Strategic Management Analysis - Airtel

Report
on
Strategic Management
Analysis
of
Prepared & Compiled by:
Aditya Raval (15020841063)
Arjun Parekh (15020841070)
Rishabh Gupta (15020841100)
Ronak Sharma (15020841101)
Shaini Sachdeva (15020841109)

Table of Content
Sr. No. Main Heading Page No.
1. Vision 3
2. Mission 3
3. Values 3
4. Strategy 3
5. Introduction - Airtel 4
6. Corporate Structure 4
7. Telecom Industry 5
8. External Analysis 8
9. Internal Analysis 9
10. PESTLE Analysis 10
11. VRIO Analysis 13
12. Corporate Level Strategies 14
13. Results & Interpretations, and Suggestions 16
14. Conclusion 19

Vision:
Airtel’s vision is to enrich the lives of their customers. Their obsession is to win
customers for life through an exceptional experience.
Mission:
Hunger to win customers for life.
Values:
Airtel aims to work towards their vision, driven by their values of AIR - Alive,
Inclusive & Respectful.
Alive: Airtel is alive to the needs of their customers. They act with passion, energy
and a can-do attitude to help their customers realize their dreams. Innovation and
an entrepreneurial spirit drives them - if it can’t be done, they’ll find a way.
Inclusive:Airtelisfor everyone -Airtel champion diversity, recognizingthebreadth
and depth of the communities they serve. They work with them, anticipating,
adapting and delivering solutions that enrich their lives. They do this by having an
open mind and embracing change.
Respectful: They live the same lives as their customers, sharing the same joys and
the same pains. They never forget that customers are why they exist. They act with
due humility, always open and honest, to achieve mutual respect.
Strategy:
How will airtel ‘Win Customersfor Life’
1
Winthrough
go-to-market
excellence
 Quality customeradditions
 Revenue market share profile
 Revenue market share profile
2
Winwith data
and digital
services
 Prime spectrum to yielddata growth
 Data and digital revenue growthwith industry-firstinitiatives
 3G/4G network rollout

3
Winwith
valuable
customers
 Postpaid and sticky user base
 Company ownedretail stores
 Enterprise and DTH solutionsthrough service excellence
4
Winwith a
war on waste
 Cost efficiencies
 Subscriberacquisitionand retentioncostsand reduce churn
5
Winwith
people
 High performance culture
 Employee centricity
Introduction - Airtel:
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with
operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi,
India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers globally in
terms of subscribers. In India, the company's productofferings include 2G, 3G and
4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL
broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long
distance services to carriers. In the restof the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless
servicesand mobilecommerce. BhartiAirtelhad over 307 million customersacross
its operations at the end of November 2014.
Airtel is credited with pioneering the business strategy of outsourcing all of its
business operations except marketing, sales and finance and building the 'minutes
factory' model of low cost and high volumes. The strategy has since been adopted
by several operators. Airtel's equipment is provided and maintained by Ericsson
and Nokia Solutions and Networks whereas IT support is provided by IBM. The
transmission towersaremaintained by subsidiariesand jointventurecompaniesof
Bharti including Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers in India. Ericsson agreed for the
first time to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their
equipment rather than beingpaid up front, which allowed Airtelto providelow call
rates of ₹1/minute (US$0.02/minute).
Corporate Structure:
Airtel hastwo distinctCustomer BusinessUnits(CBU) withfocus on B2C (Business
to Customer) and B2B (Business to Business) segments. Airtel's B2C businessunit
dealswithservicingtheretailconsumers, homesand smallofficesprovidingmobile,
fixed line, DTH and m-commerce services while the B2B unit deals with large
corporate accounts.

Mobile Services
Bharti Airtel offers GSM mobile services in all the 22-telecom circles of India and is
the largest mobile service provider in the country, based on the number of
customers.
Telemedia Services
The group offers high-speed broadband with the best in class network. With fixed
line services in 87 cities, it helps to stay in touch with friends & family and to be
updated round the clock.
Airtel Business
Airtel business provides a broad portfolio of services to large Enterprise,
Government, Small& Medium businessesand carrier customers. ItisIndia's leading
and mosttrusted provider of communication and ICTservices, offeringservicesthat
includevoice, data, network integration, datacenter & managed services, enterprise
mobile applications and digital media.
Telecom Industry
Introduction
India is currently the world’s second-largest telecommunications market and has
registered stronggrowth in the pastdecade and half. TheIndian mobileeconomy is
growing rapidly and willcontributesubstantially to India’s grossdomesticproduct
(GDP), according to report prepared by GSM Association (GSMA) in collaboration
with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
The government has enabled easy market access to telecom equipment and a fair
and proactive regulatory framework that has ensured availability of telecom
services to consumer at affordable prices. The deregulation of foreign direct
investment (FDI) norms has made the sector one of the fastest growing and a top
five employment opportunity generator in the country.
Market Size
Driven by strong adoption of data consumption on handheld devices, the total
mobileservicesmarketrevenuein Indiaisexpected to touchUS$ 37 billion in 2017,
registering aCompound AnnualGrowthRate(CAGR) of 5.2 per centbetween 2014
and 2017, according to research firm IDC. According to a study by GSMA,
smartphones areexpected to accountfor two outof every threemobileconnections
globally by 2020 making India the fourth largest smartphone market.

The broadband services user-base in India is expected to grow to 250 million
connections by 2017, according to GSMA.
India saw the fastest growth in new mobile-phone connections with 18 million net
additions in the third quarter of 2014, followed by China with 12 million new
additions, according to a report by Swedish mobile network equipment maker
Ericsson.
International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts India to overtake US as the second-
largest smartphonemarket globally by 2017 and to maintain highgrowth rateover
the next few years as people switch to smartphones and gradually upgrade to 4G.
In spite of only 5 per cent increase in mobile connections in 2015, overall
expenditure on mobile services in India is expected to increase to US$ 21.4 billion
in 2015, led by 15 per centgrowthin dataservicesexpenditure, asper researchfirm
Gartner.
The Indian telecom sector is expected to generate four million direct and indirect
jobs over the next five years according to estimates by Randstad India. The
employment opportunities are expected to be created due to combination of
government’s efforts to increase penetration in rural areas and the rapid increase
in smartphone sales and rising internet usage.

Strategic Management Analysis - Airtel

External Analysis
Opportunities
1. Strategic Partnership: Partnering with smart phone companies is going to
be a smart strategy as far as MNP (Mobile Number Portability in India) is
concerned. This will ensure fixed cash flows in the future and a higher
customer base.
2. Market Development: With fierce competition in the telecom industry &
shrinking margins, venturingoutin new markets/developingeconomieswill
prove fruitful for the company.
3. Technological Infrastructure: Airtelbeingthe1st 4G serviceprovider in the
country, can captureahugechunk of 4G marketand leverageitstechnological
infrastructure to penetrate deeper in to the telecom market.
4. Untapped Geography of the Current Market: Although it is currently
providing 3G & 4G services, but these services are limited to specific
geographical locations. Expansion of these services to most of its regions will
help the company get more margins and customers.
5. LTE: The whole wireless world is moving towards LTE (long term evolution
or 4G). LTE for mobilebroadband can beagood solution for Indiawherefixed
broadband penetration is otherwise low. Airtel has taken the lead with this
version of LTE in majority of States, but deployment needs to catch up pace.
Despite a weak LTE ecosystem in India, Airtel should portray itself as the
embracer of that technology.
Threats
1. Government Regulatory Framework: With the auction of spectrum &
change in the governmentpolicies on aregular basis, it isa potential threatto
stability & existence of this industry thereby affecting the players.
2. TRAI Policies: TRAI has mandated to compensate users with Re.1 per call-
drop, up to maximum of Rs.3 per day. Thiswillhitapproximately 7% revenue
of airtel.
3. Hostile Takeover: Bharti Airtel could also be the target for the takeover
vision of other global telecommunications players that wish to move into the
Indian market.
4. Competition: Pricewar in thehomemarketand decliningmarginsdueto this
is adversely affecting the overall business of the group.
5. MNP (Mobile Number Portability): MNP givesthecustomer independence
to change the service provider while retaining the number and as Airtel
charges are premium over other service providers, it can see slump in
subscriber base in the next fiscal year with PAN India MNP applicable from
May 3rd 2015.

Internal Analysis
Strengths
1. 4G: Airtel being the first mover in to 4G market, has an advantage and use it
as itsstrengthto gain larger market share. MobileDatawillcontributearound
60% of total revenues by 2020, as per the reports. Hence airtel can use this
advantage as its strength.
2. Renowned Telecom Company: With its 19+ years of rich experience in
telecom industry this MNC had travelled far to become world’s 3rd largest
telecom operator overseas with operations in nearly 20 countries.
3. High Brand Equity: It is one of the pioneer brands in telecommunication
having a high brand recall and with a whopping subscriber base.
4. Extensive infrastructure: With the formation of Indus tower & due to its
partnership with Idea & Vodafone, the infrastructure of Airtel has extended
in all parts of the country resulting into nationwide penetration.
5. Strategic Alliances: The Company has top notch stakeholders, namely Sony
Ericsson, Nokia and Singtel, and the recent one being Apple. Such strategic
alliances boost the brand equity and the bottom line of the company.
6. Torchbearer of the Telecom Industry: With its number 1 spot due to its
excellent services in developing economies, Airtel has interconnected thelife
of people in a highly efficient way. Thus, where Vodafone is an external
entrant, Airtel is a leading nationwide player in India and the torchbearer of
the telecom industry in India.
Weaknesses
1. Outsourced Operations: Outsourcing operations helped Airtel in lowering
its cost. But on the other hand, they are running the risk of being dependent
on some other companies which may affect its operations.
2. Pan India 4G License: Airtel doesn’t have pan-India 4G license while
Reliance JIO possessespan India license. This isone of theweaknesses dueto
which Airtel can lose out on a chunk of 4G market.
3. Venturing into Africa: Although it’s been 4 years that Airtel has acquired
Zain’s Africa business, but Airtel is still struggling to turn around the unit
which was bought at a whopping 9 billion dollars.
4. High Debt: With its acquisitions turning out to bad investment, and credit
being highand marginsbeinglow, Airtelgroup isunder high debt. Airteldoes
not have as deep pockets as Vodafone.
5. Accessibility of Customer Support: Airtel doesn’t let its customers access
customer support directly. Customers need to go through various options to
connect to IVR customer support. This is one of the weaknesses of airtel
compared to other network providers.

PESTLE Analysis
The Indian telecommunicationshasbeen zoomingup thegrowthcurveatafeverish
pace, emergingasone of thekey sectorsresponsible for India’sresurgenteconomic
growth. It is the fastest growing telecommunication market in the world.
Political
 The ministry of telecom industry hiked FDI limits to 100% that has enabled
Indian promoters of telecom sector to spark off the competition by selling their
stakes to foreign investors. Dueto increasein FDI, Airtelwillbe ableto modulate
theforeign stakesin their companiesthathavealready acquired arangebetween
67-69% of their assets.
 Airtel’s infrastructure gives them the first mover advantage.
 Airtel is a dominating brand in terms of regulation.
 Airtel already have the tie-up with foreign partner SINTEL that is going to help
in investing more in infrastructure and latest technology to provide the best
services to their subscribers.
 With the tremendous growth and increase in globalization of telecom sector,
Airtel already launched its mobile services in Srilanka in Jan 2009.
 Also Airtel has already acquired Zain for Africa operations which are thesecond
biggest overseas purchase by an Indian company.
Economical
 Indian telecom was growing in the range of 20-30% approximately in the year
2002-03 but this figure has moved to 40-45% during the last couple of years.

 Approximately 30% of the service tax revenue is contributed by telecom sector.
 Telecom sector is also one of the major sectors that provide direct employment
to many people that indirectly help in the economic growth of India.
 Airtel has benefitted as cost of 3G license has lowered down.
 During recession in 2008, government made a policy to reducethe custom duty
on convergenceproductfrom 10 to 5 % thathelped in establishingparity devices
used in communication sector, and also helped Airtel in reducing their cost for
DTH expansion.
 Duringthesamerecession period, raw materialsfor themanufactureof specified
electronic hardware items had been exempted from excise duty that lowers the
network equipmentcostsand provided benefitsto major servicesprovidersand
enabled Airtel to expand their network coverage to more rural areas at a lesser
cost.
 Government has announced per second billing tariff for the subscribers along
with per minute billingplan. Thoughthis per second billingplan isnotbeneficial
for the operators as it reduces the sector’s annual revenue by 10% approx. To
overcome this situation, Airtel has launched low tariff per minute plans along
with per second plan. Aslargenumber of subscribersmakelonger duration calls
and per second plan thusbecomesof no useto them. Airtelcould also launchpay
per character for SMS services just like Tata DoCoMo to increase the VAS
revenue.
Social
 Change in lifestyle:
o Fast changing lifestyles are forcing telecom companies to enlarge the
breadth & depth of their services.
 Regional shift in population:
o The rural Indian consumer managed to remain an attractive proposition,
especially in thedemand for telecom services. As70% of Indian population
still resides in rural areas, improvement in telecommunication
infrastructure and services will reduce isolation, increase business
viability, farming productivity and easy access to educational and medical
services.
 Employmentopportunities: Thetelecom sector offersavariety of career options.
The certificate courses for employment in the industry are:
o Certificate in Telecom Engineering, IT, Computer Science, Management
Information Systems, Computer Forensics.
 Demographic and cultural aspect of the environment also influences customer
needs and market size. Likes and dislikes of a teenager and adult might not be
the same, so the company will have to try its best to meet the requirements. To
meet these requirements, Airtel being the leading private broadband service
provider in the country has introduced the ultra-fast speed of 50 Mbps for the
broadband users on VDSL2 technology that will allow users, the convenience to
download afullfeaturefilm in lessthan 3 minutes. Besidesthatitprovidesvalue
added services such as PC secure (anti-virus software), online storage etc.

 Advertisements play a very important role in selecting the network.
 Cost factor is a major concern to customers. E.g. calling rates, roaming charges
etc. Most of thecustomers are influenced by the latestfashion trend. A company
needs to be updated with the latest technology and fashion trend.
 Nowadays customers have a notion regarding brand and status symbol.
Customers have become cautious regarding selection of telecom network.
 Increasing competition due to large number of players in the telecom industry
has forced in reduction of tariffs. That’s why Airtel has introduced many low
tariff plans such as Youth plan for young people, ladies special, friend’sprepaid
plan, family celebration plan as per the customer requirements. It focuses on
segmentation strategy to understand the need gaps of specific consumer
segments and to create special segmented products for them.
Technological
 Airtel is the first 4G service provider in India and hence it has competitive
advantage over its competitors.
 Bharti Airtel is first wireless service provider that supplies roaming services,
international and long distance communication services as well as value added
services.
 It has high speed optic fiber network. This network spans 126,357 km all over
India. BhartiAirtel’sinternationalnetwork infrastructureincludesownership of
the i2i submarine cable system and consortium ownership in five global
undersea cable system.
 As Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has allowed the customers to retain their
existing mobile numbers despite changing the service provider, this has
eventually increased the competition among the service providers as the
subscribers can switch to any other network if they are not happy with the
current service provider. Airtel has the edge over its competitors as their
services are far better than the other service providers.
Environmental
 Radio frequency waves emitted from the mobile phones harms body cells and
damages the DNA. This is not yet proved that such changes were risk to human
health.
 Due to rising terrorist activities and hacking of confidential data on air, India
Departmentof Telecommunication (DoT)hasmadeseveralamendmentsrelated
to security featuresthat statesthattelecom companies should havegood policies
for security and they should be responsible for the security of the network.
Legal
 TRAI has also ruled out against Airtel and other telecom companies to support
net neutrality. Still talks are going on and TRAI might favor telecom companies.

 Moreover government has tightened norms regarding telecom policies due to
frequent terroristattacks, their misuseof cellular network and their hackinginto
the network.
 Mobile number portability (MNP) implementation would enable subscribers to
move to different service provider retaining the same number. This
implementation would hamper BhartiAirtelascustomerswould keep switching
to any possible networks available.
 In India legal obligations are defined regarding 3G auctions and bidding which
proves to be in favor of Bharti Airtel as this auction is not available to the new
entrants.
VRIO Analysis of Bharti Airtel
VRIO framework can be understood asbelow:
 Value: "Is the firm capable enoughto exploit an opportunity or neutralizean
external threat with the available resource/skill?"
 Rarity:"Is control of the resource/skill in the handsof a relative few?"
 Imitability:"Is it difficultto imitate, & will there be considerable cost
disadvantageto a firm tryingto acquire, develop, or replicate the
resource/skill?"
 Organization:"Is the firm organized, ready, and able to exploit the
resource/skill?" or "Is the firm organized to capturevalue?"
All these questions have been measured on a scale of Low, Medium & High.
Resource Value Rarity
Cost to
Imitate
Organized
to Capture
Value
Competitive
Implication
Strength/
Weakness
Technological
know how
High Medium High Medium Temporary
Competitive
Advantage
Strength
License of
Spectrum
Medium Low - Medium Competitive
Parity
Weakness
Human
Resources
High Medium Medium High Temporary
Competitive
Advantage
Temporary
Strength

Customer
Relations
High High Medium High Sustained
Competitive
Advantage
Strength &
Distinct
Competence
Managerial
Expertise
High Low High High Temporary
Competitive
Advantage
Temporary
Strength
Service Levels
of Airtel
High Medium Medium Medium Sustained
Competitive
Advantage
Strength &
Distinct
Competence
Corporate Level Strategies
CorporateLevel Strategies at variouslevelsdiffer and hence both at National and
at Internationallevel have been analyzed:
1.)CorporateLevel Strategy at Local Level i.e., for India
2.)CorporateLevel Strategy at International Level
1.) Corporate Level Strategy for India
Division of variousbusiness unitsegments:
 Mobile Services Division
 Tele-Media Services Division
 EnterpriseDivision
o Carrier BusinessUnit
o CorporateBusinessUnit
a) Mobile Services Division:
 The MobileServices division is probably the most valuabledivision of Bharti
Airtel.
 Airtel has the largest user-base (customers) in Indiaand hence the largest
mobile service provider in India.
 Airtel offersGSM mobile servicesin all the 23-telecom circles of India.
 Airtel provides4G servicesin 296 cities, as of now, in India
 It provides myriad ValueAdded Services (VAS) such as hello tunes, m-
commerce, wireless internet, mobile appslike Wynk, etc.

b) Tele-Media Services Division:
 The Airtel Telemedia Services division provideshigh speed broadband internet
and related services.
 It launched its DTH servicesin 2008 and currently has1 crore active users as it
claims, capturing19% of market share, only second to Tata Sky (20%).
 Airtel provideslandlineservicein 94 cities across India.
c) Enterprise Division:
 The EnterpriseServices division providesadiverseportfolio of services to large
Enterpriseand Carrier customers.
 Further divided into two units:
I. Carrier BusinessUnit.
II. CorporateBusinessUnit.
I) Carrier BusinessUnit
 The Carrier BusinessUnit provideslongdistancewholesale voice and data
services to carrier customers as well as to other businessunits of Airtel. This
is the major chunk of Airtel’s revenues.
II) CorporateBusinessUnit:
 The CorporateBusinessUnitprovidesend to end telecom solutions to
India’slarge corporate. This will contribute as a major chunk as businesses
are expandingand that growth will fuelAirtel’s growth.
 It providescustomized solutions for each business/industry and specialized
B2B plans.
2.) Corporate Level Strategy for International Market
At International level, airtel needs to have different strategy to be the leader in
telecom sector. At International level there are two needs:
 Need for Localization (Local Responsiveness / Multi-Domestic Strategy /
Glocalization)
 Need for Cost Responsiveness
1) Localization:
 It’s a ‘Focus’ strategy but on awider scope of customers i.e., Differing ‘Focus’for
different customer segments. Focusing on the needs of customers of particular
segment and providing solutions to customers according to their requirements.
 Airtel has always focused enough on different local needs, in different nations
and it has always been central to their strategies.
 Hence the kind of services, offers, plans and VAS that they offer in India is quite
different than what they provide in other nations.

Creating Value through Diversification:
 Airtel seeks to create valuethrough diversification by moving acrossbusinesses
that are both operationally related and similar in corporate structure
 Main objectives behind this are:
 High Resource Sharing. [Economies of Scope]
 Significant Cost Reduction. [Economies of Scale]
Operational Similarity
 It looks at operational relatedness since a number of its businesses operate
acrosssimilar technologiesand thustheplatform for agiven productcan beused
directly for extending the service from a completely new product.
For e.g., the cables for a telephone connection provided by Airtel can be used to
provide broadband service to the customer without any significant change in
infrastructure. This leads to ‘economies of scale’ and ‘economies of scope’.
 The skills required from the technicians are also not very different and thus
economies of scope are quite possible.
Targeting the Same Industry:
 In pursuingthis strategy, Airtel willhave to be cautious of thefact thatit can lead
to diseconomies of scope.
 This can arise primarily from the very fact which Airtelisbanking on – similarity
across its businesses. This is the very reason that Airtel just cannot afford to ‘go
easy’ on any of its domains and needs to keep up to speed in all its businesses.
2) Cost Responsiveness:
 Regional Pricing strategy: Price the offering according to the local/regional
market.
 The price varies from country to country as well as state to state.
 Priced depending upon the needs of the customer segment.
 Pricing also depend on the demography of that customer segment.
Result & Interpretations, and Suggestions
1.) 4G Technology:
4G technology is the next paradigm shift for Indian Telecom Industry. Capturinga
major chunk of this market in the early stage can provide, Airtel, a solid
competitive advantageover its competitors. Followingare some strategic

suggestions from our side which Airtel can leverage to become market leader in
4G segment. Primarily the strategies focuses to:
 Increase 4G adoption among customers
 Changes required in market communication to attract 4G data users
 Overcoming barriersto 4G adoption and leveragingfirstmover advantagein 4G
technology to gain market leadership in 4G
 Winning customers for life (customer retention & increasing customer-lifetime
value).
Changing market communication to attract 4G data users:
 ‘Do More in Less Time’ & ‘Do More in Same Price’ to combat the perceptions of
4G being pricey and consuming more data.
 Rolloutcompensation to existing4G customersfor deficiency in serviceto create
a strong & positive word of mouth.
 Contract celebrities/superheroes that have image of being ‘speedy’.
 Associate Airtel 4G with F1 racing & sponsor other racing events.
To capture market share in new phone purchases:
 Key partnershipswithe-tailers, smartphonesretailers(multi-brand)and mobile
manufacturers.
 Connecting with school going students early on, as they are the next, potential
new phone buyers.
Barriers to 4G Adoption:
 Perception that 4G is pricey and consumes more data.
 Majority customers, who recently purchased a3G smartphone, won’tupgradeto
4G devices.
 Lack of 4G Availability in regions where there is demand.
Strategies to Overcome these Barriers:
 Airtel can forge strategic partnership with mobile manufacturing companies to
promoteAirtel4G in MobiledeviceExchangeschemes, besidespurchasesof New
Mobile phones by providing opportunity to
o Subscribe to (purchase) Airtel 4G USIM card (Non Airtel Customers)
o Switch to Airtel 4G USIM card (Existing Airtel Customers)
 Airtel needs to take aggressive approach to promote 4G, to gain first mover
advantage and capture highest market share, before the competitors enter the
market. For that Airtel can
o Offer free 4G data to its existing 2G and 3G customers (primarily 3G
customers) for amonthand for longer period to customershavinghigh3G
usage to make them switch to 4G.

o An SMS to high data-usage customers providing them info on how much
lesser time would they have required to do the same tasks they did on 3G.
Efficiently using the first mover advantage to convert its technological leadership
into Market leadership Airtel can:
 Come up withadvertisements focusingon the benefitsof 4G alongwiththeprice
of 4G which is similar to that of 3G.
 Sponsor College Festivals to increase 4G adoption in youth and partner with
medical institutes/hospitals, firms, to capture the high net-worth customers.
 Deploy a referral (affiliate) scheme by providing 4G data benefits to referred
customers and referring customers, to promote both Airtel mobile app and 4G.
 Become more sensitive to customers, offer automatic compensation to
customers for deficiency in service, to increase brand credibility & customer
loyalty, ascostof acquiringnew customer is higher than thecostof retainingone.
2.) Africa Operations:
Dueto African countries’weakeningcurrency, politicaluncertainty and fallin crude
prices, Airtel is facing some serious losses. Looking at its target of 100 million
customers by 2013, it has only managed to garner 78.3 million subscribers.
Following are some suggestion from our sidewhich can help turn around itsAfrica
operations.
 In all the countries it operates, Airtel conducts business in local currencies.
However, its debt obligations, equipment purchases and service providers are
billed in dollars, translating into the rise in foreign exchange losses. Our
suggestion is to create a financial contingency plan to hedge against currency
fluctuations.
 Airtel operatesin 17 marketsof Africa. Our suggestion isto exitand sellassetsin
the markets with political uncertainty and legal tangles. The money from selling
the assets can either be applied in its other markets or to pay back the loan of
$8.5b it undertook to fund its Africa operations.
3.) Call Drop Issues:
Back home, aburgeoning problem for most telecoms includingAirtel is ‘calldrops’.
Just recently, TRAI conducted random call drop test and Airtel, along with other
major telecoms, failed.

In the light of ‘call drops’ coming into the lime light and being a major issue, we
would suggest Airtel to invest into improving the infrastructure and solve this
problem. This would serve three purpose at the price of one.
 First and most obvious, it would solve the problem of ‘call drops’.
 Second, itwould bethefirstcompany to do itand hencewould getthefirstmover
advantage. Sooner or later, under TRAI’s regulation, all telecoms would have to
solve this issue, so might as well be first one to do it.
 Third, in the age of social media, Airtel’s improved performance would provide
it free positive publicity.
Conclusion
Out of India’s over 1 billion mobile user base, only a little over 350 million users
enjoy internet. But this is set to change. India is on course to overtake US in terms
of mobile users with 402 million users by the end of 2016. If theabove-mentioned
strategies are followed, Airtel stands chance to capture a major chunk of this ever-
growing mobile internet user base. Also Airtel can also emerge as a pioneer in
bringing 4G technology in India. Similar to India, Airtel, withawellthoughtstrategy,
can capture Africa’s over 1 billion population as its prospective subscribers. Till
now, Airtel has a well-established strategies to ‘Win Customers for Life’. A proper
OGST model helps companies realize its objectives and Airtel is one of those
companies.

Strategic Management Analysis - Airtel

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