LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT

An Empirical Study of Service Gap b/w

Major Telecom Companies and their Customers of

Punjab GSM Circle

Submitted to Lovely Professional University

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Submitted by:

Sahil Kumar

2020070068

MBA – R1705

Supervisor:

Miss Malika

Lecturer

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

PHAGWARA

(2009)

1

TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN

This is to certify that the project report titled “An Empirical Study of Service Gap b/w Major

Telecom Companies and their Customers of Punjab GSM Circle” carried out by Mr. Sahil

Kumar, S/o Sh. Jaspal Kandhari has been accomplished under my guidance & supervision as a

duly registered MBA student of the Lovely Professional University, Phagwara. This project is

being submitted by him/her in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the

Master of Business Administration from Lovely Professional University.

His dissertation represents his original work and is worthy of consideration for the award of the degree of

Master of Business Administration.

___________________________________

(Name & Signature of the Faculty Advisor)

Title: ______________________________

Date: ______________________________

Date:

2

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT

DECLARATION

I, "Sahil Kumar”, hereby declare that the work presented herein is genuine work done originally

by me and has not been published or submitted elsewhere for the requirement of a degree

programme. Any literature, data or works done by others and cited within this dissertation has

been given due acknowledgement and listed in the reference section.

_______________________

(Student's name & Signature)

_______________________

(Registration No.)

Date:__________________

3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

An individual cannot do project of this scale. I take this opportunity to express my

acknowledgement and deep sense of gratitude to the individuals for rendering valuable

assistance and gratitude to me. Their inputs have played a vital role in success of this project.

I express my sincere thanks to my project guide Miss Malika, Lecturer for his generous

support, constant direction and mentoring at all stages of training.

I am also indebted to Mr. Mandeep Hyar and Dr. Harpreet Singh who was a real source of

help and assistance to me during the course of project.

I take this opportunity to thank all dealers, customers who spared their precious time to provide

me with valuable inputs for project without which it would have not been possible.

I firmly believe that there is always a scope of improvement. I welcome any suggestions for

further enriching the quality of this report.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

CONTENTS Page No.

- TITLE PAGE 1

- WHOM TO CONCERN 2

- DECLARATION 3

- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 4

- TABLE OF CONTENT 5

- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6-8

- NEED, OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE 9

- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 10

CHAPTER -1 15-22

1.1 Introduction To Subject

1.1.1 Indian Telecommunication

1.1.2 Evolution of the Industry

1.1.3 Major Players in the Industry

1.1.4 Companies Market Share

CHAPTER -2 Introductions to Companies 22-29

2.1 Vodaphone

2.2 Airtel

2.3 Bsnl

2.4 Idea

CHAPTER -3 Review of Literature 29-37

CHAPTER -4 Gap b/w Consumer Expectation and Companies Performance 38-52

5

CHAPTER -5 Summary, Recommendation, Limitations, Conclusion 53-56

CHAPTER -6 Bibliography 57-61

CHAPTER -7 Appendix 62-66

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Executive Summary

This study will help those researchers who are doing a research on service gaps between

customers and companies of telecom brands. Study will examine what company thinking about

customer perception and what actually is delivered by the customer. A gap between company’s

promises and delivery can be seen easily in telecom sector. Level of gap and its reasons will be

analyzed by various methods. In this study I have consider some factor like Price, Network

Service, Brand Image and various Value Added Services that influence a consumer behavior

toward a particular brand. I have prepared a structured questionnaire in which different questions

will be asked from respondents in order to know most influencing factors that led to their

preferable behavior for a particular brand. The scope of study is limited to four major players of

Telecom industry that are Aitel. Vodaphone, Bsnl, Idea.

Study objective is to examine various factors that led to customer’s preferable behavior and

further their buying behavior for various telecom products and services. My study will consider

rural and urban area of Ferpzepur Distt. Now my study purpose is to know consumer behavior

for these various telecom brands. Consumers have various choices available to them with

different features and services. Now how consumers select a particular brand is a question of our

study. Which factors influence there buying behavior and how they perceive various factors like

price, network service, brand image and VAS while their purchasing decision.

I have studied about all the marketing aspects and all other expenses of the company. The first

few pages talk about the introduction of the subject and also of the organization. This is followed

by literature review followed by the objectives of the study and research methodology. Then

comes real part of the study in which I have written all what I had analyze through my 100

questionnaire filled by various users of different telecommunication brand. The last part consists

of findings, recommendations, limitations, conclusion and bibliography.

The objectives of the study which I undertook is To study consumer perception regarding major

Telecom Brands w.r.t Price, Network Service, Brand Image and Value added services, for this I

have used the statistical method of Chi Squire and presenting it in very effective manners by

tables. One of my another objective was to study and analyze the level of service recovery

7

provided by major telecom brands, for this I have made structure questionnaire and interpretation

for the same has been done and also in order to make it more effective I have used tables and bar

charts.

From my study I have found that Airtel is the most excellent and good service provider as 19 out

20 responded believes that the service of the company is excellent. Then vodaphone has also

good rate of excellence as 16 out of 18 respondents rated Vodaphone as a good service provider.

But the idea and Bsnl are not under good ratings. 8 respondents of BSNL and 5 of Idea have

rated their service provider as Poor. BSNL is found to be worst service provider from all above

as 12 respondents rate it as a average service provider and 8 as a poor service provider. It has

been also found that Airtel is being preferred because of its best network service and Brand im-

age as well. Where Vodaphone is preferred because of its good pricing strategy, network service,

brand image and the most Value Added Services of the company. And Idea is preferred because

of all above factors. Where Bsnl is preferred the most because of its low price as compare to its

competitors and because of its value added services as well. BSNL has to concentrate on its cus-

tomer care service as most of the respondents are found dissatisfied with company service. Even

some of them have called it the worst customer care service provider in the market. But it is also

rated as best company for value of money. So company can be competitive in the market by just

investing in their customer care service. BSNL users also found not satisfied with the network

service to some extent. So it can also improve it. I hope that my experience with this project will

not only help me in my future in marketing field but also in my current studies.

8

NEED OF THE STUDY

This study will help those researchers who are doing a research on service gaps between

customers and companies of telecom brands. Study will examine what company thinking about

customer perception and what actually is delivered by the customer. A gap between company’s

promises and delivery can be seen easily in telecom sector. Level of gap and its reasons will be

analyzed by various methods. In this study I have consider some factor like Price, Network

Service, Brand Image and various Value Added Services that influence a consumer behavior

toward a particular brand. I have prepared a structured questionnaire in which different questions

will be asked from respondents in order to know most influencing factors that led to their

preferable behavior for a particular brand.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To study consumer perception regarding major Telecom Brands w.r.t Price, Network

Service, Brand Image and Value added services.

To study and analyze the level of service recovery provided by major telecom brands.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of study is limited to four major players of Telecom industry that are Aitel.

Vodaphone, Bsnl, Idea. Study objective is to examine various factors that led to customer’s

preferable behavior and further their buying behavior for various telecom products and services.

My study will consider rural and urban area of Ferpzepur Distt.

Now my study purpose is to know consumer behavior for these various telecom brands.

Consumers have various choices available to them with different features and services. Now how

consumers select a particular brand is a question of our study. Which factors influence there

buying behavior and how they perceive various factors like price, network service, brand image

and VAS while their purchasing decision.

9

1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

SOURCES OF DATA

The study undertaken there to be mainly based on the primary data i.e. structured questionnaire

is designed. The study also contains secondary data i.e. data from authenticated websites and

journals for the latest updates just to gain an insight for the views of various experts.

METHODOLOGY & PRESENTATION OF DATA

The data collected is then coded in the tables to make the things presentable and more effective.

The results are shown by tables which will help me out in easy and effective presentation and

hence results are being obtained.

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES USED FOR ANALYSIS

In this study the technique used for interpreting the results is CHI SQUARE test. It is used as

because sample size is 100.

RESEARCH DESIGN

The design for this study is Exploratory and Random sampling.

DATA COLLECTION

The data is collected randomly irrespective of the category of the people in the form of

questionnaire and the sample size is 100 respondents. Because it is a pilot study and due to time

constraint the sample size is small.

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HYPOTHESIS

First Objective Null Hypothesis

1. H0: Price is the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom service and

products.

2. H0: Network Service is the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom service

and products.

3. H0: Brand Image is the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom service and

products.

4. H0: Value Added Services are the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom

service and products.

Second Objective Null Hypothesis

1. H0: The level of service quality and recovery of AIRTEL is much better than other

three players.

2. H0: The level of service quality and recovery of VODAPHONE is much better than other

three players.

3. H0: The level of service quality and recovery of IDEA is much better than other three

players.

4. H0: The level of service quality and recovery of BSNL is much better than other three

players.

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Findings of the Study

Airtel is the most excellent and good service provider as 19 out 20 responded believes

that the service of the company is excellent. Then vodaphone has also good rate of excel-

lence as 16 out of 18 respondents rated Vodaphone as a good service provider. But the

idea and Bsnl are not under good ratings. 8 respondents of BSNL and 5 of Idea have

rated their service provider as Poor. BSNL is found to be worst service provider from all

above as 12 respondents rate it as a average service provider and 8 as a poor service

provider.

Airtel is being preferred because of its best network service and Brand image as well.

Where Vodaphone is preferred because of its good pricing strategy, network service,

brand image and the most Value Added Services of the company. And Idea is preferred

because of all above factors. Where Bsnl is preferred the most because of its low price as

compare to its competitors and because of its value added services as well.

Airtel is being preferred because of its internet service. And vodaphone because of its

Concession calls rates and full talk time VAS. Where Idea the most because of its Con-

cession Call Rates and SMS pack. But BSNL because of its SMS pack mainly and then

concession rates also.

The most of the users are using their telecom service from last one year. Some of the

users are also using it from last 3 year, where majority of the users are BSNL connection

holders. Most of the users of the Vodaphone are using it from last 6 months. Very few re-

spondents are new users of their services.

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The satisfaction rate of network service is leaded by Airtel as not a single user of service

is neutral or dissatisfy. And vodaphone network service satisfaction rate is also good.

And it can be also found that BSNL network service is not good as compare to others

competitors as 14 respondents are found to be not satisfied with the company network

service. And last Idea is not good enough to compete with Airtel and Voda.

BSNL has the highest rating of Value for money as 33 persons out 34 has rated it as an

excellent and good service provider. Then Idea Company is following Bsnl as a best ser-

vice provider for value for money. Other two players Airtel and Voda have similar per-

formance approximately. Both have been rated good and excellent, where good has been

rated more as compare to other options.

The most of the users of telecommunication contact to their customers care for activation

and deactivation of various services. Then they also contact for information about various

value added services provider by companies like validity, call rates, sms pack, caller

tones etc. Network service has been found a problem of mainly BSNL users and to some

extent of Idea users as well.

Airtel is the best service provider of customer care service. As it has been also found in

some of the article that Airtel is expending more on its customer care service as compare

to other competitors in the market. The Vodaphone service is also satisfactory as most of

the users have rated it as satisfied service provider. But Bsnl is to be found as not a satis -

factory service provider. Most of the users said that they have not talk to their customer

care service provider even for a single time. Idea Pre-Paid users are not satisfied with the

customer care service as they said it can be found busy most of the times.

The most of the users, who are satisfied with their customer care service, are also satis-

fied with the process of getting their queries resolved. Airtel again has been rated as the

13

best service provider for getting queries resolved. Results are similar approximately as

the 10th question analysis.

The users of all companies found their customer service provider courteous. But the re-

sult of BSNL is not good as the users say that they have not talk to their customer care

service provider even for a single time. Some of them have talk but after a lot of waiting

time. So they are found not satisfied and rated this question also as dissatisfied. So after

studying their views with a personal discussion we can not say that the customer care

representatives of BSNL are not courteous.

The most of the users of all companies found their customer service provider knowledge-

able. But the result of BSNL is again not good as the users say that they have not talk to

their customer care service provider even for a single time. Some of them have talk but

after a lot of waiting time. So they are found not satisfied and rated this question also as

dissatisfied. So after studying their views with a personal discussion we can not say that

the customer care representatives of BSNL are not knowledgeable. But one more finding

is there in that question that Idea is not perfect in hiring best personnel for customer care

representatives as 8 users are neutral for this question reply.

The most of the users of all companies are found satisfactory with the waiting time their

queries resolved. But the result of BSNL is again not good as the users say that they have

not talk to their customer care service provider even for a single time. Some of them have

talk but after a lot of waiting time. So they are found not satisfied and rated this question

also as dissatisfied and neutral. So after studying their views with a personal discussion

we can not say that the customer care representatives of BSNL are not able to solve their

customer queries in a satisfactory time.

These are four recommendations to major market players in the industry. These are the

Gaps between customer’s expectations and then performance of the company. Some so

14

the companies are found performing well as per their customer expectations, but still they

are not perfect. A lot of improvements are required in each company service delivery af-

ter studying their customer’s behavior and expectations through feedback.

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CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION TO THE SUBJECT

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO SUBJECT

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1.1.1 Indian Telecommunications:

It has been zooming up the growth curve at a feverish pace, emerging as one of the key sectors

responsible for India's resurgent economic growth. It is the fastest growing telecommunication

market in the world, and with 353.66 million telephone connections (at the end of September

2008, include both the wire line as well as the wireless subscribers) is the third largest telecom

market. Simultaneously, overall tele-density has increased to 30.64 percent. While the subscriber

base for wireless services has increased to 315.31 million. The subscriber base of the wire line

service has declined to 38.35 million from 38.92 million at the end of September 2008. (Source:

Corporate Bureau 2009-01-14).

The stupendous growth of the telecommunication companies in India over

the last fifteen years can be attributed to the liberal government of India, economic policy. The

economic renaissance affected in the early 1990s brought around a paradigm shift on the overall

business scenario of India. The telecommunication companies in India went through a huge

make-over during the implementation of the open-market policy of India. The erstwhile closed

market policy was replaced by a more liberal form of economic policy. A whole new form of

Indian Telecommunication Policy was drafted to compliment the change effected in the

economic policy of India. The amendment affected the new telecommunication policy of India

made huge changes with respect to investments and entry of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI)

and Foreign Institution Investors (FII) respectively, into the virgin Indian telecommunication

market. This resulted entry of private, domestic and foreign telecommunication companies in

India. The economic contribution made by these newly formed telecommunication companies of

India is really mentioned worthy and this industry witnessed highest growth after the Indian

Information Technology industry. The robust growth of Indian economy after the economic

liberalization in the 1990s induced massive change in the telecom policy and new draft was

framed and implemented by the 'Telecom Regulatory Authority of India' (TRAI) and

'Department of Telecommunication' (DOT), under the Ministry of Telecommunication

government of India.

1.1.2 Evolution of the Industry:

17

The important milestones achieved by the telecommunication industry have been shown in the

following table:

Table 1.1: Important Milestones of Telecommunication Industry

Year Important Milestones

1851 First operational land lines were laid by the government near Calcutta (seat of British

power)

1881 Telephone service introduced in India

1883 Merger with the postal system

1923 Formation of Indian Radio Telegraph Company (IRT)

1932 Merger of ETC and IRT into the Indian Radio and Cable Communication Company

(IRCC)

1947 Nationalization of all foreign telecommunication companies to form the Posts,

Telephone and Telegraph (PTT)

1985 Department of Telecommunications (DOT) established, an exclusive provider of

domestic and long-distance service that would be its own regulator (separate from the

postal system)

1986 Conversion of DOT into two wholly government-owned companies: the Videsh

Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) for international telecommunications and Mahanagar

Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) for service in metropolitan areas.

1997 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India created.

1999 Cellular Services are launched in India. New National Telecom Policy is adopted.

2000 DoT becomes a corporation, BSNL

(Source: By Consulting Club, IIM Calcutta)

1.1.3 Major Players

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There are three types of players in telecom services:

• -State owned companies (BSNL and MTNL)

• -Private Indian owned companies (Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices,)

• -Foreign invested companies (Hutchison-Essar, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Escotel, Idea Cellular,

BPL Mobile, Spice Communications)

BSNL

On October 1, 2000 the Department of Telecom Operations, Government of India became a

corporation and was renamed Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). BSNL is now India’s

leading telecommunications company and the largest public sector undertaking. It has a network

of over 45 million lines covering 5000 towns with over 35 million telephone connections. The

state-controlled BSNL operates basic, cellular (GSM and CDMA) mobile, Internet and long

distance services throughout India (except Delhi and Mumbai). BSNL will be expanding the

network in line with the Tenth Five-Year Plan (1992-97). The aim is to provide a telephone

density of 9.9 per hundred by March 2007. BSNL, which became the third operator of GSM

mobile services in most circles, is now planning to overtake Bharti to become the largest GSM

operator in the country. BSNL is also the largest operator in the Internet market, with a share of

21 per cent of the entire subscriber base.

BHARTI

Established in 1985, Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts

and innovations to its credit, ranging from being the first mobile service in Delhi, first private

basic telephone service provider in the country, first Indian company to provide comprehensive

telecom services outside India in Seychelles and first private sector service provider to launch

National Long Distance Services in India. Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited was incorporated on

July 7, 1995 for promoting investments in telecommunications services. Its subsidiaries operate

telecom services across India. Bharti’s operations are broadly handled by two companies: the

Mobility group, which handles the mobile services in 16 circles out of a total 23 circles across

19

the country; and the Infotel group, which handles the NLD, ILD, fixed line, broadband, data, and

satellite-based services. Together they have so far deployed around 23,000 km of optical fiber

cables across the country, coupled with approximately 1,500 nodes, and presence in around 200

locations. The group has a total customer base of 6.45 million, of which 5.86 million are mobile

and 588,000 fixed line customers, as of January 31, 2004. In mobile, Bharti’s footprint extends

across 15 circles. Bharti Tele-Ventures' strategic objective is “to capitalize on the growth

opportunities the company believes are available in the Indian telecommunications market and

consolidate its position to be the leading integrated telecommunications services provider in key

markets in India, with a focus on providing mobile services”.

MTNL

MTNL was set up on 1st April 1986 by the Government of India to upgrade the quality of

telecom services, expand the telecom network, introduce new services and to raise revenue for

telecom development needs of India’s key metros – Delhi, the political capital, and Mumbai, the

business capital. In the past 17 years, the company has taken rapid strides to emerge as India’s

leading and one of Asia’s largest telecom operating companies. The company has also been in

the forefront of 5 technology induction by converting 100% of its telephone exchange network

into the state-of-the-art digital mode. The Govt. of India currently holds 56.25% stake in the

company. In the year 2003-04, the company's focus would be not only consolidating the gains

but also to focus on new areas of enterprise such as joint ventures for projects outside India,

entering into national long distance operation, widening the cellular and CDMA-based WLL

customer base, setting up internet and allied services on an all India basis. MTNL has over 5

million subscribers and 329,374 mobile subscribers. While the market for fixed wireline phones

is stagnating, MTNL faces intense competition from the private players—Bharti, Hutchison and

Idea Cellular, Reliance Infocomm—in mobile services. MTNL recorded sales of Rs. 60.2 billion

($1.38 billion) in the year 2002-03, a decline of 5.8 per cent over the previous year’s annual

turnover of Rs. 63.92 billion.

HUTCH

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Hutch’s presence in India dates back to late 1992, when they worked with local partners to

establish a company licensed to provide mobile telecommunications services in Mumbai.

Commercial operations began in November 1995. Between 2000 and March 2004, Hutch

acquired further operator equity interests or operating licences. With the completion of the

acquisition of BPL Mobile Cellular Limited in January 2006, it now provides mobile services in

16 of the 23 defined licence areas across the country. Hutch India has benefited from rapid and

profitable growth in recent years. it had over 17.5 million customers by the end of June 2006.

IDEA

Indian regional operator IDEA Cellular Ltd. has a new ownership structure and grand designs to

become a national player, but in doing so is likely to become a thorn in the side of Reliance

Communications Ltd. IDEA operates in eight telecom “circles,” or regions, in Western India,

and has received additional GSM licenses to expand its network into three circles in Eastern

India -- the first phase of a major expansion plan that it intends to fund through an IPO,

according to parent company Aditya Birla Group .

RELIANCE INFOCOMM

Reliance is a $16 billion integrated oil exploration to refinery to power and textiles conglomerate

(Source: http://www.ril.com/newsitem2.html). It is also an integrated telecom service provider

with licenses for mobile, fixed, domestic long distance and international services. Reliance

Infocomm offers a complete range of telecom services, covering mobile and fixed line telephony

including broadband, national and international long distance services, data services and a wide

range of value added services and applications. Reliance IndiaMobile, the first of Infocomm's

initiatives was launched on December 28, 2002. This marked the beginning of Reliance's vision

of ushering in a digital revolution in India by becoming a major catalyst in improving quality of

life and changing the face of India. Reliance Infocomm plans to extend its efforts beyond the

traditional value chain to develop and deploy telecom solutions for India's farmers, businesses,

hospitals, government and public sector organizations. Until recently, Reliance was permitted to

provide only “limited mobility” services through its basic services license. However, it has now

acquired a unified access license for 18 circles that permits it to provide the full range of mobile

services. It has rolled out its CDMA mobile network and enrolled more than 6 million

21

subscribers in one year to become the country’s largest mobile operator. It now wants to increase

its market share and has recently launched pre-paid services. Having captured the voice market,

it intends to attack the broadband market.

TATA TELESERVICES

Tata Teleservices is a part of the $12 billion Tata Group, which has 93 companies, over 200,000

employees and more than 2.3 million shareholders. Tata Teleservices provides basic (fixed line

services), using CDMA technology in six circles: Maharashtra (including Mumbai), New Delhi,

Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Karnataka. It has over 800,000 subscribers. It has

now migrated to unified access licenses, by paying a Rs. 5.45 billion ($120 million) fee, which

enables it to provide fully mobile services as well. The company is also expanding its footprint,

and has paid Rs. 4.17 billion ($90 million) to DoT for 11 new licenses under the IUC

(interconnect usage charges) regime. The new licenses, coupled with the six circles in which it

already operates, virtually gives the CDMA mobile operator a national footprint that is almost on

par with BSNL and Reliance Infocomm. The company hopes to start off services in these 11 new

circles by August 2004. These circles include Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala,

Kolkata, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East) & West and West Bengal.

1.1.4 Companies Market Shares

22

Company Million Subs(Nov 2003) % share

BSNL 40.3 58.8

Reliance 6.1 8.9

Bharti 5.7 8.3

MTNL 4.9 7.2

Hutchison 2.9 4.2

Idea Cellular 2.1 3.0

BPL 1.4 2.1

Tata Teleservices 1.3 1.9

Spice 1.0 1.4

Escotel 0.8 1.1

Fascel 0.8 1.1

Aircel 0.9 1.4

Hexacom 0.2 0.3

Shyam Telelink 0.1 0.2

23

CHAPTER-2

INTRODUCTION TO COMPANIES

2. Introduction to Companies

2.1 Vodafone Essar

24

Vodafone Essar, previously Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India that covers 23 telecom

circles in India. Despite the official name being Vodafone Essar, its products are simply branded

Vodafone. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India

with good presence in the metros. Vodafone Essar provides 2.75G services based on 900 MHz

and 1800 MHz digital GSM technology, offering voice and data services in 23 of the country's

23 license areas. It is among the top three GSM mobile operators of India.

Ownership

Vodafone Essar is owned by Vodafone 52%, Essar Group, 33% and other Indian nationals, 15%.

On February 11, 2007, Vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest of 67% held by Li Ka

Shing Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion, pipping Reliance Communications, Hinduja

Group, and Essar Group, which is the owner of the remaining 33%. The whole company was

valued at USD 18.8 billion. The transaction closed on May 8, 2007.

Previous brands

In December 2006, Hutch Essar re-launched the "Hutch" brand nationwide, consolidating its

services under a single identity. The Company entered into agreement with NTT DoCoMo to

launch i-mode mobile Internet service in India during 2007. The company used to be named

Hutchison Essar, reflecting the name of its previous owner, Hutchison. However, the brand was

marketed as Hutch. After getting the necessary government approvals with regards to the

acquisition of a majority by the Vodafone Group, the company was rebranded as Vodafone

Essar. The marketing brand was officially changed to Vodafone on 20 September 2007. On

September 20, 2007 Hutch becomes Vodafone in one of the biggest brand transition exercises in

recent times. Vodafone Essar is spending somewhere in the region of Rs 250 crores on this high-

profile transition being unveiled today. Along with the transition, cheap cell phones have been

launched in the Indian market under the Vodafone brand. The company also plans to launch co-

branded handsets sourced from global vendors as well. A popular daily quoted a Vodafone Essar

director as saying that "the objective is to leverage Vodafone Group's global scale in bringing

millions of low-cost handsets from across-the-world into India. During the Indian Premier

League (IPL), Vodafone commercialised Zoozoos, a white, ghost-like creatures with ballooned

25

bodies and egg heads through their advertisements. These ads though look animated are in real

humans in the Zoozoo costumes. Ogilvy & Mather, the agency that handles Vodafone

advertisements, wanted to make real people look as animated as possible and hence employed

Bangalore-based Nirvana Films to shoot these ads in Cape Town, South Africa, just in time for

IPL.

2.2 Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel, formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is India's largest cellular

service provider with more than 92 million subscribers as of February 2009. It also offers fixed

line services and broadband services. It offers its TELECOM services under the Airtel brand and

is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. The company also provides telephone services and Internet

access over DSL in 14 circles. 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.

The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units

(SBU’s) - Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services. The mobile

business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom

circles while the Airtel Telemedia Services business offers broadband & telephone services in 95

cities and has recently launched a Direct-to-Home (DTH) service, Airtel digital TV. The

company provides end-to-end data and enterprise services to the corporate customers through its

nationwide fiber optic backbone, last mile connectivity in fixed-line and mobile circles, VSATs,

ISP and international bandwidth access through the gateways and landing station.

Globally, Bharti Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind

China Mobile and China Unicom. In India, the company has a 24.6% share of the wireless

services market, followed by 17.7% for Reliance Communications and 17.4% for Vodafone

Essar.

Brands

Airtel

26

Airtel is a brand of telecommunication services in India and Sri Lanka owned and operated by

Bharti Airtel. It is the largest cellular service provider in India in terms of number of subscribers.

Services are offered under the brand name Airtel: Mobile Services (using GSM Technology),

Broadband & Telephone Services (Fixed line, Internet Connectivity (DSL) and Leased Line,

Long Distance Services and Enterprise Services (Telecommunications Consulting for

corporates). It has presence in all 23 circles of the country and covers 71% of the current

population (as of FY07).

In December 2008, Bharti Airtel rolled out third generation services in Sri Lanka in association

with Singtel. SingTel is a major player in the 3G space in Asia. It operates third generation

networks in several markets across Asia. It had been largely criticised in recent times on its

inability to start operation even two years after its certification and proposed date of launch.

Airtel's operation in Sri Lanka, known as Airtel Lanka, commenced operations on the 12th of

January 2009.

2.3 Idea Cellular

Idea Cellular is a wireless telephony company operating in various states in India. It initially

started in 1995 as a joint venture among the Tatas, Aditya Birla Group and AT&T by merging

"'Wings Cellular'" operating in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (UP) West, Rajasthan and Tata

Cellular as well as Birla AT&T Communications.

Initially having a very limited footprint in the GSM arena, the acquisition of Escotel in 2004

gave Idea a truly pan-India presence covering Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh,

Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh (East and West), Haryana, Kerala, Rajasthan and

Delhi (inclusive of NCR).

The company has its retail outlets under the "Idea n' U" banner. The company has also been the

first to offer flexible tariff plans for prepaid customers. It also offers GPRS services in urban

27

areas. Idea Cellular won the GSM Association Award for "Best Billing and Customer Care

Solution" for 2 consecutive years.

Holding

Initially the Birlas, the Tatas and AT&T Wireless each held one-third equity in the company. But

following AT&T Wireless' merger with Cingular Wireless in 2004, Cingular decided to sell its

32.9% stake in Idea. This stake was bought by both the Tatas and Birlas at 16.45% each.

Tata's foray into the cellular market with its own subsidiary, Tata Indicom, a CDMA-based

mobile provider, cropped differences between the Tatas and the Birlas. This dual holding by the

Tatas also became a major reason for the delay in Idea being granted a license to operate in

Mumbai. This was because as per Department of Telecom (DOT) license norms, one promoter

could not have more than 10% stake in two companies operating in the same circle and Tata

Indicom was already operating in Mumbai when Idea filed for its licence.

The Birlas thus approached the DOT and sought its intervention, and the Tatas replied by saying

that they would exit Idea but only for a good price. On April 10, 2006, the Aditya Birla Group

announced its acquisition of the 48.18% stake held by the Tatas at Rs. 40.51 a share amounting

to Rs. 44.06 billion. While 15% of the 48.14% stake was acquired by Aditya Birla Nuvo, a

company in-charge of the Birlas' new business initiatives, the remaining stake was acquired by

Birla TMT holdings Private Ltd., an AV Birla family owned company. Currently, Birla Group

holds 49.1% of the total shares of the company.

2.4 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

28

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (known as BSNL, India Communications Corporation Limited)

is a public sector telecommunication company in India. It is India's largest telecommunication

company with 24% market share as on March 31, 2008. Its headquarters are at Bharat Sanchar

Bhawan, Harish Chandra Mathur Lane, Janpath, New Delhi. It has the status of Mini Ratna, a

status assigned to reputed public sector companies in India.

BSNL is India's oldest and largest Communication Service Provider (CSP). Currently has a

customer base of 90 million as of June 2008. It has footprints throughout India except for the

metropolitan cities of Mumbai and New Delhi which are managed by MTNL. As on March 31,

2008 BSNL commanded a customer base of 31.55 million Wireline, 4.58 million CDMA-WLL

and 54.21 million GSM Mobile subscribers. BSNL's earnings for the Financial Year ending

March 31, 2007 stood at INR 397.15b (US$ 9.67 b) with net profit of INR 78.06b (US$ 1.90

billion). BSNL has an estimated market value of $ 100 Billion. The company is planning an IPO

with in 6 months to offload 10% to public in the Rs 300-400 range valuing the company at over

$100 billion.

Services

Universal Telecom Sevices : Fixed wireline services & Wireless in Local loop (WLL)

using CDMA Technology called bfone and Tarang respectively. As of December 31,

2007, BSNL has 81% marketshare of fixed lines.

Cellular Mobile Telephone Services: BSNL is major provider of Cellular Mobile

Telephone services using GSM platform under the brand name CellOne[2]. Prepaid

cellular services of BSNL are know as Excel. As of March 31, 2007 BSNL has 17%

share of mobile telephony in the country.

Internet: BSNL provides internet services through dial-up connection (Sancharnet) as

Prepaid, (NetOne) as Postpaid and ADSL broadband (DataOne). BSNL has around 50%

market share in broadband in India. BSNL has planned aggressive rollout in broadband

for current financial year.

29

CHAPTER-3

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

30

3. Review of Literature

1. Rick (2008) This study finds that companies with sound customer strategies can use that

ultimate loyalty program as a differentiator in an increasingly muddled market. In an

increasingly competitive market, customer loyalty efforts can play a major part in the

attraction of new customers and the retention of current ones. Marketers dealing in the

telecommunications arena are established in an exciting era of industry growth. As

consumers' choices expand, the importance of a sound customer relationship strategy

becomes more and more important for the success of the company.

2. Inger (2008), This study aims at deepening understanding of the role of emotion in

customer switching processes and identifying the relative frequency of negative discrete

emotions in terms of different triggers. The main finding was that the identified emotions

were located in the trigger part of the relationship, and was expressed by the respondents

during the switching process in form of annoyance, anxiety, disappointment,

dissatisfaction, distress, depression, rage, stress and tension. Mainly study is trying to

find one answer that do customers return rather quickly to the switched-from operator

when the trigger was influential/stress-related, or do they become stable at the switched-

to-operator.

3. Gamie (2008), undertook a research to explore the challenges of reaching low-income

customers in developing markets. The whole study is just one interview based in which

Anderson is asking question from Gurdeep Singh Operations Director with Hutchison

Essar India. Now that discussion concludes that managers need to go beyond traditional

approaches to serving the poor, and innovate by taking into account the unique

institutional context of developing markets. In most cases, MNOs have served the poorest

consumers through shared-use models such as GrameenPhone's Village phone concept in

Bangladesh, due to the commonly held belief that reaching these consumers is difficult

due to two key challenges – affordability and availability. This paper demonstrates that

MNOs can deliver availability and affordability to achieve increased individual or

household penetration through business model innovation.

31

4. Thomas (2008) Empirical findings of the study showed that the respondents attended the

event mainly for business and networking opportunities. Overall, they were satisfied with

Hong Kong as the location for the ITU Telecom World 2006. Additionally, there were no

significant differences in perception between overseas and local attendees in all but two

attributes. This study showed that location, infrastructure and safety did not seem to

influence attendees' decision for attending the event. Moreover, attendees considered

traveling to or visiting the destination would have a low influence on their decision to

attend the event.

5. Shankar (2006) This article examines the emergence of innovation and value creation for

enhancing customers' experience, as a result of increasing competition in the Indian

telecom industry during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The report provides a detailed

account of the evolution of the Indian telecom industry. It traces various developments in

the industry before, during and after the liberalization of the Indian telecom sector. It also

provides information about the increasing popularity of cellular services which led to the

emergence of several private telecom operators like Bharati Tele Ventures, Hutchison

Telecom, Idea Cellular Ltd, Reliance Telecom Ltd, etc.

6. Gustafsson (2005) The purpose of this study is to enhance understanding of the club's

role in the customer relationships of a telecommunications company by re-considering

the concepts of frequency and commitment in a telecom-customer club. Study found an

umbrella concept for the club regarding loyalty: A keeping function, which divided the

customer club in two ways,: the affective role makes the customer stay with the company

and the calculative role with a more inferred loyalty function. The expressions that were

not connected to loyalty are the attracting function. So it seems obvious that customers

do not merely look at certain parts of the club offering where loyalty is concerned: they

evaluate the club and their relationship with the service provider according to different

criteria.

32

7. Robins (2008) This paper is about marketing the next generation of mobile telephones.

The study is about third generation of cell phone technology, what is usually known as

“3G” for short. There are various issues about that new innovative. One is how to price

3G handsets and services at a level which will enable telephone operating companies to

recoup the high prices they have already paid to governments for operating licenses.

Second the technology is not yet complete, there are no agreed international standards

and companies do not yet know what new services the technology will prove capable of

delivering effectively. All variants of 3G remain dependent on largely unproven

technology. Marketing 3G is going to be about services which are new and in many

cases, yet to be designed. At the same time, it will involve services which can also be

obtained by computer and other means. It follows that the marketing task will be high

risk. First, 3G has no obviously unique selling proposition to build on except, perhaps,

the combination of live video and easy portability. Second, the potential customers have

not yet had adequate opportunity to signal their service likes and dislikes. Third, the cost

and complexity of service provision leave doubt about the market’s reaction to price.

8. Debnath (2008) This study explain that the prime focus of the service providers is to

create a loyal customer base by benchmarking their performances and retaining existing

customers in order to benefit from their loyalty. With the commencement of the

economic liberalization in 1991, and with a view to expand and improve telecom

infrastructure through the participation of the private sector, the Government of India

permitted foreign companies holding 51 percent equity stake in joint ventures to

manufacture telecom equipment in India. The Indian Government has announced a new

policy, which allows private firms to provide basic telephone services. There had been a

monopoly of the state-owned department of telecommunications. However, several

companies are expected to benefit from the policy change.

33

9. Bhatt (2008), in his study titled “A Study of Mobile Phone Usage Among the Post

Graduate Students” analyzed that it is important for mobile carriers, service providers,

content developers, equipment manufacturers, as well as for parents and young people

alike that the key characteristics of mobile technology is well understood so that the risks

associated with its potentially damaging or disruptive aspects can be mitigated. This

paper has tried to compare the usage difference by gender with respect to the difference

manufacturing and service provider companies.

10. Jha (2008), in his study analyzed that it is the youth which is the real growth driver of the

telecom industry in India. Considering this fact, the paper is an attempt to give a snapshot

of how frequently young people use their mobile phones for several embodied functions

of the cell phones. Data was collected from a sample of 208 mobile phone owners, aged

between 20 and 29. The study sheds light on how gender, monthly voucher amount and

years of owning mobile phones influence the usage pattern of this device. Findings of the

study would be helpful for the telecom service providers and handset manufacturers to

formulate a marketing strategy for different market segments.

11. Kalavani (2006) in their study analyzed that majority of the respondents have given

favourable opinion towards the services but some problems exist that deserve the

attention of the service providers. They need to bridge the gap between the services

promised and services offered. The overall customers’ attitude towards cell phone

services is that they are satisfied with the existing services but still they want more

services to be provided.

34

12. Kumar (2008), in their study titled “Customer Satisfaction and Discontentment vis-a-vis

BSNL Landline Service: A Study” analyzed that at present, services marketing plays a

major role in the national economy. In the service sector, telecom industry is the most

active and attractive. Though the telecom industry is growing rapidly, India's telecom

density is less than the world's average telecom density as most of India's market is yet to

be covered. This attracts private operators to enter into the Indian telecom industry,

which makes the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) more alert to run its business

and survive in the market.

13. Seth et al (2008), in their study titled “Managing the Customer Perceived Service Quality

for Cellular Mobile Telephone: an Empirical Investigation” analyzed that there is relative

importance of service quality attributes and showed that responsiveness is the most

importance dimension followed by reliability, customer perceived network quality,

assurance, convenience, empathy and tangibles. This would enable the service providers

to focus their resources in the areas of importance. The research resulted in the

development of a reliable and valid instrument for assessing customer perceived service

quality for cellular mobile services.

14. Sundaram (2008) in their study titled “Marketing Mix Strategies Adopted By Selected

Indian Business Outsourcers” analyzed that Indian business process outsourcers are

mostly marketing through the web advertisement as a promotional strategy to provide

accounting and form processing service to Asian and North American customers and

price them on the basis of slab rate. Smart sourcing can be best explained as the tactical

use of specialized external resources to perform core and non core activities, which were

originally carried out by internal staff and resources. Business process outsourcers in

India are marching towards knowledge process and value added outsourcing.

35

15. Fernandez (2007) in their study titled “Understanding Dynamics in an Evolving Industry:

Case of Mobile VAS in India” analyzed that Mobile Value Added Services (VAS) is a

rising star in the fast growing wireless business. In the paper, attempt is made at

understanding the strategic dynamics of the evolving environment within which the

Indian players are operating, the challenges and structure of the same. Our literature and

industry review indicates that - while the value chain of industry is complicated yet one

can observe the bipolar nature of bargaining powers between mobile network operators

and content aggregators.

16. Kaliyamoorthy and Kumar (2007) in their study titled “Influence of Demographic

Variables on Marketing Strategies in the Competitive Scenario” analyzed that

Demographic variables have much significance in marketing. They are used as bases for

segmenting the market, and their role in consumer's buying decision is notable and vital.

Even when the target market is described in non-demographic terms (say, a personality

type), the link back to demographic characteristics is needed in order to estimate the size

of the target market and the media that should be used to reach it efficiently. So,

identifying the demographic profile of the target consumers is very important for the

marketers. The paper, with a strong backing of literature, explains why the marketers

must give much importance to the changing demographic trends while evolving

marketing strategies in the prevailing competitive business environment.

17. Bismut (2006) in his study titled “Competition in European Telecom Markets” analyzed

that in recent years the European telecommunications market has witnessed major

developments, with rapid expansion in access to telecommunications networks and a

surge in the number of available services and applications. While many factors have

contributed to the transformation of the telecommunications industry, competition has

played a key role in driving telecom players to invest in new technologies, to innovate

and to offer new services.

36

18. Kalpana and Chinnadurai (2006) in their study titled “Promotional Strategies of Cellular

Services: A Customer Perspective” analyzed that the increasing competition and

changing taste and preferences of the customer’s all over the world are forcing

companies to change their targeting strategies. The study revealed the customer attitude

and their satisfaction towards the cellular services in Coimbatore city. It was found that

advertisement play a dominant role in influencing the customers but most of the

customers are of opinion that promotional strategies of cellular companies are more sale

oriented rather than customer oriented.

19. Batra (2006) In this “ICFAI journal of Consumer behavior” has discussed that India's

economic prosperity and maturity has also helped to shape the world of advertising agen-

cies in India, enabling the latter to reach global standards. Advertising has become seri-

ous and big business in India, with its worth being estimated at Rs. 13,200-crore, by

those in the know. This can only mean one thing that apart from the quality of work, the

volume of the work has increased. Companies are using different media to persuade the

customer. All most all marketing and advertising agencies in India believe in the concept

of 360 degree branding. Agencies are creating, sharing and managing stories and brand

experiences in a manner that involves and engages, rather than interrupts and alienates.

20. Fredric (2008) analyzed the importance of yield management and discrimination pricing

in telecommunication sector. Yield management is the process of allocating the right type

of capacity or inventory unit to the right kind of customer at the right price so as to

maximize revenue or yield. Yield management and dynamic pricing strategies could be

usefully applied to preserve and increase profitability. Yield management techniques can

help telecom operators and similar companies to optimize the benefits they can derive

from a subtle management of information networks and partnerships. However, such an

approach is more difficult to implement in the telecommunications industry than in the

airlines sector because of the difficulty to control (and sometimes to refuse) network

access to customers.

37

21. Ray (2007), in his article study has concluded that the most important character of spoke

character is the control over the character. The spoke character’s appearance can be

altered according to the marketers need and objective. The spoke character has distinct

personality; it reflects on the brands and gives the brand a unique personality. But

sometime spoke character become so entangled with brand that removing spoke character

may lead to negative impact on the image of the brand. This is the another factor which is

impacting the advertisement.

22. Chris (2003) has analyzed ‘Telecom advertising in print media.’ This research attempted

to investigate why Telecom theme are used in advertisement, and the motives that lead

companies and advertisers to use sport celebrities and sport concept in advertisements.

From study it has been revealed that the appearance of sport celebrities in advertising

endorsement occurred more often in Telecom magazines than in other magazines,

because their target group is more acquainted with athletes. The sport celebrities that

dominated each printed media are related with their target group characteristics.

23. Surrender (2004), undertook a research to evaluate the impact of advertising on both the

rural and urban consumers, in term of improving the sales of products, to analyze the

differences between rural and urban consumers. The study examined different media

habits of the rural and urban consumers with regard to the purchase of the selected luxury

items and also effectiveness and usefulness of advertising to the society in general and in

rural consumers.

38

CHAPTER-4

GAP BETWEEN CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS

&

COMPANIES PERFOMANCE

Gap b/w Consumer Expectations and Companies Performance of Telecommunication

39

Q1: - Which mobile connection do you have?

Particular No. of respondents

AIRTEL20

VODAPHONE 18

IDEA 36

BSNL 26

Interpretation: - As the area of the study is ferozepur of Punjab, where the market leader is

Spice that is now known as Idea after taker over of spice by idea. That’s why majority of the

questionnaire I got filled by Idea users. Above data analysis shows that majority of the market

that is approximately 50% is covered by two market leaders IDEA and BSNL.

Q2:- What kind of service you have?

40

Particular No. of respondents

Pre-Paid 84

Post-Paid 16

Interpretation: - Above data shows that most of the respondents in the area have pre-paid connections. And I got only 16% questionnaire filled by post-paid users.

Q3:- Overall, how would you rate your service provider?

41

Brands Excellent Good Avg Poor Terrible Not Sure

Airtel 7 12 1

Vodaphone 5 11 2

Idea 1 10 12 5

Bsnl 14 12 8

Interpretation:- From the graphic it depict that Airtel is the most excellent and good service provider as 19 out 20 responded believes that the service of the company is excellent. Then vodaphone has also good rate of excellence as 16 out of 18 respondents rated Vodaphone as a good service provider. But the idea and Bsnl are not under good ratings. 8 respondents of BSNL and 5 of Idea have rated their service provider as Poor. BSNL is found to be worst service provider from all above as 12 respondents rate it as a average service provider and 8 as a poor service provider.

Q4:- Rank the following factors which influenced you the most to buy the service of your choice?

42

H1: -Price factor is not the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom service.

H0: - Price factor is the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom service.

Brands Price Network Service

Brand Image

VAS Expected values

Airtel 16 4 25

Vodaphone 7 4 3 6 25

Idea 6 7 3 10 25

Bsnl 22 10 25

Chi square value: 6.035 Table value: 5.991

Interpretation of Chi: - As the 95% level of confidence Chi square value 6.035 is more than the table value 5.991, so the null hypothesis is rejected, it means Price factor is the most influencing factor for the purchase of Telecom service.

Interpretation:- Above data analysis shows that Airtel is being preferred because of its best network service and Brand image as well. Where Vodaphone is preferred because of its good pricing strategy, network service, brand image and the most Value Added Services of the company. And Idea is preferred because of all above factors. Where Bsnl is preferred the most because of its low price as compare to its competitors and because of its value added services as well.

Q5- Rank the following VAS which attracted you the most to buy or retain the mobile service:

43

Particular Airtel Vodaphone Idea Bsnl

SMS Pack 4 9 16

Concession Call Rates 3 6 15 11

Internet Service 12 1

Full Talk Time 5 7 4 7

Interpretation: - Above data analysis shows that Airtel is being preferred because of its internet service. And vodaphone because of its Concession calls rates and full talk time VAS. Where Idea the most because of its Concession Call Rates and SMS pack. But BSNL because of its SMS pack mainly and then concession rates also.

Q6:- How long have you used the service of that company?

44

Brands >1 Month 1-6 Month 6 M– 1 Year < 1 Year < 3 Year

Airtel 2 7 9 2

Vodaphone 1 3 11 3

Idea 2 3 7 13 3

Bsnl 2 5 3 18 6

Interpretation:- Above table analysis depicts that most of the users are using their telecom service from last one year. Some of the users are also using it from last 3 year, where majority of the users are BSNL connection holders. Most of the users of the Vodaphone are using it from last 6 months. Very few respondents are a new users of their services that let our study not vague.

Q7:- Overall, how satisfied are you, with network service of your company?

45

Brands Very Satisfied

Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfy Very Dissatisfy

Airtel 7 13

Vodaphone 3 14 1

Idea 2 23 2

Bsnl 2 18 8 6

Interpretation: - Above table data analysis shows that the satisfaction rate of network service is leaded by Airtel as not a single user of service is neutral or dissatisfy. And vodaphone network service satisfaction rate is also good. And it can be also found that BSNL network service is not good as compare to others competitors as 14 respondents are found to be not satisfied with the company network service.

Q8:- How would you rate the service's value for money?

46

Brands Excellent Good Fair Poor Not Sure

Airtel 6 14

Vodaphone 3 10 5

Idea 2 20 6

Bsnl 9 24 1

Interpretation: - Above data and chart analysis depicts that BSNL has the highest rating of Value for /money as 33 persons out 34 has rated it as a excellent and good service provider. Then Idea Company is following Bsnl as a best service provider for value for money. Other two players Airtel and Voda has similar performance approximately. Both has been rated good and excellent, where good has been rated more as compare to other options.

Q9:- What kind of problems occurs the most for which you need to contact customer care/service department of your service provider?

47

H0: - People do not contact customer care mostly for activation and deactivation of the service

H1: - People contact customer care mostly for activation and deactivation of the service

Brands Billing Related

Activation/ Deactivation

Information of VAS’s

Network Problem

Expected values

Airtel 1 8 10 25

Vodaphone 18 7 25

Idea 6 12 5 3 25

Bsnl 6 11 13 25

Chi square value: 9.351 Table value: 7.815

Interpretation of Chi:- As the 95% level of confidence Chi square value 9.351 is more than the

table value 7.815, so the null hypothesis is rejected, it means People contact customer care

mostly for activation and deactivation of the service.

Interpretation: - From the above data analysis it has been found that most of the users of telecommunication contact to their customers care for activation and deactivation of various services. Then they also contact for information about various value added services provider by companies like validity, call rates, sms pack, caller tones etc. Network service has been found a problem of mainly BSNL users and to some extent of Idea users as well.

Q10:- In thinking about your most recent experience with that company, how much satisfied are you with the customer care service?  

H0: - Airtel is not the best service provider of customer care service.

48

H1: - Airtel is the best service provider of customer care service.

Brands Very Satisfied

Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfy Very Dissatisfy

Airtel 14 6

Vodaphone 3 12 3

Idea 1 11 6 3 7

Bsnl 2 3 7 22

Chi square value: 11.143 Table value: 9.488

Interpretation of Chi:- As the 95% level of confidence Chi square value 11.143 is more than the table value 9.488, so the null hypothesis is rejected, it means Airtel is the best service provider of customer care service in the industry..

Interpretation:- From the above data interpretation we can conclude that Airtel is the best service provider of customer care service. As it has been also found in some of the article that Airtel is expending more on its customer care service as compare to other competitors in the market. The Vodaphone service is also satisfactory as most of the users has rated it as satisfied service provider. But Bsnl is to be found as a not satisfactory service provider. Most of the users said that they have not talk to their customer care service provider even for a single time.

Q11:- How satisfied are you with the process of getting your queries resolved?

Brands Very Satisfied

Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfy Very Dissatisfy

49

Airtel 12 8

Vodaphone 2 12 3

Idea 1 11 8 6 2

Bsnl 3 3 9 19

Interpretation: - From above data analysis we can say that most of the users, who are satisfied with their customer care service, are also satisfied with the process of getting their queries resolved. Airtel again has been rated as the best service provider for getting queries resolved. Results are similar approximately with the 10-question analysis.

Q12:- The customer service representative was very courteous.

Brands Strongly Somewhat Neutral Somewhat Strongly

50

Disagree Disagree Agree Agree

Airtel 7 13

Vodaphone 8 10

Idea 2 12 14

Bsnl 20 12 2

Interpretation: - Above data analysis shows that most of the users of all companies found their customer service provider courteous. But the result of BSNL is not good as the users say that they have not talk to their customer care service provider even for a single time. Some of them have talk but after a lot of waiting time. So they are found not satisfied and rated this question also as dissatisfied. So after studying their views with a personal discussion we can not say that the customer care representatives of BSNL are not courteous.

Q13:- The customer service representative was very knowledgeable.

Brands Strongly Somewhat Neutral Somewhat Strongly

51

Disagree Disagree Agree Agree

Airtel 3 17

Vodaphone 1 17

Idea 8 5 15

Bsnl 20 12 2

Interpretation: - Above data analysis shows that most of the users of all companies found their customer service provider knowledgeable. But the result of BSNL is again not good as the users say that they have not talk to their customer care service provider even for a single time. Some of them have talk but after a lot of waiting time. So they are found not satisfied and rated this question also as dissatisfied. So after studying their views with a personal discussion we can not say that the customer care representatives of BSNL are not knowledgeable. But one more finding is there in that question that Idea is not perfect in hiring best personnel for customer care representatives as 8 users are neutral for this question reply.

Q14:- The waiting time for having my questions addressed was satisfactory.

Brands Strongly Somewhat Neutral Somewhat Strongly

52

Disagree Disagree Agree Agree

Airtel 2 18

Vodaphone 3 15

Idea 8 5 15

Bsnl 20 12 2

Interpretation: - Above data analysis shows that most of the users of all companies are found satisfactory with the waiting time their queries resolved. But the result of BSNL is again not good as the users say that they have not talk to their customer care service provider even for a single time. Some of them have talk but after a lot of waiting time. So they are found not satisfied and rated this question also as dissatisfied and neutral. So after studying their views with a personal discussion we can not say that the customer care representatives of BSNL are not able to solve their customer queries in a satisfactory time.

53

CHAPTER-5

LIMITATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS

&

CONCLUSION

Recommendations

54

BSNL has to concentrate on its customer care service as most of the respondents are

found dissatisfied with company service. Even some of them have called it the worst cus-

tomer care service provider in the market. But it is also rated as best company for value

of money. So company can be competitive in the market by just investing in their cus-

tomer care service. BSNL users also found not satisfied with the network service to some

extent. So it can also improve it.

Airtel performance of network service is the best in the market. It has been also rated the

best customer care service provider. But it has been found a little costlier than others

competitors in the market as not a single customer preferring it because of its pricing

strategies. So company should rethink on its pricing strategies. All the companies in the

industry have entered into a pricing war in the industry. So Airtel should also provide

some of its product and services competitive in the market.

Vodaphone again rated best network service provider, best Value added services provider

and customer care service provider as well. Overall the performance of the company is

best in the industry. Company is also very competitive in the industry as well. But it can

improve more by providing more good value added services. Company SMS pack

weekly service is no more attractive in these days. And that is one of the most preferred

factors by youngsters for the purchase of a telecom service.

Idea is the market leader of the area according to our survey as most of our respondents

are using idea services. Company is also providing a good network service. But company

users does not found satisfied with the customer care service as they found it busy most

of the times. And some of also said that customer care representatives are not knowledge-

able and courteous as well. So company should improve its Pre-Paid customer care ser-

vice.

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Limitations of the Study

Carrying the survey was a general learning experience for us but we also faced some problems,

which are listed here:

The market of Telecommunication is too vast and it is not possible to cover each and ev-

ery dealer, manufacturer and seller in the available short span of time.

Generally the respondents were busy in their work and were not interested in responding

rightly.

Respondents were reluctant to discover complete and correct information about them-

selves and their organization.

Most respondents were not maintaining proper knowledge of various services provided

by their company, so they were unable to provide exact information.

Most of the respondents don’t want to disclose the information about the various other

companies’ which they have experienced before.

Some of the respondents were using the service first time of their company and they were

not able to properly differentiate among their product.

Due to human behavior information may be biased. Mainly in BSNL case.

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Conclusion

After doing that all study we can conclude that yes the Gap exist there in telecommunication

industry. Consumers have a lot of expectations from their service provider that are not performed

or deliver by their companies. As we know that consumer expect from BSNL to improve its

customer care service that can be found busy most of the times.

Now users of BSNL have rated it as a best company for value of money but still they are not

satisfied with some of company’s strategies. So this is the Gap between BSNL users and

company performance.

Then we have example of Punjab market leader Idea. Users of Idea are not satisfied with

company customer care service as it is a difficult process because one has to wait a lot or call

again and again to talk with a customer care representative.

Vodaphone performance is good but Gap exists not just with Voda, but with all the companies in

the industry. Various VAS (Value Added Services) provided by company does not seems to be

satisfying their users. Customers are not satisfied with SMS pack that is perceived costlier as

compare to others companies SMS packs by Voda users. Users also found monthly low call rate

pack costlier as well.

Airtel is to be found the best service provider of network service and customer care service as

well. This is one company in the industry that can be found delivering as per their customer

expectations. That’s why customers have rated it not as satisfactory but excellent. But one has to

pay more for superior service and Airtel is one example of such service. It is the costlier service

in the industry. Users of airtel paying more for validity and other value added services. And they

expect from company to offer some of the VAS at some of the competitive prices. Price is the

only Gap exists in Airtel between company and users.

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CHAPTER-6

BIBLIOGRAPHY

58

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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CHAPTER-7

63

APPENDIX

1.6 ANNEXURE

Questionnaire

Q1:- Which mobile connection do you have?

a) Airtel                      b) Vodaphone             c) Idea             d) Bsnl

Q2:- What kind of service you have

a) Pre-paid                                   b) Post-paid

Q3:- Overall, how would you rate your service provider?

 a) Excellent     b) Good    c) Average     d) Poor     e) Terrible      f) Not Sure

Q4:- Rank the following factors which influenced you to buy the service of your choice?

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a) Price

b) Network Service

c) Brand Image

d) Value Added Services (Rel to Rel Free after 11PM)

Q5- Rank the following VAS which attracted you the most to buy or retain the mobile service:

a) SMS pack 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent --1 2 3 4 5 -- Poor

b) Concession Call Rates 1 2 3 4 5

c) Internet Service 1 2 3 4 5

d) Full Talk Time 1 2 3 4 5

Q6:- How long have you used the service of that company?

a) Less than one month b) 1 to 6 months c) 6 months to a year

d) 1 to 3 years e) Over 3 years

Q7:- Overall, how satisfied are you, with network service of your company?

a) Very satisfied

b) Satisfied

c) Neutral

d) Dissatisfied

e) Very dissatisfied

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Q8:- How would you rate the service's value for money?

a) Excellent     b) Good           c) Fair      d) Poor        d) Not sure

Q9:- What kind of problems occurs the most for which you need to contact customer

care/service department of your service provider? Rank them.

a) Billing related

b)         Activation/deactivation related

c)         Information about VAS’s

d)         Network problem        

Q10:- In thinking about your most recent experience with that company, how much satisfied are

you with the customer care service?  

a) Very satisfied

b) Satisfied

c) Neutral

d) Dissatisfied

e) Very dissatisfied

f) N/A

Q11:- How satisfied are you with the process of getting your queries resolved?

a) Very satisfied

b) Satisfied

c) Neutral

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d) Dissatisfied

e) Very dissatisfied

Q12:- The customer service representative was very courteous.

a) Strongly Disagree

b) Somewhat Disagree

c) Neutral

d) Somewhat Agree

e) Strongly Agree

Q13:- The customer service representative was very knowledgeable.

a) Strongly Disagree

b) Somewhat Disagree

c) Neutral

d) Somewhat Agree

e) Strongly Agree

Q14:- The waiting time for having my questions addressed was satisfactory.

a) Strongly Disagree

b) Somewhat Disagree

c) Neutral

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d) Somewhat Agree

e) Strongly Agree

If you were not totally satisfied with the customer service, will you please describe the reasons

for your dissatisfaction?

--

 

NAME-                            AGE-                     MOBILE MODEL- OCCUPATION-

 

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