Comparative Study of Mobile Service Providers in Mumbai

Prashant V Deshinge MMS Second Year Roll NO: 05

Deepak Salian MMS Second Year Roll No: 35

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We express our deep gratitude to Prof. Meera Vijaykumar for her constant support, guidance and motivation which helped me immensely in completing this project. The project provided us with an opportunity to understand the fundamentals of research methods in a better manner and apply them.

I also would like to thank our respondents for giving us their valuable time and providing us with the information needed to carry out the research successfully.

Prashant Deshinge SIES College of Management Studies MMS (Second Year) 2009-11 Roll No 05

Deepak Salian SIES College of Management Studies MMS (Second Year) 2009-11 Roll No 35

Table of Contents
1. Introduction................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ... 4 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Objectives ................................ ................................ ................................ .......................... 5 Problem ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................. 5 Scope & Limitations................................ ................................ ................................ ............ 5 Defining the Variables ................................ ................................ ................................ ........ 5

2. Literature Review................................ ................................ ................................ ........................... 6 2.1 2.2 Theoretical Literature Review................................ ................................ ............................. 6 Research Literature Review ................................ ................................ ................................ 6 Consumer Satisfaction with Quality of Mobile Services. ................................ .............. 6 Industry Overview Cellular Telephone................................ ................................ ........ 7

2.2.3 2.2.4

2.2.5 Customer Loyalty and Approach of Service Providers An Empirical Study of Mobile Airtime Service Industry in India................................. ................................ ................................ 8 2.2.6 Entry and Innovation in Maturing Markets Virtual Operators in Mobile Telecommunications ................................ ................................ ................................ .................. 8 2.2.7 2.2.8 Mobile Value Added Services in India................................ ................................ .......... 9 Innovations in Pricing of Prepaid services adopted by CMSPs (Cellular .................... 10

Mobile Service Providers) and it s impact on the Revenue Per Minute in................................ .. 10 Raising their bottom line : A case study of TRUMP1 MTNL, Mumbai during.............................. 10 2.2.9 Sector 2.2.10 Strategies for succeeding at the Bottom of Pyramid (BOP) market in Telecom Services 11 Factors affecting consumer attitude towards mobile advertising in India.................. 11

2.2.11 Mobile Number Portability More Attractive To India's Postpaid Users and High Spenders: Nielsen Study................................ ................................ ................................ ........... 12 2.2.12 2.2.13 2.2.14 Comparative study of telecom service providers in India................................ ........... 13 India s Buzziest brands................................ ................................ .............................. 14 Comparative study of telecom service providers in India................................ ........... 14

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................ ................................ ................................ .......... 15 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Research design ................................ ................................ ................................ ............... 15 Sources of data................................ ................................ ................................ ................. 16 Sample design ................................ ................................ ................................ .................. 16 Sample size................................ ................................ ................................ ...................... 17

4. Results and Findings................................ ................................ ................................ ..................... 18 4.1 Gender ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................. 18

4.2 How many different mobile service providers you use ................................ ........................... 18

4.4 Will you change your provider if your mobile number remains same?................................ .... 20 4.5 Do you feel your service providers have fulfilled all promises? ................................ ......... 20

4.6 What are the technologies which you are aware? ................................ ................................ .. 21 4.7 Are you willing to change the mobile service provider if your service provider doesn t have 3G option? ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ........ 21 4.8 Please select the services you use on your mobile. ................................ ........................... 22

4.9 Will you change the service provider if only one of the factors like calling rates or SMS rate or VAS charges or better network coverage or more accessible service centres or better technology? ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .................... 22 4.10 Are you satisfied with your service provider? ................................ ................................ ....... 23 5. Conclusion ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ... 24 6. Recommendations ................................ ................................ ................................ ....................... 25 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................. 26 7.1 Books ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 26 7.2 WEBSITES................................ ................................ ................................ ............................... 26 7.3 OTHER REFERENCES ................................ ................................ ................................ ............... 26 8. ANNEXURES ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 27 8.1 Online Questionnaire ................................ ................................ ................................ ............. 27

1. Introduction
1.1

Background
The Indian telecommunication industry, with about 525 million mobile phone

connections (Dec 2009), is the third largest telecommunication network in the world and the second largest in terms of number of wireless connections. The Indian telecom industry is one of the fastest growing in the world and is projected that India will have 'billion plus' mobile users by 2015. Projection by several leading global consultancies is that Indias telecom network will overtake Chinas in the next 10 years. For the past decade or so, telecommunication activities have gained momentum in India. Efforts have been made from both governmental and non-governmental platforms to enhance the infrastructure. The idea is to help modern telecommunication technologies to serve all segments of Indias culturally diverse society, and to transform it into a country of technologically aware people.

The Mobile telecommunications system in India is the second largest in the world and it was thrown open to private players in the 1990s. The country is divided into multiple zones, called circles (roughly along state boundaries). Government and several private players run local and long distance telephone services. Competition has caused prices to drop and calls across India are one of the cheapest in the world. The rates are supposed to go down further with new measures to be taken by the Information Ministry. The mobile service has seen phenomenal growth since 2000. In September 2004, the number of mobile phone connections has crossed fixed-line connections. The dominant players are Airtel, Reliance Infocomm, Vodafone, Idea cellular and BSNL/MTNL. There are many smaller players, with operations in only a few states.

1.2

Objectives

The main objectives that the research is focusing is to find out i. ii. iii. To understand user preferences with respect to the features and the service quality To study the factors contributing to the new subscription To study the competitiveness of the mobile service providers as per new advancements in the technology iv. To study the factors affecting the service quality and the overall satisfaction level among the user

1.3

Problem
The telecom sector is one of the fastest growing service industries in India. Mobile

services forms important share of the telecom services along with internet facility providers. India, the country having the second largest population in the world has huge business opportunity for the mobile operators. This paper deals with the study of competitiveness of various mobile operators (domestic and multinational players) and their strategies for achieving the major share in the sector.

1.4

Scope & Limitations

The scope of the study is limited to finding out the competitiveness of the mobile

service providers operating in Mumbai area. The respondents residing in the areas of Mumbai, Thane & Navi Mumbai are taken into consideration. The sample size is restricted to 44. As the no of respondents are less, the findings may vary with larger sample and the finding are dynamic in nature and may change with respect to time.

1.5

Defining the Variables

 Independent Variables: Network coverage, Technology, VAS, Pricing policy  Dependent Variables: Customer satisfaction, Subscription rate

2. Literature Review
2.1 Theoretical Literature Review

Mobile Service providers form distinctive part of the service industry in India. In service providers there are different types of gaps in the services and it is challenge to match the customer perception of service, at the same time the cost of research should match the value of the information. The different roles are to be played by the service delivery by employees and the customers and managing the demand and supply capacity.

Reference: Services marketing- by V A Zeithaml, M J Bitner, Ajay Pandit.

2.2

Research Literature Review

2.2.3 Consumer Satisfaction with Quality of Mobile Services. 441, (Basement), Jangpura, Mathura Road, New Delhi 110014, India

The study on the Consumer Satisfaction with Quality of Mobile Services is an endeavour to understand empirically the ground level situation in quality of service and customer care being delivered by Service Providers (SPs) in the background of TRAI regulations for Mobile Service Providers from the eyes of the consumer. In this study we have covered 4745 respondents from the 4 metro cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata and ten service providers operating in these cities. These ten SPs are: BSNL, Vodafone, Tata, Reliance, Idea, Airtel, Aircel, BPL and MTNL. The primary data has been collected by means of face-to-face interviews and Computer Aided Telephonic Interview. It is the customers perception of satisfaction with the services delivered by their service providers, which are central to our study. Descriptive comparisons between Service Providers have been carried out as trend comparisons and not as a tool to make (quality) rankings. The report is designed in a way that it flows in a sequence beginning with Introduction, Methodology followed by Sample Treatment. Then the report moves to focus on the major findings of the study in Chapter 4 - Executive Tables and chapter 5 - the

Summary of Individual Service Providers. The latter section of the report deals with the detail of General Aspects, Quality of Service, Quality of Customer Care Service and Overall Satisfaction. In the last section of Annexure, the descriptive analysis of each service provider is explained on two major fortes: Quality of Service and Quality of Customer Care Service. 2.2.4 Industry Overview: Cellular Telephone Services in India by PIPALANSWERS 2002 Cellular industry in India is attractive to foreign investors because: Current penetration is about 0.6% which is very low compared to other countries such as China (penetration of 6%). This suggests immense potential for investment in cellular sector in India Demand is growing with the reduction in tariffs and handset prices. If Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) successfully introduces calling party pays (CPP), demand would further increase due to the potential cost savings Cellular operators are acquiring existing small players, competing on pricing and value added service offerings to gain market share Key players in this market have been reporting revenue growth. Operations are experiencing losses but are expecting to have significant profitability growth in the future Investing in Indias cellular industry is subject to a number of constraints: Government policies on the industry are still strict despite the changes occurred in the recent past Competition is fierce with 70% of the market controlled by 3 major players. It is further intensified by the incumbent fixed line operators like MTNL and BSNL entering the cellular foray. Introduction of wireless in local loop (WLL) also created additional competition Investment cap of 49% restricts foreign investors to make an aggressive en into the try market The average revenue per unit subscriber has been decreasing with introduction of pre-paid cards and tariff cuts Potential option for foreign investors to enter Indias cellular market would be to buy out stakes in the existing licensees/ cellular operators in most cellular circles.

2.2.5 Customer Loyalty and Approach of Service Providers: An Empirical Study of Mobile Airtime Service Industry in India. Authors: Gupta, Devashish Das devashish@iiml.ac.in Sharma, Atul

Services are always unique from a marketing perspective due to their intangible nature. Especially in the case of a service like mobile airtime service where there is no service encounter, attributes required for brand loyalty become more complex. This article tests the relationship of customer loyalty and the approach of service providers in India. It looks into the airtime service market in India and delves into customer psyche

2.2.6 Entry and Innovation in Maturing Markets: Virtual Operators in Mobile Telecommunications In the last few years the mobile telecommunications industry has witnessed the entry of a large number of new service providers. Traditionally, mobile users get their mobile services from the service providers owned by vertically integrated mobile network operators (MNOs). The new entrants do not own a network of their own however, because they use the existing mobile infrastructure, i.e. they are mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). By granting these virtual operators access to their networks, MNOs actually facilitate the entry of potential competitors for their own downstream service providers. These new entrants might attract additional users by offering competitive services and create extra value with their well-known brand names and other complementary assets. This study focuses on the mobile market of the Netherlands, where competition is intense and MVNOs proliferate. The aim of this research is to improve our understanding of the entry of virtual operators in general, and specifically by explaining why and how virtual operators enter the mobile market and the impact they have on competition in the mobile market.

2.2.7 Mobile Value Added Services in India A Report by IAMAI & eTechnology Group@IMRB The mobile subscriber base is growing at a scorching pace in India; India is now the 5th country in the world to have crossed the 100 million mark in subscriber base and has in the last two months become the fastest growing mobile market in the world. As average revenue per user decrease from voice drops, and voice becomes commoditized, Telcos are increasingly looking at data as an additional revenue stream. The end users have also embraced VAS and it contributes between 5-10% of the revenues of different Telcos. Thus Mobile VAS has become an important element in the growth of mobile telephony in India. Yet it is also equally true that there is little clarity on business issues and growth seems to be driven by more by inherent market momentum than a concentrated effort on the part of the stakeholders differences exist even on basic issues like definition for Mobile VAS. Thus an understanding into the VAS space is needed to help stakeholders give a direction to this wave of growth. This report explores the key issues around the value chain of Mobile VAS in India and provides a much needed holistic perspective to macro and micro issues in this space It . clearly defines the constituents of Mobile VAS, examines the environmental factors driving it, and maps business models, market size and revenue sharing arrangements. The report also goes on to identify the roadblocks that need to be addressed for the current growth to be sustained.

2.2.8 Innovations in Pricing of Prepaid services adopted by CMSPs (Cellular Mobile Service Providers) and its impact on the Revenue Per Minute in Raising their bottom line : A case study of TRUMP1 MTNL, Mumbai during the 12 month period of 2006. B B Chaudhary, Dr. Vijay Wagh, Dr. Pradip Manjrekar, Vani Kamath. In March 2008 the number of mobile connections in India crossed 261 million marks. It is now having the second largest number of mobile connections in the world after China. The teledensity2 in India is governed by three factors viz. growing household income, innovative price models adopted by CMSPs and telecom regulations. The mobile services market in India is the fastest growing market in the world. There are more than five CMSPs in each circle; it is becoming difficult for them to retain their market share. The mobile services provided by all of them are having almost same features. The CMSPs are making all possible efforts to increase their market share. Most of them have outsourced their non-core business activities. Some of them have tied up with software firms to provide content and niche services. They are adopting competitive strategy to differentiate their services from others. In order to penetrate the market they are offering the lowest call tariffs in the world. The only way to earn profit is by the economy of scales. MTNL has positioned Trump its prepaid brand as the most affordable mobile service in the market by providing Price Leadership in voice and data services. The competitive strategy of CMSPs is to get the maximum number of customers by reducing prices. The objective of this research is to find out the innovative price models adopted by CMSPs and its impact on their bottom line. The incoming free for life time 3pricing model for prepaid mobile services, which was one of the driving forces behind the explosive growth of mobile connections in 2006, is selected for detailed analysis. A case study of TRUMP MTNL, Mumbai during the last 12 month period of (January to December 2006) is discussed in detail to further support this hypothesis.

2.2.9 Strategies for succeeding at the Bottom of Pyramid (BOP) market in Telecom Services Sector Prof U S Rao Sai Sangeet C Indian Telecom Scenario The overall mobile subscriber base in the country has crossed 200 million as of end of February, 2007. India is adding over six million mobile subscribers per month. Just over 10% of Indias population owns a Conference on Global Competition & Competitiveness of Indian Corporate 3 mobile phone. Indian mobile phone market is expected to touch 348 million by 2010, according to a research by The Diffusion Group. Though mobile phones have become indispensable in the rich world, they are even more useful in the developing world, where the availability of other forms of communication--roads, postal systems or fixed-line phones--is often limited. Phones let fishermen and farmers check prices in different markets before selling produce, make it easier for people to find work, allow quick and easy transfers of funds and boost entrepreneurship. Phones can be shared by a village. Pre-paid calling plans reduce the need for a bank account or credit check. Economic Times, on 23rd December 2006, reported that the poor pay up to 300% more for a mobile than their rich counterparts. Traditionally, marketing to the BOP was considered uneconomical and not profitable by larger organizations, with the result that this market was being serviced by unorganized sector with low quality goods and services, and many a times at unreasonable prices. In the area of financial services, due to perceived high risk, they are charged usurious rates of interest and provided highly deficient services. C.K Prahalad terms this as the Poverty Penalty. The poor pay a premium on everything from rice to credit--often five to 25 times what the rich pay for the same services. Driving down these premiums can make serving the BOP more profitable than serving the top.

2.2.10 Factors affecting consumer attitude towards mobile advertising in India Mary Mathew and Anirudha Dambal There has been a tremendous growth in the mobile telecommunication industry in India. India has already crossed the 250 million users mark in February 2008. At the same time, there has also been a growth in the mobile advertising space in India. Although several papers have

been written in the recent times about consumer attitudes towards mobile advertising, a systematic study of these for India is lacking. This paper has tried to address this need. The study is aimed at understanding the attitudes towards mobile based advertisement and variables influencing it. After surveying the increasing body of recent literature on mobile advertising, the paper proposed a conceptual model. This model was empirically tested to find the factors contributing to a positive consumer attitude towards mobile advertising. The paper revealed that the overall attitudes towards mobile advertisement are not too high in the Indian sample. It concluded that the two factors affecting consumers' attitude towards mobile advertising are non-consumer centric factors and consumer centric factors. The study also showed that non-consumer centric variables namely technology and content of advertisements must be managed to create a positive attitude towards mobile based advertising in India. 2.2.11 Mobile Number Portability More Attractive To India's Postpaid Users and High Spenders: Nielsen Study Reliance, Tata, and BSNL Subscribers More Likely To Switch Mumbai, Maharashtra, July 29, 2009 /India PRwire

The introduction of Mobile Number Portability is considered good news for consumers, but presents a looming threat for mobile operators since it presents consumers with the choice of retaining their current mobile phone numbers even if they change their operator. And according to a recently conducted Mobile Consumer Insights study conducted by The Nielsen Company to gauge consumer attitudes and behaviour towards mobile operators in India, it seems that close to one in five (18%) Indian mobile phone subscribers would change their mobile operator if Mobile Number Portability is introduced into the market. Among the respondents, one in four Reliance and Tata Indicom subscribers would be keen to change their operator if Mobile Number Portability is introduced, followed by close to one in five (19%) of BSNL subscribers. In the third consecutive round of the Mobile Consumer Insights study by Nielsen in India, 12,500 mobile subscribers were surveyed across 50 centres in India. Nielsen augments the study with objective measurement of network performance, with the Consumer Insights part of the study measuring metrics such as satisfaction, willingness to recommend, reasons for churn and reasons for operator selection. According to the Nielsen Mobile Consumer Insights study, high spenders, postpaid subscribers and business subscribers show a greater tendency to switch if Mobile Number

Portability is introduced. Prepaid, low and medium spend users are not motivated to switch. Post-paid subscribers have almost double the minutes of usage compared to pre-paid subscribers and the incidence of data application usage is also higher among postpaid and high spenders. Vodafone has the highest postpaid subscriber base in India.

2.2.12 Comparative study of telecom service providers in India Aggarwal, M. Gupta, V. Electron. & Commun. Eng., Jaypee Inst. of Inf. Technol. Univ., Noida, India; Growth is the prime aim for any company. With the changing times and growing competition, it has become essential for the technology-driven companies to identify their core competencies and have a competitive edge over others. Business matrices like net sales, profit after tax, market capitalization and level of satisfaction of the customers are important indicators depicting the stand of the companies in the market. A comparative analysis of the leading telecom service providers such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Tata Indicom in India has been presented in this paper on the basis of secondary data which includes last five year figures of nets sales, market capitalization and profit after tax. Primary data has been collected to measure the level of satisfaction (LOS) of the Indian telecommunications' customers. The LOS was determined for various factors like network coverage; tariff rates, plan, accountability of bill, customer service, etc. To achieve this objective, an empirical study has been done and conclusions have been brought out on the basis of the data collected though an online field survey. For this purpose, an online questionnaire was prepared and was distributed to mobile phone users via email and social networking sites. The collected data was analyzed with the help of SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 12.0 for Windows. A sensitivity analysis was done to verify the significance of the factors considered for determining the LOS. It was concluded that Bharti Airtel is the overall leader in all three business matrices mentioned above.

2.2.13 Indias Buzziest brands Afaq! Reporter has conducted the survey of the brands which have created the buzz around the country in the past year. According to the survey, there are 6 telecom brands out of top 50 successful brands. Among the telecom brands, Vodaphone Essar is top among the peers it has secured the second position overall and followed by Idea (4th), Airtel (16th), Aircel(21st), Virgin Mobile(24th) and Tata Indicom(27th). 2.2.14 Comparative study of telecom service providers in India Aggarwal, M. Gupta, V. Electron. & Commun. Eng., Jaypee Inst. of Inf. Technol. Univ., Noida, India Growth is the prime aim for any company. With the changing times and growing competition, it has become essential for the technology-driven companies to identify their core competencies and have a competitive edge over others. Business matrices like net sales, profit after tax, market capitalization and level of satisfaction of the customers are important indicators depicting the stand of the companies in the market. A comparative analysis of the leading telecom service providers such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Tata Indicom in India has been presented in this paper on the basis of secondary data which includes last five year figures of nets sales, market capitalization and profit after tax. Primary data has been collected to measure the level of satisfaction (LOS) of the Indian telecommunications' customers. The LOS was determined for various factors like network coverage; tariff rates, plan, accountability of bill, customer service, etc. To achieve this objective, an empirical study has been done and conclusions have been brought out on the basis of the data collected though an online field survey. For this purpose, an online questionnaire was prepared and was distributed to mobile phone users via email and social networking sites. The collected data was analyzed with the help of SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 12.0 for Windows. A sensitivity analysis was done to verify the significance of the factors considered for determining the LOS. It was concluded that Bharti Airtel is the overall leader in all three business matrices mentioned above.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research is an art of scientific investigation. It is defined as A careful investigation or enquiry especially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge. Research is a movement from the known to the unknown. It is actually a voyage of discovery. Research refers to the systematic method consisting of enunciating the problem, collecting the facts or data, analyzing the facts and reaching certain conclusions in the form of solutions towards the concerned problem. This chapter presents the methodology that will be use in the conduct of this study and will include the discussion of research design, samplings, respondents, data gathering and statistical instrument used.

3.1

Research design

A research design specifies the methods and procedures for conducting a particular study. Broadly speaking, there are 3 categories of research design exploratory, descriptive and casual research. An exploratory research focuses on the discovery of ideas and is generally based on secondary data. A descriptive study is undertaken when the researcher wants to know the characteristics of certain groups such as age, educational level, income, occupation, etc. A casual research is undertaken when the researcher is interested in knowing the cause and effect relationship between two or more variables. The type of research used in this study is descriptive research. Following method was adopted during study y y y y y

Review of literature to understand recent development in the field. Defining objective of the study. Formation of questionnaire to capture primary data. Analysis and interpretation of primary data. Conclusion out of primary and secondary data.

3.2

Sources of data

The sources of data used in this project report are both primary and secondary data. Primary data Primary data consists of response of the survey questionnaire made for specific purpose of this research project using Google Documents. The questionnaire was mailed to the respondents and responses collected online. The sample questionnaire is included in the Annexure. Secondary data Secondary data consists of information that already exist in form of magazines and online journals and data that were being collected in the past for some other purposes. Secondary data used in this study were collected from external sources like books, wiki, etc. Some websites which were really helpful are www.slideshare.com, www.scribd.com. There were many research journals which were referred to.

3.3

Sample design

Sampling technique adopted The sampling technique used for online survey was a non-probabilistic convenience sampling. The respondents in the sample were included having the age group of 22-30, which are using the mobile phones more than 4 years. Population All students & working professionals in the age group 22-30 comprise population for offline survey. There is a good mix of both the genders in the survey. Tools and techniques adopted Data was collected with the help of questionnaire. The questionnaire is of structured no disguised type. The questions are of mixed type. It is given in Annexure. For online survey, questionnaire was prepared using third party tool (www.docs.google.com), email for filling

questionnaire was send to potential respondent and response was collected on the third party site on which questionnaire was prepared. The third party tool made data reliable owing to the self-reported demographic attributes of the respondents. The email invitations provided a direct link to the survey and well directed for giving the appropriate answers to the questions.

3.4

Sample size

For online survey sample size is 44. Total invitations send for this was about 100. There were about 56 uncompleted or abandoned surveys which were rejected. This makes the ratio of 44%.

4. Results and Findings

4.1 Gender

Male, 23

Male

52%

Female

48%

Fe ale, 2 1

The sample is a good mix of both genders hence is giving the unbiased view on the question.

4.2 How many different mobile service providers you use

AirTel Vodaphone Idea MTNL MTS Aircel Reliance Tata Docomo BSNL Other 9 20% 26 59% 1 2% 7 16% 0 0%% 1 2% 6 14% 3 7% 2 5% 2 5%

According to the survey conducted the maximum no of respondents have favoured the Vodaphone Essar as favourite mobile operator in the Mumbai region. The next preference is for the Airtel followed by MTNL & Reliance, the new telecom operators have small market share in the market. This finding is not according to the overall survey conducted in India, which profess Airtel leads in the subscription. The average time duration of the use for each Vodaphone Essar customer is 4 years the minimum time is being 2 years and the maximum time being 7 years.

4.3

Average monthly spends on the phone?

Rs 8011200, 7

The average monthly spending on the mobile is in between 301 to 800 Rs for around 55% of the respondents around 20% of respondents have their monthly charges below 300 Rs. Thus around 75% of the respondents agree that they spend less than 800 Rs per month on the mobile phones.

ove Rs 1200,4

Below Rs 300, 9

Below 300

20.45%

301-800

54.54%

801-1200

15.90%

Above 1200
Rs 301800, 24

9.11%

4.4 Will you change your provider if your mobile number remains same?

Yes

57.82%

No

43.18%

The above information shows that change in mobile number is the major concern for majority users thus it was a discouraging factor for the majority users. Thus now after announcement of new directions by TRAI, telecom operators may observe change in the service providers.

4.5

Do you feel your service providers have fulfilled all promises?

Yes

50.0%

No

50.0%

According to the survey half the respondents believe that the mobile operators have not fulfilled all the promises they have done to the customer. Thus it is seen that there are some service gaps between the services offered and the external communications done to the customer. These include the problems as unclear billing policies,

4.6 What are the technologies which you are aware?

CDMA GSM Satellite Phones 3G 4G Other

43 100% 40 93% 18 40 12 0 42% 93% 28% 0%

The above data represents that the all respondents are aware of the CDMA technology, 93% of respondents are aware of the GSM technology and 3G mobiles. This statistics represents that awareness level of majority respondents about new age technology is good. Less no of respondents are aware about the 4G technology.

4.7 Are you willing to change the mobile service provider if your service provider doesnt have 3G option?

Yes

25.0%

No

75.0%

This response shows that the majority of the respondents are not ready to change their mobile services even if their service providers are not having the 3G licence. This is very interesting finding as if we see the awareness level of the users is high but the willingness to change the service provider is not there, even if the provider is not equipped with 3G facilities.

4.8

Please select the services you use on your mobile.

GPRS

GPRS

34.1%

Call divert Caller ring tone

S

Call Divert Call Ring Tone

6.8%

34.1%

The above chart shows that out of different kind of services available, customers use GPRS and Caller Ring Tone most widely. 34.1% of respondents prefer GPRS and Caller ring tone and MMS service is used by 11.3% and call divert services is used by 6.8% of the respondents.

4.9 Will you change the service provider if only one of the factors like calling rates or SMS rate or VAS charges or better network coverage or more accessible service centres or better technology?

The majority of the users which are around 66% say that they are ready to change their service providers provided even only one of the parameters like the Price, Network coverage or the better technology comes into the picture. The others are happy with the kind of service they are receiving.

MMS
0 5 10 15 20

11.3%

Yes, 15

Yes

34.1%

No, 29

No

65.9%

4.10 Are you satisfied with your service provider?

Very Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dis-satisfied 16% 66% 13% 5%

As per the survey, the Dissatisfied portion is only 5% and Neutral opinion is given by 13% and 66% of the respondents say that they are Satisfied with the services given by the service providers. 16% of the respondents are Very Satisfied with the service they get. Thus it proves to be a challenge to the telecom industry to target the neutral and the dissatisfied customer and the thereby capture the competitors market share. The respondents have major problem of the network coverage in some area of Mumbai, unclear billing, cheating in bills, High call rates. The users which are satisfied are satisfied by the good network coverage, good VAS services, cheaper call rates etc. Thus it is clear that the users are mostly satisfied by the good network coverage, low calling rates and good VAS. Hence it can be seen that still users are being satisfied by the primary requirements and the as seen in the Q.7 that users are not still looking for the high end services on the phone.

5. Conclusion
In Mumbai, we came to know the mobile service providers are, Vodaphone Essar, Airtel, MTNL, Reliance, Tata Indicom, Virgin Mobiles, Idea and Aircel. As per the responses, the major subscriber in the Mumbai is Vodaphone Essar and followed by AirTel. The majority of users say that the network coverage is the very important factor for the consumer loyalty and satisfaction. The mobile number portability will bring change in the service providers. It was found that the leading subscriber (Vodaphone) is scoring good on customer loyalty, better serve delivery (in terms of VAS), better network, leading brand awareness through the latest advertisement campaign of ZOO-ZOO.

The majority usage on mobile phone is restricted to talking and SMS till date and other services like GPRS, MMS are not popular yet. Majority of the users are still not looking for the revolution in the mobile technology and they are satisfied with the current technologies and services they are getting.

6. Recommendations
The study has given lot of important insights about the customer expectations of mobile services. Based on the survey findings, there are few recommendations for the service providers about the technology requirements, changing norms and the current level of satisfaction level. 1. The very important factor which is deciding the satisfaction level among the customer is network coverage which is considered more important than the cost effectiveness. This is the important factor for increasing the satisfaction level, followed by the price competitiveness and then the VAS services. The other factor increasing the dissatisfaction level is less clarity of the mobile bills thus mobile operators need to bring more transparent services for paying the bills. 2. The Customers right now less worried about latest technology like 3G operators, thus in short term to have more no of subscribers operators should concentrate on better quality of basic services on mobiles. 3. The new mobile operators norms like mobile no portability, are going to create good amount of turbulence in the industry thus it is very important for the service providers to minimise their service gaps and increase the service delivery to the customers as change in the mobile number is seen as major barriers for those who want to change the service providers.

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
7.1 Books
y y y

Kothari, C.R, Research Methodology, Second Edition, New Delhi, Wishwa Prakashan, 1990

Zeithaml V A, Bitner M J, Pandit Ajay, Services marketing, third edition,New Delhi, TMH publishing house, 2003
C Bhattacharjee, Services Marketing, First Edition, New Delhi, Excel Books, 2006

7.2 WEBSITES
y y y y y y

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz /sep 23 2009/Mobile-No-Portability-in-metrosA- Circle-by-Dec-31 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Telecommunication_Service http://www.indiaprwire.com http://web.ebscohost.com http://www.trai.gov.in http://www.trai.gov.in/StudyPapers_content.asp

7.3 OTHER REFERENCES y Afaqs! Reporter, Feb 15-28, 2010,Pg 28

8. ANNEXURES
8.1 Online Questionnaire
The online quistainnaire is attached in the photo copy the link to this questionnaire is given below https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDNvUVFNY003aWlkNDR6cy0xT0hMZ2c6MA