Case study On

business
policy &
strategy
adopted by
AirteL

Submitted to-Mrs.sakshi vij

Submitted by-Bhumika Nagi
RollNo-1921924
Introduction
Bharti Airtel Ltd. a global telecommunication
company operates in 16 countries with
major presence in Asia and Africa. With 413
million subscribers, the company is among
top three global mobile service providers
(Annual17-18, 2019). The company is
headquartered in India and there it offers
wireless services, cell phone commerce,
internet, DTH .The company covers almost
95.3% Indian population. The company
presents itself with brand name “Airtel”
(Annual17-18, 2019).
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global
telecommunications company with
operations in 18 countries across Asia and
Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India,
the company ranks amongst the top 3
mobile service providers globally in terms of
subscribers. In India, the company's product
offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless
services, mobile commerce, fixed line
services, high speed home broadband, DTH,
enterprise services including national &
international long distance services to
carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it
offers 2G, 3G, 4G wireless services and
mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over
403 million customers across its operations
at the end of June 2019. To know more
please visit.

Current Scenario:-
The telecommunication industry in India has taken a disruptive trend in
Green Telecom, Expansion to Rural Areas, launch of BWA Technologies,
Internet of things, increase in investment, mobile banking and more
(AirtelWebsite, n.d.). These trends have brought rising competition and
hence, to serve the large consumer base, the companies have to take in
more debt burden and high operating cost. Airtel has brought in a certain
set of mission and Goals to build and maintain its existing market share
(India Brand Equity Foundation, 2017).

Vision Statement:-
“Our vision is to enrich the lives of customers. Our obsession is to win
customers for life through an exceptional experience” (Annual17-18,
2019).

Objective:-
Increase Market Share, increase revenue and build new revenue streams,
reduce cost, provide a good quality network, be more sustainable
(Annual17-18, 2019).

The Purpose, Scope & Method of

Investigation:-
The disruptive trend discussed in current scenario of telecommunication
industry has created huge amount of turbulence for Airtel. Its Profits have
fallen and debts have increased (Annual17- 18, 2019). It has to go for
continuous tariff plan price revisions and establish new strategies to fight
heavily competitive landscape . Hence, we look into external and internal
environment, capabilities of the company, which push it towards the
corporate and business strategies taken to curb current market
challenges. We use secondary sources, relevant models and theories to
investigate and build recommendations.

STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY AIRTEL CO.

1.)SWOT Analysis

Strengths-
Airtel is market leader and had 24.31 percent market share whereas other
competitors had below it (India Brand Equity Foundation, 2017). It has
highest revenue, market share and presence in India (FFUniversity, n.d.).
It has wide distribution platforms such as: Mobile money, Airtel TV
(Annual17-18, 2019). It has huge placements of its Network towers and
base stations, hence, better customer support and quality (AirtelSWOT,
2019).

Weakness-
As there are increased account receivables hence, Improper Credit
Management can impact company’s financial position in case of any
default or economic slowdown (AirtelSWOT, 2019).

Threats-
Increased competition in industry (decreasing Average revenue per user),
currency fluctuations and regulations bring in potential threats. They
could be seen with PESTEL and Porters Model discussed ahead (Annual17-
18, 2019).

Opportunities-
The Government of India planned Digital Drive to bring opportunities for
data consumption growth, Digital payments (expected to grow by 5 folds
in 2023), More penetration in new customers. The other revenue stream
of “sharing infrastructure” is also big opportunity (Annual17-18, 2019).

2.) PESTEL Analysis

Political & Legal-

As India in recent years had been under civil disturbances and unrest, this
impacts Airtel business as investors get concerned related to regional
stability. The India’s Department of Telecommunications regularizes and
amends the National Telecom Policy frequently and hence, the company
has to be always ready to abide by it (AirtelShareholderLetter, 2019). The
company faces risks of increasing spectrum price, retribution for call
drops, compliance to Electromagnetic Field norms (Annual17-18, 2019).

Economic-
Airtel has borrowings in foreign currencies and floating interest rates
hence, this involves high market risk and impacts it. Also, if economic
slowdown occurs the consumer spending can reduce and can bring
slowdown in telecom sector (AirtelShareholderLetter, 2019). The
interconnection charges to be paid 6 paise/min will be zero from 1st
January, 2020, this will impact Airtel revenue (Dua, 2018).

Social & Environmental-

As Airtel is becoming more digital, to understand features of company’s
products, the company needs good literacy rate of customer base in
market penetration (Bushaus, 2018). The Department of
Telecommunication of India has put up measures to push
telecommunication industry towards green telecom. It demands for all
infrastructure and services in telecom industry should be energy assessed
(DOT, 2019).

Technology-
The continuous change in business environment demands Airtel for quick
adaptation. The company has to rapidly come out with new products and
services. To be competitive in a short span company had to upgrade itself
from CDMA=>WCDMA=>3G=>4G technolog3.

Porter 5 Forces
Threat of New Entrants-
Airtel is struggling to achieve its economies of scale, this would be tough
for new entrants too. There are huge cost of infrastructure investment
and certain government regulations to abide too. This decreases the
threat of new entrants (India Brand Equity Foundation, 2017).

Power of buyers-
With Mobile number portability in place, least ways to differentiate in
services a, more quality dependency and less switching cost for customers
leads to high customer bargaining power (India Brand Equity Foundation,
2017).

Power of suppliers-
High Cost to switch from one supplier to another and less supplier
availability in the market. But, with shared infrastructure technology
coming in place, reduces the burden of Airtel operating expenditure (India
Brand Equity Foundation, 2017).

Degree of rivalry-
The competition is huge and there are big players in each region. As the
customer is price sensitive and switching cost is low and the exit barriers
for companies are high hence, provokes intense competition (India Brand
Equity Foundation, 2017).

The substitute threat-

The threat of substitute products can be seen with Voice over ip
technology gaining market. The customer is making less use of telecom
services and using more internet services. Hence, this pose a big threat to
Airtel (India Brand Equity Foundation, 2017).
We can summarize - New entrant’s threat is Low, Threat of
substitute products & Supplier power is Medium, Rivalry &
Buyer Power is High

CorporateLevelStrategy
In existing market the company is transforming itself into the digital
service provider. The company is going for market consolidation and the
future of telecom industry would be - big three major private telecom
giants (Airtel, Jio, Vodafone) and one public sector giant (BSNL) to
dominate the market. To Capitalize the emerging opportunities company
is consolidating the market by recent huge acquisitions (Cisco, 2012). By
offering new products and services in existing market, company looks into
making the customer stick to it and also increase average revenue per
user. The company is steadily developing it’s b2b services market by
offering cloud based, digital media, network, voice services and Data
Centre Based services (Annual17- 18, 2019).

Existing Market Consolidation & Penetration

• Acquires Competitors - Telenor India, Tikona, Tata

Teleservices Ltd.
• Launched 111000 mobile sites to strengthen 4g
business.
 Offering Enhanced Exisitng & New Product Content,
Services
• Enhanced Data Capabilities, Airtel TV content
library, Digital TV Services, Telemedia Services
• New products - Airtel Payment Bank, Wynk
Movies. • Strategic Partnerships
Existing Market Development
• Providing rural areas with more digital access.
• E-Shakti a digital literacy Initiative
• Providing B2B services to existing market players.
• Sategic partnership with Symantec.

The company has also come up with strategic partnerships with SK

Telecom to improve its network connectivity and also innovate on future
network.
As part of Network transformation program Airtel has partnered with
Huawei Telecommunication (businessToday, 2018). The company has
launched “Project Next” to improve customer experience with help of
innovations. Signed agreements with Department of Telecommunication
to establish provision in providing mobile connectivity to uncovered
villages and national highways (Annual17-18, 2019).

Results & Strategy (SAFe , Competitive

Adv.) - Value Chain Analysis
Infrastructure-
Internal Customer -relationship tools, Enterprise resource planning, Airtel
Infratel
Human Resource’s-
Uses Oracle HCM Cloud, Win With People Strategy. Has a skilled
workforce and train its 19523 Indian workforce to add to value to brand.
Launched learning programs "Sales Mindset in Changing Times.
Technology-
4G spectrum, DTH spectrum, Telemedia portals, B2B Services using
various IT technologies and infrastructure.
Procurement-
A supply chain network is built to have a good partnered network. Has
Core team for supply chain matters.

Inbound-
• Network Infrastructure – Siemens, CISCO, Intel And Bharti Infratel. Buy
Software – IBM, Infosys, Tata, Financial Investment, Purchase Licenses
Process-
• Build Infrastructure, Integrate The Network, Right Supplier, Innovation
Output-
• Global System For Mobile Communication, Broadband, Value Added
Services, DTH, B2B Services, Digital Innovations.
Marketing and Planning-
• Build Enhanced Distribution Network, Pioneer In Market, Build Brand
Story And Advertise.
After Sale-
• Customer Service Support And Build Brand Loyalty

OnlinePrivacyPolicy
We at bharti airtel limited (hereinafter mentioned as "airtel") are
committed to protect our customers’ personal information and/or
sensitive personal data and strive to maintain the privacy of your personal
information.
For your information, “Personal information” is any information that can
be used by itself to uniquely identify, contact, or locate a person, or can
be used with information available from other sources to uniquely identify
an individual. For the purpose of this policy, sensitive personal data or
information has been considered as a part of personal information.
airtel does collect your personal information for a variety of regulatory
and business purposes. These include, but are not limited to:

Verify your identity;

 Complete transactions effectively and bill for products and services;
 Respond to your request for service or assistance;
 Perform market analysis, market research, business and operational
analysis;
 Provide, maintain and improve our products and services;
 Anticipate and resolve issues and concerns with our products and
services;
 Promote and market our products and services which we consider
may be of interest to you and may benefit you; and
 Ensure adherence to legal and regulatory requirements for
prevention and detection of frauds and crimes.
airtel’s Privacy Policy is designed and developed to address the privacy
and security of your personal information provided to us. This Privacy
Policy describes the personal information which we may collect and
provides our approach towards handling or dealing with the same. The
policy is designed to make you understand:

 Kinds of personal information that may be collected by us;

 Measures taken by us to ensure its privacy and security;
 Duration for which when it may be retained by us; and
How you may access and control its use.
For further details on the policy,
 Collection of Personal Information
 Disclosure and Transfer of Personal Information
 Security Practices and Procedures
Your Rights
 Feedback and Concerns

airtel reserves the right to amend or modify this Privacy Policy at any
time, as and when the need arises.

Recommendations
To be a market leader Airtel has to look into following aspects:
Pricing Strategy – Customer is more price focused, hence, Airtel
need to come with tariff plans which could look attractive and generates
impulse for switching to Airtel.
More Market Penetration Especially Rural Markets
- This will help it to build more customer base and higher market share,
hence, more Average revenue per user. It can be achieved with a good
marketing plan which has a good core creative idea.
Build More Strategic Partnerships and
Distribution Channels – To serve its customers better a well-
established distribution channel can help Airtel to increase its market
presence. The strategic partnerships in technology and infrastructure
could help it to innovate and minimize cost.
Better Sales Offer – Airtel should provide certain offers which
could help them retain customers for long term. Hence, customer has to
give a second thought before, heading towards competitors. Also, they
need to add moments of delights to their sales strategy.
Just in Time Customer Service- Today’s customer demands
issues to be resolved real time. Hence, a customer support which is highly
customer focused and providing in time solutions should be the goal of
company.

Bharti Airtel Business Policy & Strategy

Study Competitors strategy – As competitors are coming
with new strategies, hence, Airtel needs to proactive in understanding the
customer demand and competitor’s strategy to fulfill it. It needs to
position and orient itself a step ahead of competitors.
Reduce Debt– As debt because of borrowings are also increasing.
Hence, Airtel need to monitor expenditure being invested in providing
productivity.

Conclusion
Airtel is an old pioneer in the telecom industry and to transform itself for
more revenues and growth in digital space will take effort and right
strategic decisions. The competition surfacing is at a rapid pace. Hence, to
be a market leader it has to be on its toes and face the competition with
emergent strategies.
As method of investigation in this report is secondary basis and industry
has a very dynamic change, hence, we cannot say how the presented
recommendations will act in the real time scenario.
The future of Airtel looks bright but, will it be able to survive the
disruptive turbulence of industry and what new strategies it will develop?

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