Introduction The customers play a crucial role in any process of marketing.

Today, customers are the kings of the market because the customer loyalty and customer preference are built by the products and the services offered to the customers and they seek for the more benefits and moneys worth for the amount they spend. That is where the concept of customer preference and consumer behaviour comes because the customers make the marketers to rethink about designing the products and services. They have to think about the market segmentation, market strategies, consumer behaviour, consumers preferences, and consumers life style etc. Many marketers are smart enough to understand consumers needs, wants and demands and perform beyond their expectations i.e. they delight them .It provides them growth, profitability and creativity with lot of inventions In todays competitive scenario firms consistently tries to satisfy his existing customer to get more customers in every regards. To meet the desired expectation of customers companies has to look around all aspects of products services and of course market condition, otherwise they may be out of the race. Automobile industry has the same competitiveness and every firm in the industry is consistently working for enhancing their product and services. Service quality is a focused evaluation that reflects the customer's perception of specific dimensions of service: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, Empathy, tangibles. Satisfaction, on other hand, is more inclusive: it is influenced by perceptions of service quality, product quality, and price as well as situational factors and personal factors Service quality affects customer satisfaction by providing performance (real benefits). For example, if consumers believe they have entered the McDonald's restaurant, they will get food, service,

high quality everywhere the same, no matter the location of the restaurant, Meaning of service quality Service quality is a measure of how well a delivered service matches the customers expectations. Clients of services love quality, of course. But in a service, what is quality? The heart of service quality also is integrity. Its the integration of your word and your actsbetween what you say and what you do. W hen your performance matches your promise, you have integrity. Integrity is quality. We inspect products before we buy them, to ensure they will perform. When we inspect a service, we look at the provider from every angle, for clues that will assure us this person (or these people) will perform. Without realizing it, we ask ourselves, Do we believe them? "The creation of customer satisfaction can provide several benefits, including the relationship between companies and consumers are harmonious, providing a good basis for the purchase and recreation of customer loyalty, and form a recommendation by word of mouth that can benefit the company" DIMENSION OF SERVICE QUALITY Word-of-mouth, personal needs and past experience create an expected service (expectation of the service). The perceived service will be compared with the expected service by the customer. And leads to the perceived service quality as a result. Between the expected and the perceived service can appear a gap if the perceived service does not match with the expected service. Factors which

influence the appearing of the gap were found by Parasuraman Zeithaml and Berry in 1985. Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985) identified ten determinants of service quality that may relate to any service

Competence (Possession of the required skills and knowledge to perform the service: knowledge and skill of the contact personnel, knowledge and skill of the operational support personnel, research capability of the organization) Courtesy (Politeness, respect, consideration and friendliness of the contact personnel: consideration for the customer's property, clean and neat appearance of public contact personnel) Credibility (Trustworthiness, believability and honesty. It involves having the customer's best interest at heart: company name, company reputation, personal characteristics of the contact personnel) Security (Freedom from danger, risk or doubt: physical safety, financial security, confidentiality) Access (Approachability and ease of contact: Service is easily accessible, waiting time to receive service is not extensive, convenient hours of operation, convenient location of service facility) Communication (Informing the customers in a language they can understand and listening to them. It may mean that the company has to adjust its language for different consumers: explaining the service itself, explaining how much the service will cost, explaining the trade-offs between service and cost, assuring the consumer that the problem will be handled)

Understanding / knowing the customer (Making the effort to understand the customer's needs: understanding customer's specific needs, providing individualized attention, recognizing the customer) Tangibles (Physical evidence of the service: appearance of physical facilities, tools and equipments used to provide the service, appearance of personnel and communication materials, other customers in the service facility) Reliability (The ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately: service is performed right at the first time, the company keeps its promises in accuracy in billing, in keeping records correctly and in performing the services at the designated time) Responsiveness (The willingness and/ or readiness of employees to help customers and to provide prompt service, timeliness of service: mailing a transaction slip immediately, setting up appointments quickly. Empathy (The provision of caring, individualized attention to customers: informing the customers in a language they can understand, Understanding customer's specific needs, Providing individualized attention)

A sixth criterion was proposed by Grnroos in 1988: recovery. It has the same effect as the junk yard strategy, which is used to support the zero defects strategy. The customer needs to stay happy. Since there are many bad services being delivered to the customer and according to latest researches 12 good service encounters are needed to make up a bad one, the criterion recovery can play an important role.

Models of service quality There are two main models:

Service Quality Model of Grnroos: Grnroos says that the expectations of the customer depend on the 5 determinants market communication, image, word of mouth, customer needs and customer learning. Experiences depends on the technical quality (what/ outcome) and the functional quality (how/process), which are filtered through the image (who). Both expectations and experiences can create a perception gap. GAP Model of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry :The model says that the expected service is influenced by the wordof-mouth, the personal needs, past experience and also by the external communication to customers. A perception gap can appear between the expected service and the perceived service. This gap is called the GAP 5 (also called the service quality gap), it occurs if the customer is not satisfied and depends on the other 4 gaps.

The perceived quality depends on the external communication to customers and the service delivery. The GAP 4 (also called the communication gap ) is appearing between the external communication to customers and the service delivery. It appears when promises do not match the delivery. The service delivery depends on the service quality specifications. If they are not match each other the GAP 3 (also called the service performance gap) appears. The service quality specifications depends on the management perceptions of customer expectations, where the management perceptions of customer expectations influence the external communication to customers. The GAP 2 (also called the standards gap) occurs between the management perceptions of customer expectations and the service quality specifications if the wrong quality

standards were consulted. The biggest gap, the GAP 1 (also called the marketing information gap) occurs between the management perceptions of customer expectations and the expected service. It appears because the service provider does not know what the customer expect.

KEY GAP : GAP 1: KNOWLEDGE GAP Not knowing what customers expect:

Lack of marketing research orientation Inadequate upward communication Too many levels of management

GAP 2: WRONG SERVICE QUALITY GAP :

Inadequate management commitment to service quality Perception of infeasibility Inadequate task standardization Absence of goal setting

GAP 3: SERVICE PERFORMANCE GAP :

Employee role ambiguity Employee role conflict Poor Employee job fit Poor Technology job fit Inappropriate evaluation and reward systems Lack of empowered service employees

Lack of teamwork

GAP 4: COMMUNICATION GAP: When promises do not match delivery:

Inadequate horizontal communication Tendency to overpromise

GAP 5: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION : DEPEND ON GAP 1-4 GREATE THE GAP DISSATISFACTION 1 to 4 CAUSE GREATER

KEY FACTPR RESPONSIBLE FOR GAP :

1: Management perceptions Zemke and Schaaf (1989) note that left to [their] own devices, [managers and personnel] pay more and more attention to things of less and less importance to the customer. As a consequence, they remain blind to what customers actually value. Some of the deices and causes for this blindness are managers and personnels education, habits developed over time and company policies and procedures, especially relating to marketing research and communication (Zeithaml at al., 1988; Zemke & Schaaf, 1989). Gap 1 is defied here as a management lack of understanding of customers expectations and perceptions of the service, motivated by both lack of initiatives to listen to customers (Zemke & Schaaf, 1989) and by a lack of correct understanding when these initiatives are taken (Parasuraman at al., 1985). The gap can be further enlarged to include a lack of understanding of other external information. 2: Service quality strategy Strategy relates the service organization to its environment and defines the way it wants to compete. Service quality strategy prcis the organiza tions competitive scope and its concept of quality, through a selection of, and

positioning on, the fundamental quality dimensions it wants to compete with (e.g. tangibles and empathy). Quality dimensions are correlated (Parasuraman at al., 1988, 1991) and, sometimes, an improvement in one may be achieved only at the expense of another (Garvi, 1987). The challenge is to choose a balanced combination and positioning (Garvin, 1987; Haywood-Farmer, 1988). Highly concentrating on some dimensions may also constitute an appropriate strategy, but may lead to disaster (Haywood-Farmer, 1988). Finally, service quality strategy is a set of guideline that provides orientations for everyone in the organization. It should be thoroughly communicated, should be meaningful for personnel and should distinguish the organization from others. Failure to forge and communicate a coherent service quality strategy is a serious SQG. 3: financial function Although a vital function to the service organization, finance involves little customer contact, expect for billing payment and credit activities (Lovelock, 1992). This is one reason why it has been neglected in the service literature. Financial management, in service organizations, has bee also been mainly as a constraint and a obstacle to other functions (Adams & Colebourne, 1989). Adams and Colebourne (1989) suggest an enlightened approach to finance in service organizations. This consists of more participative and positive approach where far from being an obstacle, it contributes to strategic planning, costing systems, personnel motivation, quality control, continued solvency, and keeping outsiders confidence in management (Adam & Colebourne 1989). In particular, there is a need to distinguish good costs that improve organizational capabilities from bad costs that increase bureaucracy (Grnroos, 1990). Doing this will, probably, require a substantial effort, undertaking, co-operation and goodwill from financial managers and personnel to avoid traditional methods and arguments. 4: Internal communications Zemke & Schaaf (1989) insist that service strategy has to be communicated over and over again to everyone; the employee at all levels must be aligned with a single vision of what the organization is trying to accompl ish. Effective

internal communications is the requisite for integration and harmony in the service organizations activities and quality. Internal communications is not just about strategy, it has to do with managers listening to employees, receiving feedback about the employees perceptions of the organizations performance on its fundamental quality dimensions. It also involves: managers working with and listening to other managers, thus sharing problems and solutions; managers giving information to employees, about their individual performances, thus contributing to individual improvements; and prompt horizontal and vertical communications, thus flattening and inverting the hierarchical pyramid (Grnroos, 1990; Irons, 1994). 5: Integration/co-ordination Integration between every employee, every activity, every department and every function is fundamental for service quality strategys success. The need for integration efforts arises from the differentiation of jobs and functions in the organizations. This differentiation implies differences in cost/revenue orientations, policies and in specific external environments, which can easily lead to misunderstandings, lack of co-ordination and eve conflict (Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967; Lovelock, 1992). Integration can be achieved through several distinct devices for instance, promoting employees mobility inside the organization, cross-training, task forces, team projects, supervision and, basically, good internal communications (cf. Larence & Lorsh, 1967: Lovelock, 1992; Mintzberg, 1979). There are two sides to integration. One is that every job, activity, department and function should be compatible and mutually reinforcing (L

6: Service delivery Service delivery is an inconsistency between service design/service quality specifications and the service quality actually by the service delivery system. The inconsistency may be technical quality and/or process quality-related. It can be analyzed more precisely using the strategic quality dimensions selected. This means that on each of these dimensions can be found a SQG. Thus, gap 9.1 to 9.N can be defined, N being the number of strategic quality dimensions. Gap 9.1 for example, might be a difference between the designed level of reliability and the level of reliability actually delivered by the system (see Brogowicz et al.s (1990) disaggregation of Parasuraman et al.s (1985) gap 5). can, consequently,

be defined as a function of gaps 9.1 to 9.N. Such gaps result from employees inability or unwillingness to perform (Zeithaml et al., 7: External communications External communications is an inconsistency between what is externally communicated (promised) and what the service delivery system is actually able to provide the customers with. Several factors may contribute to the origin of the gap: a lack of communication between the Marketing Departments members and the Operations Departments members, a propensity to overpromise (Zeithaml et al., 1988), or an inability to communicate clearly and accurately the benefits of the service offered to the customers (Brogowicz et al., 1990). In order to use adequately and to appreciate fully the choices that the organization offers, the customer has to be in possession of accurate and comprehensive information. It may be necessary to use more than one communication means to inform, persuade and educate the customer. Designing services to be user friendly will simultaneously facilitate consumer use and 8: Consumer perceptions Consumer perceptions are the difference between what consumers expect from the service and what they actually perceive of it. The need for managers to access customers expectations and their perceptions of the quality provided should be emphasized here. Such as assessment should be constant or, at least, periodic. It should encompass the totality of the service offering, i.e. including every moment of truth, and it should be done for each of the strategic quality dimensions. Gap 13, thus, can be disaggregated into gaps 13.1 to 13. N, according to the N strategic quality dimensions, just as suggested for gap 9. 9: Service quality evaluation Setting standards is not sufficient to ensure that a quality service is being offered. Accurate measures are essential for monitoring and for effective quality management. Measuring is an objective way to monitor service quality, but personal observation is also important. This should not be confounded with police action. Several methods can be used to measure quality, however, the best measurements that can be devised mirror and validate the details of [the organizations] service strategy (Zemke & Schaaf, 1989). Standards are set

according to essential strategy elements and measurements must focus on the same fundamental variables (Gravin. 1987).

QUALITY MEASUREMENT APPROACH: Quality measurement is separated in subjective and objective processes, at which mostly the customers satisfaction is being measured. Measuring the customers satisfaction is an indirect way to measure quality. Objective processes are being subdivided into primary and secondary processes:

During primary processes, test buying from silent shoppers are being made or normal customers are being watched. During secondary processes quantifiable enterprise numbers like amount of complaints or the amount of given back goods are being analyzed, and with this information conclusions to quality can be drawn.

Subjective processes are being subdivided into characteristic orientated, incident orientated and problem orientated processes.

To the characteristic focused processes counts the SERVQUAL method To the incident focused processes counts the Critical Incident Theory To the problem focused processes counts the Frequenz Relevanz Analyse (German)

The most important and most used process to measure service quality is the SERVQUAL method SERVQUAL was originally measured on 10 aspects of service quality: reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy,

communication, credibility, security, understanding the customer and tangibles. It measures the gap between customer expectations and experience. By the early nineties the authors had refined the model to the useful acronym RATER:

Reliability Assurance Tangibles Empathy, and Responsiveness

SERVQUAL has its detractors and is considered overly complex, subjective and statistically unreliable. The simplified RATER model however is a simple and useful model for qualitatively exploring and assessing customers' service experiences and has been used widely by service delivery organizations. It is an efficient model in helping an organization shape up their efforts in bridging the gap between perceived and expected service. The five gaps that organizations should measure, manage and minimize: Gap 1 is the distance between what customers expect and what managers think they expect - Clearly survey research is a key way to narrow this gap. Gap 2 is between management perception and the actual specification of the customer experience - Managers need to make sure the organization is defining the level of service they believe is needed.

Gap 3 is from the experience specification to the delivery of the experience - Managers need to audit the customer experience that their organization currently delivers in order to make sure it lives up to the spec. Gap 4 is the gap between the delivery of the customer experience and what is communicated to customers - All too often organizations exaggerate what will be provided to customers, or discuss the best case rather than the likely case, raising customer expectations and harming customer perceptions. Gap 5 is the gap between a customer's perception of the experience and the customer's expectation of the service - Customers' expectations have been shaped by word of mouth, their personal needs and their own past experiences. Routine transactional surveys after delivering the customer experience are important for an organization to measure customer perceptions of service Nyeck, Morales, Ladhari, and Pons (2002) stated the SERVQUAL measuring tool remains the most complete attempt to conceptualize and measure service quality (p. 101). The main benefit to the SERVQUAL measuring tool is the ability of researchers to examine numerous service industries such as healthcare, banking, financial services, and education (Nyeck, Morales, Ladhari, & Pons, 2002). The fact that SERVQUAL has critics does not render the measuring tool moot. Rather, the criticism received concerning SERVQUAL measuring tool may have more to do with how researchers use the tool. Nyeck, Morales, Ladhari, and Pons (2002) reviewed 40 articles that made use of the SERVQUAL measuring tool and discovered that few researchers concern themselves with the validation of the measuring tool (p. 106). Criticisms Francis Buttle critiques SERVQUAL in the article "SERVQUAL: review, critique, research agenda" on a number of theoretical and

operational bases. He particularly notes that SERVQUAL's 5 dimensions (Reliability,Assurance,Tangibility,Empathy,Responsiveness) are not universals, and that the model fails to draw on established economic, statistical and psychological theory. Although SERVQUAL's face and construct validity are in doubt, it is widely used in published and modified forms to measure customer expectations and perceptions of service quality. Luis Lages and Joana Fernandes in the article "The SERPVAL scale: A multi-item instrument for measuring service personal values" suggests that consumer final decisions are taken at a higher-level of abstraction. Similarly to the SERVQUAL scale, the Service Personal Values (SERPVAL) scale is also multi-dimensional. It presents three dimensions of service value to 1) peaceful life, 2) social recognition, and 3) social integration. All three SERPVAL dimensions are associated with consumer satisfaction. While service value to social integration is related only with loyalty, service value to peaceful life is associated with both loyalty and repurchases intent. Approaches to improve service quality Generally the service design or the service delivery can be improved to achieve a high quality service. The service design consists in:

Service product design Service facility design Service process designated

The service delivery consists in:

Service delivery process Service encounter environment

Customer-Provider interaction

] Approaches to improve conformance quality In order to ensure and increase the conformance quality of services, i.e. the service delivery happens as designed, various methods are available. Some of these are listed below:

Guaranteeing Mystery Shopping Recovering Setting standards and measuring Statistical process control Customer Involvement

In order to ensure and increase the conformance quality of services, i.e. the service delivery happens as designed, various methods are available. Some of these are listed below

Surety/ Guaranteeing A surety or guaranty, in finance, is a promise by one party (the guarantor) to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. The person or company that provides this promise is also known as a surety or guarantor. The situation in which a surety is most typically required is when the ability of the primary obligor or principal to perform its obligations to the oblige (counterparty) under a contract is in question, or when there is some public or private interest which requires protection from the consequences of the principal's default or delinquency. In most common law jurisdictions, a contract of surety ship is subject to the statute of frauds (or its equivalent local laws) and is only enforceable if recorded in writing and signed by the surety and the principal.

If the surety is required to pay or perform due to the principal's failure to do so, the law will usually give the surety a right of subrogation, allowing the surety to "step into the shoes of" the principal and use his (the surety's) contractual rights to recover the cost of making payment or performing on the principal's behalf, even in the absence of an express agreement to that effect between the surety and the principal. Traditionally, a distinction was made between a surety ship arrangement and that of a guaranty. Both involve lending added credit and credibility to a loan of money. However, the surety's liability was joint and primary with the principal, whereas the guarantor's liability was ancillary and derivative. That just means that a creditor must first attempt to collect the debt from the debtor before looking to the guarantor for payment. With a surety ship, the creditor may attempt to collect the debt from either. Many jurisdictions have abolished this distinction. In the United States, under Article 3 of the Uniform Commercial Code, a person who signs a negotiable instrument as a surety is termed an accommodation party; such a party may be able to assert defenses to the enforcement of an instrument not available to the maker of the instrument. In the United Kingdom the idea of a loan with a guarantor has been popularised over the last 3 years. Guarantor loans open a unique type of unsecured loan, which is not based on the credit history of the borrower. In fact it is quite the opposite; this loan is based on the credit standing of the person who will guarantee the payment of the loan in case the borrower defaults. Certain circumstances lead to a reduction of credit rating. Whenever a credit rating reduces and becomes poor it will not be very easy to obtain even a high rate bad credit loan. Having a guarantor will address the lenders concern, and is a great way to regain the lost credibility in terms of obtaining credit. Mystery shopping or a mystery consumer is a tool used externally by market research companies or watchdog organizations or internally by companies themselves to measure quality of service or compliance to regulation, or to gather specific information about products and services. The mystery consumer's specific identity is generally not known by the establishment being evaluated. Mystery shoppers perform specific tasks

such as purchasing a product, asking questions, registering complaints or behaving in a certain way, and then provide detailed reports or feedback about their experiences. Mystery shopping was standard practice by the early 1940s as a way to measure employee integrity. Tools used for mystery shopping assessments range from simple questionnaires to complete audio and video recordings. Mystery shopping can be used in any industry, with the most common venues being retail stores, hotels, movie theatres, restaurants, fast food chains, banks, gas stations, car dealerships, apartments, health clubs and health care facilities. Since 2010, mystery shopping has become abundant in the medical tourism industry, with healthcare providers and medical facilities using the tool to assess and improve the customer service experience. In the UK mystery shopping is increasingly used to provide feedback on customer services provided by local authorities, and other non-profit organizations such as housing associations and churches. Statistical process control Statistical process control (SPC) is the application of statistical methods to the monitoring and control of a process to ensure that it operates at its full potential to produce conforming product. Under SPC, a process behaves predictably to produce as much conforming product as possible with the least possible waste. While SPC has been applied most frequently to controlling manufacturing lines, it applies equally well to any process with a measurable output. Key tools in SPC are control charts, a focus on continuous improvement and designed experiments. Much of the power of SPC lies in the ability to examine a process and the sources of variation in that process using tools that give weight to objective analysis over subjective opinions and that allow the strength of each source to be determined numerically. Variations in the process that may affect the quality of the end product or service can be detected and corrected, thus reducing waste as well as the likelihood that problems will be passed on to the customer. With its emphasis on early detection and prevention of problems, SPC has a distinct advantage over other quality methods, such as inspection, that apply resources to detecting and correcting problems after they have occurred.

In addition to reducing waste, SPC can lead to a reduction in the time required to produce the product or service from end to end. This is partially due to a diminished likelihood that the final product will have to be reworked, but it may also result from using SPC data to identify bottlenecks, wait times, and other sources of delays within the process. Process cycle time reductions coupled with improvements in yield have made SPC a valuable tool from both a cost reduction and a customer satisfaction standpoint Customer Involvement Management, CIM, is an approach that takes the customer orientation one step further than Customer Relationship Management. CIM is about identifying and developing possibilities to involve customers in the business and product development process, such as design, marketing, sales, customer service, etc. The degree of involvement can be as far as to make the customer a part of the product, experience and delivery. Within CIM the product is regarded to be a subset in what meets the customer's need of identification, problem solving and consumption. The possibility to influence the design and the consumption itself is assumed to be of great importance for the customers buying decision and loyalty. One example of a company that uses CIM is Nike. With the concept Nike they let the customers design their own sport shoes. More recently companies have started to build Web portals, in order to involve their customer in the idea generation, selection, development and commercialization phase of their innovation process .

1.1....INDUSTRY PROFILE

The telecom services have been recognized the world-over as an important tool for socio-economic development for a nation. It is one of the prime support services needed for rapid growth and modernization of various sectors of the economy. Indian telecommunication sector has undergone a major process of transformation through significant policy reforms, particularly beginning with the announcement of NTP 1994 and was subsequently re-emphasized and carried forward under NTP 1999. Driven by various policy initiatives, the Indian telecom sector witnessed a complete transformation in the last decade. It has achieved a phenomenal growth during the last few years and is poised to take a big leap in the future also. Status of Telecommunication Sector The Indian Telecommunications network with 915.5 million connections till October 2011 is the second largest in the world. The sector is growing at a speed of 45% during the recent years. This rapid growth is possible due to various proactive and positive decisions of the Government and contribution of both by the public and the private sectors. The rapid strides in the telecom sector have been facilitated by liberal policies of the Government that provides easy market access for telecom equipment and a fair regulatory framework for offering telecom services to the Indian consumers at affordable prices. Presently, all the telecom services have been opened for private participation . Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) The entry of private service providers brought with it the inevitable need for independent regulation. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was, thus, established with effect from 20th February 1997 by an Act of Parliament, called the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, to regulate telecom services, including fixation/revision of tariffs for telecom services which were earlier vested in the Central Government. TRAIs mission is to create and nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications in the country in manner and at a pace, which will enable India to play a leading role in emerging global information society. One of the main objectives of TRAI is to provide a fair and transparent policy environment, which promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition. In pursuance of above objective TRAI has issued from time to time a large number of regulations, orders and directives to deal with issues coming before it and provided the required direction to the evolution of Indian

telecom market from a Government owned monopoly to a multi operator multi service open competitive market. The directions, orders and regulations issued cover a wide range of subjects including tariff, interconnection and quality of service as well as governance of the Authority. The TRAI Act was amended by an ordinance, effective from 24 January 2000, establishing a Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to take over the adjudicatory and disputes functions from TRAI. TDSAT was set up to adjudicate any dispute between a licensor and a licensee, between two or more service providers, between a service provider and a group of consumers, and to hear and dispose of appeals against any direction, decision or order of TRAI. According to TRAI, by the end of march 2010, the total number of subscribers had reached 621 million.Of this, 88% were mobile phone subscribers. BASIC STRUCTURE OF TELECOM SECTOR Dept of telecom Telecom regulatory Telecom dispute settlement Unified license operators Fixed line operators National long distance operators International long distance operators Wireless operators

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

 In Basic, Cellular Mobile, Paging and Value Added Service, and Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite, Composite FDI permitted is 74% (49% under automatic route) subject to grant of license from Department of Telecommunications subject to security and license conditions. (Para 5.38.1 to 5.38.4 of consolidate FDI Policy circular 1/2010 of DIPP) Network Expansion The telecom sector has shown robust growth during the past few years. It has also undergone a substantial change in terms of mobile versus fixed phones and public versus private participation. The following table shows the growth trend of telecom sector from last five years: The number of telephones has increased from 54.63 million as 31.03.2003 to 915.28 million as on October 2011. 1200 million subscribers by 2012 . Rural telephony . 200 million rural subscribers by 2012 . As on 31st March 2010) Rank in world in network size Telephone connection (In million) Fixed Mobile Total 33.75 881.32 915.o7 2nd

Village Public Telephones 5,69,385 inhabited (Out of 5,93,601 uncovered villages) Foreign Direct Investment (in 4070 million) (from April 2000 till March 2010)

Licenses issued Basic CMTS UAS Infrastructure Provider I ISP (Internet) National Long distance International Long Distance 2 38 241 219 371 29 24

Key players of Indian telecommunication sector : Bharti Airtel one of Asias leading providers of telecommunication services with presence in all the 22 licensed jurisdictions (also known as Telecom Circles) in India, and in Sri Lanka. We served an aggregate 230.8 million subscribers across 19 countries . 5th largest The company is the largest wireless service provider in the country, based on the number of subscribers as telecom operator in the world .1st largest cellular service provider in India with174 .69 million subscribers Airtel also offers an integrated suite of telecom solutions to our enterprise customers, in addition to providing long distance connectivity both nationally and internationally. The company has recently forayed into media by launching our DTH and IPTV Services. All these services are rendered under a unified brand Airtel. The company also deploys, owns and manages passive infrastructure pertaining to telecom operations under its subsidiary Bharti Infra Tel Limited.

Idea Cellular Limited is a publicly listed company, having listed on BSE and NSE in March 2007. It has licenses and spectrum to operate in all 22 service areas of India, with commercial operation currently in 15 service areas. With a customer base of 100 million as on March 31st, 2011, 4th largest operator of India. IDEA was the first company in India to commercially launch next generation EDGE technology in Delhi in 2003. It has been a leader in the introduction of value added services. From basic voice and SMS services to offering high end VAS such as Mobile TV, Games etc, IDEA is seen as an innovative, customer focused brand. IDEA has received international recognition for its path-breaking innovations when it won the GSM Association Award for Best Billing and Customer Care Solution for 2 consecutive years. IDEA Tariff plans are customer friendly and cater to unique needs of different segments. IDEA Womens Card caters to the special needs of the women on move, and Youth Card covers emerging youth segment. IDEA My Gang the widely popular closed user group product recently bagged the prestigious Golden Peacock Award 2008 under the Most Innovative Product category at the 19th World Congress on Total Quality. IDEA Cellular is part of the Aditya Birla Group, Indias first truly multinational corporation. The Group is anchored by an extraordinary force of over 125,000employees, belonging to 25 different nationalities, and is in the League of Fortune 500 companies. Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Reliance Communication Limited, a member of Reliance ADA Group. Reliance ADA Groups flagship company. Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL) began operations in 1997-98. It provides GSM based Mobility services, Value-added

Services & Applications in 8 telecom circles covering 15 Indian states. RTL has undertaken a major expansion and increased its coverage to 6,300 towns. This has enabled RTL to significantly scale up subscriber base to 11.5 million as of March 31, 2009. RTL is in the process of further expanding its coverage to 12,000 towns under its licensed areas.RTLs Business has been further strengthened and complimented by its parent companys GSM expansion to remaining 14 Circles across various Indian states. Parent Companys rapid and successful ramp up in GSM based Mobile services has provided an added advantage to RTL of a bigger in-house ecosystem. Vodafone Essar is the Indian subsidiary of Vodafone Group and commenced operations in 1994when its predecessor Hutchison Telecom acquired the cellular license for Mumbai. The company now has operations across the country with 144.9 million customers (as of March 31, 2011). Over the years, Vodafone Essar, under the Hutch brand, has been named the Most Respected Telecom Company, the Best Mobile Service in the country and the Most Creative and Most Effective Advertiser of the Year. Vodafone is the worlds leading international mobile communications company. It currently has equity interests in 27 countries across 5 continents and more than 40 partner networks with over 289million proportionate customers Worldwide. The Essar Group is Vodafones principal partner in India.2nd largest operator of India with 23 % customer of Indian mobile market TATA TELESERVICES LIMITED (TTSL) Tata Teleservices is part of the INR Rs. 96723 Crore (US$ 22 billion) Tata Group, that has over96 companies, over 250,000 employees and more than 2.8 million shareholders. With a committed investment of

INR 36,000 Crore (US$ 7.5 billion) in Telecom (FY 2006), the Group has a formidable presence across the telecom value chain .Tata Teleservices spearheads the Groups presence in the telecom sector. Incorporated in 1995,Tata Teleservices was the first to launch CDMA mobile services in India with the Andhra Pradesh circle. Starting with the major acquisition of Hughes Tele.com (India) Limited [now renamed Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited] in December 2002 the company swung into an expansion mode. With the total Investment of Rs 19,924 Crore, Tata Teleservices has created a Pan India presence spread across 20 circles that includes Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Gujarat, Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. Having pioneered the CDMA 3G1x technology platform in India, Tata Teleservices has established a robust and reliable 3G ready telecom infrastructure that ensures quality in its services. It has partnered with Motorola, Ericsson, Lucent and ECI Telecom for the deployment of a reliable, technologically advanced network. The company, which heralded convergence technologies in the Indian telecom sector, is today the market leader in the fixed wireless telephony market with a total customer base of over 3.8million. Tata Teleservices has a strong workforce of 6000. In addition, TTSL has created more than 20,000 jobs, which will include 10,000 indirect jobs through outsourcing of its man power needs. BSNL Incorporated on 15-09-2000. Govt company under section of 617 of the companies act 1956 , bsnl is unlisted company . govt of India holding the 100 % share of the company. Covering 20,836 cities /towns with a subscribers base over 4.67 crore till march 2009 . bsnl has launched its broadband services on 14 -01 2005 . this offer high speed internet access with speed ranging from 256 kbps to 8 mbps

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY : To assessing the service quality of telecom sector To understand the improvement and customer preference in telecom sector To study about various service providers and quality of their service To study the customer satisfaction and current market scenario of telecom sector

DATA INTERPTATION AND ANALYSIS.

Q.1 WHICH TYPE OF CONNECTION YOU ARE USING? TYPE PRE-PAID POST-PAID TOTAL FREQUENCY 195 5 PERCENT 97.5 2.5 100

250

200

150 Column1 100

50

0 POST-PAID PRE-PAID Category 4

INTERPRETATION: Out of the total respondents of 200 hundred we came to know that 97.5 % peoples are using pre-paid connection and 2.5 % using post-paid connection. This shows that most of the peoples prefer prepaid as its easily available and there is no problem of bill payment .

Q.2 WHOSE SERVICES ARE YOU USING NOW? SERVICE PROVIDER AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA RELIENCE DOCOMO TOTAL FREQUENCY 60 52 51 19 3 15 200 PERCENT 30% 26% 25.5% 9.5% 1.5% 7.5% 100%

SERVICES PROVIDES

airtel vdafone bsnl docomo relience idea

INTERPRETAION : The above chart analysis reveals that majority of peoples using Airtel connection because their network connectivity and free talk time have helped to gain the market share while the least are interesting in the reliance and Tata docomo because of new entry of Tata docomo and connectivity problem of reliance .and due to lack of competence ability .

Q. 3 HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN USING THIS CONNECTION? PERIOD 0-3 MONTHS 3-6 MONTHS 6-12 MONTHS MORE THAN 1 YEAR TOTAL FREQUENCY 1 15 184 200 PERCENT .5% 7.5% 92% 100%

PERIOD

0-3 MONTH 3-6 MONTH 6-1 YEAR ABOVE 1 YEAR

Interpretation : from the above analysis it can be found that 92% peoples of the total respondents have kept their connection more then one year. Where only 8 % peoples prefer to change their connection within few month . the reason for kept the number more than 1 year is that today in market the portability facility available their we can change the network without changing the number .but today the students and youth prefer to keep more then one number .

Q.4 WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR USING THE SERVICES OF TELECOM PLAYER? REASONS LOW TARIFF NUMBER NETWORK COVERAGE LUCRATIVE SCHEMES TOTAL FREQUENCY 114 2 84 200 PERCENT 57% 1% 42% 100

120

100

80

60

number

40

20

0 low tariff number network coverage

Interpretation : As per the study mostly peoples inclined toward low tariff and network coverage of their service provider followed by low tariff . Here the price not only includes the price of prepaid or post-paid connection but also include call rates and various tariff plans etc.

Q.5 HOW MUCH DO YOU SPEND PER MONTH ON YOUR MOBILE CONNECTION IN RUPEES? RUPEES 50-100 100-200 200-300 ABOVE 300 TOTAL FREQUENCY 43 82 75 200 PERCENT 21.5% 41% 37.5% 100

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 50-100 100-200 200-300 ABOVE 300 RUPEES

Interpretation : Above graph shows that nearly 60% % of respondents spending less than Rs 300 .this is because low tariff offered by every service provider and 60% students are includes in survey . but nearly 40 % respondents spending more then Rs 300 because thats includes the govt employees and business men so they spend more amount.

Q.6 TO WHAT EXTENT THE RESPONSE OF YOUR CUSTOMER CARE EXECUTIVE OF SERVICE PROVIDER IS EXCELLEN ? SERVICE PROVIDER AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA DOCOMO RELIENCE TOTAL GREAT EXTENT 48 14 20 12 9 2 105 SOME EXTENT 11 38 29 7 6 1 92 CANT SAY 1 2 TOTAL 60 52 51 19 15 3 200

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 airtel vodafone bsnl idea docomo

can't say some ext great ext

Interpretation : Acceptance or rejection of the product is largely dependent on the services provided by customer care which is also know as after sales services or CRM (CUSTOMER RELATION MANAGEMENT )as per the survey it was found out Airtel hold the largest market share and the more then 75% Airtel subscribers are satisfied with customer care behaviour . but nearly 46% of the total respondents are not properly satisfied with customer care behaviour mean the customer care are not responding to them properly .(its found out that the service provider needs to show more empathy towards customer)

Q.7 HOW WILL YOU RATE THE FOLLOWING ATTRIBUTES OF THE SERVICE PROVIDER ? ATTRIBUTES EXCELLENT VERY .5 GOOD .4 CALL RATES SMS SCHEME BILLING SYSTEM GPRS SERVICE TALKTIME& VALIDITY BRAND IMAGE DND SERVICES TOTAL AVERAGE .3 POOR 2 VERY POOR 1 NEVER

CALL RATES PLAYER AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA DOCOMO RELIENCE TOTAL EXCELLENT 54 44 51 18 13 2 182 VERY GOOD 3 6 1 2 1 13 POOR 3 2 VERY POOR

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA DOCOMO RELIENCE POOR AVERAGE VERY GOOD EXCELLENT

Interpretation : The study found out that all the service provider provide low tariff due to tough competition in the market .so mostly respondents are satisfied and happy with call rates of service provider .but one thing we came to know the companies provide low call rates on new connection so companies must focus on existing number and should give new schemes on existing number .

SMS SCHEME PLAYER AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA DOCOMO RELIENCE TOTAL EXCELLENT 39 25 10 9 14 1 98 VERY GOOD 2 AVG 5 1 1 NEVER/CANT 21 20 40 9 2 92

1 3 7

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA DOCOMO RELIENCE NEVER/CANT SAY AVERAGE VERY GOOD EXCELLENT

Interpretation : As we know nearly 40% of the total respondents are employees and business so they dont use the SMS scheme . nearly 80 % bsnl user dont use SMS services. And nearly 50 % of total respondents are satisfied with SMS scheme of their service provider and TATA DOCOMO companies 100% subscribers are fully satisfied and happy with SMS scheme .

BILLING SYSTEM PLAYER AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA VODAFONE RELIENCE TOTAL EXCELLENT 35 19 19 7 3 2 85 VERY GOOD 14 12 15 8 2 51 AVERAGE 11 21 17 4 10 1 64 POOR

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA DOCOMO RELIENCE POOR AVERAGE VERY GOOD EXCELLENT

Interpretation : According to study result we can say nearly 40% respondents are satisfied but 60 % respondents are not properly satisfied with billing system .so service provider need to focus on make the billing system more accessible and easily.

GPRS SERVICE PLAYER AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA DOCOMO RELIENCE TOTAL EXCELLENT 14 6 4 15 1 40 VERY GOOD 3 7 1 AVG 2 POOR NEVER/CANTSAY 41 39 51 14 2 147

11

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA DOCOMO RELIENCE NEVER/CAN'T SAY AVERAGE VERY GOOD EXCELLENT

As we mentioned above mostly students prefer to keep more than one number so they prefer to use the GPRS on TATA DOCOMO connection. and employees and business use the BSNL broadband for internet .mostly respondents use extra connection for GPRS services .AIRTEL also providing satisfactory GPRS schemes .

TALKTIME & VALIDITY PLAYER AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA DOCOMO RELIENCE TOTAL EXCELLENT 26 24 16 5 4 1 76 VERY GOOD 11 10 3 4 1 29 AVG 22 16 22 9 10 1 80 POOR NEVER/CANT 1 2 1 1 5

10

10

70 60 50 NEVER/CAN'T SAY 40 30 20 10 0 AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA DOCOMO RELIENCE POOR AVERAGE VERY GOOD EXCELLENT

INTERPRETATION : Nearly 60 % respondents says the talk time and validity are average of all service provider .20% bsnl user are not satisfied with validity schemes of service provider .

DND SERVICES PLAYER AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA DOCOMO RELIENCE TOTAL EXCELLENT 32 17 39 10 6 3 107 VERY GOOD 23 19 3 2 1 48 AVG 5 16 9 7 8 45 POOR

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 AIRTEL VODAFONE BSNL IDEA DOCOMO RELIENCE POOR AVERAGE VERY GOOD EXCELLENT

INTERPRETATION : The above graph shows that 55 % respondents are satisfied with DND services .because we have to activate the DND services after that they dont disturb us without reasons .

Q.8 ARE YOU INFLUENCED BY ADVERTIESMENT? FREQUENCY 43 89 0 68 200 PERCENT 21.5% 44.5% 34% 100%

TO A GREAT EXTENT TO A SOME EXTENT CANT SAY NEVER TOTAL

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 GREAT EXT SOME EXT CAN'T NEVER NUMBER

INTERPRETATION : Nearly 45% respondents are influenced by advertisement to a some extent. But nearly 35% respondents of total respondents never focus on advertisement and advertisement never influenced them .they use the services according to their hobbit and preference .

Q.9 DO YOU THINK THAT SERVICES PROVIDER GIVING YOU INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION? FREQUENCY TO A GREAT EXTENT TO A SOME EXTENT CANT SAY NEVER TOTAL 72 110 18 0 200 100% PERCENT 36% 55% 9%

120

100

80

60

NUMBER

40

20

0 GREAT EXT SOME EXT CANT SAY

According to study we can say nearly 40% of total respondents feels the service provider giving individual attention properly and satisfied with service provider but 55 % of total respondents feels the service provider not giving the individual attention and recognization to customer and not satisfied with service provider .

Q.10 DO YOU THINK SERVICE PROVIDER HANDLING YOU GRIEVANCES PROMPTLY? FREQUENCY 62 135 3 0 200 PERCENT 31% 67.5% 1.5% 100%

TO A GREAT EXTENT TO A SOME EXTENT CANT SAY NEVER TOTAL

160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 GREAT EXTENT SOME EXTENT CAN'T SAY NUMBER

INTERPRETATION : The above graph shows that service provider are not empathy and unable to handle the grievance of the users and the 70% respondents are not satisfied with grievance handling power of service provider .

Q.11 DO YOU WANT TO PORT YOUR EXISTING NUMBER? FREQUENCY 0 200 PERCENT 100%

YES NO

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% YES NO Column1

Interpretation : As above graph show .no one wants to port their number but many of them already ported their number .

SUGGESTION AND FINDING:

REFERENCE :
Book : Services marketing by Christopher lovelock WEBSITES : http://en.wikipedia.org www.trai.gov.in www.scribd.com www.vodafone.in www.airtel.in www.business-standard.com

QUESTIONNAIRE INDUSTRY

FOR

CUSTOMERS

OF

TELECOM

NAME OF THE CUSTOMER

____________________________

OCCUPATION

____________________________

CONNECTION USED

____________________________

ADDRESS

____________________________

CONTACT.NO

____________________________

This questionnaire is a part of a study titled Analysis of Service Quality of Telecommunication companies in Kurukshetra- an Empirical Study. Your reply to this questionnaire is highly valuable and extremely important to assess the service quality of yours to the connection used by you. When answering the following statements, Please Tick () the relevant in the boxes. Q1. Which type of connection you are using? a) Pre-paid b) Post-paid

Q2. How long you have been using this connection? a) 0-3 months b) 3-6 months c) 6-1 year

d) More than one year

Q3. What are the reasons for using the services of the telecom player? a) Low tariff b) Voice clarity c) Network coverage

d) Lucrative Schemes Q4. How much do you spend per month on your mobile connection in rupees? a) 50-100 d) Above 300 Q5. To what extent the response of customer care executive of service provider is excellent b) 100-200 c) 200-300

Service Provider
Airtel Tata Docomo Idea Vodafone BSNL Reliance Tata Indicom Aircel

To a great extent

To some extent

Can't Say

Very poor

Q6. How will you rate the following attributes of the service provider? Attributes Call Rates SMS Scheme Billing system GPRS service Talktime Validity Brand Image DND services & Excellent Very Good Average Poor Very poor

Q7. Are you influenced by the advertisement? a) To a great extent d) Never Q8. Do you think that service provider giving you individualized attention? a) To a great extent d) Never Q9. Do you think that the service provider handling your grievances promptly? a) To a great extent d) Never 10. Do you want to port your existing number? a) Yes If yes 11. What are the reasons to port the number? a) Network problem d) Communication Gap b) High call rates c) Balance deduction b) No b) To a some extent c) Can't Say b) To a some extent c) Can't Say b) To a some extent c) Can't say

Thanks for your valuable reply