Business Analysis Of Tata Docomo

About
TATA DOCOMO is Tata Teleservices Limiteds telecom service on the GSM platform
arising out of the Tata Groups strategic alliance with Japanese telecom major NTT
DOCOMO in November 2008. NTT DOCOMO has 26% of stake in the company. TATA
DOCOMO has license to operate its GSM services in 19 telecom circles. It started its
operation in India from Tamilnadu. NTT DOCOMO is one of the leading mobile operators
in world and in Japanese Market its having more than 50% of market share in telecom
market. NTT DOCOMO is supposed to help TATA Telecom Services in growing its
business as well as provide the know-how to help the company develop its GSM
business. Tata DOCOMO was the second company in India who introduced second
pulse tariff. It marks a significant milestone in Indian Telecom landscape.

Vision Statement
We will refine our brand and strengthen ties with our customers.
We will solicit and incorporate feedback from customers so that we continue to exceed
their expectations.
We will continue to innovate so that we can earn the respect of people worldwide.
We will become an organization whose energetic staffs are capable of overcoming all
challenges in pursuit of our corporate vision.

Objectives
Corporate Objectives
Following are the corporate objectives of TATA DOCOMO Services
As a partnership of two pioneering brands, TATA DOCOMO promises to deliver relevant
new applications and services that will make life simpler and more enjoyable for the
customer.
To offer simplicity to customers in its services amidst cluttered telecom operators and
confusing options.
To offer their service by being countrys most transparent, innovative and liberating
telecom brand.

To create a new communication culture and to fully utilize the individual potential.

Marketing Objectives
Volumes and Profits The Company has earmarked an investment of $2 billion on its
pan-India GSM network rollout. The company has positioned the tariff for its services
under the Pay-for-what-you-use model which includes per second pulse tariff structure.
It offers its GSM based mobile services in 16 circles out of 22 circles defined in India.
Tata DOCOMO actually falls under the superset group of Tata Teleservices. Tata
Teleservices runs its CDMA based services under Tata Indicom and its GSM based
services under Tata DOCOMO. Tata Teleservices added 34.4 million new mobile
subscribers in August 2009, beating bigger rivals like Indias biggest mobile operator
Bharti Airtel (2.8 million), Reliance Communications (2.3 million) and Vodafone (2.2
million). Currently Tata Teleservices is Indias sixth largest mobile operator with 42.8
million subscribers.
Technology Upgradation NTT DOCOMO has played a major role in the evolution of
mobile telecommunications through its development of cutting-edge technologies and
services. TATA DOCOMO has already made the bid for 3-G technology auction in India.
The advantage that TATA DOCOMO has in terms of advanced technology is the
collaboration with NTT DOCOMO as today, while most of the global players are only
beginning to talk of 4G technology and its possible applications, NTT DOCOMO has
already recorded a downlink transmission rate of 250 Mbps over a high-speed wireless
network in an outdoor test of an experimental system for Super 3G, also known as LTE.
This kind of advance technological edge can help Tata DOCOMO a lot in long run
against its competitors.
Customer Retention and Customer Delight By introducing various new schemes like
per-second calling plan, per character SMS charge plan, full talk time recharges, night
packs for various cities, etc, TATA DOCOMO is trying its best to enhance its customer
retention policy and bring up customer delight via different innovative models. Company
believes in identifying its customer base which will be loyal to its services and by offering
them cheapest of services, it can retain its customer base and capitalise on that in
future.

Situation Analysis
Product Definition

Tata Docomo is a mobile/wireless service provider and is collaboration between the

Japanese company Docomo and the Indian giant Tata for its launch in India. The
announcement of the launch was made as recently as June 10, 2009. Hence the product
is a new one in the market with a lot of existing players which include giants like Bharti
Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance etc . Hence it is important to analyse the competition in the
market and see if there is enough scope in the market.
Competitor Analysis - The wireless telecom industry is a huge and still growing market
and has immense scope for new entrants as well as existing players.
The following chart shows the division of the market share in terms of number of
subscribers as per the TRAI report for the year 2009.
The biggest players in the industry are the ones that are the oldest and well established
ones with major market shares.
The major players are Bharti Airtel ,Reliance and Vodafone. Reliance is relatively new
and yet has grabbed a major share in the market compared to the other two which are
older.
Tata has also gained good amount of market share even though it has only just entered
the industry in the second half of the year 2009, which shows that the market has
enough place for many players as long as they can attract customers to their brand.
Tata being a well established and trusted name in India could prove to be a major boost
for Tata Docomo to establish itself in India in a big way.
The rate of growth of these networks from September 2009 to December 2009 as per
the TRAI report for 2009 is given below:

SERVICE PROVIDER
RATE OF GROWTH
Bharti Airtel
7.4%
Reliance
8.8%
Vodafone
10.3%

BSNL
4.3%
Tata
22.2%
Idea/Spice
12.0%
Aircel
20.6%
As is apparent from the above data that the new players namely Tata and Aircel have the
highest growth percentage as they are in the initial period of establishing themselves in
the market.
The growth trends are a positive indicator of the fact that there is scope of expanding in
the market even though there are a large number of existing players in the market.
Bharti Airtel, the largest market share-holder has the least growth rate which shows that
new players are the ones that are growing faster possibly because of more attractive
schemes and other incentives while the existing subscribers tend to stick to their service
provider for reasons like inertia and brand loyalty.
Tata Docomo can increase its share of the pie by providing more attractive tariffs and
good network coverage over areas that are otherwise not well-covered.

Analysis of the Category

Market SIZE
At 110.01 million connections ' Indian Telecom Industry' is the fifth largest and fastest
growing in the world. The subscriber base has grown by 40% in 2005 and is expected to
reach 250 million in 2007.
Indian Telecom Industry ' is currently expected to contribute nearly 1% to India's GDP
which is heartening and estimated to grow further and brighten the ' Scenario of Indian
Telecom Industry.
Tata Teleservices Ltd, the telecom arm of the $66 billion Tata Group and it plans to stay
ahead in the race by rolling out GSM-based network services in more cities across India.

The company, with 42.8 million subscribers, is India's sixth largest mobile operator after
Bharti Airtel (108 million), Reliance Communications (84.1 million), Vodafone Essar (80.9
million), state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) (57.3 million) and Idea Cellular (50
million).
The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the Tata
Indicom, Tata DOCOMO, Photon and Walky brands, and uses both the CDMA and GSM
technology platform(s) for its wireless networks.
Tata Teleservices, which provides both CDMA-based and GSM-based mobile service
network under the name of Tata Indicom and Tata DoCoMo respectively, added 34.4
million new mobile subscribers in August 2009, beating bigger rivals like India's biggest
mobile operator Bharti Airtel (2.8 million), Reliance Communications (2.3 million) and
Vodafone (2.2 million).

Market Share
SWOT Analysis
swot-analysis-image.png

Strengths:
Tata Docomo was the first in the business to introduce the much acclaimed pulse plan in
which users are required to pay on seconds basis. This attracted a major portion of the
mobile users especially the rural sector as it resulted in much cheaper costs.
Tata is a renowned name in India. Established around 150 years back Tata services are
known to provide the best-in-quality services at minimal rates. The ardent followers of
the Tata brand are sure to use its services. Also the goodwill Tata has generated via its
philanthropic activities gives it a clean image and attracts a lot of people towards it.
Tata Docomo gives its users a chance to try out a large number of services which are
first of their kind. For example, the introductions of Buddynet which allows the ones who
have joined it to stay connected at a price of 1p/6 sec and also enjoy social networking
sites. The GPRS on demand service allows users to use internet for a convenient
number of days. For the post-paid customers Tata Docomo came up with the postpaid@
doorstep service which allows users to get the representatives at their respective homes
to solve their queries. These and a large number of other services have given Tata
Docomo an edge over the other Telecom services.

Tata Docomo services are for the common people. Like always the target audience
comprises of Aspirers and Seekers which represents the majority percentage of the
mobile users in the country and has resulted in Tata Docomo reaping rich dividends.

Weaknesses:
The most common complaint of Tata Docomo users has been the weak signal strength
they have been getting in some of the regions it has been launched in. This has resulted
in frequent disconnections and has agitated the users.
The focus has mostly been on the prepaid connections. The post-paid connection was
launched quite late and wasnt able to generate as much buzz as the prepaid
connection.
There is a large variation in the efficiency of the customer services across the regions
Tata Docomo has been launched in.
The Tatas have been concentrating on the rural market so much that the urban focus
has been left neglected. There is an urgent need to maintain a balance between these
two regions to boost further growth.

Opportunities:
It has a chance to expand its services across the whole country as there are still
unexplored regions. It can also bring out some schemes exclusively for urban users to
increase its urban market penetration.
It can also try focussing on coming out with some innovative ideas as far as its internet
services are concerned since at present there in not much in the internet services area
which provides it with a competitive edge. It must try to exploit this factor.
Since the introduction of 3G services in India, Tata Docomo has a chance to bring about
services which are compatible with 3G to ensure that people using it dont face
incompatibility issues.
Right now Tata Docomo has focussed on exclusive schemes for internet, SMS, incoming
and outgoing calling etc. Now it is time for bringing out combined and integrated
services.

Threats :

If the error of disconnections arising out of weak signal strengths continues to occur it
may result in people leaving it for other networks.
There is uneasiness among users regarding the fact that the 1p/sec services will
continue till the life cycle lasts. This uneasiness should be removed by proper
clarification.
The obvious and the biggest threats are from the already existing mobile services
providers like Airtel, Idea etc who have consolidated their positions. It would be an
arduous task to topple them from their positions.

Category Factors
Porters 5 forces analysis model deals with those external factors which impact the
nature of competition within in industry among the firms and the internal factors inside
the industry that influence the competition among firms. A firm needs to comprehend the
dynamics of its own industry base and the market involved so as to compete effectively.
Following are the five forces explained for Tata DOCOMO -

The Degree of Rivalry:

In Telecom space in India, there are a number of big companies like Reliance, Idea,
Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone, etc which are giving cutting edge competition to each other.
Rivalry among the competitors can be explained in terms of introduction of various
schemes and offers frequently that compels each other to come up with innovative
strategies more than often. This rivalry can be controlled by Tata Docomo services by
focusing on hiring performing sales persons having customer gaining skills and it should
also try to break apart good sales person from its competitors.

The Threat of New Entrant:

Telecom industry is an attractive avenue for any new firm due to its advantages and
profitability involved. Hence, the threat of new entrants is pretty high and the good recent
example can be Aircel, Virgin Mobile, etc. The GSM version of Tata Indicom i.e. Tata
DOCOMO also entered as a threat in market for other existing competitors. The rule is to
capture the market share of existing competitors where they lose some of them.

The Threat of Substitutes:

The major substitute possibility in Telecom space can be Online Chat, Emails, Voice
over IP, Satellite Phones, etc. These potential substitutes have high capability of
replacing Telecom space, but in current scenario its not highly probable.
But keeping in mind the futuristic possibilities of such substitutes ability, the company
should keep a close watch on them and strategize accordingly.

Buyer Power:
Since the competition is very intensive in Telecom space, the bargaining power of
customer is very high. In the span of hardly 5-6 years, the prices have come down in a
sharp manner and still the process is on. The only reason is Buyer Power in this space.
So in order to overcome this power, DOCOMO should come up with strategies of
differentiating its product from its competitors so as to stand out among the crowd and
gain the maximum from its customer base.

Supplier Power
More is the competition; more is the buyer and supplier power in any industry. So is true
for Telecom sector too. Supplier puts pressure on firms, when they have more options
in the industry.
These five forces help the company to tackle the competition

Environmental Factors
pest.imgcache

Technological:
The major attraction of Tata Docomo has been the 1p/sec scheme. This innovation has
drastically reduced customers costs and have made them shift base from competitors.
docomo-1-paise-per-second.png
It gives users a chance to try out blackberry services at minimal cost for one week.
blackberry-bold-curve.JPG
Its buddynet plan allows users access to social networking sites without data charges or
GPRS packs. Also, the buddynet plan also connects a person to his closest friends by
this scheme as charges are lower than normal costs.
buddynet.jpg

The do the new policy of the brand lays more stress on research so that there are more
technological innovations which can further the delight the customers and enlarge its
market share.
do.jpg
Tata Docomos Diet postpay plan allows user to make their own plans as per their
convenience. As a result users can now cut up to 18% of their bills flab across Local,
STD and Roaming.
post.jpg

Political:
No political resistance due to the philanthropic image of TATA.
Tata Docomo has to comply with TRAI regulations just like the other telecom service
providers.
No tax incentives or such provision is there for Tata Docomo because there is already a
very stiff competition in this field with every service provider trying to revitalise itself.
In areas where tata has been actively present before, the usage is much more and the
services have been much better.

Economic:
Tata Docomo is still in its transition from introductory stage to growth stage as still there
are lots of questions regarding sustainability of its schemes.
Tata Docomo is growing by leaps and bounds in a large number of states like Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka etc. It has manages to carve out a niche for itself in such a
competitive market which gives us an idea of the shape of things to come. Hence from
the present market scene Tata Docomo will continue to grow in the future.
Since Tata is known for its acquisitions and mergers abroad, if it can manage to strike
out such kind of a deal in near future it can lead to a huge boost to its customer base
and strengthen its market position.

Social:
The schemes like buddynet allows Tata Docomo users to stay more connected at very
cheap prices which has resulted in more interaction in its users.

The services have had a huge impact on the Indian middle class society as the low
prices have been the major factor that have made the aspirers and strikers leave the
likes of airtel, Vodafone etc and shift to Tata Docomo.
The public opinion regarding Tata Docomo is very positive in most of the regions at
present. The major reasons have been the trust people have in Tata and its products.
Also the present schemes are considered to be too good to be true and have managed
to delight the customers.
Though the experts in this field are apprehensive regarding the sustainability of Tata
Docomos schemes, they still have been very impressed by the publicity and marketing
that has been given to its services.

Legal:
The different strategies and policies that Tata docomo has implemented or followed are
in compliance with the Indian laws and legal structure. Everything has been
implemented smoothly and in a structured fashion. There have been no legal issues till
now.

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS FOR TATA

DOCOMO
Competitors for Tata Docomo can be classified into 2 broad categories in the wireless
telephony domain. These are GSM Service Providers Airtel,Vodafone,Idea,BSNL,Uninor,Reliance GSM,Aircel
CDMA Service Providers Reliance, Tata Indicom, Virgin Mobile
The existing market share of GSM and CDMA as given by the TRAI Report,March 2010
is GSM vs CDMA.PNG
In this context, we need to analyse the existing marketing objectives of Tata Docomo as
well as specify the objectives of the Project.

Marketing Objectives
Market Penetration
Market penetration is a growth strategy adopted by a company for increasing the sales
of its current product to current market segment without any change in the product. Here

TATA DoCoMo has launched its GSM product in the market and is competing with the
existing competitors like Airtel, Vodafone, etc for capturing the market.

New Product Development

It is a strategy adopted by a company for growth by offering modified products to current
markets segment. For eg. TATA DoCoMo bringing in new plans in the market, daily basis
plan, pay per second, etc.

Objectives (as a project):

To know the awareness about the brand.
To check quality of brand (i.e., connectivity etc).
To study the unique product feature of brand.
To know the impact of promotional activities on the purchasing behavior of the buyer.
Various features offered by TATA DocoMo are as follows:
1p/sec - Anywhere In India
Savings Alert After every Outgoing call
ISD calls on 1 second charging
Best SMS rates from Tata DOCOMO
Pre activated STD, ISD and National Roaming without rental
Anywhere in India Recharge with Tata DOCOMO
Total Information control
Buddy Net
Daily Plans
Note: This is an indicative and non-exhaustive list of schemes.

MARKETING MIX
What is Marketing Mix?
The marketing mix is a set of controllable tactical marketing tools that work together to
achieve companys objective.
The 4P analysis is what is referred to as Marketing Mix . The 4 Ps include :
Product

Price
Place
Promotion

PRODUCT:
Tata Docomo provides a good range of products as a mobile service provider. It provides
both pre-paid and post-paid services.
It also provides a good network coverage and the voice quality and other essential basic
features are all well in place.

PRICE:
The pricing of the services was of utmost importance in case of Tata Docomo as it was
to compete with already established giants like Vodafone , Airtel , Reliance etc.
Tata Docomo was the first to introduce a per second pulse and the rates of 1
paisa/second for both prepaid and post-paid services.

PLACE:
Tata Docomo could make its presence felt in the market relatively easily because the
Tata conglomerate was already into the communications field with Tata Indicom.
Because of the above reason, the distribution channels were already established.

PROMOTION:
Advertising was a major contributor to the promotion of the brand. A musical youth
oriented ad-campaign gave it a head-start in the marketing and promotion of the product.
The idea of bringing together people and the youth is central to its ad-campaign.
Sales promotion were also helped by the unique offers and services provided by Tata
Docomo. They used many innovative plans and schemes to attract new customers.

PROFITS
Profits for Service providers are mainly reflected in 3 parameters ARPU( average
Revenue Per User), MoU(Minutes of Usage) and Net additions to the subscriber base.
ARPU and MoU figures for wireless providers(GSM vs CDMA)

Service Providers share in net additions during

the month of June-2010
The above bar graph represents the percentage share of each of the major wireless
service providers in the net addition to the subscriber base during the month of June2010.
The above statistics are indicative of the growth of each service provider in the industry
and their changing market shares due to it.
It shows that Tata has a good share in the net additions closely behind the three major
established brands and is above the other players.
Now let us try to compare and contrast the various brands on some indicative
parameters

Product Features Matrix:

Features\Provider
Airtel
Vodafone
Reliance
Aircel
Idea
BSNL
Quality of network
Excellent
Good
Average
Good
Average

Excellent
Variety of Tariff plans
Good
Good
Excellent
Excellent
Average
Average
Price per call
High
Average
Low
Average
Average
Low
Customer service
Good
Good
Poor
Average
Average
Average
Additional services offered
Good
Excellent
Average
Excellent
Average
Poor

Differential advantage comparison:

Ability\Provider
Innovation
Service
Marketing
Finance
Management
Airtel
Good
Good
Good
Good
Excellent
Vodafone
Good
Average
Excellent
Excellent
Good
Reliance
Average
Average
Poor
Excellent
Good

Aircel
Excellent
Good
Good
Average
Average
Idea
Poor
Average
Average
Good
Good
BSNL
Average
Average
Poor
Poor
Average
Tata Docomo
Excellent
Good
Excellent
Excellent
Good
All the above ratings are based on comparative performance indicators relating to
consumer loyalty and perception of the brand and are on a scale of 5 with excellent
being the highest and very poor being the lowest

Expected Future Strategies of Tata Docomo

The following trends have been observed, as per the TRAI Report of March
2010:F:\Acads\Mktg\Project_DoCoMo\Rural vs
urban.JPGF:\Acads\Mktg\Project_DoCoMo\Rural vs urban 2.JPG
This clearly shows that there is a huge potential in the rural market where more than
60% of Indias population lives. This should be the ideal direction where Tata Docomo
should focus its strategies on.

Customer Analysis
Segmentation
The market segment chosen by Tata DOCOMO can be categorised based on different
types of segments as following
Geographic: - It started its services from southern zone of India i.e. Tamilnadu. Slowly
they started spreading their services towards other states of countries via Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh, etc followed by movement towards northern zone of country.
Demographic: - On the basis of demographics, the people in their youth i.e. an age
based targeting has been done by Tata Docomo. Since the very launch of the product,
the target has been the youth clearly evident in their ad campaigns and initial offers like
the buddynet etc that were unique features introduced by Tata Docomo for the first time
in Indian wireless communication industry.
Psychographic This segmentation was done based on lifestyle of customers and was
concentrated on middle and higher end segments. Moreover, with price optimizations
strategies like 1p/sec and lower billing plans, it emphasized its focus on reaching out
customers through mass marketing.
Behavioural The benefit-seeker segments based on quality, service and convenience
was targeted. Quality of network and service was emphasized more based on customer
needs.

Consumer Behaviour
Consumer behaviour is the sum total of the buying behaviour of final customers
individuals and households that buy goods and services for personal consumption. It is
the response of customers to environmental factors
Factors affecting buyer behaviour for the customers of Tata Docomo:

Social status : This affects the average duration of calls made by the customer.
Customers of tata Docomo are varied across all social statuses
Location: Urban users and rural users Penetration is higher in urban areas. Mobile
phone usage is very less in rural areas and hence, users of Docomo are also very less
Age: youth are comparatively more inclined to experiment with the new brand and new
schemes.
Perception: Perception of the brand as one that focuses on innovation to satisfy
customer needs and that provides value for money. This image has been built by various
promotional campaigns and schemes introduced by the company.
Personality: The highest value producing customers are people who build strong human
relationships and people who stay away from their families

TARGETTING:
Tata DoCoMo has based its marketing campaign on targeting certain segments of the
market, some openly and some in a subtle manner. Yet the major approach in the
market targeting has been mass marketing or undifferentiated marketing.
The major focus although seems to be on youth but there is a general focus on trying to
reach out to the masses by reducing prices and venturing into both the GSM and CDMA
markets. According to Mr. Anil Sardana, Managing Director, Tata Teleservices: We have
chosen Tata DoCoMo as our GSM brand. We like the appeal of the DoCoMo brand. It
basically means Do Communication More, and it reaches out to a large audience. With
our CDMA offering, we are already catering to the mass market consumers. With GSM
services, we are eyeing the mid and higher end of the spectrum.

POSITIONING
Tata Docomo has highly emphasised on the value proposition it has offered to its
customer. It is positioned on economy, which can be seen by the revolutionary per
second billing it offered to its customers when it entered the market. It caught its
competitors off guard which led to a lot of vulnerability in the market with their shares
dropping by a significant margin. However due to the high regard for the brand Tata
which already exists in the Indian society due to its philanthropic initiations and the fact
that a lot of Tatas products focus on giving the best of products to its customers at the
lowest possible price, there was not much difficulty in ensuring that the customers
perceived Tata docomo services the way they wanted them to. The recent per second

billing on roaming scheme has further strengthened its positioning as the cheapest
possible alternative in the minds of the customers.The positioning map of tata docomo
with respect to its strongest competitors has been shown below,
Orientation (luxury-performance)X AXIS
PricesY AXIS
Bharti Airtel (24%) Vodafone (17.5%)
Reliance (18%) Tata Docomo (9%)
Bsnl (13%)
Tata has also tried to position its services as being youth oriented. Its buddynet scheme
which gives users a chance to stay connected with friends at a meagre price of 1p/6 sec
and the low prices (which have been a major source of attraction for the teenage and
college going crows) are an example of it.
Hence to position it in the above mentioned ways, the differences which have been
promoted can be categorised in the following way:
Importance: The cheap rates represent the most valued benefit to the users. In India, a
great deal of emphasis is laid on the price of a product. The growing proportion of
seekers in the population has resulted in price being considered the most important
factor in any product.
Distinctive: The buddynet scheme is probably the most innovative feature which can be
offered by a telecom services provider to its users. It is highly beneficial for its users who
want to stay connected at low prices and also enjoy the social networking sites services.
Superior: The fact that Tata Docomo was the first one in the telecom field to charge at
pulse rate ensured that the customers perceived it as a superior service provider in this
context than its competitors.
Communicable: The above mentioned differences have been communicated to the
customers by strong advertising.
Pre-emptive: Though the competitors can copy the above mentioned features but the
fact that Tata DOCOMO was the first one to bring about these features ensures that they
will always have an edge.
Profitability: The buddynet plan requires only DOCOMO users to avail of the 1p/6sec
price. Hence not only is this plan beneficial to users but also increases its customer base
which would ensure profitability in the long run.

Tata docomos value proposition position:

Price
MORE
THE SAME
LESS
MORE
TATA DOCOMO
THE SAME
LESS
Benefits
The fact that besides the pulse rate, the cost has also been reduced has placed Tata
DOCOMO in the more for fewer categories.

Assumptions
Customers will buy our product as we are providing lot flexibility in terms of plans.
Customers will buy our product as we are offering higher value plans.
We can leverage on the brand name of TATA, thus the perception of product is going to
be great and reliable.
Competitors will behave in a rational way.
Gaining profit and growth in the meantime will not lead to increasing price unless
inevitable.
Customers wont be facing any risk in terms of buying and consuming our offerings and
services.

Strategy Product
Customer Targets
Remote places is one area that need to be explored extensively by Tata Docomo as the
number of people living in rural India is very high and the way wireless Teleservice are
reaching these places, these customers will be an attractive avenue. For such planning,
Docomo should strategise the tariff plans and services with cheapest cost which will fulfil
all the basic requirements of rural customers.

Existing Customer Set Retaining the existing customer is one of the most important
things for a firm. This should be done by consistently improving the quality of services
and more innovative product offerings based on different customer segment needs.

Competitor Targets
BSNL To become the largest telecom service provider in South Asia.
Aircel Aircel has announced that it aims to increase its subscriber base to 100 mn by
year 2012. It has ambitious plans of pan-India presence with its GSM network covering
entire nation, by the end of 2010.
Reliance - Reliance values being an international leader in the distribution of wireless
devices and communication in providing customized logistic. To aspire to the highest
global standards of quality, efficiency, operational performance and customer care.
Airtel - By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India and the reason being - Loved by more customers
- Targeted by top talent
- Benchmarked by more businesses
Vodafone - Its vision is to lead the industry in responding to public concerns regarding
mobile phones, masts and health by demonstrating leading edge practices and
encouraging others to follow.

Product/Service Features
Tata docomo is second in CDMA services with a subscriber base of 35.12 million.
It was the first one to charge on seconds basis with a price of 1p/sec.
Recently launched Blackberry curve smartphone 8520 at a price of just under Rs.
15000.
It has the feature of savings alert after every outgoing call or an SMS.
It has the provision of pre-activated ISD at a low price of 11p/sec.
It provides its customers who use post-paid services to customise plans according to
their needs.
STD charges are as low as 1p/sec.
Option to pay via various sources.

The innovative buddynet feature allows users to connect with other buddynet users at
local rates of 1p/6sec and STD at 1p/2sec. It also allows customers to go through social
networking sites like Orkut, Facebook etc.
It has features of daily as well as weekly rental plans. The night talk plan gives 60
minutes of free talk time.

Core Strategy
Value Proposition
The foremost value that was added by Tata Docomo was introduction of 1p/sec billing
plans. This put a huge pressure on the prices and all its competitors had to come up with
plans of slashing their prices. Tata Docomo with its pricing strategy and marketing has
definitely emerged as a natural competitor.
In addition, the advertising campaign of company is very innovative especially with the
Docomo tune that has been appreciated by a large consumer base. The launch of
Docomo was very much known by its theme O e aa oo.... City wide banners in
different states and freshness in terms of market player are few advantages on which
Docomo capitalises in terms of its value propositions. Quality of Service and various
offerings are providing some unique proposition to customers, and attempting to cater
various needs of them and create a bright and vivid image of the product in minds of the
consumers.

Product Positioning
Following is the target of Docomo to create the perception in consumers mind about the
product
High quality of service
Cheapest rates availability especially in Rural segment
3 G compatibility services
Best Roaming deals offerings

Strategy Marketing Communication

Programmes

INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMME
Sales Promotion
Continue with the youth oriented packages and value adds because youth is the largest
market.
Promote it more as a post-paid connection as well apart from the regular pre-paid which
is the more favoured type for the youth.
Differentiate packages like BuddyNet from other similar packages by adding new
innovations.

Advertisement Campaigning
Target typically youth oriented telecasts like commonwealth games telecast, sports
channels, information media etc.
Shift focus to feature-oriented campaigning from a general target audience oriented
marketing.
Use youth icons of India as brand ambassadors to represent the brand as a trendy and
youthful network as well as reliable service provider.

PRICING STRATEGY
Continue with the low price products and add slight modifications and innovations like 1
paise/sec for the first 10 mins and lower call rates for 10-15 mins and so on.
Differentiate the pricing from other competitors as most networks follow the prices to
stay competitive.
Use the Lead strategy in pricing decisions taking care of decent profit margins to retain
consumers confidence as an economic brand.

CHANNEL STRATEGY
Continue to use the distribution channels established by Tata Indicom, Tata Sky and
other Tata telecommunication products
Provide incentives to retailers to promote their brand more than other networks that they
sell.

Promote the brand in the small-store market where the store-keepers sell connections
and SIM cards of various networks by incentivising them with offers and shares of profit.

CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

Maintain good levels of grievance control mechanism in the form of efficient call centre
executives.
Identify profitable customers and provide special schemes and offers to suit their specific
needs.
Provide customised discounts to subscribers that are a major profitability prospect to the
company for specific needs.
Try and find more customers in both rural and urban areas by tapping potential
customers who have the need by making them realize the benefits and economy of the
brand.

Framework
The framework that we shall be using to categorize Tata Docomo and other rivals has
been developed by us and is not a standard framework. Although it follows similar
principles used in standard matrices like BCG etc.
The business cycle can be divided into 4 broad categories:

INFANCY
This is the stage when the business is born and it has been started or introduced into a
market.This period is essentially characterized by following features:
Dependence on parent firm or conglomerate for recognition and identification in the
market.
Trying to establish itself in the market with existing players, finding its own feet in the
market.

Adolescence
This stage can be characterized by the following features:
In this stage a business typically ventures into new fields and are aggressive in their
strategies in both marketing and product development.

Learning from mistakes and take-back of potential faulty decisions and avoiding of
pitfalls.

Adulthood/Maturing Stage
This stage can be characterized by the following features:
The growth of the product is gradual and it has established itself in the market as one of
the major players in the market.
Considered as a revenue generating stable business with relatively less amounts of
changes and new innovations but continuous monitoring of existing profits.
Planning for protection against other threats or new entrants.

Ageing
This stage sees the decline of the product in the market not in absolute terms but in
relative share due to new aggressive entrants.
Gradual loss of market share due to lack of innovation and flexibility in adaptation to
newer market opportunities.
Decline due to neglect of brand/product due to favouring of newer products and
promotions of the parent company.
According to this framework, Tata Docomo is an adolescence stage where as other
major players like Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance lie somewhere between adulthood and
ageing stage. Due to this Tata Docomo has a distinct strategic edge over the competitors
to achieve rapid growth and soon become the largest player in the market.
The following representation of the framework shows the stages and their implications.
Adulthood/ Maturing stage
(Stability and gradual growth)
Infancy
Adolescence
(High Growth/
Aggressive)
AGEING........
(Product fading away

To pave way for new ones) (Decline)

(Creating roots)

Market Survey
On conducting the market survey, we found some information relevant to our market
analysis on Tata Docomo. These surveys are tabulated in following diagrams

Which Service Will you Prefer

Who influences your decision most in choice of your network
Most Important Parameter while choosing a network
Which product will u prefer among CDMA/GSM
What network will u prefer

Contingency Plans
The strategy devised by us has taken certain things for granted in terms of the goals that
the company can achieve and the demand of the product.
There might be some problems in the implementation of the strategies suggested. The
possible problems and their backup plans are as follows:

Obstacle 1
Network coverage might not be an easy expansion as it may need permissions and
grants and a lot of investment.
Solution: An alternative to network enhancement could be the use of the network width
of the tata Indicom services and integrating it with the Tata Docomo network by sharing a
certain amount of bandwidth that can be kept as buffer.
This way there can be a short term solution in case the expansion of the network takes
too long or is to capital intensive to be taken up in the immediate plans of the company.

Obstacle 2
Pricing may not be easy to control as the competitors can also slash their prices to
match the low prices of Tata Docomo.
Solution: Not only pricing its services low but also another suggestion has been made of
being a Lead mover instead of playing the catch up by adopting wait and see approach.

Being the first mover in any kind of competition adds to the competitive edge of the
company. Choosing innovative and minimal prices not only gives the company a good
amount of market share but also gives them goodwill of the customers.