GR
RACE PERIOD

ON
NLINE  
TARIFF  PLAN
NS
PAYMENT

CELLULAR
R
COVERAGE SE
ERVICE CON
NNECTIVITY

PRO
OVIDER
RS

BILL PA
AYMENT ISD

EASY 
RECHARGE

SUBMIT
TTED  TO  : Prof. TRIILOCHAN T
 TRIPATHY
Y 

SUBMIT
TTED  BY :
 :  SUMEET  SINGH 

               
                       
     GMM  SU
UNIL  KUMA
AR 

               
                       
     MVK  CHA
AITANYA  

               
                       
     MUKESH OL 
H  KANDHO

ON – ‘ I ’ 
SECTIO

12TH Jan
n ‘ 09 
 

1 
 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We extend our sincere gratitude to Prof. Trilochan Tripathy without whose support and
inspiration this project would not have been possible. We would like to take this opportunity to
thank our faculty for the genuine pieces of advice which he has given from time to time for the
completion of this project.
.
We would also like to thank all our project mates and fellow students who extended their help
and support whenever required. A special thanks to all who provided their knowledgeable insight
into things of complexity and made them simple and lucid for us.

A sincere thanks to our Professor who guided us to collect the primary data and even to all those
people who have added value to our project work through the questionnaire they had filled on
due course of the project work.

Last but not the least, my warm heartfelt thanks to IBS, Hyderabad for providing us with the
facilities required to do the adequate research and give the project its final shape.

 
  

2 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS: 
 

       PARTICULARS  PAGE NO. 

EXECUTIVE  SUMMARY  4 

RATIONALE  OF  CHOOSING THE  TOPIC  6 

OBJECTIVE  OF  PROJECT  7 

HYPOTHESIS  7 

APPROACH  TO  THE  PROBLEM  7 

LITERATURE  SURVEY  8 

DATA  COLLECTION  METHODOLOGY  9 

OVERALL MARKET  SHARE  10 

RESEARCH  DESIGN  13 

TOOLS  USED  13 

CLUSTER  ANALYSIS  14 

FACTOR  ANALYSIS  19 

CORRELATION  29 

REFERENCES  30 

QUESTIONNAIRE  31 

3 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
Satisfaction is a person’s feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing
a product’s perceived performance in relation to his/her expectations.

According to both marketing theory and practical experience, telecommunications firms should
improve their performance by satisfying their customers, so as to obtain and sustain advantage in
the intensely competitive environment. This is because customer satisfaction results in customer
loyalty and firms with a bigger share of loyal customers profit from increasing repurchase rate,
greater cross buying potential, higher price willingness, positive recommendation behavior
and lower switching tendency.

Here in this research we have tried to understand perceived value proposition and customer
satisfaction towards various cellular operators.

The study on customers was quantitative study of existing customers of all operators. Here in we
have tried to clarify certain factors related to customer’s satisfaction in current scenario.

Research  Design Adopted: DESCRIPTIVE

Data  Collection  Approach: QUESTIONAIRE DISTRIBUTION

Sample Space: 70

Sampling  Technique Used: RANDOM SAMPLING

Primary Data Collection Source:  
• IBS, Hyderabad 

• TCS, Deccan Park 

• STPI , Madhapur 

• HSBC, Hyderabad 
 

4 
 
 This is because it was intended to find the market characteristics such as market size, attitude of
the customers towards the different aspects of the service and so on; we adopted questionnaire
approach as a primary data collection technique. Both open ended and closed ended questions
were used in the questionnaire to get better understanding of the problem.
To eliminate all kinds of bias in the research and to attain the true picture we adopted random
sampling in our research work.

Here in order to measure the perceived preference level of the customer and there deviation we
have applied multivariate analysis tools such as factor analysis and cluster analysis.

The outcome of the research work has helped us to identify the parameters that the customers
keep in mind while selecting a cellular service provider.

There are 25 private companies operating in 23 telecom circles and four metro cities, covering
1500 towns across the country. There are two types of mobile service networks namely GSM
(Global System for Mobile) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access). The sector at present
is witnessing a fierce competition to acquire maximum number of new subscribers with various
price cuts and life time offers, as it is very difficult to make an existing subscriber switch
services.

With regular price cuts it becomes very difficult for existing players to offer premium quality
services to make their users happy, which then boils down to offering regular skeletal services
but with consistency and inbuilt quality which is the least the consumer expects.

Here in our study, we attempt to measure the satisfaction level of existing subscribers of three
service providers namely Idea, Tata Indicom, Reliance, Vodafone and Airtel in our campus, IBS
Hyderabad as well as in TCS Hyderabad (Deccan Office, Hi-Tec City)

5 
 
RATIONALE  OF  CHOOSING THE  TOPIC 
The most uncertain things in the current competitive world is customer’s perception towards a
product or service. The most important objective from marketing point of view is to understand
the customer perception towards their product. Telecom Industry is booming, what we can say is
the period of telecom revolution. The number of cellular service providers is increasing and there
exists a wide variety of choice before the customers to choose a particular provider. So it
becomes a daunting task before the cellular players to provide best value proposition and
increased customer satisfaction towards their subscribers.

It is essential from business point of view to analyze the parameters which are essential for the
customers to choose a particular cellular operator. Moreover its important to understand the
factors which are responsible in getting increased revenues for the business and which has helped
in increasing the customer base of the cellular operator.
The Telecom Industry in India is still evolving and there are no signs of consolidation as of now.
Currently the industry is having a subscriber base of 230 million with an estimated 5-6 million
subscribers being added every month. Price war, subscriber base, decreasing ARPUs (Average
revenue per user), Technology issues, target market, value added services, network up gradation
are the issues of major concern to all the players. Government has already given green signals for
FDI participation to be raised to 74% and unified licensing regime is there. With government
decision to implement unified licensing Regime, CDMA players like Reliance, Tata have got
seamless mobility and would be at par with GSM players. GSM operators will be forced to
match the prices along with installing new capacities and upgrading the existing ones. This has
made the companies decrease the tariffs to the lowest in the world that is from the incoming and
outgoing call charges of Rs18/minute (0.45 USD) seven years ago to the present day when then
incoming calls are free and outgoing are charged as low as Rs 1/minute (0.02 USD). Under easy
payment plans you can get a lifetime incoming call for free!

There has been a tremendous growth in the telecom sector in India and doing a research project
to analyze the customer preference towards the cellular service providers is definitely a
knowledge gaining and it would help in understanding the sector much better.

6 
 
OBJECTIVE  OF  PROJECT 
 

Here with the help of this research we are trying to determine the overall perceived value
proposition of the service and satisfaction levels of the customers of different mobile operators.

The major objectives behind this research project were:

™ To understand current satisfaction level of customers with regard to different attributes of

mobile services.
™ To determine the preferences of the customers for different mobile service providers.
™ To ascertain the improvements expected by the customers in services provided.
™ To find out the reason behind increasing customer base of a cellular service provider.

HYPOTHESIS 
 

Null Hypothesis: There exists no relationship between the variables we surveyed and the overall
customer satisfaction towards a cellular service provider.

Alternative Hypothesis: There exists a relationship between the variables we surveyed and the
overall customer satisfaction towards a cellular service provider.

APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM 
 

The market research will be done in understanding perceived value proposition and customer
satisfaction of Indian mobile industry. The study on customers will be quantitative study of
existing customers of major operators, operating in Hyderabad. The research design adopted by
us will be descriptive design and we are following questionnaire approach as data collection
technique. Closed ended questions will be used in the questionnaire to get better understanding
of the problem.

7 
 
LITERATURE SURVEY 
 

Level of satisfaction is a person’s feeling of contentment or disappointment resulting from

comparing a product’s performance in relation to his/her expectations. The buying behavior
of the consumer starts with the search of information about the product based on his need. Then
after evaluating the set of option a consumer decided to purchase the product. In the end he
evaluates his decision which then decides his level of satisfaction. As per the insights by
different authors namely, (Philip Kotler, 2000).

According to both marketing theory and practical experience, telecommunications firms should
improve their performance by satisfying their customers, so as to obtain and sustainable
advantage in the intensely competitive environment to get heart and mind share. 4 A’s of
operationalising customer centric marketing (Rajendra S Sisodia and Jagdesh Seth) can
help to meet this end. This is because customer satisfaction results in customer loyalty and firms
with a bigger share of loyal customers profit from increasing repurchase rate, greater cross
buying potential, higher price willingness, and lower switching tendency.

As stated in the case study by Fulbagh Singh and Reema Sharma in their research paper
“Cellular services And Customer Buying Behavior in Amritsar City”, “There is a need to change
the image the product for status symbol to product of necessity to increase the clientele base. For
this the cellular company must further reduce the per minute charges and introduce more flexible
plan schemes.”

8 
 
DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGY 

Primary and Secondary Data Sources 
 

™ Questionnaire Method was used containing Close Ended Questions.

™ Secondary Data Sources of Customer Satisfaction Report of CRISIL and other journal
and research papers were used to discern customer satisfaction factors of service
providers in the Hyderabad telecom circle.

Sampling techniques 

The sampling technique used in the study is Convenience sampling. More specifically
Judgmental sampling technique which lets the researcher judge whether the respondent will truly
give his response without any bias. Convenience Sampling has been administered on 100
respondents. Data was analyzed on the survey conducted on the ICFAI Hyderabad Campus.

Scaling Techniques 

™ Likert scale – to measure customer satisfaction. The scale is balance .and has responses
ranging from “Not at all essential- 1”, and if they feel the factor is “Absolutely essential
mark 7”

™ Multivariate Analysis tool using SPSS to measure perceived value proposition using tools
like

ƒ Factor Analysis
ƒ Cluster Analysis

 
 

9 
 
OVERA
ALL  MA
ARKET  SHARE 
 

Perce
ent Sharre Of Serrvice Pro
oviders ((Nationaal)
Otheers
3%%

Aircel
6.17% Bharti Airtel
25%
33.2

Reeliance Idea
3
3.84% 13.16%

BSSNL
Vodafo
one 16.24%
23.57%
%

MTNNL
1.53
3%

Source: CRIS
SIL Report (below)
(

Grou
up Compa
any wise %
 % markett share ­ N
Nov'2008
8 

Sl. No.  Na
ame of Comp
pany  Total Sub
b Figures  % Ma
arket Share  
1  Bharti Airttel  82920593  3
33.25% 

2  Vodafone Es
V ssar  58764164  2
23.57% 

3  BSNL  40487511  1
16.24% 
4  IDEA  32809720  1
13.16% 

5  Aircel  15375258  6
6.17% 

6  Re
eliance Tele
ecom  9582
2695  3.84% 
7  Spice  3705
5894  1.49% 

8  MTNL  3821
1277  1.53% 

9  BPL  1882
2324  0
0.75% 

All India   24934
49436  10
00.00% 
 

10 
 
ANDHR
RA PRADESH SUBCR
RIBER BA
ASE DATA

Players  Sub
bscriber Ba
ase 
Vod
dafone Essa
ar  3430016 

Bh
harti Airtel   8094328 

IDE
EA cellularr  4460438 

BSNL  1696126 

VO
ODAFONE   1123459 

RELIANCE 
R 2741333 

SUBSCR
RIBER  BA
ASE  AT  A.P
900000
00

800000
00

700000
00

600000
00

500000
00

400000
00
Subscriber Baase
300000
00

200000
00

100000
00

0
Vodafone  Bharti Airteel IDEA cellular BSNL V
VODAFONE REELIANCE
Essar

11 
 
 PREP
PAID  MA
ARKET  SSHARE
Airttel
8%
8% Vod
dafone
35% Ideaa
10
0%
Tataa

1
14% Reliiance
BSN
NL
25%
%

Source: Crisil Ressearch Telecom Servicess, Monthly Review

R Sep’008

In the prrepaid markeet Airtel is thhe market leeader with 35%

3 market share follow
wed by Vodaafone
with 25%
% share and others.
o

POSTTPAID  M
MARKET   SHARE 

19% Airtel
29% Vod
dafone

5% Ideaa
Tataa
Reliance
3%
24%
% BSN
NL
14%
otheers
7%

Source: Crisil
C Researcch Telecom Services, Monthly
M Review Februaryy 2008

The postt-paid revealls Airtel to be the markket leader with

w 28.8% with
w close competition
c from
Vodafone with 23.7%
% , followedd by others.

12 
 
RESEARCH DESIGN 

Descriptive Design
The research design chosen for the study was descriptive. This was because it was intended
to find the market characteristics such as market size, attitude of the customers towards the
different aspects of the service and so on.
.
Information Needed For the Research

Since the primary research was already conducted on customers, the information needs were
known well. The study required the following information to be extracted for doing the final
analysis.
¾ What are the present satisfaction levels of the customers with respect to different
aspects of service provided?
¾ What are the preferences of the customer with regard to the service provided?
¾ Which aspects of the service have more predominant effect on the overall
Satisfaction levels of the customers?

TOOLS  USED 
 

• SPSS 13.0 for Windows 

• Microsoft Excel 

• Microsoft Word 
 

The above mentioned tools were used in the completion of the project. Using SPSS 13.0 we
analysed the data through factor analysis and cluster analysis. Again using MS Excel we did the
required graphs to analyse the trend in the growth of prepaid or postpaid subscribers in the state
of Andhra Pradesh.

13 
 
CLUSTER ANALYSIS  

(Introduction of Cluster Analysis and Its Application In This Survey) 

Cluster analysis is an exploratory data analysis tool for solving classification problems. Its
object is to sort cases (people, things, events, etc) into groups, or clusters, so that the degree of
association is strong between members of the same cluster and weak between members of
different clusters. Each cluster thus describes, in terms of the data collected, the class to which
its members belong; and this description may be abstracted through use from the particular to the
general class or type.

K­means clustering 
 

The K-means algorithm assigns each point to the cluster whose center (also called centroid) is
nearest. The center is the average of all the points in the cluster — that is, its coordinates are the
arithmetic mean for each dimension separately over all the points in the cluster...

Example: The data set has three dimensions and the cluster has two points: X = (x1, x2, x3) and
Y = (y1, y2, y3). Then the centroid Z becomes Z = (z1, z2, z3), where z1 = (x1 + y1)/2 and z2 =
(x2 + y2)/2 and z3 = (x3 + y3)/2.

14 
 
ANALYSIS OF CLUSTERS IN THIS SURVEY  

Cluster Analysis was applied to this survey in order to segment our respondent’s base by service
usage patterns. If customers can be classified by usage, the company can offer more attractive
packages to its customers.

Iteration History (a) 

Iteration Change in Cluster Centers

1 2
1 7.107 9.007
2 .813 .475
3 .025 .012
4 .001 .000

(a) Iterations stopped because the maximum number of iterations was performed. Iterations
failed to converge. The maximum absolute coordinate change for any center is .000. The current
iteration is 4. The minimum distance between initial centers is 20.664.
The iteration history shows the progress of the clustering process at each step. In early iterations,
the cluster centers shift quite a lot. By the 4th iteration, they have settled down to the general
area of their final location, and the last two iterations are minor adjustments.

15 
 
ANOVA TABLE 
 

The ANOVA table indicates which variables contribute the most to your cluster solution.

Variables with large F values provide the greatest separation between clusters.

ANOVA

Cluster Error
Mean Square df Mean Square df F Sig.
Tariff Plan 29.126 1 2.315 68 32.579 .001
Customer care 39.226 1 2.149 68 18.251 .000
GPRS/Internet 52.557 1 2.481 68 21.183 .000
Connectivity/congestio
5.085 1 2.804 68 1.813 .183
n
Dealer Support 50.631 1 2.087 68 24.256 .000
Easy –Recharge/Bill
Payment 16.481 1 2.982 68 5.526 .022

Grievance Handling 4.601 1 2.408 68 1.911 .171

Roaming Facility 25.952 1 3.433 68 7.560 .008
ISD 17.443 1 2.564 68 6.804 .011
Grace Period 33.748 1 2.743 68 12.302 .001
MMS 2.084 1 2.999 68 .695 .407
Sing tones &
28.388 1 3.028 68 9.376 .003
Ringtones
Conferencing Facility 63.929 1 2.027 68 31.537 .000
Missed Call Intimation 34.310 1 3.370 68 10.180 .002
Closed User Group 20.651 1 2.372 68 8.706 .004
Bundled Packages 56.413 1 2.562 68 22.017 .000
Other Promotional
Schemes 15.410 1 2.684 68 5.741 .019

Privacy Agreement 38.925 1 2.664 68 14.612 .000

Coverage 36.643 1 2.299 68 15.938 .000
Online Payment 26.198 1 2.810 68 9.323 .003

16 
 
In our case, we see that Tariff Plan contributes the maximum to the cluster solution i.e. the
respondents have given utmost importance to the Tariff plan. Other important factors
contributing which are considerably contributing to the cluster are Customer Care, GPRS,
Bundled packages, Dealer Support, Conferencing.

The F test is used only for descriptive purposes because the clusters have been chosen to
maximize the differences among cases in different clusters. The observed significance levels are
not corrected for this and thus cannot be interpreted as tests of the hypothesis that the cluster
means are equal.

FINAL CLUSTER CENTERS 
The values in the table are the means for each variable within each final cluster 

Final Cluster Centers

Cluster
1 2
Tariff Plan 6 4
Customer care 5 4
GPRS/Internet 5 3
Connectivity/congestion 5 4
Dealer Support 5 3
Easy –Recharge/Bill Payment 5 4
Grievance Handling 5 4
Roaming Facility 5 4
ISD 5 4
Grace Period 4 4
MMS 4 4
Sing tones & Ringtones 5 4
Conferencing Facility 5 3
Missed Call Intimation 5 3
Closed User Group 5 5
Bundled Packages 5 3
Other Promotional Schemes 4 3
Privacy Agreement 5 4
Coverage 5 4
Online Payment 5 4

17 
 
It can be observed from the above table that the Tariff Plan has been given more importance by
the cluster 1 respondents rather than cluster 2.Similarly Customer care, Coverage, easy
Recharge, ISD, Conferencing have also been given more importance by Cluster 1 respondents
rather than Cluster 2 respondents.

Whereas variables like Grace Period, MMS, Closed User Group (CUG) is being equal
importance by customers belonging to both the clusters.

All in all the respondents of Cluster 1 can be viewed as more Tech Savvy and Sensitive towards
different services provided by mobile service providers. And the respondents of cluster 2 are not
as proactive towards using new technology and advanced communication services.

NUMBER OF CASES IN EACH CLUSTER 
Number of Cases in each Cluster

Cluster 1 31.000
2 39.000
Valid 70.000
Missing .000

This table shows how many cases were assigned to each cluster. In this survey 31 respondents
belonged to Cluster 1 and 39 have been found to be in Cluster 2.

Limitations 

The findings are based on a survey conducted in Hyderabad so the results obtained might be
different from the behavior displayed from a more general sample.

This result cannot be generalized to all geographical regions in which the telecom service
providers operate.

There may be a bias in furnishing information from the respondents.

18 
 
FACTOR  ANALYSIS 

The survey we conducted was on the customer satisfaction and preference level for various
mobile service providers.

The factors we considered for the same are :-

1. Tariff Plan

2. Customer Care

3. GPRS/Internet

4. Connectivity/Congestion

5. Dealer Support

6. Easy- Recharge/Bill Payment

7. Grievance Handling

8. Roaming Facility

9. ISD

10. Grace Period

11. MMS

12. Sing Tones & Ringtones

13. Conferencing Facility

14. Missed Call Information

15. Closed User Group

16. Bundled Packages

17. Other Promotional Schemes

18. Private Agreement

19. Coverage

20. Online Payment

19 
 
We have performed factor analysis on these variables. The various outputs through SPSS is
mentioned below,

KMO AND BARTLETT'S TEST 

Table 1.3
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling
.708
Adequacy.

Bartlett's Test of Approx. Chi-Square 397.049

Sphericity Df 190
Sig. .000

Source: Output Sheet (appendix)

KMO test and Bartlett’s Test is basically the test of assumptions. The standard value for KMO
test is that it should be greater than 0.70 and is inadequate if less than .50. The underlying
assumptions behind the KMO test is that it indicates there is sufficient item for each factor. Here
in our test the value of KMO is .708 which shows that we have sufficient item for each factor.
The assumption of Bartlett’s test of sphericity is that it should be significant(less than .005)
indicating that correlation matrix is significantly different from identity matrix in which
correlations between the variables is zero. Here in our test significant value we have got is .000:
this means that the variables are correlated highly enough to provide a reasonable basis for factor
analysis. As per our analysis the approx chi square value is 397.049 and degree of freedom is 190.
This shows that data are fit for factor analysis.

20 
 
 Table 1.4
Communalities

Initial Extraction
Tariff Plan 1.000 .688
Customer care 1.000 .697
GPRS/Internet 1.000 .646
Connectivity/congestion 1.000 .552
Dealer Support 1.000 .488
Easy –Recharge/Bill
1.000 .703
Payment
Grievance Handling 1.000 .749
Roaming Facility 1.000 .666
ISD 1.000 .796
Grace Period 1.000 .752
MMS 1.000 .663
Sing tones & Ringtones 1.000 .540
Conferencing Facility 1.000 .672
Missed Call Intimation 1.000 .720
Closed User Group 1.000 .744
Bundled Packages 1.000 .663
Other Promotional
1.000 .673
Schemes
Privacy Agreement 1.000 .575
Coverage 1.000 .677
Online Payment 1.000 .708

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Source: Output Sheet (Appendix)

Communality, h2, is the squared multiple correlation for the variable as dependent using the
factors as predictors. The communality measures the percent of variance in a given variable
explained by all the factors jointly and may be interpreted as the reliability of the indicator.

21 
 
Communality for a variable is computed as the sum of squared factor loadings for that variable
(row). Recall r-squared is the percent of variance explained, and since factors are uncorrelated,
the squared loadings may be added to get the total percent explained, which is what communality
is. For full orthogonal PCA(the one used in our analysis), the initial communality will be 1.0 for
all variables and all of the variance in the variables will be explained by all of the factors, which
will be as many as there are variables. The "extracted" communality is the percent of variance in
a given variable explained by the factors which are extracted, which will usually be fewer than
all the possible factors, resulting in coefficients less than 1.0.

When an indicator variable has a low communality (>=.25), the factor model is not working well
for that indicator and possibly it should be removed from the model. Low communalities across
the set of variables indicate the variables are little related to each other. However, if the
communality exceeds 1.0, there is a spurious solution, which may reflect too small a sample or
the researcher has too many or too few factors.

   

22 
 
 Table 1.5

Total Variance Explained

 Total 
Variance 
Explained 
 Initial 
Component Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings
Eigenvalues 
Total  % of Variance   Cumulative %  Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative %
               1.00                4.86                  24.29                 24.29          4.86              24.29              24.29           2.93                 14.64                  14.64
               2.00                1.84                    9.18                 33.47          1.84                 9.18              33.47           2.20                 11.00                  25.64
               3.00                1.61                    8.03                 41.51          1.61                 8.03              41.51           1.89                    9.44                  35.07
               4.00                1.53                    7.66                 49.17          1.53                 7.66              49.17           1.74                    8.70                  43.77
               5.00                1.36                    6.79                 55.96          1.36                 6.79              55.96           1.69                    8.43                  52.20
               6.00                1.15                    5.75                 61.71          1.15                 5.75              61.71           1.54                    7.70                  59.90
               7.00                1.03                    5.15                 66.86          1.03                 5.15              66.86           1.39                    6.96                  66.86
               8.00                0.91                    4.54                 71.40
               9.00                0.81                    4.07                 75.47
            10.00                0.77                    3.87                 79.35
            11.00                0.65                    3.27                 82.61
            12.00                0.62                    3.12                 85.73
            13.00                0.50                    2.50                 88.23
            14.00                0.46                    2.30                 90.53
            15.00                0.43                    2.14                 92.67
            16.00                0.36                    1.79                 94.46
            17.00                0.34                    1.68                 96.13
            18.00                0.31                    1.56                 97.70
            19.00                0.27                    1.34                 99.04
            20.00                0.19                    0.96               100.00
d: Principal Component Analysis.

Source: Output Sheet (Appendix)

Basically the total variance explained table tells about the variance explained by each factor.
Eigen values refer to the variance explained or accounted for. The % of variance shows the
percent of variance for each component before and after rotation. Cumulative variance basically
shows the percentage of variance shown by the variables whose Eigen value is greater than 1.
Here the Total Variance Explained table shows how the variance is divided among the 20
possible factors. We found seven factors have Eigen values (a measure of explained variance)
greater than 1.0 which is a common criterion for a factor to be useful. When the Eigen value is
less than 1.0, this means that the factor explains less information than a single item would have
explained. Here the first factor shows the highest variance i.e. it explained 24.291 % of the total
variance explained. If we sum up all the seven factors it basically explained 66.863 % of the total
variance. The computer would have looked for the best seven-factor solution by "rotating" seven

23 
 
factors. The remaining 13 factors are not showing any variance due to their weakly correlated
nature.

For this we will use an orthogonal rotation (varimax). This means that the final factors will be as
uncorrelated as possible with each other. As a result, we can assume that the Information
explained by one factor is independent of the information in the other factors. We rotate the
factors so that they are easier to interpret. Rotation makes it so that, as much as possible,
different items are explained or predicted by different underlying factors, and each factor
explains more than one item. This is a condition called simple structure. One thing to look for in
the Rotated Matrix of factor loadings is the extent to which simple structure is achieved.

24 
 
 Scree Plot

4
Eigenvalue

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Component Number

The Rotated Factor Matrix table, which contains these loadings, is key for understanding the
results of the analysis. Here the computer have sorted the 20 factors into seven overlapping
group of items each which has a loading of 0.40 or higher (without considering the sign).

25 
 
 Table 1.6
Rotated Component Matrix (a)

Components
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Grace Period .792
Customer care .747
GPRS/Internet .741
Tariff Plan .619 .401
Bundled Packages .729
Online Payment .718
Privacy Agreement .639
Dealer Support .450 .456
Conferencing Facility .442 .439
Grievance Handling .777
Sing tones & Ringtones .601
Roaming Facility .566 .478
Easy –Recharge/Bill
.741
Payment
Coverage .639 .443
ISD .848
Other Promotional
.761
Schemes
MMS .806
Connectivity/congestion .505
Missed Call Intimation .741
Closed User Group .451 -.518

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.
Rotation converged in 9 iterations.
Source: Output Sheet (Appendix)

26 
 
 Table 1.7
Critical Factors

Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4 Factor 5 Factor 6 Factor 7

Customer
Economic Customer Easy to Add on
Support Accessibility Travel pack
Pack/Pricing Friendliness Connect feature
Back
Easy –
Privacy Grievance Missed Call
Tariff Plan Recharge/Bill ISD MMS
Agreement Handling Information
Payment

Sing Tones Other

Online Connectivity/
Grace Period & Ring Coverage Promotion
Payment Congestion
Tones al Schemes

Bundled Roaming
GPRS/Internet
Packages Facility

Customer Care

Source: Data Analysis

Factor 1: Economic Pack/Pricing-

The rotated Matrix revealed that the respondents perceive this particular factor to be the most
important factor, with the highest explained variance of 14.64%. Four out of twenty service
features load on significantly to this factor. We have named this factor as economy pack as it
consists of various GPRS/Internet (free sms, free calls, grace period etc) along Grace Period
(Period after expiry of the validity). Tariff plan as per the convenience of customers and proper
connectivity, thus can be said to be the most crucial factors influencing the decision of mobile
service users while selecting particular service providers.

Factor 2: Customer Friendliness

This has come out as second most important factor with rotated explained variance of 11.00%.
Three types of feature were loaded on to this factor. Privacy Agreement, (No sharing of
Customer Data with other agencies), Online Payment (Payment of Post-Paid Bills through

27 
 
Internet in collaboration with various Banks) and Bundled Packages (various packages like
Closed User Group etc.)

Factor 3: Customer Support Back

Three types of featured are loaded on this factor. This factor consists of facilities like Grievance
Handling, Sing Tones & Ring Tones and Roaming Facility. The factor accounts for 9.44% of the
variance. Facilities like Sing Tones & Ring Tones are a boost for corporate and business
customers.

Factor 4: Accessibility
Two types of features are loaded on this factor and together they account for 8.70% of the
variance. Easy Re-charge/Bill Payment and Coverage has become one of the most crucial factors
to measure the accessibility of the customers. If a company is not able to handle the coverage of
customers then it is bound to lose the market share and its reputation in the market.

Factor 5: Travel Pack

It has been revealed that the fifth most important factor with explained variance of 8.43% the
various features which are loaded on this factor are ISD and Other Promotional Schemes. ISD
stands for International Subscriber Dialing, which is major source of Revenue for the company.
Other Promotional Schemes are very important factors for instant revenue for the company.

Factor 6: Easy to Connect

The rotated matrix reveals that the factor easy to connect accounts for 7.70% of the variance.
Two types of features are loaded on this factor. These features are MMS and
Connectivity/Congestion. This is very beneficial for frequently travelling customers.
Connectivity is also loaded on this factor, which is one of the most important factor when it
comes to a place (Dontanapalli, ICFAI), which is outside city limits.

28 
 
Factor 7: Add-on Feature
One type of feature is loaded on this factor. Missed Call Information, which accounts for 6.96%
of the variance. This is a new trend in the mobile service market. Service providers are making
huge revenue by providing this additional service, which is very popular in young generation as
well as business and professional class.

CORRELATION 
 
 CORRELATIONS 
 Easy   Missed   Other 
     Sing tones     Closed   Online 
 Overall   Tariff   Customer   Dealer  –Recharg Grievance    Roaming   Grace  Call   Bundled  Promotion  Privacy 
    GPRS/Int Connectivity/  ISD   MMS  &  Conferenci User   Coverage  Paymen
Satisfaction  Plan  care  Support  e/Bill  Handling  Facility  Period  Intimati Packages  al  Agreement 
ernet  congestion  Ringtones  ng Facility  Group  t 
Payment  on  Schemes 
Overall Satisfaction               1.00         0.18           0.36         0.31                 0.20        0.10       0.11            0.20         0.27        0.02       0.11   0.20          0.21         0.21     0.42        0.20          0.21           0.24             0.34        0.10    0.07
        0.13           0.00         0.01                 0.10        0.40       0.38            0.10         0.02        0.87       0.38   0.10          0.08         0.08     0.00        0.11          0.08           0.05             0.00        0.42    0.58
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Tariff Plan               0.18         1.00           0.43         0.31                 0.10        0.42       0.29            0.19         0.36        0.10       0.30 (0.13)          0.33         0.27     0.20     (0.04)          0.12           0.25             0.16        0.09    0.06
              0.13           0.00         0.01                 0.40        0.00       0.01            0.12         0.00        0.40       0.01   0.27          0.01         0.02     0.10        0.72          0.30           0.04             0.18        0.44    0.65
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Customer care               0.36         0.43           1.00         0.53                 0.19        0.46       0.28            0.23         0.23        0.05       0.53 (0.00)          0.16         0.45     0.19        0.18          0.26           0.13             0.43        0.16    0.24
              0.00         0.00         0.00                 0.11        0.00       0.02            0.06         0.06        0.69       0.00   1.00          0.19         0.00     0.11        0.13          0.03           0.28             0.00        0.20    0.04
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
GPRS/Internet               0.31         0.31           0.53         1.00                 0.24        0.29       0.36            0.12         0.28        0.01       0.49   0.10          0.21         0.30     0.06        0.27          0.19           0.12             0.26        0.13    0.18
              0.01         0.01           0.00                 0.05        0.01       0.00            0.32         0.02        0.95       0.00   0.42          0.08         0.01     0.63        0.02          0.12           0.33             0.03        0.29    0.14
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00       70.00           70.00         70.00        70.00       70.00  70.00          70.00         70.00     70.00      70.00       70.00        70.00            70.00        70.00    70.00
 
Connectivity/congesti               0.20         0.10           0.19         0.24                 1.00      (0.02)       (0.01)             0.08          (0.04)          0.05         0.12     0.13            0.03          (0.03)       0.08         0.09          0.12           0.14              0.13          0.17      0.07
on 
              0.10         0.40           0.11         0.05        0.90       0.95            0.49         0.76        0.65       0.34   0.27          0.83         0.82     0.51        0.47          0.34           0.24             0.28        0.16    0.57
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00       70.00           70.00         70.00        70.00       70.00  70.00          70.00         70.00    70.00      70.00       70.00        70.00            70.00        70.00    70.00
Dealer Support               0.10         0.42           0.46         0.29               (0.02)        1.00       0.26            0.24         0.19       (0.00)       0.29   0.05          0.19         0.36     0.11        0.19          0.37           0.11             0.30        0.25    0.23
              0.40         0.00           0.00         0.01                 0.90       0.03            0.05         0.12        1.00       0.01   0.71          0.12         0.00     0.36        0.11          0.00           0.36             0.01        0.04    0.05
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
sy –Recharge/Bill Paym               0.11         0.29           0.28         0.36               (0.01)        0.26       1.00          (0.12)         0.29        0.02       0.16 (0.11)          0.19         0.20     0.09        0.14          0.05           0.06             0.11        0.25    0.18
              0.38         0.01           0.02         0.00                 0.95        0.03            0.31         0.02        0.86       0.20   0.35          0.12         0.10     0.45        0.24          0.66           0.63             0.35        0.04    0.13
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Grievance  Handling               0.20         0.19           0.23         0.12                 0.08        0.24      (0.12)            1.00         0.30        0.08       0.09   0.02          0.35         0.32     0.28        0.27          0.25           0.22             0.04       (0.03)    0.11
              0.10         0.12           0.06         0.32                 0.49        0.05       0.31         0.01        0.53       0.48   0.89          0.00         0.01     0.02        0.03          0.04           0.06             0.72        0.83    0.34
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Roaming Facility               0.27         0.36           0.23         0.28               (0.04)        0.19       0.29            0.30         1.00        0.12       0.14   0.04          0.29         0.30     0.22        0.29        (0.02)           0.25             0.06        0.31    0.11
              0.02         0.00           0.06         0.02                 0.76        0.12       0.02            0.01        0.32       0.25   0.72          0.02         0.01     0.07        0.01          0.86           0.03             0.60        0.01    0.38
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00       70.00           70.00         70.00        70.00       70.00  70.00          70.00         70.00    70.00      70.00       70.00        70.00            70.00        70.00    70.00
ISD               0.02         0.10           0.05         0.01                 0.05      (0.00)       0.02            0.08         0.12        1.00       0.34   0.12          0.24         0.17    (0.09)        0.29          0.18           0.44             0.12        0.19    0.05
              0.87         0.40           0.69         0.95                 0.65        1.00       0.86            0.53         0.32       0.00   0.34          0.04         0.16     0.48        0.01          0.13           0.00             0.32        0.12    0.71
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Grace Period               0.11         0.30           0.53         0.49                 0.12        0.29       0.16            0.09         0.14        0.34       1.00   0.08          0.05         0.27     0.03        0.36          0.18           0.16             0.13        0.05    0.00
              0.38         0.01           0.00         0.00                 0.34        0.01         0.20             0.48           0.25          0.00     0.51            0.68           0.02
      0.78         0.00          0.13           0.17              0.28          0.67      1.00
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
MMS               0.20       (0.13)          (0.00)         0.10                 0.13        0.05      (0.11)            0.02         0.04        0.12       0.08   1.00          0.09        (0.00)    0.13        0.30          0.22           0.11             0.02        0.24    0.09
              0.10         0.27           1.00         0.42                 0.27        0.71       0.35            0.89         0.72        0.34       0.51          0.45         0.97     0.27        0.01          0.07           0.35             0.88        0.04    0.48
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Sing tones & Ringtones               0.21         0.33           0.16         0.21                 0.03        0.19       0.19            0.35         0.29        0.24       0.05   0.09          1.00         0.29     0.18        0.15          0.23           0.30            (0.04)        0.18    0.23
              0.08         0.01           0.19         0.08                 0.83        0.12       0.12            0.00         0.02        0.04       0.68   0.45         0.02     0.14        0.22          0.06           0.01             0.74        0.13    0.06
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Conferencing Facility               0.21         0.27           0.45         0.30               (0.03)        0.36       0.20            0.32         0.30        0.17       0.27 (0.00)          0.29         1.00     0.45        0.09          0.42           0.22             0.42        0.15    0.23
              0.08         0.02           0.00         0.01                 0.82        0.00       0.10            0.01         0.01        0.16       0.02   0.97          0.02     0.00        0.46          0.00           0.06             0.00        0.20    0.06
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Missed Call Intimation               0.42         0.20           0.19         0.06                 0.08        0.11       0.09            0.28         0.22       (0.09)       0.03   0.13          0.18         0.45     1.00     (0.04)          0.24           0.11             0.19        0.18    0.16
              0.00         0.10           0.11         0.63                 0.51        0.36         0.45             0.02           0.07          0.48         0.78     0.27            0.14           0.00         0.71          0.05           0.37              0.11          0.13      0.17
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Closed User Group               0.20       (0.04)           0.18         0.27                 0.09        0.19       0.14            0.27         0.29        0.29       0.36   0.30          0.15         0.09    (0.04)        1.00          0.25           0.16             0.16        0.25    0.25
              0.11         0.72           0.13         0.02                 0.47        0.11       0.24            0.03         0.01        0.01       0.00   0.01          0.22         0.46     0.71          0.03           0.18             0.18        0.04    0.04
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Bundled Packages               0.21         0.12           0.26         0.19                 0.12        0.37         0.05             0.25          (0.02)          0.18         0.18     0.22            0.23           0.42       0.24         0.25          1.00           0.22              0.36          0.12      0.38
              0.08         0.30           0.03         0.12                 0.34        0.00       0.66            0.04         0.86        0.13       0.13   0.07          0.06         0.00     0.05        0.03           0.07             0.00        0.31    0.00
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
her Promotional Schem               0.24         0.25           0.13         0.12                 0.14        0.11       0.06            0.22         0.25        0.44       0.16   0.11          0.30         0.22     0.11        0.16          0.22           1.00             0.14        0.21    0.05
              0.05         0.04           0.28         0.33                 0.24        0.36       0.63            0.06         0.03        0.00       0.17   0.35          0.01         0.06     0.37        0.18          0.07             0.25        0.07    0.68
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Privacy Agreement               0.34         0.16           0.43         0.26                 0.13        0.30       0.11            0.04         0.06        0.12       0.13   0.02         (0.04)         0.42     0.19        0.16          0.36           0.14             1.00        0.13    0.28
              0.00         0.18           0.00         0.03                 0.28        0.01         0.35             0.72           0.60          0.32         0.28     0.88            0.74           0.00       0.11         0.18          0.00           0.25          0.29      0.02
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Coverage               0.10         0.09           0.16         0.13                 0.17        0.25       0.25          (0.03)         0.31        0.19       0.05   0.24          0.18         0.15     0.18        0.25          0.12           0.21             0.13        1.00    0.30
              0.42         0.44           0.20         0.29                 0.16        0.04       0.04            0.83         0.01        0.12       0.67   0.04          0.13         0.20     0.13        0.04          0.31           0.07             0.29    0.01
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00      70.00         70.00       70.00      70.00     70.00 70.00        70.00       70.00   70.00    70.00       70.00        70.00           70.00      70.00  70.00
Online Payment               0.07         0.06           0.24         0.18                 0.07        0.23         0.18             0.11           0.11          0.05         0.00     0.09            0.23           0.23       0.16         0.25          0.38           0.05              0.28          0.30      1.00
              0.58         0.65           0.04         0.14                 0.57        0.05       0.13            0.34         0.38        0.71       1.00   0.48          0.06         0.06     0.17        0.04          0.00           0.68             0.02        0.01
            70.00      70.00         70.00      70.00              70.00     70.00       70.00           70.00         70.00        70.00       70.00  70.00          70.00         70.00     70.00      70.00       70.00        70.00            70.00        70.00    70.00

29 
 
The  above  chart  clearly  shows  that  all  the  20  different  factors  that  we  have  taken  is 
positively correlated with the overall satisfaction level of the customers.  

So  we  can  say  that  the  Null  Hypothesis  which  we  have  taken  should  be  rejected  rather  the 
Alternative Hypothesis should be accepted. 

From  the  table  we  have  found  out  that  customer  satisfaction    towards  cellular  service 
providers depends mostly on the customer care provided by the operators. This is because 
both customer satisfaction levels and customer care are found to be highly correlated.  

REFERENCES 

Πwww.google.com
Πwww.crisil.com
Πwww.auspi.in
Πwww.coai.org
Œ Rajendra S Sisodia and Jagdesh Seth (2004)“4 A’s of operationalising customer centric
marketing.
ΠFulbagh Singh and Reema Sharma( Sep 2008) Cellular services And Customer Buying
Behavior in Amritsar City.

30 
 
 QUESTIONNAIRE

Customer Satisfaction & Preference towards Mobile Service Providers

Name of the Respondent: Gender: Age:

Annual Income : < 1 Lakh < 3 Lakh More than 3 Lakh

Q1.) How many mobile connections do you have?

One Two Three More than Three

Q2.) Which mobile service do you use?

Airtel Idea BSNL Reliance Vodafone

Q3.) Is the connection

Postpaid Pre-paid Both

Q4.) Which is the best quality service Provider you know?

Airtel Idea BSNL Reliance Vodafone

RATINGS: If you feel the factor is “Not at all essential mark 1”, and if you feel the factor is
“Absolutely essential mark 7”. If your feelings are less strong mark one of the numbers in the middle.
There is no right or wrong answer-all we are interested in is the number that truly reflects your feelings
regarding the weight-age given to the factor.

Q4.) How satisfied are you with your service provider

RATING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Satisfaction Level  

31 
 
Q5.) Rate your operator on following features. 

RATING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Tariff Plan              
Customer care              
GPRS/Internet              
Connectivity/congestion              
Dealer Support              
Easy –Recharge/Bill Payment              
Grievance Handling              
Roaming Facility              
ISD              
Grace Period              
MMS              
Sing tones & Ringtones              
Conferencing Facility              
Missed Call Intimation (when mobile is switched              
off)

Closed User Group              

Bundled Packages *              
Other Promotional Schemes**              
Privacy Agreement+              
Coverage              

Online Payment              
*Connection with a handset/1000 calls free etc.

**SMS /STD/LOCAL Pack

32 
 
+No promotional SMS/Calls coming from your service provider

Q6) How long have you been using the connection?

< 3 months < 6 months 1 year > 1 year

Q7) Are you attracted by features of other cellular service providers?

Yes No

Q8) Does your service connection has any tie ups with banks for easy monthly payments?

Yes No

Q9) Which Technology provides better connectivity and voice clarity?

GSM CDMA

Q10) Are you willing to continue with the existing cellular service provider?

Yes No Not Sure

Q11) When 3G services are launched would you switch over to a different cellular service
provider?

Yes No Not Sure

Q12) Would you recommend any of your colleagues or friends to use the current cellular service
provider that you are using?

Yes No Not Sure

Q13) Will you change your cellular service provider in-case of suggestions from your colleagues
or friends?

Yes No Not Sure

Q14) How many other members in your family use the connection provided by the cellular
provider as you are using?

One Two Three More than Three

33