vodafone - marketing strategies
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MINOR PROJECT REPORT
ON
“MARKETING STRATEGIES OF VODAFONE”
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
FOR THE AWARD OF THE
DEGREE IN BACHELOR
OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
2012-2015
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF SUBMITTED BY
Ms. Shikha Sharma Vineeti Suman
Assistant Professor 00314701712
MAIMS BBA 3RD
SEM ,A
Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies
Affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi PSP Area, Plot
No.1, Sector 22, Rohini, Delhi-11008
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TABLE OF CONTENT
DECLARATION i
CERTIFICATE ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii
CHAPTER – 1
1.1 Introduction
CHAPTER – 2
2.1 Objectives
CHAPTER – 3
3.1 Literature Review
3.2 General Marketing Strategies
CHAPTER – 4
4.1 Research Methodlogy
CHAPTER – 5
Finding and Analysis
5.1 SWOT Analysis
5.2 Marketing Strategies
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CHAPTER – 6
6.1 Limitations of the study
CHAPTER – 7
7.1 Suggestions
CHAPTER – 8
8.1 Conclusion
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Signature :
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DECLARATION
This is to certify that I have completed the Minor Project title “ The MarketingStrategies of vodafone” under the guidance of ―Ms. Shikha Sharma‖ in partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Business
Administration at Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies, Delhi. This
is an original piece of work and I have not submitted it earlier elsewhere.
Name of the Student
Vineeti Suman
BBA 3rd
SEM.
00314701712
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CERTIFICATE
MAHARAJA AGRASEN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
This is to certify that the minor project titled “ MARKETING STARTEGIESOF VODAFONE” is an academic work done by “VINEETI SUMAN” submitted
in the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Business
Administration at Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies, Delhi, under
my guidance and direction. To the best of my knowledge and belief the data and
information presented by her in the project has not been submitted earlier.
Name of the Faculty Guide
Ms. Shikha Sharma
Assistant Professor
MAIMS
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The satisfaction and euphoria that accompany the successful completion of any
task is incomplete without the mention of people who made it possible. So I take
this as a great opportunity to pen down a few lines about the people to whom my
acknowledgement is due.
It is with the deepest sense of gratitude that I wish to place on record my sincere
thanks to
Ms. Shikha Sharma, my project guide for providing me inspiration,
encouragement, guidance, help and valuable suggestions throughout the project.
I would also like to thank all my respondent and friends for giving me their
valuable time and information without their help and support this project wouldn‘t
have come up to the expectations.
Vineeti Suman
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION
Vodafone is a British mobile network operator, with its headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire,
England, UK. It is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world by
turnover, and has a market value of about £75 billion (August 2008). Vodafone currently has
operations in 31 countries and partner networks in a further 40 countries.
The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen by the company to "reflect the
provision of voice and data services over mobile phones".
As of 2009, Vodafone had an estimated 303 million customers in 31 markets across 5
continents.[3] On this measure, it is the second largest mobile telecom group in the world behind
China Mobile.
Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless telecommunications network in
the United States, based on number of subscribers.
VODAFONE GROUP
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In 1982 Racal Electronics plc's subsidiary Racal Strategic Radio Ltd. won one of two UK
cellular telephone network licences; the other going to British Telecom The network, known as
Racal Vodafone was 80% owned by Racal, with Millicom and the Hambros Technology Trust
owning 15% and 5% respectively. Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985. Racal Strategic
Radio was renamed Racal Telecommunications Group Limited in 1985.[5] On 29 December
1986, Racal Electronics bought out the minority shareholders of Vodafone for GB£110 million.
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.[13] To approve the merger, Vodafone sold its 17.2% stake in E-Plus Mobilfunk .[14]
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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's purchase of Orange, 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.
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CHAPTER 2OBJECTIVES
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RESEARCH OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
1. To review the services offered in India by Vodafone
2. To know the present and future strategies of the company
3. To study the impact of marketing strategies of Vodafone on their sales volume
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CHAPTER 3
LITERATURE REVIEW
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A map showing Vodafone Global Enterprise' footprint.
Vodafone Operating Countries
Vodafone's partners and affiliates
In 2001, the Company took over Eircell , then part of eircom in Ireland, and rebranded it as
Vodafone Ireland. It 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 beused 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.)
Vodafone Global Enterprise
Global Enterprise is a business set up by Vodafone with the sole purpose of handling Vodafone's
multinational clients. It is the high end business to business (B2B) section of Vodafone Group,
and acts like an operating country (such as for example Vodafone UK). Devices and services
available in any operating country, are available to Global Enterprise customers in the same
country, and so Vodafone Global Enterprise are able to offer a wide range of products. Vodafone
Global Enterprise have a presence in over 65 countries, and this number is expected to grow in
future, as with the recent aqcuisition of Ghana Telecom. Since its foundation in 2007, Global
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Enterprise has aimed to be a world leader in managed mobility services. Vodafone Global
Enterprise are headquartered in Newbury, but have operatives around the world; while many of
Vodafone's marketing employees are relocated to London, Global Enterprise' team will remain in
Newbury.
Nick Jeffery leads Vodafone Global Enterprise. He led the creation of Vodafone Global
Enterprise in 2007, and continues to define the strategy and operational execution for Vodafone's
relationship with multi-national corporate customers. Global Enterprise have a dedicated group
of account managers, at both global and national levels, who look after customers needs, and are
supported by pre-sales and technical consultancy teams.
Products and Services include: Enterprise Central, Telecomms Management, Global Device
Portfolio and Managed Mobility Services. In 2009, Vodafone Global Enterprise was the winner
of Best Mobile Enterprise Service at the GSMA Global Mobile Awards 2009.
Europe
Networks in Europe
Majority-owned Minority-owned No Ownership
Albania France Austria Belgium
Czech Republic Poland Bulgaria Channel Islands
Germany Croatia Cyprus
Greece Denmark Estonia
Hungary Finland Faroe Islands
Ireland Iceland Latvia
Italy Lithuania Luxembourg
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Malta Rep. of Macedonia Norway
Netherlands Russia Serbia
Northern Cyprus Slovenia Sweden
Portugal Switzerland Ukraine
Romania
Spain
Turkey
UK
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 Vodafone Italy. 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 Trent (England), to existing sites in Newbury (HQ),
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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, Vodafone Portugal 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 Telenor 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.[18] 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. In 1
February 2006, Oskar Vodafone became Vodafone Czech Republic, 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.
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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 Telenor Sverige AB, and Connex-Vodafone became Vodafone Romania, 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, Bill Morrow, quit unexpectedly,[19] and on 25 August 2006, the Company announced the
sale of its 25% stake in Belgium's Proximus 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 Vodafone Iceland,
and on 19 December 2006, the Company announced the sale of its 25% stake in Switzerland's
Swisscom 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, signaling
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.[20]
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 .[21] On 1 August 2007, Vodafone Portugal launched Vodafone Messenger, a service with
Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger.
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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.[22]
On 20 March 2009, it was announced that the group's Luxembourg partner has been changed to
Tango: the agreement with LuxGSM was not renewed in favour of Tango, the Luxembourg unit
of another partner network, Belgacom of Belgium.[23]
At the end of 2007, Vodafone Germany 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.
Asia-Pacific
Networks in Asia-Pacific
Majority-owned Minority-owned No Ownership
Australia China mainland Afghanistan Armenia
India Fiji Azerbaijan Hong Kong
New Zealand India Japan Malaysia
Samoa Singapore
Sri Lanka Thailand
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Turkmenistan Uzbekistan
In July 1993, BellSouth New Zealand's network went live, and October 1993 Vodafone
Australia's network also went live. This was followed in July 1994 by Vodafone Fiji's networkgoing live.
In November 1998, Vodafone purchased BellSouth New Zealand, which later became Vodafone
New Zealand. 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 asM1 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.[25]
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 inAustralia. 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
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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 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.[26]
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. dtac 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 is slated to be
completed by 1 September 2009.
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Azerfon in Azerbaijan is signed as a Partner Network on 22 July 2009.
Africa and the Middle East
Networks in the Middle East and Africa
Majority-owned Minority-owned No Ownership
DR Congo Egypt Kenya Kuwait
Ghana Lesotho Bahrain
Mozambique Qatar UAE
Tanzania South Africa
Majority stakes held through majority-owned Vodacom Group
2Effective ownership is not majority, but full control exercised by the group.
Egypt
In November 1998, Vodafone Egypt 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.
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
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second agreement involved co-operation in Bahrain and the branding of the network as MTC-
Vodafone.
South Africa (Vodacom)
On 3 November 2004, the Company announces 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.[27]
On 9 October 2008, the company offers to acquire an additional 15 per cent stake in Vodacom
group from Telkom. The finalised details of the agreement was announced on 6 November 2008.
The agreement calls for Telkom to sell a 15 of its 50 per cent stake in Vodacom to the group, and
demerging the other 35 per cent to its shareholder. Meanwhile, Vodafone has agreed to make
Vodacom its exclusive sub-Saharan Africa investment vehicle. Also, Vodafone agreed to
continue maintaining the visibility of the Vodacom brand. The transaction is expected to close on
May/June 2009.
On 18 May 2009, Vodacom floats onto 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.
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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 in Qatar wins the second fixed-line licence in the said country on 15 September
2008.
On 15 April 2009, Ghana Telecom, along with its mobile subsidiary onetouch, is rebranded as
Vodafone Ghana.
U.A.E.
On 28 January 2009, the group announced a partner network agreement with Du, the second-
largest operator of the United Arab Emirates. The agreement involves co-operation on
international clients, handset procurement, mobile broadband etc.
The Americas
Networks in the Americas
Minority-
ownedNo Ownership
USA1 Anguilla2 Antigua &
Barbuda2 Aruba2 Barbados2
Bermuda Bonaire Canada Cayman Islands
Chile4 Curaçao2 Dominica2 French West
Indies2
Grenada Guyana Haiti Honduras
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Jamaica2 Panama2 St. Kitts &
Nevis2 St. Lucia2
St. Vincent & the
Grenadines2
Trinidad &
Tobago2 Turk & Caicos2
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, Verizon Communications
- 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
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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 4G 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, Safaricom, which is part owned by Vodafone and the leading mobile
communication provider in Kenya, launched a mobile payment solution developed by
Vodafone.[28] 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 system allows 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
customer s[29] and Vodafone announced that it was to extend the service to Afghanistan .[30] 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.
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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.[31] 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.
In a period just short of twenty years from its initial public offering, the Company had just
three Chief Executives. The fourth CEO, Vittorio Colao, 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 Cellular Network 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 is 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, it was 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
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Vodafone reportes 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, eg. 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.
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
have abolished roaming charges within 35 different countries, allowing their customers to take
their standard UK price plan abroad.
Partner Networks
Partner Networks are networks that cooperates with Vodafone. This arrangement does not
involve any equity transactions. It allows the Vodafone brand to be extended to markets where
the Vodafone does not own a local company. Products resulting from this agreement are
marketed using dual brand formula, wherein the Vodafone is put after the local brand.
Country Network Market Rank Local Website Main Local
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/Region/
Territory
Name
(former)
Share Competitor
Austria mobilkomAustria
42.5% 1/4 www.a1.net T-Mobile, One, 3
Belgium Proximus 48.7% 1/3 www.proximus.be Base, Mobistar
Bulgaria Mobiltel 50% 1/4 www.mtel.bgGloBul,
Vivatel
Croatia VIPnet 42.2% 2/3 www.vipnet.hrT-Mobile,
Tele2
CyprusCytamobile
-Vodafone81% 1/2 www.cytamobile.com MTN
Denmark TDC Mobil 41.4% 1/4 www.tdc.dkSonofon,
Telia, 3
Estonia Elisa Oyj ?% 1/3 www.elisa.ee Tele2, EMT
Faroe
IslandsVodafone 30% 2/2 www.vodafone.fo
Finland Elisa Oyj 30% 1/3 www.elisa.fi Sonera, Finnet
GuernseyAirtel-
Vodafone20% 1/3 www.airtel-vodafone.gg Wave, Sure
Iceland Vodafone 38% 2/2 www.vodafone.isSíminn, TAL,
HIVE
JerseyAirtel-
Vodafone12% 2/3 www.airtel-vodafone.je
Jersey
Telecom, Sure
Latvia Bitė Latvija 21% 3/3 www.bite.lvLMT
GSM,Tele2
LithuaniaBitė
Lietuva21.6% 3/3 www.bite.lt Tele2, Omnitel
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Luxembour
gTango 32% 2/4 www.tango.lu
LuxGSM,
VOXmobile
MacedoniaVIP
Operator10.7% 3/3 www.vip.com.mk
T-Mobile,
Cosmofon
Norway TDC ?% ? www.tdc.noTelenor,
NetCom
Russia MTS 34% 1/3 www.mts.ruVimpelcom,
Megafon
Serbia Vip mobile 9.1% 3/3 www.vipmobile.rs mt:s, Telenor
Slovenia Si.mobil 27.7% 2/4 www.simobil.siMobitel,
Tušmobil
Sweden Telenor 16% 3/4 www.telenor.se Telia, Tele2, 3
Switzerland Swisscom 62% 1/3 www.swisscom-mobile.chOrange,
sunrise, Tele2
Ukraine MTS 33% 2/5 www.mts.com.uaVimpelcom,
Kyivstar
Asia-Pacific
Afghanistan Roshan 34.8% 1/4 www.roshan.af
MTN, Afghan
Wireless,
Etisalat
Armenia Vivacell-
MTS79% 1/2 www.mts.am Vimpelcom
Azerbaijan Azerfon 3/3 www.azerfon.azAzercell,
Bakcell
Hong Kong SmarTone 11% 5/5 www.smartone-vodafone.com 3, Peoples,
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Vodafone CSL, New
World, PCCW
Japan Softbank17.71
3/4 mb.softbank.jp
NTT
DoCoMo,
KDDI
Malaysia Celcom 31% 2/3 www.celcom.com.my
Maxis
Communicatio
ns, Digi
Samoa Digicel 78.57 1/2 www.digicelsamoa.comSamoatel
mobile
Singapore M1 28.3% 3/3 www.m1.com.sg SingTel, StarHub
Sri Lanka Dialog 53% 1/4 www.dialog.lkTigo, Mobitel,
Hutch
Thailand dtac 30% 2/4 www.dtac.co.th AIS,TRUE
Turkmenista
nMTS 87% 1/? www.mts.tm
Uzbekistan MTS 46% 1/? www.mts.uz
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It's Vodafone Essar! Ruias have $5 bn exit option
British giant Vodafone and Indian conglomerate Essar group reached an agreement on Thursday
for jointly running India's fourth largest mobile firm -- Hutch-Essar, which would berechristened Vodafone Essar.
The two companies said in a joint statement that they have agreed on partnership terms for
Hutchison Essar, in which Vodafone is acquiring 67 per cent stake from Hong Kong's Hutchison
Telecom International Ltd while Essar would continue to retain its 33 per cent stake.
"The partners have agreed that Hutchison Essar will be renamed Vodafone Essar and in due
course the business will market its products and services under the Vodafone brand," it said.
Under the terms of the partnership, Vodafone will have operational control of Vodafone Essar
and Essar will have rights consistent with its shareholding, including proportionate Board
representation.
Ravi Ruia will be appointed chairman of Vodafone Essar and Arun Sarin will be vice chairman.
Under the partnership terms, Essar will have an option to sell its 33 per cent stake to Vodafone
for $5 billion between the third and fourth years or an option to sell between $1 billion and $5
billion worth of Vodafone Essar shares to Vodafone at an independently appraised fair market
trading value.
Earlier during the day, Sarin and Ruia had met then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and had
briefed him about future plans of their joint venture.
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Sarin had also struck an optimistic note about signing a deal with Essar for jointly running
India's fourth largest mobile firm, to be called Vodafone Essar.
"..Hopefully that is something we might be doing here," Sarin had told reporters.
Last month, the UK giant had clinched a deal to acquire 67 per cent controlling stake in Hutch-
Essar from Hong Kong based Hutchison Telecom International Limited.
Sarin is expected to fly to Mumbai on Thursday evening, where the Ruias are hosting a dinner
for the India born CEO of the British firm.
Vodafone, Essar press statement
Following is the statement issued by Vodafone and Hutch on the partnership agreement:
Vodafone and Essar have reached an agreement under which they will work to continue the
growth of Hutchison Essar Limited ("Hutchison Essar"), one of India's leading mobile operators.
This follows Vodafone's announcement on 11 February 2007 that it had agreed to acquire
Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited's ("HTIL") controlling interest in
Hutchison Essar, in which Essar is and will continue to be a 33% shareholder.
The partners have agreed that Hutchison Essar will be renamed Vodafone Essar and, in due
course, that the business will market its products and services under the Vodafone brand.
With penetration levels of around 13%, both partners believe that there are substantial growth
opportunities in the Indian mobile telecommunications market. Vodafone is the leading
international mobile operator with an extensive range of products and services, many of which
are not currently available in India.
Essar is a major industrial group with a deep understanding of India and the Indian mobile
telecommunications industry.
With these complementary strengths Vodafone and Essar plan to broaden Vodafone Essar's
service offering and enable it to become the leader in the Indian mobile telephony market.
Commenting on the new partnership, Arun Sarin, Chief Executive of Vodafone said: "I am
delighted that Essar and Vodafone have agreed the terms of an ongoing partnership. Essar has
played a key role in transforming this business into a leading Indian mobile operator. We look
forward to leveraging this experience and working with our partner as the company enters its
next phase of growth in the attractive Indian telecommunications market. We will be bringing
the relevant range of Vodafone products and services to the Indian consumer."
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Ravi Ruia, Vice Chairman of Essar, added: "It is terrific that we are joining with the world's
leading international mobile company. I welcome them as our partner into this successful
business which we will now take forward to the next level. Essar was a founding partner in
Hutchison Essar and played an active role in building the company, including extending network
coverage into several profitable regional markets. By partnering with Vodafone we expect to
create further value in the business."
Under the terms of the partnership, Vodafone will have operational control of Vodafone Essar
and Essar will have rights consistent with its shareholding, including proportionate Board
representation. Ravi Ruia will be appointed by Vodafone as Chairman of Vodafone Essar and
Arun Sarin will be appointed by Essar as Vice Chairman.
Essar will have certain liquidity rights including, between the third and fourth anniversaries of
completion, and subject to regulatory requirements, an option to sell its 33% shareholding in
Vodafone Essar to Vodafone for US$5 billion or an option to sell between US$1 billion and
US$5 billion worth of Vodafone Essar shares to Vodafone at an independently appraised fair
market trading value.
Vodafone expects to complete the acquisition of HTIL's interest in Hutchison Essar in the
coming weeks.
Vodafone wins Hutch-Essar for $19 bn
New Delhi: The long-drawn ‗bid battle‘ for Hutch-Essar finally came to an end on Sunday as
UK telecom giant Vodafone acquired India's fourth largest mobile venture for an estimated
enterprise value of US $19 billion (Rs 85,000 crores).
Essar welcomed the offer and said it is indeed ―good price‖ for the company.
―This is a good price, which reflects the premier position of Hutchison Essar as India's leading
operator. Essar owns 33 per cent of the company and we are delighted that Hutchison and Essar
have together created this value,‖ said the company in a statemnt.
Sources told CNN-IBN that Vodaphone has offered Essar to become a partner firm. The board is
evaluating the option and is likely to appear with a decision shortly. ―We have been offered by
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Vodafone to be their partner. We are at the moment evaluating all our options in the best interest
of the Gr oup,‖ said Essar in a statement.
Vodafone, the world‘s largest mobile phone group by revenue, emerged winner at the Hutchison
Telecom Ltd's Board Meeting at Hong Kong convened for considering the four bids for its 67
per cent stake put on the block late in 2006.
Essar, a conglomerate, that owns 33 per cent of Hutchison-Essar Limited has 21 days time to
decide on whether to exercise its RoFR (matching the top bid) or the tag-along right (to sell its
33 per cent stake in the venture).
The company‘s India operations expects reaching out to 180 million mobile phone users by end-
2007, up more than 25 per cent from 143 million now.
Hutchison Telecom first announced in December last year that it had been approached by various
bidders for acquisition of its stake in the Indian venture.This was followed by announcements by
Vodafone, Reliance Communications, Essar Group and Hindujas expressing their interest in the
acquisition.
1. Strategies in India
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Vodafone's ZooZoos, stars of IPL ad breaks
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Vodafone has given birth to ZooZoo a special character created specifically to convey value
added service (VAS).Meet the Zoo zoos, the stick-like figures with egg-like heads that appear in
TV ads for Vodafone and have become all the rage in India.
So much so that the Vodafone plans to air 25 to 30 different commercials featuring the Zoo zoos
during the Indian Premier League‘s (IPL) Twenty20 cricket series seems like a strategic
masterstroke, although it is likely to come as a surprise to viewers that the ads aren‘t animated—
there are really people inside those Zoo zoo costumes.
But this much is known: Zoo zoo is definitely anthropomorphic, and was created by the creativeteam at Ogilvy and Mather (O&M) India. The ads, 13 of which have been aired until now, have
become popular with viewers. So much so that one of them, an ad for beauty tips over the phone,
was viewed 13,000 times last week on YouTube. The Zoo zoos have also taken Facebook by
storm. They have nearly 35,000 friends.
―With approximately 300 seconds of media being spent each day (on IPL), we had to figure out a
way to communicate as many services as possible in a way that would not cheese off the
customer,‖ said Harit Nagpal, director (marketing and new business) at Vodafone Essar Ltd.
Each of the 30 ads will promote a different value-added service on offer by Vodafone, from
maps to stock alerts.
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2. Services offered in India
RECHARGE CARDS
Recharge cards
MRP (Rs) Access Fee (Rs) Talktime Validity (days) Equivalent mins.
10 2.00 7.07 0 6.37
15* 13.45 0.00 0 0.00
20 2.00 16.13 0 14.53
21* 18.62 0.00 0 0.00
25 22.6 0 0 0
30 2.00 25.20 0 22.70
31* 28.06 0.00 0 0.00
33* 29.44 0.00 0 0.00
39* 34.85 0.00 0 0.00
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46* 41.21 0.00 0 0.00
47* 42.20 0.00 0 0.00
48 40.51 3.01 Lifetime 2.71
49* 44.37 0.00 0 0.00
55 2.00 47.86 0 43.12
110 2.00 97.73 0 88.05
149* 134.99 0.00 0 0.00
199 2.00 178.41 0 160.73
298* 270.07 0.00 0 0.00
549* 497.33 0.00 0 0.00
599 0.00 543.05 365 days 489.23
2500* 2266.22 0.00 0 0.00
2599* 2355.96 0.00 0 0.00
Average rate calculation
Type of call rate (Rs / min) % of distribution of MOU Rate (Rs / min) Effective rate
Local Mobile-to-Mobile 59% 1.00 0.59
Local – Fixed 20% 1.00 0.20
STD – Mobile-to-Mobile 14% 1.5 0.21
STD – Fixed 7% 1.5 0.11
Average rate 1.11 0.11
* Bonus cards
15 : 60 local V2V mins, to be used btw 11 pm & 8 am. Mins to be used within 30 days o
recharge
21 : All local vodafone to vodafone calls @ 20p/min for one selected vodafone number for
30 days
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25 : 125 local V2V mins, to be used btw 11 pm & 8 am. Mins to be used within 30 days o
recharge
31 : All STD calls at Re 1/min for 30 days
33 : 200 local V2V mins, to be used btw 11 pm & 8 am. Mins to be used within 30 days o
recharge
39 : All local calls at 60p/Min for 30 days
46 : 300 local V2V mins, to be used btw 11 pm & 8 am. Mins to be used within 30 days o
recharge
49 : Local SMS @ 2 p for 30 days
47 : US/Canada calls@Rs2.99/min,Gulf calls@6.99/min&UK,Europe/Australia/Newzealand
Fixed@2.99/min & SEA @3.20/min - to be used in 2 days
149 : US/Canada calls @ Rs.5.25/min+All STD Calls @ Re1/min - to be used in 60 days
298 : Gulf Calls @ Rs.6.99/min - to be used in 60 days
549 : USA/Canada calls @Rs3.99/min,UK Fixed & SEA call
@Rs4.20/min,Japans@Rs5.50/min,China @Rs2.50/min - to be used in 90 days
2500 : US/Canada calls @ Rs.1.99/min,South East Asia @ Rs4.20/min + All STD calls @
Re 1/min - to be used in 270 days
2599 : Call UAE @ Rs 6/min and Rest of Gulf @ Rs8/min with 6sec pulse + All STD calls
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@ Re 1/min - to be used in 270 days
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O&M creates „ZooZoos‟ for Vodafone
After the famous pug, O&M has now created a new set of characters called ‗ZooZoos‘ for the
latest Vodafone campaign featuring value added services. The spots were launched during the
ongoing IPL series.
The agency was tasked to leverage the IPL 2 to communicate the wide range of products and
services from Vodafone while building a consistent brand story.
Explaining the idea behind the campaign, Rajiv Rao, executive creative director, O&M says,
―We created a special world in which all the product stories get told. A world whic h is real yet
different, strange yet simple, warm and lovable. All the specific product stories and services get
told in this world of Zoozoos, making the messages more charming.‖
One of the most interesting facts about this campaign is that even though the ZooZoo characterslook animated, they have been played by real people dressed in a white attire. Reveals director
Prakash Varma of Nirvana films, ―Animation requires so much detailing and here we had to do
the exact opposite. We had to make real characters look like animated characters. It was quite
challenging as none of them could see as they were covered from head to feet. The set, including
all the props, is in the form of shadows created by spray painting.‖
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The media mix for the campaign includes television, print, outdoor, radio activation and online.
There is a ZooZoo community on Facebook which has around 3183 fans and which features all
the ZooZoo commercials that have been released so far, ZooZoo emoticons and ‗Tag me‘
application.
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3. Customer service
Vodafone Trims Down Base Tariff On Local & STD Calls
Vodafone, India‘s second largest telecom operator, has reduced base tariff on its local and STD
call charges in Bihar and Jharkhand. The new base tariff for local call is 50 paisa per minute,
whereas for STD it is Rs.1 per minute.
The new base tariffs will be applicable to all new as well as existing Vodafone subscribers
irrespective of their current plan. The subsisting users don‘t have to buy any additional voucheror bonus card.
Vodafone has also launched two new STD bonus cards for its prepaid subscribers in Bihar and
Jharkhand. These two bonus cards - Regional STD Bonus Card and All India STD Bonus Card
allow STD calls at 50 paisa per minute in a predefined region. Both bonus cards are valid for a
period of 30 days.
The Regional STD Bonus Card costs Rs 24 and it enables the Vodafone customer to make STDcalls at 50 paisa per minute to the bordering states of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam
and the North East. The All India STD Bonus Card is available for Rs 49 and allows user to call
anywhere in India at 50 paisa per minute
4. Segmentation of market in different directions
Vodafone 3G
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Vodafone is all geared up to commercially launch its much awaited 3G service in India. It
has already announced the launch of service but the tariff etc are yet to be announced. So
in a way it can be taken as that commercially it is yet to take off. It‘s being speculated
that 3G tariffs will be revealed probably next week.
Till then Vodafone 3G is up for trial in 11 cities as has been revealed by Vodafone at
twitter. So the customers in these cities can have a feel of Vodafone 3G services now.
These cities are Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Surat,
Gandhidham, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Lucknow & Kanpur. In order to check the
availability of 3G service in any area in these cities customers can call on 116 which is a
toll free help number.
Vodafone has won 3G spectrum in 9 circles namely
Delhi,Mumbai,Maharashtra,Gujarat,Tamil,Nadu,Kolkata,Haryana,UP-E and West
Bengal
It will be offering 3G services like video calling, mobile tv, high speed internet, live
streaming videos, mobile apps, HD gaming, data cards and much more. But so far
Vodafone has not revealed its 3G tariffs and plans although 3G experience zones in
Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Gujarat circles have already been established
where customers can get a taste of 3G services on Vodafone network.
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3G Trial Offer :
Currently Vodafone is running free trial offer for its customers whereby they can get a
feel of the service. Under this offer the customers can enjoy 3G data service on their
current 2G data plans at no extra cost.
To activate the offer one need to send ―ACT 3G‖ to 111
Today, Tata Docomo‘s 3G services went live in selected cities of the nine circles, where
it has won the 3G license. Sadly, Tata Docomo‘s 3G services are still not available in our
city and we may have to wait till the year-end to enjoy their 3G services. On the other
hand, Vodafone is gearing up for the launch of its 3G services in India.
Recently, my twitter friend @ashishmohta got a call from the Vodafone representative
regarding the launch of its 3G services. According to the representative, Vodafone will
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launch 3G as early as next weekand the 3G plans will not burn a hole in your pocket.
Currently, they are calling only special customers to let them know about the launch of
Vodafone 3G.
Vodafone will offer 3 data plans:
10GB data usage for Rs.499
15GB data usage for Rs.699
Unlimited data usage for Rs.899
Vodafone had grabbed 3G license for 9 circles – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai &
Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (East) and West
Bengal.
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
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ZooZoos – A Successful Marketing Strategy
ZooZoo, the new brand ambassador of Vodafone, has created a furore in the advertising industry.
Zoozoos have been successful in giving Vodafone a makeover and establishing maximum brand
presence. I consider it to be a perfect example of a well-laid out marketing strategy for the
following reasons:
Vodafone chose the Indian Premier League 2 (IPL-2) as a platform to launch their advertisement,
which proved to be a great marketing strategy. Cricket is considered to be a religion in India, and
Zoozooz captured attention of nearly two billion people during the IPL. People eagerly waited
for breaks between matches to see more stories about Zoozoo.
Zoozoos are small pseudo-animated characters with big egg-shaped head, round belly but
extremely thin arms and legs. It was a fresh and innovative concept and Vodafone wonderfully
promoted their services by creating different stories featuring Zoozoos. The charm of the Zoozoo
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was itself a great self-marketing strategy and they were instant success among masses. Within
few days, Zoozooz created a huge audience for them, giving a boost to the Vodafone brand.
People were already in awe of those cute and lovable characters, but the curiosity heightened
when Vodafone disclosed that Zoozooz were not animated, rather humans were playing those
characters. People were even more hungry to know about their favorite Zoozooz.
In the second phase, after the release of these ads, Vodafone promoted these characters on social
media sites, which was another wise decision. Zoozoo fan clubs are there on social networking
sites like Facebook, YouTube, Orkut, Twitter, and many more, where they have a huge
followings.
Now Vodafone has announced to launch the Zoozoo goodies like zoozoo toys, zoozoo mugs,
zoozoo keychains, zoozoo t-shirts, etc. Zoozooz have themselves become a brand and it will be
interesting to see how Vodafone uses this concept in future to promote their services.
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CHAPTER 4
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
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Research Methodology
It refers to the method adopted to collect the relevant data and other information,which forms the basis
of the this writing. So far the effective writing of the report, the data must be
quality oriented. My research is divided into these stages
STAGE I:Data Source
All the data collected by me is secondary in nature. Raymond‘s websites provides
me their product details which helps me in making product analysis, company
profile of Raymond and the financial statement for the current year.
The secondary data sources that is being utilized in this project are as follows:
The ads in The Times of India.
The material available on the web.
Business magazines.
STAGE-II : ANALYSIS
In this stage all the data is analyzed and the report is being written. Material
collected from various sources is first arranged and then by consulting the project
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guide this data is used to prepare report. The data which is secondary in this report
study for the company profile.
. .
.
DATA COLLECTION
There are two methods of data collection
( 1 ) P r i m a r y D a t a
( 2 ) S e c o n d a r y D a t a
(1) Primary Data
Pr imary data means f i r s t hand informat ion . There are the
fol lowing methods of obtaining primary data.
(a)Survey by Quest ionnai re .
( b ) P a n e l R e s e a r c h .
(c)Observat ion Approach.
(d)Exper imenta l Research .
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(2) Secondary Data
There are numerous sources of secondary data. A tedious and time-
consuming library research may give the past desired information. Sources
of secondary data are as under …
(a)Publ i shed Survey of Markets .
(b)Genera l Library Research .
(c) Govt . Publ ica t ions and repor ts
(d) Al l adver t i s ing media (newspapers , magazines and repor ts)
HERE I HAVE USED SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION
METHOD
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CHAPTER 5
FINDING AND ANALYSIS
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SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
Strong International presence and brand recognition. Solid platform across Europe;
HSDPA available in 100% of 3G footprint opening growth opportunities in mobile broadband
services. Controlling interest in strong growth markets (e.g. Egypt, Romania, South Africa,
Turkey, India). Well-defined cost reduction initiatives: managed purchasing, outsourcing. Stable
operating profit despite downward profit trend in Europe offset by improved operations in
EMAPA. Have now established a clear route to delivering fixed broadband services in all
relevant markets. Consistent in maintaining a 60% payout ratio.
WEAKNESSES
Uncertainty in revenue growth in the HSDPA network based on historislow consumer market
take-up of 3G data services. Slow customer growth in DSL wholesale markets in UK and Italy;
slow subscriber growth in Spain arising from lower promotional activity. Adverse impact from
exchange rate movements particularly in South Africa. The likely slippage of dividends in
Verizon Wireless to 2010 could fuel tension §between Verizon Communications and Vodafone
shareholders. Have now established a clear route to delivering fixed broadband services in all
relevant markets Insubstantial capacity to offer bundled services due to specialization in mobile
services; may lead to higher churn rates and may be pressured to compete exclusively in price.
OPPORTUNITIES
EMAPA remains target for potential acquisitions, with an average mobile penetration of 27% by
end of FY07 ; huge growth opportunity in India in a market of 1.1 bn people with a low 14%
mobile penetration 3G data services gaining momentum in business customers; successful
partnerships with laptop manufacturers to include embedded Vodafone SIMs to mobile devices
allow opportunities for upselling of mobile broadband services in Europe, only one-third of voice
traffic is carried over mobile networks and Vodafone customers has a monthly average of only
140 minutes of use; the trend is parallel with the company‟s strategy to drive higher voice usage
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onto mobile through reduction in prices; Vodafone expects usage demand to eventually exceed
the price reduction.
THREATSHigh mobile penetration in principal market leaves little room for growth Fierce competition in
mature markets, especially with converged telcos offering triple-play and quad-play services;
Vodafone lacks a direct substitute for such services Greater than anticipated competition with
internet providers, MVNOs and new entrants; greater than anticipated customer acquisition and
retention
Regulatory intervention on tariffs creates pressure on revenues; on FY08, the company expects a
revenue reduction of £200 mn due to the elimination of top up charges under the Bersani decree
in Italy and reduction of £200 mn to £250 mn from the deregulation of roaming charges across
Europe .
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Marketing Analysis
Product Profile
Company Profile will assists individual investors, managers and companies in evaluating
opportunities, trends, market innovations, and selecting appropriate information solutions in
order to make effective decisions. The report has been made after extensive research using
the data available from reliable publications, trade associations and the companies‟ sources.
The report elaborates on the company's business structure and operations, products and
services. The report includes key financial information and strategic analysis that intends to
aid investors to find better prospects with the company and gain an insight into the corporate
policies.
Target Customers
Positioning Vodafone as a younger, more dynamic network, based on brand personality and
attitude, would have greater appeal for Vodafone's core 18 to 39 age target.
Positioning Strategies
First brand in the category to develop a personality-based brand positioning.
Positioning Vodafone as a younger, more dynamic network, based on brand personality and
attitude, would have greater appeal for Vodafone's core 18 to 39 age target.
It would also further encourage the perception that Optus was moving in the direction of
Telstra's older, more conservative position.
Market Share of each competitors
Customer Market Share(%)
AIRTEL 32466 22.8
Reliance 29980 21.1
BSNL 25551 18.0
VODAFONE 23306 16.4
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CHAPTER 6
LIMITATIONS
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It is said that ‗ Nothing is perfect ‘ and if the quote is true I am sure that there
would few shortcomings in this project also. Sincerely efforts have been made to
eliminate discrepancies as far as possible but few would have been remained due to
limitations of study.
Although the project has been the worked out at its best yet there are certain
limitation which cannot be overlooked . Had these limitations been overcome, the
findings would be accurate
Some of these limitations are;
1-TIME CONSTRAINT – time was really a limiting factoring the project. its
really difficult to work out such a large project between two months time.
2-DATA CONSTRAINT- all the data that has been collected for the project has
been taken from secondary sources like websites, magazines, newspapers and
books.
However, every effort is made to ensure that these do not in any way adversely
affect the result of the study and inject an element of objecting
3- BIASNESS - project may show biasness towards one product or another as all
the data had been taken from secondary sources and it is possible that rhe persons
who had done original research might be biased about product or company
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CHAPTER 7
SUGGESTIONS
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SUGGESTIONS
The supply must be properly fulfilled so the need of the customer satisfies.
Target selling for the dealer / agent can increase the sales of company.
The company must concern to the satisfaction of customer demand.
The company and dealer should develop its marketing information system.
up to date information of competitor's policy, price and product, target market, so
the company can know its strengths and weaknesses.
Brand preference studies reveal that comparatively there is more preference for Vodafone
among consumers so in order to attract and maintain his consumers. Advertising
programs should be intensified.
Perception of the consumer is changing rapidly. They seek new benefits and values in
their preferred brand. Moreover, consumer likes to have brand at low rate. vodafone
should insert it so as to meet the changing preference of the consumer.
It should keep revitalizing its product / services
Fulfill the consumer needs.
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The project was undertaken to understand the marketing strategies of Vodafone group.
The project gives insight of Vodafone group and the marketing strategies used by company in
India. The company started in 1991 by Sir Ernest Harrison is second largest telecom company of
world with it’s net worth being €89.1 billion in 2012 with 411 million active users. Currently
Vodafone holds 24% market share of telecom industry in India and is second biggest telecom
company offering telecom services in India first being Airtel with 30% market share. If Vodafone
wants to increase it’s share in Indian market it has to place itself strategically and have to use
marketing strategies in such a way that it increase it’s market share . It need to understand the
need of Indian customer and plan according to that it need to understand it’s competitors
marketing strategies in order to gain access over major part of market and to increase it’s
profit.
If Vodafone plans accordingly it will soon became number one telecom industry in India.
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BIBILOGRAPHY
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
A) Web Sites:
1.www.VODAFONE.com
2. www.google.com
B) News-paper:
1. Times of India
C) Book:
1. Research Methodology: C.R. Kothari
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