“CUSTOMER SATISFACTION REPORT OF VODAFONE”

PROJECT REPORT

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the

INTERNATIONAL MBA IN RETAIL MANAGEMENT

By

Pravin Gidwani

“A00012295”

Under the guidance of

Mr. Nitin Gidwani (MBA)

JARO EDUCATION MUMBAI

April, 2013

D E C L A R A TI O N

I, Pravin Gidwani hereby declare that this Project report titled “Customer

Satisfaction Report of Vodafone” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement

for the International MBA in Retail Management is my original work and it has

not formed the basis for the award of any other degree.

Pravin Gidwani

Place: Pune

Date: 29/ 04/ 2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me great pleasure to present this project. I owe a great many thanks to all

those people who helped and supported me during the preparation of this project.

I would like to thank Jaro Education for giving me an opportunity to prepare this

project.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to my guide, Mr. Nitin Gidwani, for his

constructive suggestions and valuable guidance. This project would have been

impossible without his guidance.

I would like to express my gratitude towards employees of Vodafone Ltd. for their kind

co-operation and encouragement which helped me in completion of this project.

I am also thankful to my parents and friends who helped me throughout the project.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.No. Particulars Page No.

1. Industry Profile 5

2. Company Profile 9

3. Need of the Study 17

4 Literature Survey 18

5 Objectives of the Study 21

6 Research Methodology 22

7 Analysis 24

8 Conclusions 43

9 Bibliography 46

1. INDUSTRY PROFILE

1.1 Introduction:

The Indian telecommunications industry is one of the fastest growing in the world.

Government policies and regulatory framework implemented by Telecom Regulatory

Authority (TRAI) have provided conducive environment for service providers. This has

made the sector more competitive, while enhancing the accessibility of

telecommunication services at affordable tariffs to the consumers. In the last two

decades, the Indian telecom sector and mobile telephony in particular has caught the

imagination of India by revolutionizing the way we communicate, share information;

and has helped millions stay connected.

1.2 History of the industry:

The major milestones in the development of telecom industry are as follows:

Pre-1902 – Cable telegraph

1902–5 First wireless telegraph station established between Sagar

Island and Sandhead.

1907– First Central Battery of telephones introduced in Kanpur.

1913–1914 - First Automatic Exchange installed in Shimla.

1927 – Radio-telegraph system between the UK and India, with Imperial

Wireless Chain beam stations at Khadki and Daund. Inaugurated by Lord

Irwin on 23 July by exchanging greetings with King George V.

1933 – Radiotelephone system inaugurated between the UK and India.

1953 – 12 channel carrier system introduced.

1960 – First subscriber trunk dialing route commissioned

between Lucknow and Kanpur.

1975 – First PCM system commissioned between Mumbai City

and Andheri telephone exchanges.

1976 – First digital microwave junction.

1979 – First optical fibre system for local junction commissioned at Pune.

1980 – First satellite earth station for domestic communications established

at Sikandarabad, U.P.

1983 – First analogue Stored Program Control exchange for trunk

lines commissioned at Mumbai.

1984 – C-DOT established for indigenous development and production

of digital exchanges.

1995 – First mobile telephone service started on non-commercial basis on 15

August 1995 in Delhi.

1995 – Internet Introduced in India starting with Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta,

Chennai and Pune on 15 August 1995

1.3 Current Scenario:

Following are the major achievements of telecom industry:

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has revealed that the country's

mobile subscriber base has increased from 893.84 million in December 2011 to

903.73 million in January 2012.

Telecom operators added 9.88 million mobile subscribers in January 2012.

The overall tele-density reached 77.57 per cent.

Broadband subscriber base increased from 13.30 million at the end of December

2011 to 13.42 million at the end of January 2012.

Telecom users in rural areas have grown at a faster pace compared to their urban

counterparts in the last five years, a CAG report said.

India added around 20 million subscriptions of the estimated 140 million net

additions in mobile subscriptions across the world during the April-June quarter in

2012, said a report by Ericsson.

The telecom sector is a very capital intensive sector and involves high value

investments. Correspondingly, the mobile phone industry is also experiencing a

parallel upward surge, and a parallel enhancement in technologies used. With the

liberalization of the Indian economy, the telecom sector has become very attractive for

mergers and acquisitions latest being SingTel increasing its stake in Bharti telecom.

1.4 Future Goals of the industry:

With an ambition to be diesel free by 2020, telecom companies are retrofitting their

towers every year. Many telecom tower companies currently use renewable energy

sources such as solar, biogas and wind besides hydroelectric power, for individual

towers. Bharti Airtel, one of the largest telecom service providers in India, has been

testing and implementing various energy saving options for the last two-three years.

Additionally, the e-bill initiative is estimated to save as many as 24,000 trees a year.

Besides, the metro cities and the urban markets are quite saturated in terms of tele-

density and thus, leaving very little scope in terms of new customer acquisition. Lack of

proper telecom infrastructure, power shortage and lack of trained manpower are some

of the challenges which telecom companies have to cope with.

1.5 Key players :

The telecom industry of India has registered manifold growth in the recent years.

Personalized telecom access is essential necessity of life for increasing number of the

people. The sector offers unlimited prospects when we consider future growth. Both

Public Players and Private Players are enhancing their technologies and taking the

telecom industry to a much higher growth state. The top players in the industry are:

1. Vodafone

2. Bharti Airtel

3. BSNL

4. MTNL

5. Reliance

6. Aircel

7. Uninor

8. Idea Cellular

9. Tata

2. COMPANY PROFILE

2.1 Introduction

Vodafone Group the world specialist in mobile phones is one of the rare groups that

have significant world coverage in the telecommunications field. It principally

specializes in the mobile telephony and telephonic transmission network sectors. It has

subsidiaries in numerous countries: In North and South America, Asia, Oceania and

Africa. It is the world's second-largest mobile telecommunications company measured

by both subscribers and 2011 revenues. It has over 439 million customers calculated

on a proportionate basis in 31 countries and the brand is present in a further 40

countries through partnership networks.

Vodafone India started its operations in India in 1994 and is under the Vodafone

Group. Vodafone India has become one of the leading companies in the telecom

sector in India due to its high standard of services that it provides to its customers. It is

based in Mumbai, Maharashtra and operates nationally. The company has its

operations in 26 telecom circles of the country, which covers around 86% of the

customer mobile base in India. The company offers both postpaid and prepaid GSM

cellular mobile coverage all across India and its hold is especially strong in the

metropolitan cities. Vodafone India launched 3G services in the country in the

January-March quarter of 2011.

2.2 Product Portfolio

1. Voice Services:

Post-paid Service where in the customer has to pay first and then utilize this

service for as much as he has paid.

Pre-paid Services Where in the customer uses the service first and then he

pays for it. This is more or less like the normal landline connection

World Calling Cards: World Calling Card from Vodafone is a Pre-paid long

distance calling card that one can use with their Vodafone Prepaid and Post-

paid mobile phones to make ISD & STD calls

Home Calling Cards: Vodafone Home Calling Card is a Pre-paid calling card that

allows one to make calls from landlines, PCOs &mobile phones from over 100

countries. And helps save up to 90% as compared to International Roaming

charges.

Handy phone: Handy phone is a landline that’s loaded with all the features of a

cell phone - including low call rates.

2. Value Added services

Tunes & downloads

Entertainment

Devotional

Sports

News & Updates

Call Management Services

Astrology

Finance

Travel

Mail, messaging & more

Dial in Services

Bill Info

3. Vodafone Live

4. Corporate Services

Mobile Email solution

Data Access

Business Application

Mail on the move

Vodafone Office

2.3 Distribution network:

Vodafone’s products and services are available directly, via Vodafone stores and

country specific Vodafone websites, and indirectly via third party service providers,

independent dealers, distributors and Retailers, to both consumer and business

customers in the majority of markets under the Vodafone brand. Vodafone distribution

channel in India normally contributes roughly 85-90 % of total business volume.

The distribution Model comprises basically comprises of three entities-

1. A distributor who is given a territory to service.

2. A Distributor FOS (“Feet on Street” on payroll of the distributor) who is appointed by

the distributor to service a particular area of his overall territory.

3. A Retailer who is an entity who purchases stock from the distributors, through the

FOS of his area and sells it to the end consumer.

Other channels like Company owned Retail such as Vodafone mini-stores are also

used as Distribution channel and are generally seen to be contributing to around 10-15

% of a telecom company's subscriber base as well as revenues.

2.4 Promotion Strategy:

Marketing or Promotion strategy is a key part of overall corporate strategy, which is

concerned with developing plans for finding out what customers want and then

efficiently meeting their requirements. Vodafone’s strategy is customer focused and

product led; the company is continually developing new products and services which

utilize the latest technological advances. To keep its leading edge, Vodafone is

continually looking to add value to the services it provides and to the packages it offers

to customers. Vodafone has come with creating advertising campaign for its various

plans. Vodafone has given birth to “Zoozoo”: a special character created specifically to

advertise value added services (VAS) offered by Vodafone. This strategy has captured

the imagination of millions. It has created a new wave in the advertising industry. Such

a promotion strategy has helped the company to raise not only its profits through sales

but has also tremendously increased its brand value. Their add campaign has gained

much popularity all over the world. With the popularity of ZooZoos, Vodafone has

succeeded in its effort of viral or buzz marketing.

2.5 Customer base

Following is the Vodafone India subscriber base statistics as on January, 2013.

Tel

ec

om

Cic

le

No

.

of

Su

bs

cri

be

rs

Guj 15,

arat 801,116

Uttar Pradesh(East) 14,526,236

Maharashtra 12,977,123

West Bengal 11,165,667

Tamil Nadu 9,777,927

Rajasthan 8,565,366

Uttar Pradesh(West) 8,999,073

Andhra Pradesh 6,080,916

Delhi 8,449,120

Goa 7,134,576

Karnataka 6,452,620

Kerala 6,067,506

Bihar 6,381,278

Kolkata 4,084,284

Punjab 4,309,853

Haryana 4,437,015

Madhya Pradesh 4,101,877

Chennai 2,091,411

Orissa 2,789,575

Assam 2,188,073

North East 928,563

Jammu & Kashmir 666,009

Himachal Pradesh 475,329

Mumbai 6,160,353

Total number of Vodafone India Subscribers is 141,519,840

2.6 Market Share

Vodafone India, is the third largest mobile network operator in India after Airtel and

Reliance Communications. With new players coming in, the intensity of competition in

the industry has increased, especially over the last four years. As of April 30, 2012,

following are the market shares of various players:

a. Bharti Airtel- 19.94%

b. Reliance-16.58%

c. Vodafone-16.41%

d. Idea-12.4%

e. BSNL- 10.51%

f. TATA- 8.77%

g. Aircel-6.93%

2.7 SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:

1. One of the most popular and trusted cellular service provider in India 

2. One of the largest Telecom operators in the world.

3. Only Indian operator that has an international submarine cable.

4. High brand visibility.

5. Strong advertising with ZooZoo concept. 

6. Tie-up with international sports like Formula One.

Weaknesses:

1. Price competition from BSNL and MTNL 

2. Untapped Rural Market

Opportunities:

1. Fast expanding cellular market 

2. Latest and low cost technology

3. Untapped rural market

Threats

1. New entrant's low price offering 

2. Saturation point in Basic telephony service 

3. Mobile Number Portability

3. NEED OF THE STUDY

The ruling factors of today’s market have a common axis named ‘consumer’, who

decides the destiny of any firm in the market. Every organization is increasingly

interested in retaining existing customers while targeting new customers. Measuring

customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at

providing products and/or services to the marketplace. Vodafone is the third largest

mobile network operator in India. By measuring its customer satisfaction it can

increase its market share as well as brand loyalty. This study helps to find out the

factors affecting purchasing behavior of telecom products and to know customer’s

opinion regarding the services offered by Vodafone services.

The following are the areas of interest:

1. Are the Vodafone users satisfied with services, new schemes and offers?

2. Do the customers find current call rates suitable?

3. Are the customers satisfied with the network coverage?

4. Do the customers think that services of customer care are proper?

5. Which services need to be improved?

4. LITERATURE SURVEY

The summary of available literature on

customer satisfaction is as follows:

4.1 Concept:

Customer satisfaction 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.

According to Neil T. Bendle, "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 the words of David J. Reibstein ,"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."

4.2 Measurement:

Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers.

Measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the

organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace.

According to Neil T. Bendle, “Customer satisfaction is measured at the individual level,

but it is almost always reported at an aggregate level. It can be, and often is,

measured along various dimensions. A hotel, for example, might ask customers to rate

their experience with its front desk and check-in service, with the room, with the

amenities in the room, with the restaurants, and so on. Additionally, in a holistic sense,

the hotel might ask about overall satisfaction 'with your stay.”

Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual

manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and

product/service to product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of

both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors

such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending

on other options the customer may have and other products against which the

customer can compare the organization's products.

Work done by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry between 1985 and 1988 provides the

basis for the measurement of customer satisfaction with a service by using the gap

between the customer's expectation of performance and their perceived experience of

performance. This provides the measurer with a satisfaction "gap" which is objective

and quantitative in nature.

The usual measures of customer satisfaction involve a survey with a set of statements

using a Likert Technique or scale. The customer is asked to evaluate each statement

and in term of their perception and expectation of performance of the organization

being measured. Their satisfaction is generally measured on a five-point scale.

Customer satisfaction data can also be collected on a 10-point scale.

Regardless of the scale used, the objective is to measure customers’ perceived

satisfaction with their experience of a firm’s offerings.  It is essential for firms to

effectively manage customer satisfaction. To be able do this, we need accurate

measurement of satisfaction.

5. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The major objectives of the study are:

To study the factors influencing the mobile users to choose services of their

respective service provider.

To study the different schemes given by cellular service providers.

To study problems faced by customers of GSM and CDMA technology for

cellular services users.

To find out the problems and other issues regarding mobile services.

To study telecom market of Pune.

To examine Vodafone users satisfaction.

To explore brand loyalty in the users.

6. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A systematic and organized methodology was used for the research study. A survey

design was used to obtain the required information. Respondents were selected in

such a way that data from every age group, gender etc. could be analyzed. The

questionnaire was intricately designed to tap the demographic variables including age,

education, gender etc of the respondents. The questionnaire also helped to gather

information about demographics, attitudinal knowledge level, satisfaction level and

behavioral information from the respondents.

Following are the important elements of Research Methodology:

Resea r ch d esi g n:

The study conducted is exploratory cum descriptive. Structural questionnaire was

prepared to conduct the research. It contained questions regarding age, occupation,

contact information etc. It also included multiple choice questions regarding Vodafone

services. The questionnaire used to collect information is given in the Annexure.

S c op e o f t h e s t u d y

The scope of the study is confined to Pune.

Population:

The population for this study comprised of existing customers of Vodafone.

Sample size:

A sample size of 100 was chosen for this study.

Sampling Techniques:

Sampling technique used in this research is non-probability sampling. In non

probability sampling, members are selected from the population in some non random

manner. Out of the entire population of entire Pune area 100 customers were chosen

as per convenience and judgment sampling.

7. ANALYSIS

7.1 Age analysis:

Purpose: The main purpose of this analysis is to know how many respondents belong

to a particular age of group. Following is the analysis of data collected:

S.no. Age No. of respondents Percentage

1 Below 18 2 2%

2 18-25 54 54%

3 26-50 38 38%

4 51 or above 6 6%

2%

54%

38%

6%

Below 1818-2526-5051 or above

Interpretation: Major respondents are youngsters i.e. 54% of the respondents belong

to age group of 18-25, 38% respondents belong to age group of 26-50, 6% of

respondents belong to 51 or above age group while only 2% of the respondents

belong to age group of below 18 years.

7.2 Sources of information about Vodafone:

S.No. Sources No. of respondents Percentage

1 Advertisements 36 36%

2 Hoardings 29 29%

3 Newspapers 20 20%

4 Mouth Publicity 15 15%

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to know from which source the respondents

have got information about Vodafone. Following is the analysis of data collected:

36%

30%

20%

15%

Advertisements

Hoardings

Newspapers

Mouth Publicity

Interpretation: 36% of the respondents got the information about Vodafone through

Advertisements, 29% got it through Hoardings while 20% and 15% of the respondents

got information from Newspapers and Mouth Publicity respectively.

7.3 Duration of using Vodafone Services:

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to to know about the usage time of Vodafone

customers i.e. since how long they are using Vodafone service. Following is the

analysis of data collected:

S.No

.

Time period No. of respondents Percentage

1 Less than 1 month 14 14%

2 2-6 months 22 22%

3 6-12 months 25 25%

4 More than 1 year 39 39%

14%

22%

25%

39%Less than 1 month2-6 months6-12 monthsMore than 1 year

Interpretation: Major Respondents using Vodafone are old customers. 39% of the

respondents are using Vodafone services from more than 1 year while the lowest is

14% respondents using Vodafone services less than 1 month.

7.4 Postpaid service vs. Prepaid service :

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to know which services are preferred by the

Vodafone customers Pre-Paid or Post-Paid. Following is the analysis of data collected:

S.No. Services No. of respondents Percentage

1 Pre-Paid 74 74%

2 Post-paid 26 26%

74%

26%

Pre-PaidPost-paid

Interpretation 74% of the respondents use pre-paid services while only 26% of the

respondents use post-paid services.

7.5 Most Preferred Services:

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to know which services are more helpful to

the respondent while using Vodafone. Following is the analysis of data collected:

S.No. Services No. of respondents Percentage

1 Call 21 21%

2 SMS 37 37%

3 Network 28 28%

4 Value Added Services 14 14%

21%

37%

28%

15%

Call RatesSMS servicesNetworkValue Added services

Interpretation: Here major respondents are youngsters so they mainly use SMS

services of Vodafone. 37% of the respondents use Vodafone for SMS services while

only 14% of the respondents use Vodafone for Value Added Services.

7.6 Frequency of calling customer care:

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to find out how often Vodafone users call

Customer Care. Following is the analysis of data collected:

S.No. Time Period No. of respondents Percentage

1 Daily 7 7%

2 Once a week 16 16%

3 Once a month 31 31%

4 Occasionally 46 46%

7%

16%

32%

46%

DailyOnce a weekOnce a monthOccasionally

Interpretation: Major respondents here call customer care occasionally. 31%

respondents respondents call customer care once a month while 16% and 7% of

respondents call once a week and daily respectively.

7.7 Opinion about effectiveness of Post paid service:

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to know how many of the users think that

Postpaid Services of Vodafone are effective. Following is the analysis of data

collected:

S. No. Opinion No. of respondents Percentage

1 Yes 37 37%

2 No 63 63%

37%

63%

Yes No

Interpretation: Out of 100 People 37% are of opinion that postpaid services are

effective and 63% feel that the postpaid services of Vodafone are not effective.

7.8 Mode of payment of postpaid bills:

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to find which mode is usually preferred by

Vodafone users to pay their postpaid bills. Following is the analysis of data collected:

S.No. Mode of Payment No. of Respondents Percentage

1 Cash 11 42%

2 Credit card 9 35%

3 Debit Card 6 23%

42%

35%

23%

CashCredit cardDebit Card

Interpretation: Out of 26 post paid users, 42% users pay the bills by cash, 35% pay by

credit card and 23% by debit cards.

7.9 Reasons for calling customer care:

S.No. Reasons No. of respondents Percentage

1 Value Added Services 17 17%

2 Information regarding new

schemes

19 19%

3 Complaining 34 34%

4 Other queries 30 30%

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to find out the reasons due to which users call

customer service. Following is the analysis of data collected:

17%

19%

34%

30%Value Added Services

Information regarding new schemes

Complaining

Other queries

Interpretation: 34% of respondents call at customer care for complaining purpose while

30%, 19% and 17% of respondents call customer care for other queries, information

regarding new schemes and value added services respectively.

7.10 Opinion about Network Quality:

Service Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Network 36 33 20 8 3

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to know the perspective of the customers of

Vodafone regarding network service. Following is the analysis of the data collected:

36%

33%

20%

8%3%

Network Quality

ExcellentVery GoodFairly GoodAveragePoor

Interpretation: Here major respondents are satisfied with the network coverage. 36% of

the respondents rate the Vodafone’s network excellent, 33% rate it very good, 20%

rate it fairly good while 8% and 3% rate it average and poor.

7.11 Opinion about SMS Rates:

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to know the perspective of the customers of

vodafone regarding Rates of SMS. Following is the analysis of the data collected:

Opinion Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

SMS Rates 7 22 40 28 3

7%

22%

40%

28%

3%

SMS Rates

ExcellentVery GoodFairly GoodAveragePoor

Interpretation: Here major respondents are quite satisfied with the SMS rates of

Vodafone as major respondents are youngsters. 7% of respondents rate it excellent,

22% rate it very good, 40% rate it fairly good, 28% rate it average, 3% rate it poor.

7.12 Opinion about New Schemes and Offers:

Purpose: The main purpose of this analysis is to study the respondent’s perspective

related to the new schemes and offers provided by Vodafone. Following is the analysis

of the data collected:

Opinion Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

New schemes

and offers

3 16 31 38 12

3%

16%

31%

38%

11%

New schemes and offers

Excellent

Very Good

Fairly Good

Average

Poor

Interpretation: Here major respondents find new schemes and offers of Vodafone

average. 38% respondents rate new schemes and offers as average, 31%

respondents rate it as fairly good, 16% rate it as very good while 12% and 3% rate it

as poor and excellent respectively.

7.13 Opinion about Customer Care:

Opinion Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Customer

Care

7 37 33 17 6

Purpose: The main purpose of this analysis is to know about the satisfaction of

customer care service provided by Vodafone to their customers. Following is the

analysis of the data collected:

7%

37%

33%

17%

6%

Customer Care

ExcellentVery GoodFairly GoodAveragePoor

Interpretation: Customer care service of Vodafone is better compared to some of the

other services. 37% respondents rate it as very good, 33% rate it as fairly good, 17%

rate it as average, and 6% and 7% rate it as poor and excellent respectively.

7.14 Opinion about Recharge Outlets:

Purpose: The purpose behind this analysis is to know about the satisfaction of the

Vodafone customers regarding recharge outlets. Following is the analysis of data

collected:

Opinion Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Recharge

Outlets

14 32 36 16 2

14%

32%

36%

16%

2%

Recharge Outlets

ExcellentVery GoodFairly GoodAveragePoor

Interpretation: Recharge outlets of Vodafone are majorly rated as fairly good and very

good. 36% of the respondents rate it as fairly good, 32% rate it as very good, 16% rate

it as average, 14% rate it excellent and 2% respondents rate it as poor.

7.15 Opinion about Call Rates:

Purpose: The purpose behind this analysis is to know about the perception of

vodafone customers regarding different call rates. Following is the analysis of data

collected:

Opinion Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Call Rates 2 23 49 22 4

2%

23%

49%

22%

3%

Call Rates

ExcellentVery GoodFairly GoodAveragePoor

Interpretation: Major percentage of respondents find Call rates offerd by Vodafone

fairly good. 49% of respondents rate call rates of vodafone as fairly good, 23% rate it

as very good, 22% rate it as average while 4% and 2% respondent rate it as poor and

excellent respectively.

7.16 Opinion about Value Added Services:

Purpose: The purpose behind this analysis is to know about the perception of

vodafone customers regarding Value Added Services. Following is the analysis of data

collected:

Opinion Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Value Added

Services

10 28 33 22 7

10%

28%

33%

22%

7%

Value Added Service

ExcellentVery GoodFairly GoodAveragePoor

Interpretation: Value added services of Vodafone are quite feasible as compared to

some of the other services. 33% respondents rate it as fairly good, 28% rate it as very

good, 22% rate it as average while 10% and 7% rate it as excellent and poor

respectively.

7.17 Overall Satisfaction of Customers:

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to find out the overall satisfaction of the

Vodafone users. Following is the analysis of data collected:

S.no. Opinion No. of Respondents Percentage

1 Satisfatory 72 72%

2 Not Satisfactory 28 28%

72%

28%

Overall Satisfaction

SatisfatoryNot Satisfactory

Interpretation: On overall basis, 72% users are satisfied with Vodafone services

whereas 28% users are not satisfied.

7.18 Reasons for non-satisfaction:

S.No. Reasons No. of respondents Percentage

1 Lack of awareness 5 16%

2 High Prices 13 46%

3 Poor Services 6 23%

4 Poor Network 4 15%

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to know the reasons due to which some of the

users are not satisfied. Following is the analysis of data collected:

15%

46%

23%

15%

Lack of awarenessHigh PricesPoor servicesPoor Network

Interpretation: Out of 28 users, 13users are dissatisfied with Vodafone services

because of high prices. 6 respondents are dissatisfied with Vodafone services

because of poor services while 5 respondents are dissatisfied because of lack of

awareness and poor network and 4 due to poor network.

7.19 Recommendation of Vodafone to others:

Purpose: The purpose of this question is to know the recommendations of the

respondents towards Vodafone i.e. whether they would like to recommend the

Vodafone services to others or not. Following is the analysis of data collected:

S.No. Opinion No. of Respondents Percentage

1 Yes, I will recommend 85 85%

2 No, I wont recommend 15 15%

85%

15%

Yes, I will recommend

No, I wont recommend

Interpretation: 90% of the Vodafone customers would like to recommend Vodafone

services to others while 10% of the Vodafone Customers won’t recommend it to

others.

8. CONCLUSIONS

8.1 Findings:

Following are the important findings of this research:

The major Vodafone users are youngsters.

Most of the users are using Vodafone more than a year.

TV Advertisement is the chief source of information about Vodafone.

Prepaid Services are mostly preferred by the users.

People use Vodafone basically for their cheap SMS rates.

Cash is the mostly preferred mode of payment.

According to users network quality is satisfactory.

Users find customer care services good.

Respondents find services of recharge outlets are suitable.

According to users, Call rates are competitive.

Overall customer satisfaction is high.

Survey reveals that most of the customers are ready to change their service

provider given a better deal in terms of tariff plan and the value added services.

8.2 Suggestions:

Following are some of the suggestions given by the researcher so that Vodafone can

serve people and its customers in an improved way:

Vodafone should decrease call rates for local users (like Tata indicom and Uninor).

It should take efforts to decrease call rates of STD and ISD.

Company should take customers feedback by sending a feedback form along with

the bill.

It should try to target proper segment of population with the proper plans.

Customer Care centres should be increased

It should provide more offers to Post-Paid customers so that the number of Post-

Paid customers increase.

Company should enhance network coverage in interior or rural areas by setting up

of more towers.

8.3 Conclusions:

From the above analysis it can be concluded that major respondents are satisfied with

many services offered by Vodafone. Vodafone has made a great impact in India in a

short span of time. It has become a very popular brand. It has impressed lot of Indian

mobile users. But there is a scope of improvements in the following areas:

Vodafone is doing well in prepaid section and is growing in this section. But it

can increase its profitability by increasing the postpaid users.

Network coverage is quite satisfactory but it needs to be widened by bringing

rural, interior and highway areas under its scope.

By making improvements, Vodafone can increase its market share and acquire the

topmost position in the Indian telecommunication industry.

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Websites:

www.vodafone.in

En.wikipedia.org/wiki/vodafone-india

www.globus.com

www.stapac.com

Books referred

Marketing Management – Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller.

Research Methodology - C. R. Kothari

Journals

Annual report of Vodafone

Information brochure of Vodafone services

ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE

Name: ________________

Age: ___ years

Sex: Male/Female

Contact no.: ___________

Q1) Do you have a mobile phone?

o Yes

o No

Q2) If yes, then which operator’s Service do you use?

o Vodafone

o Airtel

o Idea

o Reliance

o BSNL

o Tata Indicom

If not Vodafone, then go to Q11

Q3) From which source did you come to know about Vodafone?

o Advertisement

o Hoardings

o Newspapers

o Mouth Publicity

Q4) Since how long you are using Vodafone services?

o Less than 1 month

o 2-6 months

o 6-12 months

o More than 1 year

Q5) Which of the following services do you use?

o Pre-paid

o Post-paid

Q6) Which services are more helpful to you while using Vodafone services?

o Call rates

o SMS service

o Network

o Value Added Services

Q7) Do you call customer care?

o Yes

o No

Q8) If yes, how often do you call customer care?

o Daily

o Once a week

o Once a month

o Occasionally

Q9) For what reason do you call customer care?

o Value added services

o Information regarding new schemes

o Other queries

o Complaining

Q10) Rate the following services on the basis of your satisfaction.

Services Excellent Very Good Fairly

good

Average Poor

Network

SMS rates

New schemes and

offers

Customer Care

Recharge outlets

Call Rates

Value Added Services

Q11) Why you are not using Vodafone services?

o Lack of awareness

o High Prices

o Poor Services

o Poor network

Q12) Would you like to recommend Vodafone to others?

o Yes

o No

Q13) Give your suggestions to help in serve you better.

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