A DETAIL STUDY ON BHARTI AIRTEL

Introduction

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, Indias largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units Mobile services, Telemedia services and Enterprise services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology. Airtel was voted as the Best Cellular Service in the country for four consecutive years.

Cellular Market Analysis Early 2009

International Telecom Union (ITU), EMC Cellular mobile telephony tariffs in India lowest in the world in 2002.

Average monthly rental and airtime for cellular services: Rs. 202 and Rs. 1.99 per minute respectively.

Prepaid services introduced by all operators at an extremely affordable tariff of Rs. 300 for lifetime validity.

Cellular Market Analysis Early 2009

Indian cellular sector Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 109% in cellular subscribers from 2001-2010.

Explosive growth driven by the low tariffs, rapid expansion of infrastructure and robust competition.

Heavy customer base in urban and rural India.

correction In 2009, 51 cellular mobile networks or air serving 348 million consumers in almost 1500 cities and towns, covering 60,000+ villages.

Porters Five forces

Entry Reasons for Success

o o

Easy Usage Easy to acquire connection Pre-activated SIM Instant connectivity No rental hassles No security deposits

Effective Distribution

Features STD/ISD Facility Voice Mail Short Message Services Free CLIP Balance Enquiry

Easily available in departmental Customer Satisfaction Affordable Easily accessible Strong customer relationship stores, gift shops, kirana shops, retail outlets, telephone booths etc

Company Vision

By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in india.

Loved by more customers. Targeted by top talent. Benchmarked by more businesses.

CRM at Airtel

Understand and segregate customer needs

q q The CRM strategy at Airtel revolves around two aspects: Operational CRM - Helping call centers with workflow and day-to-day activities. Analytical CRM - Provides staff with the required information on customers; this is used for business development activities.

Bharti Airtel 3 Cs

Leading Competitors VODAFONE IDEA, BSNL,RELIANCE,TATA,AIRCEL Competitive price, distribution and customer satisfaction strategies

Top moves to target customers Airtel Connect showrooms Home Delivery First player to launch roaming cellular services and Smart Mail, Web Message, Call hold etc Attractive pricing strategies Focus on Youth

Asias leading telecom services provider with operations in India and Sri Lanka. Services are offered under the brand name Airtel: Broadband & Telephone Services Long Distance Services Enterprise Services Mobile Services using GSM DTH services

Attributes

Maximizing Customers product and service experiences. In touch with current market trends. Cost optimization. Understanding of customers likes and dislikes. Proper positioning of brand in the market.

Brand Consistency. Value Addition to products and services. Targeting the infrequent users. Differentiating itself from other players. Promotional offers.

Brand Magic

Rahman tune crosses Airtels exclusivity barrier

This was the first time A R Rehman had agreed to work for any brand, anywhere in the world. The music from the commercial became the most downloaded ring tone in the history of telecommunications. New Celebrity endorsers (Sachin Tendulkar ,AR Rahman & SRK) who projected a fresh and youthful image were chosen to reflect Airtels brand values of energy, hope, optimism and achievement.

Special features for Airtel Subscribers like free caller line identification, and innovative services like balance on screen.

Brand Magic

Conducting contests for its subscribers through SMS. For Instance the Airtel Champions league contest from 6th oct 2009.

Tagline denotes that each and every person in india live moment
(emotions, feelings etc.) of the life with Airtel.

o o Magic was successfully relaunched taking the ownership of the entire space of communication and strengthening the emotional bond Airtel enjoys with its customers

Bharti came up with many ad specific taglines like: Kabhi bhi, Kahin bhi, Jahan Chaho, Airtel Magic Pao

Marketing Revamp Need 2009

Sources of new product development Radical transformation in cellular industry

Intensifying competition in light of immense market potential To retain its position as market leader Forecast of higher market growth Estimated number of subscribers to reach over 10 Billion by the year 2010. Customers exposure to media, raised expectations

Target Customer

Magic was positioned as friendly, mass-market brand Targeted the youth, stood for simplicity and attitude anything is possible Aimed at attracting infrequent and non-interested users of the mobile phones Cellular services dropped in prices and target new customer segments

Target Customer

As the category developed with prices going down sharply, Airtel began talking to a wider spectrum of potential users

The aim is to be relevant to the masses and make all their dreams, hopes and desires come true at Rs 300 per month - Hemant Sachdev, Director, Marketing

Commercialization the strategy

Aimed at the non-interested customers, perceiving unanticipated needs

Entered into strategic tie-up with ICICI Bank to offer recharge facility for Magic users at the ATMs Established easy accessibility and availability by providing recharge cards at departmental stores, gift shops, retail outlets, telephone booths and also kirana stores Airtel started talking to new segments by positively positioning and establishing itself as a brand that improved the quality of life

Pricing Strategy

Revamped pricing strategy Varied call charges based on the time when the call was made E.g. users were charged Re. 1 for the first min and 0.50p every min for outgoing calls in the time slot of The rates were lowered at nights to Rs. 0.40 and Rs.0.60 respectively. Life time validity card for Rs.99 only Launched special offers sms packs, STD pack etc. Low roaming tariffs. Free GPRS services for there pre-paid and post paid customers.

Competitors strike back

Competitors adopted following techniques:

Price reductions New service additions Value additions Focused advertising and promotional campaigns

SWOT ANALYSIS

Core competencies

MANTRA: Focus on Core Competencies and outsource the rest!

Airtel core competencies are sales & promotions and as of now Airtel is leading brand in mobile services in India.

Bharti- MTN deal

Bharti Airtel has relaunched its audacious merger bid with MTN that could create a $61-billion transnational telecom goliath with combined revenues of $20 billion and over 200 million subscribers across Africa, Asia and Middle East. Here's decoding the deal that -- if it goes through -- will create a telecom entity which will be among the world's 10 biggest companies. Bharti will buy 36 per cent of MTNs existing equity from MTN shareholders.

What if the deal had gone through?

GETS ACCESS TO 21 NATIONS.

BECOME MTN'S LARGEST SHAREHOLDER.

GETS ACCESS TO EMERGING MARKETS.

GETS 'FOREIGN-OWNED' TAG

 The research carried out helped us to come to the following out comes: Research-out comes

In terms of liking of ads, Vodafone is way ahead of AIRTEL.

Viewers have a liking towards most of the celebrities used in AIRTEL ads.

The viewers like the ads with some funny content but this is missing in most of the AIRTEL ads

Research-out comes

The majority of the customers starts or shifts to a service provider based upon word of mouth and different schemes. The advertisements play a very little part in their decision.

The preferences of the viewers for the celebrities are always changing so we cant rely on a single celebrity for ever.

Viewers like to see short and up to the mark ads but Most of the AIRTEL ads are too lengthy.

Recommendations

flexible pricing mechanism (either at central or local level). Airtel should immediately shift to third generation switches by replacing its c-dot switches. Large part of Indian rural market is still untapped therefore Airtel is required to bring that area under mobility. The majority of perspective customers are teenagers, so AIRTEL ads should be more focused around them Along with using various celebrities for endorsements, AIRTEL should try to introduce advertisements with some sort of humor.

Latest developments

Bharti airtel and cisco announce a stratgic business alliance. Idea is to shift focus from B2C market to B2B market.

Planning To take over Millicom (2nd largest telecom company in sri lanka).

Planning to enter Austrilan market with a big bang through mergers and Acquisition.

Conclusion

Mobile penetration is currently exploding in INDIA and Bharti Airtel has been riding the crest of the huge mobile industry wave that has been formed.

Consequently great potential and huge market opportunities have now opened up the playing field in Indias telecom market and also made it much more competitive.

In the present open market environment, there are currently over 10 major operators in India which are competing with each other to get the major share of this market.

Conclusion

So at any point of time, AIRTEL cant take things lightly. It needs to change its marketing and advertising strategies gradually.

Airtel cant always rely on these advertisements and the celebrities.