The advertisements are meant for spreading information about the product and motivating the customer to buy them. Every moment, telecom industry is updating itself. Advancement in information technology & its applications are positively affecting the life of telecom users. This paper is an effort to understood, the perception of different demographical segments, of Ghaziabad city, towards the promotional efforts of leading three telecom companies - Airtel, Idea & Vodafone. The study dentified that different segment have different views about their promotion programs, therefore, the companies need to promote its telecom services, as per the characteristics of target market. The research paper proves that un-segmented marketing effort can’t produce the desire outcomes.

1. Assessment of Advertisement Acceptance of Idea, Airtel
and Vodafone Telecom services among various age groups
in Ghaziabad
Abstract:
The advertisements are meant for spreading information about the product and
motivating the customer to buy them. Every moment, telecom industry is updating
itself. Advancement in information technology & its applications are positively
affecting the life of telecom users. This paper is an effort to understood, the perception
of different demographical segments, of Ghaziabad city, towards the promotional
efforts of leading three telecom companies - Airtel, Idea & Vodafone. The study
identified that different segment have different views about their promotion programs,
therefore, the companies need to promote its telecom services, as per the characteristics
of target market. The research paper proves that un-segmented marketing effort can’t
produce the desire outcomes.
Keywords: Telecom, Wireless Services, wire-line service
Introduction:
Indian Telecom Industry started in 1851 when first operational land lines were laid by
the government near Calcutta (seat of British power). In year 2016, India is the world’s
second-largest telecommunications market and the third highest number of internet
users in the world. It has registered strong growth in the past decade and half. The
Indian mobile economy is growing rapidly and will contribute substantially to India’s
gross domestic product (GDP), according to report prepared by GSM Association
(GSMA) in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). According to
research firm IDC, driven by strong adoption of data consumption on handheld devices,
the total mobile services market revenue in India is expected to touch US$ 37 billion in
2017, registering a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.2 per cent between
2014 and 2017. In between FY 2007-2016 India’s telephone subscriber base expanded
*Assistant Professor, Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad
Vishal Srivastava*1

2. at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 19.5 per cent. In September
2015, total telephone subscription stood at 1,022.61 million, while tele-density
was at 80.98 percent (Fig.1).
Driven by 3G and 4G services, it is expected that there will be huge growth in
Indian telecom market in 2016-17, according to UST Global. There is also a lot
of scope for growth of telecom services in the government's ambitious US$ 1.1
billion Smart City program. The rapid strides in the telecom sector have been
facilitated by liberal policies of the Government of India that provide easy
market access for telecom equipment and a fair regulatory framework for
offering telecom services at affordable prices. According to a study by GSMA, it
has been expected that smartphones will account for two out of every three
mobile connections globally by 2020 and India is all set to become the fourth
largest smartphone market.
According to CCI, as on 31st October, 2014, the private access service providers
held 90.55% market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and
MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, held only 9.45% market share.
Wireline subscriber base declined from 27.41 million at the end of September,
2014 to 27.28 million at the end of October, 2014. Net reduction in the wireline
subscriber base was 0.12 million at the monthly decline rate of 0.45%. Wireless
market share in terms of total subscribers in India -Bharti Airtel is the market
leader, with a 22.7 per cent share of total subscription, followed by Vodafone
(18.4 per cent share) (Fig. 2).
The telecom industry around the world is redefining communication services
more frequently than ever. The technology is evolving in the wireless
technology, mobile handset technology, tele-presence solutions, cloud based
solutions and broadband. The bandwidth promised by newer technologies is
setting new benchmarks rapidly.
However, acceptance of advancement in technology is very slow. Despite launch
of 3G services in 2010, there is less than 10% penetration in India. However, the
3G adoption has picked up in 2013 and 2014 showing growth of 114% during
that period. Like 3G, the case of 4G has also not been meaningful so far. It has
been 4 years since operators won the spectrum for launching 4G services in
India, but they haven’t made much progress. Only few operators have managed
to launch 4G services significantly in bigger cities. While many of the developed
and developing countries have done 100% 4G rollout, India is lagging behind
(Fig. 3). It seems the failure of Telecom organizations to spread the awareness
and create the demand among Indian users. Advertisement is a tool to spread the
information & it’s effectiveness is dependent on the acceptance of the message in
masses.

3. As per GroupM, advertisement spending in India will grow 15.5% in 2016 to Rs.57,486
crore over year 2014-15 ad spending growth by 14.2%. The agency estimated, Digital
advertising will account for 12.7% of all ad spending in 2016, up from 9.9% in 2015.
Print media’s share will shrink from 32.4% to 29.7%. And TV will remain the
dominant medium with a 47.1% share, up from 46.3% .
Research Methodology:
To study the promotional programs, researcher applied descriptive research design. The
study considers Age Demographic, one among the three most significant demographic
factors- Age, Occupation & Education (Olshansky SJ, 2015) over promotion programs
of Idea, Airtel & Vodafone telecom organizations. To achieve the study-objectives & to
test above mentioned hypothesis, internet, annual report secondary data & primary data
from the 100 respondents of Ghaziabad city are selected through simple random
sampling technique. The primary data collected through structured questionnaire,
consist of categorical-demographic questions & scaling questions to measure the
attitude. Study used parametric tests to test the hypothesis.
Objectives of Study:
1. To study the promotional programs of Telecom organizations
2. To study the impact of Telecom promotion over various Age-groups
3. To analyze the differences among various Telecom organization’s promotional
efforts
Data Finding & Interpretations:
The selected sample contains respondents of 18 years and above, however the central
tendency of age of sample is 21-25 years.
Hypothesis 1: Idea Television Commercials have similar acceptance among
various age groups H0: P ≤ 0.05
Chi-square test is used to test the association in between Age and Idea Promotion
acceptance. The test values, χ2
= 22.720, p = .887 suggest that there is statistically
significant association between Age-Groups and Idea Promotion acceptance.
Hypothesis 2: Airtel Television Commercials have similar acceptance among
various age groups H0: P≤ 0.05
Chi-square test is used to test the association in between Age and Airtel Promotion
acceptance. The test values, χ2
= 25.009, p = .627 suggest that there is statistically
significant association between Age-Groups and Airtel Promotion acceptance.
Hypothesis 3: Vodafone Television Commercials have similar acceptance among
various age groups H0: P≤ 0.05
Chi-square test is used to test the association in between Age and Vodafone Promotion
acceptance. The test values, χ2
= 25.009, p = .627 suggest that there is statistically
significant association between Age-Groups and Vodafone Promotion acceptance.

4. Conclusion:
The study identifies that the advertisements & their acceptance varies
significantly. Therefore, organization has to be clear about the specific message
& benefits promotions for specific user. The non-segmented promotion strategy
cannot support to the organization. To get better benefits from the promotional
programs, the marketers has to first study the target segment & act accordingly.
Moreover, there is a strong need to assess the other significant demographical
variables to assess their role in acceptance of promotion programs. The further
studies can also be done in modeling the contribution of various demographical
factors in acceptance of promotional programs of telecom services.
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Annexure 1
Chi-Square Tests- Age and Idea Promotion acceptance
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 22.720a
32 .887
Likelihood Ratio 26.185 32 .755
Linear-by-Linear Association .060 1 .806
N of Valid Cases 100
a. 39 cells (86.7%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .02.

5. Symmetric Measures
Value Approx. Sig.
Nominal by Nominal
Phi .477 .887
Cramer's V .238 .887
N of Valid Cases 100
a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.
b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.
Annexure 2
Chi-Square Tests- Age and Airtel Promotion acceptance
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 25.009a
28 .627
Likelihood Ratio 22.540 28 .756
Linear-by-Linear
Association
.058 1 .810
N of Valid Cases 100
a. 33 cells (82.5%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .02.
Symmetric Measures
Value Approx. Sig.
Nominal by Nominal
Phi .500 .627
Cramer's V .250 .627
N of Valid Cases 100
a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.
b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.
Annexure 3
Chi-Square Tests- and Vodafone Promotion acceptance
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 42.664a
32 .099
Likelihood Ratio 46.705 32 .045
Linear-by-Linear Association 2.281 1 .131
N of Valid Cases 100
a. 40 cells (88.9%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .02.
Symmetric Measures
Value Approx. Sig.
Nominal by Nominal
Phi .653 .099
Cramer's V .327 .099
N of Valid Cases 100
a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.