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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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. Vast market opportunities have now opened up the playing field in Indian telecom market and also have made it much more competitive. In this type of competitive environment it will be interesting to find out how AIRTEL advertisements have helped it to retain its number one position.
The objective of the study is to find out how the different advertisements of AIRTEL are impacting the viewers to use AIRTEL and what type of Media strategies AIRTEL adopted to make itself the most successful company in India in the last decade.
INTRODUCTION
Airtel is one of India's leading providers of telecommunication services with a nationwide presence in all the 23 licensed jurisdictions (also known as Telecom Circles). Airtel served an aggregate of 105 million customers as of July 2009; of who 101,650,733 subscribe to our GSM services and 2,619,461 use our Telemedia Services either for voice and/or broadband access delivered through DSL. Airtel is the largest wireless service provider in the country, based on the number of subscribers as of July 2009. Airtel also offer an integrated suite of telecom solutions to enterprise customers, in addition to providing long distance connectivity both nationally and internationally. Airtel have recently forayed into media by launching its DTH and IPTV Services. All these services are rendered under a unified brand “Airtel”. The company also deploys, owns and manages passive infrastructure pertaining to telecom operations under its subsidiary Bharti Infratel Limited. Bharti Infratel owns 42% of Indus Towers Limited. Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers are the two top providers of passive infrastructure services in India.
Successful businesses have extensive knowledge about their customers and competitors. Getting accurate and specific information about your customers and competitors is a critical first step in market investigation and development of a marketing plan. Accurate market assessment and development of an effective plan is critical to the success of both new and existing businesses. The market impacts and directs all aspects of the company's activities and ultimately will lead to success or failure of the business.
In developing a market plan, your primary functions are to understand the needs and desires of your customer select or develop a product or service that will meet customer needs, develop promotional material that will make the customer aware, and ensure product or service delivery.
CMD Founder Profile
o Sunil Bharti Mittal
o He started his career at a young age of 18 after graduating from Punjab University in India and then he founded Bharti.
o Chairman & Managing Director
since October 2001
o Age: 49 years
o Today, at 49, he heads a successful enterprise, amongst the top 5 in India, with a market capitalization of over US$ 40 billion and employing over 30,000 people.
o He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School, USA.
o He has been conferred one of the highest civilian award – Padma Bhushan.
o He has been conferred the degree of Doctor of Science by the G B Pant University of Agriculture & Technology.
HISTORY
• Bharti Cellular launched cellular services 'Airtel‘ in Delhi in 1995,Himachal Pradesh in 1997, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh circles in 1999
• In 1998, Bharti Telenet obtained a license for providing fixed-line services in Madhya Pradesh circle and in the same year, Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture
• In 1999, New York Life Insurance Fund acquired a 3% equity interest in Bharti Cellular.
• In 2001, Bharti Cellular entered into a joint venture, Bharti Aqua net, with SingTel for establishing a submarine cable landing station at Chennai.
• In 2002, Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements to provide cellular services in eight new circles.
• In 2002, Bharti Cellular Ties up with Secondary School Certification Board, Hyderabad, where Bharti will announce SSC results to its customers on their mobile phones.
• In the same year,2002,ICICI Bank ties up with Bharti for pre-paid mobile cards via ATMs.
• In 2003, Bharti Group's cellular brand Airtel has unveiled free multimedia messaging services (MMS) for its customers. The company has also rolled out pan-India GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) for its corporate subscribers.
• Launches its `IndiaOne MeetXpress' audio-conferencing service(2003)
• Airtel provides SMS facilities to hearing impaired in Chennai(2003)
• In 2003, Airtel Subscribers exceed 3 million mark.
• In 2004, Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements to provide cellular services in 6 new circles including Uttar Pradesh (East), West Bengal & Andaman Nicobar, Orissa, Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir.
• Same year Airtel launches GPRS services for pre-paid customers
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objective of the study is to find out:
• The organizational & operational structure of BHARTI AIRTEL.
• Overall review of Indian Telecom Sector
• What are the different Strategies Used by Bharti Airtel to Fight competition
• Analysis of its financial performance with that of its competitors.
• Analysis of its Advertising strategies & that of its competitors.
Theoretical overview
Incorporated on July 7, 1995, Bharti AIRTEL is a division of Bharti enterprises. The businesses of Bharti Airtel are structured into two main strategic groups .
• Mobility
• Infotel
The mobility business provides Gsm mobile services in all 23 telecom circles in India. while infotel business group provides telephone services and internet access over dsl in 15 circles. The company complements its mobile, broadband and telephone services with national and international long distance services. The company also has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai with Singapore.
Bharti tele-ventures provides end to end data and enterprise services to corporate customers by leveraging 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. All of Bharti-ventures services are provided under airtel. in 2008; bharti Airtel attained its 90 million customer mark. The equity shares of Airtel are listed on the national stock exchange and Bombay stock exchange.
Sunil Bharti mittal, the founder chairman of Bharti enterprises (who owns Airtel) is today the most celebrated face of the telecom sector in India. He symbolizes the adage that success comes to those who dream big and work assiduously to deliver it. Sunil Bharti mittal began his journey manufacturing spare parts for bicycles in late 1970s.his strong entrepreneurial instincts gave him a unique flair for sensing new business opportunities. In the early years, bharti established itself as a supplier of basic telecom equipment. His true calling came in the mid 1990s when the government opened up the sector and allowed private players to provide telecom services. Bharti enterprises accepted every opportunity provided by this new policy to evolve into India's largest telecommunications company and one of the India's most respected brands. Airtel was launched in 1995 in Delhi. As the Airtel network expanded to several parts of India; the brand came to symbolize the very essence of mobile services. Since then, Airtel has established itself across India in most of the states covering a population of over 600 million people. Airtel will soon cover the entire country through a process of acquisitions and green field projects. With a presence in over 2,000 towns, Airtel today has the largest network capacity in the country. In the last nine years Airtel has achieved many firsts and unique records: it was the first to launch nationwide roaming operations, it was the first to cross the one million and the five million customer marks. It was also the first to launch services overseas. There are other 'firsts' credited to Airtel - many of them in the area of innovative products and services. Today, Airtel innovates in almost everything that it presents to the market. An excellent example is Easy Charge - India's first paperless electronic recharging facility for prepaid customers. As evidence of its fine record, Airtel has also been conferred with numerous awards. It won the prestigious Techies Award for 'being the best cellular services provider' for four consecutive years between 1997 and 2000 - a record that is still unmatched. And in 2003, it received the Voice & Data Award for being 'India's largest cellular service provider', amongst others. Bharti Airtel has enjoyed an excellent run ever since the telecom sector opened. It has managed to hold on to its leadership position in spite of the presence of other players with deep pockets – Ambanis, Tata's, Birla's and Vodafone. Has coped well with regulatory changes. It continues to attract and delight customers. It has also started making its presence felt worldwide also. Recently AIRTEL has become the third largest telecom player in the world.
Bharti Enterprises has successfully focused its strategy on telecom while straddling diverse fields of business. From the creation of 'Airtel', one of India's finest brands, to becoming the largest manufacturer and exporter of world class telecom terminals under its 'Beetel' brand, Bharti has created a significant position for itself in the global telecommunications sector.
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the Company has an optimum mix of Executive and Non-Executive Directors, which consists of three Executive and fifteen Non-Executive Directors.
The Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, is an Executive Director and the number of Independent Directors on the Board is 50% of the total Board strength. The independence of a Director is determined on the basis that such director does not have any material pecuniary relationship with the Company, its promoters or its management, which may affect the independence of the judgment of a Director.
The Board members possess requisite skills, experience and expertise required to take decisions, which are in the best interest of the Company. The composition of the Board is as under:
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Rajan Bharti Mittal
Akhil Gupta
Rakesh Bharti Mittal
Chua Sock Koong
N. Kumar
Kurt Hellstorm
Donald Cameron
Paul O‟Sullivan
Professor V.S. Raju
Pulak Chandan Prasad
Bashir Abdullah Currimjee
Gavin Darby
Syeda Imam
Ajay Lal
York Chye Chang
Paul Donovan
Arun Bharat Ram
PRODUCTS
The Company is a part of Bharti Enterprises, and is India's leading provider of telecommunications services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU's) - mobile services, broadband & telephone services (B&T) & enterprise services. The mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while the B&T business group provides broadband & telephone services in 90 cities. The Enterprise services group has two sub-units - carriers (long distance services) and services to corporate. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Its include
o Voice Services
o Mobile Services
o Satellite Services
o Managed Data & Internet Services
o Managed e-Business Services
Voice Services
Bharti Airtel became the first private fixed-line service provider in India. It is now promoted under the Airtel brand. Recently, the Government opened the fixed-line industry to unlimited competition. Airtel has subsequently started providing fixed- line services in the four circles of Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu & UP (West). Airtel Enterprise Services believes that these circles have high telecommunications potential, especially for carrying Voice & Data traffic. These circles were strategically selected so as to provide synergies with Airtel's long distance network and Airtel's extensive mobile network. Airtel Enterprise Services, India's premium telecommunication service, brings to you a whole new experience in telephony. From integrated telephone services for Enterprises and small business enterprises to user-friendly plans for Broadband Internet Services (DSL), we bring innovative, cost-effective, comprehensive and multi-product solutions to cater to all your telecom and data needs.
Mobile Services
Airtel's mobile footprint extends across the country in 21 telecom circles. It's service standards compare with the very best in the world. In fact, that's how Bharti has managed to win the trust of millions of customers and makes it one of the top 5 operators in the world, in terms of service and subscriber base. The company has several Firsts to its credit:
• The First to launch full roaming service on pre-paid in the country.
• The First to launch 32K SIM cards.
• The First in Asia to deploy the multi band feature in a wireless network for Efficient usage of spectrum.
• The First to deploy Voice Quality Enhancers to improve voice quality and Acoustics.
• The First telecom company in the world to receive the ISO 9001:2000. Certification from British Standards Institute
Satellite Services
Airtel Enterprise Services provides you connectivity where ever you take your Business. Satellite Services bring you the benefits of access in remote Locations. Airtel Enterprise Services is a leading provider of broadband IP Satellite services and DAMA/PAMA services in India.
Managed Data & Internet Services
Airtel enterprises services bring a comprehensive suite of data technologies. So Airtel is able to support all types of networks and ensure the customers can manage their network to the future seamlessly. These services include: leased lines, customized solutions, metro Ethernet.
Managed e-Business Services
Airtel enterprise services offer an internationally benchmarked, carrier class hosting, storage and business continuity services. A huge range of services help the customers run their business the way they want. All this is possible because of world class high
AIRTEL GROWTH STRATEGY
MANTRA: Focus on Core Competencies and outsource the rest!
Airtel has partnered with leading players in telecommunication sector across the globe. It has managed to work with the best of domain specialists globally and emerge as a world class entity. Partnerships include operational contracts with marquee vendors and strategic investors ranging from private equity investors to global telecom giants. Following are the major partnerships of AIRTEL:
Warburg Pincus – a celebrated PE investor held a stake for a substantial period of time and was instrumental in providing Airtel support in its early stages.
• Vodafone was a strategic investor in Airtel. The investment made by Vodafone in BHARTI is one of the largest investments made in Indian telecom sector.
• Temasek – the Singapore based investor holds a considerable stake in it.
• Ericsson was given the mandate to provide, manage and maintain the equipment as well as provide quality assurance in Airtel's then 13 mobile circles.
• IBM was given the mandate to handle the back office requirements of Airtel's presence in India
• The company has a strategic alliance with Singtel. The investment made by SingTel is one of the largest investment made in the world outside Singapore.
• In the case of broadband and telephone services and enterprise services, equipment suppliers include Siemens, Nortal and corning.
• The call centre operations for the mobile services have been outsourced to IBM Daksh, Mphasis and Hinduja TMT.
Bharti's Mission
• To be globally admired for telecom services that delight customers.
"We will meet global standards for telecom services that delight customers through":
• Customer Service Focus
• Empowered Employees
• Cost Efficiency
• Unified Messaging Solutions
• Innovative products and services
• Error- free service delivery
Bharti's Vision
BY 2014 AIRTEL WILL BE THE MOST:
ADMIRED BRAND IN INDIA.
LOVED BY MORE CUSTOMERS.
TARGETED BY TOP TALENT.
BENCHMARKED BY MORE BUSINESS.
Core Values
Empowering People - to do their best.
Being Flexible - to adapt to the changing environment and evolving customer needs.
Making it Happen - by striving to change the status quo, innovate and energize new ideas with a strong passion and entrepreneurial spirit.
Openness and transparency - with an innate desire to do good.
Creating Positive Impact – with a desire to create a meaningful difference in society.
According to Bharti
Airtel was born free, a force unleashed into the market with a relentless and unwavering determination to succeed. A spirit charged with energy, creativity and a team driven “to seize the day” with an ambition to become the most globally admired telecom service
PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY
After the liberalization of the Indian Telecom Sector in 1994, the Indian cellular market witnessed a surge in cellular services. By 2005, there were a total of 12 players in the market with the five major players being Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited (Bharti), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Hutchinson-Essar limited (Vodafone), Idea Cellular limited (Idea) and Reliance India Mobile (RIM) (Refer Exhibit I).
All the players except RIM offered services based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) technology. RIM provided services based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology as well as GSM.
As competition in the telecom arena intensified, BHARTI AIRTEL took new initiatives to woo customers. Prominent among these were - celebrity endorsements, loyalty rewards, discount coupons, business solutions and talk time schemes. AIRTEL has used most number of celebrities for advertisements. The list includes- Sachin, Shahrukh, Rehmaan, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Zaheer Khan Etc. The most important consumer segments in the cellular industry were the youth segment and the business class segment. The youth segment was the largest and fastest growing segment and was therefore targeted most heavily by cellular service provider.
Bharti Tele-Ventures adopted celebrity endorsement as its chief promotional strategy. By 2004 it emerged the unprecedented leader commanding the largest market share in the cellular service market. Hutch implemented the celebrity endorsement strategy partially, relying primarily on its creative advertising for the promotion of its brand. BSNL, on the other hand, attracted the consumer through its low cost schemes. Being a state owned player, BSNL could cover rural areas, and this helped it increase its subscriber base. Reliance was another player that cashed on its innovative promotional strategies, which included celebrity endorsements and attractive talk time schemes. Idea relied heavily on its creative media advertising sans celebrities.
Initial Positioning
• In the initial days due to high tariff rates cellular players had to impose high call charges on their customers and the handsets were costly.
• Naturally, they targeted the elite, up market professionals and entrepreneurs as customers. Airtel was positioned as an aspiration land lifestyle brand .
• The taglines like "Airtel celebrates the spirit of leadership" and "The first choice of the corporate leaders" emphasized that stance.
• The "Leadership" campaign was reportedly successful and resulted in a marginal improvement in Airtel performance.
TIME LINE
1995: BSNL, BPL, Vodafone-Max touch AirTel enters
“Power to keep in touch”
• Positioned in premium category aimed at elite class of society
• Convey power of instant communication
• Perception of inspirational and lifestyle brand
• Airtel decided that the brand should always connote leadership–be it in network, innovations, offerings, services
• Sponsored games like Golf
2000: TRAI introduces revenue sharing; drop in tariffs AirTel targets new markets
"Touch tomorrow”
• New campaign launched to facilitate entry into new markets
• Started to capture mass market
• A new logo for Airtel- Red , black and white colours with „Airtel‟ enwrapped in an eclipse. Logo indicated core value of the brand: leadership, performance and dynamism
2002: Reliance targets lower income group, AirTel launches Prepaid
“Live every moment”
• Launched to capture the imagination of the customer
• Projects a person's desire to spontaneously communicate through words, emotions, sights, sounds, thoughts and actions over boundaries, distances and geographies
2003: Incoming free, AirTel launches Express Yourself campaign to promote VAS services
“Express Yourself”
• In 2003, Airtel repositioned its brand with “Express yourself” campaign
• Changed its logo to give more energetic and younger look
• Highlight capability of Airtel's performance and network coverage
• Launched in regional language
• Youth icons like Shahrukh khan and Sachin were brought in as brand ambassadors to attract youngsters