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COMPANY BACKGROUND

Airtel comes from Bharti Cellular Limited - a part of the biggest private integrated
telecom conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises.

Bharti Enterprises has been at the forefront of technology and has revolutionized
telecommunications with its world class products and services. Established in 1976,
Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts and innovations
to its credit. Bharti has many joint ventures with world leaders like Singtel (Singapore
Telecom); Warburg Pincus, USA; Telia, Sweden; Asian infrastructure find, Mauritius;
International Finance Corporation, USA and New York Life International, USA.

Bharti Airtel: -

Bharti Airtel limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in

19 countries across Asia and Africa. The company offers mobile voice & data services,
fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises
and national & international long distance services to carriers. Bharti Airtel has been
ranked among the six best performing technology companies in the world by business
week. Bharti Airtel had 200 million customers across its operations.

Bharti Airtel and other Global Telcos launch EIG for commercial use: -

Set to boost the connectivity to the Middle East, Africa and Europe by offering enhanced
capacity, redundancy and network resilience

• Lands in Bharti Airtel’s landing station in India (Mumbai)

• Bharti Airtel connects India - Middle East - Europe route via 3 alternate paths
(SEA-ME-WE4, IMEWE and EIG )

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 • Bharti Airtel will provide Network Administration (NA) and Network Operations
Control (NOC) for EIG

Airtel makes its 3G Debut: -

❖ Redefines mobile internet experience –

• Brings the Airtel internet experience on 3G first to Karnataka - Airtel’s

largest circle by revenue market share.

• Targets launch in all 13 3G license circles by March 2011.

• Introduces easy-to-understand intuitive tariffs with personalized data usage

limits.
• Empowers Airtel 3G customers to manage their data usage and prevent ‘bill
shock’ with proactive, personalized and timely data usage alerts

MOBILE STRATEGY

• Capture maximum telecommunications revenue potential with minimum

geographical coverage to maximize its revenues and margins.
• Build high quality mobile networks by deploying state of the art technology to
offer superior services.
• Use the experience it has gained from operating its existing mobile networks to
develop and operate other mobile networks in India and to share the expertise
across all of its existing and new circles.
• Attract and retain high revenue generating customers by providing competitive
tariffs, offering high quality customer support, proactive retention programs and
roaming packages across all of its mobile circles.
• Provide affordable tariff plans to suit each segment of the market with a view to
expand the reach, thereby increasing the mobile customer base rapidly.

GROWTH RATE

Airtel is the mobile licensee in Chennai, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and is the brand
name of Bharti Mobile Communications.

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The combined subscriber base of Airtel in these regions is close to 7 lakh. The average
increase in cellular subscriber base in the southern region between two sequential
quarters— fourth quarter of the last financial year and the first quarter of this year— has
been about 24 per cent. In the first quarter of this year, the combined subscriber base of
the 10 mobile licensees in the region was about 2 million as against 161 million during
the fourth quarter of the last financial year, making this region among the fastest growing
zones for the cellular phone market.

AWARDS

Consecutively for four years 1997,1998, 1999 and 2000, Airtel has been voted as the Best
Cellular Service in the country and won the coveted Techies award.

The Asia Pacific Award for the Most Innovative HR practices-2000

The Golden Peacock National Training Award for excellence in Training practices-2000
The Golden Peacock National Quality Award-2001

VISION

"By 2015 airtel will be the most loved level, enriching the lives of millions”.

MISSION

We will meet the mobile communication needs of our customers through:

• Error- free service delivery.

• Innovative products and services.

• Cost efficiency.

• Unified Messaging Solutions.

BHARTI VALUES

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Innoventuring
• Generate and implement entrepreneurial and innovative ideas, which will continuously
create new growth engines.

Customer First

• committed to delivering service beyond the expectations of the customer. quality of

customer responsiveness clearly differentiates Bharti from others.

PERFORMANCE CULTURE

• Benchmark processes and performance against world-class standards. Distinguish

between performers and non-performers by valuing achievement at the individual as well
as the team level. A culture of inclusively where feedback, learning and ideas are actively
encouraged, sought and acted upon.

Valuing Partnership

• committed to building exemplary relationship with partners, which stand on the

principles of mutual trust and mutual growth.

Valuing People

• nurture an environment where people are respected and their uniqueness is valued.
Believe that people are key differentiators.

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AREA OF OPERATION

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 CHAPTER – 2

INTRODUCTION OF THE
TOPIC

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 CHANNEL STRUCTURE OF RELIANCE INFOCOMM: -

RELIANCE INFOCOMM gives credit for its success to its channel. It has helped
RELIANCE in getting closer to the customer and responding faster to market changes. It
has also enabled the company to utilize its resources in a more effective manner. In order
to market its services in areas that would number over 500, Reliance Infocomm has retail
store space ranging between 800 and 2,000 sq ft. The company has also taken the space
on lease or purchases the same outright. RELIANCE has Two Tier Channel Structure.

• ‘0’ entity, Wherein RELIANCE has direct showroom. These showrooms directly
interact with consumers. They are also responsible for all the transactions with the
corporate.

• ‘1’ entity, Wherein RELIANCE uses three different channel to reach its
customers. They are Mini-web world, Web-world and retailers.

RELIANCE INFOCOM

CUSTOMER MINI WEB-WORLD WEB-WORLD RETAILER

(Direct Showrooms)

CUSTOMER

A. Mini Web World.

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 The minimum amount to set up a Mini Web world is 12-13 lakhs. The Investor is
called as channel partner. The Investor is assigned a space in prime commercial or
residential areas that are mass frequented and he is termed as “king” of that area.
Channel partner are provided with the customer database to make his work more
convenient. For instance the Head of Mini Web World in ASHOK VIHAR will be
termed as area head (king). He would be provided with customer database of that
very region. According to the area the, Customer Delight comprising of AC, Space,
and Appearance will be decided. (Market near Surya Hotel, has Mini web World
along with snacks bar keeping in mind the type of customer visiting the market

B. Web World.

In order to market its services in major Indian cities, district headquarters and town
RELIANCE has established Web Worlds .The only difference between Mini Web
world and Web World is in the size, which depends upon the target audience reliance
infocom is catering to or the clutter in the market. The area is defined in terms of
collection and connection. The space could also be parts of shopping or
entertainment complexes. The shop front should at least have a 20-ft signage area and
should be facing an area that is quite active, preferably a parking lot. In all there over
12 Reliance Web Worlds which are operating in New Delhi.

C. RETAILERS

RELIANCE INFOCOM has ‘retail selling points’ across major cities and this
initiative is manned by independent retailers. Reliance Infocomm has wide network
of Retail Outlets all over its centers. In Delhi there are alone 841 outlets.

SELECTION OF CHANNEL MEMBERS

According to RELIANCE INFOCOMM the basis of selection of channel members is

as follows.

• Those who already deal in same area.

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 • Those who have experience in the same field.

• Depending upon the locality, display quantity etc.

ORDER CYCLE TIME

Generally Reliance Infocomm takes between 24-72 hours for completing its order.
The time depends on the type of order. Also it depends upon the time required to
check the financial status of the customer.

In case of a corporate order it goes up to 6 - 7 days.

ORDER CYCLE TIME

INDIVIDUAL
CUSTOMER CORPORATE
EEEEEEEEEE
E

24 – 72 HOURS
6 – 7 DAYS

MINIMUM ORDER QUANTITY

Reliance Infocomm does not take minimum order quantity in to consideration. The
company even deals in single order. If a customer orders for more than 50 connections,
then after going through the financial status, certain privileges like reducing “entry cost”
are given to customer.Handset worth Rs.3500/- is given for Rs.350/- and rest is financed.

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WARE HOUSE
Reliance has its own Ware house from where it distributes the handsets to different
channel partners. In addition to this the Channel partners have there own Ware house.
• COMPANY OWNED
• CHANNEL PARTNER’S OWN WARE HOUSE.

LOGISTICS

Reliance Infocomm provides the following handsets. Which includes Nokia, Samsung,
Motorola, Kyocera, and LG. Incase of the Samsung Handsets; they are imported from
Korea to Mumbai. Thereafter the custom clearance, the Handsets are stored in Bombay
warehouse. From Bombay provisioning is done and then it is distributed in various
centers in the country. Similar procedure is followed for all the remaining Handsets.

VALUE ADDED SERVICE

Reliance India Mobile offers its subscribers a host of value-added services:

Itemized Billing:
Bill with details of all Local/STD/ISD and roaming voice calls made

Value Roaming:
Stop Costly Roaming. Start Value Roaming

Reliance International Roaming:

The widest world coverage

Voice-mail service:
24 hour personal call answering service

Call waiting:
allows subscribers to receive an incoming call while already engaged in one call

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 Call hold:
allows subscribers to put a current call on hold and make a second call

Call divert:
allows subscribers to divert calls within his SDCA

3-way call conferencing:

allows a conference between 3 persons from subscribers mobile handset

CLIP (Caller Line Identification Presentation):

enables subscribers to view the number of the calling person when he receive a call

CLIR (Call Line Identification Restriction):

enables Subscribers to block presentation of their own number on a called person's
phone

International SMS
Enables subscribers to send, receive, reply and forward simple text messages to friends,
relatives and business associates across the world.

Reliance GSM Recharge vouchers: -

Talk Validity
Vouchers Benefit
Time for Days
Simply pay
NA 365 All STD, Local calls @ 1p /sec
per Second 58

Local call rates

Same Network 1p/Sec
Other Network 1p/Sec

STD call rates

Same Network 1p/Sec
Other Network 1p/Sec

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National Roaming
All Local Outgoing calls Re 1/min
All STD Outgoing calls Rs 1.5/min
All Incoming calls Re 1/min

SMS Charges
Local Rs 1.00
National Rs 1.50
International Rs 5

VAS charges
R World network usage 5p/kb

Simply pay
NA 365 All STD, Local @50p
per minute 48

Local call rates

Same Network 50p/min
Other Network 50p/min

STD call rates

Same Network 50p/min
Other Network 50p/min

National Roaming
All Local Outgoing calls Re 1/min
All STD Outgoing calls Rs 1.5/min
All Incoming calls Re 1/min

SMS Charges
Local Rs 1.00
National Rs 1.50
International Rs 5

Simply pay All STD, Local calls @ Re

NA 365
per call 38 1.20/3min

Calling to any Local Reliance

Local R-R
NA 30 Mobile @ 20p/min at any time
Pack 27
day or night

Calling to any Reliance Mobile

National R-R
NA 30 anywhere in India @ 20p/min
Pack 77
at any time day or night

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Simply Reliance Tariff
Call type Pay per call Pay per min Pay per sec
MRP of the RCV Rs.38.00 Rs.48.00 Rs.58.00
Talk time Rs.19 Rs.24 Rs.29
Admin fee Rs.15.45 Rs.19.52 Rs.23.58
Service Tax Rs.3.55 Rs.4.48 Rs.5.42
Traiff Validity 365 days 365 days 365 days
Incoming Validity Lifetime Lifetime Lifetime

Tariffs
Pulse rate 180 sec 60 sec 1 sec
Approximate usage(in pulse) available 15 48 2,900
Local/ Intra- Mobile 59% Rs.1.20 Rs.0.50 Rs.0.01
circle Fixed 20% Rs.1.20 Rs.0.50 Rs.0.01
Mobile 14% Rs.1.20 Rs.0.50 Rs.0.01
Inter-circle
Fixed 7% Rs.1.20 Rs.0.50 Rs.0.01
Avg. Outgoing Rate Rs.1.20 Rs.0.50 Rs.0.01

National Roaming Incoming

All Incoming & Local Outgoing calls Rs.1.00
All STD Outgoing calls Re.1.50
SMS Local Rs.1.00
National Rs.1.50
International Rs.5.00

COMPLAINTS
The complaints have been divided into two categories and are handled differently. The
categories are as follows

• Corporate complaints.

• Individual Customer complaints.

In case of Corporate Complaints it is handled by company directly either from Delhi

or Bombay.

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In case of Individual Customer Complaints, it is either handled by the call center or the
customer can directly visit Web World. One can access the customer care call centre 24
hours a day, 7 days a week, from anywhere in India. The complaints are transferred to
respective divisions according to the nature of complaints. Incase it is not resolved by the
local center then it is transferred to the Mumbai division.

Also Reliance Infocomm has provided Customer Service Forms for suggestions and
queries that the customer might have about Reliance Infocomm and its products and
services.

Initially connectivity was the major problem. The maximum complaints were related
to connectivity. As on today billing related issues and fault with Handsets form the
majority of the complaints?

Reliance Infocomm provides LG, Nokia, Motorola and Samsung Kyocera handsets.
Incase there is a problem with these Handsets, they follow the following procedure.

Customer has to leave their handsets for repair at the Collection points. The service
centre will undertake replacement of accessories like batteries and chargers. No PCB
level repairs are undertaken at this level and all these kind of cases are resolved by
sending the handset to the nearest Authorized service center through the concerned
service point

RESPONSE TIME

Reliance Infocomm generally takes 6 hours to resolve the General Complaints

whereas it takes at least 72 hours to resolve typical complaints. The majority of
complaints are related to Billing like extra amount charged, Bills not received on
time, Bills already Paid.

General complaints 6 hours

Typical complaints 72 hours

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 LIST OF COMPLAINTS

BILLING COMPLAINTS
• EXTRA CHARGES OTHER COMPLAINTS
• LATE BILLS • POOR CONNECTIVITY
• ROAMING CHARGES • SIM NOT WORKING
• BILL ALREADY PAID

TARGETS

RELIANCE INFOCOMM usually follows combination Targets.

Channel Sales Target

Channel sales target comprises of target assigned to a Team or in other words

Target assigned to a particular Channel like Web world. It does not include
individual sales Target.

Sales Target

Here in this case Individual Targets are assigned by the respective territory
heads in accordance to the Targets set for Team to be achieved. Usually 100
connections per month is the target to be achieved by individual sales
personnel.

Targets are also identified in terms of Variable Targets

• Depending on Geographic Locations Targets are assigned.

• Depending on Potential of the sales executive Targets are assigned.

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RESPONSIBILITIES OF SALES- EXECUTIVE

The sales executive is the eyes and ears of any organization. He is Responsible for the
following:

• He has to submit daily call report to his immediate Boss, regarding how much
targets have been achieved.

• Every week targets are assigned by immediate Boss after going through the
previous week’s report given by the executive.

• Apart from this, he has to do 2 to 3 cold calls per day.

• Collection target per day.

• Daily evening report which includes amount of targets achieved and the
feedback given by the customers.

• He has to be in touch with his Territory Head on Hourly basis by reporting

through phone.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Reliance's appraisal and reward system is aimed at increasing employee involvement

in the goals and objectives of the organization, and encouraging individuals to go
beyond their scope of work, undertake voluntary projects that enable them to learn,
and contribute innovative ideas in meeting the targets of the company.

RELIANCE INFOCOMM takes into account the following parameters on the basis of
which it decides the appraisal required for the sales personnel.

• Track Record. (Monthly, Weekly)

The immediate head keeps the Track record of their sales executives on
Weekly and Monthly basis. For instance the territory manager keeps the track
record of all the executives falling under him, and accordingly decides upon
the appraisal to be done.

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 • Star Performer. (Monthly, Weekly)

Over here the immediate Head looks for the Star Performer on Monthly and
weekly basis. This helps to encourage individuals to go beyond their scope of
work.

Promotions are generally done on yearly basis but sometimes if the performance of
an executive is outstanding it can be done on quarterly basis.

Factors taken into consideration for APPRAISAL are as follows

• Sales Contribution.

• Personal skills.

• Honesty.

• Add on responsibilities.

Sales & Distribution strategies of Bharti Airtel Ltd.

A multi-regional marketing and sales team builds both direct and indirect sales channels.
Regional organizations are responsible for the definition of the sales & marketing
strategies, and plans for their respective territories. Each region also provides significant
inputs and reviews of the corporate strategic sales, marketing, and product direction.

In order to capitalize on the opportunities in each geographic region, Bharti Airtel has put
into place a network of on-the-ground, experienced and incentivised sales and marketing
personnel. The teams there build both direct customer relationships as well as indirect
channels (through handset manufacturer, Network Solutions Provider, etc.).

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Company uses second and third degree distribution network.

Second degree distribution network:

Company makes invoice of SIMs, PEFs, GSM Pay Phones, RCVs of various
denominations chiefly Rs.10, Rs 30 and Rs. 60 to only Urban Distributors and Rural
Super Distributors. Easy balance is also transferred to only Urban Distributors (UDs) and
Rural Supers (RS).
Urban distributors distribute the above items to retailers according to the demand and
transfer easy balance to retailer through FOS SIM. Therefore, this setup of distribution is
Second Degree and it is more suitable for catering to the need of urban areas.
Third degree distribution network:

RS distributes the above items to Rural Distributors commonly known as RDs and
transfers easy balance into Rural Distributors SIM. Rural Distributor then distribute the
above items among the retailer according to the demand of it and transfer easy balance to
retailer through FOS SIM from easy balance of Distributor SIM. This three level
distribution is used to reach to sub urban and rural areas.

Relative comparison and advantages of second and third degree

distribution network:

Second degree distribution is suitable for urban areas because the demand is higher,
there is high population density and that’s why quick availability of product and
services are required.
• As the UD gets items directly from the company so products, services and
promotion materials can be made available to retailers in shorter period of time.
• UD can generate secondary and consequently primary in shorter period of time.
• Three degree distribution is suitable for catering to rural areas because lesser
population density and large spread of geographical areas.

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 • Since in rural areas there is poor banking infrastructure and courier services hence
for availability of products and services, three degree distribution is more
appropriate.

Field officer sales (FOS):

FOS is manpower of UDs and RDs, who on behalf of them sell the SIM, RCVs, Easy
balance etc. to retailers under his assigned beat. These are only manpower of the
distributors who works in the market.

Roles and responsibility of FOS:

• FOS is responsible for the secondary sales under his assigned beat.
• FOS is responsible for collecting PEFs, money against billing by retailer and
distribution of promotion material among retailers in consultation with TM.
• Circulate communication from the company properly to Retailers regarding
schemes, new offers, incentives etc.
• FOS resolves the retailer complains through FOS help line.
• To escalate the unresolved claims and complains of retailers to distributor and
TM.

Urban Distributors:
These are known as UD and located at District HQ. It distributes the products, easy
balance, services and promotion material to retailer in designated urban areas of a district
and responsible for smooth attainment of target of SIM activation and recharge without
encroaching into other distributor’s territories. All retailers’ Lapu SIM falling under the
particular beat is mapped with corresponding FOS of that beat and FOS SIM is mapped
to the distributor (UD) SIM. Distributors use distributor SIM to transfer and distribute
Easy Balance to mapped FOS. FOS uses FOS SIM to transfer the easy balance to mapped
retailer’s Lapu SIM.UD gets certain percentage discount on their billing to company.
From which certain percentage discount they have to give on their secondary sales to the
retailer. Thus Urban distributor works with certain percentage margin on all its sales.
Each UD gets a distributor SIM, FOS SIM as many as per FOS and a 503 SIM or

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activation SIM. They have to make DD payments to company for primary only on
Monday and Thursday per week.

Roles and responsibility of Urban Distributors:

• Distribution of SIM, RCV, Easy Recharge, PEF, GSM Pay Phones, Lapu SIM,
FOS SIM, Replacement SIM according to the retailers and other requirement
within its territory only.
• Activate customer SIMs within its territory after proper checking of POI, POA
and error free PEF.
• Collect all PEFs and Re-documents from retailers and send it to respective Circle
Head Quarter.
• Distribution of promotional materials among the retailers according to the
allocation of TM/ZSM, received from company.
• Maintains distributor health report, secondary details regarding retailers and SIM
activation details. These reports have to be shared with TM.
• To make DD payments to company for primary on scheduled date only.
• To maintain required stock of RCVs and Easy Recharge for 10 days secondary.
Circulate communication from the company properly to retailers.
• Escalation of retailers’ claims and complains to TM/ZSM.

Rural Distributors:

These are known as RD and can be located at blocks and towns. For every 5000
population there has to be a rural distributor. It distributes the products, services and
promotion material in designated territory and responsible for smooth attainment of target
of SIM activation and recharge without encroaching into other distributor’s territories.
They get certain percentage discount from RS on their billing to Rural Super. They
cannot get invoice from company directly. From which certain percentage discount they
have to give on their secondary sales to the retailer. Thus rural distributor works with
certain percentage margin on all its sales. Each RD gets a distributor SIM, one FOS SIM
per FOS and a 503 SIM or activation SIM. They have to make payments to RS for
primary only on two schedule days per week.

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Roles and Responsibility of Rural Distributor:
• Distribution of SIM, RCV, Easy Recharge, PEF, GSM Pay Phones,
Replacement SIM etc. according to the Retailers requirement within its territory
only.
• Collect all PEFs and Re-documents from retailers and send it to respective RS.
• Distribution of promotional materials among the retailers according to the
allocation of TM/ZSM, received from company.
• Maintains distributor health report, secondary details regarding Retailers and
SIM activation details. These reports have to be shared with TM.
• To make DD payments to RDs for primary on scheduled date only.
To maintain required stock of RCVs and Easy Recharge for 7 days secondary.
• To collect money for invoices to Retailers and arrange the supply of items of the
invoices to Retailers.
• Circulate communication from the company properly to retailers.
Escalation of retailers’ claims and complains to TM/ZSM and Rural Super.

Retailers:
Retailers are mainly mobile handset shops, phone booths, mobile servicing and
repairing shops and other shops which are strategically located and from where
customer can purchase the products and services. Retailer gets 3% discount from
RDs/UDs on their billing to RDs/UDs. Thus retailer works with 3% margin on all
its sales. Selected retailer gets retailer SIM known as Lapu SIM mapped with a
distributor and a FOS.

Roles and responsibility of retailer:

1. Fill error free PEFs and verification of supporting copy for POI and POA of the
customer with originals and same for the Re-documents before activating the SIM.
2. Proper utilization and display of promotional materials.
3. Communicate customers properly about the schemes, new offers and benefits.
4. To sell the product and services to customer at right price.

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5. Serve the customers’ requirements with the available stocks of SIM, RCV and easy
balance etc. and not to create artificial shortage.
6. Should purchase RCVs, SIMs and Easy Balance from respective distributor only.

Field officer sales (FOS)

FOS is manpower of UDs and RDs, who on behalf of them sell the SIM, RCVs, Easy
balance etc. to retailers under his assigned beat. These are only manpower of the
distributors who works in the market.

Roles and responsibility of FOS:

• FOS is responsible for the secondary sales under his assigned beat.
• FOS is responsible for collecting PEFs, money against billing by retailer and
distribution of promotion material among retailers in consultation with TM.
• Circulate communication from the company properly to Retailers regarding
schemes, new offers, incentives etc.
• FOS resolves the retailer complains through FOS help line.
• To escalate the unresolved claims and complains of retailers to distributor and
TM.
• Company supports and monitoring of sales and distribution networks
Company has dedicated departments called as customer service division (CSD)
which helps in the following ways to resolve the retailer complains, helps FSO to
resolve the escalated retailer complaints and provides valuable supports to
territory managers and ZSM in monitoring the sales and distribution networks.
• It resolves the customer general complains.
• It provides help line to retailers and FOS.
• It also provides help line to territory managers and helps them to resolve escalated
retailer issues, FOS issues and other information required by TM. Communicates
all service related message to retailers, FOS, distributors, TM and ZSM.

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 CHANNEL STRUCTURE OF BHARTI AIRTEL

Bharti cellular brand Airtel was marketed through a distribution chain that started with
two authorized distributors which were branded as Airtel Points. These along with
franchisees for 19 one-stop cellular shops, called Airtel Connect, in turn appointed 300
dealers, who dealt directly with the subscribers.

Airtel has established and marketed its services in major Indian cities, district
headquarters and towns. The friendly-neighborhood paan walas are not only selling
candies and cigarettes, but also cellular connections. This enables Airtel to target mass-
market subscribers through FMCG retail outlets in the Capital. Airtel cards are now being
made available through innovative retail outlets like chemists, grocers, photo-studios,
departmental stores, telecom outlets, and of course, paan shops. The idea is that a person
should be able to walk across from his office or home to pick up a card.

AIRTEL follows a 3- tier channel structure.

• Direct Showrooms.( 0- entity)

• Full Service Outlet (FSO) also known as retail outlet (1-entity).

• Channel Sales Office.(2-entity)

CHANNEL STRUCTURE

AIRTEL

CHANNEL SALES
OFFICE
‘2’ ENTITY
DIRECT SHOWROOM FULL SERVICE OUTLET
‘0’ ENTITY ‘1’ ENTITY

PRIORITY DEALER NON- PRIORITY DEALER

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Direct Showrooms are meant for corporate and handling complaints of customers. FSO,
Full Service Outlet are made for the direct interest of the customer. Airtel has a large
number of customer base and they are getting large number of services under one roof,
including recharge coupons, new connections. The minimum franchisee amount to set up
a FSO is 15 – 20 lakhs.

Channel Sales Office is the Distributor of a particular zone. Generally two or three CSO
comes under one Territory Manager (TM).These Territory Manager is directly linked
with the Dealers. Dealers are of two types.

a) Priority Dealer.

b) Normal Dealer.

The Priority Dealer is the ones which provide the company the major sales
(connections). A big board in front of its office identifies the priority dealer.

SELECTION OF CHANNEL MEMBERS

According to AIRTEL the basis of selection of channel members is as follows.

• Those who already deal in same area.

• Those who have experience in the same field.

• Depending upon the locality, display quantity etc.

FINANCIAL TERMS

The channel members involved in the distribution chain enjoy around 2-3% on each new
connection that a franchise sells whereas the margins for an AIRTEL dealer are
around1% for the prepaid connections. The dealers and franchise are offered with various
incentives from time to time. AIRTEL follows Sales Target (unit target). Every
dealer/Franchise is assigned with a certain quota of cards/connections that is to be sold
according to the potential of a particular territory. AIRTEL assigns a Target of 100
connections per month to be sold by every executive individually.

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AIRTEL does not charge any security deposit from its dealers and provides them with the
Glow-sign, Billboards and other promotional matter from time to time. The franchises
also recruit a sales team which includes the field officers and other DSA (Direct Sales
Associates) who are solely responsible for the sales force involved in the sales structure.
They on there own decide the margins or incentives that are to be given to its sales team.

ACCOUNTING OF DAMAGED GOODS

The channel members are responsible for accounting of damaged SIMs. It is there
responsibility to provide the SIM’s in the right condition to the end customers

MARGINS ON VARIOUS RECHARGE CONNECTIONS

Postpaid Connections
The company gives a margin of Rs. 350 for every new postpaid connection to every
dealer and the franchise which is involved in the chain. The company checks whether is it
a key account or is it a Customer Sales Agency. Verification is done by the company to
check whether the subscriber is a genuine customer or not by verifying the address. The
intermediaries only get their margins when the customer pays their first payment to the
company

PREPAID CONNECTIONS
In case of prepaid connections the margins vary for each denomination of cards.
Following are the margins that the company shares with the channel members:

Recharge Coupons Margins/card

1. Rs. 100 Rs. 2
2. Rs. 324 Rs. 4
3. Rs. 360 Rs. 4
4. Rs. 540 Rs. 12
5. Rs. 1080 Rs. 25
6. Rs. 3240 Rs. 70

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ORDER CYCLE TIME

The order cycle time in case of Airtel depends upon the channel member who gives the
order. The order processing chain involves the dealer, Franchise, distributor and the
company. The dealer/Franchise places the order with the distributor who in turn provides
the order to the Company. The Territory Managers plays an important part in the order
processing as they keep a check on all the franchises /dealers involved in the distribution
chain and accordingly place an order to the distributor or the company. The usual
processing time is 24 to 48hrs.Generally AIRTEL (FSO) takes between ½ an hour to 1
hour for completing its order.

MINIMUM ORDER QUANTITY

a) For Individuals, company even deals with single order.

b) For corporate there are different schemes depending on various situation like.

• Company profile: - I) Is it a key account (directly handled by AIRTEL)

II) Is it a Customer Sales Agency.

Depending on above criteria following schemes is given. (VALUE ADDED

SERVICES)

a) No or low security deposit.

b) Free STD roaming.

c) Free ISD roaming.

d) Free calls among family members.

WAREHOUSE

AIRTEL directly owns its Warehouse. In Delhi, AIRTEL has its Warehouse at
Mahipalpur for storage of SIM cards (chip).

27
LOGISTICS

The Chips are manufactured in Hong Kong. Thereafter it is brought to India. Then the
Chips are shifted to the AIRTEL warehouse in Bombay. After allocating the amount of
goods (Chips) to be transferred, it is distributed to various warehouses of AIRTEL
located all over India.

SERVICE NETWORK

STRUCTURE

AIRTEL has a customer operation team which deals mainly with the customer
complaints. These customer complaints are related to issues like bill delivery, bill
discrepancy etc. These complaints are handled at various levels. These levels include

• Customer Care centers

• Full Service Outlet

• Dealers

• Helpline no

• E-mail (online Customer Service Forms)

SIZE

Each FSO (Full Service Office) has 7 to 8 CSEs (Customer Sales Executive) who cater to
the needs of all the customers coming to the office. The call centers at Okhla catering to
both the post paid and the prepaid segment subscribers have CSEs strength of 250. At
present there are 32 FSOs (Full Service Office).

28
COMPLAINT PROCEDURE

One can access the customer care call centre 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from
anywhere in India. AIRTEL has the system of generating Analysis Report to enlist a new
subscriber. A new application form is created with all his demographic details along with
the type of connection and the value plan opted for, by him. A comprehensive Document
Management system is there in place to look after all paper related problems for the
organization. Search in Document Management Solution could be carried out on the basis
of title, Account Id number etc. Therefore, a form could be searched for, on the basis of
any of the above criteria. To find out any information about a particular customer, they
have to search the Customer Folder to get the relevant information in a few seconds. In
this way Customers get quick response to their queries.

Earlier customer used to call Tele call center, but unfortunately sometimes customer used
to get blind solutions from customer care executives.

Therefore now, the complaints are directly handled by FSO (Full Service Office). At
present there are 32 FSO all over Delhi.

In case of Corporate Complaint, Sales Officer along with Zonal Officer directly handles
it.

Also AIRTEL has provided online Customer Service Forms for suggestions and queries
that the customer might have about its services and its products.

RESPONSE TIME

Normally it takes 6 hours to handle General Complaints and 72 hours to handle Typical
Complaints.

General complaints 4 hours

Typical complaints 36 hours

29
SALES STRUCTURE

From bottom to Top

• Sales Executive.

• Sales Officer.

• Territory Manager.

• Zonal Manager.

• Manager Post Paid Delhi.

• Post Paid Head.

Same is for the Pre Paid Department.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF SALES PERSON

The Sales personnel are responsible for the following:

• They need to achieve the set targets within the time provided. Normally a target
of 100 connections per month is set.

• Customer satisfaction should be the first priority for Sales personnel.

• He has to submit weekly report to his immediate Boss, regarding how much
targets have been achieved.

• Once in a week reporting is compulsory.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

AIRTEL strongly believe that 'softer skills' such as working in teams, inter-personal
skills, communication skills, creative thinking, entrepreneurial skills etc. are extremely
important to deliver error-free service to the customers. AIRTEL ensures that the
employees are 'at ease -at work' and have no constraints coming in their way of delivering

30
error-free service, be it to our external customers or internal All new employees undergo
a comprehensive induction programme. At the end of this, AIRTEL also takes a formal
feedback for continuous improvement. For employees joining in Customer Services, they
provide job training for two weeks ending with certification.

AIRTEL takes the following parameters for conducting appraisal for its employees.

a) Targets.

b) Behavior.

c) No of calls handled.

d) No of FTR’s First Time Resolution.

e) No of escalated calls.

In order to retain the high performers, fast track promotion has been introduced
Immediate Boss is responsible for the APPRAISAL. He then recommends names to
HR department.

31
 CHAPTER-3

Research methodology

• Objective of study
• Research type
• Limitation of Study

32
 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

This project has been wonderfully designed out such that the objectives of this clarified.
The objectives could be given as follows:-

• The major objective is to study the comparison of the telecom sector, has widely
provided the facts and figures in order to judge which one is best among
(AIRTEL AND RELIANCE).
• To understand effectiveness of sales and distribution system of Reliance
Infocomm and Bharti Airtel.
• To evaluate the customer need on the basis of market research by different
channels of sales and distribution of Reliance and Airtel
• To identify the Market share of RCOM & Bharti Airtel
• To find out the basic problems of retailers
• To find out the performance of Distributor
• To find out the basic problems of Channel of Distributon

METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY INTRODUCTION: -

Research Methodology refers to search of knowledge .one can also define research
methodology as a scientific and systematic search for required information on a
specific topic. The word research methodology comes from the word “advance
learner ‘s dictionary meaning of research as a careful investigation or inquiry
especially through research for new facts in my branch of knowledge for example
some author have define research methodology as systematized effort to gain new
knowledge. Methodology In the first phase we are trained and they teachof the
project starts with – After that they conduct a mock viva, in thisus different things

33
 about market. They provide they ask about the real life problem faced by the
customers. Then after that we have to provide details lead and after that we make
calls. Then we have to visit them and get the formed of product and convince them.
Maintaining dairy of clients and contacting them at regular filled from them. Get the
knowledge of technical as well as fundamental methods. Basis Observe the patterns
of the scripts.

Following are the various definitions of marketing research: -

1) According to Philip Kotler, it is a systematic design, collection, analysis, of data and
relevant to a specific marketing situation facing the company.
2) According to American Marketing Association, it is the function which links the
customer and the public to the marketer through information used to identify and define
marketing opportunities and the problems; generate, redefine action; monitor marketing
action; monitor marketing performance and improve understanding of marketing as a
process.
Marketing research process: -
Marketing research is the systematic design, collection, and analysis of data and findings
relevant to a specific marketing situation facing by the company.

Exploratory Research: -

Exploratory research is a type of research conducted because a problem has not been
clearly defined. Exploratory research helps determine the best research design, data
collection method and selection of subjects. Given its fundamental nature, exploratory
research often concludes that a perceived problem does not actually exist. Exploratory
research often relies on secondary research such as reviewing available literature
and/or data, or qualitative approaches such as informal discussions with consumers,
employees, management or competitors, and more formal approaches through in-
depth interviews, focus groups, projective methods, case studies or pilot studies. The
results of exploratory research are not usually useful for decision making by
themselves, but they can provide significant insight into a given situation. Although
the results of qualitative research can give some indication as to the "why", "how"
and "when" something occurs, it cannot tell us "how often" or "how many."

34
Exploratory research is not typically generalizable to the population at large.
Research is exploratory when you use no earlier model as a basis of your study. The
most usual reason for using this approach is that you have no other choice. Normally
you would like to take an earlier theory as a support, but there perhaps is none, or all
available models come from wrong contexts. Exploratory research means that hardly
anything is known about the matter at the outset of the project. You then have to
begin with a rather vague impression of what you should study, and it is also
impossible to make a detailed work plan in advance. Analysis in exploratory research
is essentially abstraction and generalization. Abstraction means that you translate the
empirical observations, measurements etc. into concepts; generalization means
arranging the material so that it disengages from single persons, occurrences etc. and
focuses on those structures (invariance’s) that are common to all or most of the cases.
It will seldom be possible to divide exploratory study into such clear phases as is
common in the case that the object has been studied earlier. According to Alasuutari
(1993 p.22), in qualitative analysis of empirical findings, you can distinguish two
phases but these two overlap: · simplification of observations · interpretation of
results (or "solving the enigma") In the simplification phase, the material is inspected
from the theoretical point of view of the study project, and only the points relevant
from this angle are noted. Details differing from one individual to another at random
are omitted or pushed aside so that the general lines of the data can be discerned more
easily. Simplification continues by finding the relationships between separate
observations or cases. Some tools for this work are comparison and classification.
The goal is to find the general rule or model that is valid in all or most of the
observations. This model can be, for example, development or evolution, causality, or
a conscious action to attain an outcome which is typical in normative research. -- In
any case the analysis starts from separate cases and aspires to create one or a few
general models. "Solving the enigma" does not always mean answering exactly those
questions that were asked at the outset of the project. Sometimes the most interesting
questions are found at the end of the research, when the researcher has become an
expert on the subject. It is often said that "data teach the researcher". The purpose of
descriptive exploratory research is to extract a structure from the source material
which in the best case can be formed as a rule that governs all the observations and is

35
 not known earlier (per the definition of exploratory study). Finding the unknown
structure may need some creative innovation, because even the most sophisticated
computerized analysis methods cannot automatically uncover which type of structure
is concealed in data. Usually you first have to formulate a tentative pattern for the
assumed structure in the observations and then you can ask the computer to estimate
how well the data corresponds to the model, cf. Tools for Analysis.

Type of Research: -

Descriptive research: -
Descriptive research is chosen for this project, because this project deals with, knowing
the customer preferences for the investment and knowing customer habits relating to
financial services provided by the consultant.
Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are used for the project, but more emphasis
on the qualitative approach. As we tried to know customers interested area of investment,
we can measure their motive.

Number of Customer Targeted:- Over 50 questionnaires were filled to make the study.

Research locations:- Location like Palwal, Faridabad, and other places were the area of
research in the South Delhi, other areas of research were Lajpat Nagar, Sukhdev Vihar
and in the North Delhi the information were mainly collected from Rohini, Pitampura,
Ashok Vihar and other areas. Information was also collected from Mayur Vihar and some
part of Noida.Some place in Gr.Noida also.

BUSINESS SECTOR CHOOSEN

The sector chosen for study is “TELECOM SERVICES” sector for the simple
reason that it offers exciting opportunities to have an insight into the extensive
distribution and sales network and study the functioning of the channel structure, the
hierarchy and the after-sales services procedure that is being followed therein.

36
ORGANIZATIONS IDENTIFIED

⚫ AIRTEL
⚫ RELIANCE INFOCOMM

LIMITATIONS:

• The Service Providers are hesitant to provide any details on the financial terms
and the margins, as they feel that they are highly confidential and if into wrong
hands may put them in some problem.
• Employees busy and hectic work schedule makes it tough for us to analyze the
sector taken into consideration.
• Dealer and wholesalers are more interested in the margins alone and are not very
motivated to tell about the Sales functioning and Structure they have.
• A time limitation was a big limitation in making the project in a desired way.
• Since we have taken a Small sample size, the probability of error may be high in
judging the performance of the Service Provider.

37
 CHAPTER-4

Data Collection & Analysis

38
 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION: -

In the project work Primary data secondary data (both) sources of data has been used.

PRIMARY SOURCES:

Primary sources are those sources which provide us the first-hand information, which is
reason why it is preferred to the secondary sources. The sources which we made use of
are: -

⚫ Company Personnel
⚫ Channel Members
⚫ End Customers

SECONDARY SOURCES:
Secondary sources provide data to all those who want, freely available at any time of the
year. The main sources are

⚫ Internet
⚫ Journals, Magazines & newspapers etc.

DATA COLLECTION TOOLS:

Personal Interviews with people in the organization from the Departments of Sales and
Marketing provided the much-needed in-depth knowledge regarding the Sales
Distribution and functioning of the structure. Questionnaires were designed for the
customers, which were more of close-ended in nature to get the desired information
regarding the service provider. Open-ended questionnaires were designed for the
company personnel, Dealers and the Franchise, for knowing the Sales and Distribution
structure along with complaint redressal procedure of the Service provider.

39
COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION OF END
CUSTOMER

Distribution of Respondents: - Social class wise : 20% of the

respondents were from Lower Middle Class and 60% were from the Upper Middle Class.
Lower Upper Class constituted 20% of the respondent

40
Gender wise: - 60% were the males while females constituted 40% of the end

Customers

Cellular Service Availed of:-

Out of the total respondents approximately (34%) owned only Reliance Infocomm and
(28%) owned only Airtel, and around (20%) availed of other services like Hutch, Idea,
Dolphin, etc. (which are not considered for the study). Around (18%) owned both
Reliance Infocomm

Distribution of Cellular service

Availed of
reliance
20%
34% airtel

18% reliance and

airtel
28% others

andAirtel

41
 Study & Analysis on Basis of Various Parameter

Customer Satisfaction:

Sr. No. Service Sample No. of Percentage

Provider Respondents

1 Reliance 20 10 50%

2 Airtel 30 21 70%

customer satisfaction

80% 70%
percentafe of
satisfaction

60% 50%
40% Series1
20%
0%
reliance airtel
players

Interpretation: - Around 70% of the respondents availing Airtel services said that
they were satisfied with their cellular service provider 50% of the respondents availing
Reliance Infocomm said that they satisfied with their cellular service.

42
Problem with cellular service Provider:

Sr. No. Service Sample No. of Percentage

Provider Respondents

1 Reliance 30 21 70%

2 Airtel 20 10 50%

problem with cellular service

provider
dissatisfaction

80% 70%
percetage of
customer

60% 50%
40% Series1
20%
0%
reliance airtel
players

Interpretation: - 70% of the Reliance Infocomm customers said that they faced
problems with cellular service more than once whereas 50% Airtel respondents said
that they faced problems.

43
If ever customer care has been Contacted: -

Sr. No. Service Provider No. of Respondents Percentage

1 Reliance 20 100%

2 Airtel 20 100%

if customer care has been

contacted
percentage of

150%
100% 100%
contact

100%
Series1
50%
0%
reliance airtel
players

Interpretation: - Almost 100% of the respondents of both the service providers

said that they have contacted the Customer Care at least once.

44
Frequency of Contact with of Customer Care

Sr. No. Opinion No. of Percentage

Respondents

1 Very Frequently 60 60%

2 Sometimes 35 35%

3 Rarely 5 5%

Interpretation: - In case of Reliance Infocomm 60% of the Respondents contacted

the customer care very frequently 45% contacted some times whereas 5% rarely
contacted.

45
Frequency of contact with customer care (Airtel)

Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Percentage

1 Very Frequently 40 40%
2 Frequently 60 60%

Interpretation: - In case of Airtel 40% of respondent’s contacted customer care very

frequently while 60% respondents contact customer care sometimes.

46
Frequency of contact with customer care (Players)

Frequency Reliance Airtel

Very Frequently 60% 60%
Frequently 45% 45%
Rarely 5% 5%

frequency of contact with

customer care
percentage of contact

70% 60% 60%

60%
50% 45%
40%
40% reliance
30% airtel
20%
10% 5%
0%
very frequently rarely
frequently
players

Interpretation: - In case of Reliance 60% respondents contact customer care very

frequently, 45% respondents contact customer care frequently while 5% contact rarely.

In case of Airtel 40% respondents contact customer care very frequently, 60%
respondents contact customer care frequently while 5% respondents contact rarely.

47
 If the customers are satisfied with the way the complaints are being
handled (Reliance)

Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Percentage

1 Satisfied 40 40%

2 Not Satisfied 60 60%

48
 Customer satisfaction (Airtel)

satisfied not satisfied

, not satisfied
satisfied,
60% 40%
%

customer
satisfaction(complaints)
percentage of

80%
satisfaction

60%
60% 40%
40% Series1
20%
0%
reliance airtel
players

Interpretation: - 40% of respondents said that they were satisfied with the way
Reliance Infocomm was handling the complaints whereas 60% said they were not
satisfied.

60% of the Respondents said that they were happy with the way Airtel handled their
complaints while 40% were not satisfied

49
Awareness of the persons handling calls and complaints about the
product and process of the company

Sr. No. Players Respondents Percentage

1 Reliance 40 40%

2 Airtel 65 65%S

awareness of customer care

executives
percentage of

80% 65%
awareness

60% 40%
40% Series1
20%
0%
reliance airtel
players

Interpretation: - In case of Reliance Infocomm only 40% of the respondents said that
the customer care executive was aware of the product and processes of the company
while 65% of Airtel respondents said the same.

50
Are customers are happy with response time of service providers?

Sr. No. Players Opinion Response

1 Airtel Happy 90%

2 Reliance Not Happy 10%

RESPONSE TIME GRAPH

Interpretation: - Almost 90% of all the respondents for both the players said that
they were happy with the response time and 10% were not happy with the response
time.When questioned what should the ‘Ideal time’ for attending complaint should be
responses varied from 30 min to maximum of 1 day and the average time worked out to
be 4-5 hours

51
If the intermediaries (dealers, agents) involved in the channel offer
proper and sufficient service.

Sr. No. Service Providers Respondents Percentage

1 Reliance 70 70%

2 Airtel 80 80%

services of intermediaries

85%
percentage of

80%
satisfaction

80%
75% Series1
70%
70%
65%
reliance airtel
players

Interpretation: - In case of Reliance Infocomm 75% of the respondents said that the
intermediaries involved offer proper and sufficient services while 80% of Airtel said the
same

52
Research was carried on the following parameters and the players were
ranked as follows were 4 was rated as excellent 3 as good 2 as poor and
1 as very poor.

Players Reliance Airtel

Connectivity 2 3

Network 2 3

Tariffs Plans 3 3

Complaint redressal 2 3

comparative graph

3.5 3 3 3 3 3
3
2.5 2 2 2
ratings

2 reliance
1.5 airtel
1
0.5
0
connectivity

complaint
network

redressal
tariff plans

parameters

Interpretation: - In case of reliance connectivity rating is 2, Network rating is 2,

Tariff plans rating is 3 and complaint redressal rating is 2.

While in case of Airtel Connectivity rating is 3, Network rating is 3, Tariff rating is 3 and
Complaint redressal rating is also 3.

53
Airtel service that attract you the most

Sr. No. Services Respondents Percentage

1 Airtel Prepaid 40 40%
2 Airtel Landline 23 23%
3 Airtel Broadband 18 18%
4 Airtel Live 19 19%

INTERPRETATION

In this we found that 40% people like the Airtel Prepaid service
19% people like Airtel Live
18% like Airtel Broadband services and
23% prefers the Airtel Landline services

54
Airtel has been adopted by different category of people

Sr. No. Categories Respondents Percentage

1 Student 56 56%
2 Shopkeeper 36 36%
3 Farmer 40 40%
4 Housewife 38 38%
5 Other 30 30%

Interpretation: - Airtel is adopted by 56 Students, 36 Shopkeepers, 40 Farmers, 38

Housewives and 30 others.

55
Customer take immediate benefit scheme offered by Airtel.

Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Percentage

1 Yes 79 79%
2 No 16 16%
3 Can’t Say 5 5%

Interpretation: - In case of immediate benefit scheme offered by Airtel 79% students

says Yes they take benefit of schemes immediately, 16% students says that they don’t
take Airtel benefit services immediately while 5% students responds that they can’t say.

56
Which are the most important for you? (Reliance)

Sr. No. Services Respondents Percentage

1 Coverage 39 39%
2 Local Call Plan 24 24%
3 Roaming Plan 8 8%
4 All 29 29%

Interpretation : - Different customer have different opinions so 39% respondents

says Coverage is important for us, 24% says Local plans are important for us while 8%
gives more importance to Roaming plans and 29% respondents gives importance to all.

57
Which celebrity you like most in Airtel advertisement?

Sr. No Celebrity Respondents Percentage

1 Shahrukh 34 34%
2 Sahin 29 29%
3 A.R Rahman 17 17%
4 R. Madhvan 13 13%
5 Vidya 7 7%

Interpretation: - In Airtel Advertising 34% respondents like Shahrukh, 29%

respondents likes Sachin Tendulkar, 17% respondents like the advertising of airtel by
A.R.Rahman, 13% like the advertising of Airtel by R.Madhvan and 7% like the
advertising of Airtel by Vidya Balan.

58
Customer satisfaction level regarding Reliance services-

Sr. No. Satisfaction level Respondents Percentage

1 Full satisfy 59 59%
2 Partial satisfy 10 10%
3 Partial dissatisfy 9 9%
4 dissatisfy 22 22%

Interpretation: - In case customer satisfaction level 59% customers are fully satisfy
10% customers are partially satisfy
While 9% customers are partially dissatisfied
And 22% customers are dissatisfy with the Reliance services.

59
Which means of advertisement do you more attracts?

Sr. No. Advertisements Respondents Percentage

P Multimedia 35 35%
2 Print Media 22 22%
3 Hoardings 16 16%
4 Announcement 13 13%
5 Canopy 8 8%
6 Other 6 6%

Interpretation: - In case advertising attraction 35% respondents gives more

importance to Multimedia means of advertising, 22% respondents gives more importance
to Print media, 16% respondents gives more importance to Hoardings, 13% respondents
gives more importance to canopy while 6% respondents gives more importance to others
means of advertising.

60
Which plan of Airtel attracts you more?

Sr. No. Plans Respondents Percentage

1 STD Pack 15 15%
2 Local call rate 35 35%
3 Roaming plan 10 10%
4 SMS Pack 20 20%
5 Night calling pack 20 20%

Interpretation : - Out of hundred respondents 15 respondents says STD pack is good

and we use it, 35 respondents chooses local call rate plan,10 respondents chooses more
roaming plan because they mobile from one area to another area in roaming, 20%
customers chooses SMS pack plan to send sms at very low rate, and 20% chooses Night
calling pack.

61
Rating of Airtel in terms of network

Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Rating

1 V.Good 30 3
2 Good 20 2
3 Neutral 30 5
4 Bad 10 4
5 V.Bad 10 1

Interpretation: - Out of hundred respondents gives the rating of Airtel in terms of

Network as follows: -
30 respondents give rating to V.Good is 3
Good to 2,
Neutral to 5,
Bad to 4 and V.Bad to 1

62
RATING OF RELIANCE IN TYERMS OF NETWORK

Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Rating

1 V.Good 30 2
2 Good 20 4
3 Neutral 30 3
4 Bad 10 1
5 V.Bad 10 0

Interpretation: - Out of hundred respondents gives the rating of Airtel in terms of

Network as follows: -
30 respondents give rating to V.Good is 2
Good to 4,
Neutral to 3,
Bad to 1 and V.Bad to 0

63
RATING OF AIRTEL IN TERMS OF AFTER SALE SERVICES

Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Rating %age

1 Excellent 8 8%
2 Good 17 17%
3 Neutral 33 33%
4 Bad 25 25%
5 V.Bad 17 175

Interpretation: - In terms of after sale service, 8% respondents says that after sale
service if Airtel is Excellent, 17% says that after sale service if Airtel is Good, 33% says
that it is Neutral, 255 says that that after sale service of Airtel is Bad and 17%
respondents says that the after sale service if Airtel is Very Bad.

64
Why you don’t want to sell Airtel recharge vouchers?
a) Profit margin
b) Service
c) Demand
d) Other

Sr. No. Retailers want Respondents Percentage

• 1 • Profit • 10 • 10%
margin
• 2 • Service • 20 • 20%
• 3 • Deman • 30 • 30%
d
• 4 • Other • 40 • 40%

Interpretation: - most of shopkeeper do not want to keep recharge vouchers because

of profit margin they get only 2.5% margin.

65
Is Post paid connection scheme is better than Prepaid Scheme?

Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Percentage

• 1 • Yes • 33 • 33%
• 2 • No • 67 • 67%

Postpaid Connection Scheme

Interpretation : - In case of Postpaid connection scheme 33% respondents says that

Postpaid connection scheme is better than Prepaid connection scheme while 67%
respondents says that Postpaid connection scheme is not better than the Prepaid
connection scheme.

66
Do you keep Airtel Recharge vouchers?

Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Percentage

• 1 • Yes • 60 • 60%
• 2 • No • 40 • 40%

Interpretation: - In this case 60% retailers keep Airtel Recharge Vouchers and 40%
retailers do not keep Airtel Recharge Vouchers because some retailers deals in only some
specific recharge vouchers such as Vodafone, Idea etc.

67
Do you provide appraisal to your sales person?

Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Percentage

• 1 • Yes • 69 • 69%
• 2 • No • 31 • 31%

Interpretation: - In case of proving appraisal to sales persons, 69% distributors

provides appraisal to the sales persons to enhance their capability and to grow their sales
volumes, while 31% distributors do not provide appraisal to the sales persons, because
they don’t focus on the market situations and do not want to spend more on sales persons.

68
Which brand do you recommend to the customer and why?

Sr. No. Brands Respondents Percentage

• 1 • Airtel • 69 • 50%
• 2 • Relianc • 31 • 33%
e
• 3 • Others • 17 • 17%

Interpretation: - In case of different brands recommended to customers by the

distributors, recommend 50% for the Airtel, 33% recommend for the Reliance and 17%
recommend for the others, because Airtel provides better services as compared to others
at the economic and beneficial schemes

69
Do you get any credit period from the company?

Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Percentage

• 1 • Yes • 23 • 23%
• 2 • No • 77 • 77%

Interpretation: - 23% distributors responds that yes they get credit from the company
and 77% distributors responds that they do not get any credit facility from the company.
Only the big distributors get credit facility from the company. Distributors say that when
a company launches new schemes then to increase their sale they provide credit facility to
the distributors for a specific time period.

70
How will you rate the efficiency of your sales persons?
Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Rating

• 1 • Very • 15 • 5
Good
• 2 • Good • 12 • 4
• 3 • Satidfacto • 8 • 3
ry
• 4 • Poor • 3 • 2
• 5 • Very • 2 • 1
Poor

Interpretation: - Out of 40 Distributors responds as, 15 distributors gives 5 rating to

their sales persons efficiency and says their performance is very good, 12 distributors
gives rating 4 to their sales persons efficiency, 8 distributors gives rating 3 to their sales
persons efficiency, 3 distributors gives rating 2 to their sales persons efficiency and 2
distributors gives rating 1 to their sales persons efficiency and says about their
performance is very poor.

71
Does Company provide you with any assistance by means of
Promotional activities?

Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Percentage

• 1 • Yes • 75 • 75%
• 2 • No • 25 • 25%

Interpretation: - In case of promotion activities provided by the company to the

distributors, 75% distributors says that yes company provide us the assistance of
promotional activities and 25% distributors says that no company provide us any
assistance of promotional activities in the form of sales campaigns, contests, exhibitions,
gifts and coupons etc.

72
Where would you rank the services/assistance provided to you by the
Companies?
Sr. No. Opinion Respondents Rating
• 1 • Very • 25 • 25%
Good
• 2 • Good • 30 • 4
• 3 • Satidfact • 20 • 3
ory
• 4 • Poor • 15 • 2
• 5 • Very • 10 • 1
Poor

Interpretation: - Service/Assistance provided by the companies to the disributors is

in order, 25% distributors gives rank 3 to the very good services which is provided by the
company, 30% distributors gives rank 4 to the services, 20% gives rank 2, 15% gives
rank 1 and 10% distributors gives rank 0 to the companies servies which are of very poor
nature.

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 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

RELIANCE INFOCOMM AIRTEL

YEAR OF 2002 1995

ESTABLISHMENT
MARKET SHARE Reliance has a market share of Airtel has a Market
21.7% with 7.56 million as its share of 19.4% with
consumer base. 6.76 million as its
consumer base.
AREA OF Reliance Infocomm operates in only Airtel operates in 15
OPERATION 7 circles and covers 35% of circle covering 56% of
landmass landmass.

CHANNEL Reliance Infocomm follows two-tier Airtel follows a three

STRUCTURE channel structure. tier channel structure.

ORDER CYCLE Reliance infocomm takes 24-72 hrs Airtel takes

for completing it order which goes between ½ hrs – 1hrs
up to 6-7 days in case of corporate to complete its order.
order
COMPLAINTS Corporate complaints are directly The Corporate
handled by company from Delhi / Complaints are
Mumbai while in case of individual handled by Sale
complaints; they are handled by call officer or Zonal
centers or directly by Web World. officer while
Individual Complaints
are handled by Call
centers or Full Service
Outlet.

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SALES Reliance Infocomm usually follows Airtel follows Sales
TARGETS Combination Targets i.e. Sales and Target
Channel Sales (unit target).Every
Target.Usually100connections per dealer/Franchise is
month is the target to be achieved by assigned with a certain
individual sales personnel. quota of
cards/connections that
is to be sold according
to the potential of a
particular territory.
AIRTEL assigns a
Target of 100
connections per month
to be sold by every
executive
individually.
PERFORMANCE Reliance Infocomm takes the AIRTEL takes the
APRAISAL following parameters into following parameters
consideration for Appraisal for conducting
• Track Record appraisal for its
• Star Performer employees.
Promotions are generally done on f) Targets.
yearly basis but sometimes if the g) No of calls
performance of an executive is handled.
outstanding it can be done on h) No of FTR’s
quarterly basis. First Time
Resolution.
i) No of
escalated calls.

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 SIMILARITIES

SELECTION OF Those who already deal in Those who already deal in

CHANNEL MEMBERS same area and have same area and have experience
experience in the same field in the same field depending
depending upon the locality, upon the locality, display
display quantity etc. quantity etc.

MINIMUM ORDER It does not take minimum For Individuals, company

QUANTITY order quantity in to even deals with single order.
consideration but also deals For corporate there are
in single order. If a different schemes
customer orders for more
than 50 connections, certain
privileges like reducing
“entry cost” are given to
customer.

WAREHOUSING It has its own Ware house. It directly owns its Warehouse
In addition to this the
Channel partners have there
own Ware house

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 CHAPTER-5

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

77
 SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT analysis is a basic, straightforward model that provides direction and serves as a
basis for the development of marketing plans. It accomplishes this by assessing an
organizations strengths (what an organization can do) and weaknesses (what an
organization cannot do) in addition to opportunities (potential favorable conditions for an
organization) and threats (potential unfavorable conditions for an organization). SWOT
analysis is an important step in planning and its value is often underestimated despite the
simplicity in creation. The role of SWOT analysis is to take the information from the
environmental analysis and separate it into internal issues (strengths and weaknesses) and
external issues (opportunities and threats). Once this is completed, SWOT analysis
determines if the information indicates something that will assist the firm in
accomplishing its objectives (a strength or opportunity),
SWOT analysis is a general technique which can be applied across diverse functions and
activities, but it is particularly appropriate to the early stages of planning for a TIPD visit.
Performing SWOT analysis involves generating and recording the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats relating to a given task. It is customary for the analysis to take
account of internal resources and capabilities (strengths and weaknesses) and factors
external to the organization (opportunities and threats).

SWOT analysis can provide:

A framework for identifying and analyzing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and

threats.
This checklist is for those carrying out, or participating in, SWOT analysis. It is a simple,
popular technique which can be used in preparing or amending plans, in problem solving
and decision making.
Illustrative diagram of SWOT analysis If SWOT analysis does not start with defining a
desired end state or objective, it runs the risk of being useless. A SWOT analysis may be
incorporated into the strategic planning model. An example of a strategic planning
technique that incorporates an objective-driven SWOT analysis is SCAN analysis.

78
Strategic Planning, including SWOT and SCAN analysis, has been the subject of much
research.
Strengths: attributes of the organization those are helpful to achieving the objective.
Weaknesses: attributes of the organization those are harmful to achieving the objective.
Opportunities: external conditions those are helpful to achieving the objective. Threats:
external conditions that is harmful to achieving the objective.
SWOT analysis can be used for all sorts of decision-making, and the SWOT template
enables proactive thinking, rather than relying on habitual or instinctive reactions.
The SWOT analysis template is normally presented as a grid, comprising four sections,
one for each of the SWOT headings: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
The free SWOT template below includes sample questions, whose answers are inserted
into the relevant section of the SWOT grid. The questions are examples, or discussion
points, and obviously can be altered depending on the subject of the SWOT analysis.

Note that many of the SWOT questions are also talking points for other headings - use
them as you find most helpful, and make up your own to suit the issue being analyzed. It
is important to clearly identify the subject of a SWOT analysis, because a SWOT analysis
is a perspective of one thing, be it a company, a product, a proposition, and idea, a
method, or option, etc.
Here are some examples of what a SWOT analysis can be used to assess:
a company (its position in the market, commercial viability, etc)
a method of sales distribution

• a product or brand
• a business idea
• a strategic option, such as entering a new market or launching a new product
• a opportunity to make an acquisition
• a potential partnership
• changing a supplier
• outsourcing a service, activity or resource
• an investment opportunity

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Retailers Finding
Services provided by Retailers: -
All the retailers are dealing in all services i.e. providing Recharge Voucher, SIM, and Tariff
Voucher of all the cellular service companies present in Jharkhand zone. Also most of them
provide only pre-paid connection.
Satisfaction: -
Most of the retailers i.e. around 74% of respondents are satisfied with RCOMM brand, 10%
of them push RCOMM brand to the customer and rest 16% retailers are not satisfied with
RCOMM brand due to claim pending and the distributor. The retailers don’t get schemes
communicated in time by distributor and distributor does not provide RCV & e-Top properly.
Problems:-
Around 15% of the respondents that there is network problem with RCOMM, on the other
hand they found its competitors viz. Airtel, BSNL, TATA indicom network connectivity of
very good to good level.
Around 16% retailers which are under puja enterprises distributor projected problem
with distributors. They don’t get schemes communicated in time by distributor and
distributor does not provide RCV & e-Top.
Support from company: -
Most of the retailers ensnared that they are supported by the companies’ personnel
& companies’ helpline.
All companies provide POP at right time and in adequate number.

Claim process:-
In case of RCOMM process is be claimed very belatedly i.e. almost 77% of the cases take
60-90 days, where as in case of Airtel most of the i.e. 88% is being finalized in time limit 0-
30 days.
The claim process services of other competitors viz. AirCel, Smart, & Tata
Indicom are almost at par with the IDEA cellular ltd

80
 CHAPTER – 6

CONCLUSION &
SUGGESTIONS.

81
 CONCLUSION

Airtel and Reliance Infocomm are the two big stalwarts of the Indian Telecom sector.
Airtel was setup in 1995 from then it has been able to capture 19.4% market share with
6.76 million as its consumer base on the other hand Reliance Infocomm, set up in
December 2005, has been able to capture 21.7% market share with 7.56 million as its
consumer base in such a short period of time, overtaking Airtel to emerge as the Market
leader.

After going through the above comparative Analysis we came to the conclusion that the
respondents rated the complaint redressal procedure of Airtel as good where as that of
Reliance Infocomm as poor. Airtel was considered better service provider in all the three
major sector i.e. Service, Distribution, Structure as compared to Reliance Infocomm.

Therefore we can say that Airtel is perceived as a better service provider when compared
with Reliance Infocomm.

RECOMMENDATIONS

After the detailed study of sales and distribution of RELIANCE INFOCOMM, it has
noticed that there are certain changes which Reliance needs to incorporate. The areas
which can be improved upon include Connectivity, Response time, Billing Procedure.

Airtel needs to improve upon its Billing Procedure.

Also Both the Players should take the initiative to make customers aware of all the
existing schemes, tariff plans and services provided by them.

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On the basis of extensive study and research, here are some recommendation and
suggestion which may help the company to market the product and service more
profitability and increase its share in the Telecom market.
1. PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES
The company expand the budget allocation for promotional campaign in center Bihar &
Jharkhand. It has affected the sale service brand image of Reliance especially in
Jharkhand. Low supports in promotion have lead to fluctuation in sale
There may be some useful tools which can be summed as follows:-
(1)Advertising – advertising should have a clear objective and message, which has
not been found in recent ads. Reliance is a faster growing provider service in each state
.every offers and schemes they should show with proper message for benefit to the
customer. In busy life customer do not remembered any offers and which service we can
provided for the customer therefore they should by force showing advertisement in
growing market and among customer .customers wants continuously exposure in Cable
and Local newspapers.
(2)Persuasive Advertising:-
Now there is a need of persuasive advertising for Reliance service which can be moved
into the category of “comparative advertising”. It will help the company to establish the
superiority of its brand service through specific comparison of one or more attributes and
features.
3)Technical Expertise:-
The advertisement should show the companies expertise, experience and
pride in market the product service sale.
Media
A combination of print ads and TV commercial do a better job. Local ads
and publicity should be giving more stress. Hoardings, banners, wall painting should be
promoted, as some expenses are also beard by dealers. Ads on Cable network result
greater audience attention. Schemes, gift offers etc. must be highlighted through Radio
and Local newspapers.

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2. SALES PROMOTION
• Cash discount
• Premiums
• Appointment of sale promoter
• Financial schemes

3. OCCASIONAL DISCOUNT
The company may go for occasional discount offers or price off from time to time
specially during any festival. Off season discount may also prove helpful to check
fluctuating sales.

4. PRODUCT QUALITY AND TECHNICAL FEATURES

As for as some hand set mobile product quality is concerned, there is an urgent need of
technical up gradation of Reliance mobile product line. It would be beneficial for
company to launch some colors mobile hand set with the some added feature and
minimum price.

84
APPENDIX
a) Questionnaire
b) Bibliography

85
 QUESTIONNAIRE

ACCORDING CUSTOMER POINT OF VIEW

1) Which telecom sector you will choose among?

[ ] AIRTEL [ ] RELIANCE .

2) Are you happy and satisfied with your telecom sector services?

[ ] YES [ ] NO

3) Do you agree that maximum percentage of crowd prefer Airtel than Reliance?

[ ] YES [ ] NO

4) Does Airtel and Reliance solve the problem immediately?

[ ] YES [ ] NO

5) Does this service is cost benefited?

[ ] YES [ ] NO

6) Is these services are for along time period?

[ ] YES [ ] NO

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7) Are these services be availed to any age group and any class of customer?

[ ] YES [ ] NO

8) Which have fast connectivity among?

[ ] AIRTEL [ ] RELIANCE

9) Why you choose Airtel or Reliance?

REPLY:-

10) Which gives you better services while you are on roaming ?

[ ] AIRTEL [ ] RELIANCE .

11) How do you rate these connections in terms of Network ?

V.Good Good Neutral Bad V.Bad

Reliance 1 2 3 4 5
Airtel 1 2 3 4 5

12)How do you rate these connection in terms of availability ?

V.Good Good Neutral Bad V.Bad

Reliance 1 2 3 4 5
Airtel 1 2 3 4 5

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13) How do you rate these connection in terms of call rate?

V.Good Good Neutral Bad V.Bad

Reliance 1 2 3 4 5
Airtel 1 2 3 4 5

14) How do you rate their After Sales Services?

V.Good Good Neutral Bad V.Bad

Reliance 1 2 3 4 5
Airtel 1 2 3 4 5

15) What do you think about employee’s behavior ?

V.Good Good Neutral Bad V.Bad

Reliance 1 2 3 4 5
Airtel 1 2 3 4 5

16) How do you rate these connection in terms of customer care services?

V.Good Good Neutral Bad V.Bad

Reliance 1 2 3 4 5
Airtel 1 2 3 4 5

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 ACCORDING TO DISTRIBUTER POINT OF VIEW

[1] Which company gives you quick response?

[AIRTEL] [RELIANCE]

[2] Which company gives you more profit?

[AIRTEL] [RELIANCE]

[3] Which company has less documentation?

[AIRTEL] [RELIANCE]

[4] Which company have better distribution channel?

[AIRTEL] [RELIANCE]

[5] Which company have better sale and why?

[AIRTEL] [RELIANCE]

REPLY

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[6] Which company’s services are better for you and why?

[AIRTEL] [RELIANCE]

REPLY

[7] What are the different brands which you keep in stock?

[8] Which brand is most asked by the customers?

[AIRTEL] [RELIANCE] Other’s ……………………………..

[9] Which brand do you recommend to the customer and why?

[AIRTEL] [RELIANCE]

[10] Do you get any credit period from the company?

[YES] [NO]

[11] If Yes, What is the credit period you get?

[1] Upto 15 days [2] 15-30 days [3] >30 days

[12] What is the average order cycle time taken by the company?

[1] < 5 days [2] 5-10 days [3] > 10 days

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[13] Where would you rank the services/assistance provided to you by the Companies?

[ ] Very Good [ ] Good [ ] Satisfactory

[ ] Poor [ ] Very poor

[14] How will you rate the efficiency of your sales persons?

[ ] Very Good [ ] Good [ ] Satisfactory

[ ] Poor [ ] Very poor

[15] Does company provides you with any assistance by means of Promotional activities?

[ ] YES [ ] NO

[16] Do you provide appraisals to your sales persons?

[ ] YES [ ] NO

If Yes, on what Parameters?

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEBSITES

• www.bhartiairtel.in
• www.relianceinfo.com
• www.Indiainfoline.com
• www.domainb.com
• www.businessonline.com

BOOKS

❖ Kothari, C.R., Research Methodology, Second Edition, New Delhi, New

Age International (p) Ltd Publishers, 2006.

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