WEST BENGAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

SUMMER PROJECT REPORT

ON

MARKET POTENTIAL ANALYSIS TOWARDS INTERNET DATA CARD

SPECIAL REFERENCE

TO

VODAFONE

From 20th June 09-5th August 09

BY

PROSENJIT.R.SAHA

WBUT Regn No: 081670710070 of 2008-2009

WBUT Roll No: 08167009084

MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE OF DURGAPUR

Rajbandh

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PREFACE

The MBA course is well structured and integrated course of business studies. The main objective of practical training at MBA level is to develop skill in student by supplement to the theoretical study of business management in general. Industrial training helps to gain real life knowledge about the industrial environment and business practices. The MBA course provides student with a fundamental knowledge of business and organizational functions and activities, as well as an exposure to strategic thinking of management.

In every professional course, training is an important factor. Professors give us theoretical knowledge of various subjects in the college but we are practically exposed of such subjects when we get the training in the organization. It is only the training through which I come to know that what an industry is and how it works. I have learn about various departmental operations being performed in the industry, which would, in return, help me in the future when I will enter the practical field.

Training is an integral part of MBA and each and every student has to undergo the training for 2 months in a company and then prepare a project report on the same after the completion of training.

During this whole training I got a lot of experience and came to know about the management practices in real that how it differs from those of theoretical knowledge and the practically in the real life.

In today’s globalize world, where cutthroat competition is prevailing in the market, theoretical knowledge is not sufficient. Beside this one need to have practical knowledge, which would help an individual in his/her carrier activities and it is true that “Experience is best teacher”.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

An individual cannot do project of this scale. I take this opportunity to

express my acknowledgement and deep sense of gratitude to the individuals

for rendering valuable assistance and gratitude to me. Their inputs have

played a vital role in success of this project. I would like to express my

sincere thanks to all those instrumental in this project Work. First, I would to

thank Prof. Dr. N.C.Ghosh (Director of Management Institute of Durgapur)

Prof. A.K. Ghosh, (Principal Department of Business Administration), for

giving me this opportunity to do this project and learn from it. I am thankful

to Vodafone for giving me helpful information to complete this project

(Research).I express my sincere thanks to Mr. Koushik (Sales Manager), Mr.

Bibhas Chandrs, (Asst Professor & HOD, MBA department) Sr.Lecturer

R.K.Jha (MID faculty), for helping me in giving me all relevant information

about the product and service. My heart full thanks to the whole staff and

customers of Vodafone, who gave me continuous support in every possible

manner to gain practical knowledge in Industry. Finally, I would like thank all

lecturers, friends and my family for the kind of support and to all who directly

or indirectly helped me in preparing this project report.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Estimating the market or market potential for a new business or business expansion is critical in determining the economic feasibility of a venture. Estimating the market potential will determine if the market is large enough to support the businesses. This checklist will address a number of questions that need to be answered before an estimate can be calculated.

What type of customer will buy the product or service?

Where are these customers located?

How often do they use it?

What is the Competition?

What are people paying?

What is the Potential for the Market to Develop?

What is my share of the Market?

Estimating the market potential for a business is critical in evaluating its viability and provides an estimate of the maximum total sales potential for a given market. Once the estimated market potential has been calculated, it is possible to determine if the market is large enough to sustain the proposed business or sustain an addition competitor in the marketplace. It is important to remember that the estimated market potential sets an upper boundary on the market size and can be expressed in either units and/or sales. Unless there are no direct or indirect competitors, a business will capture a share of the total estimated market potential not all of it.

The following provide the steps and data necessary to estimate the market potential. These will be discussed in detail later.

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Key Steps in Estimating Market Potential:

1. Define your target market and market segments.

2. Define the geographic boundaries of your market.

3. Determine the average annual or monthly consumption.

Growth on the Data Cards especially happen when business travelers, academicians as well as other professionals need to access emails and corporate applications as well as personal requirements during urgent trips and travels. The cutthroat competition in the telecommunication sector of India posed a great threat to the development of Vodafone. The project aims to identify the market potential of Vodafone in the internet data card in Burdwan, Durgapur and Asansol markets.

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ContentsPage no.

I. The company……………………………………………………………………….II. Literature Survey…………………………………………………………………..

Chapter 1: About Indian Telecom Industry…………………………………….Chapter 2: Broadband services to derive internet penetration in India……..Chapter 3: The drivers for penetration of broadband in India……………….Chapter 4: India, an ideal destination for investment in telecom sector…….Chapter 5: History of Indian Telecom Industry………………………………..Chapter 6: Facts about Indian telecom industry……………………………….Chapter 7: Experts review on Indian telecom sector………………………….Chapter 8: The Internet in India…………………………………………………Chapter 9: India Telecom Report: Internet and Broadband Services………..

III. Methodology……………………………………………………………………….Chapter 1: How the project has been carried out……………………………..Chapter 2: Data Collection………………………………………………………Chapter 3: Statistical models used……………………………………………....

IV. About the Data Card……………………………………………………………..V. Analysis and Results………………………………………………………………

Chapter 1: Market Potential Analysis…………………………………………..Chapter 2: Development of Hypothesis and its testing……………………….Chapter 3: Graphs and charts……………………………………………………

VI. Conclusions and recommendations……………………………………………..VII. Annexre……………………………………………………………………………..VIII. Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………

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The company

Vodafone Essar in India is a subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc and commenced operations in 1994 when its predecessor Hutchison Telecom acquired the cellular license for Mumbai. Vodafone Essar now has operations in 22 circles with over 65.92 million customers. The company is a joint venture of Essar Communication Holdings Ltd and the UK-based Vodafone Group. Vodafone has partnered with the Essar Group as their principal joint venture partner for the Indian market. They are in the business of cellular telephony. Over the years, Vodafone Essar, under the Hutch brand, has been named the ‘Most Respected Telecom Company’, the ‘Best Mobile Service in the country’ and the ‘Most Creative and Most Effective Advertiser of the Year’. Vodafone is the world’s leading international mobile communications company. It currently has equity interests in 27 countries across 5 continents and 40 partner networks with over 303 million proportionate customers worldwide. Vodafone has partnered with the Essar Group as its principal joint venture partner for the Indian market. Essar Global Limited (EGL) is a diversified business group spanning the manufacturing and services sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Communications, Shipping & Logistics, and Projects. The group has operations and investments in India, Canada, USA, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and South East Asia and employs 30,000 people worldwide. Vodafone Essar Ltd provides services like 3G, which are based on 1800 MHz and 900Mhz GSM digital technology. They offers voice and data services. In addition, they offers postpaid connections activation, prepaid SIM cards and recharge coupons sale, service activation/deactivation, postpaid tariff plan change, customer query resolution, prepaid/postpaid SIM card replacement and up gradation, mobile number change, and information on and subscription of value added services through stores. The Essar Group is Vodafone’s principle partner in India. The Essar Group is a diversified

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business corporation with a balaned portfolio of assets in manufacturing and service sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Communications, Shipping prots & Logistics and Projects.

About Hutchison-Essar Vodafone Negotiations

The name Vodafone comes from “Voice data fone” HQ in Berkshire, England, is the world’s leading international mobile communications group with 29Million revenues 27 countries, 303 million customers, 40 partner networks. Advanced mobile telecommunications services provided by vodafone are 3G, data related services. The Joint venture - 67% stake by HTIL and 33% owned by Essar.HTIL – Li Ka-Shing , Essar – Ruia Family.HTIL is HK Based Telecom Company and Essar is India based diversified corporation 4th largest cellular operator in India 74.08 million customer.

Vodafone’s Objective

To venture into the world’s most lucrative cellular market

Strengthen its operation worldwide

To obtain the majority stake of Hutchison

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Literature survey

CHAPTER 1: ABOUT INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY

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In recent years, the Indian telecom industry has witnessed phenomenal growth. A conducive business environment, favorable demographic outlook and the political stability enjoyed by the country have contributed to the growth of the industry. India achieved the distinction of having the world's lowest call rates (2–3 US cents), the fastest sale of million mobile phones (1 week), the world's cheapest mobile handset (USD 19) and the world's most affordable colour phone (USD 31).One of the fastest growing cellular markets in the world in terms of number of subscriber additions – 261.07 million (March 2008)

Expected to reach total subscriber base of about 500 million by 2010 (i.e., more than one phone for every household)

Annual growth rate of the telecom subscribers – 42 percent (2008–09)

More GSM subscribers than fixed-line subscriber

Total telecom subscribers – 300.49 million (March 2009 Cellular + Fixed Line

Tele density – 26.22 percent (March 2009)

Number of new mobile subscribers added last quarter – 27.62 million (March 2009)

ARPU for GSM – USD 5.28* (USD./sub/ month)

Telecom equipment market – USD 34,100 million (2008–09)

Handset market – USD 7,250 million (2008–09)

Telephony services (mobile and basic) and Internet services dominate the Indian telecom services.

The Indian telecom market generated revenues of approximately USD 32 billion in 2008–09. It registered a CAGR of approximately 32 percent from

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2002–03 to 2008–09. The CAGR from 2008–09 to 2011–12 is expected to stabilize at 21 percent. Apart from mobile telephony services, other value-added services are also gaining importance. The Indian telecom services can be divided predominantly into basic, mobile and Internet services. It also comprises smaller segments, such as radio paging services, Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs), Public Mobile Radio Trunked Services (PMRTS) and Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS). The growth witnessed in the mobile services and Internet services segments was much higher as compared to other services, such as basic services and radio paging services which are nominal in terms of numbers.

Source** TRAI

Revenues of Indian Telecom Industry: 2002–08 (USD billion)

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CHAPTER 2 : Broadband services to drive Internet penetration in India

The emergence of private players and new technologies has provided a strong impetus to the growth of Internet and broadband services. The quality and penetration of these services have undergone changes, with significant improvement in the telecom infrastructure. The Internet subscriber base registered a CAGR of 60 percent for the period 1997–98 to 2007–08.

Source: TRAI report 2008

BSNL and MTNL caters to more than two-thirds of Internet subscribers in India. Private players are catching up fast due to increased penetration of Internet and broadband services in India. The telecom market will experience high penetration of Internet services with the support from government

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policies and introduction of novel technologies in India. The total no. of Broadband Subscribers of these 13 Service Providers have increased from 3.1 million to 3.82 million by adding 0.72 million (23.35%) subscribers in the quarter ending March, 2008.

Source: TRAI report on market shares of telecom companies in India.

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CHAPTER 3: The drivers for penetration of broadband in India

The drivers for penetration of broadband in India are:

Decreasing cost per line: The decrease in cost per line has come from two factors- decrease in the cost of equipment and from the inherent advantage of wireless when adding new lines. The base stations which cost $3000-$5000 is now costing $400-$800 from the end of 2008. The CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) which costs $200-$400 is now costing $30-$80 from the end of 2008. The cost of a wireless network is high in the first stage of deployment, because of factors like taking up space for tower, erecting the tower, cabling, housing, and connecting the tower to the network, installing base stations, etc. However, once those costs are recovered from enterprise services, adding new subscriber will come at a minimal cost.

Decreasing operating expense: We are witnessing more and more infrastructure sharing between various operators which was completely absent before. Especially, in rural networks, this infrastructure sharing has turn out to be mere common sense. The operators who own the spectrum are now reselling the spectrum to other smaller players who will mushroom in various parts of India to cater to non-metros. In addition, the coming of Virtual Network Operators will add to competition.

Decreasing cost of PC (or similar device): With projects like one laptop per person, and other initiatives, the cost of PC is going to be less than

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Rs. 5000 by the end of 2009. Other concepts like Novatium, if they tend to be aggressive can also make a marginal impact on the penetration of broadband. (BSNL is rolling out its broadband services to one lakh schools across the country from December 2008)

Social attitudes and habits embracing broadband facilities: Every school in India is going to have a PC and also an internet connection. Those kids who never knew PCs will now be used to using them at these schools. These kids in turn will make way for their families owning a PC and therefore an Internet connection. All government employees are now moving towards using PCs and broadband connectivity.

More Indian content: What will further fuel the penetration is the content which is more relevant to the masses of India. Subscribers would like to see more content tailored to their needs and desires. More Indian language content, more applications suitable to Indian social context will come up in the next few years which will in turn contribute to increasing broadband penetration.

Broadband connection:

6.22 million (March 2009) "Present scenario" In the fixed line arena, BSNL and MTNL are the incumbents in their respective areas of operation and continue to enjoy the dominant service provider status in the domain of fixed line services. For example BSNL controls 79%; of fixed line share in the country.

On the other hand, in the mobile telephony space, Airtel controls 21.4% subscriber base followed by Reliance with 20.3%, BSNL with 18.6% &, Vodafone with 14.7%, subscriber base (as per June 2009 data)

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CHAPTER 4: India, An Ideal Destination for Investments in Telecom Sector

India is an ideal destination for investments in the telecom sector, the reasons are as follows:

1. World’s largest democracy

2. Independent judiciary

3. Skilled and competitive labour force

4. Fifth largest telecom network in the world; second largest among the emerging economies after China

5. on an average, about 6–7 million new users added per month, making India the world’s fastest growing wireless services market

6. Liberal Foreign Investment Regime–FDI limit increased from 49 percent to 74 percent; the rural telecom equipment market is also open to large investments

7. Among the countries offering the highest rates of return on investment

8. The large untapped potential in India’s rural markets–1.9 percent teledensity in rural markets as compared to the national level of 18 percent

9. Expected to become the second largest telecom market by 2010

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10. The government promoting telecom manufacturing by providing tax sops and establishing telecom specific Special Economic Zones

11. Fully repatriable dividend income and capital invested in telecom equipment manufacturing.

CHAPTER 5 : HISTORY OF INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY

1881 Telecom Services Introduced in India.

1947 Posts, Telegraph and Telephones(PTT) come under the aegis of

the Ministry of Communication.

1985 The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) comes into

existence which would be a self regulator.

1986 DoT converted 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.

1996 Cellular Services launched in India. Introducing private players in

the market.

1997 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) formed.

2000 DoT becomes a corporation, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

(BSNL).

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2005 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased to 74%.

2008 India becomes 2nd largest Telecom Market in the World.

CHAPTER 6: Facts about Indian Telecom Industry

The Indian Telecom sector is third largest network in the world.

Subscriber numbers already crossed 250 million.

Average growth rate of over 40% in respect of subscribers.

Monthly additions of above 7 million phones.

Growth impetus from wireless segment with 84% wireless and 16%

wired.

National teledensity at 26%.

Rural teledensity stands at 7%, while the urban at 57%.

Further access is provided by 54 lakh PCOs and 5 lakh VPTs.

9 million Internet and 2.5 million broadband subscribers.

More than a thousand cities have been provided with broadband

connectivity out a total of five thousand cities.

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CHAPTER 7: EXPERTS REVIEW ON INDIAN TELECOM

SECTOR

Girija (1998), in its article “Socioeconomic Implications of Telecommunications Liberalization: India in the International Context” says that Telecommunications restructuring have evolved differently in Asia and Latin America. While Asian governments have moved cautiously in bringing changes to the sector, Latin American nations have implemented radical ownership and market transformations. The Indian telecommunications reform falls in between these two general regional trends. The choice of a high component of competition, increased private participation, and no privatization of the national carrier set conditions that will trigger unique socioeconomic effects. This article identifies and highlights the likely implications of the Indian reform on key economic and social issues, such as the cost of services, cross-subsidies, network interconnection, private investments, universal services, employment, and the possible rise of an information-intensive economy. It does so by comparing and contrasting the Indian experience with dominant reform strategies elsewhere in the developing world.

Chowdary (1999) discusses how Telecom reform, or de-monopolization, in India has been bungled. Shaped by legislation dating back to the colonial era and post Second World War socialist policies, by the mid-1980s India realized

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that its poor telecommunications infrastructure and service needed reform. At the heart of the problem lay the monopoly by the government’s Department of Telecommunications (DOT) in equipment, networks and services. The National Telecom Policy 1994 spelt out decent objectives for reform but tragically its implementation was entrusted to the DOT. This created an untenable situation in which the DOT became policymaker, licenser, regulator, operator and also arbitrator in disputes between itself and licensed competitors. He discusses the question: ‘Why did India get it so wrong? and What India should do now?

Anand (1999), in his article named “India's economic policy reforms” says that India was embarked on economic reforms in July 1991, in the wake of a balance of payments crisis. In this article, an attempt is made to review two books and a set of World Bank reports concerning the progress of these reforms. Issues concerning economic policy, impact of the reforms on poverty, sectoral issues relating to agriculture, industry and infrastructure are briefly discussed. As reforms enter a more difficult phase, several challenges remain. Some of this fall under the “economic agenda'' of measures needed to maintain economic growth; others can be termed the “development agenda'' - of improving human development. Progress with regard to the former is not sufficient to produce results concerning the latter.

Bhattacharya (2000) constructs a vision of the Indian telecommunication sector for the year 2020. The paper aims at isolating agents of change based on international experiences and situates India in the development continuum. The agents of change have been broadly categorized into economic structure, competition policy and technology.

Das (2000), in her paper described the Liberalisation of the Indian telecommunications services which started in mid nineties with no change in the existing public monopoly structure, entirely controlled by Department of Telecommunications (DoT). In order to evaluate any proposed industry

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structure, it is essential to analyse the production technology of DoT so as to determine the rationale of liberalisation and sustainability of competition. Accordingly, the researcher estimates a frontier multi-product cost function for DoT, where the cost function has been duly modified to account for the production technology of a public monopoly. The study finds that although DoT displays high allocation inefficiency, it is still a natural monopoly with very high degree of sub additively of cost of production. This study implies that the choice of any reform policy should consider the trade-off between the loss of scale and scope economies and cost saving from the reduction in inefficiency of the incumbent monopoly in the event of competition.

Rao (2000), in her article named “Internet service providers in India”, provides a broad view of the role of an Internet service provider (ISP) and the factors to be considered before entering the ISP market. Describes the Internet/ISP scene within India and discusses the configuration of local, regional and national level ISPs, and the supporting infrastructure. She also identifies the various success factors. The global Internet scenario is discussed regarding the phases of the Internet in India, i.e. pre and post commercialization. The main players are described: ERNET, NICNET, STPI, VSNL, MTNL, Satyam Infoway and Bharti-BT. The financial and legal implications are highlighted in the Indian context. Many companies entered the nascent ISP business in India due to deregulation. Building local content, foreknowledge of new Internet technologies, connecting issues, competitiveness, etc. would help in their sustainability. She concludes that though many companies entered the nascent ISP businesses in India due to deregulation, many of them are unlikely to survive in the longer term.

Vrmani (2000) estimates the contribution of telecommunication (or telecom) services to aggregate economic growth in India. Estimated contribution is distinguished between public and private sectors to highlight the impact of telecom privatization on economic growth. Knowledge of policy determinants of demand of telecom services is shown to be essential to

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enhance growth contribution of telecom services. Using a recent sample survey data from Karnataka State in South India, price and income determinants of demand for telecom services are estimated by capacity of telephone exchanges Estimation results offer evidence for significant negative own price elasticity and positive income elasticity of demand for telecom services.

Narinder (2004), in his article “Enhancing Developmental Opportunities by Promoting ICT Use: Vision for Rural India” talks about the foremost benefits of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in developing countries that can be helpful in improving governance including public safety and eradication of illiteracy. The benefits of ICTs have not reached the masses in India due to lack of ICT infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, where two-third of the population of the country lives. Even in cities and suburban areas, use of ICTs is not popular due to lack of awareness to its use, computer illiteracy, and absence of practical applications. India is the largest country in South Asia, with a population of over one billion people and its telecom sector is presently experiencing fast growth phases. However telephony penetration in villages is less than two percent of the rural population and about 15 percent of the villages are still without any telephony service. Universal access to ICTs in rural areas has been planned and is being implemented through Public Tele Info Centers having voice data and video, as majority of villagers in India cannot afford a separate home connection. Illiteracy in rural areas is as high as 40 percent and in some tribal belts hardly about 20 percent people are literate. There are 35 million children in age group of 6–11 years, who are out of school and one out of four drops out during primary classes. Education and training, therefore, must be given the top priority if advantages of ICTs are to be harnessed. Indian economy is agriculture based and employs maximum workforce. Improvement in agriculture productivity can help in reducing rural poverty. Adoption of ICT in agriculture will play an increasingly important role in crop

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production and natural resource management. The other critical factor is technological challenges for universal access to ICTs to bring down the network access cost.

Nikam, Ganesh, Tamizhchelvan (2004), analyses that changing face of India in bridging the digital device. He reiterated - “India lives in villages” said the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. With 1,000 million people and 180 million households, India is one of the biggest growing economies in the world. With the advent of the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) revolution, India and its villages are slowly but steadily getting connected to the cities of the nation and the world beyond. Owing to the late Rajiv Gandhi, India is now a powerful knowledge economy, and though India may have been slow to start, it certainly has caught up with the West and is ahead in important respects. The Government, the corporate sector, NGOs and educational institutions have supported rural development by encouraging digital libraries, e-business, e-learning and e-governance. The aim of this paper is to touch upon and highlight some of the areas where, by using ICT, the masses have been reached in this way. A follow-up paper will outline collections of significant cultural material which, once national IT strategies are fully achieved, could form part of a digitally preserved national heritage collection.

Dey (2004), in her article talks about the discussions between the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and communications policy makers and regulators in other countries and how they have gleaned several clusters of issues where further research would directly benefit them. Recently, there have been two notable shifts. First, as the acceptance of the competition model over the monopoly model for telecommunications markets takes deep effect in regulators all over the world, questions regarding process and procedure for regulation are becoming ever more urgent. This paper discusses current questions regarding decision making, enforcement, and understanding consumer issues that arise often in the FCC's discussions with

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other regulators. Second, technological change is potentially shifting market definitions. In the FCC's discussion with other regulators over the last two years, the overlap of wireline telecom, wireless telecom and cable television has become more pronounced.

Singh (2005), in his article “The role of technology in the emergence of the information society in India” describes the role that information and communication technologies are playing for Indian society to educate them formally or informally which is ultimately helping India to emerge as an information society. Though India has a huge population, the illiteracy rate is also huge in this country. The paper has taken an approach to find the historical situation and present the prevailing scenario as well as the change that are taking place with the application of ICT to the advantage of the society in different areas including daily life. India is making all out efforts to be counted among the developed nations of the world. The article also describes the considerable attention India is taking for application of technology, development of infrastructure and human resource for meeting national needs. Basically India is building an information society. Technology has helped society to cut across the traditional boundaries for getting converted into anemerging information society. The study concludes that The Indian software and services industry has significantly helped to boost the Indian economy. In IT-enabled services too, India has been clearly perceived to be the dominant hub. The Indian software sector is being recognized as the single largest contributor to incremental market capitalization in India but the sector is still small in terms of contribution to GDP, especially when compared to other large sectors in the economy like agriculture and manufacturing. Similarly, the telecommunication sector has contributed a lot but still has a considerable way to go. The paper also enforces that comparisons of India’s telecommunication statistics with those of developed and other emerging economies show that the country is still far behind its contemporaries.

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Banka (2006) gives an overview of the mergers and acquisitions in the telecommunication industry. According to him Governments decision to raise the foreign investment limit to 74% is expected to spur fresh rounds of mergers and takeovers in India. He foresees a sector that represents humongous opportunity waiting to be tapped by Indian and foreign conglomerates.

Thomas (2007), in his article describes the contribution made by telecommunications in India by the state and civil society to public service, this article aims to identify the state’s initial reluctance to recognize telecommunications provision as a basic need as against the robust tradition of public service aligned to the postal services and finds hope in the renewal of public service telecommunications via the Right to Information movement. The article follows the methodology of studying the history of telecommunications approach that is conversant with the political economy tradition. It uses archival sources, personal correspondence, and published information as its research material. The findings of the paper suggests that public service in telecommunication is a relatively ‘‘new’’ concept in the annals of Indian telecommunications and that a deregulated environment along with the Right to Information movement holds significant hope for making public service telecommunications a real alternative. The article provides a reflexive, critical account of public service telecommunications in India and suggests that it can be strengthened by learning gained from the continual renewal of public service ideals and action by the postal services and a people-based demand model linked to the Right to Information Movement. All studies done by the researcher suggests that the right to information movement has contributed to the re-vitalization of participatory democracy in India and to a strengthening of public service telecommunications.

Cygnus Business Consulting & Research Pvt. Ltd. (2008), in its “Quarterly Performance Analysis of Companies (April-June 2008)” has

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analysed the Indian telecom industry in the awake of recent global recession and its overall impact on the Indian economy. The analysis is done in the background of wake of global recession and rising inflation. Cygnus estimates, the Indian telecom industry is expected to maintain the growth trajectory in the next quarter as well. With almost 5-6m subscribers are being added every month, and the country is witnessing wild momentum in the telecom industry.

Maheshwari (July-September 2008), in her report analysed the Indian telecom industry and ascertain that Indian telecommunications has been zooming up the growth curve at an mounting pace, and India is has surpassed US to become the second largest wireless network in the world. This growing subscriber base is basically created by tapping into rural India, which is an emerging market for the industry. The estimate for the next five to ten years is that the rural market will form 40 % of the subscriber base. The study has analysed the human resource management process of the industry, and specially the latest trends of recruitment of this massively growing industry.

Anderson (2008), in his single executive interview titled “Developing a route to market strategy for mobile communications in rural India An interview with Gurdeep Singh, Operations Director, Uttar Pradesh, Hutch India” suggests that managers need to go beyond traditional approaches to serving the poor, and innovate by taking into account the unique institutional context of developing markets. His practical implication says that the experience of Hutchison Essar in India provides some important lessons for mobile network operators (MNOs) and other firms in other developing markets who are hoping to serve the rural poor: Hutchison has recognized the value of corporate and noncorporate partners. The company has proactively established relationships with individual entrepreneurs, and has provided has provided development support to other partners such as distributors. The company has recognized the value of leveraging existing

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local institutions, and has seen gaps in local infrastructure or missing services as potential opportunities rather than barriers to growth. The company has seen the rural market as an opportunity – not just an obligation to be served because of universal service obligations. Also this article demonstrates that MNOs can deliver availability and affordability to achieve increased individual or household penetration through business model innovation.

Mani (2008) addresses a number of issues arising from the growth of telecom services in India since the mid-1990s. It also discusses a number of spillover effects for the rest of the economy and one of the more important effects is the potential to develop a major manufacturing hub in the country for telecom equipment and for downstream industries such as semiconductor devices. The telecom industry in India could slowly become an example of the service sector acting as a fillip to the growth of the manufacturing sector. A beginning towards this has been made. The formation of a Telecom Equipment Export Forum and the announcement of the Indian Semiconductor Policy 2007 are steps in this direction. Success crucially depends on the response of the private sector to these incentives. Given the importance that a regulatory agency can play in this crafting, no effort should be lost in strengthening the powers of the TRAI. The benefits to the Indian economy from having both a strong services and manufacturing segments in the telecom sector cannot be undermined.

Narayana (2008) estimates the contribution of telecommunication (or telecom) services to aggregate economic growth in India. Estimated contribution is distinguished between public and private sectors to highlight the impact of telecom privatization on economic growth. Knowledge of policy determinants of demand of telecom services is shown to be essential to enhance growth contribution of telecom services. Using a recent sample survey data from Karnataka State in South India, price and income determinants of demand for telecom services are estimated by capacity of

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telephone exchanges. Estimation results offer evidence for significant negative own price elasticity and positive income elasticity of demand for telecom services.

Sharma (2009) deals with the major challenges faced by India’s telecom equipment manufacturing sector, which lags behind telecom services. Only 35% of the total demand for telecom equipment in the country is met by domestic production. This is not favourable to long-term sustained growth of the telecom sector. The country is also far behind in R&D spending when compared to other leading countries. India needs to see an increase in R&D investment, industry-academia-government partnership, better quality doctoral education and incentives to entrepreneurs for start-ups in telecom equipment manufacturing. In 2006-07, 65% of the total consumption of equipment was met through imports. This trend has far-reaching implications for the economy and should not be allowed to continue for long. In a country like India which has a problem of massive unemployment, the manufacturing sector should be promoted to create more employment opportunities.

Shah (February, 2009), has analysed Indian telecom industry and studied the sector keeping in mind three companies; namely Bharti, R.Comm and idea in the background of recent global meltdown. The study suggests that though there is no sign of slowdown in this sector, but surely a strong turmoil is going on in the industry. The study states that the sector is fairly immune from the current economic downturn & does provide a good defensive bet in medium term. With the help of newer technologies, wireless penetration is expected to increase in the near future, which is basically fuelling the growth of the sector. While the 3G / Broadband adoption would ensure long term growth momentum, the article has thoroughly investigated about the intense competitive scenario, pricing pressure, high capital intensity & substantial regulatory uncertainties currently faced by the industry. The article has also described the cause of being relatively safe of this industry. The causes described by Shah are increasing rural coverage, rising affordability,

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declining handset/subscription costs, substantially low tariffs & established brand/distribution. However, the study also cautions the telecom industry that a steeper economic slowdown could start impacting the subscriber usage patterns as well as operator capital investments & thereby could substantially restrict revenue growth rates going forward.

CHAPTER 8: THE INTERNET IN INDIA

Internet History and Culture

The history of the Internet in India can be traced back to the early 1990’s when ERNet, a division of the Department of Electronics (DoE), and NICNet

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(Department of Statistics) began to experiment with Internet services. But it was not until 1995 that government owned VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited), became the country’s 1st official Internet Service Provider (ISP).

In 1997, the rise to power of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was accompanied by a series of legislations that opened up opportunities for business online. One of the most significant changes during this period was The New Telecommunications Policy of 1999, which ended VSNL’s ISP monopoly and mandated that any Indian company with a maximum foreign equity of 49% could provide hosting services.

Over time this policy has led to a rise in the number of Indian web hosting companies, although the tough unregulated market has caused many to close. These pieces of legislation ushered in a new era of internet growth that has increased steadily. As early as 2000, foreign companies including Yahoo, Ebay and MSN began establishing web portals in the country and examining India’s strong e-commerce potential.

While the industry has been mainly free from content regulation, some high profile instances of censorship have occurred and as of July 2006, the Indian government had directed ISPs to block seventeen websites, including some hosted on the Geocities, Blogspot and Typepad domains.

According to studies into the demographics of internet users in India, most users are located near the country’s main population centers including Delhi and Bangalore. While figures on the exact number of internet users varies, it was estimated that between 22 and 30 million people were online in 2007 with a 3% penetration of India’s market, although penetration in major urban areas is believed to be as high as 9%. Industry experts have predicted this number to balloon to 100 million by 2010, making India one of the world’s fastest growing markets.

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The early years of the internet saw users connecting primarily in public spaces such as Internet cafes and kiosks, but this is rapidly changing. Reports from consulting company JuxtConsult suggest that beginning in 2007, the majority of internet users are opting for personal computing, with 59% of new users using home based connections, up from 19% the year before.

Business Outlook

India’s e-commerce and IT sectors continue to hold promise and are expected to grow steadily in the coming years, despite a weak global economy and lack of infrastructure. The growth is largely driven by requests for outsourced services including web site design and Search Engine Optimization.

Throughout India, web site design services are readily available in major cities and the low cost of web design is one of the main factors companies cite when choosing to outsource web design to India. Although accurate figures on the amount spent on online advertising are difficult to verify, trends suggest rapid growth and the need for Search Engine Optimization Companies and Search Engine Optimization Specialists steadily increasing.

Even with this new growth, entrepreneurs considering starting an SEO company in India are advised to be cautiously optimistic. Competition among web site promotion firms on the rise, although there are still opportunities for expert search engine optimization and marketing professionals.

While outsourcing for SEO, web and graphic design have proved to be profitable, e-commerce in general is still in the nascent phases even as Internet advertising expenditures continue to grow. While industry giants Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Rediff.com are doing well and continue to dominate the e-commerce landscape, most portals are still working towards

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financial success, citing cost of customer acquisition and lack of reliable high speed broadband as major sticking points.

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CHAPTER 9: India Telecom Report: Internet and Broadband

Services

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India released a comprehensive report on the growth of Indian telecommunication Industry for quarter ending March 2009.

Internet & Broadband services have been unable to emulate the growth that is seen by Indian Mobile sector, but it is growing steadily nevertheless. The Indian government has heady plans when it comes to Broadband and Internet services growth. To achieve is 500 million subscriber base in next 3 years seems to be near impossible target !

Lets look at the where Indian Internet & Broadband services stand for the quarter ending March 2009:

Indian Internet & broadband services snapshot

Internet & Broadband SubscribersTotal internet subscribers (including Broadband)

13.54 million

% of Growth During the Quarter 5.30%Broadband Subscribers 6.22 millionWireless Data Subscriber 117.82 million

According to TRAIs report, India currently has only 13.54 million Internet subscribers, which includes broadband. This is a ridiculously low number !

Even the growth rate is only 5.3%, we seriously have problems when it comes to internet penetration. While the wireless data internet subscriber show close to 118 million subscribers majority of them are GPRS connections on mobiles, which according to me should not be counted a internet subscribers.

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Indian Internet Subscriber Growth

SOURCE: TRAI REPORT MARCH 2009

There were 13.54 million subscribers at the end of March 2009 as compared to 12.85 million Internet Subscribers at the end of December 2008, registering a growth of 5.30%.

The growth rate is higher as compared to growth rate of 5.01% at the end of December 2008.

Besides above , there were 117.82 wireless data customers at the end of March 2009 ( capable of accessing data services including internet through mobile handsets (GSM/CDMA))

Broadband Subscriber Growth – The number of Broadband subscribers (with a download speed of 256 kbps or more) was 6.22 million at the end of March 2009 as compared to 5.52 million at the end of December 2008. The growth rate of broadband subscribers in this quarter is 12.68%.

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Technology Used to Access Internet

SOURCE : TRAI REPORT 2009

Broadband Subscribers Share (Technology wise)- Out of total 6.22 million Broadband,

5.364 million are DSL based;

0.474 million Cable Modem;

0.244 million Ethernet LAN;

0.042 million Fiber;

0.072 million Wireless ;

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0.020 million Leased Line;

0.002 Million use other technologies.

Internet Subscriber Growth Quarter to Quarter

Growth of Internet and Broadband Services

QE Mar 2008

QE June 2008

QE Sep 2008

QE Dec 2008

QE Mar 2009

% of growth over Mar 08 (12 months)

% of growth over June 08(9 months)

% of growth over Sep 08 (6 months)

% of Growth over Dec 08(3 months)

1.Subscriber base(in million)i).Internet 11.0

911.66

12.24

12.85

13.54

22.09

16.12

10.62

5.37

ii)Wireless internet

65.50

75.97

88.27

101.10

117.82

79.88

55.09

33.48

16.54

iii)Broadband connection(>=256kbps download speed)

3.87 4.38 4.90 5.52 6.22 60.72

42.01

26.94

12.68

2.Minutes of use(Dial up internet)(MOU/Sub/Month)

220 225 212.34

214.23

226.58

2.99 0.70 6.71 5.76

3.ARPU(Dial up internet)(Rs/Subs/Month)

220 225 213.08

221.97

236.47

7.49 5.10 10.98

6.53

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*Accessing internet through wireless (GSM/CDMA) networks.

Although Indian Broadband connections have doubled in last one year, the growth rate is still not enough. With a country population of close to 1.2 billion, 6.22 million broadband connections is just ridiculous.

METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER 1: How the project has been carried out

Following figure shows an overview over the works proceed.

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CHAPTER 2: Data Collection

As the used methodic in figure shown, there are two types of data; primary and secondary data.

Primary data

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MethodologyPrinted LitratureSecondary DataTheory ChapterData PresentationMarket PotentialAnalysisConclusion & ProposalPrimary DataEmprical Chapter

In this project primary data has been collected by:

Interviews with existing internet users for collecting of background information such as: products explanation; market situation in Burdwan, Durgapur, Asansol; and contact information for distributors.

Deep going discussions have been done with Vodafone´s representatives in the investigated markets to apply information and further discussions after the questionnaires.

Questionnaires have been used for extracting information from representatives and distributors about internet usage. The questionnaires are used to get exactly and comparable answers in questions.

Primary data has given answer in following questions in each of the studied markets:

Competitors name and position

Customers and the different segments they belongs.

Awareness of internet data cards and awareness of Vodafone’s product.

Technology used for internet connections.

Perception of potential customers towards internet data card.

Secondary data

Printed literatures are used to get relevant theories for this Project. Printed literatures are articles and books in telecom sector and marketing.

Homepages are used for information about competitors, features of different companies data cards, tariff plans and price of different products.

Secondary data has given answer in following questions in each of the studied markets:

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Information about competitors

Information about features and different products of the competitors.

Information about tariff plans and prices of data cards.

Information about different technologies used to connect internet.

Information about indian telecom sector.

Information about the current scenario.

CHAPTER 3: STATISTICAL MODELS USEDThe statistical models and analysis methods which are used in this project are as following:

Chi-square test (χ 2 test)

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Chi square distribution is an important contineous probability distribution, first formulated by Helmert and then discovered by Karl Pearson.

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) can be used to test for the equality of three or more population means using data obtained from observational or experimental studies.

NORMAL DISTRIBUTION (z test)

Normal distribution is an important contineous probability distribution having two parameters m and σ. Normal distribution plays a very important role in Statistical theory and , in particular, in Sampling theory.

Objectives of the project

The objectives of this project is to find the answers to following questions:

1. What is the current situation in the market of Internet Data Cards at

Asansol, Durgapur & Burdwan?

2. Is there any significant difference between the markets?

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3. What is the total market potential of these three markets?

4. What are the different segments in the market that uses Internet Data

Cards.

5. The awareness of internet data card in the market and the awareness

of Vodafone’s data card in the market.

6. Who are the competitors of Vodafone?

7. What people are paying for using internet?

8. What type of technology is more preferred to connect internet?

9. How potential customers perceive towards the internet data card?

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About the data card

A data card is a modem which can be connected to the PCs or Laptops any where any time to get connected with the internet. A data card comes with different verities and models, some of the models of data cards of different service providers are mentioned below.

Table shows different companies in data card business, their products and their prices.

Company Product Name Technology Used

Price in Rs.

Vodafone Vodafone Mobile Connect Edge Data Card

PCMCIA 6499/-

Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Modem

USB 2599/-

Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G USB stick( Broadband)

USB 5499/-

BSNL Huawei - EC 321 USB 2800/-BSNL EVDO (Broadband) USB 7500/-

TATA INDICOM

Plug 2 Surf photon USB 2499/-

Plug 2 Surf photon whiz USB 2249/-Data for laptops PCMCIA 2499/-Photon+ (Broadband) USB 3500/-

Reliance Net Connect MG880 USB Modem

USB 2490/-

Huawei EC-121 USB Modem USB 2500/-Net connect PCMCIA Card PCMCIA 2500/-Net Connect Broadband plus (Broadband)

USB 3500/-

Airtel USB Modem USB 2999/-

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A DATA CARD OF USB TECHNOLOGY

A PCMCIA CARD

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A BROADBAND DATA CARD OF USB TECHNOLOGY

ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

CHAPTER 1: MARKET POTENTIAL ANALYSIS

I made a survey on the different outlets of the companies selling data cards; I asked them, on an average how many data cards were sold by them in a month? Then we got the following results:

Survey report of Burdwan

Company Units/pm AverageReliance 250-300 275Tata Indicom 200-250 225Bsnl 300-350 325Airtel 05-010 7.5Vdafone 15-20 17.5Total market potential   850

Survey Report of Durgapur

Company Units/pm AverageReliance 375-400 387.5Tata Indicom 350-400 375Bsnl 400-450 425Airtel 05-010 7.5Vdafone 25-30 27.5Total market potential   1222.5

Survey Report of Asansol

Company Units/pm AverageReliance 300-350 325Tata Indicom 350-375 362.5Bsnl 400-450 425Airtel 05-010 7.5Vdafone 15-20 17.5Total market potential   1137.5

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Total market potential of Asansol, Durgapur & Burdwan is calculated by summing up the average monthly sale by each company in these areas.

Company Units/pmReliance 987.5Tata Indicom 962.5Bsnl 1175Airtel 22.5Vdafone 62.5Total Market Potential 3210

The result what we got is an average of 3210 units of data cards sold in the market of Burdwan, Durgapur & Asansol.

CHAPTER 2: DEVELOPMENT OF HYPOTHESIS AND ITS TESTING

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What is a Hypothesis?

A hypothesis is the assumption that we make about the population parameter. This can be any assumption about a population parameter not necessarily based on statistical data.

Development of Hypothesis:

There is no significant difference in the market potential of data cards at Burdwan, Durgapur and Asansol markets.

H0 : The market potential remains same with respect to the cities across the competitive brands.

H1 : There is a variance in the market potential with respect to the cities across the competitive brands.

To test this hypothesis I have used Two Way ANOVA, as it is a Bivariate Analysis.

ANOVA TABLE

Source of variation

Sum of squares(SS)

D.F Mean Square(MS

)

Variance ratio

Between cities

1.32 2 0.66

F1 = 0.20/0.66 = 0.30

Between companies

40.85 4 10.21

F2 = 0.20/10.21 = 0.01

Residual(error)

1.63 8

Total 43.80 14

Conclusion table

D.F Level of significance

F – observed

F - tabulated

Status of Hypothesis

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V1=8, V2 =2 5% 0.30 19.4 H0 AcceptedV1= 8, V2=4 5% 0.01 6.04 H0 Accepted

Decision: We accept the Null Hypothesis because we found out that there is no significant difference among the competitive brands and the market potential of data cards at Burdwan, Durgapur, Asansol.

Interpretation

From the above analysis, it was found that the market potential of Asansol, Durgapur, and Burdwan does not very much, one of the reasons of this stability is that these three towns are well developed, and presence of reasonable number of colleges offering both professional and educational courses, especially private colleges offering professional courses are involving technology as a part of their programme. Colleges providing free laptops to the students, classroom teaching with help of power point presentations, etc is some of the examples of adaptation of technology, and this young generation is very much aware and adaptable towards the internet technologies, they use internet as a medium to gather knowledge, for entertainment purposes etc. Again, these three towns are rich in industry also and today as we all know industries are being globalized, so there is a need for continuous connectivity, concepts like virtual offices, e banking, online transactions etc are getting popular day by day. All this become have become possible because of technology of Internet. As a product of FMCG category, the masses are taking this product very consciously and the trial purchase of this product is very high.

1. Development of hypothesis

There is a difference in the preference of different technologies used to connect internet.

H0 = All the different types technologies used to connect internet are equally preferred by the customers.

H1 = All the different types of technologies used for connecting internet are not equally preferred.

To test this hypothesis we did Chi-square test for Goodness of fit.

Sample size = 220

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Value of χ2

observedd.f Level Tabulated

valueStatus of

Hypothesis

29.56 3 5% 7.815 H0 Rejected

Decision: We reject the Null Hypothesis because we found out that the different technologies used for connecting internet are not equally preferred.

Interpretation

In the research, it discovered that there are different types of technologies used by the users of internet for internet connectivity. A simple landline connection attached with a modem is traditionally used for internet connectivity; Bsnl is the market leader in this type of technology. The data transfer speed in this type of technology is also very high, comparing to other technologies available. Now days Multimedia mobile phones are very popular among the masses, and all the telecom service providers both GSM and CDMA are providing GPRS connections at a cheap rate. These mobile phones can be connected to the PC’s or Laptops for browsing internet, and this type of technology is popular because of multiple usability of mobile phone and cheap tariff plans. The other type of technology for connecting internet is Data Cards. Data Cards are USB modems or PCMCIA modems which can be connected with the PC’s (only USB one) and Laptops (both USB and PCMCIA) through USB slot and laptops supporting PCMCIA card slot for internet connectivity. With the introduction of 3G and Broadband service in this technology the speed of browsing internet has increased drastically from 153.6 kbps to 3mbps and more. The biggest advantage of this type of technology is its mobility, the user can connect internet anywhere till the time he/she is in the coverage area of the service provider. The data card can also be used for receiving, sending SMS, making, and receiving voice calls etc. The next type of technology used for internet connectivity is cable connections or fiber optic cable connections provided by the local service providers. This service is cheap and getting popular day by day with new companies entering this segment.

2. Development of hypothesis

A significant relationship exists between the types of technologies used in internet connections with the nature of occupation.

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H0 = The types of technologies used to connect internet are independent of the occupation categories.

H1 = The types of technologies used to connect internet are dependent of the different occupation categories.

To test this Hypothesis we did Chi-Square test for Independence of attribute.

Sample size = 220

Value of χ2

observedd.f Level Tabulated

valueStatus of

Hypothesis

11.263 6 5% 12.59 H0 Accepted

Decision: We accept the Null Hypothesis because we found out that different technologies like data cards, mobile phones, landline phones, etc used for internet connectivity are independent of occupation categories like students, jobholders and businesspersons’.

Interpretation

The research discovered that different technologies used to connect internet such as Data cards, mobile and landline phones, cable connections etc are independent of occupation categories, it means that there is no specific preference of a particular technology by any specific occupation segment such as students, jobholders and businesspersons. The preference of the technology depends on different factors. For example, students continuing their studies from home probably opting for a landline or cable connection, because of its low cost and low maintenance factors, while students residing in rented apartments or hostels probably opting a Data card or Multimedia mobile phone because of its mobility factor. In the same way jobholder who does, not have to travel constantly opts for a fixed connection, and executives with constant mobility chooses a Data card or Mobile phones to connect internet.

3. Development of Hypothesis:

A significant relationship exists between the types of technologies used for internet connections with different categories of students.

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H0 = The types of technologies used to connect internet are independent of the students categories.

H1 = The types of technologies used to connect internet are dependent of the different students categories.

To test this Hypothesis we did Chi-Square test for Independence of attribute.

Sample size = 59

Value of χ2

observedd.f Level Tabulated

valueStatus of

Hypothesis

3.243 3 5% 7.81 H0 Accepted

Decision: We accept H0 Hypothesis because we found out that the technologies used for connecting internet are independent of different categories of students such as students of educational and professional courses.

Interpretation

The students are divided into two segments i.e., students perusing their professional courses and students perusing their educational courses. The use of internet in the educational course is less but it is constantly raising, where as the use of internet in educational courses is very high. However, as the younger generation is very much tech friendly, a PC or laptop has become a household product. It hardly matters anything for a student what course he/she is perusing, they use internet for entertainment, downloading, collecting information about different things, chatting, browsing etc. In this, case the technology for connecting internet not at all dependent of student’s categories.

4. Development of Hypothesis:

A significant relationship exists between the types of technologies used for internet connections with different job categories.

H0 = The types of technologies used to connect internet are independent of the different job categories.

H1 = The types of technologies used to connect internet are dependent of the different job categories.

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To test this Hypothesis we did Chi-Square test for Independence of attribute.

Sample size = 71

Value of χ2

observedd.f Level Tabulated

valueStatus of

Hypothesis

3.32 6 5% 12.59 H0 Accepted

Decision: We accept H0 Hypothesis because we found out that the technologies used for connecting internet are independent of different categories of jobs such as private jobs, government jobs and public sector jobs.

Interpretation

Jobs are divided into three categories here i.e., private jobs, public sector jobs and government jobs, and internet is used greatly in this entire sector. Now the companies are being globalised and all the processes are using online systems to operate, the technology used for internet connection plays a significant role. The nature of the internet connection depends on the profile of the job not on the category of the job. Executives with fixed offices prefer fixed connections and executives with more mobility prefer Data cards and mobile connections.

5. Development of Hypothesis:

A significant relationship exists between the types of technologies used for internet connections with different types of businesses.

H0 = The types of technologies used to connect internet are independent of the different types of businesses.

H1 = The types of technologies used to connect internet are dependent of the different types of businesses.

To test this Hypothesis we did Chi-Square test for Independence of attribute.

Sample size = 90

Value of χ2

observedd.f Level Tabulated

valueStatus of

Hypothesis

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2.764 6 5% 12.59 H0 Accepted

Decision: We accept H0 Hypothesis because we found out that the technologies used for connecting internet are independent of different types of businesses such showrooms, franchisees, and other types of businesses.

Interpretation

In this, research the businesses are divided into three categories i.e., the showrooms, franchise and other types of businesses. Now days the online billing is getting popularizing, most of the big showrooms and franchise are adapting this technique, by this way the companies’ gets information about their products performance in the market, sales figures and other valuable information’s. So it is important for the franchise, showroom and other types of businesses to get connected with the server of the companies and for that they need an internet connection, the type of connection depends on the nature of the business, for regular transactions most of the time a fixed connection is preferred. However, it s observed in the research that other types of connections are also used.

6. Development of Hypothesis

There is a difference in the preference of service providers of internet connections in the market.

H0 = All the different service providers of internet connections are equally preferred in the market

H1 = All the different service providers of internet connections are not equally preferred.

To test this hypothesis we did Chi-square test for Goodness of fit.

Sample size = 220

Value of χ2

observedd.f Level Tabulated

valueStatus of

Hypothesis

47.98 5 5% 11.07 H0 Rejected

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Decision: We reject the Null Hypothesis because we found out that the service providers who are providing internet connections are not equally preferred.

Interpretation

The telecom companies present in the market provide the internet services. Some of these companies like BSNL, Airtel, Tata indicom, Reliance are giants in this business, and have established a good customer base. All these companies provide internet connections through GPRS services, Data cards, fixed line connections and 3G. Vodafone is comparatively new in this business but Vodafone is providing GPRS services in the past also, but they are expanding now. The user of internet prefers the service providers based on their requirements, such as tariff plans, net speed, network quality etc, and different service providers specializes in different areas. Therefore, the service providers are not equally preferred in the market.

7. Development of Hypothesis

There is a difference among the different purpose of using internet by the internet users.

H0 = the internet users uses internet equally for all the purposes, such as work, entertainment, business etc.

H1 = the internet users does not prefer internet equally for all the purposes, such as work, entertainment, business etc.

To test this hypothesis we did Chi-square test for Goodness of fit.

Sample size = 220

Value of χ2

observedd.f Level Tabulated

valueStatus of

Hypothesis

17.19 3 5% 7.81 H0 Rejected

Decision: We reject the Null hypothesis because we found out that there is a difference in the preference of using internet by the internet users.

Interpretation

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The interfere of internet in our lives is getting more and more day by day, whatever you want you can search it on the net with sitting at the comfort of your office or home. Online shopping, banking, hotel reservations, ticketing and many more things can be done by using internet, it’s just one click of your mouse away. With this huge amount of versatility, the preference of using internet by the users also differs according to their requirements. For example a student most preferably use internet for collecting information and for entertainment purpose, while a businessmen can use it for online billing, while a job holder may use internet for reporting to his/her bosses, and that is why all the uses of internet are not equally preferred by all the classes.

8. Development of Hypothesis for potential customer’s perception towards different features of data card.

i. Cost of data card: Price plays an pivotal role in the purchase of data card.H0 = Price plays an insignificant role in purchase of data card.H1 = Price plays a significant role in purchase of data card.

ii. Installation of data card: Installation process of data card plays an important role in the purchase of data card.H0 = Installation process of data card does not play an important role in the purchase.H2 = Installation process plays an important role in the purchase decision.

iii. Durability of data card: Durability is an important feature, which the buyer considers at the time of making purchase.H0 = Durability of data card does not bothers the buyers purchase decision.H0 = Durability of data card is an important factor, which affects the buyers purchase decision.

iv. User friendliness: User friendliness of the product is an important factor for purchasing the data card.

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H0 = User friendliness plays an insignificant role in the purchase of data card.H1 = User friendliness plays a significant role in the purchase decision of data card.

v. Tariff plans: Tariff plans play a pivotal role in the purchase decision.H0 = Tariff plans are not given much importance at the time of purchase.H1= Tariff plans plays an important role at the time of purchasing the data card.

vi. Speed of Internet: Speed of the internet provided by the service provider plays an important role in the purchase decision of the data card.H0 = Speed of the internet plays an insignificant role in the purchase.H1 = Speed of the internet plays a significant role in the purchase of data card.

vii. After sales service: After sales service plays an pivotal role in the purchase of data card.H0 = After sale service is not an important factor of purchase decision.H1 = After sale services plays an important role in the purchase decision of the data card.

viii. Image of the company: image of the service provider plays a pivotal role in the purchase of the data card.H0 = The image of the company plays an insignificant role in the purchase of the data card.H1 = The image of the company plays a significant role in the purchase of the data card.

The table below shows the perception of internet users towards different factors.

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Feature Grand

mean

Hypothesis

Standerd

error of x ̄

Test Statistics apply ztest(two tailed)

Observed

value of Z

Table

value at 95%

Status of hypothesis

Price 3.76 H0: µ = 3H1: µ ≠ 3

0.07 3.76 – 3 /0.07

10.85 1.96 H0

RejectedInstallation

3.80 H0: µ = 3H1: µ ≠ 3

0.07 3.80 – 3 /0.07

10.81 1.96 H0

RejectedDurability

3.94 H0: µ = 3H1: µ ≠ 3

0.073 3.94 – 3 /0.073

12.87 1.96 H0

RejectedUser friendly

4.08 H0: µ = 3H1: µ ≠ 3

0.064 4.08 – 3 /0.064

16.87 1.96 H0

RejectedTariff 3.81 H0: µ = 3

H1: µ ≠ 30.07 3.81 – 3

/0.0711.57 1.96 H0

RejectedSpeed 4.12 H0: µ = 3

H1: µ ≠ 30.06 4.12 – 3

/0.0618.66 1.96 H0

RejectedAfter sale service

3.50 H0: µ = 3H1: µ ≠ 3

0.07 3.50 – 3 /0.07

7.14 1.96 H0

Rejected

Company’s image

3.31 H0: µ = 3H1: µ ≠ 3

0.08 3.31 – 3 /0.08

3.87 1.96 H0

Rejected

Interpretations

1. Price of the data card: In this research, it is discovered that price of the Data card is playing an important role in the purchase decision of the customer; Data cards with high prices are less preferred. BSNL is the only company in the market, which is providing Data cards on

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rental basis, and it is one of the main reasons behind BSNL’s success. Reliance Communication and Tata Indicom is also providing data cards at cheaper rates. Normal Data cards ranges from Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 and 3G, Broadband Data cards range starts from Rs 3500 onwards.

2. Installation process: The installation process of data card should be simple and can be easily understood by the user, because the user is the one who is going to operate it with the machine, and if it is a complicated process then user might think for other options. A user wants simplest process to get connected with the internet, just plug in the data card and connect, if he/she needs to install some special software’s in the PC or Laptop for using the data card, it is not possible for everyone to handle this installation process, so installation process plays an pivotal role in the purchase decision.

3. Durability: Purchasing a Data card is mostly a long-term investment, so a Data must have to be durable enough to meet the requirements of the user. A Data card should not get over heated while in use, should be made up of un-breakable plastic are some features of durable Data card.

4. User Friendly: A Data should be user friendly in operations. Apart from connecting internet, Data cards comes with multiple features such as receiving and sending SMS, making and receiving voice calls, etc, so all these functions should be easy to operate, if it is little complicated it becomes a hassle for the user and ultimately affects the purchasing decision.

5. Tariff Plans: Apart from the price of the Data, card how much the internet service is costing to the pocket of the user is very important factor in the purchase of any Data card. A internet user wants tariff plans which fits into his/her budget and fulfills all the other requirements. Again BSNL is the market leader in this segment with cheapest tariff plans and after that Reliance and Tata Indicom comes.

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6. Net Speed: The internet speed is very important for the users and slow internet is not at all preferred in our fast moving lives. With the introduction of Broadband and 3G in the market of Data cards, the competition has got even tougher. Customers prefers internet with good downloading speed.

7. After Sale Service: After sales service like sending bills on time, keep the customers updated with the new developments in different areas etc improves the chances of increasing the sale of data card, and plays an important role in the purchase decision of the customer also.

8. Image of the company: The goodwill created in the market through years of providing superior service quality helps the company to sale its products, because it’s the image of the company in the minds of the customer who is going to purchase the data card. If the brand is trusted in the market, it makes a positive impact on the purchase decision.

Conclusions & recommendations

On our research, we have found out the followings:

1. Vodafone is not actively promoting its Data card products in the market, that’s the reason awareness about Vodafone’s data card is very low, at the same time awareness about the data cards in the market cannot be said bad, around 39% of the respondents are aware of data cards.

2. Vodafone emphasizes on its high quality service, but the price at which they are providing the services is a bit too high.

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3. Vodafone mainly focusing on a niche segment in the market, i.e., they target working professionals, executives, etc who needs to travel more frequently and required to be connected with internet all the time.

4. We found out in the survey that, maximum of the population is using either mobile phones or landline phones to get connected to the internet, the reason behind this are :

Cheaper tariff plans. Low installation cost. Multiple usability.

5. There is a strong competition between Bsnl, Reliance, Tata indicom and Airtel, they have 30%, 21%, 17%, 15% market share respectively in our survey. It establishes the fact that they have a good customer base and all four companies are old players in the field of providing internet services, so it is not going to be easy for Vodafone to crack the customer base of theirs.

6. Airtel and Bsnl have their expertise in providing internet connections through mobile phones, landline connections and WLL phones. They are having a good signal strength and network support in almost every villages and towns, as the service is good Airtel charges a high tariff but at the same time Bsnl charges the lowest tariffs. For Vodafone they lack in both, their tariffs are high and not have strong coverage also.

7. Maximum of the population, those who are using internet are using it for an average of 30 hrs in a month, and they spend on an average around Rs. 350 a month on it, so there is a need for low cost service, which Vodafone presently is not providing.

8. We asked to the respondents, who are having internet connections, what will be the important factors for you while choosing a data card, as you are already using an internet connection, the respondents gave more emphasis on the price of the data card, the tariff plans and the speed of the internet. Vodafone lacks in price of the data card and the tariff plans, its price & tariffs are high but its speed it reasonably good. But because of providing data cards on rental basis and lowest tariff plans Bsnl is the leader, then Reliance communication comes with its cheaper data cards and attractive tariff plans and with reasonable speed, and after that its Tata indicom with almost the same services as Reliance offers.

9. The market is having great potential and scope for development, as the use of internet is increasing day by day and computers have become a part of our lives, in the same way an internet connection is becoming necessary.

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10. The companies are targeting students both educational and professional courses (as courses are becoming more technology based), job holders (needs to be connected with their offices) and show rooms (now online billing is started), Vodafone needs to enter in new segments of the markets.

11. Vodafone is having a very strong product, but due to high prices and lack of promotion its lagging behind.

Strategic recommendations

Following recommendations are essential for success in the future:

1. Vodafone should look to explore new segments in the market.2. They have to be more prices competitive, as the competitors are

charging low prices, Vodafone cannot succeed with its high price tag, and they have to offer more value for money product.

3. Vodafone should actively promote their products, as the other companies are doing; they have to make aware of their products to the masses.

4. Vodafone is a multinational company; they should use their goodwill to capture the market.

CHAPTER 3: GRAPHS AND CHARTS

1. Age of respondents

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18yrs-25yrs

25yrs-35yrs

35yrs-50yrs

50yrs & above

0

50

100

150200

250235

190

10570

Age of respondents

No of Persons

total = 600We went to 600 respondents (200 each from Burdwan, Durgapur, Asansol) and asked them about there age. Maximum of the respondents were between the age of 18-35

2. Occupation of the respondents

Student Service men

Business0

100

200

300290

220

90

occupation of respondents

No of Persons

total = 600We asked the respondents what they do?around 49% of the respondents were students, from both professional and educatonal courses, around 36% were job holders from different sectors like government sector, private sector etc, and the remainig 15% were Business mens, they are showrooms, frenchaisis etc.

3. Have to a PC or Laptop?

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Yes No0100200300400

340260

Have a PC or Laptop

No of Persons

total = 600We asked the respondents that they are having or using a PC or Laptop? Around 57% of them out of 600 said yes they have or they use. This figure shows that a computer is still not available in each home. Despite of goverments efforts the results were not satisfactory.

4. Have internet connection or not ?

Yes No050

100150200250

220

120

Have internet connection

No of Persons

total = 340If the avalability of the computer is low, then the probability of having an internet connection connected to it getting more less, this fact shows that only 64% out of 340 are connected to the internet and maximum of them are through GPRS or GSM connections or through landlines.

5. Aware of data card or not?

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Yes No0

100

200

300

400

250

350

Awareness of data card

No of Persons

total = 600The awareness about the data card is also low in the market, only 39% of respondents out of 600 were aware of data cards, inspite of random advertisment there is a lot more to be done, we need to educate our potential customers more about the product.

6. Type of internet connection used by the respondents

020406080

37

78 72

33

Kind of internet connection

No of Persons

total = 220From the respondents who are having internet connection we asked them what kind of connection they use? The maximum were in favour of Multimedia Mobile phones connection through GSM/CDMA connections, and through landline connections. Only 17% out of 220 uses data cards to connect internet.

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7. Purpose of using internet.

Online W

ork

Entert

ainment

Busin

ess

Colle

cting I

nform

ation

020406080

7463

5132

Purpose of useing internet

No of Persons

total = 220The purpose of using internet also indicates the requirement of internet. Internet is becoming a part of our lives now days, job holders needs to be connected with there offices (positioned globally) all the time. Students gets huge amount of information on different subjects and topics from internet. Now days online billing is getting popular, so all the showrooms, shops, franchisies needs to be connected with the companies server all the time, and the companies gets instant information about the sales position and revenue detatils. Internet is also used for entertainment purpose, like chating, gaming, blogging ets, nowdays the social networking sites like orkut.com, facebook.com, ets are very popular.

8. Awareness of Vodafone’s Data card.

Yes No0100200300400500600

57

543

Awareness of Vodafone data card

No of Persons

total = 600

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The awareness of Vodafones data card is very low in the market, its only 9.5% of the total sample, the main reason behind this was because Vodafone doesnot promote its products actively like others. Vodafone is having world class poducts, but due to lack of promotion the awareness is very low.

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AnnextureQUESTIONNAIRE

1. What is your Age?_______________________2. Your occupation?

a. Studentb. Service holderc. Business men

3. Do you use PCs of Laptop?a. Yesb. No

4. If you have a PC or Laptop then, do you have an internet connection on it?a. Yesb. No

5. Are you aware of internet data cards?a. Yesb. No

6. If you have an internet connection, then what kind of connection do you have?a. Data cardb. Use mobile phone to connect to the internetc. Use landline connection to connect to the internetd. Other types of connections

7. If you have an internet connection, then which service provider is providing you this service?a. BSNLb. Reliance Communicationc. Tata indicomd. Vodafonee. Airtelf. Others

8. In a month, on an average how many hours do you use internet?a. 10 hrs to 15 hrs or >500 MBb. 15 hrs to 30 hrs or 500 MB to 1 GBc. 30 hrs to 45 hrs or 1 GB to 2.5 GBd. 45 hrs & above or 2.5 GB and above

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9. If you use internet regularly, then what is your average monthly expenditure?a. Between Rs 300 to Rs 350b. Between Rs 350 to Rs 500c. Between Rs 500 to Rs 800d. Rs 800 and above

10. If you are using internet, then what is your purpose behind using it?a. For work purposeb. For entertainmentc. For businessd. To collect information

11. What is your initial setup cost?a. Below Rs 1500b. Between Rs 1500 to Rs 2500c. Between Rs 2500 to Rs 3500d. Rs 3500 and above

12. Suppose you want to purchase an internet data card, please rate the importance of the following factors in selecting a data card.

Factor Not Important

Very Important

Cost of Data card 1 2 3 4 5

Installation process 1 2 3 4 5

Durability 1 2 3 4 5

User friendly 1 2 3 4 5

Tariff plans 1 2 3 4 5

Speed 1 2 3 4 5

After sale service 1 2 3 4 5

Image of the company 1 2 3 4 5

13. Are you aware of Vodafone data card?a. Yesb. No

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