Aircel is a joint venture between Maxis Communications of Malaysia and Sindya Securities of India. It operates mobile networks in several Indian states and is among the top 5 GSM and top 7 overall mobile service providers in India. Aircel offers prepaid and postpaid plans, 2G/3G data, value-added services, and wireless broadband. In Goa, Aircel's distribution network includes a head office, service centers, distributors who sell prepaid services, and associations with brands, though some key associations are not yet active in Goa.
1. DISTRIBUTION NETWORK OF AIRCEL
Project in Marketing Management by
FLOYD TAVARES
SECTION C
2011146
Introduction
The Aircel group is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad of
Malaysia and Sindya Securities & Investments Private Limited, whose current
shareholders are the Reddy family of Apollo Hospitals Group of India, with Maxis
Communications holding a majority stake of 74.
Aircel commenced operations in 1999 and is today the leading mobile operator in
Tamil Nadu, Assam, North- East and Chennai.
It is India’s fifth largest GSM mobile service provider & seventh largest mobile
service provider (both GSM and CDMA.
AIRCEL: POD
• Aircel introduced the innovative Pocket Internet cards for Free GPRS service for
1day/3days/7days/30days
• Aircel was the first to introduce Online service to subscribe and manage Dialer tunes
• It is the first in country to introduce SMS bank/Phone Book/Reminder/Talking SMS
• Aircel is known for its value added services and application (VAS )
2. PRODUCT MIX
Aircel provides its customers with the following products
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Prepaid Services
Postpaid services
Data plans: 2G / 3G Services
Associate Partners (
(Handsets)
Value Added Services(VAS)
Wireless broadband
3. 3G distribution in India
India:
Aircel paid 6499.46 crores for 3G spectrum in 13 circles - The circles it will provide 3G in
are Andhra Pradesh, Assam Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala Kolkata, Madhya
Assam,
Kerala,
Pradesh & Chhattisgarh North East, Orissa Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh
Chhattisgarh,
Pradesh(East)
& Uttarakhand and West B
Bengal.
Broadband wireless access distribution in India:
Aircel paid 3438.01 crores for spectrum in 8 circles, the second highest wins overall - after
Reliance Communications. The circles it has won spectrum are Andhra
Pradesh, Assam, Bihar Jammu & Kashmir, North East, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West
Bihar,
Bengal. It also has 3G spectrum in all these circles.
DISTRIBUTION NETWORK IN INDIA
Aircel follows 3 modes of distribution
1. Online distribution
2. Retail distribution
3. Mobile distribution
Online Distribution: it consists of 2 types, direct and indirect distribution
Mobile distribution uses m commerce for distribution of its various value added services
m-commerce
Retail network in India
Aircel has 3 modes of distributing its products and services to the retail network namely
1. Corporate network
• Distribution and customer service via Company owned company
stribution
operated (COCO) stores
• Distribution via service centres
• Distribution via company owned website
2. Contractual Network
• Distribution primarily of prepaid services via distributors
• Every region has multiple distributors depending on the size of the
location
• Distribution via websites like freecharge.in
3. Associations
• Aircel associates with various brands to promote and push sales of its
rcel
products and services
• Some of the brands it has associated with are iPhone, Samsung , Nokia,
me
blackberry
• The iPhone 3 was launched by Aircel and Airtel in India
• It has an exclusive tie
tie-up with Samsung across Samsung stores
4. DISTRIBUTION IN GOA
Aircel has its head office situated in Gera Imperium at Panaji. The head office services as
a one stop shop for its customers. In Goa similarly the various modes of distribution are:
1. Corporate network:
• Post paid services: Direct distribution of postpaid services through the
head office only
• Although payments for postpaid services can be done online
• Corporate office runs service centres that provide customers with a
mode of enquiry and service
• Although nationally company runs COCO stores, in Goa the COCO stores
should be opening soon
Postpaid team at the head office in Panaji consists of
i. 1 manager
ii. 2 supervisors
iii. 4 sales executives
They also are responsible for direct selling to the corporate
Service Centres: One stop shops that do not qualify as COCO stores are called Service
centres . In Goa the company runs service centres at the following locations
• Vasco
• Margao
• Ponda
• Mapusa
2. Contractual network:
• Contracts are setup between distributors wh responsible for reaching the
product and services to the population
• Distributors are primarily responsible for distribution of prepaid services
Goa has 6 distributors
1. Ponda- Bramanand agencies
2. Margao- Balaji enterprises
3. Panaji- Krishnaruk agencies
4. Bicholim- Shaik Enterprises
5. Siolim- Anita enterprises
6. Vasco – Rajmehkul distributors
• Distributors generally have two types of staff
1. Collection agent
2. Feet on street (FOS)
5. 3. ASSOCIATIONS:
• Goa is yet to market some of their key associations in a big way
• Apple iPhone 3 was launched nationally at various COCO stores but Goa
missed out on the same since it does not have its own COCO store
• Blackberry services are not yet available in Goa
• Another major association with Samsung mobiles is missing in Goa since
Samsung does not have its exclusive store
REFERENCES
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Mr. Pinak Bhowmick-Ex Marketing head Aircel
Mr. Sahil- Sales head Aircel Goa
www.aircel.com
http://www.medianama.com/2010/05/223-3g-auction-india-endsprovisional-winners/
http://www.medianama.com/2010/06/223-indias-broadband-wirelessauction-ends-operator-circlewise-results/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircel