CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Vodafone Group inc. is a British multinational mobile network operator headquartered in Newbury, England. Vodafone is the world's largest mobile telecommunication network company, based on revenue. It currently has operations in 31 countries and partner networks in a further 40 countries. Based on subscribers, it is the world's second largest mobile phone operator behind China Mobile (538 million subscribers), with over 428 million subscribers in 31 markets across 5 continents as of March 2011. As of March 31, 2010, the company employs more than 79,000 people worldwide.

The name Vodafone comes from voice data phone, chosen by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones".

Vodafone was formed in 1984 as a subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc. Then known as Racal Telecom Limited, approximately 20% of the company's capital was offered to the public in October 1988. It was fully demerged from Racal Electronics Plc and became an independent company in September 1991, at which time it changed its name to Vodafone Group Plc.

Following its merger with AirTouch Communications, Inc. (AirTouch), the company changed its name to Vodafone AirTouch Plc on 29 June 1999 and, following approval by the shareholders in General Meeting, reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group Plc, on 28 July 2000.

Vodafone in India
Vodafone Essar, formerly known as Hutchison Essar covers 23 telecom circles in India and is based in Mumbai. Vodafone Essar is owned by Vodafone 67% and Essar Group 33%. It is the second largest mobile phone operator in terms of revenue behind Bharti Airtel, and third largest in terms of customers.

On February 11, 2007, Vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest of 67% held by Li Ka Shing Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion, pipping Reliance Communications, Hinduja Group, and Essar Group, which is the owner of the remaining 33%. The whole company was valued at USD 18.8 billion. The transaction closed on May 8, 2007. Despite the official name being Vodafone Essar, its products are simply branded Vodafone. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India with good presence in the metros.

Vodafone Essar provides 2.75G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM technology, offering voice and data services in 23 of the country's 23 licence areas. It is among the top three GSM mobile operators of India.

1. Operations Mobile Infrastructure In November 2007, in a strategic move, three leading GSM operators in India Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar and Idea Cellular decided to form an independent tower company Indus Towers Limited that provides passive infrastructure services to all operators leading to lower operating costs and more competitive operative environment.

The three companies merged their passive infrastructure assets in 16 telecom circles in India. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar have 42 per cent stake each, while Idea has the remaining 16 per cent stake in Indus Towers.

Indus Towers with a portfolio of more than 100,000 towers is already the largest tower company of the world, ensuring significant scale benefits for its customers by way of speed to market. It is undertaking rollout of new sites in the 16 telecom circles of India. Initially starting its operations in India, Indus Towers plans to seize opportunities arising from other parts of the globe.

2. Celluler Service Provider

Vodafone Essar offers prepaid and postpaid GSM services in all 23 circles in India. In 2011, the company crossed the figure of 100 million subscribers. It is the second largest service provider in terms of revenue behind Bharti Airtel.

VODAFONE: Role in the Industry

Vodafone Essar, ever since its inception, has played a role of a tough competitor for the market leaders and as a result it has found a place in the top three slots of the industry leaders both in terms of revenue and subscriber base. Vodafone Essar has been known for its innovative ad campaigns. It has often been praised for its award winning advertisements which all follow a clean, minimalist look. A recurrent theme is that its message Hello stands out visibly though it uses only white letters on red background.

Another successful ad campaign in 2003 featured a pug named Cheeka following a boy around in unlikely places, with the tagline, Wherever you go, our network follows.

It would not be surprising if Vodafone acquires the first position in Indian telecom space in near future. It has added 2.7 million subscribers in the month of June 2011. And is giving a tough competition to Bharti Airtel and Reliance. With its global experience in telecom market and partnership with Essar in Indian telecom market, Vodafone has the capability of capturing the untapped market in rural and semi-urban areas of India. The tough competition due to entry of new players in the market is going to be a big challenge for the company as the ARPU has been showing the downward trend.

Present Market Condition

Some KEY figures (June 2011): Total mobile phone subscription is 635.51 Million. Mobile teledensity is 53.77% Subscriber base increased from 617.53 million in May 2011 to 635.51 million at the end of June 2011 registering a growth of 2.91%. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for GSM-Full Mobility service declined by 8.6%, from Rs. 144 in QE Dec-09 to Rs. 131 in QE Mar-10, with Y-O-Y decrease of 36.1%. ARPU for CDMA Full mobility service declined by 7.4%, from Rs. Rs.82 in QE Dec-09 to Rs. 76 in QE Mar-10. ARPU for CDMA has declined by 22.9% on Y-O-Y basis.

Subscribers in Million(March 2011)

584.32 393.45 190.88 478.68

105.64 GSM Subscribers CDMA Subscribers

Total Wireless Urban Subscribers Subscribers

Rural Subscribers

Revenue wise Market Share(December 2011)

Revenue wise Market Share

29.10% 20.80% 15.20% 12.70% 9% 7.10% 4%

Teledensity(March 2011)
112%

49.60% 23.08%

Teledensity

Urban Teledensity

Rural Teledensity

CHAPTER -2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The purpose of research is to discover answers to question through the application of scientific procedures. In short research is art of scientific investigation. Research methodology refers to the tools and methods used for obtaining information for the purpose of the subject under study. The methodology followed for the purpose of finding customers response was Random sample survey

2.1 DATA COLLECTION

Data collection from retailers of different areas. Other information related to project has been taken from company website

TYPES OF DATA

Two types of data: PRIMARY DATA SECONDARY DATA

PRIMARY DATA:Primary data is that kind of data which is collected by the investigator himself for the purpose of the specific study. The data such collected is original in character. The advantage of third method of collection is the authenticity. A set of questions were put together in the form of questionnaire with Question. The method of sampling was the random method as it is unbiased.

SECONDARY DATA:When an investigator uses the data that has been already collected by others is called secondary data. The secondary data could be collected from Journals, Reports and Various Publications. The advantages of secondary data can be economical, both in the term of money and time spent. The researcher of the reporter also did the same and collected secondary from various internet sites like Google.com.altavista.com and many more. The researchers of the reporter also visited various libraries for collection of the introduction part.

2.2 SAMPLE SIZE

Due to time being constraint the sample size of 100 correspondents have been taken as the basis of study. The customers may belong to different categories in terms of gender, occupation, income level, risk taking ability.

2.3 STATISTICAL TOOLS

The present study is the study on BAJAJ AUTO; from the study one can easily infer the present market position of Bikes with its leading competitors. The study is designed and focused primarily on identifying the present market position of the Bajaj Auto. It also

includes identification of its core competitors and enhancing efforts towards repositioning in present and in future. The various statistical tools used in the project are: Questionnaire Pie-charts

brand

Chapter 3 Questionnaire
Q1) Do you have a mobile phone? a)Yes 95% b) No 5%

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 a) Yes 88 b) No 12

Q2) Are you aware about telecommunications service? a) Yes 95% b) No 5%

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 a) Yes 88 b) No 12

If yes, then which operators Service do you use? a) Airtel 30% b) Vodafone 24% c) Idea 15% d) BSNL 15% e) Aircel 9% f) Reliance 4% g) MTNL 1% h) Uninor 1% i) Other 1%

(Multi-choice)

Q3) Are you aware about Vodafone? a) Yes 99% b) No 01%

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 a) Yes 88 b) No 12

Q4) From which source you came to know about Vodafone? a)Advertisement b) Hoardings c) Newspapers d) Mouth Publicity

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 a) Less than 1 month b) 2-6 months c) 6-12 months d) More than 1 year

Q5) Since how long you are using Vodafone services? a) Less than 1 month 19 b) 2-6 months 38 c) 6-12 months 19 d) More than 1 year 24

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 a) Less than 1 month b) 2-6 months c) 6-12 months d) More than 1 year

Q6) Which of the following services do you use of Vodafone? a) Pre-paid 76% b) Post-paid 24%

a) Yes 88 b) No 12

Q7) Which services are more helpful to you while using Vodafone services? a) Call rates 35 b) SMS service 24 c) Network 20 d) Value Added Service 21

a) Yes 88 b) No 12

Q8) Dou you call at customer care? a) Yes b) No 75% 25%

a) Yes 88 b) No 12

If yes, how often you call at customer care? a) Once a week 27% b) Once a month 34% c) Occasionally 35% d) Annualy 10%

a) Yes 88 b) No 12

Q9) For what reason you call at customer care? a) Value added services 20% b) Information regarding new schemes 28% c) Other queries 22% d) Complaining 30%

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 a) Yes 88 b) No 12 Series1

Q10) What makes you unaware about Vodafone? a) Less Advertisements 40% b) Less Publicity 60%

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 a) Yes 88 b) No 12

Q11) Why you are not using Vodafone services? a) Lack of awareness 10 b) High Prices 32 c) Poor Services 31 d) Poor network 28

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 a) Yes 88 b) No 12

Q12) Would you like to recommend Vodafone to others? a) Yes 88 b) No 12

100

50

0 a) Yes 88 b) No 12

Chapter 4 CONCLUSION AND RESULT

There are the following conclusions come up after the research of the project by filling the questionnaire:

Airtel and Vodafone both are equally popular among the people. But Airtel is more popular among the professionals and Vodafone are more popular among students. Advertising campaigns of Vodafone are more liked as compared to Airtels advertising campaign. Like in this project we compared Airtels love bird ad and Vodafones zoozoo ads, as per the respondents they like zoozoo ads more. If we compare Airtel and Vodafones network coverage then they both can be rated same in network coverage. Network coverage of both the companies is good. If we compare their customer service, people are more satisfied with Vodafones customer service. According to the response of the respondents, Vodafone offers better plans to their customers as compared to Airtel.

SUGGESTIONS
There are the following suggestions being a MARKETING student I would like to give:

Airtel and Vodafone - both of these are the leaders among all the network service providers. They should work on to maintain their position in the market. They should try to capture more market share, as many other competitors are also there who are becoming very popular day by day.

Airtel should improve its advertising campaign, so that they can attract and engage people. Airtel and Vodafone should come out with more better plans They should offer the plans which have low cost rates and good sms pack, as sms packs are very popular these days among the students at they go for that service provider which provides them good sms schemes. Both should plan to attain sustainable growth.

LIMITATIONS
All kinds of research may have some limitations. Making a generalization from a few filled questionnaires can never be the ultimate answer of any research. The research companies like Mc Kinsey, IMRB, NC Nielsen etc take large sample sizes and get questionnaires filled in thousands which help the companies to take marketing decisions. But here in my research, I will be getting only 75 questionnaires filled. Thus to determine the perfect answer of my research would be a tough task.

So, my research is only a fact finding exercise of only a small sample sizes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kotler, Philip; Marketing Management; Pearson Education (Singapore); Year: 2003; Page no 137. Malhotra, Naresh K.; Marketing Research; Dorling Kindersley; Year: 2007; Page no. 370 and 371. http://www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC701/fc701.html http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=25327 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators_of_the_ Asia_Pacific_region#India www.google.com www.vodafone.in www.airtel.in