Customer satisfaction at vodafone - report

The Surat People’s Co-op Bank College of Business Administration 1

1.1) 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 India’s 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.


1.2) 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

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 government’s 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

1999 Cellular Services are launched in India. New National Telecom Policy is adopted.

2000 DoT becomes a corporation, BSNL

(Source: The Indian Telecom Industry by consulting club, IIM Calcutta)


1.3) 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

with mass marketing techniques. "Unified licensing" rules allow basic and mobile

operators into each other’s 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 long-

distance 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.


1.4) 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.

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.


1.5) 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)


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.





2.1) 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 Vo ice da ta 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.

2.2) 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

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.

2.3) Vision:

Our Vision is to be the world’s mobile communication leader – enriching customers’

lives, helping individuals, businesses and Communities be more connected in a mobile

world.


2.4) 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 GB£110 million.

In September 1988 the company was again renamed Racal Telecom and on 26 October

1988 Racal Electronics floated 20% of the company. The flotation valued Racal Telecom

at GB£1.7 billion On 16 September 1991 Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal

Electronics as Vodafone Group.

In July 1996 Vodafone acquired the two thirds of Talkland it did not already own for

£30.6 million. On 19 November 1996, in a defensive move, Vodafone purchased Peoples

Phone for £77 million, a 181 store chain whose customers were overwhelmingly using

Vodafone's network. In a similar move the company acquired the 80% of Astec

Communications that it did not own, a service provider with 21 stores.

In 1997 Vodafone introduced its 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

E-Plus Mobilfunk. The acquisition gave Vodafone a 35% share of Mannesmann, owner

of the largest German mobile network.


Vodafone’s 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

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 J-

Phone, which had introduced camera phones first in Japan.

On 17 December 2001 Vodafone introduced the concept of "Partner Networks" by

signing TDC Mobil of Denmark. The new concept involved the introduction of Vodafone


international services to the local market, without the need of investment by Vodafone.

The concept would be used to extend the Vodafone brand and services into markets

where it does not have stakes in local operators. Vodafone services would be marketed

under the dual-brand scheme, where the Vodafone brand is added at the end of the local

brand. (i.e., TDC Mobil-Vodafone etc.)

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 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 Bitė.

In February 2004 Vodafone signed a Partner Network Agreement with Luxembourg's

LuxGSM and a Partner Network Agreement with Cyta of Cyprus. Cyta agreed to rename

its mobile phone operations to Cytamobile-Vodafone. In April 2004 the Company

purchased Singlepoint airtime provider from John Caudwell (Caudwell Group) and

approx 1.5million 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 Connex-

Vodafone also does not use the SIM card pattern.) A custom typeface by Dalton Maag

(based on their font family InterFace) formed part of the new identity.

On 28 October 2005 Connex in Romania was rebranded as Connex-Vodafone and on 31

October 2005 the Company reached an agreement to sell Vodafone Sweden to Telenor

for approximately €1 billion. After the sale, Vodafone Sweden became a Partner

Network. In December 2005 Vodafone won an auction to buy Turkey's second-largest

mobile phone company, Telsim, for $4.5 billion. In December 2005 Vodafone Spain

became the second member of the group to adopt the revised logo: it was phased in over

the following six months in other countries.

In 2006 the Company rebranded its Stoke-on-Trent site as Stoke Premier Centre, a centre

of expertise for the company dealing with Customer Care for its higher value customers,

technical support, sales and credit control. All cancellations and upgrades started to be

dealt with by this call centre. On 5 January 2006 Vodafone announced the completion of

the sale of Vodafone Sweden to Telenor. On February 2006 the Company closed its

Birmingham Call Centre. 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

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.


2.5) VODAFONE ESSAR


2.5.1) 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

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.

2.5.2) 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.



2.6) 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.

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

co-branded 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' much-

hyped 'Rang Barse' with cheap handsets beginning at Rs 777.


Meanwhile, Vodafone Essar sources said there would be no discounts or subsidized

handset offers -- rather handset-bundled schemes for customers.

Incidentally, China's ZTE, which is looking to set-up a manufacturing unit in the country,

is expected to provide several Vodafone handsets in India. Earlier this year, Vodafone

penned a global low-cost handset procurement deal with ZTE



Customer Satisfaction

3.1) Introduction:

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.

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.

3.2) 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, Inter-

departmental 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

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.


3.3) 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 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.


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.

Internal

Strengths Weaknesses

Leadership Position

Global Brand Strength

High Geographical reach

Centralized Control – Low

Flexibility

High Consumer churn rates

Opportunities Threats


External

Expanding marketing boundaries

Growth through 3G

Strategic Alliances

Increased Competition

Market saturation in Europe

Emergencies of Low cost

Brands

SWOT analysis of Vodafone

4.1) 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

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.

4.2) 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 O2’s 24%.

4.3) 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. The expanding Boundaries of the market

could provide further opportunities by allowing Vodafone to enter more aggressively into

fixed‐line service and to better enjoy the benefits of its high investment in 3G technology.

Moreover the company has undertaken its first steps in establishing strategic alliances to

develop customized solutions for end‐users: Vodafone recently announced two new

partnerships, one with supermarket group ASDA to launch an ASDA branded mobile

service in the UK, and another with electrical retailer DSG International to provide The Surat People’s Co-op Bank College of Business Administration 30

mobile solutions to small businesses. This could further be enhanced to avoid being a

late‐entrant in this new method of distribution which offers access to a wide potential

customer base.

4.4) Threats:

The European part of Vodafone’s market is characterized by existing high levels

of competition. Major brands such as O2 and T‐Mobile are exploiting the price sensitivity

of customers and in this way they are building a stronger image and presence in the

market. Indirect competition is also increasing further, through the presence of Skype and

other related (not only voice) Internet‐based services. This combined with the upcoming

European legislative measures is expected to limit further the tariffs for the network

providers imposing further need for price cuts which could harm the bottom line

profitability of the company.


5.1) 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

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 “.

5.2) Objective of Study:

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.

5.3) Benefits of 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.

This study helps to identify the behavior of consumer when there are no offers &

schemes from Vodafone.

5.4) 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:


5.4.1) 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 researcher’s problems are:-The Surat People’s Co-op Bank College of Business Administration 35

Problem Identification

Research Design

Data Collection

Data Analysis & Interpretation

Research Report & Presentation

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.

5.4.2) 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:-

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


5.4.3) 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.

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:-

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 researcher’s 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.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

After all the above steps are completed now the important step is data analyzing

and interpretation. For this there are various analytical and statistical tools. Some of these

tools are Percentage, Average, Dispersion, Co-relation, Co-efficient, etc.



Q1) Do you have a mobile phone?

Purpose:

The main purpose of this question is to know how many respondents use mobile

phone.


Suggestions Yes No

No. of respondents 93 7

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:


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(operator’s) service they use.

Interpretation:

95% of the respondents are aware about telecommunications services while 5%

are not aware.

Which operator’s service do you use?


Suggestions Yes No


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?The Surat People’s Co-op Bank College of Business Administration 46

Operator’s service name No. of respondents

Vodafone 87

Airtel 29

Idea 17

Reliance 21

BSNL 5

Tata Indicom 3

Purpose:

The purpose behind this question is to know about the awareness of Vodafone

among all the respondents.

Interpretation:

Here 100% of respondents are aware about Vodafone Services.


Suggestions Yes No


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.

Interpretation:


Sources No. of respondents

Advertisements 63

Hoardings 52

Newspapers 35

Mouth Publicity 26

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

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

Post-paid 14

Interpretation:

84% of the respondents use pre-paid services while only 16% of the respondents

use post-paid services.

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

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.


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?


Suggestions Yes No


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.


Time Period No. of respondents

Daily 5

Once a week 12

Once a month 24

Occasionally 35

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.

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.


Reasons No. of respondents

Value Added Services 21

Information regarding new schemes 23

Complaining 42

Other queries 36

Q10) Rate the following on the basis of your satisfaction.

Services Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Network 31 29 17 7 3

SMS Rates 6 19 35 24 3

New schemes

and offers

3 14 27 33 10

Customer Care 6 32 29 15 5

Recharge

Outlets

12 28 31 14 2

Call Rates 2 20 43 19 3

Value Added

Services

9 24 29 19 6


Network:

Purpose:

Service Excellent Very Good Fairly Good Average Poor

Network 31 29 17 7 3

The purpose of this analysis is to know the perspective of the customers of

Vodafone regarding network service.


Interpretation:

Here major respondents are satisfy with the network coverage. 36% of the

respondents are rate the Vodafone’s network excellent, 33% rate it very good, 20% rate it

farely good while 8% and 3% rate it average and poor.

SMS Rates:

Purpose:

The purpose of this analysis is to know the perspective of the customers of

vodafone regarding Rates of SMS.


SMS Rates 6 19 35 24 3


Interpretation:

Here major respondents are not much satisfied with the SMS rates of Vodafone as

major respondents are youngsters. 7% of respondents rate it excellent, 22% rate it very

good, 40% rate it fairly good, 28% rate it average, 3% rate it poor.

New Schemes and Offers:

Purpose:

The main purpose of this analysis is to the respondent’s perspective related to the

new schemes and offers provided by Vodafone.



New schemes

and offers

3 14 27 33 10

Interpretation:

Here major respondents are not much satisfied with new schemes and offers of

Vodafone. 38% respondents rate new schemes and offers as average, 31% respondents

rate it as fairly good, 16% rate it as very good while 12% and 3% rate it as poor and

excellent respectively.

Customer Care:

Purpose:

The main purpose of this analysis is to know about the satisfaction of customer

care service provided by Vodafone to their customers.



Customer Care 6 32 29 15 5

Interpretation:

Customer care service of Vodafone is better compared to some of the other

services. 37% respondents rate it as very good, 33% rate it as fairly good, 17% rate it as

average, and 6% and 7% rate it as poor and excellent respectively.

Recharge Outlets:

Purpose:

The purpose behind this analysis is to know about the satisfaction of the

Vodafone customers regarding recharge outlets.



Recharge

Outlets

12 28 31 14 2

Interpretation:

Recharge outlets of Vodafone are majorly rated on fairly good and very good

basis. 36% of the respondents rate it as fairly good, 32% rate it as very good, 16% rate it

as average, 14% rate it excellent and 2% respondents rate it as poor.

Call Rates:

Purpose:

The purpose behind this analysis is to know about the perception of vodafone

customers regarding different call rates.



Call Rates 2 20 43 19 3

Interpretation:

Major percentage of respondents are not happy with the call rates of Vodafone.

49% of respondents rate call rates of vodafone as fairly good, 23% rate it as very good,

22% rate it as average while 4% and 2% respondent rate it as poor and excellent

respectively.

Value Added Services:

Purpose:

The purpose behind this analysis is to know about the perception of vodafone

customers regarding Value Added Services.



Value Added

Services

9 24 29 19 6

Interpretation:

Value added services of Vodafone are quite feasible as compared to some of the

other services. 33% respondents rate it as fairly good, 28% rate it as very good, 22% rate

it as average while 10% and 7% rate it as excellent and poor respectively.

Q12) Why you are not using Vodafone Services?

Purpose:

The purpose of this question is to know why other respondents do not use Vodafone services.


Interpretation:

6 don’t use Vodafone services because of high prices. 3 respondents don’t use Vodafone services because of poor services while 2 respondents each don’t use vodafone services because of lack of awareness and poor network.

Q13) Would you like to recommend Vodafone to others?

Purpose:


Reasons No. of respondents

Lack of awareness 2

High Prices 6

Poor Services 3

Poor Network 2

The purpose of this question is to know the recommendations of the respondents

towards Vodafone, whether they would like to recommend the Vodafone services to

others or not.

Interpretation:

90% of the Vodafone customers would like to recommend Vodafone services to

others while 10% of the Vodafone Customers won’t recommend to others.


Suggestions Yes No


Age analysis:

Purpose:The main purpose of this analysis is to know how many respondents belong to a

particular age of group.

Age Below 18 18-25 26-50 51 or above

Respondents 4 54 23 6

Interpretation:Major respondents are youngsters i.e. 62% of the respondents belong to age group

of 18-25, 26% respondents belong to age group of 26-50, 7% of respondents belong to 51

or above age group while only 5% of the respondents belong to age group of below 18

years.


Age wise analysis(NETWORK):

Purpose:

The main purpose of this analysis is to know the perception of different respondents of differnet age groups regarding network service.

AgeRatings Below 18 18-25 26-50 51 or above TotalExcellent 1 19 9 2 31Very good 2 18 7 2 29Fairly good 0 10 6 1 17Average 1 5 1 0 7Poor 0 2 0 1 3Total 4 54 23 6 87

Interpretation:

Here major respondents rating network as excellent are youngsters that include

the age group of 18-25, the same is the case with all the rating of this service.


Age wise analysis (SMS Rates):

Purpose:

The main purpose of this analysis is to know the perception of different respondents of differnet age groups regarding rates of SMS.

Interpretation:

Major respondents are youngsters and they are not much satisfied with the SMS rates of Vodafone.


Ratings AgeBelow 18 18-25 26-50 51 or above Total

Excellent 0 1 3 2 6Very good 1 12 5 1 19Fairly good 1 27 5 2 35Average 2 11 10 1 24Poor 0 3 0 0 3Total 4 54 23 6 87

Age wise analysis (Call Rates):

Purpose:

The main purpose of this analysis is to know the perception of different respondents of differnet age groups regarding call rates.

Ratings AgeBelow 18 18-25 26-50 51 or above Total

Excellent 0 2 0 0 2Very good 1 11 6 2 20Fairly good 2 26 12 3 43Average 1 13 4 1 19Poor 0 2 1 0 3Total 4 54 23 6 87

Interpretation:

Major respondents rate charges of calls as fairly good. 26 respondents falling in

age group of 18-25 rate it as fairly good.



Findings

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 don’t use Vodafone services

because of high prices. 3 respondents don’t use Vodafone services because of

poor services while 2 respondents each don’t use vodafone services because of

lack of awareness and poor network.


90% of the Vodafone customers would like to recommend Vodafone services to

others while 10% of the Vodafone Customers won’t recommend to others.

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.

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.



Suggestions

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.

Vodafone should provide more schemes and offers to its old customers.

Vodafone should decrease call rates of STD and ISD.



Books:

Marketing Management – Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller.

Websites:

http://www.vodafone.com/start/media_relations/news/local_press_releases/

portugal/portugal_press_release/vodafone_had_highest.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_satisfaction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutch_(Indian_cellular_company)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodafone

http://bora.nhh.no/bitstream/2330/1919/1/Saplitsa%202008.pdf

www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=606658

www.iimcal.ac.in/community/consclub/reports/telecom.pdf

www.scribd.com



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 operator’s Service do you use?

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?

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

SMS rates

New schemes and offers

Customer Care

Recharge outlets

Call Rates

Value Added Services

Q11) What makes you unaware about Vodafone?The Surat People’s Co-op Bank College of Business Administration 81

o Less Advertisements

o Less Publicity

o Others

(If others then mention ________________________)

Q12) Why you are not using Vodafone services?

o Lack of awareness (Multi-choice)

o High Prices

o Poor Services

o Poor network

Q13) Would you like to recommend Vodafone to others?

o Yes

o No

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

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Name: ________________

Age: ___ years


Sex: Male/Female

Contact no.: ___________

Signature: __________


Documents

Customer satisfaction at vodafone - report