A Comparative Study of Cellular Service Provider Operating in Bathinda

Vipan Bansal1, Harwinder Singh2, Rakesh Bhatia3

Student of Industrial Engineering, GNE, Ludhiana, India

Department of Production & Industrial Engineering, GNE, Ludhiana, India

Department of Mechanical Engg, Punjabi Uni. Campus, Talwandi Saboo, India

Abstract - Mobile phone was hyped as a revolutionary tool of the twentieth century, like the television and telephone in the 19th century; the field of telephonic communication has now expanded to make use of advanced technologies like GSM, CDMA, and WLL to the great 3G Technology in mobile phones. Day by day, both the Public Players and the Private Players are putting in their resources and efforts to improve their services so as to give the maximum to their customers. This study focuses on the customer satisfaction level of different cellular service provider operating in Bathinda. The main purpose of this study is to find out the satisfaction level of the customer regarding current service provider, mobile phone instruments, analyze the level of awareness about Number Portability and 3G and make suggestions in the light of the findings of the study. The study was carried out in Bathinda city. In this study opinion of customers were taken for analysis. The tools used for collecting data were structured questionnaire and unstructured interview. For analysis purpose pie chart and bar chart has been used. The results revealed that as there is a healthy competition given by the existing players in the telecommunication industry, lack or degradation in any of the services may affect the company badly. Moreover there is a huge

market for 3G which can be captured by giving proper awareness to customers and by providing services according to their needs. Keywords - 3G, Customer Satisfaction, Number Portability, Value Added Services.
1. INTRODUCTION

In 1880, two telephone companies namely The Oriental Telephone Company Ltd. and The Anglo-Indian Telephone Company Ltd. approached the Government of India to establish telephone exchanges in India. The permission was refused on the grounds that the establishment of telephones was a Government monopoly and that the Government itself would undertake the work. In 1881, the Government later reversed its earlier decision and a license was granted to the Oriental Telephone Company Limited of England for opening telephone exchanges at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Ahmadabad and the first formal telephone service was established in the country. On the 28th January 1882, Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor General of India's Council declared open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The exchange in Calcutta named the "Central Exchange" was opened at third floor of the building at 7, Council House Street, with a total of 93 subscribers. Later that year, Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange. While all the major cities and towns in the country were linked with telephones during the British period, the total number of telephones in 1948 numbered only around 80,000. Post independence, growth remained slow because the telephone was seen more as a status symbol rather than being an instrument of utility. The number of telephones grew leisurely to 980,000 in 1971, 2.15 million in 1981 and 5.07 million in 1991, the year economic reforms were initiated in the country. 1.1 Emergences as a Major Player In 1975, the Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from Indian Post & Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service. DoT was responsible for telecom services in entire country until 1985 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL)

was carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of Delhi and Mumbai. . In 1990s the telecom sector was opened up by the Government for private investment as a part of Liberalization-Privatization-Globalization Globalization policy. Therefore, it became necessary to separate the Government's policy cy wing from its operations wing. The Government of India corporatized the operations wing of DoT on 1 October 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). Many private operators, such as Reliance Communications Communications, Tata Indicom, Vodafone, Loop Mobile, Mobile Airtel, Idea etc., successfully entered the high potential Indian telecom market. 1.2 Growth of Indian Telecommunication Industry

Today, The Indian telecommunication industry is the world's fastest growing industry with 791.38 million mobile phone subscribers as of February 2011 according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). It is also the second largest telecommunication network in the world in terms of number of wireless connections after China. 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$76.57 76.57 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. In 2008-09 09 the overall telecom equipments revenue in India stood at 136,833 crore (US$30.38 30.38 billion) during the fiscal, as against 115,382 crore (US$25.61 25.61 billion) a year before.
2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The following are the objective of the study:

To study customer satisfaction level of all service providers. To find out the percentage of prepaid users and post paid users. To find out the main reasons for shifting from one service provider to other service provider. To analyze the level of awareness about 3G.
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

For this study mainly primary and secondary data and information has to be used. The primary data is collected with the help of pre-tested pre structured red and unstructured questionnaires from various respondents. But Data obtained is found suitable and complete and is used for further analysis. Secondary data and information have been collected from internet, newspaper, existing literature, magazines etc etc. . Sometimes personal interview has been conducted with various mobile phone users.

4. RESULTS AND INTERPRETATIONS

Figure 1 Profession

Total %age Others Housewife Retiree Business Service Student 0 14 0 14 46 26

Figure 2 Income Level

Total %age Not Applicable >= 40,001 30,001-40,000 20,001-30,000 10,001-20,000 <= 10,000 20 2 4 12 24 38

Figure 3 Problems with Landline Phone

Total %age Any Other* Portability Problem in Instrument Poor Service Error in Billing Problems of cross connectivity 4 24 0 16 18 44

Figure 4 Cost of Mobile Phone

Total %age > 10000 6001 10000 3001-6000 1501- 3000 < 1500 6 26 10 20 38

Figure 5 Quality of Mobile Phone

Total %age Not Satisfied Less Satisfied Satisfied Almost Satisfied Extremely Satisfied 26 0 6 24 44

Figure 6 Uses of Gadgets in Mobile Phone like Alarm, Calculator etc.

Total %age Never Rarely Sometimes Often Very Often 38 4 6 12 40

Figure 7 No. of Connections

Total %age

More than Two Two One

4 26 70

Figure 8 Types of Cellular Service Provider

Total %age Reliance Aircel BSNL Vodafone Airtel Idea 22 16 40 8 12 24

Figure 9 Type of Connection

Total %age Both Pre Paid and Post Paid Post Paid Pre Paid 10 26 64

Figure 10 Times Spent on Cell Phone/ Day

Total %age >3Hr* 2-3Hr 1-2Hr <1Hr 24 36 12 28

Figure 11 Monthly Expenditure in

Total %age >2000 1501-2000 1001-1500 501-1000 201-500 <200 22 0 4 18 52 4

Figure 12 Respondents Opinion Regarding Customer Care Department

Total %age Highly Dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied Satisfied Highly Satisfied 4 40 2 10 44

Figure 13 Reasons for Dissatisfaction from Customer Care Department

Total %age Customer Care executive was unable to understand Time taken by the call centre for redressal of Customer Care executive not equipped with Customer Care executive are not polite/courteous Difficult to the connect to the call centre executive 0 71 7 7 14

Figure 14 Influences of Brand Ambassadors for Selection of Service Provider

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Total %age Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree 6 30 8 12 44

Figure 1 15 Mode of Bill/Recharge Payment

Total %age

Mobile Banking Credit Card Net Banking Cash / Vouchers

3 5 3 89

Figure 16 Want to change Mobile Service Providers or not

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Total %age

Can't Say No Yes 0

0 92 8 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Figure 17 1 Reasons for not Using 3G

Total %age Lack of knowledge about 3G Want to wait and see further before migrate to 3G The entertainment contents are not attractive 0 3G is complicated and difficult to use Not confident with the technology and network The monthly subscription fee of 3G is too high The price of 3G hand phone is too high 5 0 12 16 42 42

5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

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The following facts are identified as findings of the study. As seen from the survey results, more of the population prefers to buy a mobile based on GSM technology. 46% % respondents feel that poor service of the wireline service provider makes the mobile better better than landline. Cross connectivity and functionality also makes it popular. 67% % respondents use BSNL land line phone followed by Connect, Tata and Airtel. Preferred referred brand of cell phone is Nokia and Most of the respondents are satisfied with the working of their cell phone. 60% % respondents buy the cell phone having cost less than equal to 6000/-. Airtel is dominating in the region of Ludhiana followed by BSNL & IDEA. IDEA 30% % respondents are using the two or more than two connections. The monthly expenditure of the 74% respondents is less than 500. Those who pay more than 500 use the cell phone more than 3hrs per day. Most of the people pay or recharge their bill by cash. 64% % respondents changed their service provider are satisfied with the customer care department but some think that it is difficult to connect the call centre executive and time taken due to call charges and 60 60% % due to their SMS Plan. As there is a healthy competition given by the existing players in the the industry, lack or degradation in any of the services may affect the company badly. By receiving Unsolicited Promotional calls people get disturbed and feel irritated or get very angry but t most of them ignore it only few Complaint at customer care with h a request to block such calls and SMS. Study reveals that only 14% % respondents use 3G rest are not sure about the use of 3G. 3G 39% want to wait and see further before migrate to 3G and 56% have the Lack of knowledge about 3G. REFERENCES [1] Amman P. (2009): Advertising Advertising Decision Making Process Process The ICFAI an Journal of Management Research, Vol. . VIII, Issue 6, pp. 60-76.

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