EIILM UNIVERSITY, SIKKIM

PROJECT ON

“VODAFINE WITH COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS WITH OTHER TELECOM

COMPANIES”

SUBMITTED
In the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

By
SAMIDHA MATHUR
4TH SEMESTER

SUBMITTED TO:
Prof. SAIKAT GOCHHAIT

CONTENT
1. Acknowledgement.
2. Declaration.
3. Objectives of the study.
4. Introduction of the topic.
 Telecom sector in India.
 Vodafone.
 Airtel.
 Reliance.
 Idea.
 Tata DOCOMO.
 BSNL.
 Aircel.
 Comparison between marketing strategy of Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance, Idea, Tata
DOCOMO, BSNL and Aircel.
 Research Methodology.
 Data Analysis and Interpretation.
 Conclusion and Suggestions.
 Questionnaire.
 Bibliography.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I, Samidha Mathur, sincerely thankful to all those people who have given all
kind of assistance in the making of this project report.

I express my gratitude to Mrs. Sumati Mishra (Customer Service Head, Vodafone UP

East) who has through her vast experience and knowledge has guided me both ably and
successfully towards the completion of my project. I also express my sincere thanks to
my IILM Business School, Lucknow for giving me all support and help whenever I
needed.

I also express my deep sense of gratitude to my mentor PROF. SAIKAT GOCHHAIT

for his continuous support and making himself available for discussions and providing
me as required facilities whatever, whenever needed throughout the duration of my
Dissertation. Credit also goes to all my friends whose encouragement kept me in good
stead. Their continuous support has given me the strength and confidence to complete
the project without any difficulty.

Last but not the least I would like to sincerely acknowledge the help received from
various persons and sources in collecting the data and information in completing this
satisfactory project.
 DECLARATION
I, Samidha Mathur, being the student of IILM BUSINESS SCHOOL, Lucknow hereby
declares that the project report under the title “VODAFINE WITH COMPARATIVE
ANALYSIS WITH OTHER TELECOM COMPANIES” is my own work and it is the
analysis of the big telecommunication sector.
All care has been taken to keep this report error free and I sincerely regret for any
unintended discrepancies that might have crept into this report. I shall be highly obliged
if errors (if any) be brought to my attention.

Date:

________________________
Samidha Mathur
 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
Every organization has to achieve its organizational goals. For this it is very essential
for an organization to know about the view of consumers and their competitive
products. This survey research may be also aimed as to estimate potential buyer for the
product. The objective of the study is as under:
 To identify the market of Vodafone and other telecom companies.

 To study the different market performance of Vodafone and other telecom

companies.

 To compare the various parameters of marketing strategies, advertising,

collaboration, export scenario, and the future prospects of the companies.

 To study the consumer buying behavior and the factors which influence purchase
decision process.

 To study the level of customer satisfaction.

 To study the competitive marketing strategies adopted by the companies.

Introduction
Of the
Topic

TELECOM SECTOR IN INDIA

The telecom services have been recognized the world-over as an important tool for
socio-economic development for a nation. It is one of the prime support services needed
for rapid growth and modernization of various sectors of the economy. Indian
telecommunication sector has undergone a major process of transformation through
significant policy reforms, particularly beginning with the announcement of NTP 1994
and was subsequently re-emphasized and carried forward under NTP 1999. Driven by
various policy initiatives, the Indian telecom sector witnessed a complete transformation
in the last decade. It has achieved a phenomenal growth during the last few years and
is poised to take a big leap in the future also.  

The Indian Telecommunications network with 621 million connections (as on March
2010) is the third largest in the world. The sector is growing at a speed of 45% during
the recent years. This rapid growth is possible due to various proactive and positive
decisions of the Government and contribution of both by the public and the private
sectors.  The rapid strides in the telecom sector have been facilitated by liberal policies
of the Government that provides easy market access for telecom equipment and a fair
regulatory framework for offering telecom services to the Indian consumers at affordable
prices. 
India’s telecom sector has shown massive upsurge in the recent years in all respects of
industrial growth. From the status of state monopoly with very limited growth, it has
grown in to the level of an industry. Telephone, whether fixed landline or mobile, is an
essential necessity for the people of India.
At present the country’s telecom industry has achieved a growth rate of 14 per cent. Till 2000,
though cellular phone companies were present, fixed landlines were popular in most parts of the
country, with government of India setting up the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, and
measures to allow new players country, the featured products in the segment came
in to prominence. The market share of major telecom operators in India are:

4%
4%
6% Others
32% Reliance GSM
12% Aircel
IDEA
BSNL
Vodafone Essar
19%
Bharti Airtel
23%

(Source: TRAI Report 2008-09)

Vodafone
 Products: Mobile networks, Telecom services, Etc.
Owner(s): Vodafone Group (67%) Essar Group (33%)
Founded: 1994
VODAFONE ESSAR, formerly known as HUTCHISON ESSAR is a cellular operator
in India that covers 23 telecom circles in India based in Mumbai. Vodafone Essar is
owned by Vodafone 67% and Essar Group 33%. It is the second largest mobile phone
operator in terms of revenue behind BHARTI AIRTEL, and third largest in terms of
customers.

A map showing Vodafone Global Enterprise' footprint.

     Vodafone Operating Countries

     Vodafone's partners and affiliates

GROWTH OF HUTCHISON ESSAR

In 1992, HUTCHISON WHAMPOA and its Indian business partner established a

company that in 1994 was awarded a license to provide mobile telecommunications
service in Mumbai and launched commercial service as Hutchison Max in November
1995. In Delhi, UP(East), Rajasthan and Haryana, Essar was the major partner. But later
Hutch took the majority stake.

In a country growing fast as India, a strategic and well managed business plan is critical
to success. Initially, the company grew its business in the largest wireless markets in
India- in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. In these densely populated urban areas
it was able to establish a robust network, well known brand and large distribution
network- all vital to long term success in India. Then, it also targeted the business users
and high-end postpaid customers which helped Hutchison Essar to consistently generate a
higher Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) than its competitors. By adopting this focused
growth plan, it was able to establish leading position in India’s largest markets providing
the resources to expand its footprint nationwide.

(Source: http://www.medianama.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/q2-09-vodafone-arpu.jpg)

1992: Hutchison Whampoa and Max Group established Hutchison Max.

2000: Acquisition of Delhi operations entered Kolkata and Gujarat market through Essar
acquisition.

2001: Won auction for licences to operate GSM services in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh
and Chennai.

2003: Acquired AirCel Digilink (ADIL — ESSAR Subsidiary) which operated in Rajastan,
Uttar Pradesh East and Haryana telecom circles and renamed it under Hutch brand.

2004: Launched in three additional telecom circles of India namely 'Punjab', 'Uttar Pradesh
West' and 'West Bengal'.

2005: Acquired BPL (Except Mumbai)- 3 Circles, another mobile service provider in India.
2008: Vodafone acquired the Licence in remaining 7 circles and has started its pending
operations in Madhya Pradesh/ Chhattisgarh with its headquarters at Malviya Nagar,
Bhopal as well as in Orissa, Assam, North East and Bihar.

2008: Vodafone launched the Apple iPhone 3G to be used on its 17 circle 2.75G
network.

2009: Vodafone launched Recharge Online.

2009: Vodafone Essar - 1st Indian Telecom operator to receive the Payment Card Industry
Security Standard (PCI DSS) certification for its Mumbai operations and launches
unlimited SMS offer in Mumbai.

2010: Vodafone emerged as the most admired marketer in India.

2010: Vodafone crossed 100 million subscribers in India.

AIRTEL
 Founded: 7 July 1995
Founder(s): Sunil Bharti Mittal, Sanjay Kapoor.
Headquarters: New Delhi, India.
Products: Wireless Telephone, Internet, Satellite television.
Bharti Airtel Limited formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is an
Indian company offering telecommunication services in 19 countries. It is the largest
cellular service provider in India, with more than 141 million subscriptions as of August
2010. Bharti Airtel is the world's third largest, single-country mobile operator and fifth
largest telecom operator in the world with a subscriber base of over 180 million. It also
offers fixed line services and broadband services. It offers its telecom services under the
Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom
service provider to achieve this Cisco Gold Certification.
It is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource
everything except marketing and sales and finance. Its network (base stations, microwave
links, etc.) is maintained by Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Network, business support by
IBM and transmission towers by another company.
Globally, Bharti Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base,
behind China Mobile and China Unicom. In India, the company has a 30.7% share of
the wireless services market.
Airtel is the 5th largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscriber base.

Coverage map of Bharti Airtel across 19 countries

RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS
 Founded: 2004.
Founder(s): Dhirubhai Ambani.
Key people: Anil Ambani (Chairman), Satish Seth (MD).
Products: Wireless, Telephone, Internet, Television, Data Cards,
Recharge Vouchers.

Reliance Communications, formerly known as Reliance Infocomm, along with Reliance Telecom
and Flag telecom, is a part of Reliance Communications Ventures (RCoVL). Reliance
Communications Limited founded by Late Shri Dhirubhai H. Ambani is the flagship company of the
Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

The company has the customer base of 105 million including over 2.5 million individual overseas
retail customers. It ranks among the top 5 telecom companies in the world by number of
customers in the country. Reliance Communications corporate clientele includes 2,100 Indian and
multinational corporations, and over 800 global, regional and domestic carriers. Reliance
Communications Limited has its office in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai,
Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Patna and Pune.

The major subsidiaries of Reliance Communications are:-

Reliance Telecom Limited

Reliance Globalcom Limited
Reliance Tech Services
Reliance Communications Infrastructure Limited (RCIL)
Reliance Big TV Limited
Reliance Infrate l Limited.

IDEA CELLULAR
 Founded: 1995
Headquarters: Santacruz East, Mumbai, India
Key people: Kumar Mangalam Birla (Chairman)
Sanjeev Aga (MD)
Rajat Mukharjee (VP Corporate Affairs)

IDEA CELLULAR is a wireless telephony company operating in all 22 telecom circles

in India based in Mumbai. It is the 3rd largest GSM company in India behind AIRTEL
and VODAFONE and ahead of state run player BSNL.

In 2000, Tata cellular was a company providing mobile services in AP. When Birla-
AT&T brought Maharashtra and Gujarat to the table, the merger of these two entities
was a reality. Thus, Birla-Tata-AT&T, popularly known as Batata, was born and was
later branded as !dea.

In 2004, Idea (the company had by then been rechristened) bought over the Escorts
group’s Escotel gaining Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West) and Kerala — and licences for
three more — UP (East), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. By the end of that year, four
million Indians were on the company’s network.

In 2005, AT&T sold its investment in Idea, and the year after Tatas also bid good bye
to pursue an independent telecom business. And Idea was left only with one promoter,
the A V Birla group.

When the company’s stock listed on the bourses in March 2007, its subscriber base was
13 million with presence in 11 circles. In less than three years, the subscriber numbers
have more than quadrupled. The public issue was oversubscribed 50 times and raised Rs
2,450 crores.

In June 2008, Idea Cellular bought out B K Modi’s stake in Spice Communications for
Rs 2,700 croresa adding Punjab and Karnataka circles. Modi’s joint venture partner,
Telekom Malaysia, invested Rs 7,000 crore for a 14.99% stake in Idea. Just around then,
Idea’s subsidiary, Aditya Birla Telecom sold a 20% stake to US –based Providence
Equity Partners for over Rs 2,000 crore.
The company has its retail outlets under the "My Idea" banner. The company has also been the
first to offer flexible tariff plans for prepaid customers. It also offers GPRS services in urban
areas.

Idea Cellular won the GSM Association Award for "Best Billing and Customer Care Solution"
for 2 consecutive years.

IDEA Cellular has been recognized as the 'Most Customer Responsive Company' in the Telecom
sector, at the prestigious Avaya Global Connect Customer Responsiveness Awards 2010

The total subscribers of !DEA are 66,726,802 or 15.02% (Approx.) of the total 444,295,711
mobile connections in India.

Idea has been a leader in the introduction of value-added services, and there are many
firsts to its credit, including a voice portal 'Say Idea', Idea TV, voice chat and instant
messenger. Tariff plans have been customer-friendly, catering to the unique needs of
different customer segments, for instance the 'Women's Card' caters to the special needs
of women on the move, and 'Youth Card' covers the emerging youth segment.

The above map shows the footprints of !DEA Cellular in the country by the end of the
year 2004.
The circles where the !DEA Cellular is operating.

TATA DOCOMO
 Founded: November 2008.
Headquarters: New Delhi, India.
Products: Mobile networks, Telecom services, etc.
Parent: Tata Teleservices (74%) NTT DoCoMo (26%).

TATA DOCOMO is a Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) cellular service provider on

the GSM platform arising out of the Tata Group’s strategic joint venture with Japanese
telecom giant NTT DOCOMO in November 2008. Tata Teleservices has received a pan-
India license to operate GSM telecom service, under the brand “TATA DOCOMO” and
has also been allotted spectrum in 18 telecom circles. TTSL has already rolled out its
services in various circles.

It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone with presence in 19 circles
including Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtra & Goa, Punjab, Haryana,
Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, and West Bengal. It has become
very popular with its 1sec pulse especially in semi urban and rural areas. They are
launching their service from the South of India to Central to North and East.
It has also emerged as the first mobile operator in India to have re-introduced ‘per
second pulse’, after Loop Mobile (formerly BPL Mobile).

With the 4 million new additions in the mobile subscribers the Tata Teleservices holds
9.92% of market share.

BSNL
 TYPE: State-owned.
Founded: 19th century, incorporated 2000.
Headquarters: New Delhi, India.
Key People: Gopal Das (Chairman).

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (A Govt. of India Enterprise) (known as BSNL, India
Communications Corporation Limited) is a state-owned telecommunication enterprise in
India. BSNL is the third largest cellular service provider, with over 66.88 million
customers as of June 2010 and the largest land line telephone provider in India. Its
headquarters are at Bharat Sanchar Bhawan, Harish Chandra Mathur Lane, Janpath, New
Delhi.

BSNL is India's oldest and largest Communication Service Provider (CSP). BSNL
provides almost every telecom service in India. Following are the main telecom services
provided by BSNL:

Universal Telecom Services : Fixed wire line services & Wireless in Local loop (WLL)
using CDMA Technology called bfone and Tarang respectively.

Cellular Mobile Telephone Services: BSNL is major provider of Cellular Mobile

Telephone services using GSM platform under the brand name Cellone & Excel (BSNL
Mobile).

WLL-CDMA Telephone Services: BSNL's WLL (Wireless in Local Loop) service is the
most reliable and affordable service giving you the best of both fixed line telephony &
Mobile telephony.

Internet: BSNL provides internet services through dial-up connection (Sancharnet) as

Prepaid, (NetOne) as Postpaid and ADSL broadband (BSNL Broadband).

Intelligent Network (IN): BSNL provides IN services offers value-added services, such
as Free Phone Service (FPH), India Telephone Card (Prepaid card), Account Card
Calling (ACC), Virtual Private Network (VPN), Tele-voting, Premium Rae Service
(PRM), Universal Access Number (UAN) and more.
3G: BSNL offers the '3G' or the '3rd Generation' services which includes facilities like
video calling, live TV, 3G Video portal, streaming services like online full length movies
and video on demand etc.

IPTV: BSNL also offers the 'Internet Protocol Television' facility which enables us to
watch television through internet.

FTTH: Fibre To The Home facility that offers a higher bandwidth for data transfer.

Helpdesk: BSNL's Helpdesk provide help desk support to their customers for their
services.
 AIRCEL

Founded: 1999
Headquarters: Gurgaon
Key people: Gurdeep Singh, COO
Products: Mobile Telecommunication operator
Parent: Maxis Communications (74%), Apollo Hospital (26%)

AIRCEL is a mobile phone service provider in India. It offers both prepaid and
postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India. Aircel is a joint venture
between Maxis Communications of Malaysia and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. Of
India. Maxis Communications has a 74% stake and rest of the 26% of stake is with
Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. It is the India’s 5th largest GSM mobile service provider
with a subscriber base of over 27.7 million, as of October 2009. It has the market share
of 12.8% among the GSM mobile operators in the country. As on date, Aircel is present
in 18 of the total 23 telecom circles (including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar &
Jharkhand, Chennai, Delhi & NCR, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka,
Kerala, Kolkata, Mumbai, North- East, Orissa, rest of Maharashtra & Goa, Rest of Tamil
Nadu, Rest of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh (E), and Uttar Pradesh (W) and with the
licenses secured for the remaining 5 telecom circles, the company plans to become o
pan-India operator by 2010. Aircel Business Solutions (ABS), part of Aircel, is an ISO
9000 certified company.

Aircel has won many awards for its services. Aircel was honored at the World Brand
Congress 2009 with three awards, Brand Leadership in Telecom, Marketing Campaign &
Marketing Professional of the Year. Aircel was honored by CMAI INFOCOM National
Telecom Award 2009 for, ‘Excellence in Marketing of New Telecom Service’. Aircel
had been selected as the best regional operator in 2008 by Tele.net. Aircel was rated as
the top mid-size utility company in Business World’s ‘List of Best Mid-Size Companies’
in 2007. Aircel got the highest rating for overall customer satisfaction and network
quality in 2006 by Voice and Data.

Aircel is one of the sponsors of the Indian Premier League Cricket Team Chennai Super
Kings, which is captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It is also the major sponsors for
Chennai Open (the only ATP tennis tournament in India), and Professional Golf Tour of
India.
 Comparison between
marketing strategy of
Vodafone, Airtel,
Reliance, Idea, Tata
DOCOMO, BSNL and
Aircel.

The main targeted customers of Vodafone are from rural India. By offering them cheap
and light mobile Handsets Vodafone attracted most of the customers of small villages
and towns.
Vodafone offered cheap and free connections to all customers. The costs of these
handsets were Rs.999, Rs.1199, Rs.1299 to Rs.3489.
In every district and big towns Vodafone opened its service centers to provide better
support and services.

Vodafone has a strong logistic and supply all over the India. In every small town the
potential customers can easily purchase the Vodafone SIM & handsets.

The recent marketing strategy adopted by the Vodafone is the Zoo-Zoo advertisement.
Zoo-Zoo, the new brand ambassador of Vodafone, has created the furore in the
advertisement industry. Zoo-Zoos have been successful in giving Vodafone a makeover
and establishing maximum brand presence. I consider it to be the perfect example of a
well laid out marketing strategy for the following reasons:

Vodafone chosen the Indian Premier League 2 (IPL 2) as a platform to launch their
advertisement, which proved to be the great marketing strategy. Cricket is considered to
be the religion of India, and Zoo Zoos captured the attention of nearly two billion people
during the IPL 2. People eagerly waited for breaks between matches to see the more
stories about Zoo-Zoo.

Zoo-zoos are small pseudo-animated characters with big egg-shaped head, round belly but
extremely thin arms and legs. It was a fresh and innovative concept and Vodafone
wonderfully promoted their services by creating different stories featuring Zoozoos. The
charm of the Zoo-zoo was itself a great self-marketing strategy and they were instant
success among masses. Within few days, Zoo-zoos created a huge audience for them,
giving a boost to the Vodafone brand.

In the second phase, after the release of these ads, Vodafone promoted these characters
on social media sites, which was another wise decision. Zoo-zoo fan clubs are there on
social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube, Orkut, Twitter, and many more, where
they have a huge fan followings.

Now Vodafone has announced to launch the Zoo-zoo goodies like zoo-zoo toys, zoo-zoo
mugs, zoo-zoo key chains, zoo-zoo t-shirts, etc. Zoo-zoos have themselves become a
brand and it will be interesting to see how Vodafone uses this concept in future to
promote their services.
“We positioned AirTel as an aspirational and life style brand, in a way that
trivialized the price in the mind of the consumer. It was pitched not merely as a
mobile service, but as something that gave him a badge of value.”

- recalls Hemant Sachdev, Chief marketing Officer (mobility) and Director, Bharti
Tele-Ventures.
Market segmentation
Geographical segment (metropolitans & cities India).
Demographic segment - middle income groups.
People age group of 20 to 28 year.

Target marketing
People who living in cities and towns.
Poor or middle income group people.
Youngsters in big cities.
Businessmen.

Positioning
Creating brands (Sharukh khan & Sachin Tendulkar)
Ads and promotions.
 First time ever in India - any pre-paid card brand gives such freedom to recharge any
value.
 A combination of the film genre exposed through the TV medium designed to connect
with the masses of India.
 Youth based - romance driven strategy platform makes the value proposition of
AirTel Magic - ‘Aisi azaadi aur kahan?” come alive.
  Sharukh Khan makes ‘everything in life possible’ AirTel today unveiled its
strategy for market expansion with the launch of it’s new AirTel Magic pre-paid
card brand campaign – ‘Magic hai to Mumkin hai’. The value proposition is
centered around a person’s desire to make all his / her dreams, ambitions &
aspirations instantly possible. The new campaign for AirTel Magic is all about
empowering millions of Indians to be on top of their lives.

India’s largest telecommunication company

Bharti Airtel had unveil its new logo on November 19.
 
The mobile service provider has come up with a new brand identity. Airtel has launched
its new logo in several countries including India, Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the
island country Seychelles.
 
Besides, the company is also planning to change the design of its recharge vouchers and
important brand promotion materials. Airtel will spend over Rs. 300 crores on changing
its brand identity.

Reliance Communications has adopted the strategy of ‘Penetration Policy’ of the

marketing technique. It captured the lower segment of the targeted market by offering
the lower costs handsets and cheaper call rates. When Reliance Communications launched
itself in the competitive market it was named as “Reliance India Mobile (RIM)” with the
tagline of “Karlo Duniya Mutthi Mein”.

In its second phase of marketing strategy, RIM came up with the advertisement in which
they showed themselves to be No. 1 in India’s network.
Reliance came up with the idea of ‘PAY PER SECOND’ concept in telecom circle.
Hrithik Roshan, the brand ambassador of RIM, has promoted the campaign of ‘PAY PER
SECOND’ plan. This was the best marketing strategy adopted by RIM which made the
Reliance Infocomm at the third position in telecom circle. This concept gave the huge
positive response from the targeted customers which made the other companies to follow
the same concept in order to compete in the telecom industry.

The strategy that the Reliance is always concentrated upon is to capture the lower
segment and it can be proved by the following:
 Cheaper Call Rates.
 Tariffs are available at lower costs.
 Cheaper handsets.
 It also gives the facility to have Free local calls from Reliance to Reliance.

Idea promoted its services through several innovative ads via variety of media like TV,
print, out-of-home, and radio. Idea had not hired any celebrity to promote its services till
late 2007, in contrast to its competitors.

However, when Idea expanded its geographical presence to cover several telecom circles
in India, it hired film star Abhishek Bachchan to endorse its brand in October 2007.
Idea's focus in its ads also changed from highlighting its tariff plans and network
coverage to using mobile telephony to solve social issues. Idea also developed several
websites to support its ads based on social issues.

Idea also tied up with Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team, Mumbai Indians, and
popular players like Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan were used to promote the brand.
Idea chose to promote its brand where as its competitors focused on promoting their
value added services and tariff plans.

'A Good !Dea' Campaign

Idea's promotions in 2006 were based on its tariffs, service quality, and network
coverage. For instance, Idea started promoting its Rs.0.5 per local call per minute service
aggressively. One of its TVCs featured a bowler and an umpire in a game of cricket.

Idea's Launch in Mumbai

!dea's launch in Mumbai circle was recognized as the world's largest single city launch
of telecom services till 2008. Idea spent Rs.8 billion to cover more than 1000 cellular
sites in Mumbai. It used extensive out-of-home (OOH) media like bill boards and bus
stop shelters for pre-launch teasers. Idea used the then prevailing controversy of natives
vs. migrants in Mumbai city.

The Online Initiatives

Idea took its 'What an !dea' campaign further - from TV, print, and radio to the
Internet. It launched several websites that complemented its campaigns that championed
social causes. In December 2008, Idea launched a website called http://bythepeople.in to
take forward its TVCs based on democracy.

Tata DOCOMO Social Media Marketing Strategy

Many independent observers refer to Tata DOCOMO as a “child of Social Media”. In

effect that is quite close to being the strategy for Tata DOCOMO even before the time
the brand was officially unveiled.

Why Social Media

When Tata DOCOMO was planning to enter the Indian market as the 9th GSM
operator, it faced entrenched incumbents and strong brand communication barriers from
other telecom operators. However Tata DOCOMO was determined to change the game
and cut through the clutter through pure innovation and doing the New.
Social Media became the first opportunity which had not been picked up by most Indian
brands in June 2009 leave alone the telecom operators. It was unchartered waters but we
knew that Social Media connects us with the exact TG that the brand wanted to
associate with. It further had the wow element and was clearly doing the New. The
perfect reason for Tata DOCOMO to draw up an extensive strategy to harness the power
of Social Media and build the brand with its consumers.

A dedicated Social Media team at Interface was built to execute the plan. Twitter,
Facebook, Orkut, Youtube accounts were opened up and optimized even before the brand
launch took place. The website itself actively solicited visitors to signup to the Tata
DOCOMO communities months before it became a fad for others. The Social Media
team set about targeting each of the Social Media platforms differently.
The Tata DOCOMO social media strategy has been carefully built on five pillars.
1. Build Consumer Engagement. 2. Micro Communication.
3. Build Brand Advocacy. 4. Address and Resolve Complaints.
5. Crowd Sourcing.

“Our vision begins with our desires”.----- Audre Lorde.

Marketing Vision of the BSNL has to be based on overall mission and vision of the
organization. The mission of the BSNL is:
 To provide world class State-of-Art technology telecom services on demand at
affordable prices.
 To provide world class telecom infrastructure to develop country’s economy.

And the vision of the BSNL is:

 To become the largest telecom service provider in southeast Asia.
Marketing Obejective
the ultimate objective of any marketing activity is to satisfy the customers and today
even a step ahead, i.e., ‘delighting’ the customers, for which the customers are offered
something beyond their expectations from the service or the product. The objective being
to acquire and retain customers, who should continually feel that they are getting more
value of money, they are departing with.

Continuous innovation in product and delivery of services with the appropriate

pricing is the key strategy for developing the trust in customer so that he keeps his
loyalty with BSNL.

Aircel was launched in selected circles in Maharashtra early in the month of August;
and the launch was accompanied by a variety of innovations and attractive outdoor
promotions.

Be it the ‘just arrived’ boxes at the airport, the projection of the logo on the landmark
Gateway of India or the IPL Scoreboard put up at the Mahim Causeway, Aircel has
managed to create an unbeatable buzz.

Interestingly, a lot of its innovations are useful. For instance, the IPL scoreboard enabled
the commuters at the busy Mahim Causeway to keep track of the latest scores.

Recently, Aircel put up an inflated raft at Milan Subway in Mumbai, which sees a lot
of flooding every year. The message simply said, "In case of emergency, cut rope".

The raft came in handy on July 13 and 14, when heavy rains lashed the city. People
stranded at the subway used the raft to move around and men in Aircel branded T-shirts
were also available to help commuters. The idea was appreciated so much that Aircel
will now take it to Delhi and Kolkata as well.

The raft idea was conceptualized and executed by Primesite, Mudra group's OOH
division, for Aircel. Aneil Andee Deepak, senior vice-president, Primesite says, "The
trigger for this idea was the news that Mumbai will witness the highest tides in the last
50 years and the Met Department's subsequent admission that Mumbai will flood and
that they can do nothing about it, given the city's infrastructure. Aircel relishes its role
as a solution provider, rather than a mute bystander. We decided to do something about
it, and hence, the idea."

Research
 Methodology

Achieving accuracy in any research requires a deep study regarding the subject. As the
prime objective of the project is to compare Vodafone with the existing competitors in
the market and its impact on Vodafone.

The research methodology adopted is basically based on primary data via which the most
recent and accurate piece of first hand information could be collected. Secondary data
has been used to support primary data wherever needed.

Primary data was collected using the following techniques:

Questionnaire Method.
Direct Interview Method.
Observation Method.
The main tool used was the Questionnaire Method. Further, Direct Interview Method,
where a face-to-face formal interview was taken. Lastly observation method has been
continuous with the Questionnaire Method. Lastly, observation method has been
continuously observes the surrounding environment he works in.

The age group whose data were collected are shown in the following Pie Chart.

Age group Chart

21yrs-28yrs 28yrs-35yrs 15yrs-21yrs 35yrs-42yrs

10%
15%

55%
20%

As we can see from the above chart, the people who are in the age group of 21yrs-
28yrs are the ones who are the maximum users of mobile phones. This segment is the
one which gives the maximum business to the mobile operators. This segment constitute
the young executives and other office going people. They are 55% of the total people
who are interviewed.
The next group are the people who are 28yrs-35yrs old. They are the 20% of the total.
They are those who are at home or have small business units etc.
And the next age group is the youngest generation who are 15yrs-21yrs old. They are
the school and college going students and carry mobile phones to flaunt. They are 15%
of the total interviewed people.
Lastly, the age group was of 35yrs-42yrs old. They constitutes of those people who just
carry the mobile phones only to receive calls and to make calls. They do not bother
about the extra services which the telecom industry provides to its customers. They are
the 10% of the total interviewed people.

Service Provider Graph:

 Telecom Service Providers
Vodafone Airtel Idea Cellular
Tata DOCOMO BSNL Reliance Communications
Aircel

2%
15%
3% 35%

10%

15%
20%

The above graph shows the slice of 35% . these are the total number of people who are
using VODAFONE. It seems that people are more aware of VODAFONE than any
brand. The next popular brand is AIRTEL with 20% of market share. 305 of the people
interviewed had AIRTEL connections. The next popular brand was IDEA. 15% people
had IDEA connections. In survey, interviewers gave the more or less the same response
about the RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS. And it also comprises of 15% of market
share. As it came late in the market when VODAFONE had established it self very well.
So, that could be the one reasons of such a low percentage. 10% of the market share is
captured by TATA DOCOMO. With 3.8 million new subscribers added in the month of
October, 2009 which crossed the subscriber base 50 million, TATA DOCOMO has
captured a good market share as compared to the other telecom companies. BSNL and
AIRCEL captures 3% and 2% of share in the market respectively.
Data ANALYSIS
 &
INTERPRETATION

1. Do you have a mobile phone?

Owner of the Mobile Phone

100
90
80
70
Yes
60 Column1
50
40
30
20
10
0

Interpretation: 90% of the total sample size have mobile phone.

 2. Which operator’s service do you use?

50

45

40

35 Vodafone
Airtel
30 Idea
TATA DoCoMo
25 Reliance
20 Aircel
BSNL
15

10

Interpretation: Vodafone has the largest customer base.

3. From which source you came to know about VODAFONE?

80
70
60
50 Advertisement
40 Hoardings
Newspaper/ Magazine
30 Mouth Publicity
20
10
0
sources

Interpretation: Advertisement is a best source of communication.

 4. Since how long you are using VODAFONE services?

90

80

70

60 less than 1 month

2-6 months
50 6-12 months
More than 1 year
40

30

20

10

Interpretation: The customer turnover of VODAFONE is very low.

5. Which of the following services do you use of VODAFONE?

51

50.5

50
Prepaid
49.5 Postpaid

49

48.5
48

Interpretation: VODAFONE has more or less equal subscriber base in both Prepaid and
Postpaid services.

6. Which services are more useful to you while using VODAFONE services?
 75

74

73 Call Rates
SMS services
72 Network
Value added services
71

70

69
Category 1

Interpretation: The call rates and networks related services are highly appreciated by the
subscribers.

7. How often you call at Customer Care?

45
40
35
30 daily
25 once in a week
Once in a month
20 Occasionally
15
10
5
0

Interpretation: The Customers of VODAFONE are very much satisfied.

8. For what you call at customer care?

 45
40
35
Value Added Service
30 Information Regarding
25 New Schemes
Other Queries
20
Complaining
15
10
5
0

Interpretation: The VODAFONE subscribers have less complaints. They are more
interested to know about new schemes and new offers.

QUESTIONNAIRE
 1. Do you have a mobile phone?
 Yes.
 No.

2. If yes, then which Operator’s service do you use?

 Vodafone
 Airtel
 Idea
 TATA DOCOMO
 Reliance
 Aircel
 BSNL
(if not VODAFONE, then please go to question number 11)
3. Are you aware about VODAFONE?
 Yes
  No

4. From which source you came to know about VODAFONE?

 Advertisement
 Hoardings [Multiple Choice]
 Newspaper/ Magazine
 Mouth Publicity

5. Since how long you are using VODAFONE services?

 Less than 1 year
 2-6 months
 6-12 months
 More than 1 year

6. Which of the following services do you use of VODAFONE?

 Prepaid.
 Postpaid.

7. Which services are more helpful to you while using VODAFONE services?
 Call Rates
 SMS Services [Multiple choice]
 Network
 Value Added Services.

8. Do you call at Customer Care?

 Yes
 No
If yes, how often you call at Customer Care?
 Daily
  Once in a week
 Once in a month
 Occasionally

9. For what you call at Customer Care?

 Value added Services
 Information regarding New Schemes
 Other Query
 Complaining.

10. Rate the following services on the basis of your satisfaction:

Services / Grade Excellent Very Good Good Average Poor

Network
Call Rates
SMS Rates
New Schemes
Recharge Outlets
Customer Care
Value Added
Services

11. Why you are not using VODAFONE services?

 Lack of awareness
 High Prices
 Poor Services
 Poor network.
12. Would you like to recommend Vodafone to others?
 Yes
 No

13. Give your valuable suggestions to serve you better?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________.

Name: ____________________________________________
Address:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Gender: [ ] Male [ ] Female.
Contact Number: ____________________________________________________________.

Conclusion
&
Suggestions
CONCLUSION:

From the detailed analysis and interpretation, I would like to conclude that Vodafone has
the largest Customer Base in the entire telecom industry. The services offered by the
Vodafone is best according to the survey. And the customer of the VODAFONE are
very much satisfied and they are loyal to the VODAFONE.

SUGGESTIONS:
 VODAFONE should continue to render these type of services so that it can
compete with its competitors.
 As we all know that VODAFONE marketing strategy is always been an
innovative, so I would suggest that it should try to be more creative and
innovative all the time and should bring these type of ads so that it continue
itself to have a good brand positioning in the customer’s mind.
 The normal call rates of VODAFONE without using any Tariffs is higher as
compared to other telecom service providers. So I would suggest that company
should have a look on to this matter.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Special thanks to:
 www.vodafone.in
 www.airtel.in
 www.ideacellular.com
 www.wikipedia.com
 www.scribd.com
 www.managementparadise.com
 www.slideshare.com