Pooja New Final Report

PREFACE

AKNOLEDGEMENT I would like to acknowledge and extend my gratitude to the following persons who have made the completion of this project possible: First of all I would like to thank our Project Coordinator Mr. Pranav Saraswat for her great help. As he is being my Project Coordinator he provided me very necessary and important guidance and support until the submission of my project. Secondly, I would like thank Ms. Deepti Bhargav HOD of Srinathji Institute of Management, to provide us such a very exiting opportunity and for their good help to provide a better coordination and control among all the activities related to completion of the project. Again I would like to thank all the members of our Placement Cell to help me and other students to get placed in good and reputed company for this Project. I also thank all my Seniors and Friends to give me proper guidance and support for preparing the Project. Lastly, I would like to be very thankful to the whole Family of SIM for their Continuous effort in making the whole Project Activity very much learning and Interesting.

OBJECTIVES

To study the evaluation of cell phones with particular reference to India. To ascertain the attributer which influenced the customer’s in selecting a particular cell phone services provider. To study the consumer’s satisfaction towards different cell phone service providers in Coimbatore city. To assess the problems faced by the cell phone users in Coimbatore city. To offer valuable suggestions to improve the services of cell phones in Coimbatore city.

Need of the study:

Exchange of information becomes the necessity of life to a common man. In the modern world an individual tends to communicate anything to everything right from the place where he/she stands. Even while riding vehicle he / she wants communicate within a fraction of second at quick speed with clear voice, without any disturbance. Like line crossing, out of order, etc. most of which lack in the connection given by the department of tele-communication. Cell phones emerges as a boon quench such a thirst, the by providing facilities, which a common man cannot imagine. Though cell phone industry has its origin in the recent past and the growth has been excellent. Day by day many new competitors enter the market with new attractive schemes, provide additional facilities, add new features to existing ones, reduce the charges her incoming and outgoing calls, introduce varieties of handsets, models a healthy competition that benefits the subscribers. Hence in this context, it is important to study the functioning of cellular phone services and the utilization of their services by the telephones.

INTRODUCTION

Indian Telecom industry is one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. In telecom industry, service providers are the main drivers; whereas equipment manufacturers are witnessing growth and decline in successive quarters as sales is dependent on order undertaken by the companies. Airtel, Reliance, Tata and Sterlite are some of the companies that are expected to spur the growth in AMJ08, as compared to AMJ07. According to Cygnus estimates, telecom industry is expected to grow by 25% in AMJ08 as compared to AMJ07, in terms of sales. EBDITA and PAT are expected to grow by 32% and 34% respectively in AMJ08 as cost expenses are being control by major companies like Airtel and Reliance. The major booster is the wireless mobile subscriber base; crossing over 261m in March 2008. Other services like Internet subscriber base has also provided significant impetus with its subscriber base reaching over 11m in March 2008.

Successful businesses have extensive knowledge about their customers and competitors. Getting accurate and specific information about your customers and competitors is a critical first step in market investigation and development of a marketing plan. Accurate market assessment and development of an effective plan is critical to the success of both new and existing businesses. The market impacts and directs all aspects of the company's activities and ultimately will lead to success or failure of the business. In developing a market plan, your primary functions are to understand the needs and desires of your customer select or develop a product or service that will meet customer needs, develop promotional material that will make the customer aware, and ensure product or service delivery

The Indian telecommunications has been zooming up the growth curve at a feverish pace, emerging as one of the key sectors responsible for India's resurgent economic growth. India has surpassed US to become the second largest wireless network in the world with a subscriber base of over 300 million in April, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). This report analyses the changing features, opportunities and challenges facing the basic and mobile telecom services business. It covers the regulatory environment, markets, new services and revenue sources, tariff structures, economics of the industry, investment and technology issues, and the current and emerging competitive environment Indian Telecom industry is one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. In telecom industry, service providers are the main drivers; whereas equipment manufacturers are witnessing growth and decline in successive quarters as sales is dependent on order undertaken by the companies. Airtel, Reliance, Tata and Sterlite are some of the companies that are expected to spur the growth in AMJ08, as compared to AMJ07. According to Cygnus estimates, telecom industry is expected to grow by 25% in AMJ08 as compared to AMJ07, in terms of sales. EBDITA and PAT are expected to grow by 32% and 34% respectively in AMJ08 as cost expenses are being control by major companies like Airtel and Reliance. The major booster is the wireless mobile subscriber base; crossing over 261m in March 2008. Other services like Internet subscriber base has also provided significant impetus with its subscriber base reaching over 11m in March 2008.

BRIEF HISTORY

History of Indian Telecommunications started in 1851 when the first operational land lines were laid by the government near Calcutta (seat of British power). Telephone services were introduced in India in 1881. In 1883 telephone services were merged with the postal system. Indian Radio Telegraph Company (IRT) was formed in 1923. After independence in 1947, all the foreign telecommunication companies were nationalized to form the Posts, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT), a monopoly run by the government's Ministry of Communications. Telecom sector was considered as a strategic service and the government considered it best to bring under state's control.

The first wind of reforms in telecommunications sector began to flow in 1980s when the private sector was allowed in telecommunications equipment manufacturing. In 1985, Department of Telecommunications (DOT) was established. It was an exclusive provider of domestic and long-distance service that would be its own regulator (separate from the postal system). In 1986, two wholly government-owned companies were created: the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) for international telecommunications and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) for service in metropolitan areas. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), to serve Delhi and Bombay, and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), to operate international telecom services.

In 1990s, telecommunications sector benefited from the general opening up of the economy. Also, examples of telecom revolution in many other countries, which resulted in better quality of service and lower tariffs, led Indian policy makers to initiate a change process finally resulting in opening up of telecom services sector for the private sector. National Telecom Policy (NTP) 1994 was the first attempt to give a comprehensive roadmap for the Indian telecommunications sector. Under the government’s new policy, India was divided into 20 circles roughly corresponding to state boundaries, each of which would contain two fixed operators (including the incumbent), and two mobile operators. As ground-breaking as NTP-94 was, its implementation was unfortunately marred by regulatory uncertainty and over-bidding. A number of operators were unable to live up to their profligate bids and, confronted with far less lucrative networks than they had supposed, pulled out of the country. As a result, competition in India’s telecom sector did not really become a reality until 1999. In 1997, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was created. TRAI was formed to act as a regulator to facilitate the growth of the telecom sector. New National Telecom Policy was adopted in 1999 and cellular services were also launched in the same year.

. At that time the government’s New Telecommunications Policy (NTP-99) Switched from a fixed fee license to a revenue sharing regime of approximately 15%. This figure has subsequently been lowered (to 10%-12%), and is expected to be reduced even further over the coming years. Still, India continues to derive Substantial revenue from license fees ($800 million in 2001-2002), leading some critics to suggest that the government has abrogated its responsibilities as a regulator to those as a seller.

Another, perhaps even more significant, problem with India’s initial attempts to introduce competition was the lack of regulatory clarity. Private operators complained that the licensor – the DOT – was also the incumbent operator. The many stringent conditions attached to licenses were thus seen by many as the DOT’s attempt to limit competition. It was in response to such concerns that the 9 government in 1997 set up the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the nation’s first independent telecom regulator. Over the years, TRAI has earned a growing reputation for independence, transparency and an increasing level of competence. Early on, however, the regulator was beleaguered on all fronts. It had to contend with political interference, the incumbent’s many challenges to its authority, and accusations of ineptitude by private players. Throughout the late 1990s, TRAI’s authority was steadily whittled away in a number of cases, when the courts repeatedly held that regulatory power lay with the central government. It was not until 2000, with the passing of the TRAI Amendment Act, that the regulatory body really came into its own.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design is the plan, structure and strategy of investigation conceived so as to obtain answers to research questions and to control variance. Research always

starts with a question or a problem. Its purpose is to answer to questions through the application of the scientific methods. It is a systematic and intensive study directed towards a more complete knowledge of the subject studies. Once the problem is defined properly then one can easily Chalk out the Objectives for the research.

Descriptive Research The type of research Design for this Research Project is Descriptive Research. Under the head of the Descriptive Research this project is based on the cross sectional studies. The cross sectional studies are of two types: 1. Field studies 2. Surveys This research is based on the surveys. Second market research is criticized on the ground that becomes too superficial and faulty in industry. While the principle of market research is good based on scientific line, in industry. Market research is very often used by those who have no formal training in subject. Such person avoid using detailed investigation and

sophisticated technique which require both time and patience on the part of market research.

Nature of data: In this study primary data are used.

Collection of data: The data were collected from the respondents through the distribution of questionnaire.

Hypothesis of the study; On the basis of review of previous studies and on the basis of observation made during our collection of data, the following null hypothesis was formed. There is no significant association between persona variables such as age, gender, educational qualifications, monthly income, marital status, size of the family and their awareness level of consumers and different cell phone services providers.

Limitations of the study: Though the detailed investigation is made in the present study, uit has got the following limitations. 1. This study is restricted only to the Udaipur city. So, the results may not be applicable to other areas. 2. This study is based on the prevailing customer’s satisfaction. But the customer’s satisfaction may change according to time, fashion, technology, development, etc. 3. As per the population of the study is huge, the researcher has taken only 100 sample respondents from each service providers

Growth of mobile technology

India has become one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. The mobile services were commercially launched in August 1995 in India. In the initial 5-6 years the average monthly subscribers additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million only and the total mobile subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 millions. However, after the number of proactive initiatives taken by regulator and licensor, the monthly mobile subscriber additions increased to around 2 million per month in the year 2003-04 and 2004-05.

Although mobile telephones followed the New Telecom Policy 1994, growth was tardy in the early years because of the high price of hand sets as well as the high tariff structure of mobile telephones. The New Telecom Policy in 1999, the industry heralded several pro consumer initiatives. Mobile subscriber additions started picking up. The number of mobile phones added throughout the country in 2003 was 16 million, followed by 22 millions in 2004, 32 million in 2005 and 65 million in 2006. The only countries with more mobile phones than India with 156.31 million mobile phones are China – 408 million and USA – 170 million. India has opted for the use of both the GSM (global system for mobile (communications) and CDMA (code-division multiple access) technologies in the mobile sector. The mobile tariffs in India have also become lowest in the world. A new mobile connection can be activated

with a monthly commitment of US$ 5 only. In 2005 alone 32 million handsets were sold in India. The data reveals the real potential for growth of the Indian mobile market.

Next generation networks

In the Next Generation Networks, multiple access networks can connect customers to a core network based on IP (internet protocol) technology. These access networks include fiber optics or coaxial cable networks connected to fixed locations or customers connected through wi-fi as well as to 3G networks connected to mobile users. As a result, in the future, it would be impossible to identify whether the next generation network is a fixed or mobile network and the broadband wireless access would be used both for fixed and mobile services. It would then be futile to differentiate between fixed and mobile networks – both fixed and mobile users will access services through a single core network. Indian telecom networks are not so intensive as developed country’s telecom networks and India's teledensity is low only in rural areas. 670,000 route kilometers of optical fibers has been laid in India by the major operators, even in remote areas and the process continues. A rural network based on the extensive optical fibre network, using Internet Protocol and offering a variety of services and the availability of open platforms for service development, viz. the Next Generation Network, appears to be an attractive proposition. Fibre network can be easily converted to Next Generation network and then used for delivering multiple services at cheap cost.

Cellular Service Providers As on Apr 2007 India has 167 million mobile phone subscribers. Out of this 125 million are GSM users and 41 million CDMA users.BSNL, Bharti Airtel, Hutch, Idea, Aircel, Spice and MTL are the main GSM providers in India. Reliance Communications and Tata Indicom are the main CDMA providers in India.

Bharti Airtel Airtel is providing cellular services in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, UP and West Bengal. Airtel is the No.1 cellular service provider in India using GSM technology. Airtel has 23% market share in India with a total subscriber base of 38 million. Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. The Bharti Group has a diverse business portfolio and has created global brands in the telecommunication sector. Bharti has recently forayed into retail business as Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd. under a MoU with Wal-Mart for the cash & carry business. It has successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild Group to export fresh agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA and has launched Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd under a joint venture with AXA, world leader in financial protection and wealth management.

Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, India’s largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with its world class products and services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU’s) - Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles while the Airtel Telemedia Services business offers broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national & international long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.

Reliance Communications Reliance has both CDMA and GSM networks and total subscriber base of 29 million or 17% market share. It has GSM network in Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Kolkata, North East, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal. Reliance has CDMA networks in other states and cities.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) BSNL is a state owned telecom company which has GSM presence in almost every cities and towns. BSNL has 27 million subscribers with a market share of 16%.

Hutch Hutch is another emerging GSM provider in India with coverage in Kerala, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab with a total subscriber base of 27 million.

Vodafone: Vodafone, the world’s leading international mobile communications company, has fully arrived in India brand will be lunched in India from 21st September onwards. The popular and endearing brand, Hutch, will be transitioned to Vodafone across India. This marks a significant chapter in the evolutic brand change over the next few weeks will be unveiled nationally through a high profile campaign covering all important media. Vodafone, the world’s leading mobile telecommunication company, completed the acquisition of Hutchison Essar in May 2007. Asim Ghosh, managing director, Vodafone Essar, said “We have had a great innings as Hutch in India and today marks a new begin that created Hutch, but an acceleration into the future with Vodafone’s global expertise..” the Vodafone mission is to be the communications leader in an increasingly connected world – enriching customers lives, helping increased by delivering their total communication needs.

Tata Indicom Tata Indicom is a main CDMA provider in India with 16 million subscribers all over India. Tata Indicom has presence in almost every states and cities in India.

Technology: GSM vs. CDMA GSM and CDMA are the two main competing network technologies deployed by cellular service providers world over. Understanding the pros and cons of both the technologies will help you make right decision according to your requirement. GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) originated in Europe in 1990. The GSM Association is an international organization founded in 1987, dedicated to developing, providing and overseeing the worldwide wireless standard of GSM. While CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) is a proprietary standard designed by Qualcomm Inc in United States and has been the dominant network standard for North America and parts of Asia. It became an international standard in 1995. However now, GSM networks have penetrated the United States and the CDMA networks have spread in other parts of the world. People of both the camps claim that their architecture is superior to the other. The Technology: Mobile personal communication systems use microwave frequencies above 800 MHz for transmission and reception. All service providers operate in some pre allocated frequency bands according to international standards. For operating in these microwave frequencies there are following access methods: •

· FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access) - FDMA puts each call on a separate frequency.

•

· TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) - TDMA assigns each call a certain portion of time on a designated frequency.

•

· CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) - CDMA gives unique codes to each call and spears it over available frequencies.

•

GSM is a global standard based on TDMA. It is very popular in entire Europe, Middle East and Asia while CDMA is the dominant technology in

United States and some parts of Asia. But how does it effects the ultimate consumer ? For understanding further considerations may be helpful. Bharti Airtel has the largest customer base with 31% market share, followed by Hutch and BSNL with each holding 22% market share. The 2007 budget has brought further relief to the customers with the reduction in the tariffs, both local and long distance, and with slashing down the roaming rentals. This is likely to lead to even more people going for cellular services and more and more use of the value added services. However, landline telephony is likely to remain popular, too, in the foreseeable future. MTNL, the largest landline service provider, has recently taken some bold initiatives to retain its market share and, if possible, expand it.

. ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF MOBILE SERVICES IN INDIA

According to a study conducted by the reputed international agency, Ovum on “The economic benefits of mobile services in India” the Indian mobile industry is a major contributor to the social and economic growth of the country, in terms of employment generation, revenues to the Government, GDP growth and rural development.

Rural Development

Research shows that having access to telecommunications would substantially improve the social and economic conditions of people living in rural areas by improving access to family, education, health and financial services and by enabling the development of non-agricultural economic activity. Government has set a target of 20% for rural mobile coverage by the end of 2004 and 75% by the end of 2006. Taking the OVUM findings as the base, COAI has tried to estimate the benefits from mobile communications for the future years. The benefits listed by OVUM are for a subs base of 48 million in January 2005. Pro-rating the data on a simplistic estimate at a mobile subscriber base of 200 million in 2007, the industry would contribute 10 million jobs and Rs.500 billion annual revenue to the Government.

FUTURE OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION IN INDIA India initially started with GSM technology for mobile communication. Being a technology neutral country, India later allowed for CDMA technology also. Now 2.75G EDGE technologies has been implemented and used. BSNL has got license for bringing 3G into operation. Trials are being conducted for 3G implementation in the four metropolitan cities of India. Commercial 3G will be started by March 2007.

Challenges The challenge of the day is to search for new cost-effective ways to roll out telecom services in rural areas. It means one has to choose proper and effective

technology for deployment and leverage on the use of available infrastructure to reduce cost and time of role out of services. Those service providers who create the right business would emerge winners and the rest would remain spectators. Connectivity of networks and cost of bandwidth are also important to facilitate broadband usage. Availability of local application and content is another area of concern. Most of the content available on website as of today is in English. The content in local and regional language will increase interest of the local population in broadband utilization. The convergence of technologies and emergence of new applications is another thrilling area. Lot of revolution is round the corner in broadcasting and entertainment industries. The emergence of Internet protocol TV, mobile TV will all change the scenario in the coming years. Wireless technology is the future growth driver for which spectrum is the most important input. The task of spectrum management in a multi user and multi usage scenario is more daunting and crucial than ever before. In summary, if the last few years in telecom were exciting, it will be even more exciting in the coming years. Sluggish pace of reform process. Lack of infrastructure in semi-rural and rural areas, which makes it difficult to make inroads into this market segment as service providers have to incur a huge initial fixed cost. Limited spectrum availability. But notwithstanding these constraints, telecom sector has undergone a revolution in the past decade and has played a major part in bridging the rural urban divide.

Consumer A consumer is an individual who purchase or has the capacity to purchase goods and services offered for sale by marketing institutions in order to satisfy personal or household needs, wants or desires. According to a statement made by Mahatma Gandhi, ‘consumer refers to the following, “A consumer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an outsider to our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us an opportunity to do so”. So consumer is like the blood of our business and also a satisfied customer is a word of mouth advertisement of a product / services.

CONSUMER SATISFACTION Every human being is a consumer of different produces. If there is no consumer, there is no business. Therefore, consumer satisfaction is very important to every business person. According to Philip Kotler consumer satisfaction is defined on, “personal feeling of pleasure resulting from comparing a product’s pursued performance in relation to his /her expectations”.

Consumer attitude measurements are taken on either potential buries or existing client’s buries in order to identify their characteristics. Why should the competent market engineer conduct consumer research? Consumer’s surverys can provide the researcher with a wealth of information, valuable of the marketing function.

Importance of consumer satisfaction The needs to satisfy customer for success in any commercial enterprise is very obvious. The income of all commercial enterprise is derived from the payments received for the products and services supplied to its customers. If there is no customer there is no income and there is no business. Then the core activity of any company is to attract and retain customers. It is therefore no surprise that Peter Drucker the renowned management Guru, has said “to satisfy the customers is the mission and purpose of every business”. Satisfaction of customer is essential for retention of customer’s and for continuous sales of the products and services of the company to customers. This establishes the needs for and the importance of customer satisfaction. The satisfaction of consumers is different from one to another. Became, each consumer has the different behaviour in their life. So, the marketer satisfy the consumer, he must very well know the behaviour of consumer.

Consumer behaviour:

The term consumer behaviour may be defined as the behaviour that consumer displays in searching for purchasing, using, evaluating, producing, services and ideas which they expect will satisfy their needs. In other words, “It is a study of physiological, social, physical, behaviours of all potential customer as they become aware of evaluation, purchase and consumption and tell other about products and services”.

REGULATORY BODIES AND LEGAL ASPECTS 1. DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS (DOOR SANCHAR VIBHAG) 1. Policy, Licensing and Coordination matters relating to telegraphs, telephones, wireless, data, facsimile and telematic services and other like Forms of communications. 2. International cooperation in matters connected with telecommunications including matters relating to all international bodies dealing with telecommunications such as International Telecommunication Union (ITU), its Radio Regulation Board (RRB), Radio Communication Sector (ITU-R), Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), Development Sector (ITU-D), International Telecommunication Satellite Organization (INTELSAT), International Mobile Satellite Organization (INMARSAT), Asia Pacific Telecommunication (APT).

3. Promotion of standardization, research and development in telecommunications. 4. Promotion of private investment in Telecommunications. 5. Financial assistance for the furtherance of research and study in telecommunications technology and for building up adequately trained manpower for telecom programme, including(a) assistance to institutions, assistance to scientific institutions and to universities for advanced scientific study and research; and (b) grant of scholarships to students in educational institutions and other forms of financial aid to individuals including those going abroad for studies in the field of telecommunications. 6. Procurement of stores and equipment required by the Department of Telecommunications 7. Telecom Commission. 8. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. 9. Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal. 10. Administration of laws with respect to any of the matters specified in this list, namely:a. The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885); b. The Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 (17 of 1933); and c. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997).

11. Indian Telephone Industries Limited. 12. Post disinvestment matters relating to M/s Hindustan Teleprinters Limited. 13. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. 14. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited 15. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited and Telecommunications Consultants (India) Limited. 16. All matters relating to Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT). 17. Residual work relating to the erstwhile Department of Telecom Services and Department of Telecom Operations, including matters relating toa. cadre control functions of Group ‘A’ and other categories of personnel till their absorption in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited; b. administration and payment of terminal benefits. 18. Execution of works, purchase and acquisition of land debitable to the capital Budget pertaining to telecommunications.

2. TRAI The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI (established

1997) is the independent regulator established by the Government of India to regulate the telecommunications business in India. TRAI Mission: The mission of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is to ensure that the interests of consumers are protected and at the same time to nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications, broadcasting and cable Services in a manner and at a pace which will enable India to play a leading role in the emerging global information society. ABOUT TRAI The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, as amended vide the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Act, 2000, specifies that the Authority shall consist of a Chairperson and not more than two whole-time Members and not more than two part-time Members. The Chairperson and Members of the Authority are as follows: Sh. Nripendra Misra Chairperson Sh. A. K. Sawhney Member Sh. R. N. Prabhakar Member Prof. N. Balakrishnan Part-time Member Dr. Rajiv Kumar Part-time Member TRAI's mission is to create and nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications in the country in a manner and at a pace which will enable India to play a leading role in emerging global information society. One of the main objectives of TRAI is to provide a fair and transparent policy environment which promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition. In pursuance of above objective TRAI has issued from time to time a large number of regulations, orders and directives to deal with issues coming before it and provided the required direction to the evolution of Indian telecom market from a Government owned monopoly to a multi operator multi service open

competitive market. The directions, orders and regulations issued cover a wide range of subjects including tariff, interconnection and quality of service as well as governance of the Authority.

ANALYSIS OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION SPREAD AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN INDIA History of Cellular Telephony in India Initially Department of Telecommunications (DoT) was the only monopoly operator in the country. Telecommunication sector was recognized by the Government of India as one of the few basic infrastructure sectors for the country. Under the Government policy of economic liberalization, privatization and competition in India, private sectors have been allowed to enter the public telecommunication field (where Government was a monopoly). In 1992 telecommunication sector in India was liberalized to bridge the gap through government spending and to provide additional resources for the nation’s telecom target. The objective of the reform was making the telecommunications within the reach of all, thereby achieving universal service, covering all villages and bringing the telecommunication services to the world standard, while protecting the defense and security needs of the country. In 1993 the telecom industry got an annual foreign investment of Rs 20.6 million. In 1994 license for providing cellular mobile services was granted by the Government of India for the Metropolitan cites of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata

and Chennai. Initially Cellular mobile services were duopoly (i.e. not more than two cellular mobile operators could be licensed in each telecom circle), under a fixed license fee. In 1995, government opened up 19 more telecom circles and issued mobile licenses. To regulate and settle disputes Telecom Regulatory Authority of India was set up in 1997 and in 1999 National Telecom Policy was announced by the Government of India. In order to speed up the development of the telecom sector, all telecom services were opened up for private sector participation.

Significant events in Indian Telecom Industry 

In 1851 the first operational land lines were laid by the government near

Calcutta (seat of British power).  Telephone services were introduced in India in 1881  In 1883 telephone services were merged with the postal system. Indian Radio Telegraph Company (IRT) was formed in 1923.  After independence in 1947, all the foreign telecommunication companies were nationalized to form the Posts, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT), a monopoly run by the government's Ministry of Communications.  Formation of DOT (Department of telecommunications) out of the

Department of Posts in 1980s.  Formation of two DOT owned corporations in 1986 :Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), to serve Delhi and Bombay, and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), to operate international telecom services.  In 1994, the government released its National Telecommunications Policy (NTP-94), which allowed private fixed operators to take part in the Indian market for the first time (cellular operators had been allowed into the four largest metropolitan centers in 1992)   government in 1997 set up the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the nation’s first independent telecom regulator.   New National Telecom Policy was adopted in 1999 and cellular services were also launched in the same year.  The corporatization of the DOT and the creation of a new state-owned telecom company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), in 2000;  The opening up of India’s internal long-distance market in 2000, and the subsequent drop in long-distance rates as part of TRAI’s tariff rebalancing exercise;  The termination of VSNL’s monopoly over international traffic in 2002, and the partial privatization of the company that same year, with the Tata group assuming a 25% stake and management control  The gradual easing of the original duopoly licensing policy, allowing a greater number of operators in each circle;

 The legalization, in 2002, of IP telephony (a move that many believe was held up due to lobbying by VSNL, which feared the consequences on its international monopoly);  The introduction in 2003 of a Calling Party Pays (CPP) system for cell phones, despite considerable opposition (including litigation) by fixed operators;  And, more generally, the commencement of more stringent Interconnection regulation by TRAI, which has moved from interoperator“negotiations-based” approach (often used by the stronger operator to negotiate ad infinitum) to a more rules-based approach. All of these events have created an impressive forward-momentum in Indian telecommunications, resulting in a vigorously competitive and fast-growing sector.

FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION This chapter is allocated to express the findings and conclusions in this study. Statistical tools are applied to analyze the data. It includes the result of each and every tables, charts and tests. On the basis of consumer preference, majority of the peoples

are preferred Airtel. On the basis of age group, most of the respondents (60%), are using Airtel, who are in the category of upto 20 years. On the basis of marital status mostly unmarried respondents are using cell phones than married respondents. On the basis of educational qualification, most of the graduates are using cell phones. On the basis of occupation, the students are only used cell phones in more level. On the basis of family income, 30% of the respondents are using cell phones, who are all get family income of less than Rs.5,000. Majority of the peoples are buy the cell phones by influencing their family members. .8% of respondents are only influenced by advertisements. Majority of the peoples are using cell phones for personal usage. Majority of the peoples are using prepaid scheme. Majority of the peoples are using cell phones for both incoming and outgoing. Less than 20% of the peoples are only less awarred about services provided by the services provider.

Majority of the peoples are seeking brand image, for their service provider. Majority of the respondents are highly satisfied about the price of Airtel. No peoples are highly satisfied about the price of BSNL, Reliance, Tata indicom. No peoples are dissatisfied about the price of the Airtel. On the basis of performance, no peoples are highly satisfied in BSNL, Reliance. No peoples are dissatisfied about the performance of BSNL service provider. On the basis of after sales service, the majority of the respondents are highly satisfied in Airtel.

No peoples are highly satisfied about the after sales service of BSNL. Minority (5%) people are only dissatisfied about the after sales services of BSNL and Reliance. On the basis of schemes at the time of the service, 55% of peoples are highly satisfied. On the basis of periodical offers, majority of the peoples

highly satisfied in Airtel. On the basis of outgoing call charges, majority of people are highly satisfied in Airtel. No people are highly satisfied about the outgoing call charges of Tata indicome. On the basis of consumer’s attitude, majority of the people are states that cell phones are necessity to all. 8% of the respondents are only states that cell phones are luxury.

CONCLUSION This is an information era significance of information cannot be over emphasized. This study attempts to find out the satisfaction of consumer regarding cell phone service providers. This decade, most of the peoples using cell phones. So, service providers are increasing in more level. So service provider are should

over come another one’s competition. So, it leads to adding new features, schemes, periodical offers to their service. So, the consumers get maximum benefit from their service provider. Now-a-days, cell phones are very necessity to all. Because, it is give safety to the men and women also. And no person are feel cell phones are luxury one. So most of the persons are also should preferred these cell phones to their children.

Questionnaire For “Study of Consumer Behavior in Postpaid Customer Segment”

Personal Information: A. Full Name:___________________________________________________ B. Contact NO.:________________ Mob:__________________ C. Sex: Male Female D. Occupation: Student Housewife Job Retired Business Unemployeed E. Monthly Income:_______________

Details about Airtel: 1. Do you have any mobile connection?

Yes No 2. How many mobile connections do you have? 1 2 3 >3 3. Are you using prepaid / postpaid connection? Pre-paid Post-paid

4 Mobile connection currently using? Airtel Vodafone Idea Reliance BSNL Tata Indicom 5 Since from you are using Airtel? (If any) < 1 month 1 – 3 months 3 – 6 months > 6 months 6. Rating of Airtel services over some parameters. 12345 i) Coverage ii) Call Charges iii) Roaming Facility

iv) Schemes v) Customer Care 1=best 2=good 3=average 4=poor 5=worst

7. How much is your Monthly expenses on Mobile Phones? < 150 150 – 350 350 – 500 > 500 8. In future do you wish to buy Airtel Post paid? Yes No

9. Any special comment or suggestion for Airtel: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ __ Date: ___/___/_______ Signature Place: ______________

BIBLIOGRAPHY Books

Marketing Research – G. C. Beri Research Methodology – C. R. Kothari Principles of Marketing – Philip Kotler

Websites: http://www.google.com http://en.wikipedia.org http://www.airtel.in Other Marketing research related sites.