project airtel

Contents

Particulars Page no.

1. Acknowledgement 3

2. Company Profile and Introduction 5

3. Objective of the Research 25

4. Research Methodology 27

5. Customer Relationship Management 31

6. Churn Management 35

7. Customer Retention and Churn Management at Airtel 38

8. Reasons of Churn amongst Airtel Subscribers 43

9. Analysis of Findings 48

10. Inferences from the Findings 61

11. Grievances of some customers 64

12. Recommendations 67

13. Limitations 69

17. Bibliography 71

18. Annexure 73

Institute Of Management Studies, Noida 1

TO WHOM SO EVER IT MAY CONCERN

This is certified that Mr. DHIRAJ KUMAR GUPTA is a bonafied regular student of

M.B.A. course at this institute for the session 2003-2005.

He has completed his Research Project on “Reasons of churn among the

AIRTEL Subcribers” working of the company as explained in this report.

I find this report up to the standard and recommend that it should be submitted to

the U.P.Technical University for the evaluation.

Dated: - (Coordinator/supervisor)


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT


Acknowledgment

My first regards are to almighty god it was my trust and belief on him, which enable me to

embark upon this task, move on the righteous path and recede the realm of facts.

I would like to thanks from the core of my heart Dr. Shalini Singh, Faculty IMS,

Noida for providing me the due inputs for the project assigned on “Identification of

reasons of churn amongst Airtel customers”. She has been a constant source of

motivation and has channelized my efforts.

I feel privileged in expressing profound sense of gratitude and indebtness to my

supervisor Mrs. Shalini Singh who has generously provided the chance to work at the

esteemed field of service market. Her able guidance, constant encouragement and

inspiration where instrumental in the completion of this research he always allowed me to

encroach upon his precious time and ensured his generosity with ideas.

Lastly but not be the least, I also thank my all the Faculties of IMS for giving me the

opportunity to successfully finish my Research Project.

I am highly thankful to my friends for providing me constant support & bearing

with me all throughout my learning phase.

Dhiraj Kumar Gupta

MBA 4th Sem.



COMPANY PROFILE

Company Profile

Sunil Bharti Mittal or SBM as he is called, has at the age of 43 created a

Telecom Giant in India. It has risen from humble beginnings in 1970’s as a

bicycle parts manufacturer, knitwear and stainless steel utensils in Ludhiana,

Punjab state. Together with other foreign companies he has raised $ 1.5

billion of which $ 800 million is still in the bank.

Bharti happens to be India’s premier telecom company in the field of telecom

terminals and technology tie ups with world leaders like “Siemens, Goldstar,

Tatacom and Casio. It is the first company in India to export telephones to

U.S.A and has finalized plans to manufacture GSM terminals in India.

The success story of Bharti Enterprises can be acknowledged from the fact

that Bharti has acquired 44% of stake of British Telecom, which was up till

now one of the partners with Bharti Enterprises for $140.2 joint venture. The

transaction was worth 100 million pounds.

Bharti Enterprises controls about 20 % of the Total Telecom market in India.

As he puts it , it was a mixture of Vision , good luck and hard work by a team

of about 10 –12 senior people. The early beginnings in 1985 were in

manufacturing telephone handsets. They did not have the expertise to do

telephone exchanges, jelly -filled cables had become a commodity and their

capital investment was high.


Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited was incorporated on July 7, 1995 for promoting

investments in telecommunications services. Its subsidiaries operate telecom

services across India. Bharti Tele-Ventures is India's leading private sector

provider of telecommunications services based on a strong customer base

consisting of approximately 11.50 million total customers which constitute,

approximately 10.66 million mobile and approximately 836,000 fixed line

customers, as of January 31, 2005.

Bharti Teletech

Bharti Teletech deals with telecom equipment manufactering. Bharti teletech

has 2 subsidiaries “Siemens Telecom and Bharti Duraline.

Siemens Telecom is a joint venture between the global giants Siemens AG

and Bharti Telecom. This alliance has brought to the Indian market the

unmatched technology of Siemens and the manufacturing strength of Bharti

Telecom. Siemens Telecom markets its product under the brand names of

“Siemens” and “ Beetel”. The Siemens range of telephones include electronic

push button phones, feature phones ans the latest GSM cellular phones.

“Beetels commitment to quality, value and durability has made it the

largest selling cordless phone in India.

Bharti Duraline – Bharti Duraline is a translation of Bharti’s commitment to

serve the growing telecom market in India. This joint venture with Duraline

Corp of U.S.A manufacture and markets high quality SILCORE TM HDPE


telecom ducts. Duraline USA gas prestigious customers like AT&T, Lucent

technologies,Sprint MCI, Ericsson ,etc

Bharti Telecom

In the past few decades the telecom industry across the world has gone

through a sea change and India has not been away from the technological

revolution. Bharti Telecom the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises has

continuously introduced world-class telecom products and services.

From the introduction of push button telephones backing telephones to

answering machines from cordless telephones to cellular services Bharti is

breaking new grounds with host of new brands like Airtel and Beetel. Bharti

Telecom has emerged as India’s finest Telecom Company.

Incorporated in 1985 Bharti Telecom is one of the largest Telecom companies

in the country.

Bharti Telecom provides various basic /cellular services, Internet services and

VSAT’s etc. through its several subsidiaries and joint ventures. The two

subsidiaries of Bharti Telecom are “Bharti Televenture” and “Bharti

Telepatial”.


Bharti Televenture

Bharti Televenture Ltd. was incorporated on 7th July 1995. BTVL has been

floated by Bharti Telecom Ltd. as Telecom operator to hold equity stake and

to wide management services to cellular and fixed line Telecom Projects in

India.Bharti Televenture is a holding company for Bharti Cellular and Bharti

Telenet.

Bharti Cellular

Bharti Cellular Ltd offers cellular service under the brand name of Airtel.

Bharti Telenet

Bharti Telenet offers fixed line services in M.P. (Indore) and cellular services

in H.P. the company the first private operator to provide fixed line services

under the country. It launched its fixed lines services on 4 th June 1998 in

Indore, and as developed the customer based of over 35,000. The company as

a market share of 80% in H.P. for its cellular services.

Bharti Telespatial

Bharti Telespatial provides Internet services and VSAT’s. It has gain two

subsidiaries “Bharti BT” and “Bharti BT Internet”.


Bharti BT

Bharti BT has a licensed to provide VSAT services in India. The company is

second largest service provider in the shared hub and fastest growing VSAT

service provider in the country.

Identifying the core relevance of satellite communication, the joint venture is

expanding the VSAT market through service leadership and product

innovation, offering fast, secure and reliable telecom solutions for all times.

BT helps its customers meet there short term goals and long term

communications strategies.Taking advantage of its leading edge in

technology, Bharti BT offers customized TDMA, VSAT solutions, PAMA

services. The flexibility to integrate these services also enables the company

to provide hybrid V-SAT services to meet the diverse requirement of the

customers.

Bharti BT Internet:- Bharti BT Internet has a licensed to provide Internet

services in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. The service became operational

from May 99 under the brand name “Mantra On Line”.


EVOLUTION OF TELECOM INDUSTRY


EVOLUTION OF CELLULAR INDUSTRY

In 1991, Government of India (GOI) announced its intentions to liberalize the

telecommunication Industry.

As part of the liberalization process, two licenses for Cellular Services and

one license for Basic Services to be awarded to the private sector for each

telecom circle.

In 1992, GOI invited bids from private players for operating Cellular Services

in the 4 metro circles.

The licenses were to be awarded on the basis of a tender in which the license

fees had been announced beforehand and the selection was on the basis of

services to the subscriber and rentals.

Due to legal issues related to the awarding of the licenses, the process got

delayed and licenses to operate services in metro circles awarded in December

1994.

The Do T announced the National Telecom Policy, which set out the

objectives to increase the availability & quality of telecommunications

services in India by inviting the private sector into basic telecom services.

The Objectives of NTP 94 were to:

Ensure availability of telephones on demand as early as possible

Achieve a telecom service that conforms to international standards


Assist the manufacture and export of telecom equipment

Protect national defense and security interests

In January 1995, GOI invited bids for cellular services

In 20 non-metro circles, categorizing them into A, B and C circles

based on geographic attractiveness and demographic size.

169 bids were received from 32 consortia for 18 circles

In August 1995, the Do T placed a 3 circle cap on category and B

circles per bidding consortium

In September 1995, Bharti Cellular Ltd. launched

Cellular Services in Delhi.

Licenses were awarded in December 1995, with 2

Licenses per circle awarded to the 2 highest bidders.

New Telecom Policy – 1999

Existing structure of a fixed License fee to be replaced by a one-

time entry fee and a revenue sharing agreement to be recommended by the

TRAI.

Strengthening of the TRAI through the separation of the Do T’s service

provision functions from its policy and licencing functions. The DoT as


service provider will be subject to the directions of the TRAI and as the

licensing authority will be required to seek TRAI’s prior recommendation.

Interconnectivity with service providers in different License areas to be

announced as part of the structure for opening up national long distance-this

will allow cellular operators to act as long distance carriers and provide a

valuable upside.

Cellular licensees will be allowed to directly interconnect with VSNL.

This will provide cellular carriers with access to the valuable international

long distance market

Cellular licenses to be for a period of 20 years.

Entry of MTNL/DOT as a service provider will be in a time bound manner

and shall be based on the recommendations of the TRAI-entry of MTNL/Do T

and other operators will be phased in giving the existing incumbents an

advantage.

Traditional Fixed Line penetration is low at 2.15% as on 31st March

2000.

High unsatisfied demand as reflected by Do T waitlists – 13.9% of

installed capacity as of 31st March 2000

Lowering of entry barriers for consumer – Falling handset prices.

Lowering of recurring charges – Falling Airtime Tariff.


Improved Accessibility – Increased Rollout into newer circles.

Growth in Cellular Subscriber base by 52% year on year. Large part

from Prepaid.

Bharti Cellular Ltd – An Introduction

BCL is a company launched by well-established and reputed companies

across the global with the remarkable track record in Telecom Industry,

particularly with excellent knowledge of cellular network operations in UK,

Sweden and Mauritius.

Bharti Cellular Ltd was granted the license to provide cellular mobile

telephone services in New Delhi by the DoT on 29th November 1994 on a

non-exclusive for the next ten years.

BCL is a customer oriented company, whose goal is to position itself in the

market as a serious enterprising supplier of reliable, easily available mobile

telephone services of high quality, thus promoting opportunities for the

business community and allowing private users to enjoy efficient, safe and

cost effective mobile communication. Bharti has successfully accomplished

this task over the last five years of operation with the help of its well-

developed global systems for mobile communication.


THE EVOLUTION OF BCL

1992 Government invites bids for providing Cellular Mobile Telephony –

Bharti Enterprises forms a joint venture with CGE, EMTEL, Millicom and

MSI. UK – BHARTI CELLULAR is born.

1993 Bharti Cellular granted license to provide Mobile Phone Services

in Delhi and NCR, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Guragaon, Noida and

Ballabgarh.

Mar 1995 Bookings for AirTel opened.

Aug15, 1995 Air Tel launches Cellular Services in Delhi.

Nov15, 1995 Cellular Services AIRTEL commercially launched in Delhi.

Nov 1995 AirTel crosses 10000 customers – one million-call mark.

The first AirTel Connect opens in Delhi.

Sept 1996 AirTel installs second Switch – installed capacity reaches

200000 lines.

Nov 1996 AirTel crosses 50000 customers – hundred million-call marks.


Dec 1996 Manual roaming launched.

Jan 1997 British Telecom joins hands with Bharti Cellular.

April 1997 Multi IMSI roaming launched.

May 1997 Mega – Millennium Network launched.

Aug 15, 1998 Smart roaming facilities launched.

Jan7, 1999 IN Network commissioned; Bharti launches Magic –

prepaid card.

Dec 1999 Smart Net facilities launched.

June 2000 Bharti buys acquired 44% of stake of British telecom.

July 2001 World’s First SMS chat launched.

July 9, 2001 Bharti bags cellular services in M.P. circle.

July 15, 2001 Bharti acquired Modi’s promoted spicecell.

July 16, 2001 Bharti bags license for cellular operating in 5 new circles.

With this BCL is the only cellular operator to operate in

all 4 metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai) with its

operationsin Bangalore & Hyderabad too.


AirTel – An Unflinched Brand

AirTel, a part of Bharti Cellular Ltd., was conceived and nurtured under the

adages of the Bharti and was born on the 14 th day of November 1995, as the

original licensee to provide Cellular Telephony to the customer base in the

national capital New Delhi.

Since its inception in 1995, Air Tel has never looked back and has changed

the way true leaders of Delhi talk, communicate, work and indeed live. It has

consistently been the leader with its undisputed “Power to keep in Touch”

and has been chalking up a number of first in its journey to commanding the

heights of the cellular industry.

Its belief to leverage the latest technologies and to deliver value to its

customers was manifest within a span of a year and a half of its launch. It

expanded its network with the installation of its second MSC (Mobile

Switching Center) raising its capacity 5,00,000 lines, thereby becoming the

first Cellular Operator in the country to have done so. This was further

enhanced with the introduction of SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy)

and the CCS7 Signaling. The Bharti Group is pulling out all the stops to

ensure that Air Tel maintains its leadership over Essar & Dolphin in the

Delhi Market. This is crucial as Bharti Cellular has almost 3,25,000

subscribers, but with Hutchison taking a 49% stake in Essar – promoted

Sterling Cellular and planning to roll out its Orange Brand in the city, the

gap between the two operators could narrow.


It has put at the disposal of its subscribers a wide array of convenience

enhancing Value added Services like:

Web Message

Smart Mail,

Short Message Service,

Fax Facility,

Call Conferencing,

Call Hold,

Call Forwarding,

Call Waiting,

Calling Party line Identification and several other on line services

available to its customers.

Wireless Application Protocol Service

SMS Chat


As a duty to retain its valuable customer base, as well as efforts to bring the

churned customers, AirTel has launched its AirTel Leadership Retention

Program to provide various privileged facilities and discounts along with

points earning.

Air Tel ushered in anytime, anywhere, simple cellular telephony in Delhi

with the launch of Magic Ready Cellular Card in January 1999. This

competency of Magic Dalo, say Hello! Has further increased AirTel Power

to keep in touch! It is based on the Intelligent Network and is compatible

with all GSM handsets.

Consequently for three years 1997, 1998 and 1999, AirTel has been voted as

the Best Cellular Provider in the country and won the coveted Techies

Award.

Technology at AirTel

The company uses GSM technology as prescribed by the DoT. The network

has been supplied and installed on turnkey basis by Ericsson, Sweden, which

is the world leader in cellular technology. The local office of Ericsson

provides support and maintenance services. The network audit is carried out

from time to time association with Mobile System International, UK to ensure

better coverage and speech quality. The billing system has been provided by

SEMA, UK.


The Intelligent Network (IN) installed from Ericsson, Sweden would enable

the company to offer products like Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Solution, On Demand Services etc, apart from flexibility in tariffing.

The company has almost 157 Base stations providing almost 1005 coverage in

the service area and flat terrain in the city has initially helped the quick roll

out in record time. The Company has 2 MSCs in the city, on in the Southeast

and the other in NorthWest. The company has also laid 75km of OFC in the

city to provide SDH rings to augment the existing base station network call

handling capacity. The company was initially granted 4.5 MHz of frequency

bandwidth by the DoT, which has now been increased o 6 MHz.

Themarketing strategy at AirTel has always been to identify and attract a high

usage subscriber base through a strong brand identity for the AirTel brand

name and to associate the name with high quality customer service, a full

range of network services and competitive pricing. A strong customer

support through 24 hrs day helplines and operator assistance on matters

ranging from features usage to billing queries.

AirTel provides its customer service personnel with subscriber, product and

billing information to enable them to respond promptly. The data generated

from the exit interviews conducted with those subscribers who have

terminated services, is used for the process to improve services where

warranted.


DISTRIBUTION

The company uses direct and indirect channels to market its services. The

direct sales force caters to the corporate and to the existing high-end

subscribers to provide maximum satisfaction. The franchisees are the

exclusive AirTel shops throughout a particular license area. These AirTel

Connects sell SIM Cards and handsets, handles customer’s applications and

customers queries and receive monthly payments, besides activation of new

connections and recharge of SIM cards at the designated shops. The

standardization of these AirTel Connects is down the line and this should

provide a greater identity and magnify the AirTel footprint. This also

reinforces the brand awareness and enhance the visibility of the brand

throughout the city.

With the opening up of Distributors and outlets (including 24 hour outlets),

the Magic is now being sold as an FMCG, a product that is available

within the walking distance from any customers’ office/home.

AirTel in HP is expanding within the mighty Himalayas in its service areas

and has launched its Smart Roam Service.


MILESTONES

First to launch cell to cell services in Delhi;

First to launch commercial services;

First to put through ten million calls mark;

First network in India to cross the 50,000 customer base;

First to offer a wide range of Value Added Services;

First to offer roaming facility;

First network to cross 1,50,000 customer base in India;

First network to expand capacity and install the 2nd MSC;

First to launch the Web Messaging Service;

First to launch Mega Millennium Network, EFR Network, IN

Network;

First and till date only profitable Cellular Operations in India;

First to launch IN Services in India;

Winner of the Techies Award (Conferred by Communications

World) for being the best cellular Service provider in the country for three

consecutive years in a row – 1997, 1998 & 1999, 2000.


Winner of the Award for the most innovative HR Practices for the

year 1999, awarded by Asia Pacific HRD Conclave, 2000, 2001

The Golden Peacock National Training Award for excellence in

Training Practices – 2000

Golden Peacock National Quality Award 2001

So the first choice of the Corporate Leaders. The first mover’s advantage

after all gives the subscriber an easy way and power to keep in touch!


Objective of the Research


Objective of the Project

The main objective of this project was to ascertain reasons of churn

among AirTel subscribers.

The project also intends to highlight the various dimensions involved in

the decision of the customer to quit from the service provider.

To find out what service provider have the churned customer gone to.

The project also presents an insight as to what as per the customer the

service provider needs to do to prevent the churning of existing customers

from its network.


Research Methodology


Research Methodology

Sample Size : 2500

: 1700 (Involuntary Churn)

: 800 (Voluntary Churn)

Sampling : Random Sampling

Method of Data Collection : Questionnaire Method

Data Sources:

Primary Data was collected through telephonic interviews. Done with the

churn customers the questionnaire was a good source of primary data.

Secondary Data: - several magazines, newspapers, press monitors at AirTel

and other secondary sources of data were referred. The Manuals in the

organiazation were also consulted.

Sampling Unit: -

Age on network

0-3 months

3-6 mths


6-12 mths

1-2 years

> 2 years

Limit

Limit 0 - <1000

Limit 1- 1000 – 3000

Limit 2 – 3000 – 6000

Limit 3 – 6000 – 13,000

Limit 4 - >13,000

Customer Class

IB – Self-Business

IH – Housewife

IND – Individual

I1 – Student

BUS – Business Class

This sampling unit was identified from the list of churned customers procured

from AirTel Retention Department.

The Researcher made the telephonic calls to the customers who have left

AirTel. The researcher, was also supposed to ask, these customers as to what

other service provider have they shifted to now. The MTNL Numbers of

customers were accessed from CABS by the researcher.


After collecting the data the researcher analyzed it and presented the findings

in the form of graphs, which are shown later in the report.

Following parameters were taken into consideration:

I. Technical problem

(a) Product Related

(b) Net work Related

II. Serivce Related

III. Customer Care

IV. Cost of using AirTel (Money, effort and time)

V. Information learned/ heard

An attempt has also been made to ascertain the loopholes in customer care

services and to pin point the drawbacks through the following dimensions i.e:

Large Queue time

Discourteous

Not Responsive


Customer Relationship Management


Customer Relationship Management:

Customer Relationship Management or CRM is an old subject that has

become a hot topic. Since the 1960’s management gurus such as Peter

Drucker and Levitt have been practicing CRM gospel, which can be simply

summarized like this:

“The true business of every company is to make customers, keep

customer and maximize customer profitability.”

This gospel was neglected until recently by most companies. Why? Because

only now are improved and new technologies (databases, data mining,

Internet etc) capable of tracking and managing customer profitability,

behavior and satisfaction at a reasonable cost.

CRM is a comprehensive approach which provides seamless integration of

every area of business, that touches the customer namely marketing, sales,

customs service and field support through integration of people, process of

technology.

In order to properly understand the concept of CRM we can simply put it in

the form of following model.


CRM itself is not a technology, but a process of gathering and retaining

information about customers and their interaction with the company.

Simply put, we can say CRM helps the organizations to analyze and

understand the following:

To understand whom it’s customer are

Helps an enterprise to enable its marketing department to identify and

target the best customers.


Customer Focus

Profit

Manage marketing campaigns with clear goals and objectives and

generate quality leads for the sales team.

Understanding the formation of individualized relationship with

customer, with the aim of improving customer satisfaction and maximizing

profits.

To understand which points of contact (such as address, phone and

e-mail) are of interest to the enterprise, about its customer.

Most importantly, identifying the most profitable customers, and

providing them with highest level of service.


CHURN MANAGEMENT


Understanding Churn Management and Customer Retention in

Telecommunication Industry:

Meaning of Churn:

Churn in technological term refers to Defection of customers to the

competitor. Churn is a very serious issue and more so for the cellular

industry, where each time the subscriber picks up his Cellphone he generates

revenue for his service provider. Hence it is of paramount importance that the

valuable customers be prevented from exiting from the network and joining

the competitor. Loss of customers has been accepted as “the cost of doing

business” in all high technology industries.

Churn Management:

Churn management is the term used in telecom industry to describe the

process of ensuring that profitable customers stay with the company. The

problem confronting telecom management is that it is very difficult to

determine with subscriber have the company and why. It is therefore more

difficult to predict which customers are likely to leave the company, and more

difficult still to device cost-effective incentives that will persuade likely

“Churners” to stay.

Churn Management helps the telecom companies to predict whether a given

individual is likely to move to another service provider and to able to define

the correct/appropriate actions to keep that profitable to customer.


The cost of Churn to Telecos

Churn costs European and US Telecos close to US $ 4 billion each year the

global cost of customer defection may well approach a staggering US $ 10

billion a year.

Studies within the cellular phone industry found that the company looses US $

500,000 in Revenue for every 1% of customer it looses.

Cost of acquisition of the new customer is 5 times the cost of retaining the

existing ones.


Customer Retention and

Churn Management at AirTel


Customer Retention and Churn Management at Airtel

Churn is defined in context of BCL as

“Discontinuation of all services held by its subscriber.”

It has present rate of 3% in contract every month, where 60% of the

churn is a result of discrimination initiated by the operator.

One of the first adapters and users of technology, Airtel has been using its

customer data effectively to increase profit and customer base, reducing

operating costs and acquire more customer.

Presently the churn management at Airtel follows two methods: -

1. Prevention of voluntary churn

2. Recovery from Involuntary churn

Prevention of Voluntary Churn is done by dedicated telecalling executives.

Their role is primarily to understand customer concern solve this problems

and facilitate continuation in contract, while customer are identified to churn.

Recovery from Involuntary disconnected accounts is done by calling back

customers and offering retention tools. While, analyzing customer reasons for

non-payment of bills.

Decreasing customer loyalty is an alarming issue for the service provider, for

a decrease in the customer base does not only signify only the loss incurred in


terms of revenue being generated from the customer using the provided

services but also means an increase in expenses.

Loss in revenue being earned from the air time used;

Any discounts/waivers that had been given to the subscriber also adds to

the loss;

Under civilization of the existing capacity and infrastructure;

Cost of acquisition of a new customer. (According to industry sources the

cost of acquiring a new customer is 5 times the cost of retaining the existing

ones.)

Therefore customer has become on of the corner stones of the drive towards

effective competition and improved financial performance applied on an

ongoing and responsive basis.

The importance to satisfy a target customer can be known from the fact that a

service provider’s sale for each period comes from two groups:

New Customers;

Repeat Customers.

Customer Retention is thus more important than Customer Attraction for it

might cost sixteen times as much to bring the new customer to the same level

of profitability as the lost customer.


A highly satisfied thus:

Stays loyal longer;

Buys more as the company introduces new products and upgrades the

existing products;

Talks favorably about the company and the Product/services provided by

the company;

Pays less attention to competing brands;

Is less sensitive to price;

Offers product/ service ideas to the company;

Costs less to serve than new customers as the

Transactions are routinized.

Thus the analysis of the reasons of exit / churn should be monitored regularly

so as to ascertain the major factors of satisfaction/dissatisfaction and thus

ensure prompt rectification. Satisfaction is a function of perceived

performance and expectations. Thus AirTel should aim for having a highly

satisfied customer base so that the AirTel smile that the present day customer

base of **** may continue for a very long period through the AirTel’s “Power

to keep in Touch”. Those who are just satisfied find it easy to switch hence

form a lesser percentage of the churned customer base. High satisfaction

creates an emotional affinity with the brand and not just a rational preference.


Thus a long lasting relationship can be established and sustained only through

customer bonding.


REASONS OF CHURN AMONGST

AIRTEL SUBSCRIBERS


IDENTIFIED REASONS OF CHURN AMONGST AIRTEL SUBSCRIBERS

Customer Initiated

SIM lost reported by the Customer;

Handset lost reported by the Customer;

Company changed / Transferred from;

Change in company policy;

Expensive for the Customer;

Death of the Customer;

No usage / Requirement for the Customer;

Temporarily leaving Town;

Permanently leaving Town;

Leaving the country permanently;

Change from post paid to pre paid plan;

Essar Contract taken for Better Scheme;

Essar Contract taken for Better Services;

Essar Pre Paid taken;

Air Tel Contract taken for Better Scheme;


Contract taken for Better Scheme;

AirTel Contract taken for Better Bill Plan;

Requiring a change of existing Number;

Unaware of the “Safe Custody Scheme” of AirTel;

Income Tax and Regulatory Related.

Technical Related

Poor STD / ISD Connectivity

Congestion/Connectivity (Normal);

Coverage Related – Indoor;

Coverage Related – Outdoor;

SIM / Hand Set Faulty;

VAS Feature Failure (SMS, VMS, Fax & Data);

VAS Advantages with Competitors;

Poor Roaming Quality;

Calls Dropping in a particular area of relevance;

Voice clarity in call reception;

Service related. Barring / Disconnection related;


Collection Agent Delayed Transaction;

Collection Agent behavior;

Credit Card Updation Related;

Credit Card Processing Related;

Delay in Customer handling;

Improper Customer handling At RCC / Lobby;

Delayed Activation at AirTel;

Unable to get across to Customer Care;

Credit Limit Related;

Dealers’ Wrong Commitments;

Dealers’ Transactions Related;

Delayed Bills;

Discrepancy in Bills;

Incorrect Bills;

Pending Adjustments;

Roaming Bills Related;

Improper Customer Handling at Hotline;


Delayed Complaint Resolution;

Discrepancy not Resolved;

Long Queue Time at the Customer Helplines;


ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS


Analysis of the findings

Out of the population contacted for personal interviews, the 5 of

people who have given up with Cellular Telephony was very less amongst

those who were still in the town.

Those who have left the country or had a change over in their work

place could not be available for further information.

The reasons of churn enumerated present a picture of the major

dimensions that led to the decision of leaving the network.

The graphical representation of the results obtained after carrying

out the research present the quantitative analysis of the major dimensions.

Out of the total population contacted i.e., 2500; wherein 800 for

voluntary and 1700 for involuntary churn only 146 could be contacted in

voluntary churn and 227 in Involuntary churn. The rest of the population

could not be contacted due to the following reasons. The % of responses

against each reason has been indicated.

Reasons % of people identifying with these reasons

Wrong numbers 17%

No’s not being picked

Up / not responding 27%


Not available 14%

Out of Town 6%

Expired numbers 36%

It is thus seen from above that out of 800 in voluntary only 146 and 1700 in

involuntary churn only 227 people could be available for response.


This forms a major limitation to the study.

The following are the reasons for voluntary churn as told by the sample

population of 146. Customers, as to why they have left the services of Airtel.

The % of responses against each parameter has been indicated.

Reasons % Of respondents

Product Faulty sim card 2

Network Service Connectivity 12

Drop Calls 1

STD/ISD 1


Service Connection Barred 1

Overcharged Bills 1

Faulty Billing 2

Service gap 1

Customer care Not responsive 14

Discourteous 3

Queue size 15

Transfers Temporary 3

Permanently 10

Shifted to cash card 8

High cost

No. Changed

5

7

Change in Billing plan 3

Mobile not required 10

Peer group influence 1


The following are the reasons for involuntary churn of the sample population

of the 227 customers -

Reasons for involuntary % of people identifying churn with them

Shifted to cash card 3

High-Unbilled 5

Non Availability 8

Policy probs 4

Late Bills 5

Wrong Bills 20

Financial problems 35

Time lapse 3

No. Transferred 5

Sim lost 12

Awareness about various Customer Care Helpline

Numbers: - 351/ 373


The issues that prompted them to use the help lines were:

a) Enquiry for general information

b) Enquiry for billing problems

c) Information about specific schemes

d) Guidance in using provided facilities

Kind of Response met with at the customer care:-

a) Large Queue time

b) Discourteous

c) Not Responsive

d) Told to get back, but never got Back

Measures to bring the churned customers back to the Network / prevent the

churn of existing customers. The following was the response to this last and

open-ended question. These customers have put forward the following measures

which would help Airtel to improve upon its services.

Better Customer Care

Reduce tariff costs

Provide free incoming calls

Roaming related issues to be resolved


Do not require AirTel Cellular services anymore

No response to the question

IMAGE


INFERENCES FROM THE FINDINGS


Inferences from the findings

It is thus inferred from the findings that in terms of “Large

Network coverage” about 41% of the customers disagree with the statement,

whereas 29% agree with it, still 21% of the respondents are neutral about

it,3% of them refused to answer and 6% said they don’t know.

It is seen that when the respondents were asked about whether

“Airtel cares about its customers” as many as 46% agreed with it, 17%

disagreed, 24% were neutral about it 9% said that they don’t know while

4% refuse to answer.

As far as Airtel being a “Professional Organization” is

concerned 49% disagreed with it, 22% agree with the statement, 19% are

neutral, 7% of respondents says, they don’t know and 3% of them refuse to

answer.

Similarly for “Large Dealership Network” 59% of the

respondents agrees with it, 12% disagree, 26% were neutral about it, 2% said

they didn’t know and only 1% refuses to answer.

When asked from the customers as to what percentage of

reduction in prices would bring them back on network 14% said it should be

reduced by 10%, 12% said should be reduced by 20%, as many as 35% said


should be reduced by 30%, 23% of them said by 40% and 16% of them

agreed for the reduction in prices by 50%.

As far as “likelihood of the churn customers to come back on

the network is concerned” 7% says its extremely likely, 19% says very likely,

25 agreed with some what likely, 15% said not very likely, 7% of respondents

it was not at all likely, 7% of them said they don’t know.

The analysis of % of respondents shifted to an other service

provider is 34% of the respondents have shifted to Essar cell phone, 18% have

shifted to Dolphin, 4% of respondents have both Airtel and Essar connection,

12% of respondents are still continuing with Airtel, 28% said they don’t

require a mobile whereas 4% refused to answer.


GRIEVANCES OF SOME CUSTOMERS


Grievances of the Customers:

Name : Arun Jain

Mobile: 9810281099

Problem: Faulty Sim, Customer cares

Client’s Version:

He says he had a problem of faulty sim. This problem occurred twice with

him. When he wanted to get it replaced he called a customer care number but

was really hassalled by large queue time, and only after calling up for several

times was his problem solved. Says Airtel are very commercial people. He

has an Essar connection now.

Name: Gopal Pipraya

Mobile: 9810003432

Problem: Roaming, customer care

Client’s version

He said he had gone out of station, when his roaming was disconnected

without any prior intimation, and when he did not have any outstanding also.

He contacted Airtel but in vain no action was taken for a long time eventually

he shifted to Essar.


Name: D. Nayak

Mobile : 9810198626

Problem: Re-connection problem

Client’s version

He said that whenever he was not able to pay the bill in time, he had to go

through a lot of harassment to get it re-connected. It would generally take 5-6

days to get the number re-connected. He called up customer care where he

says was behaved rudely by one of the executive. This executive had

promised him, that the number would be re-activated in 3 hours time. And

when it didn’t even happen for 1 day he decided together number

disconnected permanently.


RECOMMENDATIONS


Recommendations

1. Airtel needs to improve a lot as far as network connectivity is

concerned both indoor and outdoor. Large number of respondents have

complained both in prepaid as well as post paid category.

2. Another dominant reason for churning of customer is delay in customer

care. Hence for better customer satisfaction Air Tel needs to redeem the

lacunae of Promptness in Customer Care.

3. Airtel should also do something about its queue time which according

to customers is a big problem leading greatly to their dissatisfaction.

4. Another very dominant reason for churning of customer is billing

related problems. According to the analysis many customers have faced the

problem of wrong and over charged bills, which made them go through lots of

harassment.

5. Airtel should also seriously look into the matter of delay in re-

activation.


LIMITATIONS


Limitations

1. Since the feedback of the customers was done through telecalling major

limitation was unavailability of customers thus leading to highly low success

rate.

2. Most of the customers were so furious that they refused to part with any

information

3. Time factor



Bibliography

www.airtelworld.com

www.google.co.in

www.economoicstimes.com

www.bharti.com

Research Metholodgy “C.R.Kothari”

Marketing Management “Philip Kotler”


http://www.bharti.com/

http://www.economoicstimes.com/

http://www.google.co.in/

http://www.airtelworld.com/


ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE

BACKGROUND/DECISION/PROCESS

1. Which of the following statements would best describe your current situation

related to AirTel’s cellphone services?

a. I no longer have a need for a cellphone connection.

b. I am currently planning to purchase cellphone regular services from Essar.

c. I am currently planning to purchase “Magic cellphone pre-paid card

from Airtel.

2. What has changed so that you no longer have a need for a cellphone connection?

(Please clarify)

3. Next, I am going to read you a list of reasons why customers sometimes (cancel/

stop using) some products and/or services. Please tell me, for each reason I mention,

whether that reason applied in any way to your decision to stop subscribing to AirTel.

a. One or more problems occurred that AirTel did not handle effectively

b. You wanted more benefits, features, or quality than AirTel provided

c. The cost of using AirTel (including money, time and effort) was too high

d. You decided to discontinue with Air Tel based on information you heard abut

AirTel.

e. Refused

f. Don’t know


4. Now we would like your help in classifying the problem or problems you

experienced. For each problem I mention, please answer “Yes” if the problem applies to

you, or “no” if it does not.

a. Were there TEHNICAL problems (e.g., Handset/SIM card related or NETWORK

SERVICE related) that Air Tel failed to perform as promised?

YES NO

b. Did the SERVICE provided by AirTel people fail to perform as promise?

YES NO

c. Did you have a specific need or request that AirTel could not or was not willing to

handle?

YES NO

d. Did AirTel’s employees treat you poorly or rudely?

YES NO

e. Did some other type of problem happen that we did not mention yet?

YES NO

5. “YOU SAID THERE WERE TECHNICAL PROBLEMS THAT AIRTEL FAILED

TO PERFORM OR SOLVE AS PROMISED. WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING

PROBLEMS DID AIRTEL NOT HANDLE EFFECTIVELY?”

A. Product related

I. Faulty handset provided by AirTel YES NO

II. Faulty SIM card provided by AirTel YES NO


III. Any other Product related problems YES NO

B. Network related

I. Network connectivity YES NO

II. Indoor coverage problem

III. Outdoor coverage problem

IV. Drop calls

V. Voice clarity

VI. STD/ISD connectivity problem

VII. VAS feature failures

C. The connection was not activated for a long time

6. You said the SERVICE provided by AirTel people fail to perform as promised. Which

of the following service related problems did you experience which AirTel did not

handle effectively?

A. Frequent barring or disconnection

I. Because of credit limit inspite of high usage

YES NO

II. Barring for any other reason (Please Specify)

B. Billing and Payments

I. Delay in receiving bills


II. Delayed postings of payment and subsequent harassment

III. Incorrect roaming bill

IV. Receiving bill for incorrect mobile No.

V. Receiving incomplete bill

C. You said AirTel couldn’t or wouldn’t handle a need or request. What Was your need

or request? About customizing the SERVICE in some way? (Please specify)***

D. Was your need or request about an error you made that required AirTel’s help to

fix?

YES NO

If Yes what was your need and request. (Please specify)****

E. Was there another request or specific need?

YES NO

7. You said you were treated poorly or rudely. What exactly did AirTel’s employees do?

Please try to describe specific behaviours, if possible.

d. PUT ON HOLD

e. NOT RESPONSIVE

f. WERE DISCOURTEOUS

g. LARGE QUEUE TIME

8. If these problems had not occurred, what is the likelihood that you would still be

buying from AirTel today? Would you say (READ LIST EXECEPT FOR DK)?

a. Extremely likely


b. Very likely

c. Somewhat likely

d. Not very likely

e. Don’t know

f. Refused

9. Which of the following are priced high by AirTel that prompted you to cancel your

connection?

d. Monthly rentals for subscription

e. Airtime usage rates

f. Monthly rentals for VAS

g. Recent changes in your budget

10. Now I would like you to consider various amounts of reductions in AirTel’s prices

(First/Next), if AirTel lowered their prices by (insert amount), would you still be

subscribing from AirTel today?

d. 0% YES NO

e. 20%

f. 30%

g. 40%

h. 50%


11. In what ways did you feel you were spending too much effort in doing business with

AirTel? (PROBE & CLARIFY)

IMAGE

12. Now still thinking of Air Tel, please tell me how much you agree with the following

statements (Read First Statement Below) would you say that Airtel has

A. Large Net work Coverage (Adequate No. of cell sites)

a. Agree

b. Disagree

c. Neither agrees nor disagrees

d. Don’t know

B. Cares about its customers

a. Agree

b. Disagree

c. Neither agree nor disagree

d. Don’t Know

C. Large Dealer Network (Wide Accessibility)

a. Agree

b. Disagree


d. Don’t know


D. Professional Organization

a. Agree

b. Disagree


d. Don’t know

13.Are you aware that there are toll free help line numbers available with your Air

Tel connection?

Yes No

14. Have you asked for guidance / assistance on these help line numbers?

Yes No

Demographics

Name ___________________ Age _________

Occupation ________________ Years of Cell Phone use ____

Thank you for your kind cooperation.


project airtel

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