Airtel Bangladesh Limited
1.1Executive summary
Bharti Airtel limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. The company offers mobile voice & data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and national & international long distance services to carriers. bharti airtel has been ranked among the six best performing technology companies in the world by business week. bharti airtel had 200 million customers across its operations.
Warid telecom started journey in Bangladesh from December 2005 and became the sixth mobile phone operator in Bangladesh. This company backed by The Abu Dhabi Group, which is the largest group in the Middle East. The group is led by HH Shaikh Nahyan Mabarak Ali Nahaya who is also Minister of higher education and scientific research United Arab Emirates. Warid telecom first launched their product in Bangladesh market at the end of January, 2007. But the mobile market is very much competitive that’s why they are facing various kinds of problems and trying hard to overcome those problems. They are trying hard to increase their market share. Warid telecom is the fastest growing mobile operator in Pakistan. Within a very short period of time they grab the whole mobile market in Pakistan. Bangladeshi market is more competitive than Pakistani market that’s why they are facing trouble to achieve their desired objective. In this project Bangladeshi market analysis has been done as well as is competitiveness has been analyzed. In January 2010, Bharti Airtel Limited, Asia’s leading integrated telecom services provider, acquired 70% stake in Warid Telecom, Bangladesh, a subsidiary of the UAE-based Abu Dhabi Group.
harti airtel limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. The company offers mobile voice & data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and national & international long distance services to carriers. bharti airtel has been ranked among the six best performing technology companies in the world by business week. bharti airtel had 200 million customers across its operations.
Bharti Airtel is making a fresh investment of USD 300 million to rapidly expand the operations of Warid Telecom and have management and board control of the company. This is the largest investment in Bangladesh by an Indian company. Dhabi Group continues as a strategic partner retaining 30% shareholding and has its nominees on the Board of the Company.
Crossed the 1 million customers mark within six months of launch on the back of innovative offerings as well as rapid expansion of network coverage and distribution.The new funding is being utilised for expansion of the network, both for coverage and capacity, and introduction of innovative products and services. As a result of this additional investment, the overall investment in the company will be in the region of USD 1 billion.
This is Bharti Airtel’s second operation outside of India. The company launched its mobile services in Sri Lanka in January 2009 on a state-of-the-art 3.5G network. The company
1.2 Objectives of the study
Broad Objective
Analyzing the present status of the pre-paid and post paid customer service marketing of airtel and the satisfaction level of the customers of these two products.
Specific objective
The research will be aimed at fulfilling the following specific objectives:
•To evaluate the customer service of airtel
• To find out the internal and external environment of airtel
•To identify the customers attitude towards the customer service department.
• To describe the service & product offered by airtel.
•To describe the customer service marketing specially value added services that airtel provides for their customers.
•To identify the differences between existing and potential customers regarding attitude and perception.
•To find out the relationship between the customers and customer manager
•To find out the problems behind the VAS offered by the Service provider (airtel) with regards to the customers’ expectation.
•To compare the VAS offered by the airtel telecom with regards to their customer’s expectation.
•To analyze whether the VAS is demandable for the Mobile market.
•To determine that “is there any special feature that differentiates their VAS from others”?
• To describe CSR activities of airtel Bangladesh limited
Scope of the Study
This report renders a close analytical look at the subscribers’ service satisfaction level that airtel is providing recently and usages with a closer to view subscribers’ expected services from airtel. At the same time this report will help to gather knowledge about the customer services provided by airtel. Now a day’s demand for airtel pre-paid is going up in the market. So, to remain in this position in prepaid market, this research is very needful because customer is the core concentration of marketing. Their satisfaction will bring airtel’s success and help to reach the goal.
This proposal examines customer satisfaction models for assessing the relationship of customer service offered through Customer Care Division with the level of customer satisfaction. The author illustrates the approach by studying customer satisfaction in a semi structured questionnaire form and interviewing the customers from different parts of the country (geographic region), different age groups and different status.
Methodology of the Study:
The type of business research used in this report is of descriptive nature.
Through this descriptive research, the report sought to determine the answers to why, what, where and how questions of the existing airtel subscribers and their expectations.
1. Population: The population of this research project is defined as fallow:
a. Element : Existing all customer’s of airtel
b. Unit : Individual customer’s of airtel
c. Extent : Banani Branch in Dhaka City & call centre 786
d. Time : February 2012 – April 2012
2. Sample Frame: Individual customer of airtel those who come to the airtel experience center (Banani Branch) for solving their different types of problem
3. Sample Size:To conduct this research I have taken my sample as a simple random sampling and the required sample size for conducting this research is 100, those who are using airtel connection.
4. Sampling Procedure:
For conducting this research project the probabilistic sampling procedure was followed in order to select the sample which is Simple random sampling.
5. Data sources:
The information and data for this report have been collected from both the primary and secondary sources.
a. Primary Data Sources:
- Primary data for this report has been collected through telephone questionnaire.
- Face-to-face conversation with the respective care centre officers and staffs of the banani & ASA tower branch and head office.
- Face-to-face conversation with customers visited at the customer care centre
- Practical work experience in the customer care
- Questionnaire.
b. Secondary Data Sources:
- Website of the airtel
- Various book articles regarding general customer care services and functions.
- Annual repot of CCD of airtel
- Newsletters, Brochures of airtel
- Data Board of Care Centre of airtel Point & Service Point (786 & 777)
6. Data collection Method:
Relevant data for this report will be collected primarily by direct investigations of different records, papers, documents, operational process and different personnel. The interviews were administered by formal and informal discussion. Structured questionnaire will be used. Information regarding office activities of the customer care centre has been collected through consulting and discussion with care centre personnel.
7. Data Processing:
Collected information was compiled and processed with the aid of MS word, MS excel. The raw data was collected frpm respondents through structured questionnaire from the Pre-Paid & post paid users. The excel program has also been used for the table & graphical presentation. Detailed explanation, analysis and future projections were also incorporated in the report.After that, data has processed through the following ways.
•At first the questionnaires has given a serial number
•Respondents’ answers are categorized according to their personal information, present service centre situation, experience, preference, attitude, behavior, satisfaction level about airtel
•After that respondents’ answer are recorded numerical figure
•However, all the respondents’ answer is put in the data matrix according to recorded arrangements.
Types and Sources of Information
| Types of information | Internet/
Web sites &book |
Primary Survey/Data Analysis | FGD/ Interview |
| Company information
(airtel ) |
Ö | X | X |
| Tele communication industry information | Ö | X | X |
| VAS related information | Ö | Ö | Ö |
| CSR activities | Ö | X | X |
| Customer’s opinion | X | Ö | Ö |
Data Collection and Sources of Data
Primary data for this report has been collected through telephone questionnaire. Here the total number of Warid subscribers is considered the population of the research and out of these total subscribers randomly picked 40 subscribers will be the sample. For this purpose a questionnaire was developed encompassing the objectives of the reports and the sample. Printed reports available at CMD, airtelcs, annual reports, leaflets, brochures and the official web site were the sources of secondary data.
1.5 Value Added Service (VAS)
A value-added service (VAS) is popular as a telecommunications industry term for non-core services or, in short, all services beyond standard voice calls and fax transmissions but, it can be used in any service industry for the services providers provide for no cost to promote their main service business. In telecommunication industry on a conceptual level, value-added services add value to the standard service offering, spurring the subscriber to use their phone more and allowing the operator to drive up their ARPU. For mobile phones, while technologies like SMS, MMS and GPRS are usually considered value-added services, a distinction may also be made between standard (peer-to-peer) content and premium-charged content. Value-added services are supplied either in-house by the mobile network operator themselves or by a third-party value-added service provider (VASP), also known as a content provider (CP)
Telecommunication Industry of Bangladesh
2.1 Overview of Telecommunication Industry in Bangladesh
The telecom industry in Bangladesh is composed of a few players. The main reason for such a small numbers is the regularization of the industry by the government. For years, the Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) had been the sole player in the market.
Bangladesh Telecom Limited (BTL) was the first entrant in the market back in 1989 when it was awarded a license to operate cellular, paging and other wireless communication networks in the country. Since then, it has been renamed to Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (PBTL) and given the brand name CityCell Digital to its cellular services. Grameenphone Ltd., ROBI(AKTEL) and Banglalink have entered the industry with various changes in between. BTRC has formed Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. on behalf of the government with an aim to bring price levels down and make cellular technology available to the mass public. The industry is also set to accept several more players, with licenses to operate PSTN or fixed phone lines being distributed to operators – ending the long fixed line monopoly enjoyed by BTCL.
While the market for mobile phones, specifically, has been growing steadily since its introduction back in 1993, in the past few months the market has more than doubled, growing from 1.5 million subscribers in 2003 to over 20 million at present. The following table shows the subscribers number & market penetration rate of these categories –
Table 1: Market size & Penetration rate
| Factors | In numbers | Penetration |
| Total Telecom subscriber (GSM + CDMA + Fixed) | 24.3 million | 14.31% |
| Total Fixed Line subscriber | 1.23 million | 0.83% |
| CDMA subscriber | 1.43 million | 0.69% |
| GSM subscriber | 21.16 million | 13.48% |
2.2 Major Players in the Market
There are currently six telecom operators in the market. They are –
1. airtel Bangladesh Limited(Former-Warid Telecom)
2. Grameenphone Limited
3. Robi-Axieta
4. Banglalink GSM
5. CityCell Digital
6. Teletalk Bangladesh Limited
Warid Telecom
In December 2005, Warid Telecom International LLC obtained a 15 year GSM license to operate as the sixth mobile phone operator in Bangladesh for 50 million US dollars.
Warid Bangladesh launched their operations on the 10th of May, 2007 and uses the code 16 proceeded by the code number of Bangladesh +880. Warid Bangladesh has acquired a million subscribers with in 70 days of launch.
The company started rolling out network from mid-2006. In less than a year, amidst much speculation, Warid Bangladesh launched their commercial operation with 26 districts – the largest ever launch in terms of network coverage and BTS Stations. Unlike its operations in other countries Warid Bangladesh uses the slogan be heard instead of we care.
RABI
TM International is a joint venture between Telekom Malaysia Sdn. Bhd of Malayasia and A. K. Khan and Company Ltd. of Bangladesh with A. K. Khan and Company holding 30% of the share. AKTel came into operation on November 15, 1997. At the current moment, it has over 3.4 million subscribers.
Banglalink GSM
Banglalink entered the market in September 2004 with a large hype. Unlike other operators, it entered the market with an already established network by acquiring Sheba Telecom – the worst performing telecom operator then. Immediately recognizing the negative image of the previous company, the Orascom owned subsidiary re-branded itself as Banglalink. The company immediately started making heavy investments in expanding and improving the network. Its heavy spending has created a strong brand presence in the market as well. Very recently it has crossed over 2.8 million subscribers.
City Cell Digital
The oldest mobile operator in the country seems to be the most in trouble. It is the only operator with CDMA connection. Despite being the first company in the market, it had failed to reap any of the benefits of being the first entrant. With its initial exorbitant pricing, inability to use cheaply available sets from the market and a poor quality network created a really poor image for the company. Although it has recently started offering the lowest prices in the market, it failed completely to gain market share and is constantly falling behind.
Teletalk Bangladesh Limited
Teletalk Bangladesh Limited (TBL) is formed as Public limited company under the Companies Act 1994 on 26th December 2004 of the country. Therefore it is a Govt. owned company. Teletalk is the operational entity of BTTB Mobile Project. Teletalk launched its Mobile Telecom service on commercial basis on 31st March 2005.
Although a new entrant, Teletalk is staffed by experienced Telecom Engineers Committed to accessibility, quality, coverage and price Teletalk launched it’s much anticipated Mobile Telecom service on commercial basis on 31st March 2005.
The following table shows the actual number of active subscribers of each operator –2.3
Product Positioning Map
The following graph shows how airtel product is positioned in terms of competition. In one axis, price is the variable and on the other one, number of features is the variable. The total map represents the value provided to the subscriber by each operator. However, the shaded position in the map shows where Warid Telecom is trying to position itself but more market information is needed to find the true position of Warid.
Figure 4: Perceptual Map
ORGANIZATIONAL PORTFOLIOS
About airtel
In January 2010, Bharti Airtel Limited, Asia’s leading integrated telecom services provider, acquired 70% stake in Warid Telecom, Bangladesh, a subsidiary of the UAE-based Abu Dhabi Group.
Bharti Airtel is making a fresh investment of USD 300 million to rapidly expand the operations of Warid Telecom and have management and board control of the company. This is the largest investment in Bangladesh by an Indian company. Dhabi Group continues as a strategic partner retaining 30% shareholding and has its nominees on the Board of the Company.
The new funding is being utilised for expansion of the network, both for coverage and capacity, and introduction of innovative products and services. As a result of this additional investment, the overall investment in the company will be in the region of USD 1 billion.
This is Bharti Airtel’s second operation outside of India. The company launched its mobile services in Sri Lanka in January 2009 on a state-of-the-art 3.5G network. The company crossed the 1 million customers mark within six months of launch on the back of innovative offerings as well as rapid expansion of network coverage and distribution.
Historical Background
Bharti Group
Founded in 1976, by Sunil Bharti Mittal, Bharti has grown from being a manufacturer of bicycle parts to one of the largest and most respected business groups in India. With its entrepreneurial spirit and passion to undertake business projects that are transformational in nature, Bharti has created world-class businesses in telecom, financial services, retail, and foods.
Company History & Origin:
Bharti started its telecom services business by launching mobile services in Delhi (India) in1995. Since then there has been no looking back and Bharti Airtel, the group’s’ flagship company, has emerged as one of the top telecom companies in the world and is amongst the top five wireless operators in the world. Through its global telecom operations Bharti group has presence in 21 countries across Asia, Africa and Europe – India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Jersey, Guernsey, Seychelles, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
Over the past few years, the group has diversified into emerging business areas in the fast expanding Indian economy. With a vision to build India’s finest conglomerate by 2020 the group has forayed into the retail sector by opening retail stores in multiple formats – small and medium – as well establishing large scale cash & carry stores to serve institutional customers and other retailers. The group offers a complete portfolio of financial services – life insurance, general insurance and asset management – to customers across India. Bharti also serves customers through its fresh and processed foods business. The group has growing interests in other areas such as telecom software, real estate, training and capacity building, and distribution of telecom/IT products.
What sets Bharti apart from the rest is its ability to forge strong partnerships. Over the years some of biggest names in international business have partnered Bharti. Currently, Singtel, IBM, Ericsson, Nokia Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent are key partners in telecom. Walmart is Bharti’s partner for its cash & carry venture. Axa Group is the partner for the financial services business and Del Monte Pacific for the processed foods division.
Bharti strongly believes in giving back to the society and through its philanthropic arm the Bharti Foundation it is reaching out to over 30,000 underprivileged children and youth in India.
Company Vision:
By 2015 Airtel will be the most loved brand, enriching the lives of millions.
“Enriching lives means putting the customer at the heart of everything we do. We will meet their needs based on our deep understanding of their ambitions, wherever they are. By having this focus we will enrich our own lives and those of our other key stakeholders. Only then will we be thought of as exciting, innovation, on their side and a truly world class company.”
Company Mission
The vision will be achieved by
Our Values – the values that will help achieve our vision
alive- we are to the needs of our customers. we act with passion, energy and a can do attitude to help our customers realize their dreams. innovation and entrepreneurial spirit drives us-if it can’t be done, we’ll find a way.
inclusive-airtel is for everyone-we champion diversity, recognizing the breadth and depth of the communities we serve.we work with them,anticipating,adapting and delivering solutions that enrich their lives.we do this by having an open mind and embracing change.
Respectful – we live the same lives as our customers, sharing the same joys and the same pains. We never forget that they are why we exist. We act with due humility, always open and honest, to achieve mutual respect.
Our brand promise-the promise we make to all our stakeholders and the qualities we want to be known for enriching lives means putting the customer at the heart of everything we do. we will meet their needs based on our deep understanding of their lives and their ambitions, wherever they are.by having this focus,we will enrich our own lives and those of our other key stakeholders. only then will be thought of as exciting,innovative,on their side and truly a world class company.
Our brand scorecard-how we will measure our progress
We will evaluate progress through:
•providing superior shareholder returns
•maximizing customers advocacy
•winning in new and emerging categories
•maximizing employee engagement
•being a benchmark for corporate responsibility.
Objective of airtel Bangladesh limited
airtel’s basic strategy is the coverage of both urban and rural areas. The Company has devised its strategies so that it earns healthy returns for its shareholders and at the same time, contributes to genuine development of the country. In short, it pursues a dual strategy of good business and good development.
Serving the mass market is one of airtel’s primary goals. By serving the general public as opposed to niche markets, the Company plans to achieve economies of scale and healthy profits. At the same time, service to the general public means connectivity to a wider population and general economic development of the country. In contrast to the “island” strategy followed by some companies, which involves connecting isolated islands of urban coverage through transmission links, airtel builds continuous coverage, cell after cell. While the intensity of coverage may vary from area to area depending on market conditions, the basic strategy of cell-to-cell coverage is applied throughout airtel network. In addition, airtel has positioned itself to capitalize on the declining prices of handsets, making its goal to serve the general public realistic.
Functions
Total 13 functions combine Airtel Bangladesh Limited workforce.
3.3The Service
airtel believes in service that leads to good business development. Telephony helps people work together, raising their productivity. This gain in productivity is development, which in turn enables them to afford a telephone service, generating good business. Thus development and business go together.
3.4 The People
The people who are making it happen- the employees are young, dedicated and energetic. All of them are well educated at home or abroad, with both sexes (gender) and minority groups in Bangladesh being well represented. They know win their in hearts that airtel is more than phones. This sense of purpose gives them the dedication and the drive, production-in about five years- the biggest coverage and subscriber-base in the country. Airtel knows that the talents and energy of its employees are critical to its operation and treats them accordingly
3.5 The Technology
At the corner stone of airtel’s operational agenda is ensuring that comprehensive network coverage is provided to all subscribers across all locations. In this context, Warid Telecom has decided to opt for GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) technology for its network in Bangladesh, as it is the global standard for digital cellular telephone service. GSM networks support enhanced data applications and more than 1 billion customers in 109 countries are using this technology. Airtel would be launching its cellular services based on 900 and 1800 GSM technology, in order to optimize the utilization of frequency, thus ensuring the highest quality and service.
Airtel’s GSM network is set to cover 61 districts of Bangladesh to ensure that our service can seamlessly reach out to every corner of the country. We are also in the process of fast expanding our nationwide network to cover all thanas by the end of 2007.
We are partners with some of the leading vendors in the telecom industry who help in providing the best and the latest network solutions for our businesses. These vendors include cellular giants Ericsson, IBM, Thakral and Huawei.
Customer Care Management Unit:
The main objective of the Customer Service division is to be the best in class customer service in Asia to gain competitive advantage for airtel in the market place. That is why customer service believes on this slogan love to delight you.
There are five departments under customer care management. The Organogramme chart has been given below-
GALLUP SURVEY: Bharti Airtel Limited Employee Engagement Annual Survey. Airtel won Award for best in class HR practices 2010.
This award was conferred on us for innovative and best in class HR practices in areas like engagement through Gallup initiative, strong talent management and training practice, building a “open door” culture, introduction of HR and Admin online portal, inculcating Leadership competency assessment framework, introducing pay for performance culture and thus reward merit, due focus in introduction of measures to make the work environment safe etc and all this within a year of the start of our journey in this country.Therefore,employees are requested to participate filling up questionnaires in Gallup survey.
Airtel Bangladesh telecom at a glance:
| Date of inauguration | December 2010 |
| Date of operation | December 2005 |
| CEO | Cris Tobit |
| Total no of Regions | 7 |
| Total Customers() | 11.2 Million |
| Total no. of employee | 800 |
| Male | 90% |
| Female | 10% |
| Website | www.bd.airtel.com |
| Coverage area | 64 District |
| Customer Touch point:
Airtel experience centre |
6(Banani,Motijheel,Mirpur,Uttara,Chittagong,Sylhet) |
| Customer Touch point:
Airtel relationship centre |
112(around bangladesh) |
| Head Office: | Tajwar Centre,
House-31,Road-19,Banani,Dhaka Bangladesh |
SWOT A
TELECOM’S PRODUCTS AND THEIRNALYSIS
4.1 Strength
The Network
At the corner stone of Warid Telecom’s operational agenda is ensuring that comprehensive network coverage is provided to all subscribers across all locations. In this context, Warid Telecom has decided to opt for GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) technology for its network in Bangladesh, as it is the global standard for digital cellular telephone service. GSM networks support enhanced data applications and more than 1 billion customers in 109 countries are using this technology. Warid Telecom would be launching its cellular services based on 900 and 1800 GSM technology, in order to optimize the utilization of frequency, thus ensuring the highest quality and service.
Warid Telecom’s GSM network is set to cover 61 districts of Bangladesh to ensure that our service can seamlessly reach out to every corner of the country. We are also in the process of fast expanding our nationwide network to cover all thanas by the end of 2007.
We are partners with some of the leading vendors in the telecom industry who help in providing the best and the latest network solutions for our businesses. These vendors include cellular giants Ericsson, Nortel, Siemens, Cisco and Huawei.
Research & Development
We have made no compromise on investments required for research and development. With a projected capital expenditure of over US $700 million, Warid Telecom has been set up to provide a premium quality GSM service, which will reach out to most parts of Bangladesh by the end of 2007.
Our place at the technological frontier
Warid has pioneered in key technologies which include the following:
- Custom-made network for Bangladesh’s environment
- Congestion-free connectivity in all coverage areas
- Roll out plan for complete national populated coverage by 200X
- Future professional network (GPRS compatible and 3G upgraded with soft switch and media gateway architecture)
- State of the art IP based contact center and leading data center
Exclusive Customer Care
Our mandate for doing businesses by keeping customers at the forefront is reflected in our ‘one stop’ concept for all your telecom requirements. We have the maximum number of Sales and Customer Service Centers countrywide, equipped with cutting edge technologies to ensure that customer needs and demands are catered for in the shortest possible time. Our highly trained and well-groomed team of Customer Service Executives is on hand 24 hours to provide you support in any area- all to make sure that your communication experience with use is facilitated in the smoothest way possible
Best Practices
We believe in a process driven setup with comprehensive business processes covering all our activities. All business processes are ETOM compliant as per accredited international standards.
- Lower call rate
- Now Warid telecom providing the lower call rate in Bangladesh .there call rate is very attractive to the customer. Because of attractive call rate there market share increasing rate is high.
- Bonus
- Warid telecom providing number of bonus to their customer such as welcome bonus, 20% bonus on first recharge, differed bonus (BDT 249 on new sim card ), daily cash back, win back bonus (scratch card bonus), 300% bonus. All these bonus facilities help them to increase the market share.l
- Innovation
Warid is committed to providing superior level of professional services to all its customers – before, during and after the deployment of our leading solutions. To accommodate our customer’s demands, we have deployed a state-of-the-art 2.5G EDGE compliant network. There are also innovative services of various standards that cater to a wide spectrum of users.
4.2 Weakness
Coverage
Coverage of Warid telecom has not fully established. That’s why some of the districts of Bangladesh are out of warid’s network coverage. Warid is loosing those area customers. This is one of the weaknesses of Warid telecom.
Billing System
- The abrupt barring of connection due to a complicated billing system confuses the customers. Such hassles lead to an unfavorable impression for the company.
- Complicated price structure
- Pre –paid and Post-paid call charge is very complicated to the customers. Even though per unit call charge is mentioned, sometimes customers get confused about their charges and bill.
- No long-term Distribution/Channel strategy
- Warid has not yet taken initiatives of its long-term distribution channel strategy. Warid’s current market expansion with its short-term distribution channel goal meet it present requirement. But for its future market expansion and to reach its new segment of customers more effectively in efficient manner Warid needs to take bold steps from now on.
- Commercial ads are not too creative
- Warid’s commercial ads are not that much appealing its prospective customers compare to its competitors. Valuable features are not focused in its ad. Warid does not show its competitive advantages through its ads whereas its competitor such as Banglalink has done it effectively.
- Becoming Market Follower
- Warid Is now becoming market follower as competition is going so fast in mobile telecommunication industry. It is not good for Warid telecom to become reactive to its competitors.
4.3 Opportunities
Attractive market
Bangladesh is a highly attractive market for mobile services due to its large and highly concentrated population, low penetration of telecommunications services, and high growth in mobile subscribers. With approximately 140 million inhabitants, it ranks as the eighth most populous country in the world and is among the most densely populated. Bangladesh is served by only 1million fixed lines and has only approximately 20 million mobile subscribers. While mobile services have been available in Bangladesh since 1991, growth in this sector has only accelerated in recent years. This market has still low penetration rate but still there is opportunity to increase high penetration rate.
Huge need for telecom services
Current market growth rate of the telecommunication is significant which arises a great opportunity for the cellular phone companies to grow rapidly. The demand of the cell phone is still increasing. Variety services with most lucrative features made this sector more and more attractive day by day. Recent year’s growth reflects the enormous potential for the development to telecommunications and information technology in the country.
Declining prices for handsets
The prices of the mobile sets are declining in Bangladesh that makes a easy gate way for the customers to use cell phones. It will create an opportunity for the telecommunication industry by getting large number of customers. There are some others opportunities, which can be important factors for Warid telecom, are: Economic growth of Bangladesh, new and better interconnection agreement and future privatization of the fixed network.
4.4 Threats
Global Companies
As global companies like AT&T, BPL are operating in India, they might think to enter the Bangladeshi market with higher capital. If so, it will be a huge threat for Warid.
T&T Mobile
T&T is now fully entered into the mobile telecommunication industry. It is now becoming the great threat business for all other mobile phone operators by providing unfair advantages and cause sever problems. Like – Load shading time table for Dhaka city.
More rigid government regulations
Government rigid regulations and policy narrows the direction of the cellular phone companies. Warid has to go through lengthy government procedures to take permission to launch a new service package. The imposed increased taxes for SIM price will slower the growth of this industry.
Threats of potential new entrants
There are rumors in the market that some companies are trying to enter the market with cheaper technology. Potential new entrants can get into the telecommunication market with cost effective approach and take off market shares. New domestic and foreign cellular phone companies can start telecommunication network business. As Bangladeshi people are very much price sensitive, it might cause serious problem for Warid.
BTTB has reduced NWD and ISD call charge
Recently BTTB has reduced its NWD and ISD call charges to promote LAN phone usages. This has affected the mobile phone industry and significantly reflected in the revenue earning of BTTB.
Price war
All the four companies are fighting to get the market share by cutting price of the mobile phone connection. All competitors are lowering the unit price and also providing pulse facility like AkTel provides pulse at the thirty seconds of the first minute. So the market is fighting with each other with their pricing strategy.
- Airtel’s PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
- airtel’s Post paid products are:
For the taste of different types of customers airtel offered postpaid and prepaid package including different features. There are three types of postpaid package-
| service types & others | airtel advantage | airtel classic | airtel exclusive |
| product proposition | worry free flat tariff | attractive fnf rates | highest fnf features |
| selling price | bdt 650 | bdt 650 | bdt 1250 |
| connection price | bdt 150 | bdt 150 | bdt 150 |
| non-refundable deposit | bdt 500 | bdt 500 | bdt 1100 |
| default credit limit | bdt 500 | bdt 500 | bdt 1100 |
- Airtel classic offers you flexible tariff plans which will help you to explore a wide range of services and keep overall cost to a reasonable limit.
- modalities:
- Existing customers can continue with their current packages or migrate to new packages. But migration from new package to old package will not be possible. new sales will only be made through new tariffs.
- Minimum usage for line rent waiver will include all types of voice, vas usage and rentals.
- No use no bill policy will prevail as it is for the postpaid packages. if a postpaid customer does not make any activity during an entire bill cycle, the line rent will not be applicable in the month-end invoice.
- Existing super benefit will remain same as they are.
- Tariffs which are not covered at this fact sheet, will remain as they are.
- Airtel advantage comes with an attractive flat tariff plan, large close calling circle which makes your communication simple.
- modalities:
- Existing customers can continue with their current packages or migrate to new packages. But migration from new package to old package will not be possible. new sales will only be made through new tariffs.
- Minimum usage for line rent waiver will include all types of voice, vas usage and rentals.
- No use no bill policy will prevail as it is for the postpaid packages. if a postpaid customer does not make any activity during an entire bill cycle, the line rent will not be applicable in the month-end invoice.
- Existing super benefit will remain same as they are.
- Tariffs which are not covered at this fact sheet will remain as they are.
- Airtel exclusive brings you the highest fnf features and 1 second pulses that will enable you manage your calls efficiently.
- This package is available for new acquisition
- Regular Classic, advantage & super benefits customer will be able to migrate to this new package and also migration from Exclusive package to Classic, advantage package is possible but exclusive package to super benefits will not be possible.
- Only the customers from super benefits package will be able to migrate to exclusive package through short code 3136 at FOC (free of cost). Customer will write ‘Exclusive’ and send to 3136
- No use no bill policy will prevail as it is for the postpaid packages. if a postpaid customer does not make any activity during an entire bill cycle, the minimum commitment will not be applicable in the month end invoice.
5.2 airtel’s Pre paid products are
airtel is the most lovable brand by youth. Prepaid actually designed for the vibrant user across the country. There are five types of prepaid features-
Tariff chart:
| FOORTI | |||
| Tariff (Tk/min.) | |||
| Voice Calls Outgoing:
(in Tk. per min) |
Tarrif | ||
| airtel (special time) | 0.29 | ||
| other operators (special time) | 0.69 | ||
| airtel | 0.79 | ||
| other operator | 1.19 | ||
| FnF | n/a | ||
| SMS Calls Outgoing: (in Tk. per SMS) | _ | ||
| airtel | Tk0.49/SMS | ||
| other operator | |||
| airtel fnf | |||
| other operator fnf | |||
| special time | 12.00am to 3.00pm | ||
| ADDA | |||
| Tariff (Tk/min.) | |||
| Voice Calls Outgoing:
(in Tk. per min) |
24 Hours Tariff | ||
| airtel | TK 0.79 | ||
| other Operator | TK 1.19 | ||
| airtel fnf | TK 0.29 | ||
| other operator fnf | TK 0.69 | ||
| SMS Calls Outgoing: (in Tk. per SMS) | _ | ||
| airtel | TK 0.49 | ||
| other operator | TK 0.49 | ||
| airtel fnf | TK 0.29 | ||
| other operator fnf | TK 0.29 | ||
| Other Facilities | – | ||
| Number of FnF | 8 | ||
| Pulse | 30 Sec | ||
| GOLPO | |||
| Tariff (Tk/min.) | |||
| Voice Calls Outgoing:
(in Tk. per min) |
24 Hours Tariff | ||
| airtel | TK 0.79 | ||
| other Operator | TK 0.79 | ||
| airtel fnf | N / A | ||
| other operator fnf | N / A | ||
| SMS Calls Outgoing: (in Tk. per SMS) | _ | ||
| airtel | TK 0.39 | ||
| other operator | TK 0.39 | ||
| airtel fnf | N / A | ||
| other operator fnf | N / A | ||
| Other Facilities | – | ||
| Number of FnF | N / A | ||
| Pulse | 60 Sec | ||
| Kotha | ||||
| Tariff (Tk/min.) | ||||
| Voice Calls Outgoing:
(in Tk. per min) |
24 Hours Tariff | |||
| airtel | TK 0.79 | |||
| other Operator | TK 1.19 | |||
| airtel fnf | N/A | |||
| other operator fnf | N/A | |||
| SMS Calls Outgoing: (in Tk. per SMS) | _ | |||
| airtel | TK 0.39 | |||
| other operator | TK 0.49 | |||
| airtel fnf | N/A | |||
| other operator fnf | N/A | |||
| Other Facilities | – | |||
| Number of FnF | N / A | |||
| Pulse | 1 Sec | |||
| Dolbol | ||||
| Tariff (Tk/min.) | ||||
| Feature | community | onnet | offnet | |
| voice call | BDT 0.29 | BDT 0.79 | BDT 1.19 | |
| sms | BDT 0.29 | BDT O.49 | BDT 0.49 | |
| pulse | 30 seconds | |||
| fnf feature | no fnf | |||
| gprs | 0.015paisa per kb | |||
Airtel enterprise packages: Targeting the corporate and SME segments,airtel has launched “PCO” with state of the art services including GPRS, corporate SMS broadcast, dedicated customer relationship management, and customized packages.
The current packages are:
- Enterprise corporate; targeted at the corporate segment
- Enterprise SME; targeted at the SME segment
- Enterprise personal
Value Added Service of airtel telecom
6.1 Basic Services
To better manage your calls, airtel provides you with Basic services which are immediately available for use as soon as you start using your airtel connection.
The Basic Services are as follows:
- Caller Line Identification
- Call Waiting / Call Holding
- Conference Call
- Call Divert
6.2 Data Services
Airtel offers a wide range of data services including high speed data access over the mobile network through GPRS / EDGE connectivity, multimedia messaging, surfing inernet, and browsing WAP sites.
Currently available data services are –
- Internet
- WAP
- MMS
- Standard Charges (All charges are exclesive of 15% VAT).
- Internet browsing Tk 0.02 / KB
- WAP Tk 0.02 / KB
- MMS outgoing (airtel to airtel)Tk 5.00 / MMS
- MMS incoming (airtel to airtel) free of cost
6.3 Enhanced Services
To make your communication more convenient, personal and fun, Warid offers a bundle of enhanced services:
- Use our Voice SMS service to send a greeting in your own voice to your loved ones to surprise them
- With airtel Caller Tunes, you can play music for your caller while they are waiting for your to pick up your phone!
- Never miss out on a call again- subscribe to our Missed Call Alert service to be notified of all your missed calls via SMS whenever you can’t be reached.
- Activate your voicemail service so that your callers can leave recorded messages for you when you’re not there to answer the phone
6.4 Funloads
Get the latest ring tones and jazz up your handset. Or, download a recipe and make something delicious for that special someone. Download a greeting and send to your friends, family or loved ones and show them how you feel. There are many more contents that you can download and share from the airtel Funloads section.
Funloads are available for you in the airtel live Menu in your handset. They can be found in four funload sections-
- Info Zone
- Entertainment
- Messaging
- My Stuff
The choices of fun loads in each menu are as follows-
| Info Zone | Sports | For the latest on sports updates, visit the sports section. |
| News | Get national and international breaking news 24 hours a day from our news section. | |
| Finance | Your connection to reliable business bulletins. Get finance news, forex rates, bullion rates, stocks index, top Stocks, and stock quotes. | |
| Religion | Complete your day by reading religious Ayats & Hadith. | |
| Weather | Get confirmation about latest weather news 24 hours, both global and local. Simply type in the name of any city around the world to know what the weather is like over there, whenever you want! | |
| Dictionary | Tired of searching for words using a big, fat dictionary? Funloads has an electronic one which will instantly bring you the meaning of the word you type in! |
| Time Check | Know the local time of any city in the world- type in the name of the city, press “SEND” and the information you want will be sent to you in an SMS. | |
| Entertainment | Logos & Icons | Download logos, pictures, color wallpapers to decorate your phone! The choices of these contents can be viewed at our website- www.waridtel.com.bd – along with their respective item codes.
To download the content of your choice, go to the “Logos & Icons” menu and type in its item code. |
| Jokes | Get a variety of joke contents through your SIM Genie menu from the jokes section. | |
| Ring Tones | Download cool ringtones (true tones, monophonic Tones, polyphonic tones) in your handset. To view the choice of ring tones that are offered, please visit –www.waridtel.com.bd | |
| Music & Movies | Be the first to know about the latest on music & movies from around the world! | |
| Quotes | Funloads provide you with everyday quotes to lift your spirits on a daily basis. | |
| Horoscope | Check out what the day holds for you by reading your horoscope through the SIM Genie menu – and see if it works for you! | |
| Games | Sitting idle, wondering what to do? Download and play fun games like Penalty, Quizz, Jumble Word & Guess The Number! | |
| Recipe | Surprise your family with a lovely meal, cooked using a Funload recipe selection.
Please visit our website to view the choices of recipes that are available (along with their item codes). |
|
| Messaging | Greetings | Express yourself instantly with various types of greetings. For a list of greetings that are available, please visit our website. |
| My Stuff | Alerts | Want a daily dose of Funloads? You can subscribe to “alerts” to get updates on Breaking News, Jokes, Horoscope, Ayat, Hadith, Prayers’ Time & Weather Forecast on a daily basis. |
6.5 Caller Tune-MRBT
Dedicate music for your callers while they are waiting for you to answer…
Dedicate music for your callers while they’re waiting for you to answer!
From great old songs, to latest hits to just amazing sound effects, download your favorite Caller Tunes and set it for your callers to hear!
You even have the power to organize your own playlist. How cool is that!
Caller Tunes offer –
Bangla Hits – Band music, Folk, Classical and many more….
English hits – Pop, Rock, Instrumental and many more….
Eastern selection – a mixture of Hindi & Arabic songs….