The document is a student project submitted in partial fulfillment of a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. It compares the post-paid cellular plans of Airtel and Vodafone in India. The project includes a student declaration, certificate from the guiding faculty, and the beginning of chapter 1 which provides a brief history of Airtel in India from its founding in 1995 to partnerships, acquisitions and service launches up to 2004.

1. SELLING COMPARISON OF
AIRTEL & VODAFONE
POST-PAID CONNECTION
Submitted in Partial Fulfilment for the Award of the Degree of
Bachelor in Business Administration 2009-2012
Under the Guidance of: Submitted By:
Name of Guide: Sunita Tunk Name of Student:Deepak Kadian
Designation: University Enrolment No.: 08161101709
Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies
Affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi
PSP Area, Plot No. 1, Sector 22, Rohini, Delhi 110086

2. STUDENT DECLARATION
This is to certify that a Shave completed the Summer project titled “Selling comparison of
Airtel & Vodafone post-paid connection” under the guidance of “Ms. Sunita Tunk” in partial
fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Degree of Bachelor of Business
Administration at Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies, Delhi. This is an
original piece of work & I have not submitted it earlier elsewhere.
Date: Signature:
Place: Name:
University Enrollment No.:

3. CERTIFICATE FORM THE INSTITUTE GUIDE
This is to certify that the summer project titled “Selling Comparison of Airtel & Vodafone
Post-paid Connection” is an academic work done by “Deepak Kadian” submitted in an
partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Business
Administration at Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies, Delhi, under my
guidance & direction.
To the best of my knowledge and belief the date & information presented by him in the
project has been submitted earlier.
Signature :
Name of the Faculty :
Designation :

4. Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 History
1.1.1 Bharti Airtel
Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated on July 7, 1995 as a company with limited liability
under the Companies Act, for promoting telecommunications services. Bharti Tele-Ventures
received certificate for commencement of business on January 18, 1996. The Company was
initially formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Telecom Limited. The chronology of
events since Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated in 1995 is as follows:
1995
- Bharti Cellular launched cellular services'AirTel'in Delhi
1996
- STET International Netherlands NV, or STET, a company promoted by Telecom
Italia, Italy acquired a 20% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures
- Bharti Telenet launched cellular services in Himachal Pradesh
1997
- British Telecom acquired a 21.05% equity interest in Bharti Cellular
- Bharti Telenet obtained a license for providing fixed-line services in Madhya Pradesh
circle
- Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture Bharti BT, for
providing VSAT services

5. 1998
- Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture, Bharti BT
Internet for providing Internet services
- First Indian private fixed-line services launched in Indore in the Madhya Pradesh
circle on June 4, 1998 by Bharti Telenet there by ending fixed-line services monopoly
of DoT (now BSNL)
1999
- Warburg Pincus (through its investment company Brentwood Investment Holdings
Limited) acquired a 19.05% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures
- Bharti Tele-Ventures (by acquiring a 63.45% equity interest in SC Cellular Holdings)
acquired an effective 32.36% equity interest in Bharti Mobile (formerly JT Mobiles),
the cellular services provider in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh circles
- New York Life Insurance Fund, or NYLIF, acquired a 3% equity interest in Bharti
Cellular.
2000
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an effective equity interest of 40.5% in Bharti
Mobinet (formerly Skycell Communications), the cellular services provider in
Chennai
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired a 30.2% equity interest of Telecom Italia in Bharti
Telenet and 18.8% from Bharti Telecom thereby making Bharti Telenet a 100%
subsidiary of Bharti Tele-Ventures
- SingTel (through its investment company Pastel Limited) acquired STET's 15.3%
equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an additional effective 41.64% equity interest in
Bharti Mobile (by acquiring the remaining 36.55% equity interest in SC Cellular)
resulting in Bharti Tele-Ventures holding an effective 74% equity interest in Bharti
Mobile.
2001
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired NYLIF's 3% equity interest in Bharti Cellular
- Bharti Telesonic entered into a joint venture, Bharti Aquanet, with SingTel for
establishing a submarine cable landing station at Chennai

6. - Bharti Tele-Ventures issued additional equity for approximately US$ 481.30
million to SingTel, Warburg Pincus, AIF group, IFC, NYLIF, and Seejay Cellular
and Bharti Telecom
- Bharti Cellular acquired a 100% equity interest in Bharti Mobitel (formerly Spice
Cell ), the cellular services provider in Kolkata
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired 85% and 15% in Bharti Telespatial from Bharti
Telecom and Intel, respectively
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired a 44% equity interest in Bharti Cellular from British
Telecom, thereby making Bharti Cellular its 100% subsidiary
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an additional 49% equity interest in Bharti Mobinet
from Millicom International and BellSouth International, thereby owning 89.5%
equity interest in Bharti Mobinet, which was further increased to 95.3% following an
issuance of additional equity shares by way of rights issue
- Punjab license restored to Bharti Mobile by the DoT and migration to NTP - 1999
accepted
- Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements to provide cellular services in eight
new circles following the fourth operator cellular license bidding process
- Bharti Telenet entered into license agreements to provide fixed-line services in the
Haryana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka circles
- Bharti Telesonic entered into a license agreement with the DoT to provide national
long distance services across India
- Bharti Aquanet, Bharti Telesonic and Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements
with the DoT to provide ISP services in India
- Bharti Telesonic launched national long distance services under the brand name of
IndiaOne
- Bharti Telenet launched fixed line services in Haryana under the brand name of
TouchTel.
2002
- Comes out with issue of 18.53 crore equity shares through book building route with a
floor price of Rs 45 per share, received bid for 18.55 crore shares. Through the issue,
it becomes the first company in India to come out with 100% book building issue
-Issue price fixed at Rs 45 per share, floor price fixed by the company. Raises Rs 834
crore
-Shares listed on BSE, NSE and DSE opens at 11% premium to its issue price of Rs 45

7. -Enters into a 5-year agreement with Escotel and ETL of the Escorts group to contract
leased line connectivity for its cellular operations
-Mr. Ravi Akhoury ceases to be Director of Bharti Tele
-DoT grants ILD Telephony License to Bharti Telesonic, subsidiary of the company
-Signs MoU with Telia AB to buy out their 26% stake in Bharti Mobile
-Ties up with SSC (Secondary School Certification) Board, Hyderabad, where Bharti
will announce SSC results to its customers on their mobile phones
-ICICI Bank ties up with Bharti for pre-paid mobile cards via ATMs
-Bharti forays into Mumbai with offers
-Alpine International Ltd. and ELM International Ltd. acquire shares of Bharti Tele-
Ventures
-Sunil Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director of the company, bags Businessman of
the year award by Business India
2003
-Airtel breaks interconnectivity with Tata Teleservices in Andhra Pradesh Circle
-Company accorded its approval for amalgamation of its subsidiary companies viz:
Bharti Telenet Ltd, Bharti Telesonic Ltd, Bharti Broadband Networks Ltd and Bharti
Comtel Ltd through scheme of Amalgamation. The merged entity would be renamed
as Bharti Infotel Ltd
-Air Tel launches Local direct dialling facility in Chennai circle
-Mobilises 5 m long term foreign currency borrowings for expansion of cellular
operations
-Bharti Cellular unveils CareTouch service
-Bharti Group's cellular brand Airtel has unveiled free multimedia messaging services
(MMS) for its customers. The company has also rolled out pan-India GPRS (General
Packet Radio Services) for its corporate subscribers
-Launches its `IndiaOne MeetXpress' audio-conferencing service
-Punjab, Haryana get free incoming calls from Airtel
-AirTel provides SMS facilities to hearing impaired in Chennai

8. -Goa, Maharashtra gets 'voice portal' services by Bharti Cellular
-Launches free additional connection to its new subscribers in New Delhi
-Mr Sin Hang Boon and Mr Wong Hung Khim have resigned from the Board of
Directors of Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd with effect from February 27, 2003.
-Airtel provides SMS cricket updates
-Bharti Mobinet Ltd, the Bharti group company that provides the AirTel mobile
service in Chennai, today launched its GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) network
and an MMS (multi-media messaging) on the GPRS platform
-AirTel unveils new ring tones for karnataka cellular market
-AirTel Subscribers exceed 3 million mark
-AirTel unveils RAD system
-Mr P M Sinha resigns from the Board of Directors of the Company with effect from
March 31, 2003.
-Bharti TeleVentures announces the completion of merger with Bharti Mobitel
-Bharti Mobitel Ltd. merged with Bharti Cellular Ltd.
-AirTel reintroduces 'Mobile 2 Mobile' offer for Karnataka customers
-AirTel, Touchtel jointly offer freeTouchtel land line for post-paid Airtel connection
-AirTel rolls out voice mail service for pre-paid customers
-AirTel unveils new scheme for pre-paid customers giving away free talk time worth
Rs 10 crore
-Airtel surpasses 4 lakh subscriber base in Karnataka
-Bharti announces new tariff plan AirTel 012
-Offers 0-1-2, a new cellular package for the customers, which means zero charges on
incoming calls, Re 1 on mobile-to-mobile outgoing calls, Rs 2 on mobile-to-mobile
STD calls
-Rolls out Airtel messenger service
-AirTel offers bundled handset, connection package for Rs 5715
-Airtel slashes SMS rates to 60 paise; excludes Delhi and Mumbai

9. -Bharti cellular, wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Tele-Ventures, increases its stake
to 100% in Bharti Mobile
-Iinks distribution pact with Hathway Cable. With this alliance, Bharti is said to be the
first telecom firm to step into television distribution services
-Six cell operators move over from Bharti to VSNL
-Airtel augments cellular coverage in TN by including Arcot & Walajapet in its
network
-Airtel ties up with Coke in Chennai to sell its Magic prepaid cards
-AirTel embarks on network expansion in Hyderabad
-Airtel unveils IndiaOne Long Distance Calling Card
-AirTel introduces unified tariff package in TN, Chennai
-Airtel becomes front runner in Karnataka's mobile services market
-Bharti Tele launches 'Always on' service to its subscribers
-SBI, AirTel announce EMI offer at Rs 299
-Bharti and MTV join hands to launch new SIM card
-AirTel unveils new post-paid scheme at zero rental
-AirTel launches `Happy Plan' in AP
-Airtel emerges as the highest selling pre-paid card
-Airtel join hands with Alcatel & Videocon to launch new scheme
-AirTel service provider touches 5 lakh customers in Punjab
-Airtel offers 5 new services for its customers in Mumbai
-Bharti launches first dual band network in Delhi
-Gets 14th place among top 25 Cos in India
-Bharti Mobile crosses 4 lakh mobile subscribers in AP
-Airtel holds top position in terms of dealer penetration
-Prof. V S Raju has been inducted on the Board of Directors of the Company.
-Touchtel launches SMS service in fixed line phones in Karnal, Panipat

10. -AitTel unveils special offers in Kerala
-AirTel launches InnoWest for the western region
-Bharti Tele-Ventures enters into an agreement with Telesystem (Mauritius) Pvt. Ltd
-Airtel slashes out going sms price to 30ps
- AirTel on December 16, 2003 announced the launch of expense tracker service,
which provides customers the option of tracking their day-to-day expenses on a daily
or monthly basis. To avail of this service, the customer should register himself by
sending EXP REG Your mail ID{gt} to 3020. This service will allow a user to track
expenses, while on the move by sending an SMS. Each SMS sent to 3020 would cost
Rs 3.
-AirTel introduces MTV Club Card in Chennai
2004
-Bharti unveils new card for Mecca piligrims
-AirTel enrolls 50,000 customers in its mobile service in 60 days
-Launches WAP enabled portal Service in Kerala
- Bharti Cellular's AirTel has extended its mobile connectivity to Karaikkal, Nagur,
Mannargudi and Kovilpalayam in Tamil Nadu circle.
-Airtel customer base touches new high of 5 lakh mark in Andhra Pradesh
- Mobile service provider AirTel is launching its first ever MMS (Multi Media service)
downloads in Tamil. The launch of this service has been timed to coincide with
Pongal.
-AirTel tie up with MAA TV
-Airtel launches Rs 50 pre-paids recharge
-AirTel launched a family pack for its post-paid customers in Chennai on January 29.
According to a press release, the family pack may have a maximum of 10 members
spread across the country. The combined basic plan fixed charges/rental of all family
members in the pack will have to be equal to Rs 450 but less than Rs 1000 for the
family 450 pack and above Rs 1000 for the family 1000 pack. The offerings under
family pack 450 include 15 free mobile to mobile STD minutes within the family, 50
free local calling minutes to each family member, calls within the family in same
circle at 50 paise per minute, 25 free local SMS and one subscription alert service free
for 3 months.
-Bharti Tele-Ventures enters into a three year service agreement with Ericsson

11. -Bharti Tele-Ventures (BTVL) has signed and received unified access service licence
to provide GSM services in five circles including Uttar Pradesh (East), West Bengal
& Andaman Nicobar, Orissa, Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir. The licence has been
granted to Bharti Cellular Ltd (BCL), the cellular arm and subsidiary of BTVL.
-Airtel announces the signing of the first-ever bilateral roaming agreement between an
Indian mobile service provider and its counterpart in Pakistan. This facility will be
available to pre-paid as well as post-paid customers. AirTel's roaming agreement is
with Mobilink, the only GSM cellular service provider in Pakistan
-Acquires switching systems from Tekelec that will give a technological edge to the
company
-Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd signed an information technology outsourcing deal with
infotech major IBM, estimated to be in the range of 0-750 million for a ten-year
period.
-Jayant Khosla, new chief executive officer, Mumbai
-Signs MoU to join the South East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-
WE-4) consortium along with 15 other global telecom operators.
-Bharti Tele-Ventures has struck a deal with Shyam Telecom to buy out the latter's
67.5 per cent stake in cellular services company Hexacom for Rs 430 crore.
-Bharti Tele garners 0 m via FCCBs
- Samsung India Electronics Limited has tied up with cellular operator Bharti for
bundling its mobile handsets with a connection.
-The Bharti group finalised a Rs 500-crore deal to share its national long-distance
(STD) network with VSNL in a first-of-its-kind accord between two top telecom
service providers in a bid to optimise capacities in the NLD segment.
- Internet gateway and services provider, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) has
signed a Right to Use (RoU) agreement to deploy mobile telephony major, Bharti
Tele-Ventures' existing National Long Distance (NLD) backbone.
-Airtel offers talktime transfer service
-Airtel has announced money-back guarantee offer in case of call drop or poor
network experience for its subscribers
-Bharti launches 2-in-1 card
-Airtel launched two-way international roaming and GPRS for prepaid customers in
the Maharshtra and Goa circles

12. -India's leading cellular company Bharti Tele-Ventures has bagged the Asian
MobileNews operator of the year award in India and the subcontinent
-Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd has awarded a million equipment contract to Swedish
telecoms company Ericsson
-Bharti Televentures announced formation of a new strategic business unit to offer
various telecom and IT services through a single contact
-Bharti Televentures unveiled a mobile portal featuring sports, entertainment and news
among others
-Airtel ties up with Micro Tech to set up 'Mcops' vehicle security system
-Bharti Tele-Venture on July 19 launched ring back tone service which is a
personalized mobile music service where the caller hears songs and other sound clips
instead of the traditional switchboard ring-ring tone
-Airtel, a private telecom services provider, has commissioned its first 24x7 customer
service centre in Andhra Pradesh
-Airtel unveils Rs 199 pre paid card
-AirTel join hands with NMIMS to offer executive MBA programme
-AirTel introduces new scheme for hearing impaired in Maharashtra & Goa
-AirTel inks pact with JP Mobile
-Rolls out Enhanced Data Rate for Global Evolution (EDGE) network in Pune on
September 9, 2004, Ties up with Nokia for sale of Nokia 6230, an EDGE-enabled
handset.
-AirTel unveils first virtual calling cards in India
-BTVL rolls out EDGE services in Bangalore
-Airtel rolls out Full Talktime Advantage card
-Airtel rolls out wi-fi services in Mumbai
-BTVL launches new 'Airtel Broadband Friendly Offer'
-Airtel launches GPRS services for pre-paid customers
-Airtel partners with ITPO to set up Wi-Fi network in Delhi
-Airtel launches EDGE services and a new pre-paid plan for Chennai
-Airtel introduces LAS in Karnataka

13. 2005
-Airtel launches video services for its GPRS customers on February 22, 2005
-Airtel unveils new TV ad featuring Sachin, Sharukh
-Bharti Tele-Ventures launches telecom network in Andaman & Nicobar
-BTVL unveil fixed line, broadband services
-Bharti inks 5-m deal with Nokia for rural network expansion
-Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd has announced that Airtel, ICICI Bank & VISA have joined
hands to launch mChq - a revolutionary new service - a credit card on the mobile
phone
-Bharti Tele Ventures - Airtel introduces BlackBerry Connect in India
-Bharti Tele Ventures announces agreement with Vodafone
-Airtel unveils 'free flight' offer
-Airtel unveils starter pack
-Bharti Tele-Ventures launches under sea cable system
2006
-Airtel unveils Re 1 STD plans
-Airtel launches NetXpert.
-Airtel launches Post2Pre recharging service on April 04,2006.
-Airtel sets up customer centre
-Mobile service provider Airtel today announced the launch of `Save My Phone
Contact' service for its pre-paid and post-paid customers in Delhi
-Bharti Tele Ventures bags 'Wireless Service Provider of the Year' & 'Competitive
Service Provider of the Year' awards
-Sunil Mittal bags CEO of the Year award
-Cellebrum join hands with Airtel

14. -Airtel Mega unveiled in Coimbatore
-Airtel joins hand with Microsoft
-Bharti Airtel Ltd has informed that Microsoft and the Company announced a
strategic partnership that will offer a range of software and services for small and
medium businesses (SMBs) in India.
-Bharti Airtel Ltd on Nov 8, announced a first-of-its-kind alliance with the Adani
Group for establishing an end-to-end modern telecommunication network
infrastructure for the latter's multi-sector special economic zone (SEZ), located
near Mundra Port in Kutch district of Gujarat.
2007
-Bharti Airtel, telecom major, has come out with a slew of initiatives including
buying out SingTel's 50 per cent stake in joint venture under sea cable company
Network i2i for 0 million.
-Bharti Airtel on Feb 11, has been awarded QCI-DL Shah National Award on
Economics of Quality.
-Bharti Airtel Ltd has announced the following changes in the operational
leadership structure and roles in the Company effective April 01, 2007.
-Bharti Airtel Ltd on April 01, 2007, has announced the reduction in International
Long Distance Tariffs (ISD) for all its mobile customers in India.
-Airtel signs agreement with HTC for touch screen mobile.
2008
- Nokia Siemens Networks on Jan 3 declared that it has been awarded a multi
million euro contract from Bharti Airtel Ltd for deployment of a single interactive
voice response (IVR) platform across 23 circles. The three-year turnkey contract
comprises designing, planning, systems integration and optimisation services to
raise overall customer experience. The new IVR solution will enable Airtel to
deliver services such as voice SMS, televoting, call management services, caller
ring back tone and voice portal on a faster time-to-market basis and, therefore,
reduce OPEX costs.
- Bharti Airtel Ltd on February 13, 2008 has announced that it has achieved the 60
million customer mark. This landmark has catapulted Bharti Airtel into the club
of top mobile operators in the world in terms of subscriber base. The 60 million
customer base covers mobile as well as fixed line and broadband customers.
- Bharti Airtel tied up with US-based Apple Inc to bring the popular GSM-based
iPhone in the country.

15. - Bharti Airtel Ltd has forged a technology alliance with Infosys Technologies Ltd
to launch its Direct-to-Home (DTH) television services. Infosys, through its
digital convergence platform, will offer a suite of products including devices,
application servers and interactive applications for Airtel's DTH services.
2009
- Bharti Airtel HAS signed a five-year managed services deal valued at 0 million
with Alcatel Lucent for its fixed-line and broadband operations.
- Bharti Airtel launched the 'Airtel Advantage' initiative. The initiative is aimed at
offering the added advantage to Airtel customers to be in touch with each other at
an affordable rate of 50 paise per minute, be it a national long distance call (STD)
or a local call.
- In order to create products and services for the small, medium and large
enterprises, Bharti Airtel and Cisco announced a strategic business alliance. The
alliance would combine the strengths of Airtel's network service and Cisco'
Internet Protocol (IP) technologies.
- Bharti Airtel - Airtel and mChek announce milestone of One Million users;
introduce a broad range of new mCommerce services.
2010
- Bharti Airtel submitted its bid for 3G spectrum, the auction for which starts from
April 9.
- Bharti Airtel has partnered with US-based software maker VMware Inc. It has
done this in order to focus on the cloud-based managed computer services
market.
- Bharti Airtel, India's No.1 cellular carrier has won broadband spectrum in four
circles. Earlier, Bharti has said that it had tied up the entire financing requirement
of .3 bn for the planned buy, through a series of banks.

16. 1.1.2 Vodafone
Company Beginnings Original Corporate Logo of Vodafone.
Vodafone itself was formed in 1982 as a joint venture between Racal Electronics plc's
subsidiary Racal Strategic Radio Ltd (who won one of two UK cellular telephone network
licences) along with Millicom and the Hambros Technology Trust. In this arrangement Racal
owned 80%, Millicom 15% and Hambros 5%. The network was known as Racal Vodafone,
with the Vodafone name being derived from the firm's goal of establishing a voice and data
services over cellular telecommunication networks. Hence VO represented voice and DA
symbolized data — yielding the name Vodafone.
Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985 and later that year Racal Strategic Radio was
renamed Racal Telecommunications Group Limited in 1985. A year later, on 29 December
1986 Racal Electronics bought out the minority shareholders of Vodafone for GB£110
million. In September 1988 the company was again renamed Racal Telecom and on 26
October 1988 Racal Electronics floated 20% of the company — a flotation that valued Racal
Telecom at GB£1.7 billion. On 16 September 1991 Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal
Electronics as Vodafone Group and the mobile telephony giant was born.
During the mix 1990s Vodafone began to consolidate itself on the British high-street. In July
1996 Vodafone acquired the two thirds of Talkland it did not already own for £30.6 million.
On 19 November 1996, in a defensive move, Vodafone purchased Peoples Phone for £77
million, a 181 store chain whose customers were overwhelmingly using Vodafone's network.
In a similar move the company acquired the 80% of Astec Communications that it did not
own, a service provider with 21 stores. This made Vodafone a very visible presence on the
British high street and significantly increased the company's share of UK mobile customers.
New Corporate Logo of Vodafone as of 1997.
In 1997 Vodafone introduced its new corporate Speechmark logo. This represents a quotation
mark within a circle. With the 'O's in the Vodafone logotype being opening and closing
quotation marks, suggesting conversation.

17. In India
Vodafone arrived in India in September 2007, with the aim of capturing a share of the fast
growing Indian market. Vodafone has operations in over 25 countries across 5 continents
with nearly 40 network partners and around 200 million customers worldwide. In India,
Vodafone Essar has a presence in 16 circles covering 86% India's customer mobile base and
has a customer base of 49.1 million.
Vodafone provides both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout
India. Based on GSM technology Vodafone provides voice and data services in 16 out of the
country's 23 cellular circles.
Vodafone has received numerous awards including "Most Respected Telecom Company",
"Best Mobile Service in the Country" and "The Most Effective And Most Creative Advertiser
Of The Year".