CONTENTS

Executive Summary
Introduction
Meaning & Definition Of Telecommunication
History of telecommunication
Company Profile- Bharti Airtel
Vision & Mission
Awards & Recognitions
Product Profile
Brand Logo
SWOT Analysis
Conclusion
Reference

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited. It is one of the leading
integrated telecom services providers with operation in 18 countries
across Asia and Africa. Sunil Bharti Mittal is the Founder, Chairman
and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises, one of Indias leading business
groups with interests in telecom, financial services, retail, reality,
manufacturing and agriculture.
Airtel is one of Asias leading providers of telecommunication services
with presence in the entire 22 licensed jurisdiction (Also known as
Telecom Circles) in India and Sri Lanka.
Airtel not only deals with telecom but also it has many other products.
It has pioneered several innovations in telecom sectors. The company
is structured into four strategic business units: - Mobile, Tele Media,
Enterprise and Digital TV.
The

mobile

business

offers

services

in

India,

Sri

Lanka

and

Bangladesh. The telemedia business provides broadband. IPTV and

telephone services in 89 Indian cities. The Digital TV business provides
Direct-to-Home TV services across India.

Bharti Airtel Ltd., commonly known as Airtel, was incorporated

on the 7th of July, 1995 as a Public Limited Company and one
of the first companies to enter the Telecom Services business
in India. It is the largest Indian telecommunications company
and it operates in more than 20 countries across South Asia
and Africa offering 2G, 3G and 4G services. It is the largest
cellular service provider in India, with 200 million subscribers
as of 9th August 2012. In the early years, Bharti Airtel Ltd
established itself as a supplier of basic telecom equipment. Mr.
Sunil Mittal jumped at the opportunity provided when the
government opened up the sector and allowed private players
to provide telecom services. Bharti Airtel Ltd accepted every
opportunity provided by this new policy to evolve into India's
largest telecommunications company and one of India's most
respected brands. It is considered to be the first mobile firm in
the world to outsource everything except marketing, sales and
financial operations. Airtel now offers a variety of services to
its consumers including 4G services in select cities, Airtel
Money, Telemedia, Mobile data services, enterprise business
solutions, etc. Airtel globally rebranded itself in 2010 and it
now follows the One Network strategy across all Airtel
operating countries.

Airtel was born free, a force unleashed into the market with a
relentless and unwavering determination to success. 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. Airtel, in just ten years of operations,
rose to the pinnacle to achievement and continues to lead.
As Indias leading Telecommunications Company Airtel brand
has played the role as a major catalyst in Indias reforms,
contributing to its economic resurgence.
Today we touch peoples lives with our Mobile services,
Telemedia services, to connecting Indias leading 1000+
corporate. We also connect Indians living in USA, UK and
Canada with our call home service.

Meaning and Definition of

Telecommunication
Telecommunications, also called telecommunication, is the
exchange

of

information

over

significant

distances

by

electronic means. A complete, single telecommunications

circuit consists of two stations, each equipped with a
transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter and receiver at any
station may be electrical combined into a single device called
transceiver. The medium of signal transmission can be
electrical wire or cable (also known as copper), optical fibre
or electromagnetic fields. The free-space transmission and

reception of data by means of electromagnetic fields is called

wireless.
The simplest form of telecommunications takes place between
two stations. However, it is common for multiple transmitting
and receiving stations to exchange data among themselves.
Such an arrangement is called telecommunications network.
The Internet is the largest example. On a smaller scale,
example
academic

include:

Telephone

wide-area

networks

networks,
(WANs),

Corporate
Police

and

and
fire

communication system.

HISTORY OF TELECOMMUNICATION:
The history of telecommunication began with the use
of smoke signals and drums in Africa, the Americas and parts
of Asia.

In

the

1790s

the

first

fixed

semaphore

systems emerged in Europe; however it was not until the

1830s that electrical telecommunication systems started to
appear. This article details the history of telecommunication
and the individuals who helped make telecommunication
systems

what

they

are

today.

The

history

of

telecommunication is an important part of the larger history of

communication.

Now let us see how the telecommunication has improved from

the olden days of smoke signals and drums to the new
changing technology of fast internet and mobile phones.

Early Telecommunication:
Early telecommunications included smoke signals and drums.
Drums were used by natives in Africa, New Guinea and South
America, and smoke signals in North America and China.
Contrary to what one might think, these systems were often
used to do more than merely announce the presence of a
camp.
In 1792, a French engineer, Claude Chappe built the first
visual

telegraphy

between Lille and Paris.

from Strasbourg to Paris.

(or semaphore)
This

was

In

system

followed
1794,

by
a

line

Swedish

engineer, Abraham Edelcrantz built a quite different system

from Stockholm to Drottningholm. As opposed to Chappe's
system which involved pulleys rotating beams of wood,
Edelcrantz's system relied only upon shutters and was
therefore faster. However semaphore as a communication
system suffered from the need for skilled operators and
expensive towers often at intervals of only ten to thirty
kilometres (six to nineteen miles). As a result, the last
commercial line was abandoned in 1880.

Telegraph and Telephone:

A very early experiment in electrical telegraphy was an

'electrochemical' telegraph created by the German physician,
anatomist and inventor Samuel Thomas von Smmering in
1809, based on an earlier, less robust design of 1804
by Catalan polymath and

scientist Francisco

Salv

Campillo. Both their designs employed multiple wires (up to

35) in order to visually represent almost all Latin letters and
numerals. Thus, messages could be conveyed electrically up to
a few kilometres (in von Smmering's design), with each of the
telegraph receiver's wires immersed in a separate glass tube
of acid.
The first commercial electrical telegraph was constructed
in England by Sir Charles Wheatstone and Sir William Fothergill
Cooke. It used the deflection of needles to represent messages
and started operating over twenty-one kilometres (thirteen
miles) of the Great Western Railway on 9 April 1839. Both
Wheatstone

and

Cooke

viewed

their

device

as

"an

improvement to the [existing] electromagnetic telegraph" not

as a new device.

In

1880,

Bell

and

co-inventor Charles

Sumner

Tainter conducted the world's first wireless telephone call via

modulated light beams projected by photo phones. The
scientific principles of their invention would not be utilized for
several decades, when they were first deployed in military
and fiber-optic communications.

Radio and Television:

In

1832, James

Lindsay gave

classroom

demonstration

of wireless telegraphy to his students. By 1854 he was able to

demonstrate

transmission

Tay from Dundee to Woodhaven,

across
distance

the Firth
of

two

of
miles

(3 km), using water as the transmission medium.

On March 25, 1925, Scottish inventor John Logie Baird publicly
demonstrated the transmission of moving silhouette pictures
at the London department store Selfridges. In October 1925,
Baird

was

successful

in

obtaining

moving

pictures

with halftone shades, which were by most accounts the first

true television pictures. This led to a public demonstration of
the improved device on 26 January 1926 again at Selfridges.
Baird's first devices relied upon the Nipkow disk and thus
became known as themechanical television. It formed the
basis of semi-experimental broadcasts done by the British
Broadcasting Corporation beginning September 30, 1929.

After mid-century the spread of coaxial cable and microwave

radio relay allowed television networks to spread across even
large countries.

Computer networks and the Internet:

On September 11, 1940, George Stibitz was able to transmit
problems using teletype to his Complex Number Calculator
in New

York and

receive

the

computed

results

back

at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.[17] This configuration

of a centralized computer or mainframe with remote dumb
terminals remained popular throughout the 1950s. However it
was

not

until

the

1960s

that

researchers

started

to

investigate packet switching a technology that would allow

chunks of data to be sent to different computers without first
passing through a centralized mainframe. A four-node network
emerged on December 5, 1969 between the University of
California,

Los

Angeles,

the Stanford

Research

Institute,

the University of Utah and the University of California, Santa

Barbara. This network would become ARPANET, which by 1981
would consist of 213 nodes. In June 1973, the first non-US
node was added to the network belonging to Norway's
NORSAR project. This was shortly followed by a node in
London.
ARPANET's

development

centred

around

the Request

for

Comment process and on April 7, 1969, RFC 1 was published.

This process is important because ARPANET would eventually
merge with other networks to form the Internet and many of
the protocols the Internet relies upon today were specified
through this process. In September 1981, RFC 791 introduced
the Internet

Protocol v4

(IPv4)

and RFC

793 introduced

the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) thus creating the

TCP/IP protocol that much of the Internet relies upon today. A
more relaxed transport protocol that, unlike TCP,

did not guarantee the orderly delivery of packets called

the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) was submitted on 28 August
1980 as RFC 768. An e-mail protocol, SMTP, was introduced in
August 1982 by RFC 821 and http://1.0 a protocol that would
make the hyperlinked Internet possible was introduced on May
1996 by RFC 1945.
However not all important developments were made through
the Request for Comment process. Two popular link protocols
for local area networks (LANs) also appeared in the 1970s. A

patent

for

the

Sderblom on

Token

October

the Ethernet protocol

Metcalfe and David

Ring protocol
29,

1974.[20] And

was
Boggs in

was

filed
a

published
the

July

by Olof

paper

on

by Robert

1976

issue

of

Communications of the ACM.[21]

Internet

access became

widespread

century,

using

telephone

the

old

late
and

in

the

television

networks.

Telecom in India:
The Indian telecommunications industry is one of the worlds
fastest growing industries, with 653.92 million telephone
(landlines and mobile) subscribers and 617.53 million mobile
phone connections as of may 2010. It is also the second
largest telecommunication network in the world in terms of
number of wireless connections after China. The Indian Mobile
subscriber base has increased in size by a factor of more than
one-hundred since 2001 when the number of subscriber in the
country was approximately 5 million to 617.53 million in May
2010.

As the fastest growing telecommunications industry in the

world, it is projected that India will have 1.159 billion mobile
subscriber by 2013. The industry is expected to reach a size of

Rs. 344,921 crore by 2012 at a growth rate of over 26 percent

and generate employment opportunities for about 10 million
people during the same period. According to the analysts, the
sector would create direct employment for 2.8 million people
and for 7 million indirectly.

MODERN GROWTH:
A large population, low telephony penetration levels, and a rise
in consumers income and spending owing to strong economic
growth have helped make India the fastest-growing telecom
market in the world. The first operator is the state-owned
incumbent BSNL. BSNL was created by corporatization of the
erstwhile DTS (Department of Telecommunication Service), a
government

unit

responsible

for

provision

of

telephony

services. Subsequently, after the telecommunication policies

were revised to allow private operators, companies such as
Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Tata Indicom, Idea Cellular, Aircel and
Loop Mobile have entered the space.
In 2008-2009 rural India outpaced urban India in mobile
growth rate. Bharti Airtel now is the largest telecom company
in India.

Indias mobile phone market is the fastest growing in the

world, with companies adding some 20.31 million new
customers in March 2010. The tatal number of telephones in
the country crossed the 600 million mark in Feb 2010. The
overall tele-density has increased t 44.85% in Oct 2009.
The total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA & WLL (F)) base is
more

than

543.20

million

now.

The

wireline

segment

subscriber base stood at 37.06 million with a decline of 0.12

million in Dec 2009.

INDIAN TELECOM SECTOR: RECENT

POLICIES

All the Villages shall be covered by telecom facility by the

end of 2002.
National Long Distance Service (NLD) is opened for
Unrestricted entry.
The International Long Distance (ILDS) have been opened
to competition.
The basic services are open to competition.
Policies

allowing

private

participation

have

been

announced as per the New Telecom Policy (NTP), 1999 in

several new services, which includes Global Mobile

Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) Services,
digital Public Mobile Radio Trunked Service (PMRTS), Voice
Mail/ Audiotex/ Unified Messaging Service.
Two telecom PSUs, VSNL and HTL have been disinvested.

COMPANY PROFILE

Airtel is one of Asias leading providers of telecommunication

services with presence in all the 22 licensed jurisdictions (also
known as Telecom Circles) in India and in Sri Lanka. It served
an aggregate of 133,708,496 customers as of April 30, 2010,
in India; of whom 130,616,487 subscribe to GSM services and
3,092,009 use 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 customers as of April 30, 2010. It offer an integrated suite of
telecom solutions to their enterprise customers, in addition to
providing long distance connectivity both nationally and
internationally. They also offer 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
two top providers of passive infrastructure services in India

FACTSHEET:
Name

Bharti Airtel Limited.

Business

Provides mobile services in all the 22 telecom

Description

circles in India, Srilanka and Bangladesh. Was the

first private operator to have an all India
presence.
Provides telemedia services (fixed line and
broadband services through DSL) in 89 cities in
India.
Also offers DTH and IPTV services.

Established July 07, 1995, as a Public Limited Company

Listings

The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE)

The National Stock Exchange of India Limited
(NSE)

Operational Provides GSM mobile services in all the 22

Network

telecom circles in India, Srilanka and Bangladesh.

Was the first private operator to have an all India
presence. Provides telemedia services (fixed line)
in 89 cities in India.

Registered
Office

Bharti Airtel Limited

(A Bharti Enterprise)
Bharti Crescent, 1 Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant
Kunj Phase IINew Delhi - 110 070
Tel. No.: +91 11 4666 6100
Fax No.: +91 11 4666 6411

VISION AND PROMISE

AIRTELS MISSION, VISION AND VALUES

OUR MISSION
Hunger to win customers for life.

OUR VISION
Our vision is to enrich the lives of our customers. Our obsession is
to win customers for life through an exceptional experience.

OUR VALUES
We aim to work towards our vision, driven by our values of AIR Alive, Inclusive & Respectful.
ALIVE
We are alive to the needs of our customers. We act with passion,
energy and a can-do attitude to help our customers realise their
dreams. Innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit drive us - if it cant
be done, well find a way.

INCLUSIVE

Airtel is for everyone - we champion diversity, recognising the

breadth and depth of the communities we serve. We work with
them, anticipating, adapting and delivering solutions that enrich
their lives. We do this by having an open mind and embracing
change.

RESPECTFUL
We live the same lives as our customers, sharing the same joys and
the same pains. We never forget that they are why we exist. We act
with due humility, always open and honest, to achieve mutual
respect.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:

Airtel Ranked "No.1 Service Brand" in the annual Brand Equity Most
' Trusted Brands Survey 2014.
Bharti Airtel won "Top Treasury Team Asia 2014" in Adam Smith
Awards Asia 2014
Airtel won the Best Treasury Team in Asia Pacific at the Finance Asia
Corporate Treasurer Awards 2014
Airtel won the "Best Mobile Product" for Wynk Music under Telecom
Service Providers Category and "My Favourite Service Provider"
award under the Pubic Poll Awards Category at the prestigious ET
Telecom awards 2014.
Bharti Airtel was ranked first in Brand Equity's Top 50 Service
Brands in India's Most Trusted Brands Survey 2013
Bharti Airtel was conferred with the Top Operator (Cellular), Top
Operator (NLD), Top Operator (ILD) awards at the ICT (Information
and Communication Technology) Business Awards 2013 in Delhi

 Bharti Airtel has been recognized as the Best Global Wholesale

Carrier for 2009 at the Telecoms World Awards Middle East by
Terrapin.
Airtel was rated as the Strongest Band in the Economic Times
Brand Finance Brand Power Rating 2009. It is the only Corporate
Brand to be awarded the AAA rating.
Airtel ranked second in the Economic Times-Brand Equity Most
Trusted Brand Survey 2009.

Bharti Airtel ranked Indias second most valuable company, by

Business Today in 2009.
Bharti Airtel's my Airtel app won the 'Service Innovation 2013'
Award at Aegis Graham Bell Awards 2013 for empowering
customers to manage all Airtel services effortlessly from a single
interface
Bharti

Airtel

was

felicitated

for 'Best

Mobile

Service

Provider' and 'Innovation in mMoney' at Aegis Graham Bell

Awards held on November 1, 2012
Sunil Bharti Mittal Chairman & Managing Director Bharti Enterprises
gets The Best Asian Telecom CEO award. bharti tele-ventures is
Asia's Best GSM Carrier

PRODUCT PROFILE

The Products which are offered by Airtel is very unique and

attractive to the customers. They also provide with lots of benefit
and attractive key features to the customers.
Airtel deals in four product or we can say that it is divided into four
segments of Airtel. They are:-

1. MOBILE
2. BROADBAND
3. DIGITAL TV
4. FIXED LINES

MOBILE:
Under mobile it is again divided into four. They are: Post Paid, Pre
Paid, Black Berry and Smart Phones. People can opt according to
their requirement and usage. All the provided schemes are
available to the customer without any much problem.

POST PAID:
Here Post Paid means after using the service we are to pay the
amount that which the customer has used. In post paid we are to
select the Tariff before the usage. According to the Tariff, we will
receive our bill. Then comes the way by which we can pay our bill.
Airtel has provided hell lots of facilities for payment of bill hassle
free. We can pay our bill through Internet, Paying to the Airtel bill
payment outlets, through mobile and if you want to pay your bill
sitting at home that is also possible without the use of internet,
mobile, etc. A collection of bill from home is also possible with the
help of collection boy who comes at your door steps and collects
your bill amount.
Auto roaming facility is given in post paid mobile connection. We
can also get post paid connection along with handset if required .

PRE PAID
Pre Paid means we have to pay before we use the service. In case
of pre paid we have different denominations of vouchers, we have
to buy the recharge vouchers and then by entering the 12-digit
number we have to recharge our number. We can also recharge our
number online, with Lapu facility or by buying the recharge
vouchers.
Handset is also available with Pre Paid connections. We also have
different tariff for pre paid and for reducing the call charges, those
which are called as Power Recharge also. Roaming facilities are also
give in pre paid all over India other than North East and Jammu &
Kashmir for security reasons.

BLACK BERRY

BlackBerry from Airtel is an always connected wireless solution

providing easy and secure access to your email and data.
BlackBerry is the worlds most integrated communication device on
Airtel. With this we can now be constantly accessible on mail, talk
on phones and surf the internet at the same time, schedule and
coordinate appointments in the middle of meetings, raise approval
request, log in orders, update business databases and stay
connected to your colleagues, customers, friends and family from
anywhere, anytime.

KEY FEATURES
Wireless

Email

SMS/MMS

Organiser

Camera*

Attachments

Calender

Media*

Instant
Messaging

Internet

SMARTPHONES
Smartphones are those which is supported by Windows mobile
6.5. We can say this smartphones as Mobile PC. We can access
in internet and can keep all updates almost all the times. It has
a very strong memory backup and can keep in its memory for
longer time.

BROADBAND
Broadband is a high speed internet service which is provided by
Airtel. As we all know how the broadband connection is, it comes
with an extra wire which is connected with PC or Laptop whatever
with the customer wants to use it. It also has different tariffs and
many other variations in it. It is not moveable in every place, we
have to use in that place where we have taken the connection. The

broadband service is very much popular and is acceptable by the

customer. It has a very great demand in the market.

DIGITAL TV
Now a days this digital TV has become very famous and popular
among the people. This digital TV comes with a dish which is
directly connected with the satellite. In this service we can choose
the channel required according to our wish. In digital TV also we
have to subscribe for the channels. The picture quality with digital
TV is very high and is very much clear.
With digital TV we have the facility of recording and pause the
programme. The provided cable TV service is now a days getting
extinct among the people. With this modern change in technology
people are also opting the change.

FIXED LINE
Fixed lines we all know what exactly it is. This are those telephone
lines which is fixed in one place and is connected with a wire. This
fixed lines are usually used in homes, shops, telephone boots,

office, etc where the mobility of the phone line is not there. BSNL
was the first to provide with fixed lines in the country. Now almost
all the telecom companys provide fixed line connection.
This fixed line has also the different tariffs. The fixed line is usually
post paid, but we can opt for pre paid also. This is very much
helpful to the customer because it has a less failure of lines and
almost nil network problems.
This is all about the product of Airtel which is provided in the
market for the customer. All the products of Airtel is running
successfully in the market without any failure. The service which is
provided by Airtel is speechless and in any problem with the
product they try to help the customer as fast as possible.

All the product has unique features in itself. All are different in their
perspective fields and because of the unique characteristics of the
product, the brand AIRTEL is acceptable in the market.

COMPETITORS

Top Competitors for Bharti Airtel Limited

Reliance
Idea
Vodafone
Tata Docomo
Aircel
MTNL

BSNL

BRANDING
Advertising
The way telecom firms advertise, gives an approximate idea
about the telecom trends. The Indian Telecom Sector
liberalized in 1994 after which 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 (Hutch), Idea
Cellular Limited (Idea) and Reliance India Mobile (RIM). Due to
severe competition, BHARTI AIRTEL had to take new initiatives
to woo customers. Prominent among these were - celebrity
endorsements, loyalty rewards, discount coupons, business
solutions and talk time schemes. As of date, AIRTEL has used
the maximum number of celebrities for advertisements. The
list includes -Sachin, Shahrukh, Rehmaan, Saif Ali Khan,
Kareena Kapoor, Zaheer Khan, etc. The Youth segment and the
business class segment were considered most important by
cellular industries of which the youth segment was the largest
and fastest growing.
Airtel sought the services of Sachin Tendulkar as he was the
brand ambassador. One of the most famous tunes for Airtel
was given by A.R.Rehman with which people could easily
connect with the brand.
Airtel was the first company to target specific customers and it
came out with advertising its group card labeled as Friendz.
In fact, until now, the market was treated as homogenous.
Airtel then announced Senior citizen cards targeted at those
above 60. The Friends card is for those who wish to restrict
themselves to their group with low calling rates and some free
messages.

INITIAL BRANDING
Initially, the target group was elite professionals since tariff
rates were high. Airtel positioned itself as an inspirational and
lifestyle brand. It was pitched not merely as a mobile service,
but as something that gave consumer a badge value. The
Brand was developed to connote leadership in network,
innovations, offerings and services.
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.

Leadership to Touch Tomorrow

Bharti decided to humanize the brand Airtel in 2000. It

started with Bharti launching its new Touch Tomorrow
campaign which aimed at strengthening its relationship with
its customers and make the brand softer to cater a wide
variety of people across the society

Live every moment to Express Yourself

Later, Airtel adopted the "Express yourself" positioning, the

emotional angle was predominant it wanted to stand out in
what was becoming a highly commoditized, crowded
market.Capital A showed leadership and red dot on i

showed innovation

LOGO

The logo is a modern representation of the letter 'a' on a bright

red background.

 The unique symbol is an interpretation of the a in Airtel

The curved shape & the gentle highlights on the red
colour make it warm & inviting, almost as if it were a
living object.
The colour Red shows the heritage. It is the colour of
energy & passion that expresses the dynamism that has
made Airtel the success it is today, in India, and now on
the global stage.
The logo is called The Wave.

The old logo shown alongside, also called the flag logo
because the look resembled just that the colours red and
white alternating with each other. The word Air, in black, was
placed against a white background, while Tel, in white,
appeared against a red backdrop. To keep the continuity going,
the dot of the letter i in the word, was also red.

ADVERTISEMENTS AND MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai talks about how every friend
serves a special purpose, similar to different Airtel services

Lazy Friend Easy Recharge & Online Bill Payment

Proxy Friend Career Guidance
Kadkee Friend Talk Time Transfer
Status Update Friend Update On FB Status

In Short Airtel Suit The Need Of Everone With Its Plethora

OfServices.

 Jo tera hai wo mera hai ad compaign is lunched by airtel

on the occasion of friendship day.

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS
Bharti Airtel continues to be the largest telecommunications
company and the market leader in India and in some countries
in Africa. Having been established in 1995, it enjoyed the early
mover advantage in India and was able to quickly make full
use of the governments liberalization policies to firmly
establish itself in India. Airtel offers the most expansive
roaming network, letting you roam anywhere in India with its
Pan-India

presence,

and

trot

across

the

globe

with

International Roaming spread in over 240 networks. Airtels

subscriber base continues to grow and it had reached 220.9
million users in March, 2011. Airtel also boasts of having the
maximum number of active customers (~92%), the highest in
the industry. Since Airtel outsources all its operations except
Sales, Marketing and Finance, it has established strong
strategic alliances with Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei and IBM for its
technological operations. Many consider this outsourcing
strategy to be a masterpiece. Airtels match box strategy in
rural areas helped them to penetrate deep in the rural sectors.
Bharti Airtel has its presence in more than 300000+ rural
areas. Airtel has always taken an initiative in promoting its
services with advertising campaigns that strike a chord with
the consumer. Hence, it enjoys a very high brand recognition
and awareness among Indians. Its services continue to be
excellent.

Weaknesses
Some analysts see Airtels outsourcing strategy as a weak
point as they believe that Airtel is not able to cater to its own
technical

needs.

In

recent

times,

Airtel

has

not

been

performing very well. It reported lower than expected earnings

in the 1st quarter of FY 13. This hit investor sentiment and the
stock witnessed heavy selling, which saw it plummet to a 6
year low on the bourses. All these factors led to the
downgrading of the stock, from stable to negative. Airtel
has also been witnessing a steady decline in its ARPUs.
Opportunities
India continues to be the largest growing market in the world
and provides ample opportunities for telecom majors to
expand services, especially in rural areas. Bharti Airtel has the
opportunity of attracting subscribers of other telecom service
providers

through

the

Mobile

Number

Portability

(MNP)

recently, as the company has a reputation of providing

excellent services. The telemedia services provide a huge
opportunity to Airtel to foray into different telemedia services
and expand and diversify its services. Airtel has a huge
presence in India and Africa. It can continue to expand in
Africa, buy penetrating its market further. Airtel should also
look into expanding in other regions like Latin America and
South-East Asia, as these markets provide a huge opportunity
for Airtel to stamp its global presence. The new greenfield
operators have not been successful in acquiring a decent
revenue and customer market share, in spite of offering lower

prices. This may lead to an opportunity for the bigger players

like Bharti to acquire these businesses in the future.

Threats
Airtel has witnessed steadily decreasing market share. Though
it still enjoys the numero uno position in India, it does so only
marginally. The increasing number of competitors in the Indian
telecom market have continuously been eating into Airtels
initial significant market share of over 40% to reduce it to a
mere 19% in 2012. Mobile Number Portability is a doubleedged sword and though it brings Airtel new customers, it also
allows existing Airtel users to switch to other networks, which
would always remain a significant threat. Intense competition
from new entrants triggering Price war in a decreasing ARPU
environment

is

another

major

threat.

The

regulatory

environment in India continues to be laden with risks and

highly uncertain, with new policies and regulations being

meted out, which do not necessarily work to the benefit of
Airtel.

PEST ANALYSIS

POLITICAL
The Indian political scenario and regulations from TRAI are the
most significant aspects which would affect Airtel. The recent
2G scam and the subsequent regulations passed by TRAI were
points of debate. For example, the reserve price for the
auction proposed by the telecom regulator should be reduced
by at least 80%, felt CEOs of Airtel and other operators.
Following TRAI's controversial spectrum recommendation, Fitch

has revised the outlook of Airtel to negative from stable

due to adverse regulatory environment in India and risks
involved in its African operation. Regulatory risk is high for the
Indian telecom industry compared with other markets in Asia
Pacific. Fitch believes that an evolving regulatory framework,
regular policy changes and cancellation of 2G licenses by
India's Supreme Court in February 2012 could change the
industry structure in 2012 and negatively affect Bharti's free
cash flow generation. Regulatory risks for Airtel include a onetime charge for excess spectrum, spectrum reframing and
imposition of high spectrum renewal fees as recommended by
TRAI.
ECONOMIC
Airtel enjoys a very large consumer base in India and Africa,
and this continues to be the driver of revenues for Bharti
Airtel. Expanding more into the rural market will provide Airtel
with more such opportunities to increase revenues and market
shares. Airtel's African operations contributed about 20
percent to both its consolidated revenue and EBITDA during
the first nine months of FY12. The telecom sector is also
considered to be one of the major sectors which provide direct
employment which indirectly helps in economic growth of
India. Also, increasing investments in this sector by means of
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) ensures that there are enough
economic stimuli for Airtel and the industry as a whole. FDI to
a limit of about 74% is permitted in this sector.
SOCIAL

Airtel has been very successful in branding itself as a brand

for successful people. It has consistently come up with
advertising campaigns which emotionally affect the Indian
consumers. Earlier, Airtel focused on its plans and tariffs, but
now, it advertises in such a way that the user associates
emotions and values with Airtel. The Express Yourself
campaign, the Barriers Break when People Talk campaign,
and the more recent Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai
campaigns are excellent examples of how Airtel managed to
brand itself in all socioeconomic classes. The Airtel tune
became a rage amongst Indians and it has become the most
downloaded ringtone. The rising Indian middle class and
higher incomes at their disposals have also ushered in good
returns for companies like Airtel
TECHNOLOGICAL
Bharti Airtel is the first wireless service provider which supplies
roaming

services,

international

and

long

distance

communication services and Value Added Services. Bharti

Airtel has a highspeed optic fiber network. Airtel is the first
mobile telephony company to outsource everything except its
marketing, sales and financial operations. Airtel outsourced
their IT processes to IBM, entire network operations to Ericsson
and Siemens along with Alcatel Lucent recently and the
transmission towers to another company. This has worked in
its favor as Airtel can concentrate on other parameters and
new innovations in its services, such as venturing into
telemedia services, new options like Airtel Money, broadband

and 3G/4G services, etc. Airtel also builds on providing value

and efficient services to its customers.

CUSTOMER SERVICE DELIVERY

Customer Service Delivery is one of the very essential
department of the organization. It plays a very vital role in the
organization. This department starts working right from the
beginning when a customer applies for a connection.
CSD is the department which is to sort out any kind of problem
faced by the customer. The department is playing a very vital
role in retaining the customers.
Let us now know in broad how this particular department
functions. When a customer wishes to take a connection
he/she first goes to particular outlet where a connection is
available. Then the customer fills up the form and takes a
connection. This department then starts its work, they send for
the verification of the customer who has applied for the
connection. After the verification is done the connection of the
customer gets activated and the customer starts using it.
After that, if the customer wants to use other services
provided by the company, the customer will either go to the
outlets or call in the help desk for further query or to know

about the schemes provided. All this role play is handled by

the CSD department itself. We can say that this department is
directly connected with the customers 24 hours.
The informations that we receive through Value Added
Service( i.e. SMS) is all done by this department itself. They
always keeps the customers aware of the newly launched
schemes and try to benefit the customers. To benefit a
customer a company should always resolve the problems of
the customers that they are facing. They also should not only
resolve the problem and leave, but they should also follow up
the customers from time to time and create goodwill among
them.
All this is done by the CSD department very smoothly and
accurately. If this department fails to perform then there will
be a great chaos in the company and may fail to proceed
further.
The department has three touch-points:-

TOUCH
POINTS

OUTLE

CALL

SELF

Now let me tell in details what are the Touch Points and what
they actually does:-

OUTLETS:
The outlets are those where a connection is available and a
customer can go and grab. The outlets are made by the
company for easy access of the connection. If suppose a
customer is facing any problem, he/she will go to the outlet
first and ask what to do regarding it. They here at this point
provide service to the customers for easy access and contact
the company as and when required. The outlets work on behalf
of the company and provide service to the customers.
Through outlets a customer pays bill, recharge the number,
launch complains, etc. Outlets are first place where from the
functioning of the department starts.

CALL CENTRE:

We are very much familiar with the term Call Centre. We know
what it does and how it functions. A call centre receives a call

from a customer and treats the customer according to their

needs.
A customer contacts a call centre through a given helpline
number by the company. The call centre deals with the
complains and also provide with information that is required to
the customer.
This is a place where they tries to solve the problem online if
possible or they take the complain from the customer and
gives the customer a complain number. Now a days call centre
is available in almost all the companys. The main function of
call centre is to solve the problem of the customers and follow
up.

SELF SERVICE:

This is a touch point where a customer does everything

themselves. This is done with SMS service. By following the
guide one can do it. Here what happen is if a person wants to
activate a service like miss call alert, caller tune, news, etc.
The customer can read the instruction and do it by himself by
sending one SMS or by dialling a specified number.

If a customer wants to check the balance amount of the

number using for a pre-paid customer or if a post-paid
customer wants to know the bill amount of the number, then
the customer can by dialling the specified number provided by
the service provider can check it.
No department is possible to control and run smoothly if it is
not sub-divided. Likewise this department has three subdivisions:1. Sales and Marketing.
2. Network
3. Customer Service

COMPLAIN MANAGEMENT CELL:

The CSD department has a special cell where it deals with the
complain of the customers. The cell is known as Complain
Management Cell.
The complain management cell keeps an eye on the
complain which goes to the back end.
They sees whether the issues are resolved or not.
They try to find out what is the matter of the
complain.
They resolves the complain and follow up their
customers.
Eg: if a customer is having a problem with hello tunes
or network, the customer lodges a complain to the

company through the call centres and solves the

problem.
This is how the complain management cell works and plays a
vital

role

in

retaining

their

customers.

The

complain

management cell works for whole day and night to satisfy the
customers and resolve their problems. Without this it would
have been very difficult to retain customers.

SEGMENTATION
Due to diminishing marginal returns on its voice revenues,
Airtel was forced to abandon its one size fits all demographic
segmentation. It came up with a strategy where it classified
users into different segments. Segmentation can be defined as
the process of dividing the market into customers with similar
interests into one segment There are basically 4 levels of
segmentation and Airtel segmented its market as:
Segment marketing:
Here the target market is divided into different segments
on the basis of homogenous needs. Airtel has broadly

divided the whole market into 2 categories prepaid and

postpaid.
Niche Marketing: It can be defined as the marketers
effort to position their product or service in smaller
markets that have similar attributes and have been
neglected by other marketers. AIRTEL launched its
product blackberry in this category which particularly
focussed on the upper business class who have to be in
touch with the world every time 3. Local marketing: In
this segment companies have to focus on the
requirements of the local markets to be successful. Airtel
is focussing on local marketing by their low tariff plans in
rural and even urban cities.
Individual Marketing: In this segmentation, companies
focus on individual customers and try to be in touch with
them by phone calls, email etc. Airtel regularly calls its
every customer and tells them about its new features and
schemes

Airtel segmented its consumer market on the basis of:-

Geographical segmentation: The market is divided

into groups based on demographic attributes such as
localities, regions, cities, density etc. Airtel segments the
market on the basis of states, as they have different
plans for different states. The different geographic
regions are handled independently and different
campaigns are run according to the tastes and
preferences of people in each region.

Demographic segmentation: The market is divided

into groups based on demographic attributes like age,
gender, income, occupation, religion, family life cycle etc
Age and lifecycle.

Psychographic segmentation: In this segmentation,

marketers segment the market on the basis of
motivation, values, belief, lifestyle, personality etc
Behavioural segmentation: Organisations also divide
the market on the basis of behaviour that the customer
shows towards the usage of products. Various variables
for segmenting market on the basis of purchase
behaviour of customers are occasions, benefits, user
status, user rate, loyalty etc.

CONCLUSION

From The above Project Bharti Airtel I learn a lot about how
Airtel established itself a market leader in the Indian telecom
space.
Airtel is fulfilling the needs of many people. The company
should promote their product as attractively as possible. They

should also maintain the market reputation they has and retain
the customers. There are lot of competitors in the market, the
company should face the tough competition and come out
with better policies and plans.
They should always focus on achieving the targets or
objectives of the company. The company has a tie up with
many large organizations and which is because of their service
and reputation in the market. Hence, the organization should
change its policies with the changing market and maintain its
position.
The prospects of Airtel continue to remain strong because it is
built around very strong fundamentals, and this growth should
be visible in the near future.
Large number of Pre-Paid customers and small number of
Post-Paid customers.

Private sector employees mostly take up the Post-Paid

connection.
Students take the Pre-Paid connections because of the
low schemes and different other facilities on and off
campus.
They are linked with many private companies and also
some of the govt. organization with their corporate plans.

 They satisfy their customers and always read for any kind
of help to the customers.

REFERENCES
REFERENCE BOOKS:
Aswathappa,

k,

Human

Resource

Management,

4 th

Edition, published by TATA MC Graw Hill, 2006.

Kotler,

Philip,

Marketing

Management,

published by Asoke K. Ghosh, 2003.

11th

Edition,

WEB SITES :

www.airtel.com