A Project Report On

Submitted By : Saurav Patro CUJ/01/2009/MBA/30

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to take an opportunity to thank all the people who helped me in collecting the necessary information for the successful completion of the report. I am grateful to all of them for their time and wisdom. I would like to extend my special thanks to my roommate Amit Jena , Gouri Shanker and Richa Burman for their inconsistent support and guidance during the period of Drafting this report. My project has become a reality only because of cooperation of these among many other people who had helped me in completing this project. I sincerely extend my gratitude to Mrs. Pragyan Pushpanjali who has given me this golden opportunity to have an insight in the corporate world and who has been a source of guidance and support.

Saurav Patro CUJ/01/2009/MBA/30 Central University of Jharkhand

Brahmbe Ranchi

Contents
1.
2.

Company Profile

History of Airtel Introduction Bharti Tele-Ventures

3. 4.
5.

The Logo The Organizational Structure Core Business Area SWOT Analysis

6.

7.

8.

9.

Marketing Strategy

10. Services Provided 11. Statement of Intent 12. Conclusion

COMPANY PROFILE

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. Bharti Airtel, formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited (BTVL). India's largest and world's fifth largest cellular service provider. More than 207 million subscribers as of 31 December 2010. Airtel brand is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Airtel provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles.

Indias First Telecom Company that provides telecom services in all the circles.

The company also has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.

Company shares are listed on The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) and The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) .

Per Share price of Airtel in BSE is Rs. 366.35 (11th May 2011)

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 Bombay 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.

Introduction
Bharti Airtel Limited (NSE: BHARTIARTL, BSE: 532454), commonly known as airtel, is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 19 countries across South, 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 207.8 million subscribers across 19 countries at the end of 2010.

It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with over 152.5 million subscribers at the end of 2010. 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.) are 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. During the last financial year [2009-10], Bharti has roped in a strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the Telemedia Business.

Bharti Tele-Ventures
Bharti Tele-Ventures is one of India's leading private sector providers of telecommunications services and has about 207.8 million subscribers worldwide - 152.5 million in India, 50.3 million are in Africa, 3.2 million in Bangladesh and 1.8 million in Sri Lanka as of the end of 2010 The businesses at Bharti Tele-Ventures have been structured into three individual strategic units (SBUs) 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 cities. The Enterprise Services group has two sub-units carriers (long distance services) and services top corporates. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Bharti Enterprises has been at the forefront of technology and has revolutionized telecommunications with its world class products and services. Established in 1986, Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts and innovations to its credit. Bharti provides a range of telecom services, which include Cellular, Basic, Internet and recently introduced National Long Distance. Bharti also manufactures and exports telephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being the largest manufacturer of telephone instruments in India, it is also the first company to export its products to the USA. Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 16 states covering all four metros. It has over 207.8 million satisfied customers. Bharti Enterprises has successfully focused its strategy on telecom while straddling diverse fields of business. From the creation of 'Airtel', one of India's finest brands, to becoming the largest manufacturer and exporter of world class telecom terminals under its 'Beetel' brand, Bharti has created a significant position for itself in the global telecommunications sector. Bharti Tele-Ventures is today acknowledged as one of India's finest companies, and its flagship brand 'Airtel', has over 157.8 million customers across the length and breadth of India. While a joint venture with TeleTech Inc., USA marked Bhartis successful foray into the Customer Management Services business, Bharti Enterprises dynamic diversification has continued with the company venturing into telecom software development. Recently, Bharti has successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild Group owned ELRO Holdings India Ltd., to export fresh Agro products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA. "What other operators have achieved in one to two years, Bharti has done in just over a month. In July 2002, one out of every two people buying a mobile across India chose AirTel. We are truly proud to be spearheading the mobile revolution in the country."
- Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Tele-Ventures in 2002

The LOGO

Logo used by Airtel till 2010 November

The unique symbol is an interpretation of the a in airtel. The curved shape & the gentle highlights on the red color make it warm & inviting, almost as if it were a living object. It represents a dynamic force of unparalleled energy that brings the customers closer to the brand. The specially designed logo type is modern, vibrant & friendly. It signals our resolve to be accessible, while the use of all lowercase is the organizations recognition for the need for humanity. Red is part of the organization's heritage. It is the color of energy & passion that expresses the dynamism that has made airtel the success it is today, in India, and now on the global stage.

The Organizational Structure

An organizational structure consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims. Employees within the functional divisions of an organization tend to perform a specialized set of tasks, for instance the engineering department would be staffed only with software engineers. This leads to operational efficiencies within that group. However it could also lead to a lack of communication between the functional groups within an organization, making the organization slow and inflexible. As a whole, a functional organizational heirarchy is best suited as a producer of standardized goods and services at large volume and low cost. Coordination and specialization of tasks are centralized in a functional structure, which makes producing a limited amount of products or services efficient and predictable. Moreover, efficiencies can further be realized as functional organizational heirarchy integrate their activities vertically so that products are sold and distributed quickly and at low cost. The business firm is no longer just a place where people come to work. For most of the employees, the firm confers on them that sense of belonging and identity- the firm has become their village, their community. The business firm of the 21st century is not just a hierarchy which ensures maximum efficiency and profit; it is also the community where people belong to and grow together- where their affective and innovative needs are met. Organizational structure affects organizational action in two big ways. First, it provides the foundation on which standard operating procedures and routines rest.

Second, it determines which individuals get to participate in which decision-making processes, and thus to what extent their views shape the organizations actions. The Board of Directors of the Company has an optimum mix of Executive and Non-Executive Directors, which consists of three Executive and fifteen Non-Executive Directors. The Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, is an Executive Director and the number of Independent Directors on the Board is 50% of the total Board strength. The independence of a Director is determined on the basis that such director does not have any material pecuniary relationship with the Company, its promoters or its management, which may affect the independence of the judgment of a Director. The Board members possess requisite skills, experience and expertise required to take decisions, which are in the best interest of the Company. The composition of the Board is as under:

Sunil Bharti Mittal Akhil Gupta Chua Sock Koong Kurt Hellstorm Paul OSullivan Pulak Chandan Prasad Gavin Darby Ajay Lal Paul Donovan

Rajan Bharti Mittal Rakesh Bharti Mittal N. Kumar Donald Cameron Professor V.S. Raju Bashir Abdullah Currimjee Syeda Imam York Chye Chang Arun Bharat Ram

CORE BUSINESS AREA

Mobile Services
Airtel offers mobile services using GSM technology on 900MHz and 1800MHz bands, and are the largest wireless service provider in the country, based on the number of customers. Its 152 million customers accounted for a market share of 27% of wireless market, as on December 31, 2010. Airtel also offers post-paid, pre-paid, roaming and value added services through its extensive sales and distribution channel covering 10,069,706 outlets. The network is present in 5,057 census towns and 401,882 non-census towns and villages in India, thus covering approximately 84% of the countrys population. The network operating centers, which monitor the health of the mobile network are located in Gurgaon, near Delhi, and Chennai.

Telemedia Services
Airtel provides broadband (DSL) and telephone services (fixed line) in 95 cities with growing focus on new media and entertainment solutions such as DTH and IPTV. Airtel also has 22,619,461 customers as on December 31, 2010 of which 37.9% were subscribing to broadband/internet services. The product offerings in this segment include supply and installation of fixed-line telephones providing local, national and international long distance voice connectivity and broadband Internet access through DSL. Airtel also remains strongly committed to the focus on Small and Medium Business enterprises. It provides a range of customised Telecom/ IT solutions and aim to achieve revenue leadership in this rapidly growing segment of the ICT market. The strategy of the Telemedia business is to focus on cities with high revenue potential, except for DTH which is an all- India offering. Airtel digital TV is available to

customers through 1,223,200 retail points in 250 cities across the country.

Enterprise Services
Enterprise Services provides a broad portfolio of services to large Enterprise and Carrier customers. This division comprises the Carrier and Corporate business units. Enterprise Services is regarded as the trusted communications partner to India's leading organizations, helping them to meet the challenges of growth.

- Carriers
Carrier business unit provides long distance wholesale voice and data services to carrier customers as well as to other business units of Airtel. It also offers virtual calling card services in the overseas markets. The business unit owns a state of the art national and international long distance network infrastructure enabling it to provide connectivity services both within India and connecting India to the world. The national long distance infrastructure comprises of 90,205 kms of optical fibre, over 1,500 MPLS and SDH POPs and over 1,250 POIs with the local exchanges, providing a pan India reach. The international infrastructure includes ownership of the i2i submarine cable system connecting Chennai to Singapore, consortium ownership of the SMW4 submarine cable system and investment in capacities across a number of diverse submarine cable systems across transatlantic and transpacific routes. In recent past Airtel has announced investments in new cable systems such as Asia America Gateway (AAG), India Middle East and Western Europe (IMEWE), Unity North, EIG (Europe India Gateway) and Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy).

-Corporate
This business unit delivers end to end telecom solutions to Indias large corporate. It serves as the single point of contact for all telecommunication needs for corporate customers in India by providing full suite of communication services across data, voice and managed services. It specializes in providing customized solutions to address unique requirements of different industry verticals; BFSI, IT, ITeS, Manufacturing and distribution, media, education, telecom, Government and PSUs and retail among others. Backed by the alliances with leading technology companies worldwide and state of the art infrastructure, it offers complete range of telecom solutions. These solutions enable corporate to network their offices within India and across the globe, provide them infrastructure to run business critical

applications and provide them means to connect with their customers, vendors and employees.

SWOT Analysis
Strengths

Bharti Airtel has more than 207 million customers (May 2011). It is the largest cellular provider in India, and also supplies broadband and telephone services - as well as many other telecommunications services to both domestic and corporate customers. Other stakeholders in Bharti Airtel include Sony-Ericsson, Nokia - and Sing Tel, with whom they hold a strategic alliance. This means that the business has access to knowledge and technology from other parts of the telecommunications world. The company has covered the entire Indian nation with its network. This has underpinned its large and rising customer base.

Weaknesses

An often cited original weakness is that when the business was started by Sunil Bharti Mittal over 15 years ago, the business has little knowledge and experience of how a cellular telephone system actually worked. So the start-up business had to outsource to industry experts in the field. Until recently Airtel did not own its own towers, which was a particular strength of some of its competitors such as Hutchison Essar. Towers are important if your company wishes to provide wide coverage nationally.

The fact that the Airtel has pulled off a deal with South Africa's Zain Telecom which has not yet showed any rise in the share

value which the company had earlier anticipated causing a huge decline in share prices in the first quarter of 2011.

Opportunities

The company possesses a customized version of the Google search engine which will enhance broadband services to customers. The tie-up with Google can only enhance the Airtel brand, and also provides advertising opportunities in Indian for Google. Global telecommunications and new technology brands see Airtel as a key strategic player in the Indian market. The new iPhone was launched in India via an Airtel distributorship. Another strategic partnership is held with BlackBerry Wireless Solutions. Despite being forced to outsource much of its technical operations in the early days, this allowed Airtel to work from its own blank sheet of paper, and to question industry approaches and practices - for example replacing the Revenue-Per-Customer model with a Revenue-Per-Minute model which is better suited to India, as the company moved into small and remote villages and towns. The company is investing in its operation in 120,000 to 160,000 small villages every year. It sees that less well-off consumers may only be able to afford a few tens of Rupees per call, and also so that the business benefits are scalable - using its 'Matchbox' strategy. Bharti Airtel is embarking on another joint venture with Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular to create a new independent tower company called Indus Towers. This new business will control more than 60% of India's network towers. IPTV is another potential new service that could underpin the company's long-term strategy. There is a considerable opportunity in the CDMA sector where very few operators are presently operating the market there is a considerable scope of development there and Airtel is also shown sigh to enter the market in the near future.

Threats

Airtel and Vodafone seem to be having an on/off relationship. Vodafone which owned a 5.6% stake in the Airtel business sold it back to Airtel, and instead invested in its rival Hutchison Essar. Knowledge and technology previously available to Airtel now moves into the hands of one of its competitors. The quickly changing pace of the global telecommunications industry could tempt Airtel to go along the acquisition trail which may make it vulnerable if the world goes into recession. Perhaps this was an impact

upon the decision not to proceed with talks about the potential purchase of South Africa's MTN in May 2008. This opened the door for talks between Reliance Communication's Anil Ambani and MTN, allowing a competing Indian industrialist to invest in the new emerging African telecommunications market.

Bharti Airtel could also be the target for the takeover vision of other global telecommunications players that wish to move into the Indian market.

MARKETING STRATEGY
Core Value of Airtel
Performance Dynamism Leadership

Targeting
Elite Up market professionals Entrepreneur with business plans Low income mass category Youth Women and senior citizens by post-paid connection

AdvertisementAirtel basically uses two appeals to connect to the users: Emotional Humorous

The service strategies of Bharti Airtel are Best-in-class technology World-class Installation & Customer Service Interactive VAS to Drive ARPU enhancement

 One Airtel Synergies for Distribution, Brand & IT Data Products: Internet, MPLS etc Integrated Solutions to Drive Share of wallet Strategic Alliances Indirect Channel to Drive Penetration Deeper & Not Wider: 94 Cities Vertical & Not Horizontal: Hi-Rise Network Enhancement to Deliver 32+ MBPS New Products & VAS to drive Flat, combo plans

Competitors
Airtel launched its services before Essar and skimmed the market picking up the bulk of the high usage premium clients. This is a very competitive industry with the two companies differentiating either on value-added services or price. Airtel is perceived as the high quality provider and has a premium image. Airtel positions itself as the market leader on the basis of the number of subscribers. To promote themselves, all the players have been dependent on tactical advertising. However, they have restrained from using comparative advertising Hoardings have been a very popular medium for carrying the advertisements Airtel has also been advertising on television using the Bharti Telecom name.

Vodafone S-tel Aircel

Reliance Communications Tata DOCOMO Tata Indicom Loop Swan Bsnl Idea Uninor

SERVICES
Airtel Prepaid
Airtel Prepaid, the Ready Cellular Card from Airtel comes to you from Bharti Enterprises, India's leading integrated telecom service provider. Going mobile with Airtel Prepaid is a new way of life. With a host of great features, also simple to use, Airtel Prepaid makes everything that you dreamt and believed, possible.

Total Cost Control

You can control your Airtel Prepaid like never before. No more rentals or deposits simply recharge as much as you need to from as low as Rs. 10, to as high as Rs. 10,000/- denominations, which are available at a number of outlets across your city.

Prepaid Roaming
Airtel Prepaid comes pre-activated with 'National Roaming', so you stay connected no matter wherever you are. You can also send or receive MMS, check your email and access other GPRS services while roaming in India as you would in your own city. While traveling abroad you can receive calls & send or receive SMS.

Other Services
Airtel brings you, a wide range of Services that will change the way you communicate. Try them and discover a whole new world of fun and excitement.

Call management Services

Call waiting, call hold, call divert and Caller Line Identification Presentation all with your Airtel prepaid connection.

Voice Mail
When your handset is switched off, or youre too busy to answer the phone, Airtel Voicemail will answer your calls and record a message. The best part is that there's no extra monthly cost for setting up Voicemail - you just pay for the phone call when you use the service.

SMS (Short Messaging Service)

Send messages quickly and easily using text, if it's too noisy to talk or you don't have much time. It's the way to share those interesting oneliners, important reminders and rib-tickling jokes, with anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world.

Subscription Alerts
Get regular alerts on news, jokes, business, health and films on your Airtel mobile phone with Subscription Services. SMS <SUBNEWS> to3333 for News, <SUB JOKE> for Jokes, <SUB BIZ> for Business News, <SUB SPO> for Sports Alerts & <SUB VAASTU>for Vaastu tips.

MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service):

Jazz up your messages with pictures, images and video clippings, with MMS from Airtel! To activate MMS on your phone, SMS 'MMS' to 56465 and save service settings.

Airtel Live!
Make your mobile the most happening entertainment destination with Airtel Live! Airtel brings you the latest in entertainment and information services, right on your phone!

Airtel Live! WAP Services: Download the latest ring tones, games, wallpapers, videos and much more. You can also get news clips, watch live TV and download full songs on your phone. To get Airtel Live! settings on your phone, SMS 'Live' to 56465and save the settings that you receive as your preferred connection. Airtel Live! Portal can be accessed from you GPRS enabled phone, by sending a SMS 'FUN' to 56465.

Airtel Live! Voice Services:

Just Dial 56465, and name the service. For e.g. say ring tones to download your favorite ringtones. You can also choose a variety of content options like Live Cricket Commentary, latest National / International News, Movie reviews or Stock Market Updates. Airtel Live! SIM Services: Access loads of fun content and exciting services like cricket, stocks, on your phone at the touch of a few buttons with Airtel Live! SIM based Services on your SIM card menu. To download new services on your Airtel SIM, choose the "What's new" option under the "Airtel services" menu. Airtel Live! SMS Services: You can enjoy a host of services by sending a keyword as an SMS to 56465!

Hello Tunes
Tired of that boring old tring tring on your phone? Well now when a friend calls, you can make them groove to the hottest new tracks burning up the music charts with Hello Tunes from Airtel! You get a wide choice of songs in the Popular & New Arrivals categories that are updated regularly. What's more, you can directly call the number for your kind of music, e.g. call678005 for English New and 678001 for Hindi New. This would directly take you to your favourite artist's Hello Tunes listing.

GPRS (General Packet Radio Services)

Log on to the internet, with GPRS that allows data transmission at a higher speed. Access e-mails and internet across Airtel's pan-India

presence using 'Mobile Office' with your phone or a phone and laptop both.

Statement of Intent
Since customer satisfaction is the only key to retain the customers in the highly competitive market hence, I am keen on going for my project to Airtel to study the measurement of the level of acceptance by the consumers of the Value Added Services (VAS) provided by Bharti Airtel. In other words, my aim is to study the Demand of the various Value Added Services (VAS) provided by Airtel Cellular service. The likability of the Value Added Services (VAS) provided by Airtel.

Conclusion
I am hoping that this would be great experience. And it would be even better if I could manage to successfully analyze the Marketing strategy of Airtel, its perceived Brand Image and the true value of the brand ambassadors and effectiveness of the advertisements of the Value Added Services that the customers are attracted to opting for Airtel in this market of cut throat competition and highly degenerating pricing. I am expecting to learn more about this organization when I a go for my internship there and I hope I get to learn more and gather more practical knowledge about the basic marketing theories which I have learnt through effective studying of the course materials provided to us . The true intention being to get an in depth knowledge about the:1.

Airtel to study the measurement of the level of customer Demands for the Value Added Services provided by Bharti Airtel. Also to study the Advertising Effectiveness of Value Added Services Airtel Cellular service. Scenario of the Present Global Market and its relation with the Marketing of these products (Value Added Services).

2.

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Thank You!!!