A STUDY ON CUSTOMER PERCEPTION ABOUT AIRTEL

By,

Chethan. D

1NH13MBA18

Submitted to,

VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, BELGAUM In partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Under the Guidance of

INTERNAL GUIDE EXTERNAL GUIDE

Mr. Sancharan Roy, Proffesor Mr. Darshan, Proprietor

Department of management studies Ganapa airtel Express store

Department of MBA

NEW HORIZON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Outer Ring Road, Marathalli, Bangalore- 560 103

2013-2015

Acknowledgement

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to VTU as well as my college for giving this

opportunity to do the project work on "Consumer Perception about Airtel". It helped me to do the

research work and implement my theory knowledge into practical terms and I learned new things

through this project.

I would like to thank my parents, friends, faculties and airtel customers to help me to conduct the

survey very effectively. This project was not only done for my marks but also helped me gain some

knowledge.

CHETHAN D

1NH13MBA18

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapters Topics Page No.

1 INTRODUCTION

Needs of the study

Objective of the study

Scope of the study

Methodology adopted

Literature review

Limitations of the study

1-13

2 INDUSTRY PROFILE

COMPANY PROFILE

Vision & Mission

Product & Services

Infrastructure facility

Areas of Operations

Infrastructure facilities

Competitors information

SWOT Analysis

Financial Statements

15-42

3 THORETICAL BACKGROUND 48-59

4 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 61-83

5 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

SUGGESTION

CONCLUSION

85-87

BIBLOGRAPHY 88

ANNEXTURES 89-91

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO; CONTENTS PAGE NO

4.1 Gender descriptions 61

4.2 Age group 62

4.3 Education qualification 62

4.4 Occupation status 63

4.5 Income level 64

4.6 Marital Status 64

4.7 Source of information to consumers 64

4.8 Type of mobile payment 65

4.9 Usage of mobile network 66

4.10 Mobile scheme 66

4.11 Number of years associated 67

4.12 Problems faced by consumers 67 - 68

4.13 Suggest the services to others 68

4.14 Ranking of the services 68

4.15 Correlation 70

4.16 Areas of improvement 70

4.17 Areas of improvement report 71

4.18 Rating of services 71

4.19 Statistics 72

4.20 Video call 72

4.21 Internet services 73

4.22 Live TV 74

4.23 Video downloads 75

4.24 Conference calls 76

4.25 Rating of 4G services 77

4.26 4G services report 78

4.27 Future service providers 78

4.28 Service providers 79

4.29 Satisfactory level of services 79

4.30 Credit facility 80

LIST OF GRAPH

SL NO. CONTENTS PAGE NO

4.1 Graph showing Gender descriptions 61

4.2 Graph showing Age group 62

4.3 Graph showing Education qualification 63

4.4 Graph showing Source of information to consumers 65

4.5 Graph showing Number of years associated 67

4.6 Graph showing Ranking of the services 69

4.7 Graph showing Video calls 73

4.8 Graph showing Internet services 74

4.9 Graph showing Live tv 75

4.10 Graph showing Video download 76

4.11 Graph showing Conference calls 77

Chapter

1

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1. INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE INTERNSHIP 1. 1 TOPIC CHOSEN FOR STUDY

A Study on Consumer Perception about Airtel Services

Customer perception is defined as the way that customer usually view or feel about certain

services and products. It can also be related to customer satisfaction which is the expectation of

the customer towards the products. Once the customer is fully satisfied with the services the

company can progress to better heights, hence customers are the main reason for the success of

airtel.. Customer satisfaction is a frequently used term in the field of marketing, by which it is

able to increase its market share by gathering more number of customers. Customer satisfaction

can be done based on various circumstances that can be linked either to product or services. It is

also based on the satisfaction level of the management, customers, etc. by which it is able to

increase the working conditions. Hence satisfaction is the customers feeling of pleasure or

disappointment which he/she is able to express after being an Airtel customer. The Airtel

services for the project includes the mobile services, 3G, 4G, & Wi-Fi.

1.2 NEED FOR THE STUDY The need for the study is to conduct a survey on the Airtel services and check for the further

improvements to be made. It also specifies to know the availability of various offers and the

usage of these services by the customer. In the recent times there has seen a lot of changes in the

telecom sector where many companies have played their role in this. Among the many Airtel is

one of the leading telecom services provider. Hence the need for the study is to know the

effectiveness of the various services of Airtel. 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

To study the perception about airtel from the customers and the customer support.

To find the usage of the offers available to the customers.

To find issues being faced while using the airtel network.

To study the further improvements to made in point of view of customers.

To measure the growth of newly introduced 4G services by airtel. 10 | P a g e

1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY

Effectiveness of the customers using airtel services

The further improvements to be made.

o It extends to the usage of the survey method of questionnaire. 1.5 METHODOLOGY ADOPTED

Methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understand

as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. Research methodology is a step by

step study of a problem. It involves preparing of questionnaires collected from the prospective

airtel customers and it is being analyzed using the SPSS software. 1.5.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

It is the conceptual structure within which research is conducted. It constitutes the blue

print for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. Descriptive Research is the research

method used for the collection of data. Which includes collection of data through questionnaire

and from the information taken from the consumers. 1.5.2 SAMPLING DESIGN/TECHNIQUE

Sampling is the process of selecting a sufficient number of elements from the population,

so that a study of the sample and an understanding of its properties or characteristics would make

it possible for us to generalize such properties or characteristics to the population elements.

The population for this survey includes the consumers associated with Airtel services.

The sample size is 150 respondents in Bangalore on specific areas. 1.5.3 DATA COLLECTION METHODS

Collection of data involves both primary and secondary data.

1.5.3.1 Primary Data

The data is collected through observation, direction communication and distribution of survey

questionnaire to the consumers. Using the Random sampling the consumer are selected to fill the

questionnaire. 1.5.3.2 Secondary Data

These data is collected from various sources likes internet, newspaper, magazines and other

sources available with the company.

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1.5.4 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN The questionnaire consists of 3 groups which includes socio demographics, mobile services and

value added services. It consists of multiple choice questions, rating of the services, ranking of

services, satisfactory levels, etc. 1.6 LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Customer perception theory by Chris Blank, Demand Media

Customer perception theory attempts to explain consumer behavior by analyzing

motivations for buying or not buying particular items. Three areas of consumer perception theory

relate to self-perception, price perception and perception of a benefit quality of life. Consumer

perception applies the concept of sensory perception to marketing and advertising. Merchants

apply consumer perception theory to determine how their customer perceive them. They use

consumer perception theory to develop to develop marketing and advertising strategies intended

to retain current customers and attract new ones.

2. Understanding and managing Customer Perception by Dagmar Recklies

Customer perceptions are influenced by a variety of factors. Besides the actual outcome –

i.e. did the product or service deliver the expected function and did it fulfill the customers need –

the whole process of consumption and all interactions involved are of crucial importance.

Customer perceptions are dynamic. First of all, with the developing relationship between

customer and company, his perceptions of the company and its products or services will change.

3. Customer perception on Service Satisfaction with Third Party Logistics service by

Socrates J. Moschuris

The 3PL service industry is characterized by customer relationships than can extend over

several years, involving multiple instances of service industry. Customer‘s Satisfaction level has

a profound impact on attracting new customers and customer‘s retention. In his research he

investigates customer perception regarding the service offered by medium-sized 3PL operating

in Greece. Results indicated that customers are satisfied with the outfit of personnel, adequacy of

knowledge, speed of service, quality of service offered and politeness of personnel at the point of

sales as well as during the delivery. The major problem stated by the respondents was the long

hold time at the call center, which causes intensity and confusion among the customers.

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4. Customer Perception of Luxury Fragrance Brand Advertising by DeFanti, Mark

Bird Companies in the beauty industry spend millions of dollars on marketing new fragrances. Hence

one of the biggest decisions brands make when creating a new fragrance is what to name it. He

reviews that the relative impact of the brand and sub brand featured in a new luxury fragrance

advertisement upon consumers‘ willingness to smell the fragrance and compares their effects

among well-known brands and less well-known brand.

5. Customer Perception of Sports Apparel by d’Astous Alain

Although popular sports garments like t-shirts and shoes are typically marketed as products

intended for the practice of sport activity, the majority of buyers in this market are not athletes

and are attracted to these products essentially on the basis of their fashion appeal. In his study the

author has proposed four factors that play a significant role in influencing the product

evaluations of buyers of sport apparel: brand name, store name, price and intended usage

situation.

6. Consumer Perception of Product Quality by Schniederjans, Cao & Olson

The customer has studied the U.S. consumer perception of product quality of Chinese made

Goods. He also explains consumer‘s perception about quality of the items imported from China.

Consumer product value was measured by a simple economic approach of indexation. He

suggested that the Chinese manufacturers should prioritize their quality improvement programs

by improving the material used in products and by improving their processes.

1.7 LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

The limitation of study is scarcity of time

The study is based entirely on the information collected through close-ended

questionnaires which makes the study incomplete.

Small area of sampling makes the collected information very less

Due to confidentiality matters company will not give sufficient information which is

another limitation of the study.

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Chapter

2

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2.1 INDUSTRY PROFILE

The beginning

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

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

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

the use of the British East India Company. The Posts and Telegraphs department occupied a

small corner of the Public Works Department, at that time.

Subsequently, the construction of 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of telegraph lines connecting Kolkata

(then Calcutta) and Peshawar in the north along with Agra, Mumbai (then Bombay) through

Sindwa Ghats, and Chennai (then Madras) in the south, as well as Ootacamund and

Bangalore was started in November 1853. William O'Shaughnessy, who pioneered

the telegraph and telephone in India, belonged to the Public Works Department, and worked

towards the development of telecom throughout this period. A separate department was opened

in 1854 when telegraph facilities were opened to the public.

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

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

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

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

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

granted to the Oriental Telephone Company Limited of England for opening telephone

exchanges at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Ahmedabad and the first formal telephone service

was established in the country. On 28 January 1882, Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor

General of India's Council declared open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay and

Madras. The exchange in Calcutta named the "Central Exchange" had a total of 93 subscribers in

its early stage. Later that year, Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange.

Further developments and milestones

Pre-1902 – Cable telegraph

1902 – First wireless telegraph station established between Sagar Island and Sandhead.

1907 – First Central Battery of telephones introduced in Kanpur.

1913–1914 – First Automatic Exchange installed in Shimla.

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

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

exchanging greetings with King George V.

1933 – Radiotelephone system inaugurated between the UK and India.

1953 – 12 channel carrier system introduced.

1960 – First subscriber trunk dialing route commissioned between Lucknow and Kanpur.

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1975 – First PCM system commissioned between Mumbai City and Andheri telephone

exchanges.

1976 – First digital microwave junction.

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

1980 – First satellite earth station for domestic communications established at Sikandarabad,

[[Uttar Pradesh|U.P.] Noida Sector 62SCMS].

1983 – First analogue Stored Programme Control exchange for trunk lines commissioned at

Mumbai.

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

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

in Delhi.

1995 – Internet Introduced in India starting with laxmi nagar Delhi on 15 August 1995.

Liberalisation and Privatisation

Liberalisation of Indian telecommunication industry started in 1981 when Prime Minister Indira

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

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

because of political opposition. Attempts to liberalise the telecommunication industry were

continued by the following government under the prime-minister-ship of Rajiv Gandhi. He

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

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

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

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

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

Department. DoT was responsible for telecom services in entire country until 1986

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

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

Mumbai) and international long distance operations respectively.

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

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

changed in 1999 and the new government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was

more pro-reforms and introduced better liberalisation policies. In 2000, the Vajpayee

government constituted the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT)

through an amendment of the TRAI Act, 1997.The primary objective of TDSAT's establishment

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

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

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

be challenged by appealing in TDSAT.

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The government corporatised the operations wing of DoT on 1 October 2000 and named it

as Department of Telecommunication Services (DTS) which was later named as Bharat Sanchar

Nigam Limited (BSNL). The proposal of raising the stake of foreign investors from 49% to 74%

was rejected by the opposite political parties and leftist thinkers. Domestic business groups

wanted the government to privatise VSNL. Finally in April 2002, the government decided to cut

its stake of 53% to 26% in VSNL and to throw it open for sale to private enterprises. TATA

finally took 25% stake in VSNL.

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

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

Chinese cell phones which do not have International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers

pose a serious security risk to the country, Mobile network operators therefore suspended the

usage of around 30 million mobile phones (about 8% of all mobiles in the country) by 30 April.

Phones without valid IMEI cannot be connected to cellular operators. 5–6 years the average

monthly subscribers additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million only and the total mobile

subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 million. However, after a number of proactive

initiatives taken by regulators and licensors, the total number of mobile subscribers has increased

rapidly to over 929 million subscribers as of May 2012.

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

communications) and CDMA (code-division multiple access) technologies in the mobile sector.

In addition to landline and mobile phones, some of the companies also provide the WLL service.

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

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

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

Key Statistics

The telecommunications industry attracted foreign direct investments (FDI) worth US$ 59,796

million between April 2000 to January 2014, an increase of 6 per cent to the total FDI inflows in

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terms of US$, according to data published by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion

(DIPP).

Online platforms that support user-generated content can become an important part of India‘s

internet economy and contribute around Rs 2,490 billion (US$ 41.5 billion) by 2015, according

to Global Network Initiative (GNI) report titled ‗Closing the Gap: Indian Online Intermediaries

and a Liability System Not Yet Fit for Purpose‘.

BlackBerry has chosen India as the third country to set up enterprise solutions centers to educate

corporate customers about various BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) 10 solutions. "India is

one of the fastest growing markets in terms of smartphone and mobile data adoption,‖ said Mr.

Sunil Lalvani, Managing Director (MD), BlackBerry India.

Market Dynamics

India‘s global system for mobile (GSM) operators added 4.14 million rural subscribers in

January 2014, taking the total to 285.35 million.

India's GSM cellular subscriber base increased marginally in November to 688.02 million with

an addition of 4.87 million new subscribers during the month, said industry body Cellular

Operators Association of India (COAI).

Data traffic powered by third generation (3G) services grew at 146 per cent in India during 2013,

higher than the global average that saw use double, according to an MBit Index study by Nokia

Siemens Networks (NSN). The data consumed per subscriber for 3G is 532 megabytes (MB),

against 146 MB for second generation (2G).

Tata Teleservices plans to set up nearly 4,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in nine cities across the country in

the next two years. India's smartphone market grew by 171 per cent last year to 44 million

devices from 16.2 million in 2012, as per research firm IDC India.

The 20 km free Wi-Fi zone the longest across the globe was unveiled by Mr. Nitish Kumar, the

Chief Minister of Bihar, Government of India.

Key Developments & Investments

Japanese companies are keen to establish telecom gear test labs in India even as the government

prepares to invite bids from private lab operators to pave the way for local testing from July

2014.

Airtel Networks Kenya Ltd has sought an approval from the Communications Authority of

Kenya to acquire the telecommunications licenses and subscribers of Essar Telecom Kenya Ltd.

Tata Communications has signed a collaboration agreement with Turkey's telecom operator

Turkcell Super online to set up a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) node in Istanbul.

Bharti Airtel and six other GSM majors serving the Africa and Middle-East markets plan to

forge network infrastructure sharing pacts to provide internet and mobile broadband access to

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unserved rural communities and drive down mobile services delivery costs for all sections of the

population in these regions.

InfoTech Enterprises, through its US arm, plans to buy the US-based Softential Inc, which

provides service management and service assurance solutions for telecom firms and cable

operators. The deal size is pegged in the range of Rs 150-180 crore (US$ 25-30 million).

Intelliverse Telecom, a cloud-based communication solutions provider launches IntelliGreeter, a

virtual voice attendant for call routing to any phone.

Bharti Airtel plans to invest more than Rs 4,000 crore (US$ 666.67 million) in Punjab over a

period of five years. The company aims to take its fourth generation long-term evolution (4G

LTE) services to all towns and villages across Punjab.

Reliance Jio Infocomm has signed a master services agreement with Bharti Infratel to utilise the

latter's telecom tower infrastructure to launch its high-speed 4G plans where it will also offer

voice over internet across the country

Introduction

The Indian telecommunication network is the 3rd largest in the world and the 2nd largest among

the emerging economies of Asia. Today, it is the fastest growing market in the world. The

telecommunication sector continued to register significant success during the year and has

emerged as one of the key sectors responsible for India‘s economic growth. This rapid growth

has been possible due to various proactive and positive decisions of the Government and

contribution of both the public and private sectors. The rapid strides in the telecom sector have

been facilitated by liberal policies of the Government that provide easy market access for

telecom equipment and a fair regulatory framework for offering telecom services to the Indian

consumers at affordable prices. It has also undergone a substantial change in terms of mobile

versus fixed phones and public versus private participation. The presence for use of wireless

phones has also been predominant in the sector. Participation of the private entities in the

telecom sector is rapidly increasing rate there by presenting the enormous growth opportunities.

There is a clear distinction between the Global Satellite Mobile Communication (GSM) and

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technologies used. With increasing penetration of the

wireless services, the wire line services in the country in becoming stagnant. On the other hand,

Broadband demand has picked up and promises to stabilise fixed line growth. In terms of the

Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) subscribers CDMA technology was

introduced in India as a limited mobility solution.

The introduction of CDMA services has created competition, lowered traffic and offered many

citizens access to communication services for the first time. Internet services were launched in

India on August 15 1995. In November 1998 the government opened up the sector to private

operators. A liberal licensing regime was put in place to increase Internet penetration across the

country. The growth of IP telephony or grey market is also a serious concern.

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Government loses revenue, while unlicensed operation by certain operators violates the law and

depletes licensed operators market share. New services like IP-TV and IP-Telephony are

becoming popular with the demand likely to increase in coming years. The scope of services

under existing ISP license conditions are unclear. Rising demand for a wide range of telecom

equipment, particularly in the area of mobile telecommunication, has provided excellent

opportunities to domestic and foreign investors in the manufacturing sector. The last two years

saw many renowned telecom companies setting up their manufacturing base in India. Ericsson

has set up GSM Radio Base Station Manufacturing facility in Jaipur. Elcoteq has set up handset

manufacturing facilities in Bangalore. Nokia setup its manufacturing plant in Chennai. LG

Electronics set up plant of manufacturing GSM mobile phones near Pune. The Government has

already set up Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Forum and Telecom Testing

and Security Certification Centre (TETC). A large number of companies like Alcatel, Cisco have

also shown interest in setting up their R&D centres in India. With above initiatives India is

expected to be a manufacturing hub for the telecom equipment. There are 3 major players in

telecom services:- state owned companies (BSNL & MTNL). Private owned (Reliance

infocomm, Tata teleservices) and Foreign companies (Hutchison-Essar, Bharti Tele-ventures,

Escotel, Idea Cellular, BPL mobile, Spice Communication).

Challenges FACED BY TELECOM INDUSTRY

Unlike many countries where the allocation of spectrum is separate from the grant of

license to provide service, in India licenses are still bundled with the allotment of a

certain amount of spectrum.

Limited spectrum availability and interconnection charges between the private and state

operators.

Telecom manufacturing in India is not in pace. With only a few equipment

manufacturers currently operating in the country, most of the telecom equipment is

imported as the country lags behind in terms of telecom R&D.

Lack of infrastructure in semi-rural and rural areas, which makes it difficult to make

inroads into this market segment as service providers have to incur a huge initial fixed

cost.

One of the major challenge is the absence of a uniform approval process across the

country for setting up telecom towers and other infrastructure.

Inadequate utilization of existing towers.

Multiple levies and high taxes on the set up of mobile towers.

Lack of reliable power for telecom towers and higher tariffs on telecom sites. This

increases the dependence on diesel- fueled power sources, which is considered expensive

and more harmful to the environment.

Low penetration.

The prepaid services were terminated by DoT during September 2009 which was

subsequently allowed in January 2010 on condition that all prepaid subscribers will be

reverified by the operators. For new customers the guidelines have been further

strengthened. Prepaid services in J&K and North East and Assam are renewed on yearly

basis.

The launch of 3G operations require huge funds for spectrum fee and also for network roll

out. The other challenges are rolling out new 3G value added services and ensuring

availability of 3G handsets at affordable prices. The 3G roll out will pose major challenge

to the non 3G operators

Telephone connections in millions

1090.504

35.997 220.743

837.195

Africa

America

Asia

Europe

Oceania

1744.815

The Indian Telecom sector has proved to be an international success story. The sector has

witnessed a commendable growth over the past two years. With an overall subscriber base of

914.60 million and a tele density of 76.03%, the sector continues to grow from strength to

strength. With the urban tele density reaching 166.54%, the market has been showing signs of

maturity. Rural India is the key target market likely to drive the next round of growth,

particularly for voice based services.

It is envisaged that rural tele density of 40% would be reached by end of 2014. 3G and BWA are

expected to reinvigorate the maturing urban markets and help in bringing balanced growth of

economy. The aggressive growth observed by mobile services is yet to be replicated in case of

broadband service, where the subscriber base currently stands at more than 12 million. The

Government has a vision to provide telephone connection and broadband facilities on demand

across the country at an affordable price and it strives to achieve the same.

The growth of telecom sector since 2007:

Subscribers

Subscribers' base ( in million)

March'07 March'08 March'09 March'10 March'11 October'11

Wireline 40.77 39.41 37.96 36.96 34.73 33.19

Wireless 165.09 261.08 391.76 584.32 811.60 881.41

Total Phones 205.87 300.49 429.73 621.28 846.33 914.60

Internet 9.21 11.05 13.65 16.10 19.69 -

Broadband 2.29 3.81 6.22 8.77 11.79 12.84*

Data services/

Wireless

internet#

31.3

65.5

117.82

177.87

381.40

-

# accessing internet through wireless networks as per quarterly reports of TRAI

*up to September 2011.

Major players of telecom industry

1. Bharti Airtel 1985

2. BSNL 2000

3. Vodafone Essar 2007

4. Reliance communications 1999

5. Idea cellular 1995

6. Tata communications 1986

7. Tata Teleservices 1996

8. Aircel 1999

9. MTNL 1986

10. TTML 1998

Telecom Companies market share in India as of August 2011

Telecom Companies market share in India as in august 2011

Impact of global crisis

As we know world economy is fighting with economic slowdown.

It seems something special about the telecom industry which renders it partially immune

to the worst effect of the down turn.

Total base of connection in world is 3.2 bln.

Quarterly 3, 2011 Anticipated 177 million connection worldwide but it could not cross

160 million mark.

There is less impact of global crisis on Indian telecom industry as India became the 1st

country in the world to have 10.4 million new connections in a month.

Future of Indian Telecom sector

Article as on September 5th 2013

Telecom companies will hope the current economic crisis will force quick decisions from

government.

The future of India‘s telecom industry riddled with corporate rivalries will depend on whether

the government accepts the five recommendations on radio spectrum. The industry leaving

behind it a bruising price war and the scandal over allocation of airwaves, has been unable to

present a united front with its demands. Instead, each operator has taken a position that best

benefits it or hurts the competition most on reallocation of airwaves, pricing and recurring usage

charges for these frequencies. Mint takes a look at what is at stake for mobile phone companies,

consumers and investors, as well as the exchequer on spectrum related issues that will shape the

future of mobile phones in India.

After two successive auctions in which the government failed to sell the bulk of the airwaves

because there was no demand for bandwidth in metro cities and important regions, the third

round is around the corner after the supreme court earlier said the center had failed to put for sale

all spectrum vacated by companies whose permits it had quashed in February 2012. The poor

response from earlier auctions forced the inter ministered panel overseeing the sale to go back to

the regular on setting minimum prices for the next auction.

Predictably telecom firms offering services on the GSM(Global Service Mobile

communications) technology platform have asked the base price to be reduced significantly from

around rs 14000 crore to five units of 2G septrum in the 1800 megahertz band in the previous

auction. They have been supported by the global GSM association which has also argued that

high airwaves cost would mean higher tariffs for consumers, result in higher debt and the limit

the ability of phone companies to invest in upgrading networks.

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2. 2 COMPANY PROFILE

Type

Public company

Traded as

BSE: 532454NSE: BHARTIARTL

BSE SENSEX Constituent

Industry

Telecommunications

Founded

7 July 1995[1]

Founder(s)

Sunil Bharti Mittal

Headquarters

Bharti Crescent, 1, Nelson Mandela Road,

New Delhi, India[1]

Area served

India & South Asia, Africa, and the Channel

Islands

Key people

Sunil Bharti Mittal

(Chairman and MD)

Products

Fixed line and mobile

telephony, broadband and fixed-line internet

services,digital television and IPTV

Revenue

809.22 billion (US$14 billion) (2013-14)[2]

Operating

income

248.62 billion (US$4.2 billion) (2013-14)[2]

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Profit

22.67 billion (US$380 million) (2013-14)[2]

Total assets

432.72 billion (US$7.3 billion) (2013-14)[2]

Total equity

1273.7 billion (US$21 billion) (2013-14)[2]

Employees

24,720 (2013-14)[3]

Parent

Bharti Enterprises (52.7%)[4][5]

SingTel (15.57%)[4][5]

Vodafone (4.4%)

Subsidiaries

Airtel Africa Airtel

Digital TV Airtel

Sri Lanka Airtel

Bangladesh

Website

www.airtel.com

Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Mittal was in an agreement with

Germany's Siemens to manufacture push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In

1986, Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL), and his company became the first in

India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. By the early

1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless

telephones. In 1992, Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Mittal

incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched service in Delhi. In

1996, cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired

control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In

2000, Bharti acquired control of Sky cell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company

acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the

company was listed on Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003,

the cellular phone operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti

acquired control of Hexa com and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to

Andaman and Nicobar. This expansion allowed it to offer voice services all across India. In

2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010, Airtel acquired

the African operations of the Kuwait based Zain Telecom. In March 2012, Airtel launched a

mobile operation in Rwanda.

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. The Bharti Group, has

a diverse business portfolio and has created global brands in the telecommunication sector.

Bharti has recently forayed into retail business as Bharti Retail Pvt Ltd. under a MoU with Wal-

Mart for the cash & carry business. It has successfully launched an international venture with EL

Rothschild Group to export fresh agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA and

has launched Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd under a joint venture with AXA, world

leader in financial protection and wealth management. BHARTI AIRTEL LTD started in July 7

1995.Its headquarters is at Delhi. In 1998company started their first land line operation. Airtel is

the name of their brand. AIRTEL stands for Affectionate, Interested, Respectful, Tolerant,

Energetic and loving .Their logo is ―Think fresh Deliver More‖. Their first company is Bharti

Cellular Limited under the brand name of Airtel. Another one is Bharti Tele Sonic Ltd under the

brand name of India One. Then Bharti Tele Net Ltd under the brand name of Touch Net. Another

one is Bharti broad band Ltd under the brand name of Manthra Online. The companies Bharti

Telenet Ltd and Bharti Broadband Ltd combined together and form Bharti Broadband and

Teleservices Ltd. After sometime the companies Bharti Telesonic Ltd and Bharti Broadband and

Teleservices Ltd combined together and form Bharti Infotel Ltd. In 13th September 2004 all the

four companies combined together and form Bharti AIRTEL Ltd. Bharti Airtel is one of India‘s

leading private sector providers of telecommunications services with more than 79 million

subscribers as of November 2008. Bharti airtel limited is a leading global telecommunications

company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. The company offers mobile

voice & data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions

for enterprises and national & international long distance services to carriers.

Bharti airtel has been ranked among the six best performing technology companies in the world

by business week. Bharti airtel had 200 million customers across its operations.

Airtel was born free, a force unleashed into the market with a relentless and unwavering

determination to succeed. A spirit charged with energy, creativity and a team driven ―to seize the

day‖ with an ambition to become the most admired telecom service provider globally. Airtel, in

just ten years of operations, rose to the pinnacle of achievement and continues to lead. As India‘s

leading Telecommunications Company, Airtel brand has played the role of a major catalyst in

India‘s reforms, contributing to its economic resurgence. Today it touch People‘s lives with their

Mobile services, Telemedia services, to connecting India‘s leading 1000+corporates. They also

connect Indians living in USA, UK and Canada with their call home service. Our Vision &

Promise By 2015 airtel will be the most loved brand, enriching the lives of millions. "Enriching

lives means putting the customer at the heart of everything we do. We will meet their needs

based on our deep understanding of their ambitions, wherever they are. By having this focus we

will enrich our own lives and those of our other key stakeholders. Only then will we be thought

of as exciting, innovation, on their side and a truly world class company." Airtel comes to you

from Bharti Airtel Limited, India‘s largest integrated and the first private telecom services

provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at

the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with

its world class products and services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into

three individual strategic business units (SBU‟s);

1. Mobile Services

2. Airtel Tele media Services

3. Enterprise Services.

Airtel provides GSM mobile services in all the 22 telecom circles in India, Sri-lanka, Bangladesh

and now in 16 countries of Africa. Provides telemedia services (fixed line and broadband

services through DSL) in 87 cities in India. Provides an integrated suite of Enterprise solutions,

in addition to providing long distance connectivity both nationally and internationally. Airtel has

won the Most Preferred Cellular Service Provider Brand‟ award at the CNBC Awaaz Consumer

Awards in Mumbai. This is 6th year in a row that airtel has won the award in this category.

Business world CSR award was instituted in 1999 to recognize exemplary responsible business

practices by the Indian industry. Recruitment Process of Bharti Airtel Limited KTN circle –

Mobility Unit.

Man Power Planning Identification of Vacancies Sourcing of Candidates Rejection of Candidate

Screening of Profiles Selection of Candidate Assessment test, Line - Staff Manager Interviews

and HR Round Offer & Acceptance On boarding of the New Hire.

Airtel global presence

1. Africa 10. Burkina faso

2. Kenya 11. Gabon

3. Ghana 12. Chad

4. Sierra Leone 13. Congo B

5. Tanzania 14. Madagascar

6. Uganda 15. Seychelles

7. Malawi 16. Nigeria

8. DRC 17. Africa HQ

9. Niger 18. Rwanda

Asia

1. India

2. Bangladesh

3. Sri Lanka

Time Line

The chronology of events since Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated in 1995:

1995

Bharti Cellular launched cellular services as "AirTel" in Delhi.

28 | P a g e

2004

On 19 October 2004, Airtel announced the launch of a BlackBerry Wireless Solution in

India. The launch is a result of a tie-up between Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited and Research

in Motion (RIM).

2010

On 18 May 2010, Airtel won 3G spectrum in 13 circles: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra

Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal

Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East, Jammu & Kashmir for 122.95 billion.

Bharti Airtel wins broadband spectrum in four circles: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and

Kolkata for 33.14 billion.

2011

On 24 January 2011, Airtel announced the launch of its 3G services in India.[105]

On 31 January 2011, Airtel launched wallet service – Airtel Money in the millennium city of

Gurgaon.

On 18 February 2011, Airtel Digital TV brings cricket world cup in High Definition.

On 25 November 2011, Mr. Sharlin Thayil, CEO – Bharti Airtel, AP launches iPhone 4S in

Hyderabad.

2012

On 11 January 2012, Airtel launched Comedy FM on Airtel Mobile.

On 12 January 2012, Airtel launches all new "BBM Plan" for its postpaid mobile customers

on BlackBerry.

2013

On 4 February 2013, Bharti Airtel launches its emergency alert service in eastern region. In

2013 the department of telecommunications (DoT) was investigating Bharti Airtel for

violations of a license agreement the company violated between 2003 and 2005.

2014

On 18 February 2014, Bharti Airtel said it has signed a "strategic agreement" to acquire

Loop Mobile's three million subscribers and its 2G network comprising over 2,500 cell sites

and optic fibre in the financial capital, subject to regulatory approvals.

29 | P a g e

Together with its existing 4.3 million users, Bharti Airtel would replace Vodafone India –

with 7.1 million users – as the No. 1 in Mumbai by subscribers. It would, however, continue

to trail Vodafone in revenue market share —around 27% to nearly 36%

On 2 April 2014, Bharti Airtel renewed its infrastructure and application management

contract with IBM for five years.

Acquisitions and mergers

MTN Group merger negotiation

In May 2008, it emerged that Airtel was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN

Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with operations in 21

countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Bharti was

considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest

overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasized the

tentative nature of the talks. In May 2009, Airtel confirmed that it was again in talks with

MTN and both companies agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31

July 2009. The exclusivity period was extended twice up to 30 September 2009. Talks

eventually ended without agreement and on 30 September 2009, Bharti released a

statement saying that it had decided to disengage from discussions with the MTN Group

when the exclusivity period ended.

Zain

In March 2010, Bharti struck a deal to buy Zain's mobile operations in 15 African

countries, in India's second biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel's $13 billion buy

of Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel completed its $10.7 billion acquisition of African

operations from Kuwaiti firm, making the Airtel the world's fifth largest wireless carrier

by subscriber base. Airtel has reported that its revenues for the fourth quarter of 2010

grew by 53% to US$3.2 billion compared to the previous year, newly acquired Zain

Africa division contributed US$911 million to the total. However, net profits dropped by

41% from US$470 million in 2009 to US$291 million 2010 due to a US$188 million

increase in radio spectrum charges in India and an increase of US$106 million in debt

interest.

Telecom Seychelles

On 11 August 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire 100% stake in

Telecom Seychelles for US$62 million taking its global presence to 19 countries.

Telecom Seychelles began operations in 1998 and operates 3G, Fixed Line, ship to shore

services satellite telephony, among value added services like VSAT and Gateways for

International Traffic across the Seychelles under the Airtel brand. The company has over

57% share of the mobile market of Seychelles. Airtel announced plans to invest US$10

30 | P a g e

million in its fixed and mobile telecoms network in the Seychelles over three years,

whilst also participating in the Seychelles East Africa submarine cable (SEAS) project.

Wireless Business Service Private Limited

On 24 May 2012, Airtel announced an agreement to acquire a 49% stake in Wireless

Business Services Private Limited (WBSPL) at an investment of 907 crore (US$165

million). Airtel bought 26% in WBSPL from Global Holding Corporation and Tulip

Telecom and the balance 23% by subscribing to fresh equity of Qualcomm.

Global Holding Corporation and Tulip Telecom had bought 13% each in the BWA

entities for US$57.72 million (about 2.68 billion) in 2010

Joint Ventures

Airtel Ericson

As per a five-year managed services agreement signed recently, Ericsson will manage and

optimise Airtel's mobile networks in Africa. Ericsson will modernise and upgrade Airtel's

mobile networks in Africa with the latest technology including its multi standard RBS

6000 base station. As part of the modernisation, Ericsson will also provide technology

consulting, network planning & design and network deployment. Ericsson has been the

managed services and network technology partner in the Asian operations

Rebranding

On 18 November 2010, Airtel rebranded itself in India in the first phase of a global

rebranding strategy. The company unveiled a new logo with 'airtel' written in lower case.

Designed by London-based brand agency, The Brand Union the new logo is the letter 'a'

in lowercase, with 'airtel' written in lowercase under the logo. On 23 November 2010,

Airtel's Africa operations were rebranded to 'airtel'. Sri Lanka followed on 28 November

2010 and on 20 December 2010, Warid Telecom rebranded to 'airtel' in Bangladesh.

Sponsorship

On 9 May 2009 Airtel signed a major deal with Manchester United. As a result of the

deal, Airtel gets the rights to broadcast the matches played by the team to its customers.

Bharti Airtel signed a five-year deal with ESPN Star Sports to become the title sponsor of

the Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament. But now the deal is terminated and

karbon is sponsoring Champions League Twenty20 cricket.

Airtel, also signed a deal to be title sponsor the inaugural Formula One Indian Grand Prix

during the 2011 season.

Airtel, signed a deal to be title sponsor the I-League for 2013–14 I-League.

Signature tune

The signature tune of Airtel is composed by Indian musician A. R. Rahman. The tune

became hugely popular and is the world's most downloaded mobile music with over 150

million downloads. A. R. Rahman along with Anu Malik has re-used the same tune in

Kannada movie titled Love.

31 | P a g e

A new version of the song was released on 18 November 2010, as part of the rebranding

of the company. This version too was composed by Rahman himself.

Green initiative

Green towers P7 program

Bharti Infratel is the only telecom tower company, which has installed almost 3 MWT of

solar capacity on their network, generating more than 5 million units of electricity every

year.

The Green Towers P7 program is scoped for 22,000 tower sites (primarily rural areas

having low or no Grid Power availability) out of which 5,500 sites have already been

implemented in the first year as a part of this 3-year program. Once completed, the

initiative will reduce diesel consumption by 66 million litres per year with a significant

carbon dioxide reduction of around 150,000 MT per year. Bharti Infratel bagged the 2011

'Green Mobile Award ' at the GSMA Mobile World Congress at Barcelona and was also

awarded the 2010 innovative infrastructure company of the year award at the CNBC

Infrastructure Awards for this groundbreaking initiative.

Energy Conservation

The company has installed solar hot water generator at its main campus in Gurgaon for

fulfilling the hot water requirement in the cafeteria. Majority of its facilities across NCR

region are now equipped with LES (Lighting Energy Savers) which have reduced energy

consumption in the lighting system to the tune of 10–25%. Variable Frequency Drives

installed in AHU (Air Handling Unit) at its campus have helped in enhancing the

efficiency of cooling system by 10%. These measures have resulted in a total saving of

850,000 units of electricity per year.

Airtel has embarked upon technology related initiatives like virtualization of servers that

has helped it release over 500 CPUs. Also the drive of sending e-bills to the post-paid

customers is helping save 12,840 trees annually. Within its campus the 'Secure Print

Solution' – an automated queue management–based secured printing solution has led to

an annualized saving of about 8 metric tonnes of paper.

2. 3 PROMOTER’S VISION, MISSION & QUALITY POLICY

2.3.1 VISION:

By 2015 Airtel will be the most loved brand, enriching the Lives of Million.

"Enriching lives means putting the customer at the heart of everything we do. We will meet their

needs based on our deep understanding of their ambitions, wherever they are. By having this

focus we will enrich our own lives and those of our other key stakeholders. Only then will we be

thought of as exciting, innovation, on their side and a truly world class company."

2.3.2 MISSION:

Customer service focus

Empowered employees

Innovative services

Cost efficiency

2.3.3 QUALITY POLICY:

This policy is applicable to all employees of the Bharti Group, and to all other stakeholders

interacting with the Bharti Group. It allows those individual employees and other stakeholders to

raise concerns, issues or information of acts or conduct that are in breach of the company's Code

of Conduct.

This policy aims to:

Provide an independent forum by means of the Office of the Ombudsperson, for employees and

external stakeholders of the company to raise concerns and complaints about improper practices

which are in breach of the Bharti Code of Conduct. Put in place a fair and equitable inquiry

process and redressal mechanism

Reassure employees and other stakeholders raising the concerns, that each one will be fully

protected against possible reprisals, intimidation, coercive action, dismissal, demotion or

victimization when a serious and genuine concern of apparent unprofessional conduct has been

made in good faith

2. 4 PRODUCTS/SERVICE PROFILE

Products and Services

Service revenue

Sale of products

Rebates & Discounts

Adjustments

Handset

Assembly sets

Modems

Sim cards traded

Broadband interact. Terminal

Product Name Year Sales Value

(Rs. Million)

% of STO

Service Revenue - Voice 2013 357425.00 78.81

Service Revenue - Others 2013 96061.00 21.18

Sale of Products 2013 23.00 0.01

Traded Goods 2013 0.00 0.00

Products

Prepaid Mobile Phone

Total cost control

Pre activated STD/ISD

Strong network coverage

Postpaid Mobile Phone

Easy billing

Easy payment options

Anytime, Anywhere

Credit limit

Strong network coverage

Long distance calling facility

Widest roaming (National and International)

GPRS – Roaming

Fixed wireless phone

Easy to use

Instant connection

Great Add-on services with features of a mobile phone

Broadband internet & internet

Switch today to Airtel Broadband

Power surfing

Surf while you talk

Other services provided by Airtel

o Turnkey solutions for VSAT network implementation and setting up VSAT teleport hubs.

o Turnkey solutions for Satellite ISP implementation including ATM, Frame Relay, MPLS

options.

o Satellite based connectivity solutions for ERP, SCM and banking solutions

o Disaster recovery solutions based on satellite connectivity

o Providing connectivity for GSM networks, MSC to Teleport

o E – learning

o Operations and maintenance of teleports

2. 5 AREAS OF OPERATION

MOBILE SERVICES

Airtel operates in all telecom circles of India. Its network is present in 5121 census towns and

457053 non-census towns and villages, covering approximately 86.6% of the country‘s

population as of September 2012. Airtel is the largest operator in Rural India with 83. 82%

million subscribers as of April 2013. Airtel is the 6th most valued brand according to an annual

survey conducted by Brand Finance and The Economic Times in 2010.

3G

On 18th may 2010, the 3G spectrum auction was completed and Airtel paid the Indian

Government 122.95 billion (US $2.1 billion) for spectrum in 13 circles, the most amount spent

by an operator in that auction. Airtel won 3G license in 13 telecom circles of India: Delhi,

Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal,

Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East, and Jammu & Kashmir.

Airtel also operates 3G services in Maharashtra & Goa and Kolkata circles through an agreement

with Vodafone and in Gujarat through an agreement with idea. This gives Airtel a 3G services

through Roaming Pacts outside its Licensed Zones in Seven Circles. On 24th January 2011,

Airtel launched 3G services in Bangalore, Karnataka – its largest circle by revenue. With this

launch, Airtel became the 3rd private operator (5th overall) to launch its 3G services in the

country following Tata Docomo and Reliance Communications. On 27th January 2011, Airtel

launched 3G in Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

On 27th July 2011, 3G services were launched in Kerala‘s 3 largest cities Kochi, Kozhikode and

Thiruvananthapuram. Airtel 3G services are available in 200 cities through its network and in

500 cities through intra-circle roaming arrangements with other operators. Airtel had about 5.4

million 3G customers of which 4 million are 3G data customers as of September 2012.

4G

Airtel paid 33.1436 billion (US $550 million) for spectrum in 4 circles: Maharashtra and Goa,

Karnataka, Punjab and Kolkata. The company was allocated 20MHz of BWA spectrum in 2.3

GHz frequency band. Airtel‘s TD-LTE network is built and operated by ZTE in Kolkata and

Punjab, Huawei in Karnataka and Nokia Siemens Networks in Maharashtra and Goa. On 10th

April 2012, Airtel launched 4G services through dongles and modems using TD-LTE technology

in Kolkata, becoming the first company in India to offer 4G services. Airtel launched 4G

services on mobile from February 2014. The first city to get the service was Bangalore. Airtel

provides voice services for its TD-LTE subscribers through its existing GSM network which

made it the first operator in India to combine voice with TD-LTE services through GSM

network. Airtel had 1000000 4G subscribers as of January 2014.

Wi-Fi

Airtel has plans to launch Wi-Fi services in India. It intends to start offering Wi-Fi services in

Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore in initial phase. All plans will be on secure wireless

broadband internet with unlimited usage and will be session or time based. Users can use the

service by finding a hotspot, selecting airtel Wi-Fi Zone, activating the voucher and then login to

start browsing. Airtel intends to partner with establishment owner and Wi-Fi Partner for the café

and restaurant owners. Airtel Wi-Fi Partners can offer services at zero investments and can earn

commission on every Wi-Fi session sold.

Airtel Money

Airtel has started a new m-Commerce platform called Airtel Money in collaboration with Infosys

and Smart Trust (now Giesecke & Devrient). The platform was launched on 5 April 2012, at

Infosys headquarters in Bangalore. Using Airtel Money, users can transfer money, pay bills and

perform other financial transactions directly on the mobile phone. It has a all India presence.

Certain charges are levied per Airtel Money transactions.

Smart Drive

Smart Drive is navigation app exclusive to Airtel customers. The app features voice-based turn

by turn navigation, real time information update on traffic, approximate time of the travel on the

basis of the traffic situation on the various routes and also lets users see their location on the map

and plan the journey accordingly. It also suggests the subscribers an alternate route in case of

traffic congestion on the normal route. According to Airtel, Smart Drive calculates the traffic on

the basis of the numbers of GPS devices used on a particular road, their average speed, as well as

historical trends of traffic on that route. Smart Drive also allows users to search for points of

interest like restaurants, theatres and shopping malls. The app also allows users to keep a record

of all trips they make when using voice navigation for later reference through the ‗Trip

Recorder‘ feature, Wikipedia information of places for which information is available and the

ability to add frequently visited locations to favourites, in addition to weather information about

the place. Airtel will offer navigation at 10 per day or 99 per month. Live traffic will be cost

3 per day or 49 per month. Search and map viewer are available for free. The costs do not

include data charges. Airtel states in Smart Drive‘s FAQ that data is only used when the user

performs searches or calculates routes. The app is developed by Wise pilot, a mobile navigation

solutions provider and uses Navteq Maps for location and traffic info. It was launched on 12th

September 2012. At the time of launch, it was available only in Bangalore, Mumbai and NCR

services are currently available in Chennai. Service will be expanded to Pune and Hyderabad by

December 2012.

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Network Experience Centre

Airtel has Network Experience Centre (NEC) which observes end to end customer experience, in

near real time, along with the standard network elements on Airtel‘s operations. The NEC is

located in Manesar, Haryana and went live on 31st October 2012. It is the first such facility in

India and will be able to monitor Airtel‘s network performance across mobile, fixed line,

broadband, DTH, M-Commerce, enterprise service, International Cable Systems and internet

peering points from a single location. It will monitor all Airtel and partner NOCs. In case of an

emergency, the NEC will enable the operator to prioritise actions to restore normalcy and reduce

resolution time. The NEC houses a video wall with 3600 square feet of solid state LED screen to

monitor Airtel‘s telecom network. This is the world‘s biggest video wall for a telecom operator.

Each cube in this wall is 1.6mx1.2m and there are 175 cubes arranged in a 25x7 matrix. The

clear span of the roof is 49mx18m and the beams, which are fireproof and about 8 feet deep,

have been specially designed to hold the structure without columns. The NCE was designed

specifically to be used as a command centre in case of national emergencies and natural

catastrophes. The facility is earthquake proof and also provides for a single control of command

and fully redundant technology layout.

iPhone

The iPhone 3G was rolled out in India in 2008 by Airtel. However, high prices and contract

bonds discouraged consumers and it was not as successful as the iPhone is in other markets of

the world. Airtel introduced the iPhone 4 on 27 May 2011 and the iPhone 5 on 2nd November

2012.

Telemedia

Airtel Broadband Blocking TPB under the Telemedia segment, Airtel provides broadband

internet access through DSL, internet leased lines as well as MPLs (multiprotocol label

switching) solutions, as well as IPTV and fixed line telephone services. Until 18th September

2004, Bharti provided fixed line telephony and broadband services under the Touchtel. Airtel

Broadband Blocking TPB under the Telemedia segment, Airtel provides broadband internet

access through DSL, internet leased lines as well as MPLs (multi-protocol label switching)

solutions, as well as IPTV and fixed line telephone services. Until 18th September 2004, Bharti

provided fixed line telephony and broadband service under the Touchtel brand. Bharti now

provides all telecom services including fixed line services under a common brand airtel. As of

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

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

broadband and IPTV services. Airtel provides both capped as well as unlimited download plans.

However, Airtel‘s unlimited plans are subject to free usage policy (FUP) which reduced speed

after the customer crosses a certain data usage limit. In some plans, Airtel provides only 256

Kbit/s beyond FUP, which is lower than the TRAI specified limit of half the subscriber‘s original

speed. The maximum speed available for home users is 16Mbit/s.

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2. 6 INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITIES

INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE

The Internet backbone involves state of the art high-end routers and switchers as may deployed

on the best networks across the world to offer our customers reliable service of unmatched

quality. Three years back they had established satellite based gateway for internet access. This

was the first gateway by a private operator. Now we have established our fibre gateway on

Network i2i, first private submarine cable owned by them and SingTel.

FIXED LINE INFRASTRUCTURE

The high quality fibre-based, fixed line networks in Delhi, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,

Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh intensively covers the most prominent commercial and

business district in the country. At Airtel Enterprise Services, provide the power of last mile

fixed line network to bring end to end voice and data solutions.

LONG DISTANCE INFRASTRUCTURE

The 25000 km advanced fiber – optic cable distance network covers India‘s top 200 cities. And it

powers the services of India‘s leading private telecom service providers- cellular, fixed line and

internet through Airtel Long Distance Services.

SUBMARINE CABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

Airtel has partnered with SingTel to create the world‘s largest submarine cable system- Network

i2i with 8.4 Tbps capacity. This 3200 km undersea cable structure stretchers from Chennai to

Singapore and thereon to Tier-1 carriers on SingTel‘s capacity on 175000 km of cables. The

huge capacity on network i2i is distributed locally in India through the 25000 km of advanced

fiber optic domestic long distance backbone, providing unprecedented capacity, speed and

reliability.

2. 7 COMPETITOR’S INFORMATION

The main competitors of Bharti Airtel are

1. Reliance

2. Idea

3. Vodafone

4. Tata Docomo

5. Aircel

6. MTNL

7. BSNL

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MARKET CHALLENGERS

Vodafone

BSNL

FOLLOWERS

Idea

Reliance

NICHERS

Aircel

Docomo

Competitive Strengths

Businesses

Bharti Tele- Ventures current businesses include

Mobile services

Fixed line

National and international long distance services

VSAT, Internet services and network solutions.

Broadband services with DSL and Wi-Fi network.

Bharti Tele-Ventures believes that the following elements will contribute to the Company‘s

success as an integrated telecommunication services provider in India and will provide the

Company with a solid foundation to execute its business strategy:

o Nationwide footprint

o Focus on industry trends and capitalize on new telecommunications- related business

opportunities.

o The strong brand name recognition and a reputation

o The Company‘s strong relationships with international strategic and financial investors.

Conclusion

The conclusion is that Airtel‘s Advertisement has a major impact on its users.

Airtel had created a very good image on the mind of the new users of cellular service.

Airtel is successful in capturing the highest market share by adopting Celebrity

Endorsement

Strategies Adopted by Airtel:

Supply chain, Market division, Department of products, Vast Product Range,

Mind Blowing Advertisements.

But in students it isn‘t a popular one because there isn‘t much attracting schemes and

offers for the youth.

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2.8 SWOT ANALYSIS

Bharti Airtel is the world‘s third largest mobile service provider by subscribers after China

Mobile and Vodafone with over 270 million global customers. It is also India‘s biggest wireless

telecom operator both by subscribers and revenue. Those numbers came in at 193.5 million and

Rs. 113 billion ($1.8 billion) respectively after the end of latest quarter. Again, these figures are

just for Airtel‘s mobile services in India. The telco also provides mobile telephony services in 20

other Asian and African countries. Given the challenging (but improving) telecom sector

sentiment in India, it is worthwhile to discuss a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and

Threats (SWOT) analysis for the company.

Strengths

1. Largest cellular service provider in India, with over 164.61 million subscribers at the end

of April 2012.

2. Largest telecom operator in world with 207.8 million subscribers across 19 countries at

the end of 2011.

3. Only Indian operator, with VSNL, that has an international submarine cable.

4. High brand visibility.

5. Strong advertising with celebrity brand ambassadors.

Weakness

1. Price competition from BSNL & MTNL

2. Untapped Rural Market

Opportunity

1. Fast expanding cellular market

2. Latest and low cost technology

3. Untapped rural market.

Threats

1. New entrant‘s low price offering

2. Saturation point in Basic telephony service

3. Mobile number portability.

Segment

Elite class of people; Corporates

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Target group

Elite class above 25 years age; YUPS (Young Upward Professionals)

Positioning

Aspirational and lifestyle brand; Premium category

2.9 FUTURE GROWTH PROSPECTS

Future outlook for Airtel will depend on following aspects:

1) Ability to sustain the fierce competitive environment with entry of new players.

2) Success on 3G services front.

3) Overseas expansion

4) Assistance in the form of diversification into new businesses under the Bharti Group.

India is set to witness entry of new players in the mobile services market. Names include

Datacom having the backing of Videocon and HFCL Group, Loop Telecom backed by Essars,

Unitech‘s telecom arm, Swan Telecom and Shyam which aspires to extend its foot print across

the nation. All these are considered to usher in a fierce competitive environment. Rural segment

is likely to be the focus of most of these players to build subscriber base.

Bharti Airtel should do well to sustain this challenge as it has on its disposal the incumbent

operator advantage. The company is well positioned to expand its network in the remote areas of

the country. Also the fact that while new entrants will only have start-up spectrum of 4.4MHz for

use, Bharti will benefit from having more spectrum in most of the circles.

Bharti through its association with SingTel is also on the positive side as far as experience in

offering 3G services goes. IT is expected to bid for pan-India 3G license and particularly for

metro circles where it is faced with the challenge of keeping a check on dwindling ARPUs.

Bharti off late is aggressively eying acquisitions in the overseas market with a special focus on

emerging markets. Few months back it was in highlight for its proposed merger with South

African MTN which ultimately turned to be futile. But the company has repeatedly suggested

that it is on top gears to hunt for an acquisition in the global telecom sector.

Bharti Airtel is also diversifying into new businesses now. IPTV and DTH are considered to be

two services which may again result in reasonable subscriber addition to the company as well as

help it to increase ARPU from current subscribers. More importantly its tie-up with Wal-Mart is

widely perceived to take Bharti Enterprises to the next level of Corporate Growth and

consolidate its position not only in the Indian business environment bur also on a global map.

Quarter EndeD Year Ended Particulars Y-on-Y Y-on-Y

Mar-14 Mar-13 Growth Mar-14 Mar-13 Growth

Total revenues EBITDA

EBITDA / Total revenues

EBIT

Finance cost (net)

Share of results of Joint Ventures/Associates

Profit before tax 5

Income tax expense 5

Net income 6

Capex

Operating Free Cash Flow (EBITDA - Capex)

Cumulative Investments

222,193

73,066

32.9%

33,622

9,911

1,673

25,384

13,306

9,616

195,821 13%

60,605 21%

30.9%

22,601 49%

11,158 -11%

875 91%

12,318 106%

7,255 83%

5,086 89%

32,878 1%

27,727 43%

1,861,643 16%

857,461

277,770

32.4%

121,274

48,380

5,211

78,105

44,478

27,727

33,278 105,843

39,788 171,927

2,158,800 2,158,800

2.10 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Bharti Airtel is a leading alternative provider of telecommunications services in India and among

the top ten global carriers offering services in about 20 other countries, particularly in Africa.

Through subsidiaries, the company operates three business units: Telemedia Services (broadband

and telephone), Enterprise Services, and Mobile Services. The Enterprise Services group aids

both long-distance carriers and corporate clients. Bharti Airtel has more than 220 million mainly

mobile subscribers. It provides digital television service for 5 million in India.

The company is a unit of Bharti Enterprises, a conglomerate with interests in financial services,

food, and retail, besides telecom. Table 2.1 Consolidated Summarized Statement of Operations (net of inter segment

eliminations)

Amount in Rs Mn, except ratios

769,045

232,579

30.2%

84,431

40,084

3,506

47,853

25,184

22,757

126,451

106,128

11%

19%

44%

21%

49%

63%

77%

22%

-16%

62%

1,861,643 16%

Note 5: Profit before Tax and Income Tax expense reported above for the quarter ended and full year ended March 31, 2014, excludes the impact of

exceptional items.

Note 6: Net Income for the quarter ended and full year ended March 31, 2014, includes the impact of exceptional items. Refer section 5.3.3 on

“Exceptional Items” on page 23 for details.

Particulars As at Mar 31,

2014 As at Mar 31,

2013

Assets

Non-current assets

Current assets

Total assets

Liabilities

Non-current liabilities

Current liabilities

Total liabilities

Equity & Non Controlling Interests

Equity

Non controlling interests

Total Equity & Non Controlling Interests

Total Equity and liabilities

1,607,915

223,857

1,831,772

624,060

568,050

1,192,110

597,560

42,102 639,662

1,831,772

Particulars

Quarter Ended Year Ended

Mar-14

Mar-13 Y-on-Y Growth

Mar-14

Mar-13 Y-on-Y Growth

Total revenues EBITDA

EBITDA / Total revenues

EBIT

Capex

Operating Free Cash Flow (EBITDA - Capex)

Cumulative Investments

10,242

3,816

37.3%

1,420

9,130 12%

3,783 1%

41.4%

1,866 558 -24%

3,225 246%

74,974 -42%

6%

39,352

14,771

37.5%

5,540

1,932 4,226

1,884 10,546

79,315 79,315

Table 2.2 Consolidated Summarized Statement of Financial Position

Amount in Rs Mn

1,395,347

196,906

1,592,253

627,603

420,547

1,048,150

503,217 40,886

544,103

1,592,253

Table 2.3 Telemedia Services

Amount in Rs Mn, except ratios

35,897

14,746

41.1%

6,999

3,408

11,338

10%

0%

-21%

24%

-7%

74,974 6%

Table 2.4 Stock market

Year after year, Bharti Airtel Limited has been seen their bottom line shrink from 42.6B INR to

22.6B INR despite an increase in revenues from 714.5B INR to 803.1B INR. An increase in the

percentage of sales devoted to cost of goods sold from 49.24% to 50.99% was a key component

in the falling bottom line in the face of rising revenues.

Share capital

Rs. 8340.15 million raised through the IPO

2002 Went Public

Shares in issue - 1,898,101, 604 as at September 30 2008

Market Capilitzation - approx. Rs. 1371 billion

P/E- 19.98, EPS – 36.16

Sources of funds

Graph 2.1 Reserves and surplus

Graph 2.2 Secure loans

Graph 2.3 Unsecured loans

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Graph 2.4 Total

Graph 2.5 Fixed assets

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Chapter

3

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3.1 THORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ELOBORATIVE

INFORMATION ON SUBJECT CHOOSEN FOR BETTER

UNDERSTANDING AND USAGE IN THE ANAYLSIS

3.1.1 DEFINITON

Consumer Perception is the process through which the information from outside

environment is selected, received, organised and interpreted to make it meaningful to us. It is the

process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give

meaning to their environment.

According to Kolasa, ―Perception is selection and organisation of material which stems

from the outside environment at one time or the other to provide the meaningful entity we

experience‖.

According to S.P. Robbins, ―Perception may be defined as a process by which individuals

organise and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

According to Joseph Reitz, ―Perception includes all those processes by which an

individual receives information about their environment – seeing, hearing, feelings, tasting, and

smelling.‖

3.1.2 WHY IS CONSUMER PERCEPTION IMPORTANT?

The consumer perceptions is the most important factory to know the growth or failure of a

company, as the consumer is the king of the market and he decides which product stays in the

market and which does not stay for long time. Taken the case of Airtel why it is important, the

reasons is discussed below:-

Meeting the needs of consumers is the underlying rationale for the existence of

community service organization. Customers have a right to quality services that deliver

outcomes.

Organization that strive beyond minimum standards exceed the expectations of their

consumers are likely to be leaders in their sector.

Consumers are recognized as key partners in shaping service developments and assessing

quality of service delivery.

The process for measuring consumer perception and obtaining feedback on organizational

performance are valuable tools for quality and continuous service improvements.

3.1.3 DYNAMICS OF PERCEPTION

Perception is a process consists of several sub-processes. One can take an input-

throughout-output approach to understand the dynamics of the perceptual process. This approach

emphasis that there is input, which is processed and gives output. The stimuli in the environment

- subjects, events, or people – can be considered as the perceptual inputs.

The actual transformation of these inputs through the perceptual mechanisms of selection,

organisation, and interpretation can be treated as the throughputs, and the resultant opinions,

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feelings, attitudes, etc., which ultimately influence out behavior, can be viewed as the perceptual

outputs.

The steps in the perceptual process – selection, organisation, and interpretation-

Selection →

↓

Organisation

↓

Interpretation →

3.1.3.1 Perceptual Selection

Exposure ↓

Attention

Categorization

↓

Inference

Perceptual Process

The first component of perception, selection, requires consumers to be exposed to

marketing stimuli and to attend to these stimuli. Consumers will pick and choose marketing

stimuli based on their needs and attitudes. The car buyer will be more attentive to car ads; the

fashion conscious consumers will be more attentive to ads for clothing. In each case, the

consumer is processing stimuli selectively by picking and choosing them based on his or her

psychological set.

Processes Defining Perceptual Selection

For such perceptual selection to occur, the consumer must first see or hear the stimulus and then

respond to it. Therefore, three processes define selection which is:

1. Exposure: It occurs when consumers‘ senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell) are activated

by a stimulus. Exposure to a stimulus either occurs or it does not. Consumers interest in

and involvement with the stimulus is reflected in the level of attention they devote to it.

Consumers will pick and choose the stimuli they are exposed to.

2. Attention: It is the momentary focusing of a consumer‘s cognitive capacity on a specific

stimulus. When consumers notice a T.V. ad, a new product on a shelf, or a car in

showroom, attention has taken place.

3. Selective Perception: Consumers perceive marketing stimuli selectively because each

individual is unique in the combination of his or her needs, attitudes, experiences, and

personal characteristics. Selective perception means that two consumers may perceive

the identical advertisement, package, or product very differently. Selective perception

ensures that consumers will receive information most relevant to their needs.

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3.1.3.2 Perceptual Organisation

It emphasis on the subsequent activities that take place in the perceptual process after a

stimulus is received. A person rarely perceives the extent of colour, light and sound associated

with objects. Instead he perceived organised patterns, stimuli and identifiable whole objects.

Factors affecting Perceptual Organisation

1. Figure and Ground: figure-ground principle is generally considered to be the most basic

form of perceptual organisation. Tis principle simply implies that the perceived object or

person or event stands out distinct from its background and occupies the cognitive space

of the individual. Eg: - as you read any book, you see white as the background and black

as the letters or words to be read. You do not try to understand what the white spaces in

the middle of black letters could mean.

2. Perceptual Grouping: grouping is the tendency to curb individual stimuli into

meaningful patterns. Eg:- if we perceive objects or people with similar characteristics, we

tend to group them together and this organising mechanism helps us to deal with

information in an efficient way rather than getting bogged down and confused with so

many details.

3. Perceptual Constancy: constancy is one of the more sophisticated forms of perceptual

organisation. This concept gives a person a sense of stability in this changing world. This

principle permits the individuals to have constancy or stability in a tremendously variable

and highly complex world.

4. Perceptual Context: the highest and most sophisticated form of organisation is

‗perceptual context‘. It gives meaningful and value to simple stimuli, objects, events,

situations and other persons in the environment. The organizational structure and culture

provide the primary context in which workers and managers do their perceiving.

5. Perceptual Defence: closely related to perceptual context is the perceptual defence. A

personal may build a defence against stimuli or situational events in a particular context

that are personally or culturally unacceptable or threatening. Most studies verify the

existence of a perceptual defence mechanism.

3.1.3.3 Perceptual Interpretation

People exercise selectivity as to which stimuli they perceive and they organise these

stimuli on the basis of certain psychological principles. The interpretation of stimuli is also

uniquely individual, because it is based on what individuals expect to see in light of their

previous experiences on the number of plausible explanations they can envision, and on their

motives and interests at the time of perception.

Perceptual Distortion

Individuals are subject to a number of influences that tend to distort their perceptions, such as:

50 | P a g e

1. Physical Appearances: people tend to attribute the qualities they associate with certain

people to others who may resemble them, whether or not they consciously recognise

the similarity. For this reason, the selection of models for print advertisements and for

television commercials can be a key element in their ultimate persuasiveness.

2. Stereotypes: individual tend to carry pictures in their minds of the meanings of various

kinds of stimuli. These stereotypes serve as expectations of what specific situations,

people or events will be like, and they are important determinants of how such stimuli

are subsequently perceived.

3. First impressions- first impressions tend to be lasting; yet, in forming such

impressions, the perceiver does not know which stimuli are relevant, important, or

predictive of later behavior. A shampoo commercial effectively used the line, ―You will

never have a second chance to make a first impression‖.

4. Jumping to Conclusions: many people tend to jump to conclusions before examining

all the relevant evidence. Eg: - the consumer may hear just the beginning of a

commercial message and draw conclusions regarding the product or service being

advertised. For this reason, many copywriters are careful to give their most persuasive

arguments first.

5. Halo effect: historically, the halo effect has been used to describe situations in which

evaluations of a single object or person on a multitude of dimensions is based on the

evualuion of just one or a few dimensions. Consumer behaviorists broaden the notion

of the halo effect to include the evolution of multiple objects on the basis of the

evolutions of just one dimension.

3.1.4 ELEMENTS OF PERECEPTION

3.1.4.1 Sensation

When a person is exposed to any of the marketing stimuli or an ad, the first reflect that is

initiated in him is known as sensation. Eg:- when a person comes across a beautiful ado f a

Mercedes Benz ‗E-class‘ on the center spread of a magazine, their first reaction will probably be

one of admiration. As person enter a bakery, may smell the mouthwatering aroma of freshly

baked cakes. We can feel the energy in pulsating music played at a disco.

3.1.4.2 Absolute Threshold

The absolute threshold is the minimum level of stimulus intensity needed for a situation

to be perceived. In other words, the absolute threshold is the amount of intensity needed to detect

a difference between something and nothing. Suppose you are driving in the highway and a

billboard is in the distance. A billboard might have the most entertaining copy ever written, but

his genius is wasted if the print is too small for passing motorists to see it from the highway. The

absolute threshold is that point at which you can first see the billboard. Before that point, the

billboard is below the absolute threshold and not sufficiently intense to be seen.

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3.1.4.3 Differential threshold/Just noticeable difference

The minimal difference that can be detected between two similar stimuli is called the

differential threshold, or the Just Noticeable Difference (the JND).

A 19th century German scientist named Ernst Weber discovered the JND between two stimuli

was not an absolute amount, but an amount relative to the intensity of the first stimulus.

Weber‘s law, as it has come to be known, states that the stronger the initial stimulus, the greater

the additional intensity needed for the second stimulus to be perceived as different.

Applications of Just- Noticeable –Difference to Consumer Behaviour

Manufacturers and marketers endeavor to determine the relevant JND for their products for two

very different reasons:-

1. So that negatives changes (e.g., reductions in product size or quality, or increases in

product price) are not readily discernible to the public (i.e., remain below the JND).

2. So that product improvements (e.g., improved or updated packaging, larger size, or lower

price) are very apparent to consumers without being wastefully extravagant (i.e., they are

at or just above the JND).

3.1.4.4 Subliminal Perception

The concept of the perceptual threshold s important for another phenomenon – subliminal

perception. Suppose a person sitting at a movie and is exposed to messages like ―Eat popcorn‖

and ―Drink coke‖. However, each message is shown on the screen for only a fraction of a

second, so short a time that you are not consciously aware of them. Stimuli like these, presented

below the threshold level of awareness, are called subliminal perception.

3.1.5 SELF PERCEPTION

Self-perception theory attempts to explain how individuals develop an understanding of the

motivations behind their own behavior. Self-perception by consumers relates to values and

motivations that drive buying behavior which is also an important aspects of consumer

perception theory.

3.1.6 PRICE PERCEPTION

While mass merchandisers such as Wal-Mart emphasizes low prices as an inherent virtue,

upscale merchants attempts to emphasize quality and value for money to appeal to potential

customers. Two factors that shaped price perception were the perceived quality of merchandise

or service in question and price comparisons with merchants offering similar merchandise or

services.

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3.1.7 BENEFIT PERCEPTION

―It‘s good and it‘s good for you‖. Many consumers are familiar with this phrase frequently

associated with food advertising. Researchers have surveyed consumers to determine how

nutrition claims associated with food affected their perception of that food‘s nutritional value.

The researchers also theorized that consumers would demonstrate a trend toward applying more

scrutiny to nutrition claims and would demand more specific information about foods they

purchase.

3.1.8 FACTORS INFLUENCING PERCEPTION

Individuals may look at the same thing, but perceive it differently. A number of factors

operate to shape and sometimes distort perception. These factors include:-

1. Factors in the Perceiver (Internal Factors)

(i) Needs and Motives: people‘s perception is determined by their inner needs. A

need is a feeling of tension or discomfort when one thinks he is missing

something or requires something. People with different needs usually experience

different stimuli. Similarly people with different needs select different items to

remember or respond to.

(ii) Self-concept: the way a person views the world depends a great deal on the self-

concept or image he has about himself. The self-concept plays an important role

in perceptual selectivity. It can be thought of as an internal form of attention

getting and is largely based on the individual‘s complex psychological makeup.

(iii) Beliefs: a person‘s beliefs have profound influence on his perception. Thus, a fact

is conceived not on what it is but what a person believes it to be. The individual

normally censors stimulus inputs to avoid disturbance of his existing beliefs.

(iv) Past experience: a person‘s past experience mould the way he perceives the

current situations. If a person has been betrayed by a couple of friends in the past,

he would tend to distrust any new friendship that he might be in the process of

developing.

(v) Expectations: expectation affect what a person perceives. Expectations are

related with the state of anticipation of particular behavior from a person. In the

organizational setting, expectations affect people‘s perception. Thus a technical

manager may expect ignorance about the technical feature of a product from the

non-technical people.

2. Factors in the Target or Perceived (External Factors)

(i) Size: the bigger the size of the perceived stimulus, the higher is the probability

that it is perceived. Size attracts the attention of an individual. It establishes

dominance and enhances perceptual selection.

53 | P a g e

(ii) Intensity: high intensity increases the chances of selection. If the message is

bright, if sentences are underlined, it gets more attention than in normal case. The

greater the intensity of stimulus, the more likely it will be noticed.

(iii) Frequency: repeated external stimulus is more attention attracting than a single

time. Repetition increases our sensitivity and alertness to the stimulus. Thus,

greater the frequency with which a sensory stimulus is presented, the greater the

chances we select it for attention.

(iv) Status: perception is also influenced by the status of the perceiver. High status

people can exert greater influence on perception of an employee than low status

people.

(v) Contrast: stimuli that contrast with the surrounding environment are more likely

to be attention catching than the stimuli that blend in. a contrasting effect can be

caused by colour/size or any other factor that is unusual. The contrast principle

states that external stimuli that stand out against the background or which are not

what are expected will receive better attention.

3. Factors in the Situation

The contest in which we see object or events is important. Elements in the

Surrounding environment influence our perception. The time at which an object

or event is seen can influence attention, as can location, light, heat, or any number

of situational factors.

3.1.9 INFLUENCE OF PERCEPTION ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR

Consumer Buying Behvaiour is influenced by perception also, which is psychological

influence. Marketer‘s strategies make use perceptual processes to gain and retain customers.

Partly determine people‘s general behavior and thus, influence their behavior as consumers.

Even though these perception processes operate internally, they are very much affected by social

forces outside the individual. An individual‘s current set of needs affects selective exposure.

Information inputs that relate to one‘s strongest needs at a given time are more likely to be

selected to reach awareness.

The selective nature of perception, the first step may result not only in selective exposure but

also in two other conditions:

1. Selective Distortion: it is changing or twisting currently received information; it occurs

when a person receives information inconsistent with personal feelings or beliefs. Eg;- on

seeing an advertisement promoting a disliked brand, a viewer may distort the information

to make it more consistent with prior views. This distortion substantially lessens the

effect of the advertisement on the individual.

2. Selective Retention: in selective retention, a person remembers information inputs that

support personal feelings and beliefs and forgets inputs that do not.

54 | P a g e

After hearing a sales presentation and leaving a store, a customer may forget many

selling points if they contradict personal beliefs.

Although marketers cannot control buyer‘s perceptions, they often try to influence them through

information. Several problems may arise from such attempts, however. First, a consumer‘s

perceptual process may operate such that a seller‘s information reaches that person. Eg: - a buyer

may block out a salesperson‘s presentation. Second, a buyer may receive a seller‘s information

but perceive if differently than was intended.

Eg: - when a toothpaste producer advertises that ―35% of the people who use this toothpaste have

fever cavities‖, a consumer might infer that 65% of users have more cavities. Third, a buyer who

perceives information inputs to be inconsistent with prior beliefs is likely to forget the

information quickly.

Thus, it can be said that perceptual process influences buying behavior of consumer which

should be intelligently used by marketers.

3.1.10 PERCEPTION AND MARKETING IMPLICATIONS

A study of perception is useful in the following areas:-

1. Retail Strategy: most retail environments contain a vast array of information. It

is a known fact that consumers cannot process all the information. Hence,

retailers, need to be concerned about information overload. Retailers must ensure

that consumers do not become frustrated and minimize their in-store information

processing. Retailers therefore, use exposure very effectively. The total mix of in-

store information cues (brands available, layout, point of purchase displays, etc.),

external building characteristics, and advertising combine to form the meaning of

store image assigned. The consumers forms a perception about the store, as a

result.

2. Brand Name and Logo Development: brand names are important for both

consumer and industrial products. A brand name which is difficult to pronounce

and does not convey much of a visual image is not likely to find appeal amongst

the target consumers. There are companies which use linguistics and computers to

create names that convey the appropriate meaning for the products. Eg- the brand

name of ―Compaq‖ for a computer was created in such as fashion. It was

originally to be called –―Gateway‖. But the focus on choosing this brand name

was on the total meaning conveyed by the interaction of the meaning of the

name‘s parts.

3. Media Strategy: the fact that the exposure process is selective rather than random

is the underlying basis for effective media strategies. Marketers determine the

media to which consumers in the target market are most frequently exposed and

then place their advertising messages in those media.

55 | P a g e

For some products and target markets, consumers are highly involved with the

product and will go to considerable lengths to secure product relevant

information. Consumers of these kinds of products will search for media where

relevant information is available.

4. Advertisement and Package Design: it must perform two critical task:-

i) Capture attention

ii) Convey meaning

A marketer should make effort to attract attention to a package or advertisement.

To a large extent, what he does depends on the target market, the product, and the

situation. If the target market is interested in the product category, and in that

particular brand, attention does not pose much of a problem.

Once consumers are exposed to the message, they will most likely attend to it

sometimes it is the other way round.

5. Advertising Evaluation: a successful advertisement (or any other form of

marketing message) must accomplish four tasks:-

i) Exposure: it must physically reach the consumer.

ii) Attention: it must be attended to by the consumer.

iii) Interpretation: it must be properly interpreted.

iv) Memory: it must be stored in memory in a manner that will allow

retrieval under the proper circumstances.

3.1.11 CASE STUDY

The effect of Consumer Perception on marketability of new products: - the case of

‘Kenya Commercial Banks’ ‘Bankika’ account

Consumer Perception is an important tool for evaluation of marketing strategies. The marketers

are keen on checking the Consumer Perception towards service, quality of products, pricing,

packaging and the sales promotion activities. Consumer Perception depends on the relationship

between a consumer and the business organization and various aspects of services provided by

company for example, quality and reliability.

It is therefore important for marketers to have a profound knowledge on various factors that

affect consumer‘s perception of their products and services. The main objective of the study is to

determine the effect of Consumer Perception on marketability of new product through a case

study of ‗Bankika account‘ offered by Kenya Commercial Banks. Semi structured questionnaires

were used to collect primary data from Bankika account holders.

The study findings revealed that Consumer Perception of ‗Bankika account‘ is affected by

factors such as flexibility of the account, friendly minimum balance, quality and reliability of

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services provided to the account holders, marketing strategies example media advertisements and

brouchers, and corporate image of the bank.

The study recommended that Kenya Commercial Bank should make their services delivery more

attractive to customers by reducing the amount of transaction fee charged for ATM withdrawals,

hastening the release of the ATM cards, hastening the rate of processing loans, reducing the

minimum withdrawal amount, improving the speed of service delivery and intensifying its

marketing strategies. The study also recommends further studies on the impact of market

segmentation on the growth of bank accounts for youth and the technology as a tool to enhance

competitive advantage of commercial banks in Kenya.

3.2 CUSTOMER PERCEPTION OF SERVICES

Human Beings are constantly attacked by numerous sensory stimulations including noise,

sight, smell, taste etc., The critical question in the study of perception is why the same universe

is viewed differently by different persons? The answer is the Perception.

Different people perceive the universe differently. Perception is the process through

which the information from outside environment is selected, received, organised and interpreted

to make it meaningful to us. Perception is the process by which individuals organise and interpret

their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

3.2.1 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE CUSTOMER PERCEPTION OF SERVICES

Customer perception of value, quality and satisfaction are influenced by four important

factors. They are service encounter, service evidence, image and price.

1. Service Encounter: customer perception of service quality is primarily influenced by the

service encounter. A customer estimates the quality of service throughout his/her

interaction with a service provider.

2. Service Evidence: business services are intangible, customers are searching for evidence

of service in every interaction they have with an origination. The three major categories

of evidence as experienced by the customer are: people, process and physical evidence.

These categories together represent the service and provide the evidence that tangiblises

the offering.

i) People/ Service Personnel

Service personnel play an important role in defining the quality of a

service encounter in the mind of the consumers. The ability of the

personnel to be enthusiastic, friendly and spontaneous will make the

service experience a pleasant one for consumer.

ii) Process of Service Delivery

The second type of service evidence is the process of service delivery. It

involves various steps in the process of delivering a service and the flow

of operational activities.

57 | P a g e

iii) Physical Environment

This is the third type of service evidence that creates an impact on

consumer perceptions. The physical environment consists of the ambience

offered by a service provider and the design of the interiors or exteriors of

the service facility.

3. Organisational Image

Image of organisation has a profound effect on perception of consumers.

Consumer perceives quality of service on basis of image of organisation. An

organisation with a positive image is considered to be providing good quality

service, whereas on organisation with not favorable image is considered to be

providing bad quality service.

A favorable image, either at corporate or local levels, is an assest for any firm

because it has an impact on consumer perceptions relating to the operations and

communications of the firm. A positive image makes people more open to

favorable word of mouth communication.

4. Price

Perception of consumer is affected by the price of service. If a service company

prices a product low then consumer may perceive if of low quality whereas, if te

price is high, consumers expect high quality service. Consumers frequently rely

on prices as a surrogate indicator to develop expectations and perceptions of a

service because services are intangible.

3.3 STATICAL TOOLS USED

IBM SPSS

SPSS statistics is a software package used for statistical analysis. Long produced by

SPSS Inc., it was acquired by IBM in 2009. The current versions IBM SPSS Statistics.

Companion products in the same family are used for survey authoring and deployment (IBS

SPSS Data Collection), data mining (IBM SPSS Modeler), text analytics and collaboration and

deployment (batch and automated scoring services). The software name stands for Statistical

Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), reflecting the original market, although the software is now

popular in other fields as well including the health sciences and marketing. The latest version 20

is being used for the purpose of analysis of data for this project.

Excel 2013

Microsoft Office 2013 is a version of Microsoft Office, a productivity suite for Microsoft

Windows. It is the successor of Microsoft Office 2010 and includes extended file format support,

user interface updates and support for touch among its new features. Microsoft released Office

2013 to general availability on 29th January 2013.

58 | P a g e

It includes features such as integration support for online services, improved format support for

Office Open XML, open document and Portable Document Format and support for multi touch

interfaces. For this project purpose all the data is entered in Excel 2013 and then imported to

SPSS to analyse the reports.

3.4 TESTS CONDUCTED

Kendall’s tau rank correlation

It statistics it is commonly referred as Kendall‘s tau (τ) coefficient. It is a statistic used to

measure the association between two measured quantities. A tau test is a non-parametric

hypothesis test for statistical dependence based on the tau coefficient. In these project

these test is conducted for the ranking services of the airtel products.

Chi square test

It is also referred as , is any statistical hypothesis test in which the sampling

distribution of the test statistic is a chi-squared distribution when the null hypothesis is

true. Also considered a chi-squared test is a test in which this is asymptotically true,

meaning that the sampling distribution (if the null hypothesis is true) can be made to

approximate a chi-squared distribution as closely as desired by making the sample size

large enough. It is done for the satisfactory levels of the internet services.

Descriptive statistics

It is the discipline of quantitatively describing the main features of a collection of

information, or the quantitative description itself. Descriptive statistics are distinguished

from inferential statistics, in that descriptive statistics aim to summarize a sample, rather

than use the data to learn about the population that the sample of data is thought to

represent.

Mean

Is the sum of a collection of numbers divided by the number in the collection. The

collection is often a set of results of an experiment or a set of results from a survey.

Standard Deviation

It measures the amount of variation or dispersion from the average. A low standard

deviation indicates that the points tend to be very close to the mean, a high standard

deviation indicates that the data points are spread out over a large range of values.

Bar Charts

It is a chart with rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values that they

represent. The bars can be plotted vertically or horizontally. A vertical bar chart

sometimes called as column bar chart.

Pie Charts

Is a circular chart divided into sectors, illustrating numerical proportion. In a pie chart the

arc length of each sector is proportional to the quality it represents. While it is named for

its resemblance to a pie which has been sliced, there are variables on the way it can be

presented.

59 | P a g e

Chapter

4

4.1 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

The responses of the customers are analyzed in order to know the results of the objectives set for

the projects. It helps in proper analysis to know the further improvements to be made in order to

attract more number of consumers. Hence this this analysis and interpretation gives description

with the tables and graphs where ever necessary.

1. Gender descriptions:-

Table 4.1

Gender Number of Respondents

Male 114

Female 36

Total 150

Chart 4.1

NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS

120 114

100

80

60

40 36

20

0

Male Female

Interpretation

The survey which consisted of 150 respondents, has 114 of male and 36 of

female. Which states that male are of about 76% and female are about 24%. It can be

known that male counter parts have a greater part to be played in this survey done among

the various groups of people.

Education Level Number of Respondents

Upto SSLC 90

PUC 28

Graduation & Above 32

Total 150

2. Age group:-

Table 4.2

Age Group Number of Respondents

21-30 98

31-40 34

41-50 10

51-60 8

Above 60 -

Total 150

Chart 4.2

Number of Respondents

8 10

34

98

21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60

Interpretation

The age group of people are from 21 to 60, in which about 98 consumers where in

the age group of 21-30 followed by 31-40 and 41-50. The least number is seen in the age

group of 51-60. We can interpret that the lower age group of consumers are seen

participated in the survey for a bigger percentage of the total respondents.

3. Education qualification of the respondents:-

Table 4.3

Chart 4.3

Number of Respondents

Graduation & Above

PUC

Upto SSLC

0 20 40 60 80 100

Interpretation

The education qualification of the consumers is divided into 3 categories namely

up to SSLC, PUC, and Graduation & above. In this we can see that consumers with

education level up to SSLC constitute about 90 numbers followed by PUC with 28. It

consists of 32 respondents with education level graduation and above. The education

level is not considered as a parameter for the usage of airtel services by the consumers.

4. Occupation status :-

Table 4.4

Occupancy Status Number of Respondents

Business 33

Service 24

Professional 25

Self employed 14

Student 43

House Wife 11

Total 150

Interpretation

The occupation status of the respondents is considered to know the working status of the

consumers and the source of their money. We can see that about 33 of them are doing their own

business, followed by students, professionals, service, self-employed and house wife.

5. Income level of respondents:-

Table 4.5

Income Level Number of Respondents

Upto 25000 53

25000-50000 54

50000-100000 15

100000-200000 17

Above 200000 11

Total 150

Interpretation

The income level of the people is taken to know the family status of the consumers. We

can see that about 54 respondents are in the income level of 25000-50000, 53 are earning up to

25000. The least number of respondents have monthly income level above 200000.

6. Marital Status:-

Table 4.6

Marital Status Number of Respondents

Married 61

Unmarried 89

Total 150

Interpretation

The marital status of respondents can be seen as unmarried with 89 consumers as

they are the sole decision makers for the choice of airtel services. While the remaining 61 are

married and they depend upon their partners to take up decisions about choosing the mobile

network.

7. Source of information to consumers

Table 4.7

Information source Number of Respondents

Media advertisements 57

Print advertisements 22

Friends/ Relatives 55

Family members 14

Others 2

Total 150

Chart 4.4

Number of Respondents

2

14 57

55

22

Media advertisements Print advertisements Friends/ Relatives

Family members Others

Interpretation

The source of information is considered to know the medium by which the

consumers are more influenced. More number of respondents are influenced by the media

advertisements and less number are influenced by family members and while the respondents

consider other factors also.

8. Type of mobile payment:-

Table 4.8

Mobile payment Number of respondents

Post paid 29

Pre-paid 121

Total 150

Interpretation

The mobile payments are of 2 types namely postpaid and pre-paid. Where more

number of people prefer for prepaid connection due the amount of money to be paid is lesser in

prepaid compared to the postpaid which also comes with additional charges also.

9. Usage of mobile network:-

Table 4.9

Mobile network Number of respondents

CDMA 6

2G 69

3G 73

4G 2

Total 150

Interpretation

The CDMA is the mobile sets which was introduced when the mobile phones was

introduced newly in the market and it was used by only 6 respondents. The 2G

connection is the normal GSM mobile network which was used by respondents with

network connection, where 3G connection are more speeder then that of 2G services

while using the internet. While 4G is the latest services introduced by airtel which has

more advanced features then the 3G but it is used by very few respondents.

10. Mobile scheme:-

Table 4.10

Schemes Number of respondents

Lifetime 71

Normal monthly plan 56

Students pack 5

All India per seconds plan 14

Others 4

Total 150

Interpretation

The mobile scheme contains the various offers that are given to the airtel

consumers. In which the respondents are using more of lifetime connections which gives more

validity compared to the other offers.

11. Number of years associated:-

Table 4.11

Number of years Numbers of respondents

<1year 15

2years 27

3years 41

4years 22

More than 5years 45

Total 150

Chart 4.5

Numbers of respondents

50

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

<1year 2years 3years 4years More than 5years

Interpretation

The respondents are using airtel services for more than 5 years who are the loyal

consumers for using the services. Its followed by respondents who are using airtel services from

3years, some by 2years, 4years and new customers who are using it for less then 1year.

12. Problems faced by consumers:-

Table 4.12

Problems Number of respondents

Always 7

Sometimes 118

Never 25

Total 150

Interpretation

Most of the respondents who are using airtel services are faced with network

problems. Out of the total about 118 are faced with problems sometimes and while 25 of them

have not faced with network problems any time during their association with airtel. Only about 7

of them face network problems always. The problem is network connection can be due to less

availability of network towers nearby or due to bad weather at sometimes.

13. Suggest the services to others:-

Table 4.13

Suggestion Number of respondents

Yes 133

No 17

Total 150

Interpretation

The number of respondents associated with airtel from a longer period of time

would suggest others also to use the same. It can been seen that about 133 respondents are

willing to suggest others to use the airtel connection, but while only 17 of them do not want to

suggest it to the other due to the problems faced by them.

14. Ranking of the services

Table 4.14

Services Percentage

VAS 2

Brand name 1

Low price 3

Quality service 5

Network availability 4

Tariff plans 10

Retailers services 7

Customers services 8

Credit facility 9

Data usage (3G/4G) 6

Mean Rank

vas_rnk

brand_rnk

price_rnk

qua_rnk

netw_rnk

tariff_rnk

retail_rnk

cus_rnk

cre_rnk

data_rnk

4.79

4.50

5.26

5.44

5.32

6.16

5.71

6.12

6.13

5.57

Chart 4.6

Percentage

10 9

8 7

6 5

4 2 3

Table 4.15 Correlation

Ranks

Test Statistics

N

150 Kendall's Wa .039

Chi-Square 52.323

Df 9

Asymp. Sig. .000

a. Kendall's Coefficient of

Concordance

Interpretation

Mean rank of various facilities have been analyzed and ranked by Kendall‘s Tau

Correlation Coefficient. The objective was to figure out the most preferred features in airtel

which plays and important role for the respondents to choose the airtel. These test shows the

ranking of features from 1 to 10 to know the important reason for the respondents to choose the

airtel connections.

With a mean rank of 4.50 the brand name of airtel is the main reason to choose these

service and it is ranked 1 among all the factors. It followed by Value Added Services with mean

rank of 4.79 and 2 rank.

The 3rd rank is given to low price followed by 4th rank to network availability, 5th to

quality service, 6th to data usage, 7th rank to retailers service, customers services with 8th rank, 9th

rank to credit facility and the last rank to tariff plans which is the least feature to choose the

services.

15. Areas of improvement

Table 4.16

Services Highly Required Required Not Required

VAS 28 66 56

Brand name 17 43 90

Low price 36 64 50

Quality service 24 76 50

Network availability 34 68 48

Tariff plans 46 70 34

Retailers services 36 65 49

Customers services 34 75 41

Credit facility 35 52 63

Data usage (3G/4G) 30 69 51

Total 150

Interpretation

The below table shows the features which requires improvements and which does

not require any improvements to be made. The tariff plans highly requires improvement

compared to all other features as they have the least mean of 1.92 compared to the others.

The tariff plans is an important requirement for the users to choose the airtel services.

The features which requires less improvements are retailers and customers

services, network availability and low price. Here we can see that all these features have

mean of about 2.0 by which it can be ascertained that does not require much

improvements to be made.

The features which does not require any improvements are VAS, brand name,

quality service, credit facility and data usage. They a mean of about 2.1 and above as it

shows that it does not require any improvements.

Among all the features it can be known that the brand name has the highest mean

of 2.4 and it does not require any improvement. The least mean is 1.92 for the tariff plans

which means that the customers feel it needs more improvements to be made.

Table 4.17 areas of improvement report

Services Mean Std. Deviation Mean – S D Mean + SD Results

VAS 2.186667 0.724676 1.46199 2.911343 NR

Brand name 2.486667 0.690282 1.796385 3.176948 NR

Low price 2.093333 0.751413 1.34192 2.844747 R

Quality service 2.173333 0.680653 1.49268 2.853987 NR

Network availability 2.093333 0.733455 1.359879 2.826788 R

Tariff plans 1.92 0.725902 1.194098 2.645902 HR

Retailers services 2.086667 0.747767 1.3389 2.834434 R

Customers services 2.046667 0.705565 1.341101 2.752232 R

Credit facility 2.186667 0.786441 1.400226 2.973107 NR

Data usage (3G/4G) 2.14 0.721388 1.418612 2.861388 NR

16. Rating of services

Table 4.18

Services Video

call

Internet

service

Live

TV

Video download Conference

calls

Poor 15 5 10 8 7

Average 29 18 34 21 20

Good 52 63 41 52 47

Very good 12 32 19 30 28

Excellent 4 18 5 16 15

Not applicable 38 14 41 23 33

Total 150

VID CALL_ris

INET_ris

LIVE TV_ris

VID DO_ris

CONF_ris

Valid N

Missing

Mean

Std. Deviation

Variance

Range

150

150

150

150

150

0

1.98

1.426

2.033

5

0

2.99

1.341

1.798

5

0

2.01

1.502

2.255

5

0

2.71

1.513

2.289

5

0

2.50

1.629

2.654

5

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

0

1

2

Valid 3

4

5

Total

38

25.3

25.3

25.3

15

10.0

10.0

35.3

29

19.3

19.3

54.7

52

34.7

34.7

89.3

12

8.0

8.0

97.3

4

2.7

2.7

100.0

150

100.0

100.0

Table 4.19 Statistics

Interpretation

The above statistics shows the mean, standard deviation, variance and range of the

services of airtel internet like video call, internet services, live TV, video downloads and

conference calls. We can see that the video call has the least mean of 1.98 which means that

these feature has got the least ranking that is poor among all the 5 features. The internet services

as the highest mean of 2.99 that is excellent which has got the best ranking among all the

features.

Shown below is the individual table and the bar charts of all the 5 internet services with

the percentage rating of the features.

Table 4.20 VID CALL_ris

The video call shows that maximum number of respondents which is 52 which is about

34.7% have rated the feature as good and the least number 4 about 2.7% have rated the feature as

excellent. Hence it can be known that most number of respondents are not fully satisfied with the

services.

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

0

1

2

Valid 3

4

5

Total

14

9.3

9.3

9.3

5

3.3

3.3

12.7

18

12.0

12.0

24.7

63

42.0

42.0

66.7

32

21.3

21.3

88.0

18

12.0

12.0

100.0

150

100.0

100.0

Chart 4.7

Table 4.21 INET_ris

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

0

1

2

Valid 3

4

5

Total

41

27.3

27.3

27.3

10

6.7

6.7

34.0

34

22.7

22.7

56.7

41

27.3

27.3

84.0

19

12.7

12.7

96.7

5

3.3

3.3

100.0

150

100.0

100.0

Chart 4.8

The internet services table also shows that maximum number of respondents of 63 about

42% have rated the service as good and the least number of respondents of 5 about 3.3% have

rated it as poor. It can be known that the respondents are not fully satisfied by the internet

services.

Table 4.22 LIVE TV_ris

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

0

1

2

Valid 3

4

5

Total

23

15.3

15.3

15.3

8

5.3

5.3

20.7

21

14.0

14.0

34.7

52

34.7

34.7

69.3

30

20.0

20.0

89.3

16

10.7

10.7

100.0

150

100.0

100.0

Chart 4.9

The live TV table shows that a mix of the ratings between poor and not applicable, about 27.3%.

Which means that 41 respondents have not used these services and 41 have rated it as good. The

least number of 5 respondents have rated it as excellent.

Table 4.23 VID DO_ris

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

0

1

2

Valid 3

4

5

Total

33

22.0

22.0

22.0

7

4.7

4.7

26.7

20

13.3

13.3

40.0

47

31.3

31.3

71.3

28

18.7

18.7

90.0

15

10.0

10.0

100.0

150

100.0

100.0

Chart 4.10

Video download is not used regularly by all the respondents has maximum number of

respondents 52 about 34.7% have rated it as good and 8 respondents about 5.3% have rated it has

poor.

Table 4.24 CONF_ris

Chart 4.11

The conference calls are used in cases where the respondents want to talk with more

number of people at the same time. Among these we can see that about 47 respondents which

forms 31.3% have rated it has good and 7 respondents about 4.7% have rated it as poor. Hence

among the users of these feature we can see that the respondents need still more facilities to be

added.

17. Rating of 4G services

Table 4.25

Services High video

stream

Download

movies

Upload

photos

Connect

devices

1 6 9 5 8

2 11 15 19 12

3 16 15 16 16

4 22 12 9 11

5 1 4 6 8

Not applicable 94 95 95 95

Total 150

Table 4.26 4G services report

Services High video

stream

Download

movies

Upload

photos

Connect

devices

0 62.7% 63.3% 63.3% 63.3%

1 4% 6% 3.3% 5.3%

2 7.3% 10% 12.7% 8%

3 10.7% 10% 10.7% 10.7%

4 14.7% 8% 6% 7.3%

5 0.7% 2.7% 4% 5.3%

100%

Interpretation

The 4G services which was newly introduced by airtel and it had the advanced

features like high video stream, download 10 movies in 30 minutes, upload photos in just

5minutes and connect multiple devices. The above table is prepared is to know which feature is

more useful to the respondents and the least which does not have any usage.

We can see that most of the respondents are not using the 4G services as they are

not aware of these facility due to lack of promotions. It is seen that nearly 63% of the

respondents have not given any rating for all the above features of 4G. Among all the

respondents about 0.7% and 2.7% have given excellent for high video stream followed by

download of movies. About 3.3% & 5.3% of them have given poor rating for photo upload and

multiple device connection.

18. Future service providers

Table 4.27

Service providers Number of respondents

Vodafone 62

Aircel 24

Docomo 43

Idea 15

Reliance 6

Total 150

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Vodafone

Aircel

Docomo Valid

Idea

Reliance

Total

62

41.3

41.3

41.3

24

16.0

16.0

57.3

43

28.7

28.7

86.0

15

10.0

10.0

96.0

6

4.0

4.0

100.0

150

100.0

100.0

Table 4.28 service providers

Interpretation

The service providers table shows the future telecom services that the consumers are

willing to shift from the existing airtel customer. Vodafone is more preferred by the respondents

which is about 62 forming of 57.3% in the overall percentage. These services is preferred due to

the tariff plans and the network availability is also good. Then it is followed by docomo, aircel,

idea and reliance. Then it can be known that people are more satisfied with the Vodafone

services than any other service providers.

19. Satisfactory level of services

Table 4.29

Services Credit

facility

Service

provider

3G

services

4G

services

Overall

performance

Highly Satisfactory (1) 26 23 25 13 29

Satisfactory (2) 78 72 77 59 80

Moderately Satisfied(3) 24 40 24 21 23

Indifferent (4) 13 12 15 37 10

Dissatisfactory (5) 4 1 5 6 5

Highly Dissatisfactory (6) 2 2 2 4 1

Moderately Dissatisfactory

(7)

2 - 2 10 2

Not applicable(8) 1 - - -

Total 150

In telecom industry, new schemes were introduced recently in the view of attracting and

retaining customers. In the series of various facilities ―Credit Facility‖ is the new and

contemporary service introduced only by ―Airtel‖ for the first time with the high credit limit.

OVERALL_sat

Total

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

0

1

2

3 CRE_sat

4

5

6

7

Total

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

8

10

2

3

2

0

1

26

17

47

6

5

1

1

1

78

3

11

8

0

2

0

0

24

1

8

2

2

0

0

0

13

0

2

2

0

0

0

0

4

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

2

0

29

0

80

2

23

0

10

0

5

0

1

0

2

2

150

Value

Df Asymp. Sig. (2-

sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

Linear-by-Linear Association

N of Valid Cases

44.540a

42.495

.864

150

42

42

1

.365

.450

.353

Table 4.30 credit facility

Investigators wanted to know the importance of credit facility towards satisfaction of

customers. The table shows most of the employees around 78 out of 150 fall under satisfied

category. This supports the assertion of the researcher. To validate this, chi Square test was

applied with the Hypothesis ―Satisfaction towards Airtel is not based on Credit Facility‖. The

result is displayed under the heading Table 4.31

Table 4.31 : Chi-Square Tests

a. 48 cells (85.7%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum

expected count is .01.

As the significant value of chi-square test is more than the level of significance, underlined

hypothesis is rejected. This leads to conclude that to have overall Satisfaction Credit facility is

one of the factor. That is, Credit facility plays major role in determination of customer

satisfaction.

OVERALL_sat

Total

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1

2

3 SER_sat

4

5

6

Total

11

7

3

1

1

0

0

23

12

52

3

4

1

0

0

72

6

14

13

4

1

1

1

40

0

7

2

1

1

0

1

12

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

0

29

0

80

1

23

0

10

1

5

0

1

0

2

2

150

Value

Df Asymp. Sig. (2-

sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

Linear-by-Linear Association

N of Valid Cases

69.426a

58.045

19.685

150

30

30

1

.000

.002

.000

Table 4.32

The service provider is compared with the overall performance in order to know. Here also we

can see that maximum number of them are satisfied with the services. These facility helps in the faster

speed of internet. About 72 out of 150 are satisfied by Airtel Service provider. To validate this, chi

Square test was applied with the Hypothesis ―Satisfaction towards Airtel is not based on service

provider.‖. The result is displayed under the heading Table 4.33

Table 4.33 Chi-Square Tests

a. 34 cells (81.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum

expected count is .01.

As the significance value of chi square is lesser than the level of significance, the hypothesis has

been selected in this case. It can be known the service provider does not play much significant role in

order to make the service fully satisfied.

Value

Df Asymp. Sig. (2-

sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

Linear-by-Linear Association

N of Valid Cases

96.414a

77.232

15.804

150

36

36

1

.000

.000

.000

Table 4.34

OVERALL_sat

Total

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1

2

3

3G _sat 4

5

6

7

Total

13

4

8

0

0

0

0

25

10

55

5

5

1

0

1

77

4

13

4

2

1

0

0

24

0

7

3

3

1

1

0

15

1

0

2

0

1

0

1

5

0

1

0

0

1

0

0

2

1

29

0

80

1

23

0

10

0

5

0

1

0

2

2

150

While investigating the importance of 3G services towards satisfaction of customers.

The table shows that 77 out of 150 are satisfied by these facility. To validate this, chi Square test was

applied with the Hypothesis ―Satisfaction towards Airtel is not based on 3G services‖. The result is

displayed under the heading Table No: 4.35

Table 4.35 Chi-Square Tests

a. 42 cells (85.7%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum

expected count is .01.

As the significance value of chi square is lesser than the level of significance, the hypothesis has

been selected in this case too. It can be known the 3G service play a small role in order to make the

service fully satisfied.

OVERALL_sat

Total

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1

2

3

4G _sat 4

5

6

7

Total

10

2

0

0

1

0

0

13

12

44

2

1

0

0

0

59

3

11

6

0

1

0

0

21

3

19

6

7

2

0

0

37

0

1

2

1

1

1

0

6

1

1

0

0

0

0

2

4

0

29

2

80

7

23

1

10

0

5

0

1

0

2

10

150

Value

Df Asymp. Sig. (2-

sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

Likelihood Ratio

Linear-by-Linear Association

N of Valid Cases

190.282a

106.700

33.555

150

36

36

1

.000

.000

.000

Table 4.36

The 4G services which was introduced by airtel recently in India as being the 1st

telecom company to provide these services. The table shows that 59 out of 150 are satisfied by these

services. As major number of respondents are not aware of these facility being provided and they find it

not be much useful and the rates to be bit higher. To validate this, chi Square test was applied with the

Hypothesis ―Satisfaction towards Airtel is not based 4G services‖. The result is displayed under the

heading Table 4.37

Table 4.37 Chi-Square Tests

a. 40 cells (81.6%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum

expected count is .03.

As the significance value of chi square is lesser than the level of significance, the hypothesis has

been selected in this case too. It can be known the 4G service play a small role in order to make the

service fully satisfied.

Chapter

5

5.1 Findings

o The survey questionnaire consists of 150 respondents in Bangalore at some of the

selected outlets.

o From survey is was known that most of the decision makers are male compared to that of

female. It consisted of 114 male and 36 female.

o The age group consists of all from the age of 21 to 60 in which most of them are in the

age group of 21-30 and the least are in 41-50 followed by 51-60.

o The next factor considered in the income level of the respondent which is divided into

upto 25000 and from 25000 to above 200000. It is known that income level is not

considered to choose the airtel services as it‘s just a part of the monthly income levels of

the respondents.

o The education level of the respondents is also taken into consideration which shows that

most of the consumers have the education qualifications upto SSLC followed by

graduation and PUC.

o Among the 150 there where both married and unmarried people in which about 89 where

unmarried and the remaining where married.

o The next finding was related to the source of information the consumers get influenced it

order to choose the preferred mobile network. The consumers has been using various

mediums like media advertisements and print advertisements.

o The friends, relatives and family members also act as a source of information for the

consumers. Among all the media advertisements, friends and relatives play a greater role

in this situation.

o The airtel services have mobile payments options like postpaid and pre-paid among

which the pre-paid connections is being used by most of the consumers.

o The consumers are mostly using 3G connections due to the usage of internet connections

which is preferred by more number of consumers. The CDMA connection was the first

mobile network to be introduced but it‘s used by less number of consumers.

o Airtel was the 1st to start the 4G connections in India with more advanced features but it

was not well advertised due to which only a few number of consumers are using this

service.

o The consumers use lifetime services for their mobile connections due to the validity that

it provides.

o More number of Airtel consumers are using their services from more than 5 years and

still they have been facing problems in their network sometimes. Infact of this failure in

network services they are willing to suggest the Airtel connections to other consumers

also.

o The consumers where given the opportunity to choose their future mobile network among

Vodafone, Aircel, Docomo, Idea, and Reliance. In this more number of consumers

wanted to shift to Vodafone due to the services being provided by them and less number

of consumers would change to Reliance.

85 | P a g e

o The consumers where asked for the reason for choosing the Airtel connection and they

results was the Brand Name of Airtel which acts as a main reason to those these

connections. It was then followed by the Value Added Services, low price and the least

preferred feature is the credit facility and the tariff plans.

o The consumers said that they need some improvements to be made in various services

like the data usage, network availability, tariff plans, customers and retailers services.

o The rating of various internet services says that more number of customers are not using

these services

o When checked the various services, more number of consumers say that the video calls,

internet services, live TV, video downloads and conference calls are rated good and it

needs more improvements to be made.

o More consumers want changes to be made in the internet services and increase the speed

of the broadband.

o The various advancements in the 4G services is not being used by the consumers and

they are not much aware of the availability of such services. So due to this the company

has to give more information about this to them and make them use it.

o The satisfaction levels of consumers was considered to know the more preferred services

to the consumers. The credit facility is just satisfiable by the consumers even though they

have more amount of credit given to them.

o Only about 50% of the consumers are satisfied with the service provider and they want to

change to other network.

o The 3G & 4G services are just at the satisfaction level, and it needs more changes to be

made in order to increase the speed of internet.

o Finally the overall performance of the airtel services are not able to fully satisfy the

consumers and they need more improvements.

5.2 SUGGESTION/RECOMMENDATIONS

SUGGESTION

The main objective of every analysis is to find out whether the consumers are

satisfied with the services provided. Following are some of the suggestions provided for the

further improvements in the products and services:-

Regarding the internet connections the consumers prefer that the speed of the internet

should be more speeder compared to landline services and other service providers

The network service is well served in many areas of the city but still it‘s not able to get

network at sometimes and this need to be solved as soon as possible in order to attract

more number of consumers.

The consumers said to improve to customer care services and the response given by the

customer care employee should be improved.

The customer support must be given proper training to the executives to treat the

customer with courtesy.

86 | P a g e

Introduction of more services regarding the call rates and internet pack and the reduction

in the prices of these.

Educating the consumers about the usage and the improvements done in the latest 4G

services

RECOMMENDATIONS

To provide full fledge information to customers, who make calls to the customer support.

Better to improve network coverage to avoid sudden signal droppings.

Review the existing offers packages and inform consumers about the updating of

services.

5.3 CONCLUSION

The project work contained of visiting the Airtel outlets which helped to interact with the

consumers directly and know the thoughts and views about the services being offered by Airtel.

And it also helped to know the further suggestions that can be made in order to get more number

of customers. It also helped to know the marketing and sales team work by which they are able

to get more and more customers. The main motive of them was customer satisfaction which also

helps in the growth of the company.

To conclude I would say that I got a good opportunity to know about the company and

the consumers preference and their problems faced. Even though the sample size is 150 it helped

to ascertain the Consumer Perception to some extent. These project also helped me to know how

a research is conducted and the difficulties that is being to complete the project. It also helped to

know more about the statistical tools.

87 | P a g e

5.4 BIBLOGRAPHY

WEBSITE

www.wikipedia.com

http://www.consumer perction on airtel services

www.airtel.co.in

www.google.com

Slideshre

Management Paradise

Articles

Consumer perception on airtel

Articles on consumer perception

PROJECTS & BOOKS

Consumer Behaviour by Dr. M. Prasanna Kr. and N. Kiran Kumar published by

Thakur publishers, Bangalore

Services Marketing by Dr. K. S. Ramakrishna and Arun Chandra Mudhol

published by Thakur publishers, Bangalore

BBA project submitted Ms. Rasna Pathak GNA Institute of Management &

Technology (Affiliated from PTU)

Consumer Perception Theory by Chris Blank, Demand Media

Stages of Perception in Marketing by Vanessa Cross, Demand Media

88 | P a g e

5.5 ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE

I.Socio-Demographics

1. Name:

2. Gender : Male Female

3. Age (in yrs.)

21 - 30 31-40 41-50 51-60 Above 60 Years

4. Education qualification

Up to SSLC PUC Graduation and above

5. Occupation

Business Service Professional Self-employed

Student House wife

6. Family monthly income

Up to 25,000 25,000- 50,000 50,000-1, 00,000 1, 00,000 – 2, 00,000

Above 2, 00,000

7. Marital status

Married Unmarried

8. Kindly indicate your source of information about Airtel Services

Media Advertisements Print Advertisements Friends/ Relatives

Family Members Other

II. Mobile Services

9. What type of payment mobile connection are you using

Postpaid Pre-paid

10. Which kind of mobile network do you use?

CDMA 2G 3G 4G

11. Which scheme are you using?

Life time Normal monthly plan Students pack

All India pay per second plan Others

12. For how long have you been associated with airtel

<1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years More than 5 years

13. Have you ever faced problems related to Airtel networks?

Always Sometimes Never

14. Would you suggest your friends/family to go for Airtel services? Why?

Yes No

III. Value Added Services

15. Rank the following factors from 1 to 10

VAS

Brand Name

Low Price

Quality service

Network Availability

Tariff plans

Retailers services

Customer services

Credit facility

Data service (3G/4G)

16. Areas of improvements

Highly Required Required Not Required

VAS

Brand Name

Low Price

Quality service

Network Availability

Tariff plans

Retailers services

Customer services

Credit facility

Data service (3G/4G)

17. Rate the following internet services?

Services Poor Average Good Very good Excellent Not applicable

Video calling

Internet services

Live TV streaming

Video downloads

Conference calls

18. Rate the following 4G services on a scale of 1 to 5 if used the services?

High video streaming

Download 10 movies in 30 minutes

Upload photos in just 5 minutes

Connect multiple devices

Not Applicable

19. Rate of satisfactory level on the following services?

Highly Satisfactory (HS) Satisfactory (S) Moderately satisfied (MS) Indifferent (I)

Dissatisfactory (DS) Highly Dissatisfactory (HD) Moderately Dissatisfactory (MD)

Services HS S MS I DS HD MD

Credit facility

Service provider

3G Services

4G Services

Overall performance

20. In future if you are given chance which product/service would you prefer? Why?

Vodafone Aircel Docomo Idea Reliance