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PROJECT REPORT
ON
TELE-MARKETING & PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES
FOR AIRTEL FRIEND LOCATOR SERVICE
at
TELENITY
Submitted to
Mr. YOGESH BIJLANI
COUNTRY HEAD India & GM (Asia Pacific)
in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) 2010-2012 in Telecom
By
FAISAL MALIK
(ROLL NO. TM 109242)
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 1
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the Project entitled as “Promotional Activities for Airtel
Friend Locator Service” under the guidance of “Mr. YOGESH BIJLANI
(COUNTRY HEAD India & GM-APAC)” and submitted to “Balaji Institute of
Telecom & Management, Pune”, as an integral part of the ‘Post Graduate
Diploma in Management’, is exclusively a bonafide and original work done by
me during the academic year 2010-2012.
FAISAL MALIK
ROLL NO. – TM109242
BITM, PUNE
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSuccessful completion of any project depends upon co-operation of many
individuals.
I take the opportunity to express my deep gratitude to TELENITY. to select me
as a summer trainee & extending me their full support & co-operation
towards the completion of this project.
I sincerely thank Mr. Yogesh Bijlani, Country Head India & General Manager
(APAC), my project guide for all his kind and prudent guidance to make this
project successful.
I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible
without the kind support and help of:
Mr Harinder Singh Anand (Senior Executive - Sales)
Mr. Amit Rai Saxena (Program Manager)
Mr. Ashish Aggrawal (Engineer)
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.
I am highly indebted to TELENITY, for their guidance and constant
supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding the
project & also for their support in completing the project.
I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents & member of
TELENITY for their kind co-operation and encouragement which help me in
completion of this project.
I express my deep sense of gratitude to Dr. Seema Singh Zokarakar ,
Director , BITM.
Also, I would like to thank my institute for providing me the opportunity to
gain some practical knowledge and experience about various aspects
required in carrying out the project.
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 3
Table of Contents:
1. Certificate
2. Executive Summary
3. Introduction
3.1. Market Share of Telecom Operators
3.2. Sectors of Telecom Industry
3.3. Value Added Services
3.3.1. VAS Characteristics
3.3.2. VAS Categories
3.3.3. VAS Value Chain
4. Company Profile
4.1. Company Mission
4.2. Target Market
4.3. Strategy for Success
4.4. Business & Technology
4.5. Operations
4.6. Global Customer Base
4.7. Unique Position
4.8. Commitment
4.9. Management
4.10. Customers
5. Product Profile
5.1. canvas® SmartAds™
5.2. canvas® USSD Service Center
5.3. canvas® PayForMe™
5.4. canvas® SmartAlert™
5.5. canvas® PFS
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 4
6. Location Based Services
6.1. Introduction
6.2. Future of Location Based Services
6.3. Airtel Friend Locator
6.3.1. Challenge
6.3.2. Concept
6.4. Main Revenue Flow
6.5. canvas® BFS – Operator Benefits
6.6. canvas® BFS – End User Benefits
6.7. canvas® BFS – Key Features
6.8. Sample Operation of Airtel Friend Locator
6.9. Promotion Activities
6.9.1. Daily Activities
6.9.2. Try-&-Buy Offer
6.9.3. Auto Provisioning
6.9.4. Other Activities
7. Analysis
8. Service Gap Model
9. Conclusion
9.1. Learning
10. Recommendations
11. Bibliography
12. Appendix
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 5
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 6
2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The project is carried out for TELENITY world’s leading next generation location-based
social networking, mobile marketing, service delivery, messaging and value added
services software solutions for communications networks.
Telenity serves global telecom service providers through its offices located in USA,
Turkey India and UAE. The company is headquartered in Connecticut, USA.
The title of the project is promotional activities for Airtel Friend Locator service for
Telenity.
The key project deliverables are the promotion of telecom circles in India and ensuring
the sustainability and consistency of the campaign and measuring the conversion rate of
customers for the promoted campaign and taking needed actions.
The research methodology used in the project for data collection is personal interviewing
of VAS managers and customers. Understanding the VAS industry their trends &
challenges faced by them by personal visits to different vas managers.
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 7
3. INTRODUCTION
The Indian telecommunications industry is the world's fastest growing telecommunications
industry, with 671.69 Million telephone (landlines and mobile) subscribers and 635.51
Million mobile phone connections as of June 2010. It is also the second largest
telecommunication network in the world in terms of number of wireless connections after
China.
The Indian Mobile subscriber base has increased in size by a factor of more than one-
hundred since 2001 when the number of subscribers in the country was approximately 5
million to 635.51 Million in June 2010.
As the fastest growing telecommunications industry in the world, it is projected that India
will have 1.159 billion mobile subscribers by 2013. Furthermore, projections by several
leading global consultancies indicate that the total number of subscribers in India will exceed
the total subscriber count in the China by 2013.
The industry is expected to reach a size of 344,921 crore (US$ 74.85 billion) by 2012 at a
growth rate of over 26 per cent, and generate employment opportunities for about 10 million
people during the same period. According to analysts, the sector would create direct
employment for 2.8 million people and for 7 million indirectly.
TELECOM CIRCLES IN INDIA
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 8
3.1 MARKET SHARE OF TELECOM OPERATORS (APRIL 2011)
22.57%
13.62%
18.94%13.08%
8.88%
11.89%5.50% 2.38% 3.13%
Market Share
Bharti Airtel
Reliance
Vodafone Essar
Idea
Tata
BSNL
Aircel
Uninor
Others
Source: TRAI
3.2 SECTORS OF TELECOM INDUSTRY
The revenue generated in telecom industry is on the basis of following sectors, which are as
follows:
Rental17.68%
Call59.04%
Roaming7.69%
VAS15.58%
Revenue
RentalCallRoamingVAS
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 9
3.3 VALUE ADDED SERVICES
Today, in developed markets, mobile call charges are falling by 15%-20% per annum. While
several countries in this market still see high growth in new mobile subscribers, they also see
their overall revenue flattening because of the drop in call charges, as well as the fact that
new subscribers are, in general, low-usage customers. As would be expected, markets with
strong competition have seen a considerable drop in mobile call charges in developed markets
through significant price competition around capped price plans.
Mobile value-added services (VAS) are those services that offer differentiation and the ability
for mobile operators to charge a premium price. VAS include non-voice advanced messaging
services such as VOICE, SMS and DATA services based on wireless data bearer
technologies. Mobile VAS also includes voice-based services such as PTT and Voice Mail.
3.3.1 VALUE ADDED SERVICE CHARACTERSTICS
All VAS share the same characteristics:
It is not a form of basic service but rather adds value to total service offering.
It stands alone in terms of profitability and/or stimulates incremental demand for core
service(s).
It can sometimes stand-alone operationally.
It does not cannibalize basic service unless clearly favourable.
It can be an add-on to basic service, and as such, may be sold at a premium price.
It may provide operational and/or administrative synergy between or among other
services – not merely for diversification.
3.3.2 VAS CATEGORIESThe Value Added Services are broadly classified into the following categories:
Basic Services
Voice based Services
SMS based Services
GPRS based Services
3.3.3 VAS VALUE CHAIN
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 10
The value chain shown above has seven key components namely:
NETWORK OPERATIONS: This refers to the physical core access network.
Although this has remained an exclusive domain of the cellular service providers, but
now with Bharti outsourcing its network to third parties, it has become an open
avenue for independent operators.
DATA SERVICE PLATFORM: The Data Service Platform comprises of the short
messaging center, the multimedia-messaging center and related components.
APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT: This component provides the platform for
programs or applications that host the Value Added Services.
CONTENT PROCESSING: Content is the life-blood of any Value Added Service.
This component provides the content mix for a particular application.
SALES & MARKETING: This component takes care of the demand management &
pricing of the new Value Added Service.
4. COMPANY PROFILE
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 11
Founded in year 2000, Telenity provides world's leading next generation location-based
social networking, mobile marketing, service delivery, messaging and value added services
software solutions for communications networks. Telenity serves global telecom service
providers through its offices located in USA, Turkey, India and UAE. The company is
headquartered in Connecticut, USA.
4.1 COMPANY MISSION
Telenity’s mission is to deliver results to its telecom network operator customers. Operators
want to increase their average revenue per user (ARPU) by offering innovative and
personalized communication services to its subscribers. They want to be more agile and
competitive. Telenity consistently brings this experience to its customers by providing a
complete set of solution that:
Enable new value added services for mobile and fixed networks.
Enhance the end user productivity and entertainment.
4.2 TARGET MARKET
The worldwide mobile subscriber base has witnessed a significant growth in recent years,
crossing the 50% penetration mark in early 2008.With ARPU levels declining globally, data
services and value added services (VAS) are increasingly becoming an important component
of operators’ revenue models.
VAS such as SMS, USSD, mobile collect calling, ringback tones, location based services,
mobile entertainment, mobile marketing, mobile payments are expected to contribute
significantly to overall revenue generated from data services in the next five years.
4.3 STRATEGY FOR SUCCESS
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 12
Strategy for success is to offer time-to-market, differentiated solutions with the dedication of
our agile resources aligned to meet customer needs. Telenity enables the world's leading
telecom service providers to create, personalize and deliver innovative services resulting in
increased profitability and customer loyalty.
4.4 BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY
Business and technology includes industry leading products, services, and solutions that
create new revenue opportunities for communications networks. With our comprehensive
strengths in messaging, value added services, and service delivery solutions, Telenity offers
you cutting edge products to stay competitive.
Under its Canvas® brand, Telenity provides five product groups all based on a telecom grade
Common Operating Environment (COE):
Integrated Messaging platform and applications
Innovative Value Added Services – suite of next generation applications/services
Service delivery components
Location-based Services
Mobile Marketing
Telenity also offers the following Services to
support its customer base:
Business Consultancy
Program Management
Professional Services
Customer Support
Their products gracefully bridge the gap between legacy and next-generation networks so you
can offer your subscribers’ consistent communications services any place, any network, and
any time.
4.5 OPERATIONS
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 13
Communication enriches lives and brings people closer. With our integrated and
geographically distributed operation, we are committed to providing operational efficiency at
your doors. Everyday, Telenity employees work around the clock in four different locations
to deliver you new products/solutions that will make your business successful and grow. Our
offices are located in:
Monroe, Connecticut, USA
Istanbul, Turkey
New Delhi, India
Dubai, UAE
To ensure quality in end-to-end delivery of our products and services, we continue to invest
in the best people, effective management skills, and industry best practices that support an
open, collaborative and fun environment.
Our people are our biggest strength and we thank them for their creativity,
dedication, commitment to quality, and attentions to detail serve our customers first.
4.6 GLOBAL CUSTOMER BASE
Global customer base includes network operators, service providers
and application providers. We serve our customers in five different
continents and they control some of the fastest growing wireless
networks globally with high subscriber growth in Europe, Africa,
Asia, North and South America.
Telenity’s products and solutions empower more than 40 network operators in
over 30 countries serving over 500 million subscribers. We value our long
lasting relationship and thank you for your confidence in us.
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 14
4.7 UNIQUE POSITION
Their unique position in the industry is our deep knowledge and expertise in value added
services infrastructure and applications. Our unrivalled delivery skills in providing a portfolio
of fully integrated modular products speak for itself with our global deployment base.
Our products and expertise have been recognized in the industry through several prestigious
awards. We actively contribute to different open standards and speak at industry conferences
to provide thought leadership. We actively contribute to OMA, JCP, 3GPP, GSM standards
and we are a member of Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). Through all of this success,
our people are our biggest asset.
4.8 COMMITMENT
As a leading provider of next generation converged services applications
and platforms, we invest heavily in R&D to build the right products for
your needs. We are committed to supporting industry forums and open
standards. Our products adopt and comply with leading and evolving
industry standards.
We work together with our global and technology partners to bring you operational
excellence and the most advanced carrier-grade solutions that are environment friendly and
cost-effective.
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 15
4.9 MANAGEMENT
Telenity is guided by a talented team with an outstanding record of accomplishment in
building new businesses and creating advanced technologies to provide innovative solutions
to solve customer problems.
Ahmet OzalpChief Executive Officer
Serif BeykozGM, Telenity EMEA
Akif ArsoyVP Marketing and
Product Management
Gurol AkmanChief Technology Officer
Korkut UluaydinVP Operations
Yogesh Bijlani Country Head India and General Manager APAC
Levent KocaturkVP EE and CIS Sales
Baris BoyDirector, Finance
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 16
4.10 CUSTOMERSTelenity is a recognized expert in value-added services differentiation by a worldwide
customer base that includes wireless, wireline and next generation network operators, content
providers, service application developers and global channel partners. Telenity's solutions and
value added services currently serve over 500 million subscribers worldwide. Our global
customer base includes some of industry's largest service providers:
Airtel Avea Azercell BH Telecom BSNL
Eagle Mobile Geocell Globecomm Idea K’cell
KKTCELL life :) Magticom Moldcell
Nawras
Qualcomm Telfonica TSTT Turk Telekom Turkcell
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 17
5. PRODUCT PROFILE
The convergence of wireless, wireline networks and services is one of the most compelling
opportunities. Many operators embrace convergence as a new means of developing
competitive advantage, which is sustainable for the long term, and meeting their targets for
growth and profitability.
To help operators capture these opportunities, under its Canvas® brand, Telenity provides a
suite of service-enabling products that create new revenues for the communication service
providers. The Canvas portfolio of IMS ready products enables rapid development,
deployment, and reusability of converged services across fixed and mobile networks.
Telenity’s products are modular, scalable and carrier grade built for rapid service creation,
content delivery, location, multimedia messaging, mobile marketing and Voice over IP
services to drive average revenue per user (ARPU).
Our solutions are deployed worldwide and based on open standards supporting OMA,
3GPP/3GPP2. Total active mobile subscribers in networks currently deploying Telenity
products have grown to more than 500 million subscribers.
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 18
5.1. canvas® SmartAds™
Mobile Advertisement Management Platform
Advances in mobile communications and location technologies
bring a myriad of new opportunities to the advertisement market.
The sheer possibility of reaching the right customer at the right
time and at the right location enables advertisement owners and
mobile operators with a significant competitive edge.
Canvas SmartAds enables mobile operators and advertisement
owners to capitalize on these opportunities by delivering
advertisements to the subscribers on point, on time, and on interest. It is a mobile marketing
platform which facilitates new business models for mobile marketing and advertisement. It
integrates location aspect with mobile advertisement and allows contextual targeting of
subscribers on the go. It enables mobile operators and advertisement owners to boost their
reach and capitalize on new revenue opportunities.
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 19
Canvas SmartAds features a Campaign Management Module and a set of Delivery
Applications for the mobile advertisements. The Campaign Management Module acts as the
command center for mobile marketing projects that are simultaneously executed over a
mobile network. Delivery Applications create the real estate required to either present mobile
advertisement content or create an interactive session with the subscriber for a variety of
marketing activities over the mobile network.
5.2. canvas® USSD Service Center
Interactive Services for a Mobile World
Canvas USSD Service Center enables wireless operators to offer
fast and interactive messaging services through the USSD
feature of the GSM networks. It is a next generation, flexible
Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) gateway for
service providers, MVNO's and wireless operators to offer
USSD-based applications and services to both prepaid and
postpaid mobile subscribers.
Canvas USSD Service Center features a network interface to send and receive USSD
messages while maintaining application/service connectivity through Web Services interface
which enables simplicity to develop applications/services. Through its intuitive service
creation facilities, Canvas USSD Service Center also provides operators a graphical user
interface to design and launch menu structures. It can also reduce customer care costs by
allowing users to "self care", cutting down investment in call centers and preserving network
resources for billable voice calls.
5.3. canvas® PayForMe™
Mobile Collect Call Application
Calling collect has been one of the key services in the wireline networks. It has allowed
operators to generate additional revenues and has enabled subscribers to connect to friends
and family from public locations, especially in an emergency. Canvas®PayForMe™, Mobile
Collect Call Application, brings the same functionality to wireless operators.
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 20
Canvas PayForMe is a scalable and network based value added service solution that enables
wireless carriers to target end-user segments including the youth, low budget and prepaid
subscribers and enterprises. It allows mobile subscribers to make collect calls without the
involvement of an operator through flexible and easy-to-use interfaces. The system provides
multiple notification options for calling and called parties and supports subscriber list
management options.
With Canvas PayForMe, operators can increase their ARPU by allowing their subscribers to
make a collect call when they:
Are out of credit or have little credit reserved for emergency
Cannot recharge their credit because they do not have access to a recharge mechanism
Want to reverse the call charges for personal or business reasons
5.4. canvas® SmartAlert™
Missed Call Notification Application
Most pre-paid and a large number of post-paid subscribers do not have access to voice mail
services. As a result, when they are out of reach, they do not have any means of knowing if
they have missed any calls. Canvas® SmartAlert™, Missed Call Notification Application,
solves this problem.
Canvas SmartAlert uses configurable SMS alerts to notify subscribers of missed calls and
enables them to return those calls with ease. It also provides a screening mechanism for
subscribers to better manage their incoming calls and voice mails. Canvas SmartAlert uses
customized notifications to notify the caller when the called party is available again.
Canvas SmartAlert not only increases the airtime usage, but also boosts premium SMS
revenues for the network operator. It captures the caller ID, time of call, and the number of
call attempts from each caller while a subscriber is unreachable. When individual subscribers
are available again, Canvas SmartAlert sends this information to their mobile phones via
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 21
SMS. Subscribers can easily see who tried to reach them and can call back at their leisure,
improving the overall user experience and customer loyalty. Canvas SmartAlert is a proven
service that is a guaranteed revenue source for the network operators through subscription
fees, increased airtime and premium SMS usage.
5.5. canvas® PFS
People Finder Service
Canvas® PFS, People Finder Service, is a personalized real time context driven service that
takes mobility and location awareness to a new level. It enables mobile subscribers to receive
location information about selected individuals with their consent. It improves user
experience in the network and creates new revenue sources from consumers and enterprises
for the network operators, without compromising user privacy and network security.
Canvas PFS is a location-based application for GSM/GPRS and CDMA/1XRTT networks. It
allows users to locate and communicate with their colleagues, friends and family members
who use the same mobile network. Canvas PFS allows users to get their bearings and find
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 22
their colleagues and friends easily on a map with enhanced mapping functionalities. It also
supports geo-coding, reverse geo-coding, routing information and displaying Point of Interest.
Canvas PFS supports opt-in as an essential component to guarantee subscriber privacy, as
well as, other anonymity features such as aliases and code words to prevent the subscribers'
actual phone number, or identity from being displayed to unauthorized users.
Canvas PFS is a member of the Canvas Converged Value Added Services portfolio. It is a
location-based social networking application for GSM/GPRS and CDMA/1XRTT networks.
It allows users to locate and communicate with their colleagues, friends and family members
who use the same mobile network. Canvas PFS supports opt-in as an essential component
to guarantee subscriber privacy, as well as, other anonymity features such as aliases and
code words to prevent the subscribers' actual phone number, or identity, being displayed
to unauthorized users. Canvas PFS allows users to get their bearings and find their colleagues
and friends easily on a map with enhanced mapping functionalities. It also supports geo-
coding, reverse geo-coding, routing information and displaying Point of Interest. Canvas PFS
brings a new meaning to collaboration in the mobile workforce. Other features of
Canvas PFS include the following:
Advanced Buddy List Management
Canvas PFS enables subscribers to create and manage buddy lists, allowing them to add,
deletes or modify entries with ease. Users can maintain and manage multiple buddy lists, for
instance one for work, another for family members, yet another for a book club.
Strict User Privacy Control
Information safety is a vital feature in Canvas PFS. The system ensures user privacy by
giving them the confidence that their location information will be disclosed only to
individuals to whom they have consented. The privacy management function enables
service providers to give full control into the hands of the subscribers, without creating
privacy concerns. Canvas PFS also offers black list feature for additional user privacy.
User Friendly Service Personalization
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 23
An intuitive point-and-click subscriber portal allows users to manage their buddy lists and
privacy settings. Even within each buddy list, users control who can receive their location
information and who cannot. Users can also SMS and WAP to modify their profiles and
buddy lists. These user friendly interfaces increase the utility and the penetration of the PFS
service.
Canvas PFS then processes this information to provide the requested services to the users in
near real-time. It can overlap graphical map information, street names and points of interest
for an easy-to-read user interface.
Canvas PFS also provides the necessary subscriber management system, portal and
messaging interfaces – USSD, SMS, WAP – to allow users to define buddy lists, to control
their anonymity and privacy settings. With its strict service logic, Canvas PFS guarantees user
anonymity and privacy during the delivery of its services.
Canvas PFS is a forerunner of location-enabled services that will revolutionize the concept of
mobility, and it is available now from Telenity.
6.1 LOCATION BASED SERVICES
6.1. INTRODUCTION
Location based services have been talked about for quite a while and many industry giants are
foraying in this field in the past few years. Google Latitude has the maximum recall as it has
been a highly publicized service by Google that caters to the top end of the pyramid that are
advanced users of VAS. High-end location technology (GPS) available on smart phones with
data plans reaches out to niche subscribers who are actively using mobile Internet. It enables
them to find out their location, points of interest, their friend’s location and sharing such
updates between their communities of friends.
Location-based services (LBS) are wireless ‘mobile content’ services which are to provide
location-specific information to mobile users moving from location to location. Unlike
mobile (or mobile internet) services, LBS doesn’t require you to enter your area details.
Typical Location Based Services applications fall under following categories:
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 24
B2B (Business to Business) : e.g. resource tracking (fleet management, courier tracking
etc)
C2B (Consumer to Business) , i.e. Proximity-based actuation services like searching for a
business/restaurant etc.
B2C (Business to Consumer), i.e. Proximity based notifications (push/pull) : Receive
targeted ads, location based billing/discounted ads etc
C2C (Consumer to Consumer): Share your location/status with friends, Track your
friends etc.
6.2. FUTURE ON LOCATION BASED SERVICE
A convergence of factors is setting up ideal conditions for the global mobile location
based services (MLBS) market to boom by 2014, according to Juniper Research .
Global market revenues for MLBS and location-enabled mobile apps should reach more
than $12.7 billion by 2014. The greatest number of users is currently in the Far East and
China, as Japan and South Korea were early adopters of MLBS technology. However, as
the Chinese market develops and continues to have better access to 3G mobile networks,
China will become the number one market for MLBS.
The MLBS market is growing to the point that location-based services are now a standard
feature on many mobile devices. By 2014, mobile location-based services will be so
ubiquitous that Juniper expects the need to break out MLBS as a special interest category
will cease.
iPhone, iTunes Lead MLBS Drivers
The MLBS market was fairly stagnant from 2000-2007, but began accelerating in 2008
and 2009, and should only develop even more quickly in the next few years. One of the
biggest drivers for MLBS growth has been the launch of the Apple iPhone and Apple
iTunes stores. These events fundamentally changed how developers and users view
mobile phone apps, and also introduced large numbers of consumers to the concept of
mobile apps.
In addition, high-capacity infrastructure has penetrated most major markets, with 20% of
mobile users in Western Europe and North America having 3G access in 2009 and 80%
expected to have 3G accesses by 2014. Similarly, 25% of global mobile users had mobile
internet access in 2009, and 80% should by 2014.
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 25
Other drivers include the development of sophisticated device center positioning and
navigable digital map content technologies in the past few years.
Mobile Advertising will Monetize MLBS
Although mobile advertising has a way to go before its business models and operating
mechanisms become commonplace, Juniper analysts believe mobile advertising will
weather the current recession better than most other sectors and show exceptional growth
when a recovery gets underway.
The use of some MLBS and location-enabled apps provides the ideal medium for
location-sensitive mobile advertising. The primary service type would be mobile search,
as in the local search environment the user is looking for a product or service and highly
receptive to advertising.
6.3 AIRTEL FRIEND LOCATOR:
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel is piloting a location based service called friend locator. The
service allows a subscriber to monitor the location of an individual who has agreed to share
his/her location with the subscriber. Airtel has taken innovation to the next level by offering a
similar service but focusing on a mass offering across the complete pyramid. They have
enabled the same functionality on all handsets, without the need of data service, by simply
dialing a USSD string (*321*88#).
Their FRIEND FINDER is enabled for all their 120 million subscribers and by simply
dialing the universal code, a mother can get to know the location of her teenagers who are
partying late at night, or a wife can start the dinner preparation because she has checked her
spouse has just left the office, or an employer knows the location of all his team members
who are out on a sales call. The ability of knowing the location of any mobile handset to an
approximate 300 meter of accuracy opens a plethora of applications and the services are
being consumed by a large number of subscribers.
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 26
6.3.1 CHALLENGE
The challenge for this service, is in replacing the phone call. If a subscriber has to take the
initiative of requesting inputs on a buddy’s location, then what stops him from just placing a
call and asking the same question, getting the same details. I don’t think the cost of the call
will be a major factor in the urban areas for this service.
6.3.2 CONCEPT
The concept is simple and very useful, and satisfied an important need: it operates on a
‘Master-Slave’ relationship paradigm, where it is highly likely that one individual will
AGREE to share his/her location with another: for example, Husband-Wife (either way), Car
Owner- Driver, Employer-Employee, Girlfriend-Boyfriend, Parent-Child, etc. A parent would
want to know where his/her child is. The other key thing is that it addresses the privacy issue
by incorporating consent: only a person whom I allow access to my location will get it. An
SMS is sent to users, asking them to respond to a request for location sharing.
6.4. MAIN REVENUE FLOW
To analyze the mobile market, it is necessary to understand who the key players are:
SUBSCRIBER: - The user of the service, who enjoys (and pays for) it. The subscriber is
also the target audience of campaigns in a free-to-air model.
OPERATOR: - The mobile operator is responsible mainly for the billing as well as
maintaining a relationship of trust with subscribers.
SERVICE PROVIDERS: - The organization provides the actual entertainment services
in conjunction with the relevant consumer marketing. The role of the service provider can
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Page 27
be undertaken by the mobile operator, a white label Wireless Application Service
Provider (WASP) or a mobile portal.
PUBLISHERS: - Publishers traditionally select the applications to develop & the type of
content to use. They then source the development to application developers. Once the
application is complete, publishers distribute and market it to the service providers.
CONTENT PROVIDERS AND OWNERS: - These are the large brand owners.
Application developers and designers. The firms to actually develop the applications
(flow, software and graphics). In the mobile entertainment market, we currently see
that they are often also the content owners and/or the ASP.
Technology solution vendors. It is common to find parties that take on several of the
roles listed above. For example, we find mobile operators that are also service
providers, service providers that are also application publishers and developers that are
also publishers and/or technology providers. Markets that are not yet mature and
therefore many parties have either chosen, or been forced to take on, more than one
role.
6.5. canvas® BFS – Operator Benefits Ability to offer location based service to different segments
Try and buy campaign to promote service usage
The first true mass community portal *321#
o Instant messaging like capability for all subs
o Introduce parental control functionality with child tracker
Introduces new innovative utility portfolio.
6.6. canvas® BFS – End User Benefits Kids, teenagers and adults – creating communities and personal identities
Parents and other care takers – locate, monitor and communicate with their children’s
activities
Businesses users to find assets/employees
6.7. canvas® BFS – Key Features
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Buddy Management
o Add/List/Remove/Update
o View textual address of a buddies
o Tracking of a buddy
o Where Am I?
o Change nickname
Profile Management
o View Profile
o Change Gender
o Change Age
o Change Visibility
Group Management
o Add/Remove/List/Update a group
o Add/Remove buddy to a group
o View group member’s textual address
Privacy
o Invited buddies for location access only after approval
o Nickname management
o Remove me from a other’s buddy list
o Check who’s buddy list I am in
o Set yourself Visible/Invisible mode
Subscriber Based Reports
o Who is tracking me?
o Who tracked me and when?
o Who tracked me and received my location report?
o Who asked and received my location report?
Service Usage Based Reports
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o Service penetration per region
o Service revenue per region
o Churn details report
o Active user details report
o Tracking details report
o System health check report
The USSD Interface provides the following features:
o Service Registration / Un-registration
o Buddy Listing – Add / Update / Delete Buddies
o Group Management – Create / Edit / Delete Buddy Groups
o Privacy Options – Visibility / Invisibility toggle
o Privacy Options – Age, Gender Edit / Update
o Privacy Options – “The Lists That I’m in”
o Locate Buddies / Locate Groups.
o Locate Subscriber’s own.
6.8 SAMPLE OPERATION OF AIRTEL FRIEND LOCATOR
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A. B.
C. D.
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E. F.
Customer subscribed to friend locator now can use the above shown options according to
their requirements.
There are no charges for options like:
1. Add a friend.
2. Locate a Friend.
3. Where am I.
4. Locate Group.
5. Edit.
For features like:
1. Follow Friend
There are two kinds of charges.
i. If we follow for an hour the charge is Rs.5. In this customer get message of location in
every 15 minutes.
ii. If we follow for 6 hours than it charge Rs.10 and the location message will come on
every hour.
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6.9 Promotion Activities
6.9.1 Daily Activities Regularly call up different subscriber base (Customer Calling) and educate them for this
service and take their feedback about this service. Subscriber base can be (based on priority):
o Non Active user - have subscribed to the service but are not using ito Passive Users – User who are in some other user’s buddy list but have not subscribed to
the service o Non Subscribed usero Active users
6.9.2 Try-&-Buy Offer “Try-and-Buy” offero Educate user during Customer Calling about that being an Airtel Subscriber, you can
avail Airtel’s Buddy Finder Service for FREE for 10 dayso Share the list of MSISDNs with Telenity Team to check how many “Try-&-Buy” users
have registered to this service (conversion rate)
6.9.3 Auto-provisioning Auto-provision users to BFS service. Process for auto provision are as follows:o Airtel shall provide to you “white-listed” MSISDNs for Auto-provisioning, by removing
Airtel employees MSISDNs, Users who have registered themselves to DND list etc.o Send the white-listed MSISDN list to Telenity team (Mr. Manish Sodhi) for Auto-
provisioning these users.
6.9.4 Other Activities Educating end-user about the service by demonstrating them “Live” demo (on handset) on
places having high footfalls like Malls, Public events etc. For this you need assistance from Airtel for conducting such sort of promotion events.
Sending SMS promotion messages to Airtel Users (by Telenity / Airtel). Cell info display (by Airtel). Promotion message at the end-of-call notification or end-of-balance enquiry (Airtel). Out-bound dial promotion messages to subscriber (Airtel).
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7. ANALYSIS:
Blue Collar22%
White Collar36%
Student42%
Profession
Blue CollarWhite CollarStudent
Major subscribers were students who were interested and curious to know and understand
Airtel Friend Locator service. VAS is majorly the core interested area of youth who
understand its benefits better.
4%
4%
26%
4%4%10%
6%
4%
4%
34%
Customer feedback
Service sometimes stops working
Churned coz of removal of chat option
Comfortable with the service
Don't want the promotiomal messages further
No more friends on Airtel
Not comfortable in operating the service
Not getting approriate locations
Not known to service
Problem in sending friend request
Want to know the service
Customers were basically wanted to understand the service. Their feedback towards AFL
really helped in understanding their needs and problems. Some part of the customers was
comfortable with the service and some churned because of removal of chat service.
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Servi
ce sometimes s
tops worki
ng
Churned coz o
f removal
of chat
option
Comfortable w
ith th
e servi
ce
Don't wan
t the promotiomal m
essage
s furth
er
No more fri
ends on Airt
el
Not comforta
ble in operati
ng the se
rvice
Not getting a
pproriate lo
cations
Not known to
servi
ce
Problem in se
nding frie
nd request
Want t
o know th
e servi
ce0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
28
16
5 109 10
76
41
7 123 2 6 4 7
19
9
10
45
12 13
33
18
White CollarStudentBlue Collar
In this section basically we highlighted the customer feedback as per the profession.
Blue collar personals were using the service from long time and finding it user friendly &
comfortable service.
Student also using this service and many of them were showing keen interest in the service
and also want to subscribe it for trial period. These sections of subscribers are the major target
segment for introducing AFL.
White collar personals were not very much involved in the service as per their busy schedules
and that’s why needed to be educated about service.
Some customers were uncomfortable using AFL, finding error in operating the service and
also some subscribers found irritating receiving the promotional messages.
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Feedback as per Profession
8. SERVICE GAP MODEL
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Word of mouth, Personal needs and past experience forms the expected amount of service by
a company. The company provides service based on its perception of customer expectation.
The difference between the expected service and the perceived service is known as customer
gap.
Customer Gap: The difference between customer expectation and perception the service
quality Gap.
GAP 1: The difference between what customer expected and what management perceptions
of customers expectations.
GAP 2: The difference between management’s perception of customer expectation and the
translation of the perception into service quality specification and design.
GAP 3: The difference between specification or standards of service quality and the actual
service delivered to customers.
GAP 4: The difference between the services delivered to customers and the promise of the
firm to customer about its service quality.
Telenity suffers from communication gap. It is the gap between the delivery of services and
the communication of the same to the customers.
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9. CONCLUSION:
During these two months of training in Telenity, I have come to the conclusion that there are
certain problems with the product.
The customers get annoyed by receiving multiple promotional messages for the service. That
is, there is a problem in not meeting the customer needs with respond to their queries.
Lack of awareness of Location Based Service in the Indian market. People get confused &
hesitated in using AFL. Company image in the market is average.
The customers using the service are satisfied with its performance, but the market is niche in
current scenario.
Variation in price range of AFL service is available to customer, so he has a freedom to
choose the plan as per their need and convenience. It becomes easy to convince them in the
favour of the product.
9.1. LEARNINGS:
Convincing a person to buy any service is an art which cannot be taught by any teacher.
The main mantra of telemarketing is to keep patience and deal with the customer with
very pleasant tone and meeting his appropriate needs.
It is necessary to know completely about the service i.e. from its physical details to
technical details because a customer can ask anything.
A telemarketer must not give any fake information to the customer about the product; it
can harm the image of the company.
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10. RECOMMENDATIONS:
According to my observation during the two months in the Telenity. I would like to
mention some recommendations to the company which are given below:
The customers need to be educated as in Indian market people finds it
uncomfortable using advanced VAS services i.e., Location Based Services (AFL).
The service is in the growth stage in Indian market, so there is a need of more
promotional activities to be done.
The target market for promotional activities should be youth who are found
interested towards the service.
Promotional Campaigns should include videos on social networking sites
educating the customers for user-friendly operation.
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11. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Marketing Management-An Asian Perspective, 13th Edition, Pearson
Education. Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller, Ibrahim Koshy, Mithileshwar
Jha.
Business Research Methods, 4th Edition, Wiley India Edition, Uma Sekaran.
http://www.google.co.in/
http://www.trai.gov.in
http://www.telenity.com/
www.coai.in/
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12. APPENDIX
Questions Asked to customers
What is your profession?
Are you using Airtel Friend Locator Service?
Are you comfortable using this service?
Do you want to know more about the service?
What kind of problems did you faced while using this service?
What is your feedback for this service?
Promotional Campaign Scripts
Feeling bored? Hang out with your friends. Subscribe to Airtel Friend
Locator ,dial*321*88# for Rs.1 /day ,select 1 to ADD FRIEND & have
great fun together !!
Are you concerned for security of your beloved ones, where they are now?
Subscribe to Airtel Friend Locator, dial*321*88# for Rs.1 /day, and know
where they are.
Locate and Track your multiple buddies, Just Subscribe to Airtel Friend
Locator, dial*321*88# for Rs.1 /day, and know where they right now.
Friend Locator subscribe karein 1 din ke liye Rs.1 se aur apne 10 Airtel
doston ko yeh service FREE mein gift Karein 10 din ke liye. Dial *321*88#
chune 1. Add Friend
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