PROJECT REPORT

On

Submitted to

Himachal Pradesh University Summer Hill Shimla

In the Partial Fulfillment of Requirements of
Degree in Bachelor of Business Administration

Supervised By: - Submitted By:-

Mrs. Parinita Rakesh Kumar
Guest Faculty of B.B.A. VITH Sem.
V.I.B.S. Mandi (H.P.) Univ. Roll. No. 4426

Vallabh Institute of Business Studies

Vallabh Govt. College, Mandi (H.P.), March-2010

1
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this is a bonafide record of project work

entitled

“BHARTI AIRTEL”

By

Mr. Rakesh Kumar

Final year BACHELOR IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

During the academic year 2007-2010

In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the
Degree of BACHELOR IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

FACULTY GUIDE
Mrs. Parinita
[Guest Faculty of V.I.B.S.
Mandi.]

2
 DECLARATION

I Rakesh Kumar student of BBA (6th sem.) Roll No. 4426 do

here by certify that the student entitled “BHARTI AIRTEL”

carried out by me under guidance of Mrs. Parinita, is my

original work submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirement for the completion of Degree of “BACHELOR IN

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION”

DATE: - Rakesh Kumar

PLACE: - Mandi Univ. Roll No. 4426

B.B.A. 6th sem.

3
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In this project I have made material as authentic as

it could. And I earnestly hope that it provides useful and
workable information and knowledge to any person reading
it.
During this small time frame of two months in which the
project reached its completion, there were a few people
whom I would like to make a mention of and without whose
help the project would have never seen the light of the day.
I would like to thank my project guide Mrs. Parinita and the
head of BBA department Dr. Poonam Sharma and the
head of the institution Mrs. Kusum Bakshi who gave me
their valuable consent from time to time.
In the end, I also want to thank all my friends for
their support and help during the project.

Rakesh Kumar

4
 PREFACE

This report on Bharti Airtel is done to find out certain

objectives regarding the strategic approaches adopted by
Airtel to stand strongly in the world’s most competitive
telecom market and to expand its services worldwide.
Airtel’s marketing strategies are analyzed using various
models like SWOT analysis, BCG Matrix, Ansoff’s matrix,
porter’s five forces etc.
The outcomes of these models are properly analyzed to find
out the various aspects like companies position and
competitors position in the market.
This report on Bharti Airtel not just gives description about
the company but it also talks about the various marketing
strategies adopted by the company.
SWOT analysis of Airtel helps to find out the weak points of
the company and to find out the ways to overcome this
problem.
Similarly with the help of Ansoff matrix it can be found that
what are the different strategic options available to the
company under the different market condition and to find
the answer that, why company is looking for overseas
markets like Nigeria and Seychelles and concentrating up on
developing markets of Asia and Africa.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Thesis Title 7
2. Industrial Profile 8
3. Objective 31
4. Research Methodology 33
5. Analysis 35
SWOT Analysis 36
BCG Matrix 41
Ansoff Matrix 42
Porter’s Model 43
Environmental Analysis 44
6. Annexure 46
7. Limitations 52
8. Findings 54
Recommendations 57
9. Bibliography 60
Abbreviations 62

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 MANAGEMENT THESIS TITLE

“A CASE STUDY OF BHARTI AIRTEL’”

7
INDUSTRIAL
PROFILE

8
 INDUSTRIAL PROFILE
BHARTI AIRTEL

Incorporated on July 7, 1995, Bharti Airtel Ltd is a

division of Bharti Enterprises. Bharti Airtel (BSE: 532454)
formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is the
largest cellular service provider in India, with more than 121
million subscribers as of January 2010. With this, Bharti is
now the worlds third-largest, single-country mobile operator
and sixth-largest integrated telecom operator. It also offers
fixed line services and broadband services. It offers its
TELECOM services under the Airtel brand and is headed by
Sunil Bharti Mittal. The company also provides telephone
services and broadband Internet access (DSL) in top 95 cities
in India. It also acts as a carrier for national and international
long distance communication services. The company has a
submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects
the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.
The businesses at Bharti Airtel have always been structured
into four individual strategic business units (SBU's) - Mobile
Services, Airtel Telemedia Services, Enterprise Services and
Digital TV. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed
wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom
circles while the Airtel Telemedia Services business offers
broadband & telephone services in 95 cities and has recently
launched a Direct-to-Home (DTH) service, Airtel Digital TV.

9
Shahrukh Khan is the brand ambassador of the mobile
company and Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan are the
brand ambassadors of the DTH Company. The company
provides end-to-end data and enterprise services to the
corporate customers through its nationwide fiber optic
backbone, last mile connectivity in fixed-line and mobile
circles, VSATs, ISP and international bandwidth access
through the gateways and landing station.
Globally, Bharti Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile
operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China
Unicom. In India, the company has a 22.64% share of the
wireless services market, followed by 17.86% for Reliance
Communications and 17.4% for Vodafone Essar. In January
2010, company announced that Manoj Kohli, Joint Managing
Director and current Chief Executive Officer of Indian and
South Asian operations, will become the Chief Executive
Officer of the International Business Group from 1st April
2010. He will be overseeing Bharti's overseas business.
Current Dy. CEO, Sanjay Kapoor, will replace Manoj Kohli and
will be the CEO with effective from 1st April, 2010.
It has presence in all 23 circles of the country and covers
71% of the current population (as of Financial Year 2007).
Airtel has also launched 16Mb/s broadband plans in India,
making it the first ISP to do so.
Airtel is a brand of telecommunication services in India,
Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka owned and operated by Bharti

10
Airtel. It is the largest cellular service provider in India in
terms of number of subscribers. Services are offered under
the brand name Airtel: Mobile Services (using GSM
Technology), Broadband & Telephone Services (Fixed line,
Internet Connectivity (DSL) and Leased Line), Long Distance
Services and Enterprise Services (Telecommunications
Consulting for corporates).

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Type Public
BSE: 532454
Founded July 07, 1995
Founder(s) Sunil Bharti Mittal
Headquarters New Delhi, India
Key people Sunil Mittal
(Chairman) & (MD)

Sanjay Kapoor
(ceo)

Industry
Telecommunications
Products Wireless
Telephone
Internet
Satellite Television
Revenue US$ 7.254 billion

(2009)
Operating income US$ 2.5043

billion (2009)
Net income US$ 11.853 billion (2009)

12
Owner(s) Bharti Enterprises
(64.76%)
SingTel (30.5%)
Vodafone (4.4%)
Employees 25,543(2009)
Website Bharti.com
Airtel.in

13
 TELECOM MARKET

 The extraordinary growth in the mobile market is,

perhaps, the most stunning face of India's economic

transformation since the mid 1990s. Mobile technology
and services came to India less than two decade ago. In
the early days, a mobile was seen to be a fashion
statement for the rich. Today, it is a basic need and
accepted as a basic communication medium for all
socio-economic segments. As the pioneer and
frontrunner, Airtel has been instrumental in leading and
ushering in the mobile revolution in India.
 The Indian mobile market is, today, amongst the fastest

growing and the most competitive in the world. There

were 600 million mobile phone subscribers in the
country as of Feb. 2010 (Source: Telephone Regulatory
Authority of India). With approximately 103 million
subscribers, Airtel commands nearly 21.7% share of the
market - making it the number one brand in the
country. Airtel's world class service and innovative
products have enabled it to establish this position of
leadership.

14
 ACHIEVEMENTS
Airtel's flight to leadership began in Delhi in 1995. Since
then, Airtel has established itself across all the 23 circles of
the country and covers 71% of the current population (as of
Financial Year 2007). With a presence in over 1,400 towns,
Airtel today has the largest network capacity in the country.
In the last nine years Airtel has achieved many firsts and
unique records: it was the first to launch nationwide roaming
operations, it was the first to cross the one million and the
five million customer marks. It was also the first to launch
services overseas.
There are other 'firsts' credited to Airtel - many of them in
the area of innovative products and services. Today, Airtel
innovates in almost everything that it presents to. Excellent
example is Easy Recharge - India's first paperless electronic
recharging facility for prepaid customers. As evidence of its
fine record, Airtel has also been conferred with numerous
awards. It won the prestigious Techies Award for 'being the
best cellular services provider' for four consecutive years
between 1997 and 2000 - a record that is still unmatched.
And in 2003, it received the Voice & Data Award for being
'India's largest cellular service provider', amongst others.

15
As part of its continuing expansion, Airtel has invested over
Rs. 1,065 billion in creating a new telecom infrastructure. In
2003/04, Bharti Tele-Ventures earned a gross profit of Rs. 16
billion on revenues of Rs. 50 billion. Established in 1976,
Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with
many firsts and innovations to its credit. Bharti has many
joint ventures with world leaders like SingTel (Singapore
Telecom); Warburg Pincus, USA; Telia, Sweden; Asian
infrastructure find, Mauritius; International Finance
Corporation, USA and New York Life International, USA.
Bharti provides a range of telecom services, which include
Cellular, Basic, Internet and recently introduced National
Long Distance. Bharti also manufactures and exports
telephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being
the largest manufacturer of telephone instruments in India, it
is also the first company to export its products to the USA.
The company has two international landing stations in
Chennai and Mumbai, which connect two submarine cable
systems - i2i to Singapore and SEA-ME-WE-4 to Europe.
Bharti Airtel was he First Telecom Company in the world to
receive the ISO 9001:2000 Certification from British
Standards Institute. Bharti Airtel was First to deploy Voice
Quality Enhancers to improve voice quality and phonetics.

16
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

17
Apex Management Structure
Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited

18
 SUCCESS STORY OF BHARTI

 Bharti Enterprises has successfully focused its strategy

on telecom while straddling diverse fields of business
 It all began as a Small Industry
 Bharti Tele-Ventures is today acknowledged as one of

India's finest companies, and its flagship brand 'Airtel',

has over 100 million customers across India.
 Bharti has successfully launched an international

venture with EL Rothschild Group owned ELRO Holdings

India Ltd., to export fresh Agri- products exclusively to
markets in Europe and USA.
 Bharti Airtel inks a $ 10.7 billion deal with Kuwait-

based Zain to acquire its African telecom operations.

With this Bharti Airtel will become the seventh largest
telecom player in the world.

19
 BUSINESS DIVISIONS
Bharti Airtel offers GSM mobile
high speed
services in all the 23-telecom
with a
circles of India and is the largest
With mobile service provider
in the country, based on the
number of customers.
entertainment
home (DTH) service digital
cities.
Enterprise Services provides a
magical experience
broad portfolio of services to
with
large Enterprise and Carrier
picture
customers. This division
widest
The group offers
broadband internet
best in class network.
Landline services in 94
cities we help you stay in
touch with your family &
friends and the world. Get
world –class
with India’s best direct to
TV in more than 150
Discover the
of digital entertainment
Airtel. From DVD quality
and sound, the best and
20
comprises of the Carrier and variety of channels and
Corporate business unit. programmes to the
best
Enterprise Services is regarded on-demand content on
Airtel
as the trusted communications Live, your TV viewing
partner to India's leading experience change
forever
organizations, helping them with digital TV from
Airtel!
to meet the challenges of growth.

21
 BUSINESS DIVISIONS
 Mobile Services – Bharti Airtel offers GSM mobile
services in all the 23-telecom circles of India and was
the first private telecom service provider to connect all
states of India.
 Broadband & Telephone Services – Our Broadband
(DSL) & telephone services (fixed line) are present in
the 92 cities across India.
 Enterprise Services (Carriers) – With 35,016
kilometers of optic fiber network we are a leading
national long distance service provider. For
international connectivity to east, we have a submarine
cable landing station at Chennai. For international
connectivity to the west, the Company is a member of
the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe – 4
(SEA-ME-WE-4) consortiums along with 15 other global
telecom operators.
 Enterprise Services (Corporate) – The group focuses
on delivering telecommunications services as an
integrated offering including mobile, broadband &
telephone, national and international long distance and
data connectivity services to India's leading 1300
corporate,
 DTH Services- The Digital TV business provides Direct-
to-Home TV services across India.

22
COMPANY
PROFILE

23
 COMPANY PROFILE

 The Company: Bharti Airtel Ltd.

Formally Known as Bharti Televentures Limited
The Customers: 105 million1
 GSM: 102 million

 Broad Band & Telephone: 3 million

 CMD: Sunil Bharti Mittal

 Market Share: 21.7%
 Connectivity: Provides best connectivity with submarine

cable landing station at Chennai.

The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into

three individual strategic business units (Sub's) - mobile
services, broadband & telephone services (B&T) & enterprise
services. The mobile services group provides GSM mobile
services across India in all 23 telecom circles, while the B&T
business group provides broadband & telephone services
in 95 cities. The Enterprise services group has two sub-units
- carriers (long distance services) and services to corporate.
All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.

1
Subscriber’s of Airtel Digital TV are not included

24
 VISION
 By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India:
 To be loved by more customers.

 Targeted by top talent

 Benchmarked by more businesses.

 By 2020, Bharti will be the finest Indian conglomerate.

 To provide global telecom services and delight

customers.

MISSION

We will meet the mobile communication needs of customers

through:-

 Error free service delivery.

 Innovative product and services.

INNOVATIONS
 We are changing the way India communicates by
offering innovations that not only add value to people's
lives but also deliver an unmatched customer
experience.
We were the first to:
 Provide electronic recharge for mobile phones
 The First to launch 32K SIM cards

25
 Initiate music retailing in the world with “Easy Music”
and the first to offer a Lifetime Prepaid service.
 Provide innovations such as Bollywood movie premiers,
music services such as ring back tones & many more.

26
 GREAT BENEFITS FROM AIRTEL
Wireless Phones
Airtel Mega is a wireless phone that is extremely convenient
and easy to install and does not require any wiring or change
in the aesthetics of your home or office. This phone is
immune to cuts in the cable, rains, bad weather etc. You can
carry the set along with you when you move from one room
to another or when you shift your home/office
It ensures that your immediate accessibility needs are met
with Instant connection

Mobile Phone's Features

With Airtel Mega you can enjoy the features of a mobile
phone- SMS, In-built caller line identification, voice mail,
phone book, ring tones etc.

Great Add-on Services

Airtel Mega offers a host of value added services like Hello

Tunes, GPRS, call conference, call wait, call divert, SMS and
more!

Limited Mobility
You can use your Airtel Mega anywhere within your circle
limits and still receive and make calls, at no extra cost.

27
 COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS

 Airtel now in the US - connecting 2.5 million NRIs to

their loved ones back in India.

 Airtel partners with Google to offer search services on
Airtel Mobile.
 Airtel Presents 'Song Catcher' - India's First Ever Instant
Music on Mobile.
 Bharti Airtel and Microsoft enter into a strategic
partnership to offer Software and Services for Small and
Medium Business (SMB) Market in India.
 Bharti Airtel signs MoU to connect Adani Group’s
Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone.
 Bharti Airtel brings Apple iphone 3G to India.

 Bharti Airtel makes its Media & Entertainment debut –

launches Digital Media Business.

 Dow Jones and Bharti Airtel Partner for Launch of The

Wall Street Journal India Mobile.

 Bharti Airtel has entered into a legally binding definitive

agreement with Zain Group to acquire Zain Africa BV

based on an enterprise valuation of USD 10.7 billion.

28
 AIRTEL ENTERPRISE SERVICES

PREPAID ZONE

Some of the many advantages that you enjoy with Airtel Pre-
Paid...

Total Cost Control

Enjoy the liberty of total cost control with your Airtel Pre-
paid! Re-charge as much as you feel the need to! Now that's
what we call complete freedom!
No Rentals
Buy an Airtel prepaid card without having to pay any rentals!
No deposits
Your Airtel prepaid card comes without you having to pay
hefty deposits!
STD/ISD facility till the last rupee
Now experience complete freedom like never before with
Airtel! Our STD/ISD facility allows you to make long distance
calls in India and Overseas from your cellular phone!
Instant Balance Inquiry
Check your talk-time instantly by calling our toll-free
number!

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60 second pulse
Airtel provides you with a 60-second pulse rate! Freedom for
you to experience like never before!

Per second pulse rate

Airtel also provides you with per second pulse rate! Now pay
for what
You really use.
Instant Recharge
Avail of instant recharge on your Airtel prepaid card with just
a few simple steps!
24-hour recharge facility
with our round-the-clock recharge facility, recharge you
Airtel prepaid card anytime, anywhere!
Caller Line Identification
Call Line Identification gives you the power to know the
phone number of the calling party even before you answer
the call, thus giving you the choice to either reject or take
the call. It provides the added advantage of saving the
incoming number directly in the Handset Phone Book. So
that the next time you want to call the same person, you
don't need to retype his number, simply use your phone
book.
Call Divert
Call Hold and Call Wait Avail of special services like call
waiting, call hold and call divert – all with your Airtel prepaid

30
card!
Short Messaging Service (SMS)
With Airtel’s Short Messaging Service (SMS), send messages
and jokes to your friends and colleagues, anytime anywhere!
SMS based Information Services
With Airtel's SMS based information services; you can get up
to-the-minute cricket scores, order flowers as well as send
couriers or check your daily horoscope!

GPRS Services
Airtel provides GPRS services to its customers.
Voice Mail service
Voice Mail lets you receive messages even when your
handset is switched off or when you are outside the
coverage area. You can listen to your messages whenever
you feel like, from anywhere in the world. Voice Mail can
store up to 15 messages of 1 minute duration.

POSTPAID ZONE

Experience complete freedom

Airtel welcomes you to a vibrant world of unlimited

opportunities. More exciting, innovative yet simple new ways
to communicate, just when you want to, not just through
words but ideas, emotions and feelings. To give you the

31
unlimited freedom to reach out to your special people in
your special way.
As an Airtel Post-paid customer you can enjoy the following
facilities –
Easy Billing
Now enjoy the luxury of viewing details of your last 3 billing
cycles and the convenience of paying your Airtel bill online!
Experience complete freedom with Airtel!
Call Divert:-
Call Hold and Call Wait
Avail of special services like call waiting, call hold and call
divert – all with your Airtel postpaid connection!
Short Messaging Service (SMS)
With Airtel's Short Messaging Service (SMS), send unlimited
messages and jokes to your friends and colleagues, anytime
anywhere!
Caller Identification
Call Identification gives you the power to know the phone
number of the calling party even before you answer the call,
thus giving you the choice to either reject or take the call. It
provides the added advantage of saving the incoming
number directly in the Handset Phone Book. So that the next
time you want to call the same person, you don't need to
retype his number, simply use your phone book.
Voice Mail

32
Voice Mail lets you receive messages even when your
handset is switched off or when you are outside the
coverage area. You can listen to your messages whenever
you feel like, from anywhere in the world. Voice Mail can
store up to 15 messages, with each message of one- minute
duration.
GPRS Services
Airtel provides GPRS services to its customers.
STD/ISD Facility
Now experience complete freedom like never before with
Airtel! Our STD/ISD facility allows you to make long distance
calls in India and Overseas from your cellular phone!
Roaming (National and International)
Airtel's Roaming service allows you to use your mobile phone
to
make or receive calls from almost anywhere in India and
abroad! Enjoy roaming within the country as well as across
international destinations!
Choose best plan which suites you
Airtel brings you the most innovative and flexible service
plans in
the industry. You can choose from a variety of service plans
whichever suites you best.
Note:
The Company ‘Bharti Airtel Ltd’ does not pay any interest on
security deposit.

33
 Satellite Services
Airtel Enterprise Services provides you connectivity where
ever you take your business Our Satellite Services bring you
the benefits of access in remote locations. Airtel Enterprise
Services is a leading provider of broadband IP satellite
services and DAMA/PAMA services in India. Our solutions
support audio, video and voice applications on demand.
Satellite Services include:
 PAMA/DAMA
 BIT - Internet
 VPN
 Satellite based IPLCs for redundancy reasons

Managed Data & Internet Services

Airtel Enterprise Services brings you a comprehensive
suite of data technologies. So we are able to support all
types of networks and ensure our customers can migrate
their network to the future seamlessly. Our Managed Data
& Internet services make our customers future proof.
Managed Data & Internet Services include:
 Internet
 IPLC

Managed e-Business Services

34
 Airtel Enterprise Services offers an internationally
benchmarked, carrier class hosting, storage and business
continuity services.
A range of services that help to keep your business
running the way you want- 24x7. Thanks to our world-
class high tech Data Centers. Managed e-Business
Services include:
 BCRS Services
 Web hosting

Digital TV Services
Discover the magical experience of digital entertainment
with Airtel. From DVD quality picture and sound, the best
and widest variety of channels and programmes to the best
on-demand content on Airtel Live, your TV viewing
experience change forever with digital TV from Airtel.

35
OBJECTIVE OF
THE STUDY

36
 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The Indian communications scenario has
transformed into a multiplayer, multi product market with
varied market size and segments. Within the basic phone
service the value chain has split into domestic/local calls,
long distance players, and international long distance
players. Apart from having to cope with the change in
structure and culture (government to corporate), Airtel has
had to gear itself to meet competition in various segments –
basic services, long distance(LD), International Long
Distance (ILD), and Internet Service Provision (ISP).It has
forayed into mobile service provision as well.

Objective of study are:-

 What marketing strategies the Airtel is implementing
to defend and increase the market share.
 To find who are the competitors of the Airtel and the
market shares of the competitors and what strategies
Airtel is implementing to beat its competitors.
 To find out how Airtel react to the technology changes
in the communications sector.
 To find out how Airtel is expanding its business
internationally and becoming a world-class MNC.

37
METHODOLOGY

38
 METHODOLOGY

Primary Data Sources:-

 Observation and
 Experiment

Secondary Data sources:-

 Internet
 Newspaper
 Magazines
 Others2

2
Other sources include people who work in Airtel, friends and Advertisements.

39
ANALYSIS

40
 SWOT ANALYSIS

Following Is the SWOT analysis for AIRTEL

STRENTH WEAKNESS
 Very focused on  Price competition from
telecom Vodafone, BSNL,
 Leadership in fast MTNL and Idea.
growing cellular  Untapped rural market.
segment.
 Pan- India footprint.
The only Indian
operator, other than
VSNL, that has an
international submarine
cable

 The fast-expanding  Competition from other

IPLC market. cellular and mobile
 Latest technology and operators.
low cost advantage.  Saturation point in
 Huge market basic telephony
service.

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

41
 STRENGTH
Very Focused On Telecom Bharti Airtel is largely focused
on the telecom, around 93% of the total revenue comes from
telecom (Total telecom revenue US$ 7.254 billion).

Leadership In Fast Growing Cellular Segment Airtel is

holding leadership position in cellular market. Bharti Airtel is
one of India's leading private sector providers of
telecommunications services based on an aggregate of
121,853,000 customers as on Dec. 2009.
Pan India Footprint Airtel offers the most expansive
roaming
network. Letting you roam anywhere in India with its Pan-
India presence, and trot across the globe with International
Roaming spread in over 240 networks. The mobile services
group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23
telecom circles, while the B&T business group provides
broadband & telephone services in 95 cities.

42
the only operator in India other than VSNL having international
submarine cables.
Airtel, the monopoly breaker shattered the Telecom
monopoly in the International Long Distance space with the
launch of International Submarine cable Network i2i jointly
with Singapore Tele-communications Ltd. in the year 2002.
This has brought a huge value to the IPLC customers,
delivering them an option besides the incumbent carrier, to
connect to the outside world.

WEAKNESS
Price Competition from BSNL and MTNL. Airtel is tough
competition from the operators like BSNL & MTNL as these
two operators are offering services at a low rate.
Untapped Rural market. Although Airtel have strong
Presence throughout the country but still they are far away
from the Indian rural part and generally this part is covered
by BSNL so indirectly Airtel is loosing revenue from the rural
sector.

OPPORTUNITIES
THE FAST EXTENDING IPLC MARKET An IPLC
(international private leased circuit) is a point-to-point
private line used by an organization to communicate
between offices that are geographically dispersed
throughout the world. An IPLC can be used for Internet

43
access, business data exchange, video conferencing, and
any other form of telecommunication. Airtel Enterprise
Services and SingTel jointly provide IPLCs on the Network i2i.
The Landing Station in Singapore is managed by SingTel and
by Airtel in Chennai (India). Each Landing Station has Power
Feeding Equipment, Submarine Line Terminating Equipment
and SDH system to power the cable,
add wavelengths and convert the STM-64 output to STM-1
data streams respectively.
LATEST TECHNOLOGY AND LOW COST ADVANTAGE
The costs of introducing cellular services for Airtel are
marginal in
nature, as it needs only to augment its cellular
switch/equipment
capacity and increase the number of base stations. The
number of cities, towns and villages it has covered already
works to its advantage as putting more base stations for
cellular coverage in these areas comes with negligible
marginal cost. Besides such cost advantages, it has also
other cost advantages for the latest cellular technology. As a
late entrant into the cellular market, it has dual advantage of
latest technology with modern features, unlike other private
cellular operators who started their service more than 4-5
years back and low capital cost due to advantages of large
scale buying of cellular switch/equipment.

44
HUGE MARKET The cellular telephony market is presently
expanding at a phenomenal / whopping __ rate every year
and there is still vast scope for Airtel to enter /expand in this
market. Besides there is a vast rural segment where the
cellular services have not made much headway and many
customers are looking towards Airtel for providing the
service to them. With its wide and extensive presence even
in the remotest areas, Airtel poised to gain a big market
share in this segment when it expands cellular services into
the rural areas.

THREATS
COMPETITION FROM OTHER CELLULAR
It is time for BSNL to improve/expand its cellular services. Fierce and cut-
throat competition is already in place with the markets ever abuzz with
several tariff reductions and announcement of attractive packages, trying to
grab most of the ‘mind share’ of the ‘king’ - ‘the consumer’, whose benefits
are increasing with passing of everyday. If BSNL is not innovative and
agile, its cellular service will be a flop. It needs to be proactive with
attractive packaging, pricing and marketing policies lest its presence in the
market be treated with disdain by the private cellular companies. The launch
of WLL services by Reliance Info comm. has aggravated the situation.

MARKET MATURITY IN BASIC TELEPHONY S EGMENT

Although, Airtel entered in the basic telephony market at its early stage, it’s

45
a biggest there for the company as the basic telephony market has reached at
saturation point.

46
 BCG MATRIX

BCG Matrix is used to find out the relative growth prospects

of the product of the line. Within the Airtel product line
leased, private, circuit are among star. Airtel is going to have
a submarine cable between Singapore and Chennai with the
collaboration of SingTel. This wills Airtel to maintain its

47
position in IPLC market. Right in India only VSNL have such
cables.

ANSOFF MATRIX

To portray alternative corporate growth strategies, Igor

Ansoff conceptualized a matrix that focused on the firm’s
present and potential products and markets / customers. He
called the four product-market strategic alternatives
 market penetration [existing market + existing product],
 market development [existing product + new market],
 product development [existing market + new product],
and
 Diversification [new product + new market].
The company should follow all four strategies depending on
the demand and product as indicated in the matrix. The
company perhaps needs to focus more on the comparatively
neglected area of diversification.

48
MARKET PENETRATION: Airtel entered in broadband and
fixed phone line market.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: IPLC products
MARKET DEVELOPMENT: Airtel is now looking for overseas
market.
Company has already make his presence in Nigeria and
Seychelles
DIVERSIFICATION: Airtel has now outsourcing sum of its
services like customer services with IBM.
INDUSTRY STRUCTURE PORTER’S MODEL
The industry structure has become relatively unfavorable
compared to earlier monopolistic times

The earlier pattern used to be that the national telecom

company used to own every segment of the value chain till
the international gateway. With liberalization there was
competition in virtually every segment. There are companies

49
that provide local connectivity, those that function as long
distance carriers, and those that provide only gateway links.
Some integrated players operate in all segments.
The intensity of competitive pressures across the chain is
reflected in the downward spiral being witnessed in tariffs
and prices to customer.
The value chain for cellular mobile service and Internet
Service Providers (other than cable based net connections) is
similar in as much as the calls reach the destination through
similar local loop.

ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
It is a systematic examination of all 3 levels of the
environment with at least three purposes:-
 Detecting important economic, social, cultural,

environmental, health, technological, and political

trends, situations, and events.
 Identifying the potential opportunities and threats

for the institution implied by these trends,

situations, and events.
 Gaining an accurate understanding of your

organization’s strengths and limitations

STEEP refers to changes in the social, technological,
economic, environmental, and political sectors that affect
organizations directly and indirectly.
A STEEP analysis of the macro environment indicates that
economic (a phone call being a cheaper way to stay in touch

50
than outstation travel for example) and social factors
(working outside the home town) have forced the pace of
utilization of technology (Public Call Offices, mobile phones,
networked companies). Increasing customer awareness has
raised expectations and vocal demands are being articulated
for consumer rights; such political factors have in turn
impacted the competitive environment by way of entry of
private players, independent regulation, and a policy
framework tilted towards a ‘level playing field’ for new
entrants. A near environment analysis indicates that the
competitors are becoming active resource rivals (political
and financial) apart from applying pressures as customer
rivals. The customer has, needless to say, benefited from
increased choice from within the communications services
basket itself.

CORE COMPETENCE

Airtel core competencies are sales & promotions and as of

now Airtel is leading brand in mobile services in India. Airtel
have three big personality Viz. Shahrukh Khan and music
maestro A. R. Rahman for endorsing there product and
services currently Airtel is outsourcing there no competence
function and try to fully concentrate on his core competency
that is sales promotion.

51
ANNEXURE

52
 ANNEXURE

Indian telecoms monthly update (December

2009)

53
 Indian telecoms monthly update (December
2009)

Bharti Airtel maintains its market leadership position with a

market share of 21.7%, but has been losing its market share
over the past few months. Vodafone Essar surpassed BSNL
in terms of market share in December-09. Similarly Tata
Teleservices has outdone Idea Cellular with respect to the
overall subscriber base. New entrants are also causing a
dent in the market share of established players like Bharti
Airtel, Reliance Communications and BSNL. The top three
players together own more than half of the overall telecom
subscribers.

54
55
The falling tariffs of the wireless services and the
convenience of mobility which cellular services provide has
caused more and more subscribers opting out of fixed line
services. For the month of December-09, while BSNL
achieved a 3.42% M-o-M in wireless segment, it saw its
wireline subscriber base being reduced by 0.12 million.

Over the past four months, wireless segment has witnessed

an increasing addition of subscribers every month while
adding record 19.1 million wireless subscribers in December
09. This growth was achieved by increasing addition by
incumbents and launch of services by new entrants.

GSM Operator wise % market share – Feb’2010

GSM operator Total Sub Figures % Market Share

56
 Bharti Airtel 124619205 30.55%
Vodafone Essar 97229874 23.84%
IDEA Cellular 62143629 15.23%
BSNL 61004235 14.96%
Aircel 34860993 8.55%
Reliance Telecom 16311206 4.00%
MTNL 4697033 1.15%
Unionor 3555480 0.87%
Loop Mobile 2776234 0.68%
Stel 717099 0.18%
All India
(Total) 407914988 100.00%

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has released

the GSM subscriber base for November 2009 and, quite
expectantly, new additions continue at a higher rate. There
has been highest growth rate registered due to “Per second
Billing” adopted by most all GSM operators in last month.
The number of new GSM subscribers being added in
November month 11.08 million as compared to 10.76 million
subscribers added in October. The additions were at a
monthly growth rate of 3.12%.

57
LIMITATIONS

58
 LIMITATIONS

Limitation of my project is that the companies are not

ready to provide data for the project because of their
privacy policies.
 The product may not suit the requirement of the
prospect
 Strong competition with other telecom companies

 Buying power of the customer

 Corporate are too busy to lend us their precious time.
 Time is being big constraint.
 Geographical limitation
 Financial limitation.
 Company’s Distribution channel is not responding
properly.

59
FINDINGS

60
 FINDINGS
 Strategic alliance
The Company has a strategic alliance with SingTel.
The investment made by SingTel is one of the largest
investments made in the world outside Singapore in the
company. The company also has a strategic alliance with
Vodafone. The investment made by Vodafone in Bharti is
one of the largest single foreign investments made in the
Indian telecom sector. The company’s mobile network
equipment partners include Ericsson and Nokia. In the
case of the broadband and telephone services and
enterprise services (carriers), equipment suppliers include
Siemens, Wipro, Cisco, Alcatel Lucent, among others. The
Company also has an information technology alliance with
IBM for its group-wide information technology
requirements and with Nortel for call center technology
requirements.

 Outsourcing
The call centre operations for the mobile services
have been outsourced to IBM Daksh, Hinduja TMT,
Teleperformance Mphasis, Firstsource & Aegis.

 Overseas Market
Airtel is looking for overseas markets and already
started operation in Nigeria and Seychelles. Bharti Airtel
has acquired zain’s African assets for $10.7 billion, making

61
its position stronger in the African market. This is one of
the largest investments made by any Indian telecom
company in African continent.
Airtel has also started services in Asian countries viz.
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

 Competition
Airtel is facing strong competition from MTNL, BSNL
and Vodafone inspite of the fact that MTNL & BSNL are far
away from Airtel technologically but these two have inside
base in rural and urban area and have low tariff rates as
compared to Airtel’s.
In addition Airtel is also facing very strong competition
from new players viz. TATA DOCOMO, AIRCEL and others
in the telecom market. There is more than 15 company’s
working in Indian telecom market.

 Brand Ambassador
Airtel have strong brand ambassador, Shahrukh
khan and A. R. Rehman to promote their product and
services. Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan are the brand
ambassadors of the DTH Company.

 Leader In Telecom Market

Airtel is holding a position of Market Leader by
having 21.7percent of the total market share. Airtel as a
brand have much goodwill in the market.

62
 Maximum Number Of Satisfied Customers
Airtel have maximum number of satisfied customer
base in India.

63
RECOMMENDATIONS

64
 RECOMMENDATIONS

After the complete analysis of entire STUDY we put forward a

set of recommendations which are a follows:

 Pricing
Depending on the market conditions / competition
from other cellular operator’s Airtel should develop
flexible pricing mechanism (either at central or local
level).

 Improvement In Technology
Airtel should immediately shift to third generation
switches by replacing its c-dot switches. This will improve
the quality of service to desired level and provide
simultaneous integration with the nationwide network.
The special distribution of the transmission towers should
be increased to avoid “no signal pockets”

 Establishment Of Distribution Channels

Airtel should establish widespread and conspicuous
distribution to match that of the competitors. The
distribution network shall make the product visible and
available at convenient locations.

 Untapped Rural Market

Large part of Indian rural market is still untapped
therefore Airtel is required to bring that area under
mobility.

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 Newspaper Articles
There should be articles related with the Telecom
Sector in the daily news papers because almost every
educated person comes across it every day. It can help in
increasing the awareness level of the Telecom Sector
among the people. People should be made aware about
the tariffs and plans of the company.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

67
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS:-
 Marketing Management by Philip Kotler
 Marketing Research by Naresh K. Malhotra

WEBSITES:-
 www.Google.com

 www.coai.com

 www.wikepedia.com

 www.stockmarketsreview.com

COMPANY INFORMATION:-
 www.Airtel.com

 Teleworld magazines
 Pamphlets from various retailers
 Information from company outlets.

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ABBREVIATIONS
USED

69
 ABBREVIATIONS
ASAP As Soon As Possible
BSE The Stock Exchange, Mumbai,
BTVL Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited
BSNL Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
B&T Broadband & telephone services
CEO Chief Executive Officer
CMD Chief Managing Director
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
GPRS General Pocket Radio System
TRAI Telephone Regulatory Authority of India
IPLC International Private Leased Circuit
IPO Initial public offering
ISD International Trunk Dialing
ISP Internet Service Provider
NSE National Stock Exchange of India Limited
PCO Public call office
SEA-ME-WE-4 South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe
–4
SMB Small and Medium Business
SMS Short Messaging Service
STD Subscriber Trunk Dialing
USD United States Dollar ($) (USD)
VSAT Very Small Aperture Terminal

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