Telecom Project

A

Project Report

On

“CHANGES IN TELECOM INDUSTRY IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS (TELECOM)”

ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY

Submitted to:

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BECAUSE BECOMING SUCCESSFUL CAN BE TAUGHT
A division of NIS SPARTA LTD,
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group Company

AHMEDABAD

In partial fulfillment of academic requirement of the MBA & PGPM Programme, year – 2011-2012

DEVELOPED BY:

PARSHU H ATTIGUDDA
MBA & PGPM
APP NO: 271259

INTRODUCTION
The research is based on the quality of services that are being offered by various mobile service providers and the level of satisfaction that the customers experience. The government launched the mobile phone services and opened it for the private operators nearly 10 years back. With this move of the government many big and small companies ventured into the business. But as we move on today, nearly after 5 years only half of the companies are surviving in the industry. The number was also increased which was a thousand subscribers in 2005 to less than a million in 2011.
Today mobile service providers serve nearly 60 million customers adding 2.5 million subscribers per month. But the rate of addition of new subscribers is equalized or balance with the number churn rate of the companies.
According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Mobile telephony service providers have failed to meet the set customer satisfaction benchmarks. An attempt to meet churn rate problem companies are constantly trying to come up with new ideas and plans to retain their original customer and attract new customer. Customer satisfaction has become an important factor that influences a customer while selecting a mobile service operator. Overall satisfaction, network availability, billing problems and customer care services, usage, selection criteria are some of the key areas which we aimed to measure in our research.

HISTORY

TELECOM INDUSTRY IN INDIA The telecom industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. India has nearly 200 million telephone lines making it the third largest network in the world after China and USA. With a growth rate of 45%, Indian telecom industry has the highest growth rate in the world.

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

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

In 1990s, telecommunications sector benefited from the general opening up of the economy. Also, examples of telecom revolution in many other countries, which resulted in better quality of service and lower tariffs, led Indian policy makers to initiate a change process finally resulting in opening up of telecom services sector for the private sector. National Telecom Policy (NTP) 1994 was the first attempt to give a comprehensive roadmap for the Indian telecommunications sector. In 1997, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was created. TRAI was formed to act as a regulator to facilitate the growth of the telecom sector. New National Telecom Policy was adopted in 1999 and cellular services were also launched in the same year.

Telecommunication sector in India can be divided into two segments: Fixed Service Provider (FSPs), and Cellular Services. Fixed line services consist of basic services, national or domestic long distance and international long distance services. The state operators (BSNL and MTNL), account for almost 90 per cent of revenues from basic services. Private sector services are presently available in selective urban areas, and collectively account for less than 5 per cent of subscriptions. However, private services focus on the business/corporate sector, and offer reliable, high- end services, such as leased lines, ISDN, closed user group and videoconferencing.

Cellular services can be further divided into two categories: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The GSM sector is dominated by Airtel, Vodafone-Hutch, and Idea Cellular, while the CDMA sector is dominated by Reliance and Tata Indicom. Opening up of international and domestic long distance telephony services are the major growth drivers for cellular industry. Cellular operators get substantial revenue from these services, and compensate them for reduction in tariffs on airtime, which along with rental was the main source of revenue. The reduction in tariffs for airtime, national long distance, international long distance, and handset prices has driven demand.

[INDIA] TOTAL TELECOM SUBSCRIBER CONT REACHES 671.69 MILLION (JUNE 2011)

As per the latest TRAI report, India’s total telecom subscriber strength as of 30th June 2011 stands at 671.69 Million. This article lists down key highlights of the report.
At the end of May 2011, India had 653.92 Million telecom subscribers. With the latest numbers, telecom subscriptions in India registered a growth of 2.72% on a month-on-month comparison.
Some more key points from the latest report.
In the wireless segment, Bharti Airtel added most subscriptions registering 16.69% of the total share of additions.
Wire line subscriber base declined from 36.39 Million in May-2011 to 36.18 Million at the end of June-2011.
Total Broadband subscriber base has increased from 9.24 million in May-2011 to 9.45 million in June-2011, there by showing a growth of 2.27%. In India, users with internet speed greater than or equal to 256 Kbps are termed to have “broadband” connection.

a) [India] Telecom Subscriber Count at 688.38 Million on 31st July 2011 b) [India] 16.31 Million Telecom Subscribers added in May 2011 (Total Count at 653.92 Million c) India’s Telecom Subscriber Count Crosses 700 Million [August 2011 Telecom] d) [India] Total Telecom Subscriber Count at the end of March was 621 Million e) [India’s] Telecom Subscriber Count for October 2011 at 742.12 Million
Bharti Airtel added maximum number of subscribers in July followed by Reliance and Vodafone. Below is also a quick graph from the report which states the market share of service providers in Wireless category.
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the wireless phone user base grew 3.24 percent to 729.57 million in November last year, from 706.69 million in the previous month. With this the total telephone subscriber base in the country, wireless and wire line, touched 764.76 million. The total telephone density reached 64.34 percent. The growth in India 's wireless phone category was led by Vodafone Essar with an addition of 3.13 million users, 13.66 percent of the net addition in November 2011, taking its user base to 121.16 million.

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel followed next with an addition of over 3.1 million subscribers accounting for 13.55 percent of the net addition during the month under review taking its total number of subscribers to 149.4 million
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communication stood at the third spot with an addition of 3 million subscribers taking its total subscriber base to 122.4 million. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) added 2.99 million subscribers taking its total number of subscribers to 83.73 million.Other telecom players such as Idea Cellular performed remarkably with the addition of 2.8 million users closely followed by Uninor which added 2.45 million users taking their total subscriber base to 78.83 million and 16.19 million respectively.
According to the data, the broadband subscriber base grew 1.80 percent from 10.52 million in October 2011 to 10.71 million in November 2011.However, the wire line segment declined further from 35.43 million in October 2011 to 35.19 million at the end of November 2011.

NUMBER PORTABILITY

What is mobile number portability (MNP)?

Mobile number portability (MNP) is the process of transferring (porting) your mobile phone number from one mobile phone network provider to another. You may want to do this if you wish to sign up to a new mobile phone provider and keep your original mobile phone number, thus saving you the inconvenience of updating your contacts with your new telephone number. Mobile number porting is becoming increasingly popular worldwide due to the savings that can be made by switching mobile phone providers in order to get a better mobile phone tariff...

The long-awaited mobile number portability finally became reality on Wednesday, empowering consumers to change providers conveniently.

What is mobile number portability?

Allows subscriber to opt for service provider of his choice but retain his mobile number. The number gets ported to the new provider.

MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY
(MNP) would make severe competition among mobile service providers in India. They will be compelled to lower the call and SMS rates. Coverage, call quality, customer service and all other areas will see improvements as this the only way to retain customers. The postpaid customers get more advantage from the MNP. They have lesser tendency than the prepaid users to change their numbers, and therefore they will move to a better service provider if required.
We expect Mobile Number Portability to change the face of Indian Telecom sector.

IMPACT OF CONSUMER
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The impact of customers who have come on to Vodafone is yet to be ascertained as we need to study a few billing cycles of the post-paid customers to figure how much these new customers are spending, said Samresh Parida, strategy director- Vodafone. A large proportion of subscriber movement in India is seen in the prepaid segment, which accounts for a monthly churn rate of 4-5 %.

Early analysis also indicates that among MNP portins, we are getting a disproportionate share of high value customers from other operators," said Atul Bindal, president- mobile services, Bharti Airtel. The mobile operator, besides advertising around the MNP, also introduced several freebies such as giving away pizza vouchers and offering discount on monthly bills to retain customers.

Idea Cellular said it had benefitted from its high-decibel advertising campaign. "We had a strong rural footprint but with the launch of MNP, we also wanted to grab the opportunity to strengthen our presence in the big cities and metros and this brand campaign helped us get noticed," said Himanshu Kapania, deputy MD, Idea Cellular.

IMPACT ON SERVICE PROVIDER

A little more than one-fifth of Airtel consumers and around one-third of Vodafone consumers cite poor customer service as a motive behind their decision to opt for mobile number portability.

A significant number of subscribers also cite various promotional messages sent by the operator as a put-off. That consumer can opt for mobile number portability because of this came as a surprise to us. Perhaps, sending promotional messages for value added services and activating these services without consumer’s consent has rubbed up the wrong way. It is not that poor customer orientation alone is the main reason; customer service is just one among several gray areas, as you would have noticed in the image above.

It is also pertinent to point out that customer service is a generic problem stretching across operators. None of operators truly comes out to be customer centric. And, this is why every operator is gaining some and losing some subscribers.

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PER SECOND BILLING

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The past month has seen some hectic activity in the Indian Telecom Sector. It’s amazing how a little competition always keeps everyone on their feet. Each business enterprise looking at the market as if through the eyes of a hawk for the next big business opportunity.

Each company trying to seduce the prospective customer with its products. India, the future to be world’s largest mobile telephony market is now going through a massive upheaval. Market leaders no longer have it easy and with the introduction of the per second billing model, the competition has only gotten more cut throat.

Up until now we’ve seen various hashes and rehashes of the tariffs under the prepaid and post pay systems. Plan after plan requiring you to remember how much you’d have to pay if you spoke for a minute. How much to a phone using a rival’s network, how much for STD, how much for ISD, etc.

All that has changed with the entry of Tata Docomo in the Indian market.Docomo got the ball rolling by offering the per second model charging 1 paisa per second.

The competition and I mean everybody, absolutely everybody; Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, BSNL, Idea Cellular, Aircel and the smaller operators too have now begun offering the pay/second model.

The activity in the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) offices with regard to this matter has taken place at lightning speed.

The recommendation has been passed approving the model and immediately the companies have launched the scheme to attract customers. Tata Docomo has barely had the time to blink at the success of their initial few weeks in the Indian markets!

So how does pay per second affect you? Well for one, it makes all calls cheaper. Say you talk for 50 seconds; you end up paying just for those 50 seconds. Not the entire Rupee. Also long distance calls become cheaper in this tariff option. You have to buy a voucher/recharge for a certain amount to migrate to per second billing. It’s different for all mobile operators.

It positioned Tata DOCOMO as a refreshingly different and innovative brand and generated sales momentum that has made it the fastest growing telecom service providers in the India.

IMPACT OF CONSUMER

Indian mobile tariffs, which are amongst the cheapest in the world, are set to probably fall further. Trai Chairman JS Sarma who is visiting the ITU World Telecom event here in Geneva has told us that it is likely that it will be made mandatory for all network service providers in India to offer per second billing. Per second billing essentially means the fact that currently mobile calls in India are charged on a per minute basis.

So, if you make a call for 10 seconds, you pay the rate per minute, you make a call for 59 seconds, you still pay it. One operator, Tata Indicom has recently gone ahead and actually started per second billing. Some other operators have also reacted. The fact is that the Trai soon proposes to issue a consultation paper, the way it takes decisions and within three to four months a final decision will be taken on this matter.

JS Sarma, Chairman, Trai, said, “We are looking at the possibility of making service providers offer to consumers per second pulse as a mandatory option to be provided. Hopefully, in a month or a month-and-a-half we might like to come out with a consultation paper [pic]

IMPACT ON SERVICE PROVIDER The fact remains that in the market network service providers are already going ahead, Tatas have announced this. Reliance Communications has reacted and possibly all of this is going to lead to further affordability whether it is actually affordable for subscribers or whether there will be some more twists and hidden charges in these packages, we don’t know about that.

But clearly Indian mobile tariffs, which are already the cheapest in the world, are set to perhaps go further down once the TRAI makes up its mind on this important regulatory change.

NEW PLAYERS IN THE TELECOM INDUSTRY

The stupendous growth of the telecommunication companies in India over the last fifteen years can be attributed to the liberal government of India, economic policy. The economic renaissance affected in the early 1990s brought around a paradigm shift on the overall business scenario of India. The telecommunication companies in India went through a huge make-over during the implementation of the open-market policy of India.

The erstwhile closed market policy was replaced by a more liberal form of economic policy. A whole new form of Indian Telecommunication Policy was drafted to compliment the change effected in the economic policy of India. The amendment affected the new telecommunication policy of India made huge changes with respect to investments and entry of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and Foreign Institution Investors (FII) respectively, into the virgin Indian telecommunication market. This resulted entry of private, domestic and foreign telecommunication companies in India.

The economic contribution made by these newly formed telecommunication companies of India is really mentioned worthy and this industry witnessed highest growth after the Indian Information Technology industry. The robust growth of Indian economy after the economic liberalization in the 1990s induced massive change in the telecom policy and new draft was framed and implemented by the 'Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ' (TRAI) and 'Department of Telecommunication ' (DOT), under the Ministry of Telecommunication government of India. The main aim of these telecommunication companies in India is to provide basic telephony services to each and every Indian.

NEW PLAYERS IN TELECOM INDUSTRY

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TATA DOCOMA
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usually referred to as Docomo (not to be confused with NTT Docomo), is a Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) owned cellular service provider on the GSM platform-arising out of the Tata Group 's strategic joint venture with Japanese telecom giant NTT Docomo in November 2008. Tata Teleservices received a pan-India license to operate GSM telecom services, under the brand "TATA Docomo". Tata Docomo launched GSM services on 24 June 2009. It first launched in South India and currently operates in 18 of 23 telecom circles. Tata Teleservices is the country 's fourth largest operator in terms of wireless subscribers (including both CDMA and GSM), after Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Vodafone.

Tata DOCOMO offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone in 18 circles. It has become very popular with its one second pulse especially in semi-urban and rural areas. They are launching their service from the south of India to central, east and north.

Tata DOCOMO had about 42.34 million users at the end of December 2010.

On 5 November 2010, Tata DOCOMO became the first private sector telecom company to launch 3G services in India

AIRCEL

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mobile phone service provider in India. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSMcellular phone coverage throughout India. Aircel is a joint venture between Maxis Communications of Malaysia and Apollo Hospital Enterprise Ltd of India. UTSB has a 74% stake in Aircel and the remaining 26% is with Apollo Hospitals. It is India’s fifth largest GSM mobile service provider with a subscriber base of over 46.51 million, as of September 30, 2010. It has a market share of 9.65% among the GSM operators in the country. As on date, Aircel is present in all 23 telecom circles (including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar & Jharkhand, Chennai, Delhi & NCR, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, North East, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Rest of Maharashtra & Goa, Rest of Tamil Nadu, Rest of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West) as per the company plans to become a pan-India operator by 2010. Aircel is undisputed market leader in Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Assam and North-East Circles, especially in TN State it is undisputed market leader since its launch. Additionally, Aircel has also obtained permission from Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to provide International Long Distance (ILD) and National Long Distance (NLD) telephony services.

UNINOR

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The company Unitech Wireless was until 2009 a subsidiary of Unitech Group, holding a wireless services license for all 22 Indian telecom circles since 2008. In early 2009, Unitech Group and Telenor agreed on a majority take-over by Telenor of Unitech 's wireless business, including Unitech Wireless ' national-wide mobile license. By March, May and November, Telenor acquired a 33%, 49% and 60% stake in Unitech Wireless, respectively. In September, the mobile operation changed its name to Uninor. On October 19 the Indian Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) announced that it has approved Telenor 's acquisition of up to 74% in Unitech Wireless, and the shareholder 's agreement sets a 67.25% Telenor ownership in Uninor.

UNINOR STRATEGY

Uninor is India 's eighth nation-wide mobile operator, in a competitive landscape of 13 nation-wide or regional mobile operators. The company is targeting an 8 % pan-Indian market share, and the opening of one million retail points and breaking even on EBITDA within three years. It will provide mobile communication and Value Added Service.

In order to reduce time-to-market, Uninor will outsource infrastructure and back-end services to partner organizations with established core competencies.[5] The operational model is low-cost with a gradual network-build up, infrastructure sharing, GSM equipment at competitive cost, full-scale IT-outsourcing and a long term cost and capex efficiency.

MTS
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MTS mobile is one of the new comers to Indian mobile market. They will have to put up a tough fight with compete with mobile market giants like Airtel, BSNL, etc. MTS mobile tries to reach their target audience through their attractive talk time packages. There are lots of criticisms against this new comer. MTS has announced daring 1 million free minutes of talk time between MTS to MTS. This launching offer is sure to attract customers.

MTS has already been in the mobile market for many years and they are one of the most popular service providers in Russia. Through their vast experience, they come up with tariff plans and mobile communication solutions that are customized to specific markets. Before entering any market, they make a complete research of the market on the usage pattern of the target market.

MTS has come up with many interesting tariff plans for its Indian customers. The very fact that you can get 1 million free minutes with other MTS users has attracted lovers and college students as they can have cheaper mobile phone solution for their needs. Coverage of MTS is nothing to be boasted about as yet. Their network is yet to expand further to provide complete coverage like Airtel.

They have also launched a number of full talk time recharge packages. We will not know for how long these full talk time vouchers will be available. This can be part of their launching offer. If you are within the city limits, you will be able to enjoy cheap mobile solutions. The quality of their customer service is questionable.

They have three basic plans SME, SME roaming and the Mass. The Mass comes with Rs. 49 but with no talk time. It comes with life time validity. However it will be valid only up to 2028. For a local number you will be charged 1p for 4 seconds if you are calling another MTS number. This is cheaper by 4 times with the popular one second billing. If you are calling other mobile service providers you will be charged 1p for 2 seconds.

VIRGIN MOBILE
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Think Hatke
We are India 's first national youth-focused mobile service, with presence across 45,000 outlets reaching over 3, 20,000 cities, towns and villages across India.

Ranked as the No. 1 for customer satisfaction within the first year of its launch with an overall score of over 95%, we continued to offer you best service and value. We have Also been adjudged the 'Booziest Brands of 2009 ' i.e. the most searched for brands by surfers, in a survey carried out by a leading online portal in India.

Everything we do, we do a little 'Hatke '. We plan different, whether it 's 'paying for incoming ' or great value deals and cool phones. All to make you happy because that 's what makes us happy. So, think different. Think Hatke.

Virgin Mobile India Limited is a cellular telephone service provider company which is a joint venture between Tata Teleservices and Richard Branson 's Virgin Group. Currently, the company uses Tata 's CDMA network to offer its services under the brand name Virgin Mobile, and it has also started GSM services in some states.

Virgin Mobile GSM Starter Kit costs Rs. 49 which includes Virgin GSM SIM card with zero talk time and lifetime validity. Default tariff or Basic on the Starter kit is Local Re 1 per minute, STD Rs 1.50 per minute. To avail cheaper per minute you have to recharge with some denominations. First Recharge Coupons (FRC) is available of Rs 10, Rs 25, Rs 40, Rs 50 and Rs 100. All first recharges give full talk time, net of service tax and admin fee of Rs 2.
After the FRC is pumped in your Virgin GSM account, you will be moved to Per Minute Plan for 365 days. But you have to pay Rs 1.50 as daily rental on Per Minute Plan.

Virgin GSM also introduces Per Second Plan. To get it, you have to recharge with Rs. 12 (includes talk time of Rs. 10.88). This per second plan will be valid for 365 days. And there is NO daily rental on per second plan.

VIDEOCON
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Videocon group, the popular consumer electronic company in India announced their GSM mobile service in Tamilnadu area. Videocon GSM service was earlier under the brand datacom solution. The re-branded provider, Videocon mobile communications will commence its GSM services from March 27. Videocon has PAN India license for setting up GSM services. The service will be available in Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Tamilnadu and other telecom circles in India. Videocon is the 13th mobile service provider in India after Tata Docomo and Uninor. They announced attractive traffic plans for calls and value added services.

Videocon will launch future ready 2.75 G network with EDGE facility. They will also participate in upcoming 3G auctions, for license in 20 areas. As per Vinodh Dhood, the chairman and managing director of the Videocon group, company expects 3 rd positions in the Indian telecom sector by 3 years. They will invest a sum of around 140000 cores in three years for setting up infrastructure, and there by reaching 100 million customers base.
Videocon mobile connection rates:
Videocon GSM connections with Life long validity can be activated by paying 49RS, which also includes 5 RS talk time. The connection is available in all parts of Tamilnadu through Videocon retail outlets and other shops.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

OBJECTIVE

a) What customer thinks about number portability?

b) The impact of Number Portability on Indian market?

c) To know acceptability of Number Portability system on customer?

d) To find out pros and cons of Number Portability system for mobile users?

e) To find out pro and cons of Number Portability system for Cellular Service providers.

DATA COLLECTION

PRIMARY DATA

Collected by survey method. Questionnaires administered by respondent personally.

SECONDARY DATA

Collected from internet.

SAMPLING

SAMPLE SIZE

A sample of 100 respondents was taken for the study. Among 25 them were cellular service providers and 75 were the customer of service providers.

SAMPLING METHOD

Non-probability/Convenience sampling method was used for the study.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

a) As Number Portability System is yet to be launched, scope was study was limited to the perception of samples.

b) Mobile users are not yet fully aware about Number Portability so administering questionnaire was a difficult.

c) Providers were also not aware about Number portability, so their views were differing to each provider.

d) Lack of resources like time, mode of transportation to Survey.

DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

Q.1 Which cellular service do you use?

[To know who the dominant player in Ahmedabad market is]

|Service Provider |Users |
|Airtel |20 |
|Reliance |5 |
|Vodafone |25 |
|Idea |20 |
|BSNL |7 |
|TATA Docomo |9 |
|Aircel |4 |
|Uninor |1 |
|Total |100 |

Out of 60 customer Vodafone with 14 customer was found dominating players in Ahmedabad.

Q.2. Are you satisfied with the services of your current service provider?

Objective: To know whether the customers are satisfied with current service provider or not.

|Satisfied with current service provider |
|YES |82 |
|NO |28 |

Out of all 110 respondents, 82 (75%) respondents are satisfied and 28 (25%) respondents were not satisfied with the services of current service provider.

Q.3. Would you like to change your service provider, if given a chance to change it without changing your mobile number? (Mobile Number Portability System)

Objective: To check the willingness of customers to accept Mobile Number portability.

|Prefer to Change |Response |
|Yes |78[71%] |
|No |32[29%] |

Out of 110 respondents 78 respondents would like to change their service provider if given a chance to which provider with same mobile number.

| |Satisfied |Not Satisfied |TOTAL |
|Willing to Change |54 |24 |78 |
|Not willing to Change |28 |4 |32 |
|TOTAL |82 |28 |110 |

From above table and chart, it was found that out of total 82 customers who were satisfied with the services of current provider, 54 customers are willing to change their service provider. Out of 28 customers who were not satisfied with the services of current services provider, 24 customers were willing to change their services provider.

Conclusion

Large number of customers was satisfied with the services but even then they were willing to change their service provider in search of better prospects. So If Mobile Number Portability system comes into action, there is a chance that people will accept it

Q.4 why will you change your service provider?

Objective: To know the reasons that will influence them for switching the service provider

|RESON FOR CHANGE |NO. OF CUSTOMER |
|Flexibility to change service provider |19[25%] |
|Low switching cost |08[10%] |
|Low tariffs of other provider |26[33%] |
|More Value added service by other provider |18[33%] |
|Worst service of Current provider |07[9%] |
| | |
|Total |78[100%] |

Out of 78 customers who were willing to change;

A. 26 (33%) customer are willing to change in search of low tariffs of other service providers,

B. 19 (25%) customer want to change because of flexibility to change service provider without changing mobile number,

C. 18 (23%) customer want to change because of more value added services provided by other services provider,

D. 8 (10%) and 7 (9%) were willing to change because of low switching cost and worst services of current services provider.

Q.5. what do you think the advantages you will have if Mobile Number Portability System comes in to action?

Objective: To know what will be the advantages for customer, if Mobile Number Portability System comes into action

|REASON |NO. OF RESPONSE |
|Low Tariffs |44 |
|Flexibility |33 |
|Good Network |17 |
|More VAS |21 |
|TOTAL |115 |

1. Low tarifs:

44 responses said that if NPS comes into action, they will get services at low tariffs.

2. Flexibility

33 responses said that there will be flexibility in changing the services provider without changing mobile number. They will also get flexibility to switch the service provider if customer is not happy with the services of current provider.

3. Good network

17 responses said that they will get good network because all cellular service providers will serve them better to sustain in competitive market.

4. More value added services (VAS).

21 responses came about More VAS, i.e. customer will get more value added services at cheaper rates.

Q.6. what do you think, the problems you will face if Mobile Number Portability System comes in to action?

Objective: To know what will be the problems for customer, if Mobile Number Portability System comes into action

|RESPONSE |NO. OF RESPONSE |
|No Problem |77 |
|Difficulty to identify the caller’s service provider |18 |
|Network Problem |13 |
|Time for switching |2 |

77 respondents responded that they will not face any problem if MNPS comes in to action,

18 respondents said that they will face difficulty to identify the caller’s service provider.

13 said that they will face network problem because churning of customers will increase and will cause network conjunctions.

2 respondents were not happy with the idea of time taken to switch between providers as it takes 72 hours (as per current suggestion of TRAI) to switch from one provider to another.

Q.7. what do you think, the advantages you will have if Mobile Number Portability System comes in to action?

Objective: To know the advantages for services provider, if mobile Number Portability System comes into action.

|ADVANTAGES |No. of Responses |
|Increase Customer |14 |
|Don’t have to issue new Numbers |1 |
|No advantage |9 |
|Increase Revenue |1 |

From above table and graph, it can be seen that, 14 services providers said that they will increase customer. 9 service providers said that they will not have any advantage if MNPS comes in to action. 1 respondent said that they will not have to issue new mobile numbers so they could control their expenses and 1 said that introduction of MNPS will increase the revenue of the company.

Q.8. what do you think, the problems you will face if Mobile Number Portability System comes in to action?

Objective: To know what will be the problems for cellular services providers, if Mobile Number Portability System comes into action.

|PROBLEMS |NO. OF RESPONSES |
|Have to give Promotional Schemes |1 |
|Upgrade network |4 |
|Difficult to identify customer |3 |
|Lose customer |12 |
|Increase competition |4 |
|Database Maintenance |1 |
|Sale of new card decreases |2 |
|Difficult to retain customer |2 |
|Financial Loss |3 |
|High Investment |1 |
|Customer will rule market |2 |
|Decrease customer loyalty |2 |
|No Problem |1 |

When services provider were asked about the problems of MNPS, 12 responses went to lose customer. Services provider have to upgrade their network and competition will increase was some of the major problems services providers will face after MNPS comes into action. Also sale of new SIM card will affect was also a point made by 2 services provider. If MNPS will come in to the action, customer will have complete control over market. They will rule the market. One big problem will be of identifying the customer as his/her number will not change and service provider will change. So tapping customer’s service provider will be a challenge for service providers.

SUGGESTION

a) TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) should take into consideration, the pros and cons to services providers before launching Number portability System in India

b) TRAI should try and make out some benefits for the services provider so that they mutually accept the System.

c) To remain untouched by the effects of Number Portability system, service provider should put their all efforts on making customers, brand loyal and concentrate more on customer retention than on making new customers.

CONCLUSION

a) In Ahmedabad market, Airtel is the top player. Idea is on Second followed by Reliance.

b) Customers at Ahmedabad are willing to switch Service provider if they are given an option to switch with same mobile number.

c) Mobile Number Portability System will change the scenario of the telecom Industry. Earlier the only way a service provider was able to hold their customer was by the mobile number. But now if MNPS comes in to action customer will have freedom to switch with same number so customer will rule the market.

d) In this battle between customers and service providers, service provider will have to surrender against customers.

REFERENCES

BOOKS

a) Mobile Communication by Jochen Sehiller-Second Edition

REPORT

b) Trai Report 201O-2011

c) Telecom Sector Annual Report 201O-2011

WEBSITE

d) www.trai.gov.in

e) www.wikipedia.com

f) www.google.com

g) www.dot.gov.in

References: BOOKS a) Mobile Communication by Jochen Sehiller-Second Edition REPORT b) Trai Report 201O-2011 c) Telecom Sector Annual Report 201O-2011 WEBSITE d) www.trai.gov.in e) www.wikipedia.com f) www.google.com g) www.dot.gov.in