Vodafone Customer Satisfaction

INTRODUCTION
The telecom network in India is the fifth largest network in the world meeting up with
global standards. Presently, the Indian telecom industry is currently slated to an estimated
contribution of nearly 1% to Indias GDP.
The Indian Telecommunications network with 110.01 million connections is the fifth
largest in the world and the second largest among the emerging economies of Asia.
Today, it is the fastest growing market in the world and represents unique opportunities
for U.S. companies in the stagnant global scenario. The total subscriber base, which has
grown by 40% in 2005, is expected to reach 250 million in 2007.
According to Broadband Policy 2004, Government of India aims at 9 million broadband
connections and 18 million internet connections by 2007. The wireless subscriber base
has jumped from 33.69 million in 2004 to 62.57 million in FY2004- 2005. In the last 3
years, two out of every three new telephone subscribers were wireless subscribers.
Consequently, wireless now accounts for 54.6% of the total telephone subscriber base, as
compared to only 40% in 2003. Wireless subscriber growth is expected to bypass 2.5
million new subscribers per month by 2007. The wireless technologies currently in use
are Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple
Access (CDMA). There are primarily 9 GSM and 5 CDMA operators providing mobile
services in 19 telecom circles and 4 metro cities, covering 2000 towns across the country.
Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services
supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key
performance indicator within business and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced
Scorecard.

Vodafone Customer Satisfaction

In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer
satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of
business strategy.
There is a substantial body of empirical literature that establishes the benefits of customer
satisfaction for firms.
Measuring customer satisfaction
Organizations are increasingly interested in retaining existing customers while targeting
non-customers; measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful
the organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace.
Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation
of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to
product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and
physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and
recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the
customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the
organization's products.
Because satisfaction is basically a psychological state, care should be taken in the effort
of quantitative measurement, although a large quantity of research in this area has
recently been developed. Work done by Berry, Brodeur between 1990 and 1998 defined
ten 'Quality Values' which influence satisfaction behavior, further expanded by Berry in
2002 and known as the ten domains of satisfaction. These ten domains of satisfaction
include: Quality, Value, Timeliness, Efficiency, Ease of Access, Environment, Interdepartmental Teamwork, Front line Service Behaviors, Commitment to the Customer and
Innovation. These factors are emphasized for continuous improvement and organizational
change measurement and are most often utilized to develop the architecture for
satisfaction measurement as an integrated model. Work done by Parasuraman, Zeithaml

Vodafone Customer Satisfaction

and Berry between 1985 and 1988 provides the basis for the measurement of customer
satisfaction with a service by using the gap between the customer's expectation of
performance and their perceived experience of performance. This provides the measurer
with a satisfaction "gap" which is objective and quantitative in nature. Work done by
Cronin and Taylor propose the "confirmation/disconfirmation" theory of combining the
"gap" described by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry as two different measures
(perception and expectation of performance) into a single measurement of performance
according to expectation. According to Garbrand, customer satisfaction equals perception
of performance divided by expectation of performance.
The usual measures of customer satisfaction involve a survey with a set of statements
using a Likert Technique or scale. The customer is asked to evaluate each statement and
in term of their perception and expectation of performance of the organization being
measured.
Vodafone had highest customer satisfaction index in 2007
Lisbon, 25 August 2008 - Vodafone obtained the highest customer satisfaction index in
the telecommunications sector in 2007, according to annual results published by Anacom.
Vodafone achieved a satisfaction index of 74.4 (on a scale of 0 to 100), the highest score
of all the companies in the Portuguese telecommunications market and considerably
above the sector average of 67.6.
In the report published by Anacom, Vodafone is ranked in first place in all the indicators
included in the survey: Satisfaction with the operator, Image that customers have of the
operator, Customer Expectations, Perceived Quality of the operator's network and
services, Perceived Value for Money, Complaints received and their handling, and
Loyalty of customers to their operator.
In the Perceived Quality indicator, Vodafone obtained a score of 8.3 points for overall
quality, way ahead of the scores of the other two operators (both obtained 7.7 points).

Vodafone Customer Satisfaction

Vodafone comes top in all the indicators for perceived quality of network and services:
technical quality of the network (8.2 points); customer service and advice capability (7.6
points); quality (8.2 points), diversity (8.0 points) and reliability (7.9 points) of products
and services offered; clarity and transparency of information supplied (7.8 points);
network coverage (7.9 points) and clarity and transparency of price plans (7.9 points).
Similarly, in the indicators measuring the Image of mobile operators, Vodafone comes top
in the five categories analyzed (on a scale of 1 to 10): 'It is a reliable company in terms of
what it says and what it does' (8.1 points); 'It is stable and well established in the market'
(8.8 points); 'It contributes positively to society' (7.5 points); 'It cares about its customers'
(7.6 points); and 'It is innovative and forward looking' (8.5 points).
The methodology used in the ECSI Portugal 2007 survey (ECSI European Customer
Satisfaction Index) is similar to that used by the European Commission to survey
customer satisfaction in 25 Member States, enabling comparisons to be made between the
results obtained in each country.
The ECSI Portugal 2007 Communications survey was carried out by the Higher Institute
of Statistics and Information Management at Lisbon's New University in partnership with
the Portuguese Quality Institute and the Portuguese Quality Association, with
sponsorship from Anacom.

OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

Vodafone Customer Satisfaction

Following are the main objective to study about the customer satisfaction on
Vodafone.
To study telecommunication industry.
To study the company profile of Vodafone.
To study customer satisfaction of Vodafone.
To study various Marketing activities provided by Vodafone.
To study the various services provided by Vodafone.
To know the expectation of Vodafone Customers.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

There are many benefits related to take this study. Some of the benefits of taking
this study are as follows:
By analyzing this information, the company would be able to better design
schemes & services & target right prospects needs & wants.
More people will get aware about Vodafone that will increase profit level of
Vodafone.

Vodafone Customer Satisfaction

This study helps to identify the behavior of consumer when there are no offers &
schemes from Vodafone.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Evolution of the Industry - Important Milestones:

Year

Description

1851

First operational land lines were laid by the govt. near Calcutta(seat of British Power)

1881

Telephone Service introduced in India

1883

Merger with the postal system

Vodafone Customer Satisfaction

1923

Formation of Indian Radio Telegraph Company (IRT)

1932

Merger of ETC and IRT into the Indian Radio and Communication Company(IRCC)

1947

Nationalization of all foreign telecommunication companies to form the Posts,

Telephone and Telegraph(PTT), a monopoly run by the governments Ministry of
Communication

1985

Department of Telecommunications (DOT) established, an exclusive provider of

domestic and long-distance service that would be its own regulator (separate from the
postal system)

1986

Conversion of DOT into two wholly government-owned companies: the Videsh

Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) for international telecommunications and Mahanagar
Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) for service in metropolitan areas.

1997

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India created

Major Players:
There are three types of players in telecom services:
State owned companies (BSNL and MTNL)
Private Indian owned companies (Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices)
Foreign invested companies (Vodafone-Essar, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Escotel, Idea
Cellular, BPL Mobile, Spice Communications)
India's mobile telecom sector is one of the fastest growing sectors. Unlike in the 1990s
when the mobile phone was an elitist product, mobile operators now tap a mass market

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with mass marketing techniques. "Unified licensing" rules allow basic and mobile
operators into each others territory, and have ushered in perhaps the final phase of
industry consolidation.
It seems that only companies with deep pockets can effectively compete as primary
operators mobile markets. Economies of scale, scope, and end-to-end presence in longdistance as well as local telecom, are desirable.
There are, besides, new challenges. Operators have to find new growth drivers for the
wire line business. There are problems of getting broadband to take off, of technology
choice, of when to introduce new technologies, and of developing a viable business
model in an era of convergence
Growth of mobile technology:
India has the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. The mobile services were
commercially launched in August 1995 in India. In the initial 5-6 years the average
monthly subscribers additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million only and the total mobile
subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 millions. However, after the number of
proactive initiatives taken by regulator and licensor, the monthly subscriber additions
increased to around 2 million per month in the year 2003-04 and 2004-05.
Although mobile telephones followed the New Telecom Policy 1994, growth was tardy in
the early years because of the high price of hand sets as well as the high tariff structure of
mobile telephones. The New Telecom Policy in 1999, the industry heralded several pro
consumer initiatives. Mobile subscriber additions started picking up. The number of
mobile phones added throughout the country in 2003 was 16 million, followed by 22
millions in 2004, 32 million in 2005 and 65 million in 2006. The only countries with
more mobile phones than India with 156.31 million mobile phones are China 408
million and USA 170 million.

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India has opted for the use of both the GSM (global system for mobile communications)
and CDMA (code-division multiple access) technologies in the mobile sector.
The mobile tariffs in India have also become lowest in the world. A new mobile
connection can be activated with a monthly commitment of US$ 5 only. In 2005 alone 32
million handsets were sold in India. The data reveals the real potential for growth of the
Indian mobile market.
Cellular Service Providers:
As on Apr 2007 India has 167 million mobile phone subscribers. Out of this 125 million
are GSM users and 41 million CDMA users. BSNL, Bharti Airtel, Hutch, Idea, Aircel,
Spice and MTNL are the main GSM providers in India. Reliance Communications and
Tata Indicom are the main CDMA providers in India.

Bharti Airtel
Airtel is providing cellular services in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Andhra
Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, UP and West
Bengal. Airtel is the No.1 cellular service provider in India using GSM technology. Airtel
has 23% market share in India with a total subscriber base of 38 million.

Reliance Communications
Reliance has both CDMA and GSM networks and total subscriber base of 29 million or
17% market share. It has GSM network in Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Kolkata,
North East, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal. Reliance has CDMA networks in
other states and cities.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)
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BSNL is a state owned telecom company which has GSM presence in almost every cities
and towns. BSNL has 27 million subscribers with a market share of 16%.
Vodafone
Vodafone is another emerging GSM provider in India with coverage in Kerala, Mumbai,
Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab with a total
subscriber base of 27 million.
Tata Indicom
Tata Indicom is a main CDMA provider in India with 16 million subscribers all over
India. Tata Indicom has presence in almost every state and cities in India.

COMPANY PROFILE OF VODAFONE

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Introduction:
Vodafone is a mobile network operator headquartered in 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 25 countries and partner networks in a further 42 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 2006 Vodafone had an estimated 260 million customers in 25 markets across 5
continents. On this measure, it is the second largest mobile telecom group in the world
behind China Mobile.
In the United States, Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless.
Mission:
Vodafone is primarily a user of technology rather than a developer of it, and this fact is
reflected in the emphasis of our work program on enabling new applications of mobile

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communications, using new technology for new services, research for improving
operational efficiency and quality of our networks, and providing technology vision and
leadership that can contribute directly to business decisions.
Vision:
Our Vision is to be the worlds mobile communication leader enriching customers
lives, helping individuals, businesses and Communities be more connected in a mobile
world.

History:
In 1982 Racal Electronics plc's subsidiary Racal Strategic Radio Ltd. won one of two UK
cellular telephone network licenses. 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. On 29 December 1986
Racal Electronics bought out the minority shareholders of Vodafone for GB110 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 GB1.7 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

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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 Speech mark logo, as it is a quotation mark in a circle;
the O's in the Vodafone logotype are opening and closing quotation marks, suggesting
conversation.
On 29 June 1999 Vodafone completed its purchase of AirTouch Communications, Inc.
and changed its name to Vodafone Airtouch plc. Trading of the new company
commenced on 30 June 1999. To approve the merger, Vodafone sold its 17.2% stake in EPlus Mobilfunk. The acquisition gave Vodafone a 35% share of Mannesmann, owner of
the largest German mobile network.

Vodafones original logo used until the introduction of the speech mark logo in 1998.

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

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

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Italy (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 Bit.
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 1.5million customers onto its base for 405million, adding sites in Stoke on Trent
(England) to existing sites in Newbury (HQ), Birmingham, Warrington and Banbury. In
November 2004 Vodafone introduced 3G services into Europe.
In June 2005 the Company increased its participation in Romania's Connex to 99% and
also bought the Czech mobile operator Oskar. On 1 July 2005 Oskar of the Czech
Republic was rebranded as Oskar-Vodafone. Later that year on 17 October 2005
Vodafone Portugal launched a revised logo, using new text designed by Dalton Maag, and
a 3D version of the Speech mark 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 ConnexVodafone 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 $4.5 billion. In December 2005 Vodafone Spain became the second
member of the group to adopt the revised logo: it was phased in over the following six
months in other countries.

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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.
On 12 March 2006 former chief, Sir Christopher Gent, who was appointed the honorary
post Chairman for Life in 2003, quits following rumours of boardroom rifts. In April
2006 the Company announced that it has 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 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 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

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applications systems integrator in the UK, signaling Vodafone's intent to grow a
significant presence and revenues in the 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. On 1 May 2007 Vodafone added Jersey and Guernsey to the
community, as Airtel was signed as Partner Network in both crown dependencies. In June
2007 the Vodafone live! Mobile Internet portal in the UK was relaunched. Front page was
now charged for and previously "bundled" data allowance was removed from existing
contract terms. All users were given access to the "full" web rather than a Walled Garden
and Vodafone became the first mobile network to focus an entire media campaign on its
newly launched mobile Internet portal in the UK. On 1 August 2007 Vodafone Portugal
launched Vodafone Messenger, a service with Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo!
Messenger.
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 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
MTS group of Russia. The agreement adds Russia, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and
Uzbekistan to the group footprint.

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PRODUCT PROFILE
VODAFONE ESSAR

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Introduction:
Vodafone Essar, previously Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India that covers 21
telecom circles in India. Despite the official name being Vodafone Essar, its products are

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simply branded Vodafone. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone
coverage throughout India and is especially strong in the major metros.
Vodafone Essar provides 2G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM
technology, offering voice and data services in 22 of the country's 23 licence areas.
Ownership:
Vodafone Essar is owned by Vodafone 52%, Essar Group 33%, and other Indian
nationals, 15%.
On February 11, 2007, Vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest of 67% held by
Li Ka Shing Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion, pipping Reliance
Communications, Hinduja Group, and Essar Group, which is the owner of the remaining
33%. The whole company was valued at USD 18.8 billion. The transaction closed on
May 8, 2007.

Previous brands:
In December 2006, Hutch Essar re-launched the "Hutch" brand nationwide, consolidating
its services under a single identity. The Company entered into agreement with NTT
DoCoMo to launch i-mode mobile Internet service in India during 2007.

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The company used to be named Hutchison Essar, reflecting the name of its previous
owner, Hutchison. However, the brand was marketed as Hutch. After getting the
necessary government approvals with regards to the acquisition of a majority by the
Vodafone Group, the company was rebranded as Vodafone Essar. The marketing brand
was officially changed to Vodafone on 20 September 2007.
On September 20, 2007 Hutch becomes Vodafone in one of the biggest brand transition
exercises in recent times.
Vodafone Essar is spending somewhere in the region of Rs 250 crores on this high-profile
transition being unveiled today. Along with the transition, cheap cell phones have been
launched in the Indian market under the Vodafone brand. There are plans to launch cobranded handsets sourced from global vendors as well.
A popular daily quoted a Vodafone Essar director as saying that "the objective is to
leverage Vodafone Group's global scale in bringing millions of low-cost handsets from
across-the-world into India."
While there is no revealing the prices of the low-cost Vodafone handsets, the industry is
abuzz that prices might start at Rs 666, undercutting Reliance Communications' muchhyped 'Rang Barse' with cheap handsets beginning at Rs 777.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It
involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the
internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that
objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a research project at
Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies.

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Strengths

Weaknesses

Leadership Position

Centralized Control Low

Global Brand Strength

Internal

External

High Geographical reach

Flexibility
High Consumer churn rates

Opportunities

Threats

Expanding marketing boundaries

Increased Competition

Growth through 3G

Market saturation in Europe

Strategic Alliances

Emergencies of Low cost

Brands

SWOT ANALYSIS OF VODAFONE

Strengths:
The main strength of Vodafone within the telecommunications market lies in its
brand image and recognition. Vodafone, having established a global presence and having
invested highly in marketing a differentiated image by promoting a Vodafone life style,
currently enjoys a differentiating advantage that, if exploited properly, can offer a lead in
competition. The presence of Vodafone in numerous countries within Europe as well as in
all part of the world enhances this image. It allows customers to travel and enjoy easily

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the services of their home country operator. In the few countries that Vodafone is not
physically present (e.g. Norway) it has well established strategic alliances which allow
for a better service of mobile clients.
Weaknesses:
The expansion of Vodafone has been completed at the expense of direct control of
its operations. The company grew through a process of acquisitions of national
telecommunications companies (e.g. the acquisition of the third biggest Czech mobile
phone operator, Cesky mobile) rather than organic growth. This increased its subscribers
base quickly, offering direct market knowledge and immediate additions of customer
bases at the expense of direct effective control of the subsidiaries. At the same time
though, it implicitly imposed a centralized operational structure for the group, nominating
the UK headquarters as the leading business unit running a much centralised marketing
and handset procurement at group level. This has resulted in the neglect of local markets
and local differences, allowing market share to be gained by smaller local competitors.
Due to the highly saturated Western European market this has resulted in an increase in
the price elasticity of demand, with consumers becoming continuously price oriented.
This has resulted in high customer churn rates reaching the level of 32.8% in the UK
compared to O2s 24%.

Opportunities:
The telecommunications market, even though highly saturated in some regions
offers great potential due to the ageing population and the sophistication of the
consumers. It offers great opportunities through a careful market segmentation and
exploitation of particular profitable segments. Different strategies should be pursued
simple phones and simplified pricing plans to the ageing population and more updated,
sophisticated solutions for younger generations.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction:
Marketing research means the systematic gathering, recording, analyzing of data
about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services
Marketing research has proved an essential tool to make all the need of marketing
management. Marketing research therefore is the scientific process of gathering and
analyzing of marketing information to meet the needs of marketing management. But

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gathering of observation is must be systematic. The systematic conduct of research
requires:
Orderliness, in which the measurements are accurate.
Impartiality in analysis and interpretation.
All of research can be categorized into basic and applied.
1. BASIC RESEARCH: - Basic Research is that intended to expand the body of
knowledge for the use of others.
2. APPLIED RESEARCH: - Applied Research is one, which is carried out to find
the solution for a particular problem or for guiding a specific decision. It is
usually private in nature.
My research on Vodafone is carried on for guiding specific decisions and its
results are useful only to Vodafone for taking particular decision regarding product
quality, staff and security. Hence the nature of my research study is APPLIED
RESEARCH .

Process of Marketing Research:

The marketing research is done in systematic process. The Researcher has
pursued the below process of marketing for my study at Vodafone:
Problem Identification

Research Design

Data Collection
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Data Analysis & Interpretation

Research Report & Presentation

Problem Identification:
The first and the most important step of marketing research is properly defining
the problem. In order to identify the research problem two categories of problem should
be carefully noticed.
Here the researchers problems are: A number of customers are not satisfied with services, new schemes and offers.
A number of customers are not satisfied with the network coverage.
A number of customers are not satisfied with the current call rates of Vodafone.
A number of customers are not satisfied with the Free SMS schemes.
A number of customers are not satisfied with the service of customer care of
Vodafone.

RESEARCH DESIGN:
Research design indicates the methods and procedure of conducting research
study. Research design can be done in following three types:1 Exploratory Research:Exploratory research focuses on the discovery of new ideas and is generally
based on secondary data.
2 Descriptive Research:-

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Descriptive research is undertaken when the researcher want to know the
characteristics of certain groups.
3 Causal or Experimental Researches:An experimental research is undertaken to identify causes and effect relationship
between two variables.
The Research Design is: Descriptive Research Design
Data Collection and Sampling:
A) Sources of Data Collection:Basically there are two types of data i.e. secondary and primary:
I)

Primary Data Collection:-

Primary data collection contains the following four types of methods: 1 Observation Method:
It contains Causal observation, Systematic observation, direct observation and
contrived observation.
2 Survey Method:
It contains Personal Interview, Telephone Interview and Mail Interview.
3 Experimental Method.
4 Panel Method.
II)

Secondary Data Collection: It can be collected from internal as well as external sources

1 Internal Source:
Various internal sources like employee, books, sales activity, stock availability,
product cost, etc.
2 External Sources:
Libraries, trade publications, literatures, etc are some important sources of
external data.

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The Researcher has used primary data for the core purpose of the project and this
primary data has been gathered by survey method. The researcher has also used
secondary data
B) Data collection Tools:
To conduct a survey, the Researcher has selected a structured questionnaire as an
instruction for gathering valuable information from the customers. Questionnaire, which
is used for the survey, is consisting of questions and checklist questions to check the
customer feedback.
C) Sampling Plan:
The researcher has design a sampling plan that is consist of five decisions.
I)

Sampling unit:

Who is to be surveyed?
The Researcher has selected youngsters, businessmen, and housewives, employees to
conduct survey and to measure satisfaction level.
II)

Sampling types:

There are two types of sampling i.e. Probability Sampling and Non probability
Sampling.
i)

Probability Sampling : -

Probability sampling means each unit of the universe has equal chance of getting
selected. The most frequently used probability sampling methods are as below:
a) Simple Random Sampling.
b) Stratified Random Sampling.
c) Multi-stage Random Sampling.
d) Cluster Sampling.
e) Multi phase Sampling.
f) Replicated Sampling.
ii)

Non Probability Sampling:Non Probability sampling contains following methods:-

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a) Judgment Sampling.
b) Convenience Sampling.
c) Panel Sampling.
d) Quota Sampling
For this purpose the researcher has used non probability convenience sampling.
III)

Sample Size:
Sample size means limited numbers of respondents covered under the research

study from a population and the researcher has taken a survey of 100 respondents to
know the satisfaction level of customer.
IV)

Sampling Area:
The researchers area for survey was:
The S.P.B. College of Business Administration, Udhna.
Vodafone Store, Ghod Dod Road.
Outside Big Bazaar, Piplod.

V)

Sampling Unit:
Here the researcher has randomly selected the respondents of the Surat city.

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DATA ANALYSIS

1) Do you have a mobile phone?

Purpose:
The main purpose of this question is to know how many respondents use mobile
phone.

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Interpretation:
93% of the respondents are have a mobile phone while 7% of the respondents do
not have a mobile phone.

Q2) Are you aware about telecommunications services?

Purpose:

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The main purpose behind this question is to know about the awareness of
respondents regarding different telecommunications services and also to know about
which telecommunication(operators) service they use.

Suggestions

Yes

No

No. of respondents

95

Interpretation:
95% of the respondents are aware about telecommunications services while 5%
are not aware.
Which operators service do you use?
Operators service name

No. of respondents

Vodafone

87

Airtel

29

Idea

17

Reliance

21

BSNL

Tata Indicom

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Interpretation:
Major respondents using mobile are enjoying Vodafone services. 16% of the
respondents use Airtel, 6% respondents use Idea while 12%, 4% and 2% respondents use
Reliance, BSNL and Tata Indicom respectively.

Q3) Are you aware about Vodafone?

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Purpose:
The purpose behind this question is to know about the awareness of Vodafone
among all the respondents.

Suggestions

Yes

No

No. of respondents

87

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Interpretation:
Here 100% of respondents are aware about Vodafone Services.

Q4) From which source you came to know about Vodafone?

Purpose:
The purpose behind this question is to know from which source the respondents
came to know about Vodafone.

Sources

No. of respondents

Advertisements

63

Hoardings

52

Newspapers

35

Mouth Publicity

26

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Interpretation:
36% of the respondents are aware about Vodafone through Advertisements, 29% are
aware because of Hoardings while 20% and 15% of the respondents are aware because of
Newspapers and Mouth Publicity respectively.
Q5) Since how long you are using Vodafone Services?
Purpose:
The purpose behind this question is to know about the usage time of Vodafone
customers i.e. since how long they are using Vodafone services.
Time period

No. of respondents

Less than 1 month

12

2-6 months

19

6-12 months

22

More than 1 year

34
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Interpretation:
Major Respondents using Vodafone are old customers. 39% of the respondents use
Vodafone services from past more than 1 year while the lowest is 14% respondents using
Vodafone services less than 1 month.

Q6) Which of the following services do you use of Vodafone?

Purpose:
The purpose behind this question is to know which services do the Vodafone
customer use, Pre-Paid or Post-Paid.
Services

No. of respondents

Pre-Paid

73
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Interpretation:
84% of the respondents use pre-paid services while only 16% of the respondents
use post-paid services.

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Q7) Which services are more helpful to you while using Vodafone Services?
Purpose:
The purpose behind this question is to know which services are more helpful to the
respondent while using Vodafone.

Services

No. of respondents

Call Rates

27

SMS Rates

48

Network

36

Value Added Services

19

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Interpretation:
Here major Respondents are youngsters so they mainly use SMS services of
Vodafone. 37% of the respondents use Vodafone for SMS services while only 14% of the
respondents use Vodafone for Value Added Services.

Q8) Do you call at customer care?

Purpose:
The purpose of this question is to know how many times and how often the
respondents call at customer care of Vodafone.

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Interpretation:
87% of the respondent calls at customer care while 13% respondents do not call at
customer care.
If yes, how often you call at customer care?
Time Period

No. of respondents

Daily

Once a week

12

Once a month

24

Occasionally

35

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Interpretation
Major respondents here call customer care occasionally. 31% respondents
respondents call customer care once a month while 16% and 7% of respondents call once
a week and daily respectively.

Q9) For what reason you call at customer care?

Purpose:
The main purpose of this question is to know the reason of the respondents
regarding calling at customer care.
Reasons
Value Added Services
Information regarding new schemes
Complaining
Other queries

No. of respondents
21
23
42
36

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Interpretation:
34% of respondents call at customer care for complaining purpose while 30%,
19% and 17% of respondents call customer care for other queries, information regarding
new schemes and value added services respectively.

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COMPARISON BETWEEN VODAFONE AND LOOP

As a part of the customer relationship management Vodafone came out with a uniqueplan
of providing its customers with utmost ease of paying their bills on the railwayplatforms
& in the buses. The customers were have to visit the respective centres of theirarea to
pay the bills which was time consuming & required some effort. Because of theinitiative
taken by Vodafone postpaid customers are very much relaxed that they do nothave to visit
the respective centres to make the payment. COMPARISN BETWEEN VODAFONE &
LOOP MOBILE LOOP MOBILE:Loop mobile strives for customer satisfaction and
business success in the telecom servicefield. Apart from offering prepaid, post-paid,
roaming, voice sms and push mail servicesin the wireless industry, this mobile service
company also provides other values-addedservices. The communications service
company gives an itemized bill, which a detailedbill is accounting the outgoing calls,
sms, subscribed services and other such [Link] customer of the mobile service
company also gets missed call alerts through smsalerts, when the phone is switched off or
is out of the coverage area/range. Mobile answerphone service or voice mail service is
available for customers not able to attend calls, andif activated allows the caller to record
his/her message. Call conferencing is also offeredby bpl communication, which a
conference between two or more [Link] services such as clip, which identifies the
caller; popular roaming, which allowsspecial roaming without any deposit in India and
STD/ISD facility to makenational/international calls are provided by the mobile service
company. EmergencySTD/ISD services, which provide access to STD/ISD calling
without any deposits for 20minutes, clir to secure the customers numbers from being
reflected on callers mobileand fax/data and internet options are also the other valueadded services offered by thecommunications service company. BPL communication
offers national roaming.
The customers to get incoming calls while traveling in India and internationalroaming to
get incoming calls while traveling outside [Link] post-paid, prepaid, roaming, voice

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sms and push mail services. The post-paidservice offered by the mobile service company
has several plans to attract [Link] plans include PAISA VASOOL on BPL
mobile at reduced call rates, sms andmms, talk more with BPL mobile, which is a group
plan for the family and friends atreduced call rates, national family and friends, which
offers 60 per cent discount on stdairtime for calls to any one mobile number and night
[Link] the prepaid scheme, the communications service company offers MOTS RCC
399with outgoing calls free on BPL and zone advantage, which allows the customer to
pickany of the 15 zones, like home, office, college and so on, in order to enjoy some
specialprivileges of calling and sending sms. The night pack allows customer to make
calls atminimum rates and the sms bundle pack is offered by BPL communication at very
lowrates. Roaming with MOTS allows one to subscribe for national and
internationalroaming.E-mails may be unanswered in the inbox and in the present
competitive world, quickdecision are highly essential. The push mail offered by the
mobile service companyallows one to access mails even while traveling. The push mail
supports Microsoftexchange, lotus notes, SMTP and imap/pop3 servers.

PROBLEMS FACED BY LOOP CUSTOMERS:

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I have 2 mobile numbers from bpl mobile. I have given auto pay from my credit card soas
to there is no delay in bill payment. This was working fine till November 06.
SinceDecember every time bpl comes back saying that my bank declines the payment i
hadcheck with my bank they are saying that my card is in active mode has large limit
thanbpl mobiles bill still bpl disconnects my connection. This has happened 5-6 times. I
havea confirmation from my bank that there is no problem in my card. I have written to
bpl atleast 10times but none of their senior level people looked in this I am suffering
evenmonetary losses due to this & frustration. It feels like they want to harass you. I have
veryclean record of bill payment & not even a late payment as I have always kept my
billpayment on auto pay. I have submitted this auto pay to their Malad gallery but I
dontknow why their operations dept or customer care dept are not able to solve this.
Mysincere request to all new mobile connection buyers to read through my complaint.
BY AJAY PATANKARREDUCING BALANCE WITHOUT ANY CONFIRMATION:I
was in Germany for about two months during which barring one or two numbers no
onecould reach me despite activating international roaming on my cell. This caused a lot
ofinconvenience and I had to pay additional money to make [Link] then on 9th
November suddenly my balance went off from Rs. 2,500 to a negativebalance after
sending and receiving one sms. I logged a complaint on the online systemfor which i
receive two apparently unique complaint numbers doc-c-11117465 and doc-c-111121812
which itself speaks a lot about the complaint management system

FINDINGS

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93% of the respondents are have a mobile phone while 7% of the respondents do
not have a mobile phone.
100% of the respondents are aware about telecommunications services.
16% of the respondents use Airtel, 6% respondents use Idea while 12%, 4% and
2% respondents use Reliance, BSNL and Tata Indicom respectively.
100% of respondents are aware about Vodafone Services.
36% of the respondents are aware about Vodafone through Advertisements, 29%
are aware because of Hoardings while 20% and 15% of the respondents are aware
because of Newspapers and Mouth Publicity respectively.
39% of the respondents use Vodafone services from past more than 1 year while
the lowest is 14% respondents using Vodafone services less than 1 month.
84% of the respondents use pre-paid services while only 16% of the respondents

use post-paid services.

37% of the respondents use Vodafone for SMS services while only 14% of the

respondents use Vodafone for Value Added Services.

87% of the respondent calls at customer care while 13% respondents do not call

at customer care.
31% respondents respondents call customer care once a month while 16% and

7% of respondents call once a week and daily respectively.

34% of respondents call at customer care for complaining purpose while 30%,
19% and 17% of respondents call customer care for other queries, information

regarding new schemes and value added services respectively

5 respondents among the total no. of respondents dont use Vodafone services
because of high prices.

CONCLUSION
Follwing are the conclusion that the researcher found after the survey.

From the above analysis the researcher concludes that major respondents are
dissatisfied with some of the major services like call rates, SMS rates and new

schemes & offers.

Major respondents from all respondents use services of Vodafone.

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Major customers of Vodafone are old customers so many of the respondents are
satisfied with the services of Vodafone and thus they would like to recommend

Vodafone to others.
Major respondents using Vodafone use pre-paid services compared to post-paid

services.
Major respondents are youngsters so they need more SMS facilities and low call
rates, but Vodafone dissatisfies these age group (18-25) as their call rates and SMS
rates are much high.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Following are some of the suggestions given by the researcher so that Vodafone can serve
people and its customers in an improved way:
Vodafone should decrease call rates for local users.
Vodafone should provide more offers to Post-Paid customers so that the number
of Post-Paid customers increase.
Vodafone should bring introduce some new SMS schemes for the youngsters.
Vodafone should introduce more schemes and offers.

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Vodafone should provide more schemes and offers to its old customers.
Vodafone should decrease call rates of STD and ISD.

LIMITATIONS
This study, although credible, suffers from some limitations which are as followers

To find out the high ranking of the Mobile company is not possible because
sample size may be a little less representative of the universe.

All questions in the questionnaire were objective type and there were no
extra choice to the respondent.

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The survey might not be able to cover various regional issues raised by the
consumers as the views are fragmented and a small sample cant do justified
to it.

Time and resources were major constraints limiting the scale of the survey.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:
Marketing Management Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller.

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Websites:
[Link]

tugal/portugal_press_release/vodafone_had_highest.html
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]/[Link]?contentId=606658
[Link]/community/consclub/reports/[Link]
[Link]

APPENDIX
Q1) Do you have a mobile phone?
o Yes
o No
Q2) Are you aware about telecommunications service?
o Yes
o No
If yes, then which operators Service do you use?

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o Vodafone

(Multi-choice)

o Airtel
o Idea
o Reliance
o BSNL
o Tata Indicom ( If not Vodafone then go to Q12 )
Q3) Are you aware about Vodafone?
o Yes
o No

(If No, then go to Q11 )

Q4) From which source you came to know about Vodafone?

o Advertisement

(Multi-choice)

o Hoardings
o Newspapers
o Mouth Publicity

Q5) Since how long you are using Vodafone services?

o Less than 1 month
o 2-6 months
o 6-12 months
o More than 1 year
Q6) Which of the following services do you use of Vodafone?

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o Pre-paid
o Post-paid
Q7) Which services are more helpful to you while using Vodafone services?
o Call rates

(Multi-choice)

o SMS service
o Network
o Value Added Services
Q8) Dou you call at customer care?
o Yes
o No
If yes, how often you call at customer care?
o Daily
o Once a week
o Once a month
o Occasionally

Q9) For what reason you call at customer care?

o Value added services

(Multi-choice)

o Information regarding new schemes

o Other queries
o Complaining
Q10) Rate the following services on the basis of your satisfaction.
Services

Excellent

Very Good

Fairly good

Average

Poor

Network

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SMS rates
New schemes and offers
Customer Care
Recharge outlets
Call Rates
Value Added Services

Q11) What makes you unaware about Vodafone?

o Less Advertisements
o Less Publicity
o Others
(If others then mention ________________________)

Q12) Why you are not using Vodafone services?

o

Lack of awareness

High Prices

Poor Services

Poor network

(Multi-choice)

Q13) Would you like to recommend Vodafone to others?

o Yes
o No

Q14) Give your suggestions to help in serve you better.

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________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Name: ________________
Age: ___ years
Sex: Male/Female
Contact no.: ___________
Signature: __________

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