A PROJECT REPORT ON

A Study on Airtel Data Card Sales in Roorkee Region

Submitted in the partial fulfilment of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

(TWO YEAR FULL TIME PROGRAMME)

SUBMITTED BY

Abdul Salam Khan

MBA. (SEM. III)

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF : Mr. Arun Kant Painoli (Faculty Guide) Mr. Kuldeep Verma (External Guide)

Batch 2011-2013

22Km milestone NH 72 ( Roorkee- Dehradun Highway) Roorkee Ph: 9368695585

STUDENTS DECLARATION

I hereby declare that I have undergone training at BHARTI AIRTEL LTD Roorkee, for a period of 7 weeks.

This report is being submitted in partial fulfillment of requirement of Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree course of Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun.

The information and findings in this report are based on the data collected by me. It is my original work. I have neither copied from any report meant for any other degree/diploma course nor have submitted forward of any degree/diploma or similar programme elsewhere.

SUBMITTED BY ABDUL SALAM KHAN MBA 3rd

QUANTUM SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY Mandawar (22 Km Milestone), Roorkee Dehradun Highway (NH 73) ROORKEE 247 662 Contact No.: 0132 2781728, +91 9319909777 Approved by AICTE, Ministry of HRD, Government of India

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the summer training report titled, A STUDY ON DATA CARD SALES OF AIRTEL IN ROORKEE REGION is an original work carried out by Mr. Abdul Salam Khan, a student of MBA 3rd Semester of QUANTUM SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY, ROORKEE, (Batch 2011-2013). This Project report has been submitted in partial fulfillment of award of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.

(SIGNATURE) INTERNAL GUIDE

(SIGNATURE) H.O.D

ACKNOWLEGEMENT

Let me take this opportunity to thank Almighty for giving courage and opportunity to do this Summer Project well and to my parents who provided all their support for completing my work. I sincerely thank to our Co-ordinator Mr. Lalit Sharma for providing me all the facilities for the successful completion of this project. I also express my sincere thanks to my internal guide Mr. Arun Kant Painoli for giving me valuable guidance for framing this project. I express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Gajender, Zonal Sales Manager (Roorkee), Bharti Airtel Ltd, Roorkee for granting me permission and guiding me to do the Summer Project. In addition, I express my thanks to Mr. Kuldeep Verma, Area Sales Manager (Territory Sales Manager), Bharti Airtel Ltd, Roorkee for guiding me all the way of my project. I express my gratitude for the valuable help extended to me by Distributor and all the staff there for providing the required information to this study. I express my wholehearted thanks to all the teaching staffs and friends whose cooperation and support helped me a lot to reach a fruitful stage.

Date: Place:

ABDUL SALAM KHAN MBA 3rdsem

Table of Contents

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6. 7.

Certificate of Faculty Guide Certificate from Organization Acknowledgement Contents Executive Summary Objectives of study About Company About Topic Research Methodology a) Sample size b) Sample unit/profile c) Method of Sampling d) Location e) Parameters of Study f) Method of data collection g) Tools h) Limitations Analysis & findings Recommendations Conclusions Bibliography

I II III

IV

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This project is made on the title DATA CARD SALES OF AIRTEL IN ROORKEE MARKET. The purpose of this project is to know about the use and sales of mobile internet and the need of sales promotional activities in Roorkee, taking it as a sample and to know, what are the promotional activities airtel has to follow to increase the sale.

My study is conducted on data sales of airtel in Roorkee region. The study was conducted using the data collected by a market survey in Roorkee region. Questionnaire was prepared and administrated by taking a sample of 100 retailers of airtel in areas of Roorkee. The research targets the retailers and distributors who deal into telecom service and the time period of the survey is from June to August 2012. Now a days large competition and reduced call charges resulted in the decrease of profit in that section, so companies are targeting the value added services like gprs to compensate with that. The study helps to understand the need for sales promotion of airtel gprs products and describe the competition in the telecom industry for airtel data cards.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Primary research objective:To study and interpret the sales and sales promotion schemes running by airtel, for data sales in Roorkee and its nearby areas and to know that how the consumers of airtel gprs can be retained or maximized.

Secondary research objective:-

Creating awareness about airtel data cards to retailers. To study about the sales trend of airtel data cards in Roorkee market. Analyzing the problem (if any) faced by airtel in Roorkee market about its data sales. Collecting feedback from retailers about the data cards of airtel. Comparing airtels product with others of the same category. Motivating the retailers to push data cards Analyzing which operator is more beneficial to customers and retailers. To find out the places and situations where promotion should be made. To study about the effectiveness of the distribution channels and administrative set up. To collect valuable opinions from retailers and distributors, about how to increase sales.

INDUSTRY PROFILE

The Indian telecommunications industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. The industry has witnessed consistent growth during the last year on the back of rollout of newer circles by operators, successful auction of third-generation (3G) and broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, network rollout in semi-rural areas and increased focus on the value added services(VAS) market.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the number of telephone subscriber base in the country reached 987.12 million as on October 31, 2010, an increase of 3.61 per cent from 723.28 million in September 2011. With this the overall teledensity (telephones per 100 people) has touched 62.51. The wireless subscriber base has increased to706.69 million at the end of October 2011 from 687.71 million in September 2010, registering a growth of 2.76 per cent.

Meanwhile, Indian Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) telecom operators added 23.45 million new subscribers in November 2011, taking the all-India GSM cellular subscriber base to 526.18 million, according to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). The GSM subscriber base stood at 508.72 million at the end of October 2011.

Value-Added Services (VAS) Market

Mobile value added services (VAS) include text or SMS, menu-based services, downloading of music or ring tones, mobile TV, videos and sophisticated m-commerce applications. As per a report, India Telecom 2010 released by KPMG in December 2011, currently, the VAS market is worth US$ 2.45 billion-US$ 2.67 billion, which is around 10 per cent of the total revenue of the wireless industry. The share of VAS in wireless revenue is likely to increase to 12-13 percent by 2012, on the back of increased operator focus on VAS due to continuous fall in voice tariffs,increasing penetration of feature rich handsets, availability of vernacular content and increased user adoption of VAS applications.

Major Investments
The booming domestic telecom market has been attracting huge amounts of investment which is likely to accelerate with the entry of new players and launch of new services. According to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the telecommunications sector which includes radio paging, mobile services and basic telephone services attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) worth US$ 1,062 million during April-October 2011-12. The cumulative flow of FDI in the sector during April 2000 and October 2011 is US$ 9,993 million.

As per an industry report the telecom industry witnessed merger and acquisition (M&A) deals worth US$ 16.60 billion during April-December 2011, which represented 28.26 per cent of the total valuation of the deals across all the sectors during the period analysed. There were 10 inbound, outbound and domestic M&A deals in the telecom sector during the first nine months of the current fiscal. The biggest M&A deal in the sector was made by telecommunications service provider Bharti Airtel through the acquisition of Zain s African mobile services operations in 15 countries. The deal involved a transaction of US$ 10.7 billion. In another deal,Bharti Airtel acquired 100 percent stake of Telecom Seychelles Ltd for US$ 62 million.

Other major M&A deals included the acquisition of 95 per cent stake in Infotel Broadband for US$ 1,032.26 million by Reliance Industries and 26 per cent stake of US-based mobile chipmaker Qualcomms Indian arm for US$ 57.72 million by India's Tulip Telecom and Global Holding. Further, India-based GTL Infrastructure Ltd has bought 17,500 telecom towers of Aircel Ltd. for US$ 1,702.95 million.

Going Global
In March 2011, Bharti Airtel bought the African operations of Kuwait-based Zain Telecom for US$ 10.7 billion, driving the Indian player into the league of top ten telecom players globally.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has liberalised the investment norms for Indian telecom companies by allowing them to invest in international submarine cable consortia through the automatic route. In April 2011, RBI issued a notification stating "As a measure of further liberalisation, it has now been decided... to allow Indian companies to participate in a consortium with other international operators to construct and maintain submarine cable systems on co-ownership basis under the automatic route." The notification further added, "Accordingly, banks may allow remittances by Indian companies for overseas direct investment."

Tele-medicine
With increase in cell phone users to around 700 million and introduction of 3G services soon in the country, remote treatment and diagnosis of patients through mobile phones would become a reality in the near future. In fact, a few telecom operators and valueadded service developers are planning to use mobile phones for diagnostic and treatment support, remote disease monitoring, health awareness and communication. The Gujarat health department plans to connect all villages through its telemedicine network.The state government has so far expanded the reach of telemedicine services from 53 villages in 2008 to 453, and hopes to cross 500 villages soon. Jay Narayan Vyas, state health minister, said "First thing we plan to do is to start the 104 service over the phone. People can call up and talk to paramedics in call centers who can suggest the primary action to be taken in case of any health emergency. Also, they would be able to suggest generic and over the counter drugs."

3G Services
The Department of Telecom has taken the pioneering decision of launching of 3G services by BSNL and MTNL and initiation of process for auction of spectrum for 3G services to private operators. Allocation of spectrum for 3G and BWA services was done through a controlled simultaneous, ascending e-auction process. All the 71 blocks that were put up for auction across the 22 service areas in the country were sold, leaving no unsold lots. Auction for 3G spectrum ended on May 19, 2011 after 183 rounds of intense bidding over a span of 34 days. The Government is expected to morph revenue worthUS$ 14.6 billion. All the available slots across 22 circles have been sold to seven differentoperators. A pan-India bid for third generation spectrum stood at US$ 3.6 billion. The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communication bagged the highest number of 13 circles at a cost of US$ 1.9 billion, followed by Bharti Airtel in 12, Idea in 11 and Vodafone and the Tata s in 9 circles each, according to the Department of Telecommunications. MTNL and BSNL will have to pay US$1.42 billion and US$ 2.2 billion respectively. 3G spectra have already been allotted to successful bidders for commercial use on September 1, 2011 as per the timelines indicated in the Notice Inviting Application (NIA) and in the Letter of Intent issued after the bid amounts were deposited. The 3G spectrum has been allotted to Airtel, Aircel, Vodafone, S Tel, Reliance, Idea Cellular and Tata Cellular Services who won the bids through the electronic auction spread over a period of 34 days in respect of 3G and 16 days inrespect of BWA. The BWA spectra have also been assigned to the successful bidders which are Aircel, Augere, Tikona, Qualcomm, Infotel and Bharti. 3G & BWA spectrum would enable users to have value added services like video streaming, mobile internet access, higher & faster data downloads.

Manufacturing
The Indian telecom industry manufactures a vast range of telecom equipments using state-of-the-art technology. As per a press release by the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, the production of telecom equipments in value terms is expected to increase from US$ 11.87 billion during 2009-10 to US$ 12.87 billion in 2011-2012. Favourable factors such as policy moves taken by the Government, incentives offered, large talent pool in R&D and low labour cost can provide an impetus to the industry. Exports increased from US$ 89.24 million in 2002-03 to US$ 3 billion in 2010-11 accounting for 26 per cent of the total equipment produced in the countryand it is expected to increase to US$ 3.33 billion in 2011-12. Meanwhile, telecom regulator TRAI has released a consultation paper on Encouraging Telecom Equipment Manufacturing in India seeking views of stakeholders for promoting research and development (R&D) and manufacturing of telecom equipment in the country. The consultation paper issued on December 28, 2011 aims at discussing, debating and finalizing measures for promotion of R&D and creation of intellectual property as well as manufacture of telecom equipment and electronic components in India. Further, the Indian mobile handsets market continued to grow in the third quarter 2011 as well to record a quarter-on-quarter growth of 3.6 per cent to touch 40.08 million units in the quarter,according to market intelligence firm IDCs India Quarterly Mobile Handsets Tracker. The year 2011 is expected to end with total mobile handset sales of 155.9 million units.

Rural Telephony
The rural Telephone connections have gone up from 3.6 million in 1999 to 12.3 million in March2004 and further to 272.77 million in March 2012. Their share in the total telephones has constantly increased from around 14 per cent in 2005 to 32.75 per cent at the end of October 2011. The rural subscribers have grown to 243.04 million at the end of October 2011. The wireless connections have contributed substantially to total rural telephone connections; it stands at 233.95 million in October 2011. During 2011-12, the growth rate of rural telephones was 21.05 per cent as against 18.69 per cent of urban telephones.The private sector has contributed to the growth of rural telephones as it provided about 84.27 per cent of rural telephones during October 2011.The government plans to connect all revenue villages in India either through landline, mobile or WLL by February 2012. We have already connected about 96 per cent of the revenue villages. The remaining 25,000 villages will have connectivity by February 2012, stated Mr Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications and IT. Further, the Government, under Bharat Nirman II Programme, has envisaged providing broadband coverage to all 250,000 Gram Panchayats by 2013.

Policy Initiatives
The government plans to formulate a comprehensive National Telecom Policy 2011 including the recognition of Telecom as infrastructure and as an essential service, encouraging Green Telecom, steps to accelerate migration from IPv4 to IPv6 at the earliest, release of IPv6standards by Telecom Engineering Centre for implementation in the country, etc., as per a press release by the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology. Further, the government plans to take concrete steps towards finalisation of National Broadband Plan including strategy for implementation and initiation of steps for roll out of optical fiber. The government has taken many proactive initiatives to facilitate the rapid growth of the Indian telecom industry. In the area of telecom equipment manufacturing and provision of IT-enabled services, 100 percent FDI is permitted No cap on the number of access providers in any service area. In 2008,122 new Unified Access Service (UAS) licenses were granted to 17 companies in 22 services areas of the country .Revised subscriber based criteria for allocation of Global System of Mobile Communication(GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) spectra were issued in January 2008 .To provide infrastructure support for mobile services a scheme has been launched to provide support for setting up and managing 7,436 infrastructure sites spread over 500 districts in 27states. As on December 31, 2010, about 6,956 towers had been set up under the scheme.

The Road Ahead

According to a report published by Gartner Inc in June 2009, the total mobile services revenue in India is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.5 per cent from2009-2013 to exceed US$ 30 billion. The India mobile subscriber base is set to exceed 771million connections by 2013, growing at a CAGR of 14.3 per cent in the same period from 452million in 2009. This growth is poised to continue through the forecast period, and India is expected to remain the world's second largest wireless market after China in terms of mobile connections."The Indian mobile industry has now moved out of its hyper growth mode, but it will continue to grow at double-digit rates for next three years as operators focus on rural parts of the country, "said Madhusudan Gupta, senior research analyst at Gartner. "Growth will also be triggered by increased adoption of value-added services, which are relevant to both rural and urban markets."Mobile market penetration is projected to increase from 38.7 per cent in 2009 to 63.5 per cent in2013, according to Gartner. The much-awaited mobile number portability was launched on November 25, 2011 in Haryana and is available to more than 700 million subscribers across the country. As continued efforts of the Government to increase competition in the market and to provide wider choice to customer, Mobile Number Portability will be an important step.

COMPANY PROFILE

Bharti Airtel Limited usually referred to simply as " airtel", is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 19 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. It operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or 3G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world with over 207.8million subscribers across 19 countries at the end of 2011. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with over 152.5 million subscribers at the end of 2011. Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom. Airtel also offers fixed line services and broadband services. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve this Cisco Gold Certification. To earn Gold Certification, Bharti Airtel had to meet rigorous standards for networking competency, service, support and customer satisfaction set forth by Cisco. The company also provides land-line telephone services and broadband Internet access (DSL) in over 96 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.

It is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource everything except marketing and sales and finance. Its network (base stations, microwave links, etc.) is maintained by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei business support by IBM and transmission towers by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India). Ericsson agreed for the first time, to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid up front. This enabled the company to provide pan-India phone call rates of Rs. 1/minute (U$0.02/minute). Call rates have come down much further like second pulse plans. During the last financial year [2010-11], Bharti has roped in a strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the Tele media Business.

The company is structured into four strategic business units - Mobile, Tele-media, Enterprise and Digital TV. The Tele media business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone services in 89Indian cities. The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home TV services across India. The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to telecoms.

HISTORY
Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Sunil Mittal was into an agreement with Germany's Siemens to manufacture the company's push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Sunil Bharti Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and his company became the first in India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. This first-mover advantage allowed Sunil Mittal to expand his manufacturing capacity elsewhere in the telecommunications market. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Sunil Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Sunil Mittal incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on Mumbai Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and Nicobar. In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010, Airtel began operating in Bangladesh and 16 African countries. Today, Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India and fifth largest in the world.

Signature tune
The signature tune of Airtel is composed by Indian musician A. R. Rahman. The tune became hugely popular and is the world's most downloaded mobile music with over 150 million downloads. A new version of the song was released on 18 November 2010, as part of the rebranding of the company. This version too was composed by Rahman himself. Rebranding On 18 November 2010, Airtel rebranded itself in India in the first phase of a global rebranding strategy. The company unveiled a new logo with 'airtel' written in lower case. Designed by London-based brand agency, Brand Union, the new logo is the letter 'a' in lowercase, with 'airtel' written in lowercase under the logo. On November 23, 2010, Airtel's Africa operations were rebranded to 'airtel'. Sri Lanka followed on November 28, 2010 and on December 20, 2010, Warid Telecom rebranded to 'airtel' in Bangladesh.

logo used by Airtel till 2010 November

On 18 November, 2010, Bharti Airtel announced a re-branding campaign wherein, they would be referred as airtel, with a new logo.

MNP (Mobile Number portability)

Mobile number portability service is also rendered by airtel. In this facility, a customer can change his network operator without changing the number.

AN OVERALL DESCRIPTION ABOUT AIRTEL

business description

Provides GSM mobile services in all the 22 telecom circles in India, Srilanka, Bangladesh and now in 16 Countries of Africa. Provides telemedia services (fixed line and broadband services through DSL) in 88 cities in India. We also offer suite of Enterprise solutions, DTH and IPTV Services July 07, 1995, as a Public Limited Company

Established

proportionate revenue

Rs. 186,560 million (ended December 31, 2011-Audited) Rs. 143,053 million ( ended December 31, 2010-Audited) As per IFRS Accounts

proportionate EBITDA

Rs. 56,816 million ( ended December 31, 2011 - Audited) Rs. 59,823 million ( ended December 31, 2010 - Audited) As per IFRS Accounts

shares in issue

3,797,530,096 as at December 31, 2011

Listings

The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE)

MARKET CAPITALISATION

customer base

India: 200,485,000 GSM mobile and 6,257,000 Telemedia Customers. (status as on December 31, 2011)

operational network

Provides GSM mobile services in all the 22 telecom circles in India, Srilanka, Bangladesh and now in 16 Countries of Africa. Provides telemedia services (fixed line) in 88 cities in India. Provides an integrated suite of Enterprise solutions, in addition to providing long distance connectivity both Nationally and Internationally. Also offer DTH and IPTV Services. .

registered office

Bharti Airtel Limited (A bharti Enterprise) bharti Crescent, 1 Nelson Mandela Road, VasantKunj Phase II New Delhi - 110 070 Tel. No.: +91 11 4666 6100 Fax No.: +91 11 4666 6411

CHALLENGE/OPPORTUNITY
Bharti Airtel was faced with the challenge of profitably serving the rural areas of India. It is an extremely daunting task due to a variety of factors: rural users' low incomes, a widely dispersed population, and a less than ideal public infrastructure (i.e., roads, electricity, etc.). Specifically, Bharti Airtel had to address the following conditions:

The incomes of Indian rural residents are significantly lower than urban residents. The average revenue per user (ARPU) for rural residents was typically less than US$2 per month.

Besides deploying a scalable network, Bharti Airtel also needed to establish a costeffective marketing, sales, and distribution channel to provide service promotion and customer support. Counter to these challenges were the significant opportunity that the Indian rural market represented and Bharti Airtel's unique ability to address it.

The future growth of the Indian mobile market is expected to be driven by rural customers, which account for about 70 percent of the country's total population (1.1 billion people) with a teledensity of only 18.5 percent as of September 2009. Indian urban mobile penetration is already over 100 percent.

Rural dwellers place a high value on communications. Contacting urban/overseas relatives and friends often requires a long and sometimes treacherous trip to the nearest town to reach a payphone.

Various studies (e.g., fishermen in the Indian state of Kerala and grain producers in Niger) have shown that increased mobile service penetration in rural areas could have tremendous socio-economic benefits for the rural population.

With its strong presence in the relatively untapped rural market (over 27 percent market share as of September 2009), Bharti Airtel is well-placed to continue growth with its focus on under-penetrated Indian regions with new revenue streams such 3G-enabled data services and pay-TV

ALLIANCES/PARTNERSHIP

To extend its reach in India's rural markets, Bharti Airtel is focusing on innovative initiatives, including efficient infrastructure deployments, expanding its distribution network via partnerships, and customized content and tariffs. Bharti Airtel has launched micro financing agreements in collaboration with Nokia and SKS

Micro-finance. Under these partnerships, Bharti provides subsidized tariffs and subscriber identity module (SIM) cards to rural users, Nokia provides subsidized handsets, and SKS offers micro financing.

To expand coverage into rural regions, Bharti Airtel is sharing passive infrastructure services with Vodafone (42 percent ownership) and Idea (16 percent ownership) through its joint venture, Indus Towers. Sharing the infrastructure cost and usage between multiple operators has helped Bharti Airtel to reduce its operating and capital expenses.

Bharti Airtel also formed a joint venture with the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO). Its joint venture, IFFCO Kisan Sanchar, uses IFFCO's wide rural presence (present in 80 percent of Indian villages) and appeal among the rural agricultural community to market and distribute Bharti's products.

IFFCO Kisan Sanchar provides subsidized handsets and connections at competitive rates in rural areas. It also helps Bharti Airtel to identify and acquire suitable locations for deploying its cell sites. In addition, it offers tailored services including voice-based updates on crop prices, farming techniques, rural health initiatives, and "help line" services.

STRATEGY

Bharti Airtel first studies the commercial viability of a rural community (and the surrounding villages) based on parameters such as source of livelihood, average income, and involvement infrequent commercial transactions or travels. The company has developed a prioritized deployment strategy based on the specified criteria. Qualifying villages are first to receive a base station, which also caters to nearby communities. To help ensure efficient usage and profitability for each of these base stations, Bharti Airtel tracks the revenue generated per base station(instead of ARPU, which is considered less relevant in a rural context).

The following best practices have also been established: Bharti Airtel has adopted the strategy of direct communications to market its value proposition to rural customers. To make its services accessible, the company provides all of its marketing content in local languages. Vans are used to cover rural areas with staff who educate locals about mobile services and usage.

The company has developed a shared phone service called Public Call Offices (PCOs) in rural regions to increase awareness about its brand and services.

Bharti Airtel Service Centers have been set up in villages to address customer queries and complaints as well as act as sales and distribution points. These centers employ local people and offer sales and customer services using local dialects.

Bharti Airtel has already established over 18,000 service centers in rural India, covering over 400languages and local dialects. The company plans to expand this network.

Success Factors/Metrics/Monetization

Bharti Airtel does not provide separate rural key performance indicators, but the following results have been publicly announced:

As of April 2011, Bharti Airtel's network covered 492,000 villages in India, which, together with its urban services, accounted for coverage of approximately 84 percent of India's total population.

As of March 31, 2011, Bharti Airtel had added 13 million new customers to reach a total of 128million connections. Ovum estimates that rural users accounted for 60 percent of the company's net subscriber adds in that quarter.

Despite Bharti Airtel's overall ARPU of just under $5, its mobile division's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin was approximately 30 percent.

Environment, health and safety

Suppliers dealing with Bharti Airtel shall comply and adhere to all laws, regulations and guidelines on environment, health and safety. Suppliers will ensure that all new service offerings as well as new product designs are in compliance with the relevant environmental regulation and guidelines, at the time of implementation at Bharti Airtel.

Vision

By 2015 airtel will be the most loved brand, enriching the lives of millions. Enriching lives means putting the customer at the heart of everything we do. We will meet their needs based on our deep understanding of their ambitions, wherever they are. By having this focus we will enrich our own lives and those of our other key stakeholders. Only then will we be thought of as exciting, innovation, on their side and a truly world class company."

Mission

Refine your process, strive for dominance and build a brand

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

As an outcome of a restructuring exercise conducted within the company; a new integrated organizational structure has emerged; with realigned roles, responsibilities and reporting relationships of bhartis key team players. With effect from March 01, 2006,this unified management structure of 'One airtel' will enable continued improvement in the delivery of the Groups strategic vision.

CORPOATE GOVERNANCE

Integrity and Ethics

The partners will conduct all its dealings in a very ethical manner and with the highest business standards.

All partners with a business relationship with Bharti Airtel shall comply with the highest level of integrity and ethical practices.

The partners will provide all possible assistance to Bharti Airtel in order to investigate any possible instances of unethical behavior or business conduct violations by its employee. Partner will disclose forthwith any breach of these provisions that comes to their knowledge to allow for timely action in their prevention and detection.

Partners will adopt appropriate processes to prevent offering any illegal gratification in the form of bribes or kickbacks either in cash or in kind in the course of all dealings with us. Any instances of such violations will be viewed in a serious manner and Bharti Airtel reserves the right to take all appropriate actions or remedies as may be required under the circumstances.

All partners are required to confirm their compliance to ethical dealings on an annual basis by signing a certificate to this effect as per Bharti Airtel's standard annual certificate

Any ethical or integrity issues observed or encountered while dealing with Bharti Airtel shall be bought to the notice of Bharti Airtels senior management or the Head of Internal Audit immediately.

THEORATICAL PRESENTATION OF THE TOPIC

This project is made on the title A STUDY ON DATA CARD SALES OF AIRTEL IN ROORKEE MARKET.

The purpose of this project is to know about the use and sales of mobile internet and the need of sales promotional activities in Roorkee, taking it as a sample and to know, what are the promotional activities Airtel has to follow to increase the sale. In field of marketing Airtel conducts many kind of survey time to time for promotion awareness.

This project conducted to make an understanding of the market penetration of airtel gprs in the market, by a study on the trend of data sales. And also the position of airtels data sales is estimated by a comparative study with the movement of data cards in the market. The aim of the project is to know whether the sale is fair enough for the company, and if it is not so we have to make solutions for the problem areas.

In modern era market customers are considered as kings. The only way for making profit in todays market is to make loyal customers. By advertising and all airtel has a good brand name, the rebranding campaign airtel made recently is also very impressive. However, competition is severe in a growing market like India and especially in Uttarakhand. Roorkee market is growing rapidly and network providers are competing among themselves to achieve a good position in the market. Airtel has a good subscriber base in Uttarakhand, What the company has to do is to provide good services to customers, thereby making a market of their own. Sales promotion is the only way through which they can increase the data sales in rural market.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH DESIGN
The above research design is selected to describe the competition in the Roorkee region for airtel data cards sales.

The Research Design followed to obtain the research objective is Descriptive Research Design.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is a description explanation and justification of various methods for conducting research.

SAMPLING
The sampling plan for the study decides the work area that is the population, which has to be surveyed. A Brief idea about the sampling for this research consisting of its different parameters is given below:

Sample Size:
In this study sample size is of 100 people.

Sample unit:
As this work is done to study the sales and the need for sales promotion of Airtel GPRS products, the sample are the retailers and distributers of Airtel in Roorkee.

METHOD OF SAMPLING USED IN THE STUDY

Simple random sampling:

This type of sampling also known as chance sampling or probability sampling. Where each and every item in population has an equal chance of inclusion in this sample and each one of the possible sample, in case of finite universe, has the sample probability of being selected.

The retailers from whom the data has collected are selected using this sampling technique.

Scaling Techniques

There is 1 distributor and about 250 retailers in Roorkee region. It is difficult to collect feedback from all these people. So the distributors are ranked with respect to their performances. The top five and bottom five are selected in order to analyze about both problem areas and high performing areas. Among these top five and bottom five ten retailers are selected in random.

Target / Achievement = Performance

Location:
The research was conducted in Roorkee region.

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

This study is done using the following primary and secondary data:

Primary Data:
The primary data was collected by a market survey in Roorkee. Questionnaire was prepared and administrated by taking a sample of 100 retailers and distributers of airtel in Roorkee.

Direct interview with retailers.

Secondary Data:
The secondary data comprises of various Books, published magazines and Wikipedia are included in the study. Data was also collected from the company's records and from the websites "www.Airtel.co.in"'.

Tools used for research:

Questionnaire was used in the research to collect the primary data.

ANALYSIS & FINDINGS

1. Increased number of retailers working for airtel.

0 - 1 year 13

1-3 year 30 Table No. 1

3-5 year 17

<5 year 40

Total No. of people - 100

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0 - 1 year 1-3 year 3-5 year <5 year

INTERPRETATION

Majority of the retailers are working in Airtel for more than five years. They have a sound knowledge about the market. The retailers who were working for one three years are also more; it shows that more people are interested in the telecommunication business. The other two categories are comparatively low.

2. Rate of growth of airtels data cards.

Slow 19

Steady 27 Table No. 2

Rapid 54

Total No. of people - 100

60 40 20 0 slow steady rapid

INTERPRETATION

Most of the retailers have a very good opinion about the growth of Airtels data sales. The above graph shows that the sales of data cards are rapid in the market and has a booming chance to explore the market.

3. Customers opinion about airtels gprs package.

very good 47

good 41

neither/nor 10 Table No. 3

bad 2

very bad 0

Total No. of people - 100

bad neither/nor good very good 3 0 20 40 60

INTERPRETATION

Most of the retailers have a very good opinion about Airtel gprs. Some of them say It is quite ok. Only two retailers in the sample have an opinion that the gprs provided by the Airtel is bad.

4. Other competitor of Airtel

idea 23

Docomo 17

aircel 41 Table No. 4

vodafone Other 18 1

Total No. of people

60 40 20 0 idea docomo aircel

vodafone

other

INTERPRETATION

From the data we get an idea that Aircel in the markethas developed as a strong competitor of Airtel in data sales. Next is Idea which has the largest customer base in market. Because of its customer, base and high network in remote areas many people are likely to purchase idea products. Third is Vodafone, it provide the fastest browsing speed. It has fair network in almost all places. The main drawback of Vodafone is the post usage charges are not well informed. Next to Vodafone is docomo. They are also giving fair competition for Airtel products in market. They are also following the strategy of product versatility. The only name head in others is uninor.

5. Attributes affecting the purchase decision.

brand name 0

price 2

quality

availability

product features 50

30 18 Table No. 5

Total No. of people - 100

Chart Title
brand name price quality 0% 2% 50% 30% 18% availabilty product features

INTERPRETATION

The study shows that brand name have little to do with data sales. None of the retailers have an opinion that brand name increases the sale in telecom industry. A few of the retailers have an opinion that lowering price than competitors will give an advantage over competitors. Airtel provides good quality data. Many of the retailers suggest that quality of data provided is the deciding factor of customer purchase. Availability is also considered as a factor of customer purchase. Airtels products have a good availability as Airtel has a good supplier chain. 50% of the retailers have an opinion that product features is the main influencing factor of purchase.

6. Quality of data provided by airtel.

excellent 45

good 34

satisfactory

bad

very bad 0

18 3 Table No. 6

Total No. of people - 100

excellent good satisfactory 0% 0% 3% 18% 0% bad very bad

45%

34%

INTERPRETATION

Most of the retailers about 45% have a very good opinion about the quality of data provided by the Airtel. About 34% says that it is good and 18% is quite satisfied. Only 3% has a bad opinion about Airtel data quality.

7. Affect of price, on sales of data cards?

yes

no

82

18 Table No. 7

Total No. of people 100

no

18

yes

82

INTERPRETATION
Majority of retailers have an opinion that the prices of the data cards affect the data sales. As in the above chart it is clearly shown that 82% of people say that price of the data cards affect the data sales and only 18% are against it.

8. Ratio of the retailers who lost prospective customers because of non availability of stock at counter.

yes

No

16

84 Table No. 8

Total No. of people - 100

no

yes

20

40

60

80

100

INTERPRETATION
About 84% of the retailers under the research do not face a situation of missing customers because of stock out.

16% of the retailers said that they lose customers because of stock out.

A reason for this situation arises because some retailers will not spend enough money to buy a reserve stock.

9. Most effective network providers according to the retailers.

Airtel 62

idea 5

docomo 18

Vodafone Aircel 2

other 2

11 Table No. 9

Total No. of people - 100

80 60 40 20 0 airtel idea docomo 5 18 11 2 vodofone aircel 2 other 62

INTERPRETATION

In the above data Airtel is the most beneficial provider according to the retailers; about 62% of the sample has this opinion.

Docomo and Vodafone are the next; they are also beneficial to retailers that us 18% and 11% respectively. Aircel, Idea, and others are the least ones. May be that is because of the low rate of sales.

10.

Satisfaction level of a retailer in all respect.

highly satisfied 43%

moderately satisfied 25%

neither/nor

dissatisfied highly dissatisfied 7% 11%

14% Table No. 10

Total No. of people - 100

highly dissatisfied 11% dissatisfied 7% moderately highly highly neither/nor dissatisfied satisfied dissatisfied satisfied 0% 0% highly satisfied 43% neither/nor 14%

moderately satisfied 25%

INTERPRETATION
Most of the retailers are either satisfied or highly satisfied with the administrative system of the company. 14% of retailers are having no opinion about this. However, the other two people who are dissatisfied constitute of about 7%. The problem due to claims, irresponsible behavior of customer care is all reasons for their dissatisfaction.

11.

Is there any affect on sales due to promotional activities?

yes 96 no 4 Table No. 11

Total No. of People - 100

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 yes 4 no 96

INTERPRETATION

The data presented in the above table and graph indicates the majority of the people say that there is a difference can occur in sales due to promotional activities as it was indicated by 96% people in the sample.

Only 4% people indicated that no difference can occur in sale due to promotional activities.

12.

Is the network problem, affects data sales?

yes 37 No 63 Table No. - 12

Total no. of people - 100

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 yes no

INTERPRETATION

Most of the retailers say that there is no network problem. And it is not a factor for data sales. Airtel has network towers all over world and is providing good service. Even a feeble signal of Airtel gives a fair service. As in the above chart it is clearly shown that only 37% of people say that there is a network problem which affects data sales and rest 67% says that there is no network problem.

13. Is there any increase in data sales during seasons and events?
yes 35 no 65 Table No. 13

Total No. of people - 100

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 yes no 35 65

INTERPRETATION

Most of the retailers say that here is no influence of seasons and events on data sales. They had not experienced any more movement of data cards on seasons. However about 35% of retailers notice more sales on events like games, cricket, seasons like Christmas and in vacation period.

14.

Opinion of retailers about increasing data sales of airtel.

providing high product network versatility 10 65

Promotional activities

administrative efficiency 0

25 Table No. 14

Total No of People 100

0% 25% 0% providing high network product versatility promotional activities administrative efficiency 10%

65%

INTERPRETATION

The above chart shows that the retailers of Airtel consider product versatility as the main factor for increasing sales. Promotion is also a great deal to be debated. Now Airtel according to its rebranding had made a lot of publicity and pro motional activities. According to the above data administrative efficiency has nothing to do with sales.

FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS

FINDINGS
In the market, all the network providers are facing problem in sale. Among them airtel is the one which is an exception, having more sales than all others do. However, airtel does not manage to reach its target for gprs. The studies show that airtel has a good customer base in Roorkee. So many retailers are working with airtel for long years and new retailers are coming forward to take distribution of airtel. The data sales of airtel are growing rapidly. Youngsters and students are the main customers of airtel gprs.

Aircel is making a strong competition to airtel and is growing rapidly in the Roorkee, idea and DoCoMo come the next. And retailers have an opinion that DoCoMo will fore come idea and will become a threat to airtel gprs. In many places, the connectivity is very poor Product features and quality is the main deciding factor of customer purchase. Customers are very much satisfied with the quality of data provided by airtel. Price has influence in sales. 90% of retailers do not have a problem of shortage of stock. Airtel is the most beneficial provider for retailers.

Most of the retailers have an opinion that product versatility is the way to increase the data sales. In many places, the gprs products are not promoted. Many retailers do not know about this product even. In many places, airtel has a severe network problem. Seasonal increase of data sales is not noted commonly. Customers are aware of the gprs products of most of the operators.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Should provide good network coverage in places where problem of network coverage exists. Change the product constructs i.e. increase browsing and downloading speed.

When over usage occurs, and in peak hour network gets jammed in many places avoid these problems. Settle the claims of the retailers and give them good support.

Retailers are depressed about airtels claim settlement system. They say that operators like Vodafone settle the claim of a month within the date of ten of the next month. Motivated sales force is an asset for a firm. Make an advertising campaign especially for airtel gprs. Paste posters and tariff details in retail outlets, these are absent in many outlets. Promote sales in potentially important places. Make instant activation of gprs in easy. Increase validity of gprs cards. Demo dongles should be provided to the retailer, with free data usage.

TSM should visit the market on the regular basis and should pick the retailers phone.

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

Everything in this world is made to utilize properly but it should be reach at the proper person or to the proper utilized areas. Otherwise, the value added to those things became in vain. Thus, promotion plays a very important role in achieving the objectives of a company. Undoubtedly, value utility is created by the manufacture of product or service but time and place utilities are created by marketing role. The various findings and befitting recommendations have been made to increase the market share of each gprs product of airtel thereby increasing the market share of airtel as a whole. Various facts and data have been enclosed for better perusal and various graphs have been provided for better comprehension. Sales Promotion techniques yield results that many other marketing communication elements cannot achieve. Roorkee market has high potential due to youth base market Bharti has a firm commitment to growth and aims to differentiate itself in India's highly competitive communications environment by ensuring customer delight through personalized Customer service. The Company is taking every bit of effort to penetrate into the rural area and above analysis shows how it is trying its level best to achieve this. All the efforts are directed towards this.

LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

The present study is subjected to following limitations.

Method of data collection was through personal interview and therefore bias becomes a major limitation. Due to the time constraints all the customers were not covered.

The sample was restricted to 100 retailers, which may restrict the scope and completion of study.

The scope of study is restricted only in Roorkee and concluded as the situation in whole Uttarakhand. Owing to their pre occupation some customers were unable to answer the complete questionnaire.

APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE

Retailer name: ___________________________ Address:________________________________ Phone number: ___________________________

1) How long have you been a retailer of airtel?

0-1 year

1-3 years

3-5 years

above 5 years

2) How do you rate the growth of airtel data sales throughout these years?

Slow

steady

rapid

3) What according to you is customers opinion about airtel GPRS package?

Very good

good

neither\nor

bad

very bad

4) Who do you think the biggest competitor of airtel in this field?

idea

DoCoMo

Aircel

Vodafone

Others

5) Among the following attributes which do you consider a deciding factor of customer purchase?

Brand name

Price

Quality

Availability

Product features

6) According to you the quality of data provided by airtel is..

Excellent

Good

Satisfactory

Bad

Very bad

7) Do you think the price of data cards of airtel has any influence on sales?

Yes

No

8) Have you ever lost a customer because of stock out?

Yes

No

9) From retailers point of view which one is beneficial to you?

Airtel

idea

Vodafone

Docomo

Aircel

Others

10) What is your satisfaction level with airtel as a retailer?

Highly

Moderately

neither /nor

Dissatisfied

Highly dissatisfied

11) Do you think the promotional activities of airtel make a difference in its data sales.

Yes

No

12) Is there any network problem which affects the data sales?

Yes

No

13) Do you think external factors (seasons, events) have any effect on data sales?

Yes

No

14) In your opinion how airtel can increase its data sales?

Providing high network

Product versatility

Promotional activities

Administrative efficiency

Suggestions if any: Thanking you

BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEBSITES

www.airtel.com www.google.com/ wikipedia

BOOKS

C.R Kothari , Research Methodology , Vishwa Publication , New Delhi , II Edition

William G. Zikmund , Business Research Methods , 2003 Edition

MAGAZINES

Business today India today