76 operators in 50 countries that have committed to deploy EDGE.
Almost every country has a GSM-based network and even those US operators, which operated
on now-defunct TDMA technology, were migrating gradually to GSM, not CDMA, pointed out
Hadden at the GSM Evolution Forum. The Forum is a global GSA program to assist the
operators for evolution to third generation (3G) technologies. “People are using their phones for
much more than voice. Fifteen networks have commercially launched EDGE as it can run 3G
like services in the existing spectrum for the operators without needing a 3G license. Even the
migration to a full-fledged 3G level of Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) will be smooth with
EDGE,” said Hadden.
“Besides, the automatic roaming provided by GSM networks in almost 200 countries is a power
that CDMA doesn’t give you. We know for sure that almost 20-25 per cent of the revenue for
some GSM operators comes from roaming customers,” he added. But CDMA is no pushover
with Korea and Philippines as the shining jewels in its crown. The first CDMA 2000 1X was
commercially deployed in October 2000.
Already, 81 operators have launched 77 CDMA 2000 1X networks whereas nine have launched
services based on 1xEV-DO platform across Asia, the Americas and Europe. At least, 16 new 1X
and six 1xEV-DO networks are scheduled to be deployed in 2004, according to CDMA
Development Group. EV-DO and EV-DV are the next level of evolution on the CDMA 2000 1X
platform, capable of delivering services comparable to 3G WCDMA.

42. Where are the models?
What will matter a lot in this war will be the availability of EDGE compliant handsets at
affordable rates. While the two CDMA operators have been giving out handsets that can give hi-
speed data transfer, same has not been the case with GSM. Even now, GPRS handsets have not
become commonplace and GPRS feature is found only in mid and high-end segment handsets.
End sum game
When the networks deploy EDGE, subscribers can expect the delivery of advanced mobile
services such as easy downloading of video and music clips, full multimedia messaging, besides
high-speed Internet and e-mail access, provided their handset supports all this.
But the real cruncher will be the migration at a later stage to 3G technologies such as WCDMA,
EV-DO or EV-DA as and when the government decides what to do with the 3G licences.
WCDMA for example promises delivery of a phenomenal 2 megabytes per second (mbps),
equivalent to what a leased line in many middle level corporates gives.
More importantly, WCDMA will spawn a whole new range of full motion audio-video
applications, including video telephony. GSM lobby may continue to remain gung ho over the
future of their technologies over that boosted by the American firms Qualcomm and Motorola,
but Indian market could well throw an interesting scenario that industry experts will do well to
watch. In the coming months, Reliance plans to offer its CDMA subscribers much more than
what GSM players intend to deliver through their EDGE for their subscribers.
Who succeeds in this battle for mobile customer’s eyeballs is most difficult to predict. A Korea
and Japan may not be waiting to happen in India, but India will probably be more like the
Chinese market with both standards co-existing. For now, GSM rules!

43. PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY
Airtel to “Touch Tomorrow” with a new brand vision
The Bharti Mobile promoted AirTel cellular service will go in for repositioning of its brand
image. The new brand ethos is portrayed in two distinct fashions - the tag line "Touch
Tomorrow", which underscores the leading theme for the new brand vision, followed by "The
Good Life", which underscores a more caring, more customer centric organization. Aimed at re-
engineering its image as just simply a cellular service provider to an all out information
communications services provider, Touch Tomorrow is meant to embrace the new generation of
mobile communication services and the changing scope of customer needs and aspirations that
come along with it.
The new communication is about a new dimension in the cellular category that goes beyond the
Internet, SMS, roaming, IVRS, etc but which engulfs the whole gamut of wireless digital
broadband services that will constitute tomorrows cellular services. The new campaign is in two
phases - the first of which will communicate overall brand philosophy and the second products
and services. According to Mr. JagdishKini, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Mobile Limited,
Karnataka "We are adopting a new brand- platform - Touch Tomorrow - not only to reflect our
corporate ethos but also business strategy".
The new identity will have the logo in Red color along with lower case typography to convey
warmth.AirTel will incorporate the latest branding in all of its communication and will soon be
going in for an enhanced promotional drive to establish the brand's presence.

44. MARKET SITUATION
At the time of launch:
The first mover in the market was Airtel which launched its services in Delhi in Aug 1995
(Informal launch). Essar Cell phone followed by launching its services informally in Oct 95. At
this point of time, the market was at a nascent stage, awareness level was low and both operators
independently tried to spread awareness and educate the people.
Once the networks were commercially launched, it became a number game with a multitude of
schemes being offered to woo customers Initially the cell phone was perceived as a status
symbol and utility took a back seat.The target segment in Delhi were corporate and the high
income group.
The average capacity installed was for 1.5 lakh subscribers. This coupled with the steep license
fee paid to DOT put pressure on the operators to break-even by rapidly expanding their markets.
In the first two years, this led to a number of schemes being offered and prices crashing.

45. COMPETITIVE SITUATION
Airtel launched its services before Essar and skimmed the market picking up the bulk of the high
usage premium clients. This isa very competitive industry with the two companies
differentiating either on value-added services or price. Airtel is perceived as the high quality
provider and has a premium image. Essar, on the other hand, isperceived as the lower end
service provider. Airtel positions itself as the market leader on the basis of the number of
subscribers. Essar is trying to counter this by emphasizing on the reach of its network and the
quality of its service.However, Essar is somewhat not been very successful largely due to the
inconsistency in advertising
To promote themselves, both the players have been dependent on tactical advertising However,
they have restrained from using comparative advertising Hoardings have been a very popular
medium for carrying the advertisements Airtel has also been advertising on television using the
Bharti Telecom name.

46. SALES DEPARTMENT AND STRATEGY
A. Major Accounts (Direct Channel)
 Handles corporate (named and famed) accounts
 Forecasting of sales
 Mapping the accounts
 Providing after sales support to the subscribers.
 Maintaining call reports for records.
 Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the requirement of the
market.
B. IDC (indirect Channel)
 Handling distribution
 Maintaining records and level check of the channel partner
 Liaisoning between the channel partner and the company.
 Target achievement
 Training the executives of the channel
C. Distribution Support
1. Logistics
 Monitor handset and SIM card requirements of channel partners and co-ordinate
with stores
 Settle areas of concerns such as incentive claims of channel partners

47. 2. Rental
 Provide cellular services (SIM cards) on rent.
 Provide cellular phones on rent
 Useful for people visiting Delhi for a short interval.
3 Telesales
 Call customers and generate sales lead.
 Follow up with the customers, if they need any assistance
 Pass on the sales lead to the channel department.
4 Audit
 Consultant to the AirTel showrooms.
 Monitor the operations at the AirTel distribution outlets Organize training.
5. Retail
 Locate shops to open retail counters.
 Monitor the retail counters.

48. MARKET SEGMENTATION
Segmentation is beneficial because of better predictability of the target consumer group,
minimization of risk exposure, better ability to fine-tune a product / service to the requirement of
target buyer and the resultant ease in designing a proper designing marketing mix strategy In this
case segmentation ison the bade of income.
In evaluating different market segments the company looks at two factors The overall
attractiveness of the segments and the company's objectives & resources The present market for
Cellular phones, pagers and conventional phones is as follows
Premium Middle Economy
Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower
Cellular Phones X X X - - -
Pager X X X X - -
Conventional Phones X X X X X -
X Market Segment Targeted

49. TARGET MARKET SEGMENT
Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The rationale behind it is that only those
segments should be targeted who value time and have the paying capacity. It Is also planning to
target the business tourists during their stay in the capital.
About 60% of the clientele are top executives of corporate houses. About 15% are foreign
organisations and the rest are professionals and small businessmen. During the introduction
stage there was intense pressure to get consumers across to hook up with their brand, because
getting them to switch brand loyalty later would be hard.
So far Airtel marketers have been concentrating totally on the business executive class but now
that the basic viable volumes has beer) built up and prices have declined to a certain extent they
are planning to venture further a field.
POSITIONING
The product is sought to be positioned as a business efficiency tool. a lifestyle revolution and a
status symbol The emphasis isto remove misconception that the cell phone is an expensive
means of communication and drive home the point that the cell phone is actually a day-to-day
utility.
PRODUCT POLICY AND PLANNING
The product or service is the heart of the marketing mix. Without a product or a service
customers' needs cannot be satisfied.
The basic product promise by Airtel is mobility. Airtel's main marketing strategy is to be a first
mover all the time. It has recognized the significance of making the first move-- because in the
field of Communication & Information Technology changes occur at a tremendous pace.

50. Effective product segmentation has to be carried on continuously because basic services can be
and will be copied and in time become expected component of the product. Airtel seeks to carry
out this segmentation through provision of new information services and making new facilities
available. The product policy and planning depends on the stage of the product life cycle. At
present the cellular phone market has reached the maturity stage. Since, the premium segment is
nearing saturation the company targeting the upper middle and middle-middle class. In order to
do so Airtel is trying to optimize the price performance package by offering suitable "product
bundling".
This involves the selection of the suitable hardware (handset) and its software (its services.) with
reasonable price in order to deliver maximum price performance to its customers. In addition, it
offers free Airtime services and other concessions to make the prices and thus the product more
attractive. It has also opened a 24 hours customer service.
Only price doesn't serve as an effective differentiator, value added services become the effective
differentiator.
The "Value Added Services" provided from Airtel are:
1). Voice Mail service
This system is similar to the answering machine - if the user is not able to answer a call for some
reason the caller can leave messages in the voice mail box which can be later retrieved by the
user.
ii) Short Message Service
The short message service is like a two-way pager. It gives an option of sending and receiving
text messages directly from one mobile phone to another without the intervention of an operator.
iii) Mobile Fax 1 Data Service
This service helps the subscriber to send and receive Faxes, access E-mail, download computer
files from other systems and remotely log on to another computer and surf the Internet.

51. iv) Cash Card
The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the buyers to buy air time in
advance. All it requires is the payment of an initial amount. This is a useful service for people
who travel to Delhi often and those who want to control the expenses on their calls.
v) Caller ID
Displays calling person's number.
vi) Outgoing call restriction
To prevent or limit outgoing calls, for example, in peak hours. Also possible to exclude one or
several countries or any geographical region, to permit only local calls, or to limit the outgoing
calls to a listed number.
viii) Call forward
Incoming calls can be forwarded to another fixed or mobile phone.Besides these some other
services provided by Airtel are - Call conferencing, Call broadcast et cetera.
It is in the operators -Interest that they not only get many subscribers but also get them to use the
mobile facility frequently. In the early stages getting increases to subscribe may be easier than
getting them to talk since they will find it costlier to use the mobile phone as compared to a
conventional phone [if is believed that initially cell phones would be used by].
viii) Roaming Facility
Roaming facility is available while the subscriber is travelling. The billing is done in the home
network (Delhi). Roaming facility is available manually* as well as semi-automatically. Once a
subscriber is In any other city or country, where a GSM network is available, simply insert the
SIM card of the local operator Into your handset and start talking.
 Manual Roaming means a separate SIM card is provided for each city
 Semi automatic roaming means one card has the facility for different cities.

52. AIRTEL'S MARKETING ORIENTATION
Since this is a high-involvement expensive product, the service provider has to fully take care of
the customers.
a) They take personal responsibility to "get" the answer for any problem faced by the
customer
b) They anticipate customers' problems and take pro-active steps to prevent them
c) They give answers to the questions & requests, quickly & efficiently.
d) They have a positive tone & manner while interacting with customers.
e) They end the interaction on a positive or a humorous note-making the last 30 seconds
count.
Airtel realizes that attracting people 'Is easy but converting them into loyal customers is hard,
hence emphasis is on maintaining a 'Smiling and a Friendly Atmosphere' to please and retain the
customer.
PRICE AND PRICING POLICY
AIRTEL has realized that the Indian market is price sensitive. Therefore it care of the has come
up with various innovative tariff schemes to take needs of different category of customers-
Generally, the cellular services are more expensive than the land line based telephone services.

53. Problem statement
Mobile industry is a growing industry in Ghaziabad. There are different mobile operators in
Ghaziabad, there is a huge competition in this operator. So subscriber has various alternatives to
choose their brands. There are different factor which affecting the customer satisfaction. Students
are the most significant market of the mobile operator. If the mobile operator can not satisfy this
segment they will lose a huge market. So my target measure customer satisfaction level of
different mobile operator.
Approach to the Problem:
Research framework:
Independent Variable Dependent variable
Tariff
Network coverage
Customer
Satisfaction
Network quality
Availability of recharge point
Value added services
Promotional offers
Customer care
Internet

54. To identify the satisfaction level there are some most important factors which can determine the
customer overall satisfaction level. These the independent variable like Tariff, Network
coverage, Network quality, Availability of recharge point, Value added services, Promotional
offers, Customer care, Internet. The dependent variable is the customer satisfaction. For
analyzing data different statistical tools have been used in this report like pie chart, bar chart,
hypothesis test, regression analysis & correlation.

55. Research Methodology
Research Definition
The word research is derived from the Latin word meaning to know. It is a systematic and a
replicable process, which identifies and defines problems, within specified boundaries. It
employs well-designed method to collect the data and analyses the results. It disseminates the
findings to contribute to generalize able knowledge. The main characteristics of research
presented below are:
 Systematic problem solving which identifies variables and tests relationships between
them.
 Collecting, organizing and evaluating data.
 Logical, so procedures can be duplicated or understood by other.
 Empirical, so decisions are based on data collected.
 Reductive, so it investigates a small sample which can be generalized to a larger
Population.
 Replicable, so other may test the findings by repeating it.
 Discovering new facts or verify and test old facts.
 Developing new scientific tools, concepts and theories, this would facilitate to take
decision.
Research design
The design for this study is Exploratory and Random sampling. The research design used for the
research problem in hand is exploratory research which is also termed as formulative research. The major
emphasis in exploratory research is given on the discovery of ideas and insights of the research problem.
Sampling Design
The sample design adopted for the research problem in hand is convenience random sampling.

56. Sample size
Sample size for the study is 50. The sample unit of the study included different occupation, age, income
and educational background.
Sources of Data
The study undertaken there to be mainly based on the primary data i.e. structured questionnaire
is designed. The study also contains secondary data i.e. data from authenticated websites and
journals for the latest updates just to gain an insight for the views of various experts.
METHODOLOGY & PRESENTATION OF DATA
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. AS we know that all
business undertaking operate in the world of uncertainty, Research methodology can minimize the degree
of uncertainty. It may reduce the probability of making a wrong choice amongst alternative course of
action research in purposeful investigation it provides a structure for decision making systematic
approach is essential in good research may involve the following step.
 Problem definition i.e., we should be very clean about the problem.
 Research design i.e., analysis of different data in order to summaries the result.
 Interpretation, of result i.e. so what. Purpose of research is find out some important knowledge of
customer
The data collected is then coded in the tables to make the things presentable and more effective.
The results are shown by tables which will help me out in easy and effective presentation and
hence results are being obtained.

57. Collection Method
Data Collection :
The data is collected randomly irrespective of the category of the people in the form of
questionnaire and the sample size is 50 respondents. Because it is a pilot study and due to time
constraint the sample size is small.
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES USED FOR ANALYSIS
Tables, graphs and charts ,For the proper analysis of data simple statistical techniques such as
percentage were use. It helps in making more generalization from the data available. The data
which will be collected from a sample of population was assumed to be representing entire
population was interest. Demographic factors likeage, income and educational background is
used for the classification purpose.

58. QUESTIONNAIRE