INTERNSHIP REPORT

ON MTN Afghanistan Telecom

(Kabul Afghanistan)By

Rohullah (Ibrahimi)

BBA (Marketing Finance)

A consumer preference Study

On MTN Afghanistan

Department of Management sciences

Preston University Peshawar.

15 August 2011

Acknowledgement

This project is report entitled Consumer preference study on MTN Afghanistan

Is an output of 6 weeks sincere and constant effort. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude and thank everybody who have help in this project and without whom

This would not have been completed successfully.

I wish to express my gratitude to my guide Mr.Azim Atarud .I am grateful to the managers of all departments for granting me guide required sanctions and allowing me to visit all the departments of the company.

I am also truly grateful to the organization and all those people working at MTN Afghanistan for having patiently endured me and for spending their valuable time to elucidate demonstrate to me in detail about the working of the various departments specially marketing, throughout my placement there. Their extreme co-operation and helpfulness have proved as an equal factor of support to me

Rohullah Ibrahimi

Rohullah IbrahimiReg NO: 1711-108017Preston university Peshawar Pakistan

Declaration

I Rohullah Ibrahimi hereby declare that the present project report entitled Consumer

Preference Study on MTN Afghanistan is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement

for the award of degree of Bachelor of Business Administration of Preston University of Peshawar Pakistan Management Studies, is a Bonafide record of work done by me

Under the supervision of Mrs.Harsha Talaulikar I further state that no part of the project

has been submitted for a degree or diploma or any other similar title of this or any other

University.

Place: Preston University of Peshawar Pakistan Date: 15-08-2011

Rohullah Ibrahimi

Guide Certificate

This is to certify that the project report entitled Consumer Preference Study on MTN

Afghanistan is an original work carried out by Rohullah Ibrahimi under my guidance and

that no part of this has been presented for any other degree or diploma, fellowship or any

Other similar title.

Place: Preston University of Peshawar Pakistan Date: 15-08-2011

M.Azhar Hussin (Course coordinator)

Table of Contents

TITLE PAGE NO.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1

Methodology of the study 3

CHAPTER-I

Industry Overview 4

Global Perspective 4

Afghan Perspective 5

Service Market 5

Telecom Industry Trends 5

Business Environment 6

Regulations and liberalization 7

Competitive landscape in basic telephony 8

CHAPTER- II

Company Profile 11

Our Mission 11

Vision & Mission 12

MTN Group Profile 12

Rationale of the Transaction 13

The Values 14

Openness 14

Enablement 14

The Future 14

Products & Services 15

SWOT Analysis 15

PEST Analysis 17

Marketing Mix 19

Chapter III

HR Department 21

Admin Department 25

Finance Department 27

Sales Department 29

Carrier Services Department 30

Customer Care Department 31

IT Department 34

Technical Department 36

Marketing Department 38

Chapter IVConsumer preference 40

Analysis & Interpretations 41

Marital Status 41

Chapter V

Observations & Recommendations 46

Suggestions and Recommendations 47

Organizational Structure 49

Work Specialization 49

Centralization 50

Departmentalization 50

Formalization 51

Organizational Culture 51

Leadership styles 51

Recruitment 52

Job satisfaction 52

Motivation 52

Performance evaluation 53

Decision making process 53

Communication Model 53

Strategy 54

Conclusion 55

Annexure 56

Questionnaire 57

Bibliography 58

E xecutive Summery

After20years of war and civil unrest, Afghanistan is finally seizing the chance to start a recovery process. Telecommunications will certainly play a big role in repairing the country s shattered economy and society. The extraordinary recent growth in mobile subscribers is of particular note, as the country works to restore some normality. By mid-

2011, mobile market penetration had reached21%still low by regional standards but the

total subscriber base had grown by a remarkable165%in the previous12months.

Need For The Study Two kinds of data are useful for telecom companies. Data about the population and data

About audiences.

Data about the population

Almost every country has a government department in charge of statistics, often called a

Department of Statistics,

or census Bureau. Every 5to10years,that department does a

Census of the entire population, and publish volumes with detailed tables of results.

Some organizations, such as NGOs, often collect this statistical data from various sources,

And republish it in a handy format.

It's almost certain that some data about the population is available for the wanted coverage

area.

Data about audience

However when it comes to audience research it tends to be a little different. Some

Organizations automatically find out if they have customers, because they get income from

Sales.

I therefore realized this need and decided to do a survey, specially done for MTN

Afghanistan, avoiding asking questions about other telecom companies except those

Questions which translated value in terms of competitive analysis. The rationale behind this

Kind of research is that it can give you much more detailed information thane syndicated

Methodology of the study

Primary Data:

Sampling designDetermining the sample size and nature was the first crucial step. In accordance with the nature of the survey i.e. according to the demographics, sampling was done.

The criterion reserved was;

The target interviewee was compulsorily required to be a mobile user who who used MTN

Specifically, as I aimed to undertake accompany specific survey.

Research design Taking the objective into consideration a survey questionnaire was prepared to collect the

Necessary information. The survey was targeted automobile users who particularly used MTN.

It was designed to understand the psychographic profile of the consumer, the general trend of the

industry in terms of consumers preference in service, the consumers assessment of MTN in terms

of it sufferings, the consumers satisfaction with MTN, to gain an insight into

The consumers switching habits,

Data collections

The primary data for the study was collected with the help of the research questionnaire

designed. The necessary data was collected by means of face to face direct interviews and phone

interviews with the consumers. As I wanted the patrons of MTN exclusively, the geographic

scope of my survey was extended to areas where MTN events or MTN sponsored events were

taking place. Also, I frequented high end hangouts and regulars where I was able to come into

contact with a variety of candidates, for the said interview.

Data analysis .

As data was collected personally through direct interaction with the consumers, some facts in terms of customer s expectations and needs have been revealed in the process.

Survey was completed and then the data was tabulated into database for further analysis. With

the help of programs the data was then transferred into percentile variables for ease in

interpretation and presented along with the report.

Further the analysis and the interpretation of the each variable from the questionnaire was done separately. And the interpretations were presented in graphical forms with the help of

pie charts and bar graphs for better understandingFinally based on the analysis and the feedback from the customers set of suggestions and

Recommendations have been forwarded through the report.

Secondary data: The basic purpose of the secondary data surveyed was to understand the macro dynamics of

The Afghan telecom Industry. The understanding of the macro dynamics made it easier to

Understand the market and customer of the telecom industry at the micro level

The objective of this study was to collect the necessary data about the Afghan telecom

Industry and understand the discipline of the industry and gain insights on the marketing the

Product with so many limitations.

The data was successfully collected from various sources like web sites, reference guide and

Material. The knowledge gain from the secondary data was finally combined with the

Primary data and hereby presented in this report

Objectives of the study:

The chief objective of the study is to understand the consumer preference It was designed to understand the psychographic profile of the consumer. The general trend of the industry in terms of service offerings, To ascertain the consumers preference in cellular brands. The consumer s assessment of MTN in terms of its offerings, To measure the consumer s satisfaction with MTN To gain an insight into the consumers switching habits. To recommend suggestions based on the findings of the research.

Limitation of the study: The study has been conducted in a systematic and comprehensive manner so as to achieve

the objectives stated under the objectives of the study , with accurate results. Though all the

Possible, care and precautions were taken, some of the limitations that were unaccountable

It takes a lot of skill to do a survey well, and produce unbiased information. Even then, a

survey can cover only a small proportion of the population, so there is always some

Sampling error involved. The smaller the sample, the larger the sampling error. Despite these

Limitations, a skillfully-done survey provides unbiased information. It is more trustworthy

Than spontaneous audience feedback

Chapter I

Industry Overview

Industry Overview

Global Perspective: World telecom industry is an uprising industry, proceeding towards a goal of achieving

Two third of the world's telecom connections. Over the past few years information and

Communications technology has changed in a dramatic manner and as a result of that world

Telecom industry is going to be a booming industry. Substantial economic growth and

Mounting population enable the rapid growth of this industry.

Research works associated with world telecommunication industry

A number of research works are being carried out all over the world to improve the quality.

And speed of transmission. Research works are also done on the basis of the users' needs.

The objective of the research work is to provide quality and affordable service to the

Consumers.

Market potentiality of world telecommunication industry The world telecommunications market is expected to rise at an11percent compound annual

Growth rate at the end of year2010. The leading telecom companies like AT&T,

Vodafone,

Verizon, SBC Communications, Bell South, Qwest Communications are trying to take the

Advantage of this growth. These companies are working on telecommunication fields like

Broadband technologies, EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution) technologies,

LAN-WAN inter networking, optical networking, and voice over Internet protocol, wireless data

Service etc.

Economical aspect of telecommunication industry World telecom industry is taking a crucial part of world economy. The total revenue earned

From this industry is3 percent of the gross world products and is aiming at attaining more

revenues. One statistical report reveals that approximately16.9%of the world population

has access to the Internet.

Present market scenario of world telecom industry

Over the last couple of years, world telecommunication industry has been consolidating by

Allowing private organizations the opportunities to run their businesses with this industry.

The Government monopolies are now being privatized and consequently competition is

developing. Among all, the domestic and small business markets are the hardest.

Afghan Perspective:

The total Afghan market grew to6.72m,with an annual uplift of66.7%.This was less than

Half the139.8%recorded in the prior twelve-month period. Indeed, growth has declined

Consistently over the past four quarters despite the fact that penetration remains low, with a

rate of just20.4%at the end of Q3 08.

It seems highly likely that growth will continue to

slow, unless there is any significant change in the country s economic conditions.

Service Market

The market for commercial public telecom services grew to about US$100 million by the end of

December2005. The forecast for2006 is an increase of around35% based on the historically high

growth levels plus the introduction of one additional nationwide mobile (GSM) licensee as of15

April2006 and the possibility of one more nationwide mobile

(GSM) and up to four additional unified services licensees by the end of 2006.

Telecom Industry Trends

There is very robust demand for all kinds of telecom services. The mobile (GSM) services

Market has essentially doubled during2005,

and the number of urban areas with coverage

Has likewise doubled. Consumers are demanding higher quality of service and the regulator

has responded with drive tests and enforcement campaigns.

Business Environment

Market conditions and competition

Market conditions in Afghanistan are generally favorable. The Afghan Constitution

provides guarantees to the protection of private investment and property and a new Private

Investment Law,

Promulgated in2005 provides further details. The Companies Law and

Commercial Code is expected to be drafted during the course of2006.The Ministry of

Communications has adopted a forward-thinking policy and encouraged private investors.

A new Telecom Law was promulgated by President Karzai on18December 2005that is

very favorable towards private investment, competition and consumer protection. The

Ministry of Commerce has begun serious preparations for World Trade Organization (WTO)

Accession.

Market structure and trends The telecom market is currently dominated by two nationwide mobile (GSM) service

Providers that were licensed in 2003. In September 2005,

the regulator concluded an

International competitive tender for two (2) additional nationwide mobile (GSM) licenses

that was awarded for US$40.1apiece. The incumbent wire line service provider, Afghan

Telecom was corporatized in September 2005with the government of Afghanistan owning

100%of the share capital. Afghan Telecom will very likely be fully privatized (sold) during

2006.

The regulator completed an international competitive tender for Local Fixed Service

Provider (LFSP) licenses in December2005 and at least four (4) applicants are expected to

Be licensed to serve approximately300, 000 additional users in rural and underserved areas

Of Afghanistan. About a dozen nationwide Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been

Licensed and there appears to be solid demand for additional players.Thuraya is also

Providing satellite mobile communications services and cooperates with a national service

Provider since late 2004.

Regulations and liberalization

On18December 2005,

President Karzai signed the new Telecom Law into effect. The law

Establishes an independent sector regulator, to be called Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory

Authority (ATRA).ATRA will consist of a five-member board appointed by the cabinet.

ATRA has the complete range of regulatory powers, including licensing, numbering,

frequency management, interconnection, consumer protection and monitoring &

Enforcement.

ATRA will be guided by the Ministry of Communication s Telecom &Internet Policy (3

July2003), which sets forth a very comprehensive and pro-competitive approach towards

Market liberalization to accelerate the widespread availability of affordable access to

telecom services on a nationwide basis.

Based on this policy, the government has already issued two nationwide mobile (GSM)

Licenses (in July 2003) and completed an international competitive tender for two (2)

Additional mobile (GSM) licenses in October2005.

In addition, in December2005,the regulator completed an international competitive tender

for additional Local Fixed Service Provider (LFSP) Licenses that will provide wireless local

Loop (WLL) to rural and underserved areas of the country.

As of10January 2006,

the policy allows licensed mobile service providers to also offer

fixed services and vice versa. The first licensee in this category will be Afghan Telecom formerly the telephone operations within the Ministry of Communications, established as a

Company in September2005 (100%government-owned). ATRA will soon conduct a public

Consultation on formally adopting an Unified Services License regime by the end of2006.

Revenue and conduct of contribution in basic services

The MoC collects2.5%of the net revenues of all licensed service providers fora Telecom

Development Fund (TDF)to increase penetration in the rural and un-served areas.ATRA

is in the process of developing procedures and policies to use these funds efficiently and

Effectively. Also, the MoC is working on a plan to provide subsidized telecom services to

the public education sector and other social services and for disabled and poor people.

The majority of GSM Services users utilizes pre-paid scratch cards, while the majority of

Internet usage is by NGOs and private companies that pay monthly subscription fees.

The government has adopted a modern tax regime and therefore revenue sharing is not

Required. Various tax laws were promulgated in2005, including Business Receipts Tax (a

Precursor to Value Added Tax) and Income Tax.

Competitive landscape in basic telephony

At the present time there is no competition in the basic telephony market. The Policy foresees the

awarding of two additional national (fixed-line telephony) service licenses, but it is unlikely to

be implemented until after2006.Meanwhile, at least four (4) LFSP licensees will commence

operations in early 2006 to address rural and underserved parts of the country. It is expected that

the LFSP licensees will deploy at least100, 000 new accesses

Lines by the end of 2006.

Market structure and trends Mobile is by far the preferred choice by most users. The two mobile licensees are the largest

Investors of private capital, make the largest tax contribution to the ordinary budget of the

Government of Afghanistan, are the largest employers and provide training and well-paid

jobs to hundreds of Afghans.

Analysis of revenues, usage and adoption

Mobile penetration has gone from zero at the end of2002to500, 000by the end of 2004 and

Close to one million at the close of2005. Services are mostly being offered on a prepaid basis,

while some postpaid customers exist in the corporate market. ARPU (Average Revenues Per

User) were initially fairly high but are expected to decrease, as penetration

increases.

Overview of mobile data service and adoption

Mobile data services are currently not being offered and SMS is apparently being

discontinued due to lack of market response. Most ISPs offer broadband connectivity to the

business market, through point-to-point wireless connections. However, Afghan Telecom has

recently rolled out dial-up internet connectivity with modest success and CDMA-based Wi-Fi

connectivity that appears much more promising. Other licensees have also indicated

interest in offering Wi-Fi and WiMax.

Adoption forecasts by technology

No official statement has been made by mobile operators as to technological innovations

Slated for introduction yet, but it is assumed that the offering of roaming by both operators

will introduce competition in this sector and reduce tariffs.

Market structure

Up until now, it appears that most data communications is internal and among private

enterprises and NGOs (including various United Nations operations).

However, the MOC has recently created an ICT department devoted to promoting the

Sector. The initial focus will be on the creation of an ICT Council, consisting of the

Ministries with the highest level of requirement and infrastructure. The first electronic

Governments (Gov) project was deployed during 2005and is a real-time treasury application

to facilitate the budget process. A second initiative focusing on procurement will likely follow

in2006. In truth, most Ministries have been very slow to adopt ICT, most due to the lack of

trained personnel.

The MoC commenced framing legislation to facilitate the broader adoption of ICT.The

draft law incorporates the UNCITRAL electronic commerce (ecommerce) and digital

Signatures model law, reflects the Cyber Security and Cybercrime standards set by the

Council of Europe and adopts the key elements of the information society service (electronic

Communications) directives of the European Union.

Current Population

Current Total Population28Million Current Rural Population19M million (70%) Current Urban Population- 09M illion (30%) Population Growth Rate Per Annum2 %

Current GDP

Currency: Afghani GDP: 20Bn($) GDP Per Capita :714($) GDP Real Growth :18 20% GDP Composition :Agriculture:70%, Industry: 15%, Services: 15% Literacy 36% Phone lines (85,000(2008) Phone density (0.34(2008) Mobile phones (500000)

Mobile Phone Operators in Afghanistan

Mobile Communication is one of the booming sectors in Afghanistan. Mobile

Communications were introduced in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

It has.

Become the main means of communication and one of the fastest-growing and most

profitable sectors in the country s economy.

Currently there are four mobile operators in Afghanistan.

Etisalat Afghanistan is a newly established GSM operator in

Afghanistan. In May2006Telecommunications Corporation [Etisalat

of the Unites Arab Emirates] signed an agreement with Afghan

authorities in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. to operate a GSM network across

Afghanistan and become the fourth GSM operator in the country.

Afghanistan is100%owned by Etisalat U.A.E. Etisalat UAE (the parent company) is the

Sixth largest company in the Middle East and has subsidiaries in Benin, Burkina Faso,

Central African Republic, Egypt, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Niger Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Togo,

Tanzania and Pakistan.

Areeba is a new global brand which made its appearance in the

Sudanese telecommunication market in July2005.

Areeba s first project has started in1990in Ghana then Benin

Following in1999, Syria in 2001, Liberia 2002, Yemen in2003, Cyprus and Guinea Bissau

In year 2004,

Guinea Conakry and Afghanistan2006.

is the trading name for Telecom Development Company Afghanistan

Ltd.

Currently, Roshan is one of the largest private company employers in

Afghanistan, directly employing over470 people,

21% of whom are

Women. In addition,

Roshan provides indirect employment to more than5, 000 people who

Work as dealers, distributors, contractors and suppliers.

Afghan Wireless Communication Company is the product of founder

Ehsan Bayat's mission to reconnect Afghanistan with the wider world.

Currently, Afghan Wireless is serving 17cites: Kabul, Herat, and Marzar-

I-Sharif, Kandahar and Jalalabad to become one of the very few

Afghan companies operating in17separate regions of the country.

Chapter II

Company Overview

Company Profile

Investcom Profile

Areeba Afghanistan’s telecommunication company started at22ndJuly 2006and

Functioning in four major cities of Afghanistan. Areeba is a subsidiary of investcom an

International provider of mobile telecommunications services with operations in nice

countries in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Areeba Afghanistan Ltd has about300

employees which out ofthem6%to 7%are expatriates.

Investcom is a leading international provider of mobile telecommunications services with

Operations in ten countries in Africa,

the Middle East and Europe. As at 31 December 2005,

Investcom had a total of approximately4.9million subscribers compared to approximately

2.5million as at31December 2004.

Investcom operates five mobile telecommunications networks in Africa, namely Benin,

Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Sudan. In the Middle East, Investcom operates mobile

Telecommunications networks in Syria and Yemen and in Europe, Investcom operates a3G

mobile telecommunications network in Cyprus. Investcom also provides international carrier

services, principally through Mediterranean Network SAM in Monaco and

telecommunication engineering and consulting services

Our Mission

Investcom's mission is to be the leading international telecommunications company in each

of the markets in which it operates by continuously striving to exceed its customer's

expectations. Investcom aims to improve the lives of its customers, creating the highest

levels of satisfaction and loyalty, through the provision of high quality, innovative

telecommunications services. Investcom aims to achieve a leading position in all of its

markets, and our focus is on regions offering high growth potential. This is especially the

case for the regions of Africa and the Middle East, where Investcom has a strong

competitive advantage. Investcom believes that a combination of economic growth and

favorable demographic profiles in the markets in which it operates, or will operate in the

future, will result in increased demand for its services.

Investcom considers it a vital obligation that it acts as a responsible business, providing a

Great working environment for its employees, as well as working to improve the lives of the

Communities and countries in which it operates. For this reason, Investcom undertakes a

Variety of social, sporting and educational programs and sponsorships within many of its

territories.

The origins of Investcom Holding date back to1982, when it was founded as Investcom

Group. Since then, Investcom has built a solid track record of providing quality, cost-

effective telecommunications services and using the most advanced mobile and wireless

Telephony systems. Investcom has expanded its business into markets with high growth

Opportunities, especially in Africa and the Middle East. In expanding its international

Portfolio, it has successfully leveraged its experienced management team and track record of

developing and operating mobile telecommunications businesses. The result is a diverse

revenue base drawn from strong customer demand and loyalty.

Vision & Mission

To be the leading provider of telecommunication in Afghanistan

MTN Group Profile

MTN Group Limited is a multinational telecommunications group that began operations in

South Africa in1994.

Since then,

MTN has expanded beyond Africa as the Group continues

to pursue further growth in emerging markets.Phuthuma Nhleko,

is its CEO.

The MTN Group offers cellular network access and associated services through subsidiaries

and joint ventures in10 other African countries as well as in Iran,

Where it is the49%

shareholder in Iran cell, the company that was awarded the second GSM license in Iran.

As at31 March2006,

MTN reported over24 million subscriber’s across10 of its cellular

network operations in Africa Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda, South

Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and the Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville). To

date, the MTN Group has invested over R30 billion in telecommunications infrastructure

Across the African continent.

In May 2006,

MTN announced a landmark deal to create the pre-eminent mobile operator in

the emerging markets of Africa and the Middle East that will operate mobile networks in21

countries and serve nearly30million subscribers.

Rationale of the Transaction

Investcom LLC ('Investcom') and the MTN G roup Limited ('MTN Group')announced a

Landmark deal to create the pre-eminent mobile operator in the emerging markets of Africa

and the Middle East.

The Proposed Transaction is firmly in line with MTN Group's vision to be the leading provider of telecommunications in emerging markets. MTN Group is undertaking the Proposed Transaction to enhance its growth profile in Africa and the Middle East, to gain further scale in emerging mobile markets, to strengthen its operational capabilities and to

diversify its financial profile, thereby unlocking synergistic potential.

Investcom is a leading international provider of mobile telecommunications services with

operations in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

At the end of2005, Investcom’s mobile

operations hadapproximately4.9 million subscribers in Benin,

Cyprus, Ghana,

Guinea

Bissau, Liberia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Investcom has recently been awarded GSM

licences to build and operate mobile networks in Afghanistan and Guinea Republic,

expanding its operations to ten countries and boosting its combined population under licence

to approximately147million.

There are no overlapping operations between MTN Group and Investcom. On a combined

Basis, MTN Group and Investcom (the "Enlarged Group") would operate mobile networks in

21countries, covering a population under license of approximately488 million people and

Serving approximately28.1 million subscribers (as of31 December2005). The footprint would also more comprehensively cover important regional hubs such as West and Central Africa with Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Congo Brazzaville, Liberia, Guinea Bissau and Guinea Republic and East Africa with Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda. Furthermore, the Proposed Transaction would expand MTN Group's presence in the Middle

East through operations in Iran, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan.

Given the attractive competitive position of MTN Group and Investcom in their various

markets, the Proposed Transaction would complement the Enlarged Group's strategy to be

the leading mobile operator across its footprint.

Investcom's cash generative operations would make a sizeable contribution to the financial performance of MTN Group, enhancing its growth profile and diversifying revenues and earnings. The Proposed Transaction also offers the Enlarged Group the potential for increased revenue and reduced costs through regional cross-selling opportunities, enhanced economies of scale, technology and product sharing and the alignment of a centralised

procurement system.

The Values:

Energy:

It values and nurture the energy and dynamism needed to achieve the very best in business.

It looks forward to future challenges and opportunities.

Openness:

As a company, it is welcoming, sociable, and friendly to customers, suppliers, and employees. It

deals with people in a clear, direct way and is always honest and fair in business dealings.

Enablement:

Its aim is to open up opportunities and to actively help people reach their goals. It always

delivers what it says it will.

The Future:

The future is a world in which technology extends its reach. Already, music, books, and services

no longer have to have a physical format to be sold online. Advanced networks will increasingly

provide education, healthcare and other services and goods. For instance, telemedicine already

allows patients to seek the best advice from doctors around the world; now robotic aids are

beginning to make remote surgery possible. As the pace of technological change increases,MTN

will extend its reach into new technologies, services, and markets to create opportunities for its

customers.

Products & Services

Call Me GPRS M e 2U (Dealer to customer) M e 2U (Peer to Peer) Send Me Product Caller Tunez Messaging services GSM-Fax Family SIM Pack Public Call Office BoGo SMS MMS Exchange Rates Pay as you go

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is an important tool for auditing the overall strategic position of a business

and its environment. Once key strategic issues have been identified, they feed into business

objectives, particularly marketing objectives. We have used SWOT analysis conjunction

with other tools for audit and analysis explained further on. It is also a very popular tool

with business and marketing students because it is quick and easy to learn. If a SWOT

analysis does not start with defining a desired end state or objective, it runs the risk of being

useless. A SWOT analysis may be incorporated into the strategic planning model.

Identification of SWOTs is essential because subsequent steps in the process of planning for

Achievement of the selected objective may be derived from the SWOTs

Strength:

Attractive Schemes

Good network quality Good roaming service Good billing system International identity Low cost service provider. Equipped with the latest technology Provides global telecommunication services in more than21countries worldwide; Owns

Largest nationwide telecom coverage and penetration

Weakness:

Highway coverage problem New in the market Underdevelopment of mobile business and lack of fixed-mobile convergence; Lack of business strategy towards the promotion of cheap voice calls ; General complaints about customer services provided .

Opportunities:

Untapped market. Expansion to more profitable products and services that are less regulated; Emphasis on telecommunications and IT solutions and broadband internet services; Expansion of Internet smart-phone services. Contracting more overseas partners to further its global expansion;

Threats:

May lose its customers in case of entry of new mobile players Fierce competition from MTN-Areeba s main rivals: Etisalat, Roshan, and AWCC Global financial crisis; Overall increase of redemptions; Operating markets liquidity; Recent behavioral targeting scandal; Inability to foresee the successfulness of long-term projects considering current

Economic fluctuations

PEST Analysis

The PEST analysis has proven to be a flexible and easy to understand tool in the context of

Strategic planning. Like with all tools, the real value of the PEST analysis depends on the

way it is used.

Political Factors

The Communications Act 2003

Environmental Concerns

Internet Regulation

Concerns over Radiation from Mobile

Telephones

Converged Regulation

Social Factors

Shift towards the Information Society

Mobile Society

Commercialization of the Home

Increasing Need for Communications

Internet at Home

Changing Population Demographics

Economic Factors

Fluctuations in the Economy

Overall Economy of Afghanistan

GDP Growth

Technological Factors

Wireless and Mobile Communications

Convergence

Residential VoIP

Real-Time and On-Demand

Communications

Porter s Five Force Analysis

An industry is a group of firms that market products which are close substitutes for each

other. Some industries are more profitable than others. Why? The answer lies in

Understanding the dynamics of competitive structure in an industry. The most influential

analytical model for assessing the nature of competition in an industry is Michael Porter's

Five Forces Model, which is described below

The bargaining power of customers This segment is unattractive because the buyers posses strong or growing bargaining power

Such as:

1 The buyer s switching cost is low in telecom sector.

2 The product is undifferentiated because most of the companies in the telecom sector

provide almost same services.

The bargaining power of suppliers

In this segment, the suppliers bargaining power is more, because there are less number of

Companies in this sector and for that reason they have the strong bargaining power

The threat of new entrants

Segments attractiveness varies with the height of its entry and exit barriers.

If we look from this angle then this segment is moderate because the entry barriers are high for

the foreign companies, because of the restriction imposed by the Afghan government on them,

such as, they can have a maximum of20% stake in the company and secondly the

companies should have certain amount of money with them as mention by the govt. and the

exit barriers are low. this segment is more attractive for the companies.

The threat of substitute products

When we considers on the substitute products, this segment is unattractive because there are

many actual and potential substitutes for the product of MTN and all the competitors have

almost similar product or services, but they mainly differ in the service point of view.

The intensity of competitive rivalry

A segment like telecom sector which is very attractive because, it is in the growing stage of

its life cycle, and this makes this segment attractive but on the other hand it already contains

aggressive competitors such as:

1 Etisalat 2 Roshan 3 AWCC

The numbers of Competitors are less in the telecom sector that makes this Sector attractive to

most of the foreign companies. And in future this can lead to frequent price wars, advertising

battles and new-product introductions and will make it expensive to compete.

But overall this segment is very attractive.

Marketing Mix

Product Mix: -The telecommunication companies in general develop the products

by providing some new offers or features in them so that they stand unique in the

competitive service market. Under this section will be all the different products

offered.

Promotion Mix:-In the formulation of marketing mix, telecommunication

professionals also blend the promotion mix in which different components of

promotion such as advertising, publicity, sales promotion, word of mouth promotion,

personal selling are given due weight age.

Price mix: - Pricing policy of MTN is considered important for raising the number

of customers and subscribers, prices are flexible as per the market conditions.

Special offers: For a specific period buy a sim card worth(100) and get50afg

talk time etc.

Occasional offers: New Year offers, Eid to Eid offers.

Discount in international calls: lower than other competitors.

Place mix: -MTN s services are sold through the retail outlets and shops, the

services are available all over the country.

People mix:- People are very important in the service delivery business, as opposed

to the product delivery, where one reaches for the product on a shelf. The service

customers will judge the product partly by the service provider whether he or she is

friendly, knowledgeable, etc, so marketer carefully select, and motivate their front

line people. This task is called internal marketing.

Chapter III

Departmental Overview

HR Department

HR Department

Currently there are7 employees working in HR department.

Talent management, induction, performance management, carrier development and benefits

are the most common functions of this department.

Recruitment and selection:

They use many ways of recruitment such as walk-ins, referrals, newspapers, campus hiring and

web site. Rival firms can not be a source of recruitment, because they do not patch, but they hire

them if the candidate has already left the rival firm. And there is one important barrier on

recruitment and selection process, which is the labor market; they can not get

what exactly they have described in their job description.

Interview process:

They follow well-structured interview pattern. The first interview test is taken by one of the HR

people, and after the candidate successfully passed this interview he is send to the HR officer for

the second round interview and then to the concerned department for the last Interview.

Orientation:

They provide on-the-job orientation program. Maximum it takes one week depending upon

the seniority of the job. Organization and development (OD) team takes care of this whole

process.

Performance Appraisal:

Balance Score Card/EPR (Employee Performance Review) performance appraisal is used in this

company. It has a cover page containing the general information, guidelines and instructions.

General information will be filled accurately by the appraisal. And it is very important to read

the guidelines and instructions before rating the appraise. Each party will

add their comments with the due dates and signatures.

In this EPR form they focus on4things:

1. Objectives Review and Evaluation

In this part, the appraiser has to rate the achievements of objectives with the due date

and related information.

2. Knowledge and Skills

Here, the appraisal rates the technical skills and knowledge of the appraise.

3. Behavioral Competencies

The Appraisal has to rate the behavioral competency of the appraise in this section.

4. New Objectives and Development Needs and Plan

Here, new objectives and development plans will be filled.

The main objective of this is to:

Assess employee performance based on objectives, technical skills & behavioral

Competencies.

Control company productivity by improving individual performance. Establish individual development plan

Training & Development:

T&D is need based and they do the skills gap analysis. After the skills gap analysis they

come to know who needs what type of training and development. Below are some of the

trainings they provide:

Communication skills. Sales management. Customer satisfaction.

Employee Remuneration

They are much better than the standards in the industry. Factors influencing their remuneration

plan are economic situation of the country, social and political environment and mostly nature of

the job itself. Some of the benefits they provide are:

Salary Bank Account Transportation Medical facility Recreational activities. Events Gatherings Carrier development Bonus is given once in a year based on their performance.

Motivation:

They use several ways of motivating the employees. As they are following open-door policy,

they have created a friendly environment. They appreciate employee s efforts by words and

rewards. They take care of their development needs, for example if someone is lacking skills or

knowledge in a particular field, he is provided and automatically he feels

motivated.

They give bonus on annual basis and salary is increased every year based on their

Performance.

They have an interesting program called Yellow Star which is held every month. There is a panel

team consists of12 members taking care of this whole process. The employee of the month gets a

prize. And the winner of the year gets the chance of traveling to South Africa.

Policies:

Policies are made in corporate (Core Office) and then it is adapted, revised, and customized

Accordingly in the company.

Firing Policy:

They believe in long-term relationship, but unethical behavior is not tolerated.

Admin Department

40employees are working in this particular department.

Procurement:

All types of purchase which are above100$ are done by procurement,

and those purchases

which are less than100$it is given by the concerned department itself.

The Directors and managers are the authorized signatories.

All SIM, Generators and Towers are bought by corporate or group level in order to gain the

benefit out of purchasing in bulk.

Site Acquisition:

This particular division basically deals with the locations/ sites for antennas or towers. For

any site in a particular location first many Site Survey Request forms are sent to the Admin

Department, and then they choose one out of all based on location and price. After the site is

chosen, contract is made for minimum 15years which is extendable.

There are two types of sites which they choose for their antennas.

1. Roof top (small towers)

2. Green field (60meter towers)

General Services:

Many activities are carried out by this particular division such as transportation, insurance,

Security, and warehousing etc.

Fleet:

Hotel reservation, ticketing, travel, and visa etc are done by fleet people.

Travel expense from for travels and all are filled by the employees and sent to admin

department and then they check it according to the policy of the company and payment is

done by finance department.

Warehouse:

There are two kinds of warehouse, one for SIM Cards and the other is for Technical

equipments. Stocks are kept accordingly, they order whenever needed.

Fixed Assets:

They insure all their fixed assets like buildings, antennas, generators by international

companies.

Maintenance:

Fuel of generators and the maintenance work is given to only one vendor in order to

decrease the complications.

Finance Department

Currently there are13employees in this department.

Payables:

Related to supplier’s cycle, a cycle is anything which starts with the order and ends with

reconciliation.

Receivables:

All cycles related to dealers and customers.

General Ledger:

Cycle of depreciation, contracts and accruals plus employees whole related data such as

Salary etc. Plus whatever is related to tax, rent and similar.

Cashier: Pay and receive money (Cash/ cheque) according to payment or receive order.

Bank Controller: To do the reconciliation and the cash control.

Revenue Assurance: To coordinate and analyze the revenue structure against (Interconnect) plus other services.

And his frequent job is to coordinate with Carrier Services, Marketing, Sales and IT.

Budgeting and Reporting:

His job is to contribute the budget and send the various monthly reports to the concerned

Parties.

Sales Department

There are28 employees working in sales department and it has1200 dealers around

Afghanistan.

Retailer:

To motivate the retailers to sell out the product by giving them incentive

Direct & Indirect Sales Manager:

He is the responsible person to create packages in order to sell out the product for corporate

users like NGOs, Embassies, and Ministries etc and distribution accounts.

Sales Reporting Coordinator:

He has to send the weekly, monthly reports to sales general manager.

Order:

Sales General Manager is the authorized person to order the required quantity. The process

is first the order goes to procurement and they order it according to the budget. The quantity

is ordered by sales and marketing is responsible for design.

Carrier Services Department

This department is the company s interface consists of 4 people.

Main function of this

particular department is to deal with AWCC, ROSHAN and Afghan Telecom and also with

International GSM networks around the world.

They also make sure that the revenue being generated is higher than what they charge. They

also take care of the quality of local and international networks.

There is one first time contract called mother contract which is made with the other network

operators in the local and international markets and if there are some risky issues affecting the

customers then they edit it. They become ready to edit in the contract because both the

parties loose the revenue if even the problem is with one party.

As we know companies specially the rival firms arevery stiff and while making the contract

as they are their competitors they demand more than what is expected, in this case the issue

goes to the higher authority which is the Ministry of Communication.

Customer Care Department

72employees in 3 shifts are working in this department.

And the number of agents working

in this department is dependent on number of subscribers. The most common functions of

this department are customer service, data entry, quality, activation, back office and training.

They have Areeba Customer Service Centers in five main cities of Afghanistan such as

Heart, Mazar, Kabul, Jalalabad and Kunduz.

Qualities of Agent:

An agent should be like a salesman or who can act like a salesman. Who has computer

Knowledge, good communication skills, passion, good look and personality. Who can take

all the anger from customer to let him feel relax.

Orientation:

Agent is provided 3-days orientation program about areeba, GSM networks, customer care

department, and services being provided by areeba such as loading a card, call waiting, call

Forwarding, roaming, call conference, SMS, credit transferring etc and the way agent should

explain it to the customers. After 3 days the agent will sit with experienced agents to watch

it practically.

Quality: Main job of quality team is customer satisfaction. i.e.

Calling back the customers about their solved problems.

Asking about the services.

Listening to the conversation of agents with customers.

Quality team is also checks whether the CSR (customer service representative) is well

groomed, their body language, the way agents speak, what the agent should say after the

conversation mostly in customer service point.

Call Center:

Agents working in call center receive calls mostly about SMS, prices, codes, services,

international call. It is just like point of service but on the phone. Details of the customers are

entered in the system. If the agent is not able to solve the problem then the problem is

escalated to the back office.

Back Office:

After the unsolved problem is sent to the back office, they check it once again before escalating

the problem to the IT/ Technical department. i.e. a customer having problem sending SMS, the

agent will check the SMS Center No, if it was right, then the agent sends the problem to the back

office, they check the problem and if they could not solve the

problem, the problem is sent to the IT/ Technical department.

Data Entry:

These people are responsible to collect the Subscribers Application Forms from the dealers,

retailers, areeba main shops and enter them correctly in the system.

Promotion:

Before a promotion is launched, the marketing department sends the details of the promotion

to CC department and then it is told to the agents by Quality people and CC Supervisors.

IV R: IVR is prepared by marketing and CC department and is loaded in the system by IT people.

IT Department

17employees are working in IT department.

There are various activities carried out by this

department like Software development, database development, LAN and WAN and IN

operation.

Employees joining this department first go through orientation program and then on-the-job

training which is for4 -6days.

Software Application:

Software applications are build in-house as well as it is purchased from 3rd party. They pay

the first part of the whole money while purchasing the software and the rest is paid after the

training and implementation is done.

Application Support Team:

They support both the development and database people.

Billing and IN:

Billing is responsible to generate the bills for postpaid SIM Cards. And IN is responsible for

SIM Card activation, top ups, putting them in the system which is for prepaid subscribers.

Infrastructure:

These people basically deals with IT related issues like PABX, LAN and WAN. PABX is

also called IP phone. Software is there to configure the IP phones in particular numbers in

the company.

Technical Department

74employees are working in this department. Maintenance, operations and implementation

are the3main functions of this department.

Operations:

Which is also called core network consists of switching, MSC (Mobile Switching Center),

BSC (Base Station Center), VAS (Value Added Services).

MSC:

Handles and interconnect the routing of calls from one phone to another.

BSC: Handles the allocation of resources to the phones. It is like a channel, and without it you can

not make a call. And all the BTS are connected to BSC, and BSC controls the BTS. One

BSC can handle about100BTS (15000) subscribers.

BTS:

BTS(Base Terminal Station) is the antenna gives average of15 20 kms coverage and

many BTS can be connected to one BSC.

NMS:

Network Management System people look after the alarms by BTS and inform the

Maintenance group.

VAS:

SMS, GPRS, Call me, ME2U are the value added services.

Implementation:

These people just install the towers, BTS, and the generators.

Maintenance:

Maintenance is consists of electrical power. As in Afghanistan there is no proper electricity,

the GSM Network companies use generators to provide electricity for antennas.

Generators and Power:

There are two diesel generators for every site which are filled accordingly by the contractor.

They are configured in such a manner that automatically takes breaks without affecting or

loosing electrical power. There are 3 security guards working in shifts.

There is also one room for security guards. Each DG gives60 Amps. And each areeba antenna s

average consumption is30 Amps.

The rest of the30 Amps is consumed by security guard s room

and lighting around the site.

Marketing Department

There are10 employees working in this department.

The most common functions of this

department are communication, PR, business development and product and services.

Communication:

All types of advertising is carried out by this section. Generally there are two types of

Advertising they follow.

1. ATL (Above the line) such as TV, Radio, Magazines, Outdoor, and Newspaper.

2. BTL (Below the line) such as even sponsorship, brochure, leaflets, stickers and web

etc.

There is a company in Karachi, Pakistan who makes the story of the ad and sends it to the

marketing department in order to give the ad a local feel. And after that the marketing people

make the schedule for the ad and put it on all the channels like Tolo, Afghan TV,

Shamshad and Arianna Television Network.

Chapter IV

Consumer survey

Consumer preference study of the Afghan Market

The study was aimed to understand the consumer preference of the various segments in the

telecom sector and related factors in the telecom industry. Since consumer preference of

segment or brand determines the popularity and the growth of the given brand.

Further it is important to mention that, the study revolves around the functional line of

Consumer behavior. The chief objective of the study is to understand the consumer

preference

1. The general trend of the industry in terms of service offerings,

2.To ascertain the consumers preference in cellular brands.

3. The consumer s assessment of MTN in terms of its offerings,

4.To measure the consumer s satisfaction with MTN

5. To gain an insight into the consumers switching habits.

6. To recommend suggestions based on the findings of the research.

Understanding these issues helps adapt strategies by taking the consumer into consideration.

For example, by understanding that a number of different messages compete for potential

customers attention, it can be learned that to be effective, advertisements must usually be

repeated extensively. It can be also concluded that consumers will sometimes be persuaded

more by logical arguments, but at other times will be persuaded more by emotional or

symbolic appeal. By understanding the consumer, marketers are ableto make a more

Informed decision as to which strategy to employ.

Analysis & Interpretations

1. Which cellular brand are you using?

Analysis:

15%of the respondents had Etisalat SIM Card

31%of the respondents had MTN(Areeba) SIM Cards when they were interviewed

18%of the respondents said that they have Roshan SIM Cards

36%of the respondents when they interviewed said that they had AWCC SIM Cards

Analysis:

15%of the respondents had Etisalat SIM Card

31%of the respondents had MTN(Areeba) SIM Cards when they were interviewed

18%of the respondents said that they have Roshan SIM Cards

36%of the respondents when they interviewed said that they had AWCC SIM Cards

Analysis:

33%of the respondents will go for Etisalat brand if they go for a second connection

taking into consideration the call rate and network coverage.

29%of the respondents said that they will go for MTN (Areeba) for second

connection.

14%of the respondents will for Roshan if they a second SIM Card

24%of the respondent’s will buy AWCCSIM Card if they go for a second

connection.

the ads in the newspaper had given the information to refer to the telecom companies

and buy a SIM Card.

33%of the respondents found information from their friends because they asked

their friends about which cellular brand to go for, so friends were reliable

information.

27%of the respondents found information about the cellular brand from their

families (father, mother, sister and brother)whom the respondents trust the most.

7. Which facilities did you consider while choosing this cellular brand?

Servlit

Analysis 19% of the respondents considered the Internet(GPRS), those who serve the net

specially the age group of20to 35because for their daily requirements.

23% of the respondents considered the call rate because their brother, sister, son and

daughter stay out of station in other states.

21% of the respondents considered receiving the coverage of the telecom companies

since Afghanistan is a mountainous it is very essential for them to be able to connect

with their relatives.

22% of the respondents considered the customer care, incase if they face any

problems with their SIM Cards so it should be easy for them to contact customer care

and get their problems solved.

15% of the respondents considered the service speed of the telecom companies

because they are time consciousspeciallyfortraders and merchants.

8. What external factors did influence your decision choosing this cellular brand?

Family

Friendsexternal factors

Analysis

29%family had influenced the respondents decision while choosing cellular brand

because for some family members were the big influencers and had enough

information about the cellular brands and had to follow what they said and even for a

few the SIM Cards were purchased by their family members.

27%friends were the external influencer of the decisions made by the respondents

because they are a reliable source to them and asked them every kind of questions openly and

even went to the concerned company branches with the respondents to buy a SIM Card.

25%the organization where the respondents work were influenced, because SIM

Cards were distributed freely for some government organizations and employees

were the SIM Cards as bonus.

7%the marketing activities (TV ads, Newspaper& Magazines ads,

the billboards

ads, internet ads and also schemes)had influenced the respondents decisions.

12%Occupation has influenced the respondents to have a SIM Card like the doctors

because they have to cooperate with people in case of emergency.

9. How do you feel about your decision choosing this cellular brand?

Satisfied

Average Sat isfied

Unsatisfied Satisfaction level Analysis 28% of the respondents were satisfied because their needs for which they had the

SIM Cards were satisfied like Call rates and networks coverage.

63% of the respondents were average satisfied those who used to talk on the phone

very regularly and just wanted to have a SIM Cards for other facilities like to serve

Internet.

9% of the respondents were not satisfied with their decisions because there was a

Delayactivationwhenthey bought a SIM Card, often they had problems with

network coverage so they had to opt for some other cellular brand.

10. Will you recommend someone else to go for this brand?

Yes Recommendation

Analysis

98%of the respondents, who are,

Satisfied and average satisfied with their decision

and the facilities provided by telecom companies specially MTN like (Caller tunes,

Me2U, GPRS) will recommend someone else when they are asked to buy a MTN

SIM Card.

2%of the respondents who were unsatisfied with their decision will not recommend

Someone else when they are asked to buy MTN SIM Card, because there was a delay

in activation or because of the network coverage problem.

Analysis

Respondent in age group of17 to25, 5% of them had SIM Cards which includes

Students, fresh graduates.

Respondents in the age group of25 to35,

47%which is the majority were the newly

Married couples, junior executives, supervisors had SIM Cards.

Respondents in age group of35 to4521% are the doctors, HR mangers, financial

managers and senior supervisors a few of them use cellular phone for their daily

tasks

Respondents who had above45years of age made just27% who were the general

manager, doctors, HR managers, financial managers and etc.

Occupation: Salaried Student ccupation 76%of the respondents were salaried, working in different organization which

includes the faculties, executive, supervisors, doctors and engineers and managers.

9%of the respondents were students a few number of them work part time after

college inhotelswedding halls, or in their own shops like selling mobile credit cards

and stationeries.

15%of the respondents were self employed running their own business like garment

shop, mobile phone shops, stores and electronic shops.

Marital Status:

Married

Single

Analysis

61%shows that most of the respondents who had SIM Cards were married because

they are more concerned about their families lives and daily work.

39%of the respondents were unmarried includes the fresh working graduates, the

students who study college and want to pursue their further education bought SIM

Cards.

Analysis

77%of the respondents were male because the number of male working in different

Organization, running different businesses, looking after house finance are more than

the female.

23%of the respondents were female because the number of working female is less

as compared tomalein different organizations and also in running different business,

the number of females are less in young in age groupof17 to30 years as against

male

Chapter VI

Observations & Recommendations

Key Findings & Observations Majority of the respondents had AWCC SIM Cards.

Majority of the respondents had their SIM Cards for12-18months. Majority of the respondents are aware of all the plans available with MTN

Afghanistan. Majority of the respondents are aware of value added services provided by MTN

Afghanistan. Majority of the respondents found information for buying SIM Cards from friends

and families. Majority of the respondent’s consider Call rates when they want to buy SIM Cards. Majority of the respondents decisions were influenced by friends and families while

opening saving accounts in banks. Majority of the respondents were satisfied with their decisions in buying MTN SIM

Card.

The majority of the respondents recommend someone else for MTN SIM Card.

Majority of the respondents were male.

Majority of the respondents were salaried (workers).

Majority of the respondents fall in age group of25to 35. Majority of the respondents were married.

Observations The analysis proves that most of the customers subscribe to MTN because it provides

better services to its customers using the latest technology and competitive strategies, but they have to be more active to keep the current customers and find new customers.

From the response (personal interaction) received from the customers during the survey it could be concluded that they are happy till now and are looking forward to having much more better services and continue to keep this strategy and make it better.

One of the problems which was told by some of the customers during personal Interaction was that some customer care calls were not answered which is going to have an effect on the customers and on the company.

It is observed that influence of friends play a major role in selection of cellular service providers.

The current cellular user prefers to switch to other cellular service provider due to reasons like limited coverage, no good network

Suggestions and Recommendations As I was working and searching for positive points and suggestions I found many

positives and two suggestions which are as follows:

Customers are not answered and guide properly, which has got a bad impact on

customers, I would suggest them to control the employees who are working in call

centers and talk to their bosses in order to avoid such problems, and warn them if such

action is repeated or any complain has been found by the customers he or she will be

fined and fired.

They should consider the following points while training the employees:

1. Organization culture, purpose, and strategy: - When new employees are hired

employees should be told about to promote core mutual respect, honesty, integrity,

team work, service excellence, responsiveness sand responsibility at their jobs.

2. Interpersonal and technical skills: - As we know that interpersonal skills are

important especially when it is a service providing organization. These interpersonal skills

involve body language, facial expression, attentive listing, answering customer care calls, find

solution to the customer’s problem etc all these must be explained to them in advance during the

training period. Technical skills involve knowledge

regarding how to handle new technology and take care of customers.

3. Product knowledge: - This is the most important key aspect of service quality. Staff

members must be able to explain effectively the product to customers and also know

how to position the product.

As the company is having its branches only in few major cities it should start opening

some more branches in other cities too which will be better and easy to reach customers,

find new customers and understand the market situation clearly and the customers

Perception about its services.

Holding customer relations programs. They should survey after each three months to know what the customers response is and

what are they demanding for and having problem with.

Attracting customers: - As we see that companies spend a great amount of money, time

and resources to so the MTN should be very careful with the market and the customers

to be maintained properly and not lose the current customers but to attract more

customers.

Overall Marketing strategy for M TN:-This marketing strategy will be explained by a

diagram shown below:

Internal Marketing

External Marketing

Services

Employees

Customers

Interactive Marketing

External marketing: Describes the normal work that is to prepare, price, promotions,

distribute, etc.

Internal marketing: Describes the work to train and motivate the employees to serve

customers well.

Interactive marketing: Describes the employee s skill in serving the customers because

customers judge services not only by its technical quality but by its functional quality.

Satisfying customer complaints: - Sometimes it happens that some customers have a

say or are not satisfied with the services provided MTN they don t complain basically

because they don t know whom to complain or feel that complaining doesn’t worth the

effort, but they can find these complains and problem only when they go for a survey.

Some of the solutions to solve this problem are as follow:

1. Maintain a database of the entire customer and should contact those customers having

complains further it can analyze the types and sources of complains and further can

contact theses customers and try to solve their complains and problems.

2.MTN can have service provider s work more skillfully so that they can handle the

customers well.

3. There should be proper management of advertisement and sales promotion campaign

which may be helpful in enhancing the sales of MTN.

4. MTN should promote several schemes in the market according to the different uses

based on occupation segmentation.

Learning Derived

This part of the project contains details of how the various observations made in the

organization can be related to the theoretical concepts learnt throughout the year. This

section of the project aims at establishing a link between the observations made in the

organization and the theoretical concepts learnt during the year.

The following observations have been made at the organization:

Organizational Structure:

Every company has a different organizational structure, and it s very necessary to maintain

smooth functioning in the working of the company. An organizational structure basically defines

how job tasks are formally divided, grouped, and coordinated. There are some key elements that

the managers should keep in mind while designing their organizational structure. Amidst a vast variety of organizational structures, MTNhas a Bureaucratic structure. This is

because, as observed, it satisfies all the aspects of the organizational functioning like its

highly formalized, the decision-making is centralized, and there are not many levels in the

Organizations.

Work Specialization:

Work specialization refers to degree to which tasks in the organization are subdivided into

separate jobs. It means that a worker is assigned a specific, particular task, which is to be done.

There are many benefits of adapting this form of working.

MTN also identifies itself on such a paradigm of specialization and has adapted this style of

working. For instance, a particular employee of MTN, working in the finance would just do

the work of finance. At MTN a worker as far as possible does not interfere in working styles

and patterns of other employees. In this pattern of working, employees are bound to have

limited skills but there are many prose s to this kind of a work design; some of which are

like: the work by the employees can be performed more efficiently and effectively, employee will be focused. The employee s skills are efficiently used. Employee s skills also

improve in that particular job through repetition. It is easier and less costly to find and train

workers to do specific and repetitive tasks from the company point of view.

Centralization:

MTN has a centralized form of decision-making system. Centralization means the authority

of making decision is given only to one singular authorities person like at MTN this

authority of decision-making is given to the M.D.

MTN is a company where all the employees are treated equally on one par, as an important

part of the company, hence there are times when even the employees are asked for their

suggestions, active participation and contribution in the decision making process. It was

observed that since the system is centralized, the decisions at MTN are made at a fast pace

and there prevails flexibility in decision-making process.

Departmentalization:

This is the second element is the organization structure after the work design of the company

is selected. Once having divided the jobs according to the workers skills we further on need to

group these similar jobs together so that these common tasks can be coordinated, it s mainly

dividing the similar jobs together as departments. As MTN has tailored the work specialization

element so it s necessary even to adapt departmentalization and we have seen in the previous

pages that the company has many departments. There are different types of departmentalization s

MTN have adapted one of these different types i.e. the function based. Function based

departmentalization is used in the service division of the company, the

different departments under functional based are the Accounts department, Human Resource

department, sales, billing. Here at MTN there exists a functional departmentalization. It can be

inferred so because here the departments are divided by the similarity of the tasks performed by a

particular group of employees. For example all of those belonging to the accounts department

will perform jobs related to the accounting of the firm and likewise

with all the other departments of the firm

Formalization:

MTN is a highly formalized company. Each and every employee in the company knows

what he/she is supposed to do. All the job details like what they are supposed to do, what they

are not supposed to do, how much work they have to do, what time their work starts, when it

ends all rule and regulations are set and all the employees have to strictly abide by the set rules

and regulations. This formalized wok pattern enables the company to achieve

the predetermined uniform and desired output.

Organizational Culture

It s a set of values, standards, ethics, and facilities given to the workers etc., which make one

organization different from the other organizations.

The culture of MTN is like, what a perfect company which is excellent in its performance

has. They have high values and morals set. They consider their employees a very important

part of the organization. They give them all the facilities like bonuses, they even provide the

employees with health club facility, and many more facilities are provided.

Organizational culture is defined as a common perception held by the organization s

members and is a system of shared meaning. At MTN all the employees believe in serving

the customer in the most efficient manner and they have shaped their culture keeping this in

mind.

Leadership styles:

The managers at MTN have high concern for productivity as well as for people. The

Manager treats his subordinates as his friends and understands their difficulties and tries not

to overburden them. The Managers here at MTN Afghanistan are a mixture of both

Transactional and transformational leader as they guide and motivate their followers in the

direction of the established goal by clarifying role and task requirements and at the same

time providing individual consideration to their subordinates. They are also visionary

leaders as they are able to create and articulate a realistic, credible attractive vision of the

future for all their employees. It is also seen that the managers here are employee oriented

leaders because their main emphasis is on the interpersonal relationships of the firm. They

take a very keen interest in the needs of the employees and also accept individual differences

among the members.

Recruitment:

The firm has no stringent recruitment strategies. If at all there is a vacancy for a post in the firm,

they put out an advert in the news paper and the required response comes in. These responses are

then filtered and only the best few are selected (those that most closely fit the requirements of the

post) and these candidates are then called in for a personal interview. And then from here the

final selection if made based on the candidates performance in the interview. The firm is

welcome and open to young people especially in the marketing field where the energy and

enthusiasm is most sought. And in the administrative field the experience would play a more

vital role. If anyone needs a chance they give it to them. If they prove themselves then they are

taken in. if however their performance is not up to the expected standards even after many

opportunities then they are let go of. This helps them to

build their professionalism in the firm itself without any previous restrictions.

Job satisfaction:

All the employees in MTN seem to be satisfied, as the employee turnover of the company

seems to be next to negligible. The reason could probably be mutual support, compatibility

and understanding between the employees; better and lucrative job prospects and higher

financial opportunities; no ego clashes; satisfactory pay roll structure offered, pay for

performance, family feeling and so on.

Motivation:

Motivation may be defined as the propensity, or the level of desire of an individual to

behave in a certain manner at a certain time and in a certain situation. That means, that being

motivated means that a particular behavior has to follow. Motivation in MTN is observed to be

the willingness of an employee to respond to the organizational and company requirements. It s

seen that, the more positive the individual s motivation towards the

organization and the company s requirements, the more effective is his performance. But on

a whole, it was observed that, there s a lot of positive vibes of motivation coming from the

management front of MTN towards its employees.

Performance evaluation:

At MTN, Performance Evaluation is carried out every year in order to find out whether an

employee deserves a promotion or a termination. These Performance Appraisals are carried

out to also identify training and development needs. The main aim of these appraisals is to

provide feedback to the employees about their performance and their conduct at work. These

appraisals act as a basis for reward allocations. Performance appraisal of each employee is

done by his or her immediate superior. Every minute detail is taken into consideration while

preparing a performance appraisal.

Decision making process:

The decision making process takes place at two levels in the company major decision and minor

or small time decisions. The type of decision making and goal setting approach used by the

company is of the traditional goal setting type, with a means end chain following it and not the

management by objectives approach followed by most of the companies today. The traditional

goal setting approach refers to the process of setting goals in which goals are set at the top level

of the organization and then broken down into sub goals for and at each level of the organization,

which is then followed by a means end chain referring to an integrated network of goals in which

the accomplishment of goals at one level servers the, means of achieving the goals or ends at the

next level. At MTN the major decisions of the

company are taken by the M.D.

Communication Model:

In today s fast moving world everything seems to be moving on just the way one

communicates. As far as communication in relation to an organization is concerned it serves

four major functions in an organization controlling and motivating the employees, emotional

expression and providing information to the employee. Thus helping the organization to

increase its productivity

The main objective of the communication model at MTN is to establish a procedure for

internal communication for the effectiveness of the quality management system.

Here in MTN internal communication is established for three means

- from individual department to top management

- from top management to individual department

- from department to department

Communication within a particular dept is maintained through personal discussion. But in a

centralistic point of view, the communication takes place in the company in well organized

formal, systematic free flow pattern, with very little barriers to communication.

The communication network that the channel to which the information flows in this organization

is formal network, which is mainly used in the vertical communication pattern, that helps in the

movement of the authority chain and also limits the communication to task

related communication.

Strategy:

An organization structure is a tool to help the management of a company to achieve the goals of

the company. Since objectives are derived from the organization overall strategy, it is closely

linked to each other.MTN as an organization mainly makes use of the strategy of cost

minimization. Cost minimization is a strategy which emphasizes on high cost control, avoidance

of unnecessary expenditure, marketing expenses and price-cutting. As it believes that the cost

minimization helps in making economical use of material, labor and time in the

most effective and efficient manner thus increasing the productivit

Conclusion

To conclude my project report I would like to say that it was really a great experience working

with MTN and I really did gain a lot of knowledge and experience not only regarding my project

but also other things regarding other functions and found the reasons

that why people want to go for particular brand.

I really appreciated working in such a prestigious and famous company in the world.

I am very much thankful to each and every person who is working there especially my guide

Engineer Abdul Azim Atarud the one who really and mostly encouraged and helped me with

my project.

Wrapping up the survey conducted and the analysis of the survey it can be said that MTN is

facing major competition from Etisalat, Roshan and AWCC. The reason why MTN is facing

major competition is:

All the companies are giving good returns like MTN They also have flexible and customized products. They are also trying to build brand through advertisements

Hence the outcome of the survey conducted is the fact that MTN mainly faces major

competition from Roshan, AWCC and more specifically from Etisalat.

Annexure Questionnaire

1. Which cellular brand are you using?

a.Etisalat b. Areeba c.Roshan d. AWCC

2. How long are you using this brand for?

a. 1-6months b. 6-12months c. 12-18months d. more than18months

3. Do you know all the plans available with your brand?

a. Yes b. No

4. Do you use value added services?

a. Yes b. No

5. If you go for second connection which cellular brand you will go for?

a.Etisalat b. Areeba c.Roshan d. AWCC

6. Where did you find information about this cellular brand from?

a. Internet b. TV c. Newspapers d. Friends e. Family f. Others: Please specify

.

7. Which facilities did you consider while choosing this cellular brand?

a.Service speed b. Customer care c.Coverage d.Call rate e. Internet (G PRS)

f. Others: Please specify

8. What external factors did influence your decision choosing this cellular brand?

a. Family b-friends c. The organization where you work d. Marketing Activities

e. Occupation f. Others: Please specify

.

9. How do you feel about your decision choosing this cellular brand?

a. Satisfied b. Average satisfied c.Unsatisfied

10. Will you recommend someone else to go for this brand?

a. Yes b. No

Thank you for your kind cooperation

Name

Marital Status

.

Occupation...............................................Sex:

a. Male b. Female Age: a.17-25 b. 25-35 c. 35-45

Bibliography

1) World Wide Web

2) www.mtn.com

3) www.mtn.com.af

4) Marketing Management by Philip Kotler

5) Services Marketing by Christopher Lovelock

6) MTN brochures and Magazines