The document presents a filed study report on customer perception towards Vodafone services after its merger with Idea. It includes details of the telecom industry in India, profiles of Vodafone and Idea, objectives of the study, research methodology used including data collection and analysis. The study aims to understand customer expectations and perception of services provided by Vodafone Idea after the merger of the two companies.

1. Filed Study Report
On
Customer Perception towards Vodafone
Services after merger with Idea
Towards partial fulfilment of
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)
School of Management, Babu Banarasi Das University, Lucknow
Guided by Submitted By
Ms. Ekta Shivam Pal
(Assistant Professor) Roll No.: 1180671355
BBA- 3rd
Sem.
Session 2019-2020
School of Management
Babu Banarasi Das University
Sector I, Dr. Akhilesh Das Nagar, Faizabad Road, Lucknow (U.P.) India

2. 2
DECLARATION
I do hereby declare that the research report “Customer Perception towards Vodafone
Services after merger with Idea” submitted by me in partial fulfilment of the requirement of
Bachelor of Business Administration, is exclusively prepared and conceptualized by me and is
not submitted to any other Institution or University or published anywhere before for the reward
of any Degree/Diploma/Certificate. It is the Original work of mine and has not been obtained
from any other part.
Shivam Pal
Roll No.:1180671355
BBA- 3rd
Sem.

3. 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Every work constitutes great deal of assistance and guidance from the people concerned and this
particular project is of no exception.
A project of the nature is surely a result of tremendous support, guidance, encouragement and
help.
Wish to place on record my sincere gratitude to my project guide Ms. Ekta, Assistant
Professor, Babu Banarasi Das University, Lucknow. I thank her for constructive help and
encouragement throughout the project. Without her support and guidance, the assignment would
not have been possible.
Also, wish to acknowledge enthusiastic encouragement and support extended to me by my
family members.
I’m also thankful to my friends who provided me their constant support and assistance.
Shivam Pal
Roll No.:1180671355
BBA- 3rd
Sem.

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TABLE OF CONTENT
 DECLARATION
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 PFREFACE
S.R. TOPICS Page. No.
1. INTRODUCTION 5
2. COMPANY PROFILE 10
3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 15
4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16
5. DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION 18
6. FINDINGS 29
7. SUGGESTIONS 30
8. LIMITATIONS 31
9.
CONCLUSION 32
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 ANNEXURE

5. 5
INTRODUCTION

6. 6
INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY
India is currently the world’s second-largest telecommunications market with a subscriber base
of 1.20 billion and has registered strong growth in the past decade and half. The Indian mobile
economy is growing rapidly and will contribute substantially to Indians Gross Domestic Product
(GDP), according to report prepared by GSM Association (GSMA) in collaboration with the
Boston Consulting Group (BCG). As of January 2019, India has witnessed a 165 per cent growth
in app downloads in the past two years.
The liberal and reformist policies of the Government of India have been instrumental along with
strong consumer demand in the rapid growth in the Indian telecom sector. 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
With 604.21 million internet subscribers, as of December 2018, India ranks as the worldssecond
largest market in terms of total internet users.
Further, India is also the worlds second largest telecommunications market, with total subscriber
base of 1,183.51 million at the end of March 2019
Moreover, in 2017, India surpassed USA to become the second largest market in terms of
number of app downloads. The country remained as the worlds fastest growing market for
Google Play downloads in the second and third quarter of 2018.
Over the next five years, rise in mobile-phone penetration and decline in data costs will add 500
million new internet users in India, creating opportunities for new businesses.

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Investment/Major development
With daily increasing subscriber base, there have been a lot of investments and developments in
the sector. FDI inflows into the telecom sector during April 2000 – March 2019 totalled to US$
32.82 billion, according to the data released by Department for Promotion of Industry and
Internal Trade (DPIIT).
Some of the developments in the recent past are:
 During the first quarter of 2018, India became the worldsfastest-growing market for
mobile applications. The country remained as the worldsfastest growing market for
Google Play downloads in the second and third quarter of 2018.
 Bharti Airtel is planning to launch 6,000 new sites and 2,000 km of optical fiber in
Gujarat in 2018-19.
 The number of mobile wallet transaction increased 5 per cent month-on-month to 325.28
million in July 2018.
 As of June 2018, BSNL is expected to launch its 5G services by 2020.
 Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have merged into ‘Vodafone Idea’ to become India’s
largest telecom company, as of September 2018.
Government Initiatives
The government has fast-tracked reforms in the telecom sector and continues to be proactive in
providing room for growth for telecom companies. Some of the other major initiatives taken by
the government are as follows:
 The Government of India is soon going to come out with a new National Telecom Policy
2018 in lieu of rapid technological advancement in the sector over the past few years. The
policy has envisaged attracting investments worth US$ 100 billion in the sector by 2022.

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 The Department of Information Technology intends to set up over 1 million internet-
enabled common service centres across India as per the National e-Governance Plan.
 FDI cap in the telecom sector has been increased to 100 per cent from 74 per cent; out of
100 per cent, 49 per cent will be done through automatic route and the rest will be done
through the FIPB approval route.
 FDI of up to 100 per cent is permitted for infrastructure providers offering dark fibre,
electronic mail and voice mail.
 The Government of India has introduced Digital India programme under which all the
sectors such as healthcare, retail, etc. will be connected through internet
Achievements
Following are the achievements of the government in the past four years:
 Department of Telecommunication launched ‘Tarang Sanchar’ - a web portal sharing
information on mobile towers and EMF Emission Compliances.
 Six-fold increase in Government spending on telecommunications infrastructure and
services in the country – from Rs 9,900 crores (US$ 1.41 billion) during 2009-14 to Rs
60,000 crores (US$ 8.55 billion) (actual + planned) during 2014-19.
 Over 75 per cent increase in internet coverage – from 251 million users to 446 million
 Country-wide Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) coverage doubled – from 700,000 km to 1.4
million km
 Five-fold jump in FDI inflows in the Telecom Sector – from US$ 1.3 Billion in 2015-16
to US$ 6.1 billion in 2017-18 (up to December 2017)

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Road Ahead
Revenues from the telecom equipment sector are expected to grow to US$ 26.38 billion by 2020.
The number of internet subscribers in the country is expected to double by 2021 to 829 million
and overall IP traffic is expected to grow 4-fold at a CAGR of 30 per cent by 2021. The Indian
Government is planning to develop 100 smart city projects, where IoT would play a vital role in
development of those cities. The National Digital Communications Policy 2018 has envisaged
attracting investments worth US$ 100 billion in the telecommunications sector by 2022. The
Indian Mobile Value-Added Services (MVAS) industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.3
per cent during the forecast period 2015–2020 and reach US$ 23.8 billion by 2020. App
downloads in India are expected to increase to 18.11 billion in 2018F and 37.21 billion in 2022F.
Exchange Rate Used: INR 1 = US$ 0.0139 as of Q3 FY19.

10. 10
COMPANY PROFILE

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VODAFONE IDEA LIMITED
Vodafone Idea Limited is an Indian
telecom operator with its
headquarter based in Mumbai,
Maharashtra. Vodafone Idea is a pan-India integrated GSM operator offering 2G, 3G and 4G
VoLTE mobile services under two brands named Vodafone and Idea. Vodafone Idea also
provides services including Mobile payments, IoT, enterprise offerings and entertainment,
accessible via both digital channels as well as on-ground touch points, centres across the country.
As of 31 August 2019, Vodafone Idea has a subscriber base of 375.07 million, making it the
largest mobile telecommunications network in India. Vodafone Idea has a broadband network of
340,000 sites, distribution reach of 1.7 million retail outlets.
On 31 August 2018, Vodafone India merged with Idea Cellular, and was renamed as Vodafone
Idea Limited. However, the merged entity continues using both the Idea and Vodafone brand.
Currently, the Vodafone Group holds a 45.1% stake in the combined entity, the Aditya Birla
Group holds 26% and the remaining shares will be held by the public. Kumar Mangalam Birla
heads the merged company as the Chairman and Balesh Sharma used to be the CEO. After a
plunge in share price of Vodafone Idea by 80% on NSE, Balesh Sharma resigned citing personal
reasons. Ravinder Takkar, Ex-CEO of Vodafone Romania and the key deal negotiator from
Vodafone has taken over the reigns as CEO.
History
On 20 March 2017, Idea and Vodafone India announced that their respective boards had
approved a merger of the two companies. The merger got approval from Department of
Telecommunications in July 2018. On August 30, 2018, National Company Law Tribunal gave

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the final nod to the Vodafone Idea merger The merger was completed on 31 August 2018, and
the newly merged entity is named Vodafone Idea Ltd. The merger created the largest telecom
company in India by subscribers and by revenue. Under the terms of the deal, the Vodafone
Group holds a 45.2% stake in the combined entity, the Aditya Birla Group holds 26% and the
remaining shares will be held by the public.
Idea previously bought Spice Communications Ltd, operating as Spice Telecom, for over Rs
2,700 crore.
NETWORK CONSOLIDATION
By March 2019, Vodafone Idea Limited announced its network consolidation across major
circles, easing network issues faced by consumers and also enhancing its 4G coverage.
Announcements of Network Consolidation were made as below
State
No of Towns
Covered
No of Villages
Covered
Coverage
area %/kms
Haryana 145 6520 99.5%
ROWB 878 37585 97%
Madhya Pradesh &
Chhattisgarh
664 53130 60%
Jammu and Kashmir 110 3301
AP & Telangana 391 19700 92.5%
Bihar & Jharkhand 431 43503 79%
HP 59 11929

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Enhanced 4G coverage details
State
No of Towns
Covered
No of districts
Covered
Population %
Haryana 22 76.08%
ROWB 838 27 78%
Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh 633 77 52%
Jammu and Kashmir 48 9 23.6%
AP & Telangana 381 23 67%
Bihar & Jharkhand 343 56 45.3%
HP 45 8 43%
Punjab network consolidation
Vodafone Idea Ltd., India’s leading telecom service provider announced the successful
consolidation of its radio network integration in Punjab service area. With this, Punjab is
amongst the first ten circles to complete integration in the worldslargest network integration
exercise which is currently underway in India.
Rajasthan network consolidation Vodafone Idea Ltd., India’s leading telecom service provider
announced the successful consolidation of its radio network integration in Rajasthan service area.
With this, Rajasthan is amongst the first eleven circles to complete integration in the
worldslargest network integration exercise which is currently underway in India.

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According to telecom regulator's data, the pan India wireless subscriber base of Vodafone Idea at
the end of March 2019 stood at 394.8 million. The statement on network consolidation in Punjab,
said 4G services have been enhanced for both Vodafone and Idea customers in cities including
Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, Bathinda, Moga and Hoshiarpur.And in
Rajasthan Jaipur,Jodhpur,Bikaner,Kota,Ajmer,Udaipur among others.
Massive MIMO
Vodafone Idea deployed technologies such as massive MIMO, small cells, TDD sites to enhance
coverage and network capacity in Mumbai and Delhi during March. As part of the modernization
exercise, the company deployed more than 5000 massive MIMO, small cells and TDD sites
across Church gate, Prabhadevi, Pali hill, Lokhandwala, Versova, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Bandra
and Dadar among other regions The company also deployed more than 4,000 Massive Mimo,
small cells and TDD sites across the New Delhi and NCR region.
Turbo-net
Vodafone Idea has launched "TurboNet" 4G services in select cities of Uttar Pradesh,
Rajasthan,Karnataka and Rest of Bengal (excluding Kolkata) circles. The launch of TurboNet 4G
follows the consolidation of its radio network integration and the deployment of technologies
such as Dynamic Spectrum Re-farming (DSR), Spectrum Re-farming, M-MIMO, L900, TDD
and Small Cells to further boost network capacity and coverage across large parts of the country.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Other objectives of the study are as follows: -
 To study about the Indian Telecom Industry.
 To study about the Vodafone Idea Limited.
 To know about the services provided by Vodafone Idea Limited.
 To understand the customer perception about Vodafone services after merger with Idea.
 To study about consumers expectation from the Vodafone-Idea limited.

16. 16
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
A research design is simply the framework or plan for a study that is used as guide in collecting
and analyzing the data. It is blue print that is followed in completing a study. According to
Kerlinger, “Research design is the plan structure, and strategy of investigation conceived
so as to obtain answers to research question and to control variance.”
The marketing research designs are classified on the basis of fundamental objective of the
research. They may be exploratory or conclusive.
Here in project customer perception towards Vodafone-Idea Limited, the nature of research is,
Descriptive. This research is to cover the nature of users of VODAFONE. And the thinking and
perception of consumers about Vodafone and the way of getting profit & convenience by using
Vodafone is their vehicles basically those who are living in Lucknow.
DATA COLLECTION METHOD
PRIMARY DATA
As the research is exploratory describe and Analytical in nature concerning users related to the
Vodafone. Primary data collected by the Questionnaire and descriptive with different people.
SECONDARY DATA- To obtain Secondary data I have used following resources-
NEWSPAPERS
WEB SITES

17. 17
SAMPLING
Sampling Unit-
The user of VODAFONE IDEA LIMITED.
Sampling Size-
When survey is undertaken it is not possible to cover the entire population. The sample size
decision is related directly to research cost.
The Sampling size was undertaken for investors through questionnaires for our research purpose
is 50.
Sampling Method-
Since the chance of any particular unit in the population being selected is unknown so we have
used Non-Probability sampling. We have further used purposive sampling.
Universe- Universe of this study is Lucknow.

18. 18
DATA ANALYSIS
AGEGROUP
Ques: 1. Number of Vodafone users according to age group.
1) BELOW 18 5%
2)18-27 62%
3)27-40 23%
4)40 AND ABOVE 10%
Interpretation: Most of the respondents are young and belong to 18-27 Years age group.

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INCOME (MONTHLY)
Ques: 2 Number of Vodafone users according to monthly income.
1) 4,000 OR LESS 38%
2) 4,000-10,000 30%
3) 10,000-20,000 19%
4) 20,000 & ABOVE 13%
Interpretation: Most of the respondents are didn’t disclose their income group.

20. 20
Ques: 3 Since when you are using Vodafone connection?
1) LESS THAN 6 MONTHS 1%
2) 6-12 MONTHS 22%
3) MORE THAN A YEAR 77%
Interpretation: Most of the respondents using Vodafone connection since more than a year.

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Ques. 4: What is your monthly Expenditure on Mobile phone (in Rupees)?
1) BELOW 50 4%
2) 50-150 38%
3)151-350 34%
4)351-500 15%
5) 500 AND ABOVE 9%
Interpretation: Most of the respondents expense around 151-350 on mobile per month.

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Ques:5 WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING VAS DO YOU USE?
1) SMS 45%
2) CALLER TUNES 40%
3) GPRS 6%
4) OTHERS 9%
Interpretation: SMS is most preferred Value Added Service amongst the respondents.

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Ques:6 HOW MANY AVERAGE MESSAGES DO YOU SEND ON WEEKLY BASIS
1) LESS THAN 10 7%
2)10 TO 25 15%
3)25 TO 100 14%
4) MORE THAN 100 9%
5) NO SMS 55%
Interpretation: Maximum subscribers don’t use SMS service. Yet, some followers use good
number of SMS per month.

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Que. 7: Are you satisfied with the customer services of Vodafone?
Yes 82%
No, Please specify 18%
Interpretation: Maximum Customers are satisfied with Vodafone Service.

25. 25
Que 8: How do you ability the Vodafone Network?
Excellent 15%
Good 52%
Average 27%
Poor 6%
Interpretation: Most of the respondents grade Vodafone network as good whether only few has
some complaint about the network.

26. 26
Que9: Do you think that Vodafone is best amongst all its competitors?
Yes 85%
No 15%
Interpretation: According to survey Vodafone is best amongst all its competitors.

27. 27
Que 10: Will you ever change your current Vodafone service provider to switch into other
service provider using Mobile Number Portability facility?
Yes 23%
No 77%
Interpretation: Most of the respondents will not change Vodafone as service provider.

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FINDINGS
 Maximum Customers are satisfied with Vodafone Service.
 Most of the respondents using Vodafone connection since more than a year.
 Most of the respondents expense around 151-350 on mobile per month.
 According to survey Vodafone is best amongst all its competitors.
 Most of the respondents think that Airtel is toughest competitor for the Vodafone in
future.
 Most of the respondents will not change Vodafone as service provider.
 Most of the respondents’ grade Vodafone network as good whether only few has some
complaint about the network.
 SMS is most preferred Value Added Service amongst the respondents.
 Maximum subscribers don’t use SMS service. Yet, some followers use good number of
SMS per month.

29. 29
RECOMMENDATIONS
Suggestions on the basis of study and observation made during the project. They might be
helpful for Vodafone-Idea to serve its customers in an improved way and also increase its
customer base in Lucknow city:
 Vodafone should decrease call rates for local users. It can be done on the basis of type of
usage.
 Vodafone should introduce more schemes and offers for all categories.
 Vodafone should introduced new schemes in their youth plans to meet the challenges of
its rivals.
 Vodafone should provide more schemes and offers to its old customers in order to retain
them for the loyalty shown by them.
 Vodafone should decrease call rates of STD and ISD to increase its subscriber base.
 Vodafone needs to improve awareness of the customer in relation to Vodafone services.
Some customers have no information about all services of Vodafone.
 Some customers are not aware of Vodafone Tariff plans and new schemes which is very
useful for him.
 Another problem for the customer is some people are think Vodafone plans are very
expensive, it is because of his unawareness. Thus it is very necessary to concentrate on
advertising of product.
 Customers are dissatisfied with retailers due to non information about the recharge plans
and quality of information provided by the retailers is not satisfied for the customer.

30. 30
LIMITATIONS
1. There is time constraint for me.
2. Not exact & true information given by people.
3. Inadequate data.
4. It is tough to take appointment.
5. The members of the bank are losing trust towards the bank due to less concern attitude
of its head office.
6. Vodafone-Idea is not properly communicating about the products and schemes to the
customers.
7. Frequent changes in schemes make customers confused.

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CONCLUSION
1. It was a learning experience studying the consumer behaviour towards Vodafone Idea
Limited services in Lucknow city.
2. It was not easy task collecting information from the customers but it was also a
challenging and interesting one where I had real experience of customer inputs regarding
a product.
3. From the above analysis, I would like to conclude that major respondents are satisfied
with Vodafone Idea services like new schemes & offer many of the respondents are
satisfied with the services of Vodafone after merger with Idea and thus they would like to
recommend Vodafone Idea to others.
4. Most of the respondents are also satisfied with the network provided by Vodafone Idea.
Vodafone-Idea can improve its customer base by innovating variety of services to its
customer.
5. Vodafone-Idea Super Weeks is one such example where they are targeting youth for the
online services through mobile phones. Its a strategy which can get them to the market
leader position in the market.
6. To conclude, Vodafone is growing because of satisfied customers with its services and
new and innovative plans for all categories of customers

32. 32
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books were considered
 Research Methodology by C. R. Kotharis
 Marketing management by Mr. Philip Kotler.
 Marketing Strategy and Management by Mr. Michael J. Baker.
Business magazine& news paper
 The Times of India
 The Economic Times
 4Ps, Pitch, Business & Economy
Websites
 http://www.ibef.org/industry/telecommunications.aspx
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodafone_Idea
 www.vodafone.in
 http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/subscribers-for-3g-set-to-double-
113072900666_1.html
 http://gadgets.ndtv.com/telecom/news/vodafone-india-reveals-14747-million-subscribers-
25-million-use-3g-services-327810
 https://coai.com/reports-and-papers/coai-annual-report

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ANNEXURE
QUESTIONNAIRE
NAME - …………....
AGE - ………….
OCCUPATION - ……….
CONTACT - ………..
Ques: 1. Number of Vodafone users according to age group.
BELOW 18
18-27
27-40
40 AND ABOVE
Ques: 2 Number of Vodafone users according to monthly income.
Rs. 4,000 OR LESS
Rs. 4,000-10,000
Rs. 10,000-20,000
Rs. 20,000 & ABOVE
Ques: 3 Since when are you using Vodafone connection?
LESS THAN 6 MONTHS
6-12 MONTHS
MORE THAN A YEAR

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Ques. 4: What is your monthly Expenditure on Mobile phone (in Rupees)?
BELOW 50
50-150
151-350
351-50
500 AND ABOVE
Ques:5 Which of the following vas do you use?
SMS
CALLER TUNES
GPRS
OTHERS
Ques:6 How many average messages do you send on weekly basis?
LESS THAN 10
10 TO 25
25 TO 100
MORE THAN 100
NO SMS
Que. 7: Are you satisfied with the customer services of Vodafone?
Yes
No, Please specify

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Que 8: How do you ability the Vodafone Network?
Excellent
Good
Average
Poor
Que9: Do you think that Vodafone is best amongst all its competitors?
Yes
No
Que 10: Will you ever change your current Vodafone service provider to switch into other
service provider using Mobile Number Portability facility?
Yes
No
THANK YOU