ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Inspiration and motivation have always played key role in the success of any venture.Beginning as well as completion of my project is greatly attributed to all those who inspired and motivated me., whose wide spread knowledge in the subject and valuable suggestions made my project work really worthwhile. This humble endeavor of mine is an amalgamated effort with help from various sources. The varied nature of the matter in this project dealt with entailed refrences from various sources including the books & literature books that have been provided.

I would like to give my special thanks to Mrs. Sanjeet kaur for assigning me such an interesting project & for helping me throughout the project with his constant guidance & support without which this study was not possible to be completed in the stipulated time & the most efficient manner. Her time to time introspection was just as a lightening lamp which eroded the total darkness of the mind & thoughts. She motivated in true spirit & I bestow my gratitude for the same.

This project has been possible through the direct & indirect co-operation of various persons to whom I wish to express my appreciation & gratitude.

Last but not the least, I express my gratitude to all those who directly & indirectly helped me for successful completion of this project. PREFACE

When everybody is providing that much what is expected from him, the person delivering the unexpected to its customers succeeds in the long run. In today market place it is no longer enough to satisfy the customers.

All these might not be of any relevance if not managed properly and that’s what a management professional is expected to deliver to industry. By studying the threotical cannot serve the purpose of young & learning future managers & that’s why they are placed in the corporate world to know the imminent view of the industry that seems to be tough.

Present project report “STUDY OF CONSUMER PRECEPTION REGARDING MOBILE CONNECTION” has been done on the basis of information collected from various sources both secondary & primary. CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project work done on “Study of Consumer Reception For Mobile Connection” submitted to Ludhiana college of engineering & technology, Ludhiana by Manpreet kaur in the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of degree of Masters in Business Management, is a bonafide work carried out by her under my supervision & guidance.

Date:______

Name of Guide: Mrs. Sanjeet kaur

(Lecturer in deptt. Of business management) DECLARATION

This is to certify that I Manpreet Kaur student of MBA, University Roll No.90492234024 ,hereby declare that this project report titled “Study of Consumer Perception Regarding Mobile Connection” has been prepared by me in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of Masters of Business Administration.

I further declare that this report has not been submitted either in any other university or institution for the award of any degree or diploma.

STUDENT SIGNATURE: INTRODUCTION

CONSUMER A consumer is an individual who purchase or has the capacity to purchasegoods and services offered for sale by marketing institutions in order to satisfypersonal or household needs, wants or desires. According to a statement made by , ‘consumer refers tothe following, “A consumer is the most important visitor on our premises. He isnot dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an outsider to ourbusiness. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He isdoing 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 noconsumer, there is no business. Therefore, consumer satisfaction is veryimportant to every business person. According to Philip Kotler consumer satisfaction is defined on, “personalfeeling of pleasure resulting from comparing a product’s pursued performancein relation to his /her expectations”. Consumer attitude measurements are taken on either potential buries orexisting client’s buries in order to identify their characteristics. Why should thecompetent market engineer conduct consumer research? Consumer’s surveryscan provide the researcher with a wealth of information, valuable of themarketing function. Detailed information regarding the customer in a market will provide thebasic platform for all marketing decisions. Marketing decision maker needsdescriptive information about the total potential unit and dollar sales in eachsegment. Perhaps the most important one is that a seller need to be aware of therelevant objective and need of consumer and how their objectivesmight best beserved by the products. MARKET The term market is derived from Latin Word ‘Mercatus’, which means ‘totrade’ that is purchasing and selling of goods. It also means merchandise truthicplace of business. According to Pyle, “Market includes both place and region in which buyers and sellers or in competition with one another”. MARKETING Marketing includes all the impacts involved in the exchange process oftransferring the possession and ownership of goods or services from theproducer to the ultimate consumer’s.

MARKETING FORMULA a.The foremost step is business aims at profit. b.For profit making he can sell the products. c.For selling the product he should create customers. d.For creating the customer’s, customer’s needs of preferences to be

identified and satisfied. e.To satisfy the customer’s new product to be produced.

Marketing is trying to learn,

 Who buy the products or services?

 How do they buy?

 When do they buy?

 Where do they buy?

 Why do they buy?

 How often they buy? It is otherwise called understand and predict human actions in theirbuying role. A marketer is act as consumers while them purchasing any goods/services, and try to market that product to an ultimate consumer. So, marketingis starts with consumer and ends with consumer. So, today’s market is called on consumer market. It can be defined on,“All the individuals and households who buy goods and services for personal Importance of consumer satisfaction The needs to satisfy customer for success in any commercial enterprise isvery obvious. The income of all commercial enterprise is derived from thepayments received for the products and services supplied to its customers. Ifthere is no customer there is no income and there is no business. Then the coreactivity of any company is to attract and retain customers. It is therefore nosurprise that Peter Drucker the renowned management Guru, has said “to satisfythe customers is the mission and purpose of every business”. Satisfaction of customer is essential for retention of customer’s and forcontinuous sales of the products and services of the company to customers. Thisestablishes the needs for and the importance of customer satisfaction. Thesatisfaction of consumers is different from one to another. Became, eachconsumer has the different behaviour in their life. So, the marketer satisfy theconsumer, he must very well know the behaviour of consumer. .Consumer behaviour: The term consumer behaviour may be defined as the behaviour thatconsumer displays in searching for purchasing, using, evaluating, producing,services and ideas which they expect will satisfy their needs. In other words, “Itis a study of physiological, social, physical, behaviours of all potential customeras they become aware of evaluation, purchase and consumption and tell otherabout products and services”. The study of consumer behaviour is the study of how individuals makedivisions to spend their resources like money, energy, time, etc. on consumptionof products. LIMITED

Commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian company that operates in 19 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. It operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world with over 207.8 million subscribers across 19 countries at the end of 2010. It is the largest cellular service provider in , with over 152.5 million subscribers at the end of 2010. Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind and China Unicom..

Airtel also offers fixed line services and broadband services. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve this Cisco Gold Certification. To earn Gold Certification, Bharti Airtel had to meet rigorous standards for networking competency, service, support and customer satisfaction set forth by Cisco. The company also provides land-line services and broadband Internet access (DSL) in over 96 cities in India. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at , which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.

It is known for being the first company in the world to outsource everything except marketing and sales and finance. Its network (base stations, microwave links, etc.) are maintained by , Siemens Network and , business support by IBM and transmission towers by another company ( Ltd. in India). Ericsson agreed for the first time, to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid up front. This enabled the company to provide pan-India phone call rates of Rs. 1/minute (U$0.02/minute). Call rates have come down much further. During the last financial year [2009-10], Bharti has roped in a strategic partner Alcatel- Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the Telemedia Business.

History

Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, was into an agreement with Germany's Siemens to manufacture the company's push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Sunil Bharti Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and his company became the first in India to offer push-button , establishing the basis of . This first-mover advantage allowed Sunil Mittal to expand his manufacturing capacity elsewhere in the telecommunications market. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones.

In 1992, Sunil Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in . In 1995, Sunil Mittal incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to . In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to and . In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of Hexacom and entered . In 2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and Nicobar.

In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010, Airtel began operating in Bangladesh and 16 African countries.

Today, Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India and fifth largest in the world.

Worldwide Presence

Airtel is the 5th largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscriber base and has a commercial presence in 19 countries and the Channel Islands.

Its area of operations include:

The Indian Subcontinent:

Airtel Bangla, in Bangladesh Airtel (India), in India

Airtel Sri Lanka, in Sri Lanka

Airtel Africa, which operates in 16 African countries:

Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, , Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

The British Crown Dependency islands of Jersey and Guernsey, under the brand name Airtel-, through an agreement with Vodafone.

Subscriber Base

Bharti Airtel has about 207.8 million subscribers worldwide - 152.5 million in India, 50.3 million are in Africa, 3.2 million in Bangladesh and 1.8 million in Sri Lanka as of the end of 2010. The numbers include mobile services subscribers in 19 countries and Indian Telemedia services and Digital services subscribers.

Acquisitions and Mergers

MTN

In May 2008, it emerged that Bharti Airtel was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with coverage in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the talks, while The Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up," as MTN has more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage. However, the talks fell apart as MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company.

In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it is in Talks with MTN and companies have now agreed discuss the potential transaction exclusively by July 31, 2009. Bharti Airtel said in a statement "Bharti Airtel Ltd is pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group".

Talks eventually ended without agreement, due to the South African government opposition.

Zain

In March 2010, Bharti struck a deal to buy the Kuwait firm's mobile operations in 15 African countries, in India's second biggest overseas acquisition after 's $13 billion buy of Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel completed its $9 billion acquisition of African operations from Kuwait's Zain, making the firm the world's No. 5 wireless carrier by subscribers.

Rebranding

On 18 November 2010, Airtel rebranded itself in India in the first phase of a global rebranding strategy. The company unveiled a new logo with 'airtel' written in lower case. Designed by London-based brand agency, Brand Union, the new logo is the letter 'a' in lowercase, with 'airtel' written in lowercase under the logo.

On November 23, 2010, Airtel's Africa operations were rebranded to 'airtel'. Sri Lanka followed on November 28, 2010 and on December 20, 2010, Warid Telecom rebranded to 'airtel' in Bangladesh.

Sponsorship

On May 9, 2009 Airtel signed a major deal with Manchester United Football Club. As a result of the deal, Airtel gets the rights to broadcast the matches played by the team to its customers.

Bharti Airtel signed a five-year deal with ESPN Star Sports to become the title sponsor of the Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament. The tournament itself is named "Airtel Champions League Twenty20.

Signature tune

The signature tune of Airtel is composed by Indian musician A. R. Rahman. The tune became hugely popular and is the world's most downloaded mobile music with over 150 million downloads. A new version of the song was released on 18 November 2010, as part of the rebranding of the company. This version too was composed by Rahman himself

Timeline

The chronology of events since Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated in 1995:

1995

Bharti Cellular launched cellular services as "AirTel" in Delhi.

1996

STET International Netherlands NV, or STET, a company promoted by Telecom Italia, Italy acquired a 20% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures

Bharti launched cellular services in Himachal Pradesh

1997

British Telecom acquired a 21.05% equity interest in Bharti Cellular

Bharti Telenet obtained a license for providing fixed-line services in cirlce (and later Chattisgarh).

Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture, Bharti BT, for providing VSAT services

1998

Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture, "Bharti BT Internet" for providing Internet services

First Indian private fixed-line services launched in Indore in the Madhya Pradesh circle on June 4, 1998 by Bharti Telenet thereby ending fixed-line services monopoly of Department of Telecom (now BSNL).

1999

Warburg Pincus (through its investment company Brentwood Investment Holdings Limited) acquired a 19.05% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures

Bharti Tele-Ventures (by acquiring a 63.45% equity interest in SC Cellular Holdings) acquired an effective 32.36% equity interest in Bharti Mobile (formerly JT Mobiles), the cellular services provider in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh circles

New York Life Insurance Fund, or NYLIF, acquired a 3% equity interest in Bharti Cellular

2000

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an effective equity interest of 40.5% in Bharti Mobinet (formerly Skycell Communications), the cellular services provider in Chennai

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired a 30.2% equity interest of Telecom Italia in Bharti Telenet and 18.8% from Bharti Telecom thereby making Bharti Telenet a 100% subsidiary of Bharti Tele-Ventures

SingTel (through its investment company Pastel Limited) acquired STET's 15.3% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an additional effective 41.64% equity interest in Bharti Mobile (by acquiring the remaining 36.55% equity interest in SC Cellular) resulting in Bharti Tele-Ventures holding an effective 74% equity interest in Bharti Mobile.

2001

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired NYLIF's 3% equity interest in Bharti Cellular

Bharti Telesonic entered into a joint venture, Bharti Aquanet, with SingTel for establishing a submarine cable landing station at Chennai

Bharti Tele-Ventures issued additional equity for approximately US$ 481.30 million to SingTel, Warburg Pincus, AIF group, IFC, NYLIF, and Seejay Cellular and Bharti Telecom

Bharti Cellular acquired a 100% equity interest in Bharti Mobitel (formerly Spice Cell ), the cellular services provider in

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired 85% and 15% in Bharti Telespatial from Bharti Telecom and Intel, respectively

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired a 44% equity interest in Bharti Cellular from British Telecom, thereby making Bharti Cellular its 100% subsidiary Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an additional 49% equity interest in Bharti Mobinet from International and BellSouth International, thereby owning 89.5% equity interest in Bharti Mobinet, which was further increased to 95.3% following an issuance of additional equity shares by way of rights issue

Punjab license restored to Bharti Mobile by the Department of Telecom (DoT) and migration to NTP - 1999 accepted

Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements to provide cellular services in eight new circles following the fourth operator cellular license bidding process

Bharti Telenet entered into license agreements to provide fixed-line services in the , Delhi, and Karnataka circles

Bharti Telesonic entered into a license agreement with the DoT to provide national long distance services across India

Bharti Aquanet, Bharti Telesonic and Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements with the DoT to provide ISP services in India

Bharti Telesonic launched national long distance services under the brand name of IndiaOne

Bharti Telenet launched fixed line services in Haryana under the brand name of "TouchTel".

2002

Enters into a 5-year agreement with Escotel (now called ) and ETL of the Escorts group to contract leased line connectivity for its cellular operations

Mr. Ravi Akhoury ceases to be Director of Bharti Tele

DoT grants ILD Telephony License to Bharti Telesonic, subsidiary of the company

Signs MoU with Telia AB to buy out their 26% stake in Bharti Mobile

Ties up with Secondary School Certification (SSC) Board, , where Bharti will announce SSC results to its customers on their mobile phones

ICICI Bank ties up with Bharti for pre-paid mobile cards via ATMs Bharti forays into with offers

Alpine International Ltd. and ELM International Ltd. acquire shares of Bharti Tele-Ventures

2003

Airtel breaks interconnectivity with in Andhra Pradesh

Company accorded its approval for amalgamation of its subsidiary companies viz: Bharti Telenet Ltd, Bharti Telesonic Ltd, Bharti Broadband Networks Ltd and Bharti Comtel Ltd through scheme of Amalgamation. The merged entity would be renamed as Bharti Infotel Ltd

Airtel launches Local direct dialling facility in Chennai circle

Bharti Cellular unveils "CareTouch" service

Cellular brand "Airtel" unveils free multimedia messaging services (MMS) for its customers. The company has also rolled out pan-India GPRS for its corporate subscribers

Launches its `IndiaOne MeetXpress' audio-conferencing service

Punjab, Haryana get free incoming calls from Airtel

AirTel provides SMS facilities to hearing impaired in Chennai

Goa, gets 'voice portal' services by Bharti Cellular

Launches free additional connection to its new subscribers in

Mr Sin Hang Boon and Mr Wong Hung Khim have resigned from the Board of Directors of Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd with effect from February 27, 2003.

Airtel launches its GPRS network in Chennai

Airtel subscribers cross 3 million mark

AirTel unveils RAD system

Mr P M Sinha resigns from the Board of Directors of the Company with effect from March 31, 2003.

Bharti TeleVentures announces the completion of merger with Bharti Mobitel Bharti Mobitel Ltd. merged with Bharti Cellular Ltd.

"Airtel" and "Touchtel" jointly offer free Touchtel land line for post-paid Airtel connection

Airtel rolls out voice mail service for pre-paid customers

AirTel unveils new scheme for pre-paid customers giving away free talk time worth Rs 10 crore

Airtel surpasses 4 lakh subscriber base in Karnataka

Bharti announces new tariff plan AirTel 012

Offers 0-1-2, a new cellular package for the customers, which means zero charges on incoming calls, Re 1 on mobile-to-mobile outgoing calls, Rs 2 on mobile-to-mobile STD calls

Rolls out Airtel messenger service

AirTel offers bundled handset, connection package for Rs 5715

Airtel slashes SMS rates to 60 paise; excludes Delhi and Mumbai

Bharti cellular, wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Tele-Ventures, increases its stake to 100% in Bharti Mobile

Signs distribution pact with Cable. With this alliance, Bharti is said to be the first telecom firm to step into television distribution services

Six cell operators move over from Bharti to VSNL

Airtel augments cellular coverage in Tamil Nadu by including Arcot & Walajapet in its network

Airtel ties up with Coke in Chennai to sell its "Magic" prepaid cards

AirTel embarks on network expansion in Hyderabad

Airtel unveils IndiaOne Long Distance Calling Card

AirTel introduces unified tariff package in Tamil Nadu and Chennai

Airtel becomes front runner in Karnataka's mobile services market

Bharti Tele launches 'Always on' service to its subscribers State Bank of India and AirTel announce EMI offer at Rs 299

Bharti and MTV join hands to launch new SIM card

AirTel unveils new post-paid scheme at zero rental

AirTel launches `Happy Plan' in AP

Airtel emerges as the highest selling pre-paid card

Airtel join hands with Alcatel & Videocon to launch new scheme

AirTel service provider touches 5 lakh customers in Punjab

Airtel offers 5 new services for its customers in Mumbai

Bharti launches first dual band network in Delhi

Gets 14th place among top 25 Cos in India

Bharti Mobile crosses 4 lakh mobile subscribers in AP

Airtel holds top position in terms of dealer penetration

Prof. V S Raju has been inducted on the Board of Directors of the Company.

Touchtel launches SMS service in fixed line phones in and Panipat in Haryana.

Airtel unveils special offers in

AirTel launches InnoWest for the western region

Bharti Tele-Ventures enters into an agreement with Telesystem (Mauritius) Pvt. Ltd

Airtel slashes out going SMS price to 30ps

On December 16, 2003, Airtel announced the launch of expense tracker service, which provides customers the option of tracking their day-to-day expenses on a daily or monthly basis. This service will allow a user to track expenses, while on the move by sending an SMS.

AirTel introduces MTV Club Card in Chennai 2004

Bharti unveils new card for Mecca piligrims

AirTel enrolls 50,000 customers in its mobile service in 60 days

Launches WAP enabled portal Service in Kerala

Bharti Cellular's AirTel has extended its mobile connectivity to Karaikkal, Nagur, Mannargudi and Kovilpalayam in Tamil Nadu.

Airtel customer base touches new high of 5 lakh mark in Andhra Pradesh

On Pongal, Airtel is launching its first ever MMS downloads in Tamil.

AirTel tie up with MAA TV

Airtel launches Rs 50 pre-paids recharge

AirTel launched a family pack for its post-paid customers in Chennai on January 29.

Bharti Tele-Ventures enters into a three year service agreement with Ericsson

Bharti Tele-Ventures (BTVL) has signed and received unified access service licence to provide GSM services in (East), & Andaman Nicobar, Orissa, and Jammu & Kashmir. The licence has been granted to Bharti Cellular Ltd (BCL), the cellular arm and subsidiary of BTVL.

Airtel and Mobilink, the only GSM cellular service provider in Pakistan, sign the first-ever bilateral roaming agreement between India and Pakistan

Acquires switching systems from Tekelec

Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd signed an information technology outsourcing deal with infotech major IBM, estimated to be in the range of 0-750 million for a ten-year period.

Jayant Khosla, new chief executive officer, Mumbai

Signs MoU to join the South East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 4 (SEA- ME-WE-4) consortium along with 15 other global telecom operators. Bharti Tele-Ventures has struck a deal with Shyam Telecom to buy out the latter's 67.5 per cent stake in cellular services company Hexacom for Rs 430 crore.

Samsung India Electronics Limited has tied up with cellular operator Bharti for bundling its mobile handsets with a connection.

The Bharti group finalised a Rs 500-crore deal to share its national long- distance (STD) network with VSNL in a first-of-its-kind accord between two top telecom service providers in a bid to optimise capacities in the NLD segment.

Internet gateway and services provider, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) has signed a Right to Use (RoU) agreement to deploy major, Bharti Tele-Ventures' existing National Long Distance (NLD) backbone.

Airtel offers talktime transfer service

Airtel has announced money-back guarantee offer in case of call drop or poor network experience for its subscribers

Bharti launches 2-in-1 card

Airtel launched two-way international roaming and GPRS for prepaid customers in the Maharshtra and circles

Bharti Tele-Ventures has bagged the Asian MobileNews operator of the year award in India and the subcontinent

Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd has awarded a million equipment contract to Swedish telecoms company Ericsson

Bharti Televentures announced formation of a new strategic business unit to offer various telecom and IT services through a single contact

Bharti Televentures unveiled a mobile portal featuring sports, entertainment and news among others

Airtel ties up with Micro Tech to set up 'Mcops' vehicle security system

Bharti Tele-Venture on July 19 launched "Caller Tunes" service, a personalized mobile music service where the caller hears songs and other sound clips instead of the traditional switchboard ring-ring tone Airtel, a private telecom services provider, has commissioned its first 24x7 customer service centre in Andhra Pradesh

Airtel unveils Rs 199 pre paid card

AirTel join hands with Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) to offer executive MBA programme

AirTel introduces new scheme for hearing impaired in Maharashtra & Goa

AirTel inks pact with JP Mobile

Rolls out Enhanced Data Rate for Global Evolution (EDGE) network in on September 9, 2004, Ties up with Nokia for sale of Nokia 6230, an EDGE- enabled handset.

AirTel unveils first virtual calling cards in India

BTVL rolls out EDGE services in

Airtel rolls out Full Talktime Advantage card

Airtel rolls out wi-fi services in Mumbai

BTVL launches new 'Airtel Broadband Friendly Offer'

Airtel launches GPRS services for pre-paid customers

Airtel partners with ITPO to set up Wi-Fi network in Delhi

Airtel launches EDGE services and a new pre-paid plan for Chennai

Airtel introduces LAS in Karnataka

2005

Airtel launches video services for its GPRS customers on February 22, 2005

Airtel unveils new TV ad featuring Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan

Bharti Tele-Ventures launches telecom network in Andaman & Nicobar

BTVL unveil fixed line, broadband services

Bharti inks 5-m deal with Nokia for rural network expansion Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd has announced that Airtel, ICICI Bank & VISA have joined hands to launch mCheq - a revolutionary new service - a credit card on the mobile phone

Airtel introduces BlackBerry Connect in India Bharti Tele Ventures announces agreement with Vodafone Airtel unveils 'free flight' offer

Bharti Tele-Ventures launches under sea cable system

2006

Airtel unveils Re 1 STD plans

Airtel launches Expert.

Airtel launches Post2Pre recharging service on April 04,2006.

Airtel sets up customer centre

Airtel announced the launch of `Save My Phone Contact' service for its pre-paid and post-paid customers in Delhi

Bharti Tele Ventures bags 'Wireless Service Provider of the Year' & 'Competitive Service Provider of the Year' awards

Cellebrum join hands with Airtel

Airtel Mega unveiled in

Bharti Airtel Ltd and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership that will offer a range of software and services for small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India.

Bharti Airtel Ltd on Nov 8, announced a first-of-its-kind alliance with the Adani Group for establishing an end-to-end modern network infrastructure for the latter's multi-sector special economic zone (SEZ), located near Mundra Port in Kutch district of .

2007

Bharti Airtel has come out with a slew of initiatives including buying out SingTel's 50 per cent stake in joint venture under sea cable company Network Bharti Airtel on Feb 11, has been awarded QCI-DL Shah National Award on Economics of Quality.

Bharti Airtel Ltd has announces changes in the operational leadership structure and roles in the Company effective April 01, 2007.

Bharti Airtel Ltd on April 01, 2007, has announces the reduction in ISD Tariffs for all its mobile customers in India.

8Airtel signs agreement with HTC for touch screen mobile.

2008

Nokia Siemens Networks on Jan 3 declared that it has been awarded a multi million euro contract from Bharti Airtel Ltd for deployment of a single interactive voice response (IVR) platform across 23 circles. The three-year turnkey contract comprises designing, planning, systems integration and optimisation services to raise overall customer experience. The new IVR solution will enable Airtel to deliver services such as voice SMS, televoting, call management services, caller ring back tone and voice portal on a faster time-to-market basis and, therefore, reduce OPEX costs.

Bharti Airtel Ltd on February 13, 2008 has announced that it has achieved the 60 million mobile, fixed line and broadband customers.

Bharti Airtel tied up with US-based Apple Inc to bring the popular GSM-based iPhone in the country.

Bharti Airtel Ltd has forged a technology alliance with Infosys Technologies Ltd to launch its Direct-to-Home (DTH) television services. Infosys, through its digital convergence platform, will offer a suite of products including devices, application servers and interactive applications for Airtel's DTH services.

2009

Bharti Airtel signed a five-year managed services deal with Alcatel-Lucent for its fixed-line and broadband operations.

Bharti Airtel launched the 'Airtel Advantage' initiative. The initiative is aimed at offering the added advantage to Airtel customers to be in touch with each other at an affordable rate of 50 paise per minute, be it a national long distance call (STD) or a local call. In order to create products and services for the small, medium and large enterprises, Bharti Airtel and Cisco announced a strategic business alliance. The alliance would combine the strengths of Airtel's network service and Cisco' Internet Protocol (IP) technologies.

Airtel and mChek announce milestone of 1 Million users and introduce a broad range of new mCommerce services.

2010

On 14, February 2010, Zain Ghana issued a resolution to accept a $10.7 billion buyout offer from Bharti Airtel Limited (Bharti) to enter into exclusive discussions until 25 March 2010, regarding the sale of its African unit, Zain Africa BV.

Bharti Airtel submitted its bid for 3G which starts from April 9, 2010.

Bharti Airtel has partnered with US-based software maker VMware Inc. It has done this in order to focus on the cloud-based managed computer services market.

On May 18, 2010, Airtel won 3G spectrum in 13 circles: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, , North East, Jammu & Kashmir for Rs. 12,295 crores.

Bharti Airtel wins broadband spectrum in four circles: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Kolkata for Rs. 3314.36 crores.

On 8, June 2010, Bharti Airtel completed a deal to Zain Telecom's businesses in 15 African countries for $10.7 billion.

On August 11, 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire 100% stake in Telecom Seychelles for US$62 million taking its global presence to 19 countries.

On 20 September 2010, Bharti Airtel said that it has given contracts to Ericsson India, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Huawei Technologies to set up infrastructure for providing 3G services in the country. On 18 November, 2010, Bharti Airtel announced a re-branding campaign wherein, they would be referred as airtel, with a new logo.

On 20 December 2010, Airtel launched its new identity for Bangladesh subscribers.

On 23 December 2010, Airtel opened its first underground terrestrial fibre optic cable built in alliance with China Telecom.

2011

On 23 February 2011, Bharti Airtel launched the Europe-India gateway cable system, along with 16 other global telecom firms. A 15,000 kilometre long cable, between Mumbai and London.

On 27 February 2011, Bharti Airtel launched its speech recognition based service, 'One Number, One Voice'. VODAFONE

Vodafone Group plc (LSE: VOD, NASDAQ: VOD) is a global telecommunications company headquartered in Newbury, Berkshire, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers (behind China Mobile), with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of November 2010. It operates networks in over 30 countries and has partner networks in over 40 additional countries. It owns 45% of Wireless, the largest mobile telecommunications company in the United States measured by subscribers.

The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones".

Its primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange and it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalisation of approximately £92 billion as of November 2010, making it the third largest company on the London Stock Exchange. It has a secondary listing on NASDAQ.

Vodafone Group

In 1980, Sir Ernest Harrison OBE, chairman of Racal Electronics plc's, the UK's largest maker of military radio technology, agreed a deal with Lord Weinstock of General Electric Company plc to allow Racal to access some of GEC's tactical battlefield radio technology. Briefing the head of Racal's military radio division Gerry Whent to drive the company into commercial mobile radio, Whent visited GE's factory in Virginia, USA in 1980.

In 1982, Racal's newly formed subsidiary Racal Strategic Radio Ltd under CEO Whent, won one of two UK cellular telephone network licences; the other going to British TelecomThe network, known as Racal Vodafone was 80% owned by Racal, Millicom with 15% and Hambros Technology Trust 5% respectively. Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985. Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal Telecommunications Group Limited in 1985. On 29 December 1986, Racal Electronics bought out the minority shareholders of Vodafone for GB£110 million.

Under stock market pressure to realise full value for shareholders (the mobile unit was being valued at the same amount as the whole Racal group), in September 1988, the company was again renamed Racal Telecom, and on 26 October 1988, Racal Electronics floated 20% of the company. The flotation valued Racal Telecom at GB£1.7 billion. On 16 September 1991, Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics as Vodafone Group.

In July 1996, Vodafone acquired the two thirds of Talkland it did not already own for £30.6 million. On 19 November 1996, in a defensive move, Vodafone purchased Peoples Phone for £77 million, a 181 store chain whose customers were overwhelmingly using Vodafone's network. In a similar move the company acquired the 80% of Astec Communications that it did not own, a service provider with 21 stores.

In 1997, Vodafone introduced its Speechmark logo, as it is a quotation mark in a circle; the O's in the Vodafone logotype are opening and closing quotation marks, suggesting conversation.

On 29 June 1999, Vodafone completed its purchase of AirTouch Communications, Inc. and changed its name to Vodafone Airtouch plc. Trading of the new company commenced on 30 June 1999. To approve the merger, Vodafone sold its 17.2% stake in E-Plus Mobilfunk. The acquisition gave Vodafone a 35% share of Mannesmann, owner of the largest German mobile network.

On 21 September 1999, Vodafone agreed to merge its U.S. wireless assets with those of Bell Atlantic Corp to form Verizon Wireless. The merger was completed on 4 April 2000.

In November 1999, Vodafone made an unsolicited bid for Mannesmann, which was rejected. Vodafone's interest in Mannesmann had been increased by the latter purchase of , the UK mobile operator. Chris Gent would later say Mannesmann's move into the UK broke a "gentleman's agreement" not to compete in each other's home territory. The hostile takeover provoked strong protest in Germany, and a "titanic struggle" which saw Mannesmann resist Vodafone's efforts. However, on 3 February 2000, the Mannesmann board agreed to an increased offer of £112bn, then the largest corporate merger ever. The EU approved the merger in April 2000. The conglomerate was subsequently broken up and all manufacturing related operations sold off.

On 28 July 2000, the Company reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group plc. In April 2001, the first 3G voice call was made on Vodafone United Kingdom's 3G network. On 28 July 2000, the Company reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group plc. In April 2001, the first 3G voice call was made on Vodafone United Kingdom's 3G network.

Vodafone in Iaşi, Romania

A map showing Vodafone Global Enterprise' footprint.

Vodafone Operating Countries

Vodafone's partners and affiliates

In 2001, the Company acquired , the largest wireless communications company in the Republic of Ireland, from eircom. Eircell was subsequently rebranded as . Vodafone then went on to acquire Japan's third- largest mobile operator J-Phone, which had introduced camera phones first in Japan.

On 17 December 2001, Vodafone introduced the concept of "Partner Networks", by signing TDC Mobil of Denmark. The new concept involved the introduction of Vodafone international services to the local market, without the need of investment by Vodafone. The concept would be used to extend the Vodafone brand and services into markets where it does not have stakes in local operators. Vodafone services would be marketed under the dual-brand scheme, where the Vodafone brand is added at the end of the local brand. (i.e., TDC Mobil-Vodafone etc.)

Europe

In February 2002, Finland was added into the mobile community, as Radiolinja is signed as a Partner Network. Radiolinja later changed its named to Elisa. Later that year, the Company rebranded Japan's J-sky mobile internet service as Vodafone live!, and on 3 December 2002, the Vodafone brand was introduced in the Estonian market with signing of a Partner Network Agreement with Radiolinja (Eesti). Radiolinja (Eesti) later changed its name to Elisa.

On 7 January 2003, the Company signed a group-wide Partner agreement with mobilkom Austria. As a result, Austria, Croatia, and Slovenia were added to the community. In April 2003, Og Vodafone was introduced in the Icelandic market, and in May 2003, Omnitel (Omnitel Pronto-Italia) was rebranded . On 21 July 2003, Lithuania was added to the community, with the signing of a Partner Network agreement with Bitė.

In February 2004, Vodafone signed a Partner Network Agreement with Luxembourg's LuxGSM, and a Partner Network Agreement with Cyta of Cyprus. Cyta agreed to rename its mobile phone operations to Cytamobile- Vodafone. In April 2004, the Company purchased Singlepoint airtime provider from John Caudwell (Caudwell Group), and approx 1.5 million customers onto its base for £405million, adding sites in Stoke on (England), to existing sites in Newbury (HQ), Birmingham, Warrington and Banbury. In November 2004, Vodafone introduced 3G services into Europe.

In June 2005, the Company increased its participation in Romania's Connex to 99%, and also bought the Czech mobile operator Oskar. On 1 July 2005, Oskar of the Czech Republic was rebranded as Oskar-Vodafone. Later that year, on 17 October 2005, launched a revised logo, using new text designed by Dalton Maag, and a 3D version of the Speechmark logo, but still retaining a red background and white writing (or vice versa). Also, various operating companies started to drop the use of the SIM card pattern in the company logo. (The rebranding of Oskar-Vodafone and Connex-Vodafone also does not use the SIM card pattern.) A custom typeface by Dalton Maag (based on their font family InterFace) formed part of the new identity.

On 28 October 2005, Connex in Romania was rebranded as Connex-Vodafone, and on 31 October 2005, the Company reached an agreement to sell Vodafone Sweden to for approximately €1 billion. After the sale, Vodafone Sweden became a Partner Network. In December 2005, Vodafone won an auction to buy Turkey's second-largest mobile phone company, Telsim, for US$4.5 billion.In December 2005, Vodafone Spain became the second member of the Group to adopt the revised logo: it was phased in over the following six months in other countries.

In 2006, the Company rebranded its Stoke-on-Trent site as Stoke Premier Centre, a centre of expertise for the company dealing with Customer Care for its higher value customers, technical support, sales and credit control. All cancellations and upgrades started to be dealt with by this call centre. On 5 January 2006, Vodafone announced the completion of the sale of Vodafone Sweden to Telenor. On February 2006, the Company closed its Birmingham Call Centre. On 1 February 2006, Oskar Vodafone became , adopting the revised logo, and on 22 February 2006, the Company announced that it was extending its footprint to Bulgaria with the signing of Partner Network Agreement with Mobiltel, which is part of mobilkom Austria group.

On 12 March 2006, former chief, Sir Christopher Gent, who was appointed the honorary post Chairman for Life in 2003, quit following rumours of boardroom rifts.[citation needed] In April 2006, the Company announced that it had signed an extension to its Partner Network Agreement with BITE Group, enabling its Latvian subsidiary "BITE Latvija" to become the latest member of Vodafone's global partner community. Also in April 2006, Vodafone Sweden changed its name to AB, and Connex-Vodafone became , also adopting the new logo. On 30 May 2006, Vodafone announced the then biggest loss in British corporate history (£14.9 billion), and plans to cut 400 jobs; it reported one-off costs of £23.5 billion due to the revaluation of its Mannesmann subsidiary. On 24 July 2006, the respected head of Vodafone Europe, , quit unexpectedly,[27] and on 25 August 2006, the Company announced the sale of its 25% stake in Belgium's for €2 billion. After the deal, Proximus was still part of the community as a Partner Network. On 5 October 2006, Vodafone announced the first single brand partnership with Og Vodafone which would operate under the name , and on 19 December 2006, the Company announced the sale of its 25% stake in Switzerland's for CHF4.25 billion (£1.8 billion)., After the deal, Swisscom would still be part of the community as a Partner Network. Finally in December 2006, the Company completed the acquisition of Aspective, an enterprise applications systems integrator in the UK, signalling Vodafone's intent to grow a significant presence and revenues in the information and communication technologies (ICT) marketplace.

Early in January 2007, Telsim in Turkey adopted Vodafone dual branding as Telsim Vodafone, and on 1 April 2007, Telsim Vodafone Turkey dropped its original brand and became Vodafone Turkey. In addition, Vodafone Turkey also gives service in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. On 1 May 2007, Vodafone added Jersey and Guernsey to the community, as Airtel was signed as Partner Network in both crown dependencies. In June 2007, the Vodafone live! mobile internet portal in the UK was relaunched. Front page was now charged for, and previously "bundled" data allowance was removed from existing contract terms. All users were given access to the "full" web rather than a 'Walled Garden', and Vodafone became the first mobile network to focus an entire media campaign on its newly launched mobile internet portal in the UK. On 1 August 2007, Vodafone Portugal launched Vodafone Messenger, a service with Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger.

At the end of 2007, was ranked 6th in Europe by subscriber numbers, whilst its Italian operation was listed as 10th. Vodafone UK was ranked 13th, whilst Spain was listed in 16th place.

On 17 April 2008, Vodafone extended its footprint to Serbia as Vip mobile was added to the community as a Partner Network, and on 20 May 2008, the Company added VIP Operator as a Partner Network, thereby extending the global footprint to the Republic of Macedonia. In May 2008, Kall of the Faroe Islands rebranded as Vodafone Faroe Islands.

On 30 October 2008, the company announced a strategic, non-equity partnership with Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) group of Russia. The agreement adds Russia, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan to the group footprint.

On 20 March 2009, it was announced that the group's Luxembourg partner has been changed to : the agreement with LuxGSM was not renewed in favour of Tango, the Luxembourg unit of another partner network, Belgacom of Belgium.

On December 2009, Vodafone Spain created a fake entry on Wikipedia to promote a mobile phone plan called "Feliz Borabó"

Asia-Pacific

In July 1993, BellSouth New Zealand's network went live, and October 1993 's network also went live. This was followed in July 1994 by Vodafone Fiji's network going live.

In November 1998, Vodafone purchased BellSouth New Zealand, which later became . In 1999, J-Phone launched the J-sky mobile internet service in response to DoCoMo's i-Mode service. In December 2002 J- Phone's 3G network went live. On 1 October 2003, J-Phone became 'Vodafone', and J-Phone's mobile internet service J-Sky became Vodafone Live!. On 3 November 2003, Singapore became a part of the community as M1 was signed as partner network.

In December 2004, Vodafone Australia agreed to deploy high-speed MPLS backbone network built by Lucent Worldwide Services using Juniper hardware.

Then in April 2005, SmarTone changed the name of its brand to 'SmarTone- Vodafone', after both companies signed a Partner Network Agreement. In August 2005, Vodafone launched 3G technology in New Zealand, and in October 2005, it began launching 3G technology in Australia. On 28 October 2005, the Company announced the acquisition of a 10 per cent stake in India's Bharti Televentures, which operates the largest mobile phone network in India under the brand name AirTel. On 22 December 2005, the Company announced the completion of the acquisition of the 10% stake in Bharti Televentures of India.

In January 2006, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka were added to the Vodafone footprint as Vodafone Group signed a partner network agreement with Telekom Malaysia. On 17 March 2006, Vodafone announced an agreement to sell all its interest in Vodafone Japan to SoftBank for £8.9 billion, of which £6.8 billion will be received in cash on closing of deal. Vodafone Japan later changed its name to SoftBank Mobile. On 9 October 2006, Vodafone New Zealand bought New Zealand's 3rd largest internet service provider, iHug, and on 1 November 2006, Vodafone Australia signed the Australian Football League (AFL)'s biggest individual club sponsorship deal with the Brisbane Lions for seasons 2007, 2008 and 2009.

On 6 February 2007, along with the partnership with Digicel Caribbean (see below), Samoa was added as a Partner Market. Then on 11 February 2007, the Company agreed to acquire a controlling interest of 67% in Hutchison Essar Limited for US$11.1 billion. At the same time, it agreed to sell back 5.6% of its AirTel stake back to the Mittals. Vodafone would retain a 4.4% stake in AirTel. On 21 September 2007, Hutch was rebranded to Vodafone in India.

On 6 February 2007, Vodafone Group signed a three-year partnership agreement with Digicel Group. The agreement, which includes Digicel's sister operation in Samoa, will result to the offering of new roaming capabilities. The two groups will also become preferred roaming partners of each other. Along with Digicel's markets, the Vodafone brand is now present in 81 countries, regions, and territories. What is interesting to note, is that as well as being partners, Digicel and Vodafone are also rival operators in Fiji, where Digicel Fiji recently[when?] launched, and Vodafone owns a minority (49%) stake in Vodafone Fiji.

On 10 February 2008, Vodafone announced the launching of M-Paisa mobile money transfer service on Roshan's (Afghanistan's largest GSM operator) network: Afghanistan was added to the Vodafone footprint.

On 5 September 2008, Vodafone purchased Australia's largest bricks and mortar mobile phone retailer Crazy John's adding 115 retail stores to its local operations.

On 9 February 2009, Vodafone announced a merger with 3/Hutchison via a joint venture company VHA Pty Ltd, which would offer products under the Vodafone brand. in Thailand is signed as a partner network of the Group on 25 March 2009.

On 19 June 2009, Vodafone-Hutchison Australia (VHA) announced the end of its outsourcing of retail operations. VHA committed to buying back and managing its entire retail operation, including 208 Vodafone-branded retail outlets Australia-wide. This project was slated to be completed by 1 September 2009.

On 31 August 2009, Vodafone enabled an extended 900mhz 3G UMTS network which functions outside their 2100mhz 3G network, boosting Vodafone's 3G population coverage from around 8% to around 94% on dual-band 900/2100mhz 3G UMTS devices.

Nar Mobile in Azerbaijan was signed as a Partner Network on 22 July 2009, while Chunghwa Telecom of Taiwan was signed on 12 November 2009.

Africa and the Middle East

Egypt

In November 1998, network went live under the name ClickGSM.

On 8 November 2006, the Company announced a deal with Telecom Egypt, resulting in further co-operation in the Egyptian market, and increasing its stake in Vodafone Egypt. After the deal, Vodafone Egypt was 55% owned by the group, while the remaining 45% was owned by Telecom Egypt.

On 28 January 2011, Vodafone complied with Egyptian government instructions to suspend Internet service "in selected areas" during a period of anti-Mubarak protests. The company issued a statement that "Under Egyptian legislation, the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it."

Vodafone also received public and media criticism for allowing the authorities to send mass pro-government messages via SMS over their network during the protests. One such message requested that "honest and loyal men" should "confront the traitors and criminals". Vodafone later issued a statement asserting that they had no choice but to allow the messages to be broadcast, and that they had complained to the Egyptian authorities about the practice.

Kuwait

On 18 September 2002, Vodafone signed a Partner Network Agreement with MTC group of Kuwait. The agreement involved the rebranding of MTC to MTC-Vodafone. On 29 December 2003, Vodafone signed another Partner Network Agreement with Kuwait's MTC group. The second agreement involved co-operation in Bahrain and the branding of the network as MTC-Vodafone.

South Africa ()

On 3 November 2004, the Company announced that its South African affiliate Vodacom had agreed to introduce Vodafone's international services, such as Vodafone live! and partner agreements, to its local market.

In November 2005, Vodafone announced that it was in exclusive talks to buy a 15% stake of VenFin in Vodacom Group, reaching agreement the following day. Vodafone and Telkom then had a 50% stake each in Vodacom. Vodafone now owns 65% of Vodacom after purchasing a 15% stake from Telkom.

On 9 October 2008, the company offered to acquire an additional 15 per cent stake in Vodacom group from Telkom. The finalised details of the agreement were announced on 6 November 2008. The agreement called for Telkom to sell 15 per cent of its 50 per cent stake in Vodacom to the group, and demerge the other 35 per cent to its shareholder. Meanwhile, Vodafone has agreed to make Vodacom its exclusive sub-Saharan Africa investment vehicle, as well as continuing to maintain the visibility of the Vodacom brand. The transaction is closed in May/June 2009.

On 18 May 2009, Vodacom entered the JSE Limited stock exchange in South Africa after Vodafone increased its stake by 15% to 65% to take a majority holding, despite disputes by local trade unions.

Ghana

In December 2007, a Vodafone Group-led consortium was awarded the second mobile phone licence in Qatar, and on 3 July 2008, Vodafone agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Ghana Telecom for $900 million. The acquisition was consummated on 17 August 2008. The same group-led consortium won the second fixed-line licence in Qatar on 15 September 2008.

On 15 April 2009, Ghana Telecom, along with its mobile subsidiary onetouch, was rebranded as .

U.A.E.

On 28 January 2009, the group announced a partner network agreement with , the second-largest operator of the United Arab Emirates. The agreement involved co-operation on international clients, handset procurement, mobile broadband etc.

Libya

On 24 February 2010, the group signed a partner network agreement with the second-largest operator in Libya, al Madar.

The Americas

In the United States, Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the country's largest mobile carrier after their merger with Alltel. The percentage of the customer base, and revenues of Verizon Wireless that Vodafone consolidates is slightly lower, since some Verizon Wireless subsidiaries have minority investors. (Hence the exact percentages that Vodafone and Verizon report vary from period to period: in June 2006 Vodafone reported that Verizon Wireless owned 98.6% of its customers at that date.) Before this joint venture was formed, Vodafone merged with AirTouch Communications of the U.S. in June 1999, and changed its name to Vodafone Airtouch plc. In September 1999, Vodafone Airtouch announced a $70-billion joint venture with Bell Atlantic Corp. Verizon Wireless was composed of Bell Atlantic's and Vodafone AirTouch's U.S. wireless assets, and began operations on 4 April 2000. However, - the company formed when Bell Atlantic and GTE merged on 30 June 2000 - owns a majority of Verizon Wireless, and Vodafone's branding is not used, nor is the CDMA network compatible with GSM phones. This relationship has been quite profitable for Vodafone, but there have historically been three problems with it. The first is the above- mentioned incompatibility with the GSM 900/1800 MHz standard used by Vodafone's other networks, and the consequent difficulty of offering roaming between Vodafone's U.S. and other networks. The other two stem from the fact that Vodafone does not have management control over Verizon Wireless. Vodafone is thus unable to use the Vodafone brand for its U.S. operations, and (perhaps more importantly) has no control of dividend policy at Verizon Wireless, and is therefore entirely at the mercy of Verizon management with respect to cash flow from Verizon Wireless.

Perhaps as a consequence of these reasons, Vodafone made a bid for the entirety of AT&T Wireless when that company was for sale in 2004. Had this bid been successful, Vodafone would presumably have sold its stake in Verizon Wireless, and then rebranded the resultant business as Vodafone. However, Cingular Wireless, at the time a joint venture of SBC Communications and BellSouth (both now part of AT&T), ultimately outbid Vodafone and took control of AT&T Wireless (the combined wireless carrier is now AT&T Mobility), and Vodafone's relationship with Verizon has continued.

Early in 2006, Verizon re-iterated their desire to buy out the remaining 45% of stock of Verizon Wireless from Vodafone Group. Vodafone has also repeatedly indicated that it would be willing to buy out Verizon's stake.

Verizon has announced that its data network will be LTE, which is considered part of the GSM path and not the CDMA2000 path Verizon has been using; it has been suggested[who?] this is to appease Vodafone, which uses GSM on its own networks.

On 11 May 2008, Vodafone sealed a trade agreement with the Chilean Entel PCS Chile, in which Entel PCS has access to the equipment and international services of Vodafone, and Vodafone will be one of the trademarks of Entel for the wireless business. This step will give the Vodafone brand access to a market of over 15 million people, currently divided among three companies: Telefonica Movistar, Claro, and Entel PCS.

Mobile Money Transfer Service

In March 2007, , which is part owned by Vodafone and the leading mobile communication provider in Kenya, launched a mobile payment solution developed by Vodafone. M-PESA is aimed at mobile customers who do not have a bank account, typically because they do not have access to a bank or their income is insufficient to justify a bank account. The M-PESA systemallows customers to deposit and withdraw cash via local agents, and transfer money to other mobile phone users via SMS.

By February 2008, the M-PESA money transfer system in Kenya had gained 1.6 million customers and Vodafone announced that it was to extend the service to Afghanistan. The service here was launched on the Roshan network under the brand M-Paisa with a different focus to the Kenyan service. M-Paisa was targeted as a vehicle for microfinance institutions' (MFI) loan disbursements and repayments, alongside business to business applications such as salary disbursement. The service has now been transitioned to be operationally run by IBM Global Services on behalf of Vodafone, the initial 3 markets (Kenya, Tanzania & Afghanistan) are hosted by Rackspace.

The Afghanistan launch was followed in April 2008 by the announcement of further a further launch of M-PESA in Tanzania. As an operator of money transmission services, Vodafone became subject to anti-money laundering regulation and in July 2008, it was revealed that it had deployed a sanctions and PEP (Politically Exposed Persons) screening solution from Datanomic for weekly screening of 2.5 million customers in Tanzania.The screening service was to be rolled out to Afghanistan, Kenya, India and Datanomic disclosed that the solution might be used to screen all of Vodafone's 300 million customers globally.

Chief Executives

In a period just short of twenty years from its initial public offering, the Company had had just three Chief Executives. The fourth CEO, , stepped up from Deputy Chief Executive in July 2008. Each of his predecessors made a personal contribution to the development of the Company. Sir Gerald Whent, at that time an Executive with Racal Electronics plc, was responsible for the bid for a UK licence. The Mobile Telecoms division was de-merged, and was floated on the London Stock Exchange in October 1988 and Sir Gerald became Chief Executive of Racal Telecom plc. Over the next few years the company grew to become the UK's Market Leader, changing its name to Vodafone Group plc in the process.

Sir Christopher Gent took over as Chief Executive in January 1997, after Sir Gerald's retirement. Sir Christopher was responsible for transforming Vodafone from a small UK operator into the global behemoth that it is today, through the merger with the American AirTouch and the takeover of Germany's Mannesmann.

Arun Sarin was the driving force behind the Company's move into emerging markets such as Asia and Africa, through the purchases such as that of Turkish operator Telsim, and a majority stake in Hutchison Essar in India. Faced with increased competition, and penetration rates above 100% in the more mature European markets, he saw it necessary to diversify from being a mobile-only business into a company which provided all telecommunications services. This has seen Vodafone launch DSL and other fixed-line services in markets such as Germany and the UK.

Financial results

Vodafone reports its results in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Vodafone has some large minority stakes, which are not included in its consolidated turnover. In order to provide additional information on the overall scale and growth trends of its business, it publishes "proportionate turnover" figures, and these are included in the tables below. For example, if a business in which it owns a 45% stake has turnover of £10 billion, that equals £4.5 billion of proportionate turnover for Vodafone. Proportionate turnover is not an official accounting measure, and Vodafone's proportionate turnover should be compared with other companies' statutory turnover.

Vodafone also produces proportionate customer number figures on a similar basis, e.g. if an operator in which it has a 30% stake has 10 million customers that equals 3 million proportionate Vodafone customers. This is a common practice in the mobile telecommunications industry. The group's recent first quarter trading update (24 July 2009) saw management reiterating its profit guidance for the full year. Whilst revenues across Europe had been relatively weak, mirroring general economic conditions, there had been a positive showing from South Africa, with the company's Indian purchase of Hutchison Essar continuing to generate returns. Meanwhile, its joint venture with Verizon in the US had strengthened further, with Vodafone's overall customer base now standing at 315 million - 8 million having been added during the first quarter. In addition, management noted that its cost reduction programme, targeted to save £1bn in operating costs by the end of the 2011 financial year, would reach 65pc of its target by the end of the current financial year. The Group admitted in August 2010 that £1.25 billion in tax that should have been paid in Britain was actually paid in Luxembourg and elsewhere

Criticisms

In September 2010, an investigation by Private Eye magazine revealed certain details of Vodafone's tax avoidance activities. It was reported that Vodafone routed the acquisition of Mannesmann through a Luxembourg subsidiary, set up to avoid paying tax on the deal, and continued to place its profits in Luxembourg. Following a long legal struggle with HMRC (during which a senior HMRC official, John Connors, switched sides to become head of tax at Vodafone), it was eventually agreed that Vodafone would pay £1.25bn related to the acquisition. Based on Vodafone's accounts, experts have estimated the potential tax bill written off as a result of the negotiations was over £6bn.[46]

The news of this legal tax avoidance sparked angry protests, beginning in October 2010 and ongoing as of April 2011, outside Vodafone shops across the UK, organised under the banner of UK Uncut. The first protests caused the simultaneous closure of over a dozen stores, including the flagship Oxford St. branch.

Vodafone was also assessed a $2.5 billion tax over its acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa's Indian assets in 2007, a demand that it contests.

Vodafone was implicated in the violent suppression of pro-democracy protests in Egypt's 2011 demonstrations. On January 27, Vodafone, responsible for much of Egypt's telecommunication infrastructure, shut off all voice and data services for Egyptian citizens and businesses at the request of the Egyptian Government under Hosni Mubarak. The Daily Telegraph of the UK reported, "The Egyptian government’s action is unprecedented in the history of the internet." U.S.-based Internet intelligence firm Renesys stated, "in an action unprecedented in Internet history, the Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all international connections to the Internet." Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said his company was cooperating fully with the totalitarian government.

Products

Products promoted by the Group include Vodafone live!, Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Modem, Vodafone Connect to Friends, Vodafone Passport, Vodafone Freedom Packs, Vodafone at Home, Vodafone 710 and Amobee Media Systems. Between June and August 2009, Vodafone suspended roaming charges within 35 different countries, allowing their customers to take their standard UK price plan abroad.

In October 2009, it launched Vodafone 360 , a new internet service for the mobile, PC and Mac. On February 15, 2010 Vodafone launched world's cheapest mobile phone known as Vodafone 150, will sell for below $15 (£10) and is aimed at the developing world. It will initially be launched in India, Turkey and eight African countries including Lesotho, Kenya and Ghana. BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (abbreviated BSNL; भारत संचार िनगम िलिमिटड) is a state-owned telecommunications company headquartered in New Delhi, India. BSNL is one of the largest Indian cellular service providers, with over 83.6 million subscribers as of January 2011, and the largest land line telephone provider in India. However, in recent years the company's revenue and market share plunged into heavy losses due to intense competition in Indian telecommunications sector.

BSNL is India's oldest and largest communication service provider (CSP). It had a customer base of 90 million as of June 2008. It has footprints throughout India except for the metropolitan cities of Mumbai and New Delhi, which are managed by Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL). As of June 30, 2010, BSNL had a customer base of 27.45 million wireline and 72.69 million wireless subscribers.

Services

BSNL provides almost every telecom service in India. Following are the main telecom services provided by BSNL:

Universal Telecom Services : Fixed wireline services & landline in Local loop (WLL) using CDMA Technology called bfone and Tarang respectively. As of June 30, 2010, BSNL has 75% marketshare of fixed lines.

Cellular Mobile Telephone Services: BSNL is major provider of Cellular Mobile Telephone services using GSM platform under the brand name Cellone & Excel (BSNL Mobile). As of June 30, 2010 BSNL has 13.50% share of mobile telephony in the country.

WLL-CDMA Telephone Services: BSNL's WLL (Wireless in Local Loop)service is a service giving both fixed line telephony & Mobile telephony.

Internet: BSNL provides internet services through dial-up connection (Sancharnet) as Prepaid, (NetOne) as Postpaid and ADSL broadband (BSNL Broadband). BSNL holds 55.76% of the market share with reported subscriber base of 9.19 million Internet subscribers with 7.79% of growth at the end of Mar-10.[citation needed] Top 12 Dial-up Service providers, based on the subscriber base, It Also Provides OnlineGames Via Its Games on Demand(GOD)

Intelligent Network (IN): BSNL provides IN services offers value-added services, such as Free Phone Service (FPH), India Telephone Card (Prepaid card), Account Card Calling (ACC), Virtual Private Network (VPN), Tele- voting, Premium Rae Service (PRM), Universal Access Number (UAN) and more.

3G:BSNL offers the '3G' or the'3rd Generation' services which includes facilities like video calling, live TV, 3G Video portal, streaming services like online full length movies and video on demand etc

IPTV:BSNL also offers the 'Internet Protocol Television' facility which enables us[who?] to watch television through internet.

FTTH:Fibre To The Home facility that offers a higher bandwidth for data transfer. This idea was proposed on post-December 2009.

Helpdesk: BSNL's Helpdesk (Helpdesk) provide help desk support to their customers for their services.

Administrative units

BSNL is divided into a number of administrative units termed as telecom circles, metro districts, project circles and specialized units, as mentioned below:

BSNL is divided into a number of administrative units termed as telecom circles, metro districts, project circles and specialized units, as mentioned below:

• Telecom Circles in India

• Andaman & Nicobar Telecom Circle

• Dobaspet

• Tamilnadu Telecom Circle

• Telecom Circle

• Bihar Telecom Circle • Andhra Pradesh Telecom Circle

• Assam Telecom Circle

• Telecom Circle

• Gujarat Telecom Circle

• Haryana Telecom Circle

• Himachal Pradesh Telecom Circle

• Jammu & Kashmir Telecom Circle

• Jharkhand Telecom Circle

• Karnataka Telecom Circle

• Kerala Telecom Circle

• Madhya Pradesh Telecom Circle

• Maharashtra Telecom Circle

• North East-I Telecom Circle

• North East-II Telecom Circle

• Orissa Telecom Circle

• Punjab Telecom Circle

• Rajasthan Telecom Circle

• Uttranchal Telecom Circle

===Metro Districts===

• Kolkata

• Chennai

Project Circles

• Eastern Telecom Project Circle • Western Telecom Project Circle

• Northern Telecom Project Circle

• Project Circle

• IT Project Circle, Pune

Maintenance Regions

Eastern Telecom Maintenance Region

Western Telecom Maintenance Region

Northern Telecom Maintenance Region

Southern Telecom Maintenance Region

Production Units

Telecom Factory, Mumbai

Telecom Factory, Jabalpur

Telecom Factory, Richhai

Telecom Factory, Kolkata

Present and future

BSNL then known as Department of Telecom had been a near monopoly during the socialist period of the Indian economy. During this period, BSNL was the only telecom service provider in the country MTNL was present only in Mumbai and New Delhi). During this period BSNL operated as a typical state- run organization, inefficient, slow, bureaucratic, and heavily unionised. As a result subscribers had to wait for as long as five years to get a telephone connection. The corporation tasted competition for the first time after the liberalisation of Indian economy in 1991. Faced with stiff competition from the private telecom service providers, BSNL has subsequently tried to increase efficiencies itself. DoT veterans, however, put the onus for the sorry state of affairs on the Government policies, where in all state-owned service providers were required to function as mediums for achieving egalitarian growth across all segments of the society. The corporation (then DoT), however, failed miserably to achieve this and India languished among the most poorly connected countries in the world. BSNL was born in 2000 after the corporatisation of DoT. The efficiency of the company has since improved little a bit. However, the performance level is nowhere near the private players. The corporation remains heavily unionised and is comparatively slow in decision making and its implementation, which largely acts at the instances of unions without bothering about outcome. Management has been reactive to the schemes of private telecom players. Over the past ten years BSNL's management is not able to absorb Group A(ITS) officers, who are working in BSNL illegally as borrowed staff. BSNL board having cronyism in its attitude, has not relieved unabsorbed ITS officers from BSNL despite knowing the fact that their deputation in BSNL is over on 22/12/2008 and they are to be delieved from BSNL as per Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) Order dated 26/11/2006. DOPT Order dated 26/11/2006 inter-alia states that (1) On completion of deputation period, the deputationist officers will be deemed to have been relieved from the borrowing organisation; (2) If deputationist officers do not report back to the parent department, the disciplinary action must be initiated against him; and (3) The perion of overstay on deputation shall not be treated as qualifying service for the purpose of retirement benefits. This is how the unabsorbed ITS officers are sitting illegally in BSNL despite clear orders. This has considerably reduced the ability of management to take risks and get rewarded in open telecom field. Though it offers services at lowest tariffs, the private players continue to notch up better numbers in all areas, years after year. BSNL has been providing connections in both urban and rural areas. Pre- activated Mobile connections are available at many places across India. BSNL has also unveiled cost-effective broadband internet access plans (DataOne) targeted at homes and small businesses. At present BSNL enjoy's around 60% of market share of ISP services.

2007 has been declared as "Year of Broadband" in India and BSNL is in the process of providing 5 million Broadband connectivity by the end of 2007. BSNL has upgraded existing Dataone (Broadband) connections for a speed of up to 2 Mbit/s without any extra cost. This 2 Mbit/s broadband service is being provided by BSNL at a cost of just US$ 11.7 per month (as of 21 July 2008 and at a limit of 2.5GB monthly limit with 0200-0800 hrs as no charge period). Further, BSNL is rolling out new broadband services such as triple play.

BSNL is planning to increase its customer base to 108 million customers by 2010. With the frantic activity in the communication sector in India, the target appears achievable.

BSNL is a pioneer of rural telephony in India. BSNL has recently bagged 80% of US$ 580 m (INR 2,500 crores) Rural Telephony project of .

On the 20th of March, 2009, BSNL advertised the launch of BlackBerry services across its Telecom circles in India. The corporation has also launched 3G services in select cities across the country. Presently, BSNL and MTNL are the only players to provide 3G services, as the Government of India has completed auction of 3G services for private players. BSNL shall get 3G bandwidth at lowest bidder prices of Rs 18,500 crore, which includes Rs 10,186 crore for 3G and Rs 8313crore for BWA.[One crore is 10 million.]BSNL management has paid this money under protest seeking refund.

BSNL also launched an Entertainment Portal called BSNL Hungama which provides contents like music and music video to users for download. This functions as a fixed monthly plan.

Challenges

During the financial year 2008-2009 (from April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009) BSNL has added 8.1 million new customers in various telephone services taking its customer base to 75.9 million. BSNL's nearest competitor Bharti Airtel is standing at a customer base of 62.3 million. However, despite impressive growth shown by BSNL in recent times, the Fixed line customer base of BSNL is declining. In order to woo back its fixed-line customers BSNL has brought down long distance calling rate under OneIndia plan, however, the success of the scheme is not known. However, BSNL faces bleak fiscal 2009-2010 as users flee

Presently there is an intense competition in Indian Telecom sector and various Telcos are rolling out attractive schemes and are providing good customer services. Access Deficit Charges (ADC, a levy being paid by the private operators to BSNL for provide service in non-lucrative areas especially rural areas) has been slashed by 20% by TRAI, w.e.f. April 1, 2009. The reduction in ADC may hit the bottomlines of BSNL.

BSNL has started 3G services in 290 cities and acquired more than 6 Lakh customers. It has planned to roll out 3G services in 760 cities across the country in 2010-11.

Broadband services : The shift in demand from voice to data has revolutionized the very nature of the network. BSNL is poised to cash on this opportunity and has planned for extensive expansion of the Broadband services. The Broadband customer base of 3.56 Million customer in March'2009 is planned to be increased to 16.00 million by March 2014.Now bsnl is the under top five telecom service provider company in India.

BSNL - MTNL Merger Plans

On February 23, 2011, The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said it wanted to revive a proposal for the merger of state-owned operators BSNL and MTNL. In its draft plan, the department while showing concern over the deteriorating performance of BSNL and MTNL said that BSNL and MTNL should be merged as they have complimentary operations and can combine their strengths for synergies. DoT said the government should set up a multi- stakeholder committee to develop a restructuring plan for both firms. The committee should have members from public enterprises, the DoT, department of IT and ministry of finance. The telecommunication operators should focus on enterprise business, services to government and the public sector, value-added services and technologies like 3G, the department recommends.

3G

While it did not participate in the 3G auction, BSNL will have to pay the Indian government Rs. 10,187 crores for spectrum in all 20 circles it operates in. State- owned MTNL provides 3G services in the other 2 circles - Delhi and Mumbai. Both these state-owned operators were given a head start by the government in the 3G space by allotting the required 3G spectrum, on the condition that each will have to pay an amount which will be equivalent to the highest bid in the respective service areas as and when the 3G auctions take place.

3G Coverage

BSNL has the largest 3G network in India. Additionally, BSNL 3G services usually cover not only the main town/city but also the adjoining suburbs and rural areas as well.

The following is a list of BSNL 3G enabled towns/cities. This list covers only BSNL 3G services provided through HSDPA for GSM subscribers and not EVDO for CDMA subscribers.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Assam

Biswanath Chariali, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Duliajan, Guwahati, Mangaldai, North Lakhimpur, Tezpur, Tinsukia,Silchar,Barpeta,Bongaigaon

Bihar

Araria, Arrah, Aurangabad, Bagaha, Banka, Barauni, Barh, Begusarai, Bettiah, Bhabua, Bhagalpur, Bihar Sharif, Bikramganj, Bodh Gaya, Buxar, Chhapra, Dalmianagar, Darbhanga, Gaya, Gopalganj, Hajipur, Jamui, Jamalpur, Jehanabad, Kahalgaon, Katihar, Khagaria, Kishanganj, Lakhisarai, Madhepura, Madhubani, Mahnar Bazar, Motihari, Munger, Muzaffarpur, Narkatiaganj, Nawada, Patna, Purnia, Rajgir, Ramnagar, Saharsa, Samastipur, Sasaram, Sheikhpura, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Siwan, Supaul

Goa

Panaji

Gujarat

Bhavnagar

Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu, Srinagar Jharkhand

Bokaro, Dhanbad, Deoghar, Godda, Gumla, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Jamtara, Koderma, Khunti, Latehar, Pakur, Ramgarh, Ranchi, Simdega

Kerala

Adoor, Alappuzha, Aluva, Attingal, Chalakkudy, Changanassery, Chathamangalam, Chavakkad, Cherthala, Guruvayur, Ernakulam/, Idukki, Kalpetta, Kannur, Karunagappally, Kasargode, Kanhangad, Kavaratti (Lakshadweep), Kayamkulam, Kollam, Kondotty, Kottayam, Koyilandy, , Kumarakom, Kunnamangalam, Mahé (Pondicherry), Malappuram, Mananthavady, Mavelikkara, Munnar, Nedumbassery, Ottapalam, Pathanamthitta, Palakkad, Payyannur, Punalur, Sabarimala, Shoranur, Sultan Bathery, Taliparamba, Thalassery, , Thrissur, Tirur, Vatakara

Maharashtra

Ahmednagar, Akola, Alibag, Amravati, Aurangabad, Baramati, Beed, Bhandara, Bhiwandi, Bhusawal, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Deolali, Dhule, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Hingoli, Ichalkaranji, Igatpuri, Jalgaon, Jalna, Kalyan, Karad, Karjat, Khopoli, Kolhapur, Latur, Lonavala, Mahad, Malegaon, Manmad, Nagpur, Nanded, Nandurbar, Nashik, Osmanabad, Pandharpur, Pankanergaon, Parbhani, Pen, Pune, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Satara, Sawantvadi, Shirdi, Sindhudurg, Sinnar, Solapur, Ulhasnagar, Vasai, Wardha, Washim, Yeotmal

Meghalaya

Byrnihat, Jowai, Shillong, Tura, Williamnagar

Tamil Nadu

Ariyalur, Chennai, Coimbatore, Coonoor, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Erode, Hosur, Kanyakumari, Karaikal (Pondicherry), Karaikudi, Karur, Kodaikanal, Krishnagiri, Kumbakonam, Madurai, Nagapattinam, Nagercoil, Namakkal, Ooty, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Pondicherry, Ramanathapuram, Salem, Sivakasi, Sivaganga, Thanjavur, Theni, Tiruchirappalli (Trichy), Tirunelveli, Tirupur, Tiruvannamalai, Tiruvarur, Tuticorin, Vellore, Villupuram, Virudhunagar West Bengal

Adra, Purulia, Andal, Bardhaman, Asansol, Baharampur, Balurghat, Bandel, Bankura, Barakar, Bishnupur, Bankura, Burnpur, Bardhaman, Cooch Behar, Dalkhola, Dankuni, Darjeeling, Digha, Durgapur, West Bengal, Farrakka Barrage Township, Haldia, Howrah, Islampur, Uttar Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Kalyani, West Bengal, Kharagpur, Kolaghat, Kolkata, Krishnanagar, Nadia, Malda, Purulia, Raiganj, Rampurhat, Ranaghat, Raniganj, Tamluk, Siliguri, Suri, Birbhum

Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal, Gwalior, Dewas, Indore, Jabalpur, Mandideep, Mhow, Pithampur

Recognitions

The Brand Trust Report published by Trust Research Advisory ranked BSNL in the 65th position of the list of Most Trusted brands.

Competitors

BSNL competes with 14 other mobile operators throughout India. They are , Airtel Cheers Mobile, Idea, , MTNL, MTS, Ping Mobile, , , Tata DoCoMo, Tata Indicom, Uninor, Videocon, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone.

Quality of Servcie

Negatives

Since the large amount of their subscriber base they have often failed to provide good call centers and online resolution to common people. The waiting period is often cited to make people more frustrated than solve their queries quickly.

Long waiting periods, untrained call center team etc are the common negatives put in by the general public on BSNL. IDEA

Date of Establishment 1996

Revenue 2643.37 ( USD in Millions )

Market Cap 217024.9378785 ( Rs. in Millions )

Corporate Address Suman Tower,Plot No 18 Sector 11, Gandhinagar-382011, Gujarat www.ideacellular.com

Management Details

Chairperson -

MD - Himanshu Kapania

Directors - Akshaya Moondra, Ambrish Jain, Arun Thiagarajan, Biswajit A Subramanian, Biswajit Anna Subramanian, Gian Prakash Gupta, Hans Wijayasuriya, Himanshu Kapania, Juan Villalonga Navarro, Kumar Mangalam Birla, M R Prasanna, Mohan Gyani, P Murari, Pankaj Kapdeo, R C Bhargava, Rajashree Birla, Rakesh Jain, Sanjeev Aga, Shridhir Sariputta Hansa Wijayasuriya, Tarjani Vakil

Business Operation Telecommunication - Service Provider

Background

Idea cellular, a part of , is one of India’s leading GSM mobile services operator.

This telecom company has licenses to operate in all 22 service areas. Presently it is operating in 13 circles. Idea Cellular value-added services like GPRS, call conference, GSM, GPS and also

Financials Total Income - Rs. 124376.19 Million ( year ending Mar 2010)

Net Profit - Rs. 10536.55 Million ( year ending Mar 2010)

Company Secretary Pankaj Kapdeo

Bankers

Auditors Deloittee Haskins & Sells

Idea cellular, a part of Aditya Birla group, is one of India’s leading GSM mobile services operator.

This telecom company has licenses to operate in all 22 service areas. Presently it is operating in 13 circles. Idea Cellular value-added services like GPRS, call conference, GSM, GPS and also provides customized solutions according to business specific needs.

With a customer base of 30 million, it is among top 25 telecom companies.

Through merger and acquisitions, Idea Cellular has received established service areas for mobile operations. In January 2001 it merged with Tata Cellular, which had service area in Andhra Pradesh. In June 2001, through its acquisition of RPG Cellcom, it received Madhya Pradesh service area. In January 2004 it received service areas of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala through its acquisition of Escotel Mobile Communication (Escotel). In 2006 it became part of Aditya Birla Group. Idea Cellular has acquired 40.8% stake in Spice Communication.

Milestones

It received the 'CARE' service in the 'Best Billing or Customer Care Solution' award at the GSM Association Awards in Barcelona, Spain

Idea Cellular won an award for the 'Bill Flash' service at GSM Association Awards in Barcelona, Spain.

Recent developments:

Idea Cellular has tied up with Taiwan’s handset manufacturer HTC offering two touch phone models targeting the premium segment in India. The two Taiwan made models called HTC Touch Pro and HTC Touch Viva are based on Windows mobile platform offer elegant touch screen experience. Idea Cellular has launched EDGE enabled USB Data card ‘Netsetter’ for prepaid and postpaid subscribers in Mumbai.This data card would be priced at Rs.2,490. It will provide anywhere-anytime internet access and is only Data Card having compatibility with multiple operating systems such as Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and Mac. RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS

Reliance Communications Limited (commonly called RCOM) is a major Indian telecommunication company headquartered in Navi Mumbai, India. It is the 16th largest operator in the world with more than 128 million subscribers. RCOM, founded by Dhirubhai H Ambani (1932–2002), is the flagship company of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group currently has a worth in excess of 64,000 crore (US$13.6 billion), cash flows of 13,000 crore ($2.8 billion), and a net profit of 8,400 crore ($1.8 billion). The Equity Shares of RCOM are listed on Bombay Stock Exchange Limited and National Stock Exchange Limited. The Global Depository Receipts and Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds are listed on Luxembourg Stock Exchange and Singapore Stock Exchange respectively.

Background

It ranks among the top 5 telecommunications companies. Retrieved 2010-04-14. in the world by number of customers in a single country. Reliance Communications corporate clientele includes 2,100 Indian and multinational corporations, and over 800 global, regional and domestic carriers. The company has established a pan-India, next-generation, integrated (wireless and wireline), convergent (voice, data and video) digital network that is capable of supporting services spanning the entire communications value chain, covering over 24,000 towns and 600,000 villages. Reliance Communications owns and operates the next-generation IP-enabled connectivity infrastructure, comprising over 190,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable systems in India, USA, Europe, Middle East and the Asia Pacific region.

Main subsidiaries

Reliance Telecommunication Limited (RTL)

In July 2007, the company announced it was buying US-based managed ethernet and application delivery services company Yipes Enterprise Services for a cash amount of 1200 crore (the equivalent of US$300 million). The deal was announced of the overseas acquisition, the Reliance group has amalgamated the United States-based Flag Telecom for $210 million (roughly 950 crore). RTL operates in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Assam, Kolkata and Northeast, offering GSM services.[3]

Reliance Globalcom

RGL owns the worlds largest private undersea cable system,spanning 65,000 km seamlessly integrated with Reliance Communications. Over 110,000 km of domestic optic fiber provides a robust Global Service Delivery Platform, connecting 40 key business markets in India, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the U.S.

Reliance Internet (RIDC)

RIDC provides Internet Data Center (IDC) services located in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. Spread across 650,000 sq ft (60,000 m2) of hosting space, it offers IT infrastructure management services to large, medium and small enterprises. It is one of the leading data center service provider in India and provides services like colocation, managed server hosting, virtual private server and data security. It has launched cloud computing services, offering product under its infrastructure as a server (Iaas) and software as a service (Saas) portfolio, which enables enterprises, mainly small and medium, a cost-effective IT infrastructure and application on pay-per-user model.

Reliance Big TV Limited

Main article: Big TV

Reliance Big Tv launched in August 2008 and thereafter acquired 1 million subscribers within 90 days of launch, the fastest ramp-up ever achieved by any DTH operator in the world. Reliance Big TV offers its 1.7 million customers DVD-quality pictures on over 200 channels using MPEG-4 technology.

Reliance Infratel Limited (RITL)

RITL’s business is to build, own and operate telecommunication towers, optic fiber cable assets and related assets at designated sites, and to provide these passive telecommunication infrastructure assets on a shared basis to wireless service providers and other communications service providers under long-term contracts.

Acquisition FLAG Telecom

Yipes ethernet service

Digicable

Offices

Reliance Communications Limited has its offices in , Bangalore, Bhopal, , Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna and Pune.

3G and BWA

On 19 May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction in India ended. Reliance Communications paid 5864.29 crores for spectrum in 13 circles. The circles it will provide 3G in are Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, North East, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal.

On 5 November 2010, RCom became the second private sector telecom company (fourth overall) to launch 3G services in India, with a 4 city launch in Chandigarh, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

On 11 June, 2010, the broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum auction in India ended. However, RCom said that it exited the broadband wireless access (BWA) auction a week before, after auction prices significantly exceeded its business case estimates. They are planning to focus on broadband wireless through 3G-ready pan India CDMA. RCOM has 3G spectrum for 13 circles. RCOM also said that they prefer “LTE standard offering a single evolution path for both, CDMA & GSM networks”, and that the “WiMAX ecosystem has weakened after WiMAX operators like and Yota moved to LTE”.

3G Coverage

Reliance’s 3G service is currently available in the following cities in 13 telecom circles:

Subscriber base

The Reliance Communication subscriber base is about 128.87 million as of February 2011. Competitors

Reliance Communications competes with 14 other mobile operators throughout India. They are Aircel, Airtel Cheers Mobile, BSNL, Idea, Loop Mobile, MTNL, MTS, Ping Mobile, S Tel, Tata DoCoMo, Tata Indicom, Uninor, Videocon, Virgin Mobile (GSM & CDMA) and Vodafone. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

• To analyse the customers preference towards mobile connections.

• To analyse the various factors which influence their behaviour towards mobile connections.

• To ascertain the effect of Mobile Number Portability on loyality of customers towards their mobile connections. REVIEW OF LITERATURE A brief literature would be of immense help to the researcher in gaininginsight into selected problem. The researcher would gain good backgroundknowledge of the problem by reviewing certain studies. A reference to theseentire studies will be related in the contest of the shaping the present study. Samuval, in his study found that most of the respondents consider, size,quality, price, instrument servicing are an important factors for selecting thehandset of majority of the respondents are satisfied over the payment system,quality of services, coverage area, and attending the complaints. 1. Samuvel, “customer satisfaction for cellular services, a study with a referacneto BPL and Aircel mobile phones and services”, an unpublished M.Phil.,dissertation, submitted to Bharathiar university, Coimbatore, December 2002. Sree Nandhini, in her study shows that 88.3% of the respondents are cellphone helps that to deal business matter confidently and effectively. This studyshows that attitude of the respondents using cell phones was not influenced byeither education or occupation and income. 2. Sree nandhini, “an investigation of user perception and altitude to cellularphone in Coimbatore”, an unpublished submitted to Bharathiar university,December, 2001. P. Adhavan (2003), in his study “existing customer relation” found that the dealer’s service regarding Aircel cellular is highly satisfactory. Hutchison’s managing director Asim and Ghosh 2005 says in the article,“Telecommunication” telecommunication is such a huge sector and it is so easyto be reduced by its different ponts, but thankfully we were” 4. Asin Glosh, “telecommunication” business world 27th January 2003 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done systematically & scientifically. The scope of research methodology is wider than that of research method. Thus when we talk of research methodology we will not only talk of the research method but also consider the logic behind the methods we use in the context of our research study and explain why we are using a particular method or techniques.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

Research design is the blue print for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. It is framework for conducting the research project. It details the procedures necessary for obtaining the information need to structure or solve research. My project research design is a descriptive research. Because descriptive research studies are those studies which are concerned which describing the characteristics of particular individual or a group.

SAMPLE PLAN:

Sampling is an effective step in collection of primary data and has a great influence on the quality of results. The sampling plan includes the population, sample size and sampling design.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE:

For conducting the study, convenience-sampling method was adopted.The respondents were interviewed with help of a structured questionnaire. SAMPLE UNIT:

It refers to smallest possible individual eligible respondents .In my study the sampling unit is single individual respondents who are mainly the students . SAMPLE SIZE:

Sample size for the project is taken from 100 respondents and sample is mainly consisted for students and young faculty members.

COLLECTION OF THE DATA

The data for this project is collected from primary sources and secondary sources.

PRIMARY DATA:

The data relating to the project is collected by direct investigation and survey .For collecting data structured questionnaire is prepared.

SECONDARY DATA

The secondary data is collected by getting information from various books, magazines, and internet sites. The secondary sources were used to gain basic and extra information regarding preference of mobile connections.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

For the purpose of analyzing, raw data was summarized into different tables and from these tables the results were derived. The questions, which had alternative choices, were analyzed by taking percentage. The analysis of data is done by preparing pie charts and bar diagrams. There were various sources of data collection used for this study. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA Respondents having Mobile Connection

Options No. Of Respondents %age Of Respondents 97 97 No 03 03 Total 100 100

Interpretation

Out of 100 respondents 97% respondents have mobile connection. Which mobile Connection Is Widely Used By The Respondents

Options No. Of Respondents %age Of respondents Airtel 22 23 Vodafone 25 26 BSNL 21 21 Idea 22 23 Reliance 04 04 Others 03 03 Total 97 100

Interpretation

26% respondents are using Vodafone connection and 4% are having Reliance connection.

Price Of Mobile Sims Options No. Of Respondents %age Of Respondents Below 100 47 48 Above 100 48 50 Don’t Know 02 02 Total 97 100

Interpretation

48% respondents are using mobile sim costing below 100.

Which Kind Of Mobile Connection Sim Is Widely Used Options No. Of Respondents %age Of Respondents Pre-Paid 82 85 Post-Paid 15 15 Total 97 100

Interpretation

85% respondents are using pre-paid sim and only 15% respondents are using post-paid sim.

Best Service In Respondents Mobile Connection Options No. Of Respondents %age Of Respondents Message Pack 33 29 Validity 16 14 Network 47 42 Roaming 04 04 3G 07 06 Any Other 06 05 Total 97 100

Interpretation

42% consider network service for opting a mobile connection and only 4% respondents give preference to roaming service.

From How Long the Respondents Are Having Their Mobile Connections

Options No. Of Respondents %age Of Respondents Less Than 1 Year 26 27 1-3 Years 33 34 More Than 3 Years 38 39 Total 97 100

Interpretation

27% respondents are having their current mobile connection from less than 1 year and 39% from more than 3 years.

Whether The Respondents Are Facing Any kind Of Problems With Their Mobile Connections

Options No. Of Respondents %age Of Respondents Yes 45 46 No 52 54 Total 97 100

Interpretation

46% respondents have problems regarding their mobile connection.

Which Kind Of Problems Are Being Faced By The Respondents

Options No. Of Respondents %age Of Respondents Network 25 56 Customer Services 06 13 Recharge 01 02 Any Other 13 29 Total 45 100

Interpretation

56% respondents are facing network problem and only 2% complaints about recharge facility.

Whether The Respondents are Satisfied With their Mobile Connections

Options No. Of Respondents %age Of Respondents Yes 89 92 No 08 08 Total 97 100

Interpretation

92% respondents are satisfied with their mobile connection.

Whether The respondents Are Aware Of The Mobile Number Portability service

Options No. Of Respondents %age Of Respondents Yes 75 77 No 22 23 Total 97 100

Interpretation

77% respondents are aware of Mobile Number Portability Service.

In Case The Respondents Would Like To Change The Mobile Connection Then which Mobile Connection They Prefer The Most

Options No. Of Respondents %age Of Respondents Airtel 36 37 Vodafone 28 29 BSNL 11 12 Idea 11 11 Reliance 00 00 Other 11 11 Total 97 100

Interpretation

29% respondents would like to opt Vodafone as their second preference and no one will go for Reliance.

Rating Of Services Of Respondents Mobile Connection

Options No. Of respondents %age Of Respondents Satisfactory 42 43 Good 29 30 Excellent 19 20 Dissatisfactory 07 07 Total 97 100

Interpretation

43% respondents rank Satisfactory to their mobile connection services and only 7% rank Dissatisfactory.

Whether Respondents Would Like To Recommend the mobile Connection They Are having To Others

Options No. Of Respondents %age Of Respondents Yes 74 76 No 23 24 Total 97 100

Interpretation

76% respondents would like to recommend their friends to have the same mobile connection they are having themselves.

FINDINGS

97% respondents have mobile connection.

26% respondents are using Vodafone connection and 4% are having Reliance connection.

48% respondents are using mobile sim costing below 100.

85% respondents are using pre-paid sim and only 15% respondents are using post-paid sim. 42% consider network service for opting a mobile connection and only 4% respondents give preference to roaming service.

27% respondents are having their current mobile connection from less than 1 year and 39% from more than 3 years.

46% respondents have problems regarding their mobile connection.

56% respondents are facing network problem and only 2% complaints about recharge facility.

92% respondents are satisfied with their mobile connection.

77% respondents are aware of Mobile Number Portability Service.

29% respondents would like to opt Vodafone as their second preference and no one will go for Reliance.

43% respondents rank Satisfactory to their mobile connection services and only 7% rank Dissatisfactory.

76% respondents would like to recommend their friends to have the same mobile connection they are having themselves.

CONCLUSION

Majority of respondents prefer Vodafone mobile connection.Pre-Paid service is preferred by the customers. Generally network service attracts the customers. Most of the respondents are facing problem regarding network service. Vodafone is the leading mobile connection .Reliance captures a very little share. Vodafone , Airtel , BSNL and Idea are almost on the same level of competition. But customers preference is increasing towards Vodafone. RECOMMENDATIONS

 Other Service Provider Should Introduce New Plans Like

Vodafone and Airtel To Attract Customers.

 Rent And Hidden Charges On Postpaid Connections Should

Get Reduce Or Should Be Removed.  Cost Of Sim Card Should Reduce To Rs.100/-

 Yearly And Monthly Should Attach With Some

Execting Plans To Increase The Sale.

 Roaming Services Should Spread Nationally And

Internationally

 Services Of “Gprs” Should Be Promoted To Users At

Reasonable Cost.

 Network, Customer Service And Recharge Are Biggest

Problems Faced By Customers. So Network Should

Improve, More Dealers Should Introduce. More Shows

Rooms Must Open For Users.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

REFERENCE BOOKS :

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY BY ( C.R KOTHARI)

REFERENCE WEBSITES :

 www.managementparadise.com  www.wikipedia.org

 www.pgdba.blogspot.com

 www.mymbanotes.com

 www.co2artridga.co.uk

 www.experiment.resources.com

 www.Mckinnonssc.vic.edu.au

 www.scribd.com

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Do you have mobile connection?

(a)Yes (b)No

2. Which mobile connection do you have? (a) Airtel (d)Idea

(b)Vodafone (e)Reliance

(c)BSNL (f)Other

3. Which kind of mobile connection sim do you have?

(a)Pre-paid

(b)Post-paid

4. What is the price of mobile sim?

(a)Below 100

(b)Above 100

5. Which is the best service in your mobile connection?

(a)Message Pack (d)Roaming

(b)Validity (e)3G

(c)Network (f)Any Other

6. From how long you are having this mobile connection?

(a)Less than 1 year (c)More than 3 years

(b)1-3 years

7. Are you facing any kind of problems with this mobile connection?

(a)Yes (b)No

8. If yes, then which type of problem are you facing? (a)Network (c)Recharge

(b)Customer (d)Any other

9. Are you satisfied with your mobile connection ?

(a)Yes (b)no

10.Do you know about mobile portability service?

(a)Yes (b)No

11.If you would like to change your present mobile connection then which mobile connection , you will choose?

(a)Airtel (d)Idea

(b)Vodafone (e)Reliance

(c)BSNL (f)Other

12. Rate the services of your mobile connection?

(a)Satisfactory (c)Excellent

(b)Good (d)Dissatisfactory

13. Would you recommend anyone to have the mobile connection of the same company , you are having?

(a)Yes (b)No

14. Do you want to give any suggestion?

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Personal Details

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