ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

\With immense pleasure, I would like to present this minor project report (Case Study) To
Study costumer satisfaction of Airtel users. I take the opportunity to express my gratitude to
all of them who in some or the other way helped me to accomplish this project. The study
cannot be completed without your guidance, assistance, inspiration and co-operation.

1 owe our gratitude to respondents of the report, without their help I would have been unable
to complete my project. These people have really been enough to help me in completing
report.

I would also like to thank with a deep sense of Gratitude to my teacher to shape my
understanding towards the project. It was because of her immense help and support that this
project has been duly completed.

However, I accept the sole responsibility for any possible error and would be extremely
grateful to the readers of this project if they bring such mistakes to my notice.

1
 PREFACE

The bookish knowledge of any program, which we get from educational institutions, is not
enough to be used in our day-to-day life. The more practical knowledge we have, the more
beneficial it is for our leaning.

To make the students aware of the working of the business world every student of
BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (4 Semester) has to undergo a minor
project report where I experiences many aspects of business under the supervision of
Professional Managers.

I strongly believe that the knowledge gained from this experience is more than the knowledge
gained from the theories in the book.

2
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the content of this project entitled, case study on To Study costumer
satisfaction of Airtel users by Ridhima is the bona fide work of her for consideration in
partial fulfillment of the requirement of syllabus and to teach many aspects of business under
the supervision of Professional Managers.

The original research work was carried out by her under my supervision in the academic year
2018-19. On the basis of the declaration made by her I recommend this project report for
evaluation.

3
 INDEX

S.NO. PARTICULAR PAGE

NO.

1. Introduction of the company 5-24

• Introduction 5-7
• Company Profile 8-12
• Organization structure 13-14
• About 15-24
2. What is customer satisfaction? 25-27

3. Case study 28-39

• How Airtel Satisfied Its Costumers? 28-30
• Airtel Strategic Consumer Platform For Broadband Usage 31
• Attracting Customers 32-34
• Customer Satisfaction In 7 Steps 35-39
4. Conclusion 40
5. Bibliography 41

4
INTRODUCTION OF THE COMPANY

Indian mobile telephony market is increasing day by day and there is more to happen with
technological up gradations occurring nearly every day and the ever-increasing demand for
easier and faster connectivity, the mobile telephony market is expected to race ahead.

India has a fast-growing mobile services market with excellent potential for the future. With
almost 5 million subscribers amassed in less than two years of operation, India's growth
tempo has far exceeded that of numerous other markets, such as China and Thailand, which
have taken more than five years to reach the figures India currently holds. The number of
mobile phone subscribers in the country would exceed 50 million by 2005 and cross 300
million by 2010, according to Cellular Operators Association of India (COAT). According to
recent strategic research by Frost & Sullivan, Indian Cellular Services Market, such growth
rates can be greatly attributed to the drastically falling price of mobile handsets, with price
playing a fundamental role in Indian subscriber requirements. Subscribers in certain regions
can acquire the handset at almost no cost, thanks to the mass-market stage these technologies
have reached internationally. The Indian consumer can buy a handset for $150 or less. This
should lead to increased subscribership. This market is growing at an extremely fast pace and
so is the competition between the mobile service providers.

With the presence of a number of mobile telephony services providers including market
leaders like Airtel, Reliance, Idea, Vodafone, Tata Indicom ete who are providing either of
the two network technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). In cellular service there are two main competing
network technologies:

Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA).

The Company’s wireless network runs on a GSM technology. The mobile telephony services
providers Airtel, Vodafone, have been competing aggressively for their market share with
MTNL, Tata Indicom, Reliance and Idea Cellular entering into the foray, this tussle has only
become more tough. With major market share in the hands of the likes of Reliance, Airtel,
Vodafone, Idea Cellular the others have been finding it difficult to compete in the market.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India (TRAD) has been playing an important role in
keeping a watch on these existing players and bringing new environment as well as policies

5
and reforms for these Mobile Telephony Service Providers and permitting them to provide
mobile telephony services including permission to carry its own long distance traffic within
their service area without seeking an additional license. TRAI’s mission 1s to create and
nurture conditions for the growth of telecommunications including broadcasting and cable
services in the country in a manner and at a pace which will enable India to play a leading
role in the emerging global information society. The service providers are free to provide, in
its service area of operation, all types of mobile services including voice and non-voice
messages, data services and PCO’s. The Operators would be required to pay a one-time entry
fee. The basis for determining the entry fee and the basis for selection of additional operators
would be recommended by the TRAI.

Although the cellular services market in India grew during the late 1990s (as the number of
players increased and tariffs and handset prices came down significantly) the growth was
rather marginal. This was because the cellular service providers offered only post-paid
cellular services, which were still perceived to be very costly as compared to landline
communications. Following this realization, the major cellular service providers in India,
launched pre-paid cellular services in the late 1990s. The main purpose of these services was
to target customers from all sections of society (unlike post-paid services, which were
targeted only at the premium segment).

6
SCOPE OF STUDY:

Before business can develop marketing strategies, they must understand what factors
influence buyers’ behavior and how they make purchase decision to satisfy their needs and
wants. This study aims towards collecting information about consumers Psychology
towards Airtel and thus helping Airtel in understanding customer’s nature and help in
developing strategies which will thus help them in increasing their business.

• It is done to understand what consumers consider while going for purchasing Airtel
Products.

• By this study we came to know how the organization retaining and sustaining its
customer.

• The main purpose of this project is to study consumers buying behavior and develop
strategies which help Airtel in increasing their market share.

• This study is mainly focused on various factors that affect consumers buying decision.
Such as social, psychological and personal.

• This study helps to understand the satisfactory level of consumers towards the brand.
And also understanding the consumer attitudes and their buying motives by means of
company brand image.

7
COMPANY PROFILE

Telecom company Bharti Airtel is the flagsmp company of Bharti Enterprises. The
businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units
(SBU’s)

1. Mobile serviceS
2. Broadband and telephone services (B&T)
3. Enterprise services.
The Mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles,
while B&T business group provides broadband & telephone services in 94 cites. The
Enterprise Services group has two sub-units — carners (long distance services) and services
top corporates. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Airtel comes to you
from Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited - a part of the biggest private integrated telecom
conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. In its six years of pursuit of greater customer satisfaction,
Airtel has redefined the business through marketing innovations, continuous technological up
gradation of the network, introduction of new generation value added services and the highest
standard of customer care. Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with an all India
footprint covering all 23 telecom circles of the country. It has over 25 million satisfied
customers. Bharti Airtel limited is a telecom MNC headquartered in New Delhi India, with a
presence in 20 countries across the world its the 4th largest telecom company in the world in
terms of subscribers base which was over 275 million as on July 2013. Airtel is also the
largest telecom company in India and the second largest in country mobile operator by
subscriber base after china mobile. Sunil Bharti Mittal is the head of Airtel. Airtel is the
largest provider of mobile telephony and second in terms of fixed telephony and also
provides broadband and DTH services. Airtel became the first Indian company to get gold
certification by CISCO.

8
Cellular telephony was introduced in India during the early 1990s. At that time, there were
only two major private players, Bharti (Airtel) and Essar (Essar) and both these companies
offered only post-paid services. Initially, the cellular services market registered limited
growth. Moreover, these services were mostly restricted to the metros. Other factors such as
lack of awareness among people, lack of infrastructural facilities, low standard of living, and
government regulations were also responsible for the slow growth of cellular phone.

9
 VISION & MISSION

Bharti’s Vision
By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India:
• Loved by more customers
• Targeted by top talent
• Benchmarked by more businesses

Bharti’s Mission

• To be globally admired for telecom services that delight customers.

• We will meet global standards for telecom services that delight customers through:

• Customer Service Focus

• Empowered Employees

• Cost Efficiency

• Unified Messaging Solutions

• Calling Cards

• Wireless Internet — Data Card - USB Modem

• Airtel Digital Tv (DTH)

10
 SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate strength weaknesses,

opportunity and threats involved in a project or in Business. SWOT analysis will give us a
quick review of an organization current status. SWOT analysis for Airtel in India:

STRENGTHS
• Cost advantage

• Current leaders in quality service

• Largest distribution network

• Ability to constantly innovate

• Highly skilled workforce

• Entrepreneurial zeal

• Airtel’s increased equity and market cap.

WEAKNESSES
• To prove credibility

• Price pressures

• Need for Government support

• Awareness

• Sales and Marketing

OPPORTUNITIES

• To sustain passion and commitment.

• Attain higher value services

• Collaborative business needs to be explored

• Vertical repeatable solutions.

• Low penetration level in rural markets.

11
THREATS
• Foreign investment

• Global trends moving from GPS to WLL.

• Lack of global parity in telecom tariff

• Other competition

12
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

PARTNERS

The company has a strategic alliance with SingTel. The investment made by SingTel is one
of the largest investments made in the world outside Singapore, in the company. The
company’s mobile network equipment partners include Ericsson and Nokia. In the case of the
broadband and telephone services and enterprise services (carriers), equipment suppliers
include Siemens, Nortel, Corning, among others. The Company also has an information
technology alliance with IBM for its group-wide information technology requirements and
with Nortel for call center technology requirements. The call center operations for the mobile
services have been outsourced to IBM Daksh, Hinduja TMT, Teletech & Mphasis.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Bharti Airtel Limited firmly believes in the principles of Corporate Governance and is
committed to conduct its business in a manner, which will ensure sustainable, capital-
efficient and long-term growth thereby maximising value for its shareholders, customers,
employees and society at large. Company’s policies are in line with Corporate Governance
guidelines prescribed under Listing Agreement/s with Stock Exchanges and the Company
ensures that various disclosures requirements are complied in ‘letter and spirit’ for effective
Corporate Governance.

During the financial year 2003-04, your Company was assigned highest Governance and
Value Creation (GVC) rating viz. ‘Level 1’ rating by CRISIL, which indicates that the
company’s capability with respect to creating wealth for all its stakeholders is the highest,
while adopting sound Corporate Governance practices. This rating was re-affirmed by
CRISIL on April 20,2006

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY

After the liberalization of the Indian Telecom Sector in 1994, the Indian cellular market
witnessed a surge in cellular services. By 2005, there were a total of 12 players in the market
with the five major players being Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited (Bharti), Bharat Sanchar
Nigam Limited (BSNL), Hutchinson-Essar limited (Hutch), Idea Cellular limited (Idea) and
Reliance India Mobile (RIM). All the players except RIM offered services based on the
Global System for

13
Mobile (GSM) technology. RIM provided services based on Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA) technology as well as GSM.

As competition in the telecom arena intensified, service providers took new initiatives to woo
customers. Prominent among these were - celebrity endorsements, loyalty rewards, discount
coupons, business solutions and talk time schemes. The most important consumer segments
in the cellular industry were the youth segment and the business class segment. The youth
segment was the largest and fastest growing segment and was therefore targeted most heavily
by cellular service providers.

14
MILESTONE OF COMPANY

• Mobile phone operator, Bharti Airtel, became the first Indian telecom company to
serve 50 million customers last month, and is now the world’s tenth largest wireless
carrier.

• Bharti has doubled its user base in the past 14 months alone, and hopes to reach 100
million subscribers by 2010, according to company executives.

• “Our next 50 million will largely come from rural India as our plan is to reach 5,200
census towns and over five lakh villages, covering 96 per cent of the Indian
population,” said Bharti Airtel president and CEO, Manoj Kohli, at a news conference
this week.

• Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecommunication services provider, today announced

that it had crossed the 50 million customer mark. With this, Bharti Airtel has achieved
the distinction of becoming the fastest private telecom company in world to achieve
this landmark in a single country - within 143 months of start of operations. The 50
million customer base covers mobile as well as broadband & telephone customers.

• In the mobile business, Bharti Airtel plans to make considerable investments in

Network expansion to establish presence in all census towns and over 500,000
villages across India by 2010, thereby covering 95% of the country’s total population.
The company’s strategic focus will be on further strengthening the Airtel brand
through best-in-class customer service, which is backed by wide national distribution.

• In the Enterprise business, Bharti Airtel will invest substantially in the long distance
business to achieve the scale of a global carrier within next 2-3 years. It is also
strengthening the corporate business towards becoming a preferred managed services
partner for the top 2000 corporations.

• In Broadband & Telephone SBU, Bharti Airtel will initiate large-scale deployments of
broadband network infrastructure in 94 towns, with a sharp focus on the home and
SME segments. It is readying to offer triple play to its customers with the launch of its
IPTV service.

15
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BHARTI AIRTEL

• Bharti Foundation, a separate vehicle established in 2000 to lead the CSR agenda of
Bharti Group of Companies.

• Bharti Airtel’s response to Tsunami Disaster, Donated Rs. 1 Crore to the Prime
Minister’s Relief Fund.

• Bharti Airtel during Mumbai Floods: Bharti Airtel employees climbed up the towers
to restore the networks so that our customers could conveniently reach its employees.

• Bharti Airtel’s response to Kashmir earthquake: Bharti Airtel’s “Rapid Response

Team’ responded to the Kashmir earthquake by bringing more than 2000 food packets
and water bottles to the affected area.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• First to launch Cellular service on November 1995.

• First operator to revolutionaries the concept of retailing with the inauguration of

Airtel

• Connect (exclusive showrooms) in 1995.

• First to introduce push button phone in India.

• It is also the first company to export its products to the USA

16
THE AIRTEL BRAND AND ITS LOGO

There has been no change in the brand name Airtel was bom free, a force to nleash
into the market with a relantless and unwavering determination to succeed A spirit
charged with energy creativity and team driven to seize the day with an ambition to
become the most globally admired telecom service.

The Airtel logo is a strong, contemporary and confident symbol for a brand that is
always ahead of the rest. It is a specially drawn wordmark.

• The unique symbol is an interpretation of the a' in Airiel The curved shape &
the gentle highlights on the red color make it warm& inviting, almost as if it
were aliving object.
• The logo represents a dynamic force of unparalleled energy that brings us and
our customers closer," it added.
• The unboxed' hav ing been freed of its rigid boundaries. Airtel calls the new
logo youthful, intemational, inclusive and dynamic-representing the joumey of
the first Indian brand to go tnuly global The new identity underlines Airtel's
willingness to embrace everything that is new. The red color, which is an
integral part of the brand continues to represent the energy and dynamism that
has made Airtel the success it is todry. The new curved addition to the logo is
a symbol which wll help ensure instant recognition across diverse intemational
markets.

17
 • The color "Red is part of our heritage. It is the cokr of energy &passion that
expresses the dynamism that has made Airtel the success it is today, in India,
and now on the global stage.

ENCOURAGING RECOGNITION

• Bharti Airtel won the In-House Legal Team of the Year award for IT and Telecom
sector at the 6th edition of Legal Era Awards for the year 2016-2017.
• Bharti Airtel rated as India’s fastest mobile network for the year 2016 by Ookla.
• Bharti Airtel won the Best Governed Company Award at the 4th Asia Business
Responsibility Summit.
• Bharti Airtel bagged the Best Messaging Solution Award at the second annual
Carriers World Awards, 2016.
• Bharti Airtel secured the second position in Inter brands Best Indian Brands Report
2016. According to the survey, the Company’s brand was valued at ` 350.44 billion.
• Bharti Airtel was positioned among top three brands in Brand Equity’s Most Trusted
Brands 2016.
• Bharti Airtel has secured the top position under the Telecom & Allied category in the
annual Business Today-People Strong survey (2016).
• Bharti Airtel was ranked second in the third annual BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable
Indian Brand 2016 report.
• Bharti Airtel was honored with Golden Peacock Award for Excellence in Corporate
Governance for the year 2016.
• Bharti Airtel ranked among top 15 Companies in Business Today’s BT 500 India’s
Most Valuable Companies.
• Bharti Airtel has emerged as the only Indian brand to be featured among the top ten
global brands most admired in Africa (2016-17), according to Brand Africas Brand
Africa 100: Africas Best Brands.
• Bharti Airtel was positioned among the top three brands in Brand Finances listing of
Indias top 100 brands 2016. According to the survey, the Company brand was valued
at USD 5768 Mn.
• Bharti Airtel was awarded in the Firm of the Year Telecom category at the third
edition of ICICI Lombard & CNBC-TV18 India Risk Management awards.

18
• Bharti Airtel was conferred with Certificate of Recognition for Excellence in
Corporate Governance 2016 by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).
• Bharti Airtel has won the Best Risk Management Practice Award in the Telecom
Category at India Risk Management Awards instituted by CNBC TV18 and ICICI
Lombard. Airtel was recognized for its robust risk management practices and their
implementation as strategic tools for a safe, secure and sustainable growth.
• Bharti Airtel won the Best African Wholesale Award at the Telecom Review
Excellence Awards 2016 in Dubai.
• Airtel Africa won the Most Innovative Service award at Africa Com 2016 in Cape
Town, South Africa.
• Airtel Ghana bagged the Best Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative award at the
Global Carrier Awards 2016 held in Paris, France.
• Airtel Ghana bagged the Best Print Ad of the Year 2015 at the Chartered Institute of
Marketing Ghana (CIMG) Awards.
• Airtel Ghana bagged the Best Print Ad of the Year 2015 at the Chartered Institute of
Marketing Ghana (CIMG) Awards Airtel Africa won the Most Innovative Service
award at Africa Com 2016 in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Airtel Ghana bagged the Best Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative award at the
Global Carrier Awards 2016 held in Paris, France.
• Airtel Ghana bagged the Best Print Ad of the Year 2015 at the Chartered Institute of
Marketing Ghana (CIMG) Awards.
• Airtel Ghana bagged the Best Print Ad of the Year 2015 at the Chartered Institute of
Ghana (CIMG) Awards

19
NETWORK OF AIRTEL

CELLULAR SERVICE
Airtel Completes Its 23 Cirele All India Footprint Airtel now connects India from the
Indus to the Indian Ocean and from Sabarmati to the Brahmaputra on a nctwork of
more than 10,000 base stations with cumulative investments of more than Rs. 16,000
crores.

.INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Our Internet backbone involves state of the art high-end routers and switches as may
deployed on the best networks across the world to offer you reliable service of
unmatched quality. Three years back we had established satellite based gateway for
internet access This was the first gateway by a private operator. Now we have
established our fibre gateway on Network ii first private submarine cable owned by us
and Sing Tel.

FIXED LINE INFRASTRUCTURE

Our high quality fibre-based, fixed line networks in Delhi, Haryana, Tamil Nadu,
Kamataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chahattisgarh, intensively covers the most prominent
commercial and business districts in the country. We provide the power of last male
fixed line network to bring end-to-end voice and data solutions.

LONG DISTANCE INFRASTRUCTURE

Our 25,000 km advanced fibre-optic cable long distance network covers India's top
200 cities. And it powers the services of India's leading private telecom service
providers-cellular, fixed line and inteet through Our Long Distance Services.

SUBMARINE CABLE
We have partnered with SingTel to create the world's largest submarine cable system-
Network i2i with 8.4 Tbps capacity. This 3200 km undsea cable structure stretdhes
from Chennai to Singapore and thereon to Tier-I carriers on SingTefs capacity on
175,000 km of cables.

20
PRODUCT LINE

(a) Mobile
Experience total cost control, no rentals and easy billing with our postpaid and
prepaid services. Fxplore the world with our roaming services and get absolutely cool
otfers with Airtel Live .
• Prepaid
Enter the world of limitless possibilities with Airtel Prepaid. The service that
helps you eives words to every feeling, an expression to every emotion.
• Postpaid
Life becomes much simpler with your Airtel Postpaid. It gives you
the unlimited freedom to reach out to people in your special way.

(b) Home Phones

Experience world class sevice and cutting edge technology with Airte landline and
our feature rich Wireless fixed line. What's mre, calling is mude more fun and
convenient with services and entertainment on Airtel.
• Fixed Line
Airtel welcomes you to its world of telephony services, which offers you world
class services with its cutting edge technology.
• Fixed Wireless Phone
Avail of the convenience of a mobile phone on a fixed line, without any cables
disturbing the ambience of your living room!

(c) Broadband and Internet

Experience a world class service and cutting edge technology with Airtel landline
and our feature rich Wireless fixed line. What's more, calling is made more fun and
convenient with services and entertainment on Airtel.
• Wi-Fi
• One Aiutel Offer
• Power of 16 Mbps
• IPTV
• Airtel Net PC

21
 • Airtel PC Security

(d) BlackBerry on Airtel

BlackBerry from Airtel is an 'always connected' wireless solution providing easy and
secure access to your email and data It can be constantly accessible on mail, talk on
phone and surf the internet at the same e, schedule and coordinate appointments in the
middle of meetings, raise approval request, log in orders, update business databases
and stay connected to your colleagues, customers, friends and family from anywhere,
anytime.

(e) Email on the go

Want to access information on your mobile? Airtel brings you Email on the go. You
can choose from Blackberry and Windows Mobile 5 0 depending upon the usage
patterns requirement and suitability.
• Windows Mobile 5.0
Windows Mobile extends the familiar Windows and Office experience to
mobile devices, helps to maximize the users time and stay in touch with what'
and 'who' matters to them.
• Airtel Easy Mail
Airtel Easy Mail is an email solution which works on true PUSH technology
enabling both the corporate as well as the individual customers to get their
emails as it gets delivered to their mail boxes.

(f) Wireless Internet

Wireless Internet, you've the Ireedom to access the Internet anytime, anywhere across
India It cnables Internct, Email & Office applications with real-timc secure VPN
access to corporate applicalions whilst on the move .
• Data Card
This is a superior PC Data Card solution, which delivers wireless internet by
FDGF and GPRS technologies
• USB Modem
Now get an instant access to internct and your corporatc applications with our
USH Modem.

22
(h) Digital TV
Discover the magical cxperience of digital entertainment with Airtel, From DVD
quality icture and sound, the best and widest variely of channels and programs to the
best on- demand content on Airtel Live, your TV viewing experience change forever
with digital TV from Airtel.
(i) Digital TY Interactive
Change the way you watch television with the most advanced technology in the
world digital TV interactive Irom Airtel. 'digital TV interactive is the next-generation
internet protocol based TV Scrvice with digital quality audio and vidco, a wide rangc
of TV programming, video on demand services and a host ofother amazing interactive
features. Now demand what you want to watch, when you want to watch it.

DATA PRODUCTS

(a) Internet Leased Iine

• A Leased Line is a point-to-point connection between two places,
implemented by different transmission media here ugh Airtel own network),
which creates one link between its nodes.
• A dedicated connectivity is established by creating a logical Fl circuit between
Ethernet port of the RSU, Ethernet port of BG-40BG-20 at our MSU (224,
Okhla Phase II Delhi). The Port at RSU is extended to customer location
though LAN extenders (Schemed Make). The Output Interface is Ethernet
which would go in the acre Equipment (Rot 3 Switch) of the customer.
• An E1 standard Leased Line provides transmission speed of 2,048 kbps.
(b) Technical Detail
We at Airtel will dedicate an Interact port of at our end. This would cable Client
Organization have Unrestricted Access to the Internet. For Internet connectivity, the
hardware required by Client Organization is as mentioned below:

• Leased line Router/Layer 3 Switch at Client Organization office premises. This is to

be provided by the customer. The Router would bc responsible for forwarding and
routing the traffic towards the end locations and to the remote server The
recommended brand is Cisco, but the customer is free to choose the make for himself.

23
• Normally in the Internet Incased lnc, pairs of digital Modem with G.703 and V.35
Interfaces for a hand width of 64 kbps and an Interface Converter for bandwidth
greater than 64 kbps is required but in Airtel network we will provide an Ethernet
output, no such modems are required.

24
WHAT IS CUSTOMER SATISFACTION?

Customer satisfaction is a term frequently used in Marketing. While it's often abbreviated as
CSAT, it is more correct to abbreviate it as CSAT. It is a measure of how products and
services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction
is defined as "the number of customers, or percentage of total customers, whose reported
experience with_a firm, its products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified satisfaction
goals." In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 71 percent responded that they
found a customer satisfaction metric very useful in managing and monitoring their
businesses.

It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is often part of a Balanced
Scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer
satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of
business strategy.

"Within organizations, customer satisfaction ratings can have powerful effects. They focus
employees on the importance of fulfilling customers' expectations. Furthermore, when these
ratings dip, they warn of problems that can affect sales and profitability... These metrics
quantify an important dynamic. When a brand has loyal customers, it gains positive word-of-
mouth marketing, which is both free and highly effective.

Therefore, it is essential for businesses to effectively manage customer satisfaction. To be

able do this, firms need reliable and representative measures of satisfaction.

"In researching satisfaction, firms generally ask customers whether their product or service
has met or exceeded expectations. Thus, expectations are a key factor behind satisfaction.
When customers have high expectations and the reality falls short, they will be disappointed
and will likely rate their experience as less than satisfying. For this reason, a luxury resort, for
example, might receive a lower satisfaction rating than a budget motel—even though its
facilities and service would be deemed superior in ‘absolute’ terms.

Satisfaction is basically a psychological state it is a difficult thing to measure quantitatively

.in other words there are no units of satisfaction that have been defined. The usual measures
of customer satisfaction involves a survey instrument with a set of statements using a liker

25
techniques or scale the customers is asked to evaluate each statement and select from a scale
who the customer agree or disagree with the statement.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION MEASUREMENT

A basic and effective base line customer satisfaction survey program should focus on
measuring customer perception of how will the company delivers on the critical success
factors and dimensions of the business as defined by the customers:

For example Service promptness, Courtesy of staff, Responsiveness, Understanding the

customer problem ete.

The findings of the company performance should be analyzed both with all customers and by
key segments of the customer population.

IMPROVING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Published standards exist to help organizations develop their current levels of customer
satisfaction. The International Customer Service Institute (TICSI) has released The
International Customer Service Standard (TICSS). TICSS enables organizations to focus their
attention on delivering excellence in the management of customer service, whilst at the same
time providing recognition of success through a 3rd Party registration scheme. TICSS focuses
an organization’s attention on delivering increased customer satisfaction by helping the
organization through a Service Quality Model. TICSS Service Quality Model uses the 5 P's -
Policy, Processes People, Premises, Product/Services, as well as performance measurement.
The implementation of a customer service standard should lead to higher levels of customer
satisfaction, which in turn influences customer retention and customer loyalty.

26
BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES

Surveys allow an organization to quickly capture vital information with relatively little
expense and effort. A primary advantage of this method is its directness: “the purpose is clear
and the responses straightforward.” Additionally, the information gathered by surveys can
easily be analyzed and used to identify trends over time. The public views consumer product
polls and pollsters in a generally positive manner compared to political and other polls. One
study found that at least sixty percent of the public feels that market research about products
and services has a positive impact on society. Seventy percent consider the people who
conduct such surveys to have positive impacts on society.

A major disadvantage of customer surveys is that the responses may be influenced by the
measurement itself through various forms of bias. For example, most surveys are voluntary,
and some researchers have found differences between survey respondents and non-
respondents. People who respond to surveys answer questions differently than those who do
not respond, and late responders answer differently than early responders.

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CASE STUDY

How AIRTEL satisfied its customers with a network overhaul?

Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) is a global telecommunications company with operations in 20

countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company is ranked
among the top 4 mobile service providers with over 269 million customers. In India, the
company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce,
fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, and enterprise services including
national and international long distance services to carriers. Throughout its international
network, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce.

Shifting Business Dynamics Pushes The Need To Revamp

Deputy General Manager, Rajanikanth Kaushik, explains, "Being a leader in a very

competitive Indian telecommunication space, it is a strategic priority for us to keep our
customers satisfied. An acceptable performance is no longer good enough. We must deliver
consistently on the basics and then go the extra step to delight customers, as opposed to just
avoid offending them. We want to spark a "wow" effect with the people who buy and use our
services."The challenge for Airtel was to make sure growth is achieved without disrupting
service for existing customers.

In mature telecom markets, the revenue model is shifting from charging for minutes to
charging by bytes consumed. Aware of this shift, the company was tracking technology and
consumer developments closely. It sought to maintain a smart investment programme to
identify growth opportunities. The task was to ensure financial investments were targeted at
the right areas at the right time.

"In a sector where new entrants are competing fiercely for revenues from emerging service
areas, we decided to turn the game in our favour and adopt new business trends," says
Kaushik. "With penetration flattening and competition intensifying, companies must fight for
market share as never before. We took that to heart."

Additionally it is always a top corporate priority is to ensure the business can respond to
regulatory changes quickly, without affecting the customers' trust.

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Twin Solution Strategies

"There were twin strategies to the solution adopted by the company: The starting point was to
earn its "customers' love"," says Kaushik. Airtel wanted to guarantee high availability, first
class reliability and robust performance across the full range of network applications.

Outlining the issue Kaushik says, "The first priority is to eliminate the factors that would
make a customer walk away. Customers responded positively to strong network coverage and
when queries are handled promptly. Efficient and helpful call centre behaviour is repaid with
customer loyalty. Accordingly, Airtel migrated to a HP Superdome high-end server-based
platform for its entire network datacentre infrastructure to cope with increasing loads on
datacentre operation network backbones. "So we decided to move under the industry leading
Mission Critical Support coverage supplied by HP Technology Services," Kaushik explains.
"This entitles us to have proactive monitoring of our infrastructure health and to receive a
timely health check report."

This report tells Airtel of number of incidents HP logged on behalf of the company for
datacentre and disaster recovery operations. Trending analysis on cases logged on the HP
remote diagnostic tool means HP will send a recommendation for system upgrades that stay
up to date on firmware and software versions. This avoids any potential mismatches if a
system breaks down and HP has to install a new system component with the latest firmware
and software.

HP guarantees access to dedicated hardware and remote support specialists for any issues
related to its infrastructure that are covered under Mission Critical Support. Airtel does not
have to go through a normal call centre route to the HP helpdesk. The dedicated specialists
are aware of the telco's network environment making them capable of providing quick
resolution for any IT related issues. Dedicated hardware specialists available 24/7 at all Airtel
sites ensure the 100 per cent uptime target is met, and to implement whatever is the most
appropriate resolution.

The final piece of the Mission Critical Support jigsaw is the co-ordination between the
remote support specialist and the HP backend team to ensure fastest possible parts delivery
and a quick turn-around if a broken system occurs.

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100 Percent Uptime Equals Happy Customers

"The new IT platform combined with the Mission Critical Support from HP has more than
lived up to our expectations in terms of increased network availability and system reliability,"
says Kaushik. "We're enjoying improved service delivery standards as a result of 100 per cent
uptime. In addition, we've had no data disruption."

The presence of dedicated hardware specialists at all Airtel sites has relieved employees of
regular maintenance activities, reducing cost burden. "Our employee productivity and
engagement index enjoyed a huge boost because we've been able to move employees from
regular maintenance jobs to areas where they can better use their core expertise. It also helped
them take over many data-based projects which have helped expand the customer base new
value-added services enable us to grow market share."

He praises what he describes as a "good systemic approach" towards business challenges:

"With the help of HP Mission Critical Support, we've been able to maintain service
availability for business significantly. With the reduced in-house IT workload we're able to
turn our attention to developing more innovations that will improve even further our ability to
deliver first class data-based services that our customers value."

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AIRTEL Strategic Consumer Platform For Broadband Usage

NetProphets has created the Smartbytes value added service for Bharti Airtel Limited's
broadband customers.Smartbytes is 'GB on Demand' service from Airtel where a user gets an
option to buy chunks of GBs at a discounted price. Any customer whose DSL Browsing
speed gets throttled beyond Fair Usage Policy limit can buy additional high speed quota and
thus postpone his throttling of speed (and can enjoy browsing at a higher/normal speed for a
longer time).

PROBLEM STATEMENT

1. Customer should be able to continue browsing at high speed without changing their
plan.
2. Customer should be informed of the Smartbytes service each time the customer is
throttled or about to be throttled.
3. It should be possible for the customer to monitor his/her internet usage without going
through a complex login process.
4. It should be possible to resume high-speed browsing instantaneously.

SOLUTION DESCRIPTION>

What is Smartbytes?

Smartbytes is 'GB on Demand' service from Airtel where a user gets an option to buy chunks
of GBs at a discounted price. Any customer whose DSL Browsing speed gets throttled
beyond Fair Usage Policy limit can buy additional high speed quota and thus postpone his
throttling of speed (and can enjoy browsing at a higher/normal speed for a longer time).

Features of Smartbytes

1. Real time resumption of browsing speed.

2. Email/SMS transaction confirmations to users to avoid service misuse.
3. Provides multiple channels from where Smartbytes can be purchased:
a) Self-care
b) Call Center
c) Airtel.in
4. Has features for fraud control such as Bill Cycle Credit Limit, OTP Authentication,
Blacklisted users etc.

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 5. Configurable package offering with option to offer packs based on parameters such as
user's DSL Plan Profile and Purchase History.

Attracting Customers

Customers seeking to grow their profits and sales have to spend considerable time and
resources searching for new customers. Customers acquisition requires substantial skills in
lead generation, lead qualification, and account conversion. To generate leads, the company
develops ads and places them in media that will reach new prospects, its sales people
participate in trade shows where their might find new leads: and o All this activity produces a
list suspects.

The next asks is to qualify which is the suspects are really good prospects, and this is
done by interviewing them, checking on their financial standing, and so on. The sales people
first contact the ot prospects and work on account conversion, which involves making
presentations, answering objects, and negotiating final terms. It is not enough to be skillful in
attracting new customer, the company must keep them. Too many companies suffer from
high customer namely, they gain new customers in that lose many of them. I is like constantly
adding water to a leaking pot.

Today's companies must pay closer attention to their customer defection rate (the rate
at which they lose customers).

Unfortunately, most marketing theory and practice center on the art of atracting new
customers rather than on retaining existing ones. The emphasis traditionally has been on
making sales rather than building relationships: on pre selling and selling rather than caring
for the customer afterward.

The key to customer retention is customer satisfaction. A highly satisfied customer

• Stays loyal longer

• Buys more as the company , introduces new products and upgrades existing products.
Talks favorably about the company and its products,
• Pays less attention to the competing brands and advertising and is less sensitive to
price
• Offers product or service ideas to the company.

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 • Costs less to serve than the new customers because transactions are reutilized.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: The title customer satisfaction pre-supposes customer

awareness, The study is concerned with both the aspects.

1. Customer Awareness

2. Customer Satisfaction

Firstly, the customer needs to be informed about the product, its features and also about
its availability. The customer should be made aware of the product attributes and its uses.

Secondly, the management should be aware of producing such products and service
which can satisfy, or even they must make the customer highly satisfied with those products
and services which they produce.

Customer awareness: The mobile phone market in India consists of only four players for a
Particular telecom circle. To have a cutting edge over the rivals, the mobile phone service
providing companies were coming out with new plans, value added services etc. These
provisions will be effective only when the customers are aware of those services The study
was conducted to find out the awareness of customers about various plans and value added
services provided by Airtel cellular services.

Customer satisfaction: Whether the buyer is satisfaction after purchase depends on offers
Performance in relation to the buyer’s expectation In general, satisfaction is a person’s
feeling of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a products perceived
performance in relation to has expectations. As this definition makes clear satisfaction is a
function perceived performance and expectations. If the performance matches the
expectations the customer is satisfied. If the Whether the buyer is satisfaction after purchase
depends on offers Performance in relation to the buyer's expectation In g satisfaction is a
person's feeling of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a product's perceived
performance in relation to has expectations. As this definition makes clear, satisfaction is a
function perceived performance and expectations. If the performance matches the
expectations the customer is satisfied. If the performance expectations, the customer is highly
satisfied or delighted.

Many companies are aiming for high satisfaction because customers who are just
satisfied still find it easy to switch when a better offer comes along Those who are highly

33
satisfied are much less ready to switch. High satisfaction or delight creates emotional bond
with the brand, not just a relational preference. The result is high customer loyalty, a very
satisfied or delighted customer is worth 10 times as much to the company as a satisfied
customers.

So the Airtel cellular service needs to concentrate more on customer delight through its
service.

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CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN 7 STEPS

1. Encourage Face-to-Face Dealing

This is the most daunting and downright scary part of interacting with a customer. It's
important to meet your customers face to face at least once or even twice during the course of
a project.

My experience has show that a client finds it easier to relate to and work with someone they
have actually met in person rather than a voice on the phone or someone typing into an email
or messenger program, When you do meet them becalm confident and above all take timc to
asked them what they need I believe that if a potential client spends over half the meeting
doing the talking you're well on your way to a scale.

2. Respond to Messages Promptly & Keep Your Clients Informed

This goes with out saying We all know how annoying is to wait days for a response to an
email or phone call. It might not always be practical to idea; with all customer queries within
the space of a few hour, hut at least email or call them back and Yet them know you have
received their message and you will contact them about it as soon as possible Even if you are
not able to solve problem right away let the customer know you are working on it.

3. Be Friendly and Approachable

You can here a smile through the phone. This is very It's very important to be friendly
courteous and to make your clients feel like you are their friend and you marc their to help
them out. There will be times when you want to our clients over the had repeatedly with a
blunt object-it happens to all of us It's vital that you keep a clear head respond to your
clients wishes as best you can and at all times remain polite and courteous

4. Have a Clearly -Define Customer Services Policy

This may not be too important when you are just staring out but a clear defined customer
services policy is going to save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. If a customer has
a problem, what should they do? If the fist option disc not work then what? Should they
contact different people for billing and technical enquiries? It they arc satisfied with any
aspect of your customer services who should they tell?

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There is nothing more annoying for a client than being passed from person to person or not
knowing who to turn to. Making sure they know exactly what to do at each stage of their
enquiry should c of utmost important. So make sure your customer services policy is present
on your site and anywhere else it may useful.

5. Attention to Detail (also known as The little Niceties)

Have you ever received a Happy Birthday email or card from a company you were client of?
Have you ever had a personalized sign-up confirmation email for a service that you could tell
was typed from scratch? These little niceties can be time consuming and aren't always cost
effective but remember to do them .

Even if it as small as sending a Happy Holidays email to all your customer It's something It
shows you care it show there are real people on the other end of that screen or telephone and
most importantly It make the customer feel welcomed wanted and value

6. Anticipate Your Client's Needs & Go of Your Way to Help Them Out.

Some time this is easier said than done How ever achieving this level of understanding with
our clients will do wonders for your working relationship.

7. Honor Your Promises

It's possible this is the most important point in this artier. The simple messages when you
promise something deliver. The most common example here is project delivery date.

Client do not to be disappointed no fault of your own. Project can be late technology can tail
sub-contractor do not always deliver on time. In this case a quick apology and assurance it
will be ready ASAP would not amiss.

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Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction, as construct, has been fundamental to marketing for over three
decades. As early a 1960, Keith (1960) de fined marketing as "satisfying the needs and
desires of the consumer. Hunt ( 1982) reported that hy the 1970s, interest in customer
satisfaction had increases an extent that over 500 studies were published. This trend
continued and by 1992, Peterson and Wilson estimated the amount of academic and trade
articles on customer satisfaction to be over 15,000.

Several studies have shown that it costs about five times to gain a new customer as it does to
keep an existing customer (Naumann, 1995) and this results into more interest in customer
relationships. Thus, several companies are adopting customer satisfaction as their operational
goal with a carefully designed framework. Hill and Alexander (2000) wrote in their book that
"companies now have big investment in database marketing, relationship management and
customer planning to move closer to their customers". Jones and Sasser (1995) wrote that
"achieving customer satisfaction is the main goal for most service firms today. Increasing
customer satisfaction has been shown to directly affect companies market share, which leads
lo improved profits, positive recommendation, lower marketing expenditures (Reichheld,
1996; Heskett et a 1997), and greatly impact the corporate image and survival (Pizam and
Ells, 1999).

The studies are Robins (2008) this paper is about marketing the next generation of mobile
Telephones. The study is about third generation of cell phone technology, what is usually
known as 3G for short. There are various issues about that new innovative. One is how to
price 3G handsets and services at a level which will enable telephone operating companies to
recoup the high prices they have already paid to governments for operating licenses. Second
the technology is not yet complete, there is no agreed international standards and companies
do not yet know what new services the technology will prove capable of delivering
effectively. All variants of 3G remain dependent on largely unproven technology Marketing
3G is going to be about services which are new and in many cases, yet to be designed. At the
same time, it w involve services which can also he obtained by computer and other means. It
follows that the marketing task will be high risk. First, 3G has obviously unique selling
proposition to build on except, perhaps, the combination of live video and easy portability.
Second, the potential customers have not yet had adequate opportunity signal their service

37
likes and dislikes. Third, the cost and complexity of service provision leave doubt about the
market's reaction to price.

Dehnath (2008) this study explains that the price focus of the service providers is to create a
loyal customer base by benchmarking their performances and retaining existing customers in
order to benefit from their loyalty. With the commencement of the economic liberalization in
1991, and with a view to expand and improve telecom infrastructure through the participation
of the private sector, government of India permitted foreign companies holding 51 percent
equity stake in joint ventures to manufacture telecom equipment India. The Indian
Government has announced a new policy, which allows private firms to provide basic
telephone services. There had been a monopoly of the state-owned department of
telecommunication. However, several companies are expected to benefits from the policy
change.

Kalavani (2006) in their study analyzed that majority of the respondents have given
favorable opinion towards the services but some problems exist that deserve the attention of
service providers. They need to bridge the gap between the services offered The overall
customers attitude towards cell phone services is that they are satisfied with the existing
services but still they want more services to be provided Kumar (2008), in their study titled
"Customer Satisfaction and Discontentment of BSNI. Landline Service A Study analyzed thal
at present, services marketing plays a major role in the national economy. In the service
sector, telecom industry is the most active and attractive. Though the telecom industry is
growing rapidly, India's telecom density is less than the world's average telecom density as
most of India's market is yet to be covered This attracts private operators to enter into the
Indian telecom industry. which makes the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNI) more alert
to run its business and survive in the market.

Kalpana and Chinnadurai (2006) in their study titled Promotional Strategies of Cellular
Services: A Customer Perspective" analyzed that the increasing competition and changing
taste and preferences of the customer’s all over the world are forcing companies to change
their targeting strategies. The study revealed the customer attitude and their satisfaction
towards the cellular services in Coimbatore city. It was found that advertisement playa
dominant role in influencing the customers hut most of the customers are of opinion that
promotional strategies of cellular companies are more sale oriented rather than customer
oriented Chris (2003) has analyzed Telecom advertising in print media This research

38
attempted to investigate why Telecom theme are used in advertisement, and the motives that
lead companies and advertisers t use sport celebrities and sport concept in advertisements.
From study it has been revealed that the appearance of sport celebrities in advertising
endorsement often in Telecom magazines than in other magazines, because their target group
is more acquainted with athletes. The sport celebrities that dominated each printed media are
related with their target group characteristics.

39
CONCLUSION

Airtel is a very successful brand in India & providing customer satisfaction is to be there
main motive. Provides Internet access on the move as people are more dependent on it in
their daily lives like wide network and good 3G services.

Providing customer satisfaction is the most crucial step of the company as they are to be
satisfied and provides Internet access on the move such as Wide network and good 3G
services as they are important and technology advanced stuff required by almost everybody
in today’s environment,

Airtel is a home brand and a very successful brand in India and overseas and one of the most
successful brands still to date. It possesses congestion free & wide network, unique value
added & customer services to cover one of the widest areas.

From the details it can be concluded that 70% of Airtel users preferred to remain with Airtel.
Also good number of users who were willing to switch from their respective subscribers
showed interest in Airtel. Hence, these statistics imply a bright future for the company. Also
the company is used mainly by executives who want wide coverage for their operations but
the problem of customer satisfaction still persists with the company and cause of its lacking
new customers.

Connectivity is the backbone of the company and it is still the reason why consumers use it
and the most users of the company fall in the youth category and are now using postpaid
services as they are aware of the services provided as the youth is the main target of major of
companies as the country mainly comprises of them.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

• www.wikipedia.com
• www. Airtelworld.com
• http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Bharti_ Airtel
• http://www.airtel.in/
• http://managementhelp. org/customer/satisfy.htm
• http://airtelbroadband.in/wps/wem/connect/airtel.in/airtel.in/Home
• http://www.customersatisfaction.com/
• http://www.markosweb.com/www/airtel.in/

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