INTRODUCTION:

Now-a-days, mobile phones have grown into a product of necessity for the people from all walks of life. An individual can get in touch with his family, friends and business associates anytime and anywhere at a affordable cost. We know India is one of the fastest growing telecommunication markets in the world. The key driver for the growth of the Indian telecom market is that the cellular phone becomes an essential item in the hands of every individual.

Indian telecommunications industry¹ is the world’s fastest growing industry, with 846.32 million mobile phone subscribers² as on March 2011. It has thereby registered growth rate of 2.43% as compared to Feb. 2011. It is also the second³ largest telecommunication network in the world in terms of no. of wireless connections after China. The Mobile service is one of the fastest growing industries in India. With the economy opening up, competition in this sector is increasing. The entry of private companies promoted the use of cellular phones in the country. There are 25 private companies providing mobile services in 19 telecom circles and four metro cities, covering 1500 towns across the country. The lists³of mobile network operators in India are given on next page.

Presently the Indian mobile industry is witnessing a stiff competition. The mobile services providers are providing various kinds of services to the customers to attract the attention of the new customers and retain the existing customers. As a result, key players are trying to know the attitude of the customers towards the mobile services providers. This helps them to develop good strategy for the better satisfaction of the customers.

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

Way back in 1995, Kolkata was the first city⁶ in the country to get the mobile services from the Mobile Net provider. The then Chief Minister of west Bengal had inaugurated Modi Telstra’s Mobile Net services in Kolkata. The company a joint venture between India’s Modi Group and Australian Telecom giant Telstra was one of the eight organizations who were given license to provide cellular services, two for each of the Indian’s major cities. However Kolkata was ranked the last amongst the four metros in terms of consumer satisfaction. That was the outcome of the survey conducted during September and December 2006 by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

This was being conducted to gauge the customer satisfaction and evaluate performance of the cellular service providers. This outcome was not a surprise to 3.2 million mobile subscribers in the city. Basically they were very much dissatisfied about the billing services for prepaid and postpaid connections, network performance and availability and helpline services.

S No.	Operator	Technology	Ownership
1	Airtel	GSM, EDGE, HSPA	Bharti Enterprises (64.76%) Singapore Telecommunications (32%) Vodafone (4.4%)
2	Vodafone	GSM, EDGE, HSPA	Vodafone (67%) and Essar Group (33%)
3	Reliance Communication	CdmaOne, EVDOGSM, HSPA, WiMAX	Reliance (67%) and Public (26%)
4	Idea	GSM, EDGE, HSDPA	Aditya Birla Group Axiata Group Berhad (19.1%)
5	BSNL	CdmaOne, EVDO GSM, HSDPA WiMAX, UMTS, EDGE, WiFi.	State-Owned
6	Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom Virgin Mobile (CDMA) Virgin Mobile (GSM)	CDMA, EVDO, WiMAX GSM, EDGE, HSPA+	Tata-Teleservices
7	Aircel	GSM, EDGE, HSDPA	Maxis Communications (74%) Apollo Hospital (26%)
8	Uninor	GSM, EDGE	Unitech Wireless Telenor (67.25%) Unitech Group (32.75%)
9	Videocon	GSM, EDGE, GPRS	Videocon
10	MTNL	GSM, HSDPA [WLL/EVDO]	State-owned
11	Loop Mobile	GSM, GPRS	Essar Group (8.0%) Santa Trading Pvt Ltd (85.75%)
12	MTS	CDMA EVDO	Sistema (73.71%) and Shyam Group (23.79%)
13	S Tel	GSM, GPRS	Siva Group (51%) Batelco (49%)
14	Ping Mobile	GSM,CDMA	HFCL Infotel Limited
15	Cheers Mobile	GSM, GPRS	Etisalat Dynamix Balwas Group

Source : Telecom industry, Govt. of India.

This has prompted to undertake the study on the attitude of the customers towards the mobile services providers in Kolkata city.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Research suggests that cognitive factors of service quality and perceived value and affective enjoyment may determine customer loyalty towards mobile service providers⁴ (Gerpott; Rams and Schindler, 2001; Lee Murphy and Swilley, 2007). Another researcher has suggested that consumers may perceive products as serving hedonics and instrumental functions⁵ (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2002; Childer, et.al’2001). Seth et al (2008) analyzed that there is relative importance of service quality attributes and showed that responsiveness is the most importance dimension followed by reliability, customer perceived network quality, assurance, convenience, empathy and tangibles. Liu (2002) found that the choice of a cellular phone is characterized by two attitudes: attitude towards the mobile phone brand on one hand and attitude towards the network on the other. Samuvel (2002) observed that most of the respondents consider size, quality, price, instrument servicing are an important factors for selecting the handset while majority of the respondents are satisfied over the payment system, quality of services, coverage area and the process of attending the complaints regarding their mobile service provider. Nandhini (2001) examined that attitude of the respondents using cell phones was not influenced by either education or occupation and income. Kalpana and Chinnadurai (2006) found that advertisement play a dominant role in influencing the customers but most of the customers are of opinion that promotional strategies of cellular companies are more sale oriented rather than customer oriented. Haque et al (2007) suggested that price, service quality, product quality and availability, and promotional offer play a main role during the time to choose telecommunication service provider.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

The broad objective of the study is to know the attitude of the customers towards the mobile service providers in Kolkata city.

The specific objectives of the study are as follows.

1. To explore the attitude of customers towards the customer care services provided by the mobile services providers;

2. To study the services provider’s service in activating the SIM purchased by the customers;

3. To know the network performance of the service providers;

4. To understand the availability of the plans provided by the service providers for the customers ;

5. To find the billing services provided by the service provider.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY:

The study as reported here is unavoidably limited by certain constraints. The small sample size i. e. 50 respondents of Kolkata city put restriction on the generalizability of the findings. The limitations of the study are as follows:

1. Availability of time posed a major constraint

2. Sample size was small

3. Wide coverage is not there, as it is restricted to a particular area due to constraint of time.

METHODOLOGY:

A convenience survey in Kolkata yielded a cleaned sample of 50 observations. There were 32 males versus 18 females. Respondents ranged in age from 20 to 40 years and with a mean age of 35years. All respondents owned a mobile phone and had active connection with local service providers. Respondents indicated on a 5-point Likert scale, the extent that they used mobile service for their own purpose. In nutshell, the research methodology has been given below. This study is based on the primary data as well as secondary data obtained from the various published sources.

Data sources- Primary data – basically data collected in the Salt Lake City, Kolkata.

Research instruments- Questionnaires–close ended questions.

Sampling method- Convenience Sampling.

Sample size- 50.

Data Analysis and interpretation

1. A. Age wise distribution of the respondents using mobile phones

TABLE - 1

AGE	No. of customers	% of customers
< 20	1	2
20-30	14	28
30-40	35	70

Table-1 shows that 35% of the total respondents is in the age group of 35-40years and 14% of the people are in the age group of 20-30years. In other words people belonging to the upper age group are using mobile phone more as compared to the people in younger age group.

B .Relationship between the ages of respondents and Mobile service Providers

TABLE-2

		Mobile service providers			Total
		Vodafone	Airtel	Others
Ages of respondents	less than 20	1			1	MARITAL STATUS	No. of customers	% of customers
	20-30	8	4	2	14	SINGLE	31	62
	30-40	14	11	10	35	MARRIED	19	38
Total		23	15	12	50

Table-2 shows that 14 respondents in the age group of 30-40 have chosen Vodafone, 11 respondents have chosen Airtel.

2. A. Education wise distribution of the sample

Table-3 shows that 72% of the customers have completed their graduation and 26% of customers have completed their post-graduation.

TABLE-3

EDUCATION	No. of customers	% of customers
10^TH	1	2
GRADUATE	36	72
POSTGRADUATE	13	26

B. Relationship between Education and Mobile service providers

TABLE-4

		Mobile service providers			Total
		Vodafone	Airtel	Others
Education	10th pass	1			1
	Graduate	15	11	10	36
	Post-graduate	7	4	2	13
Total		23	15	12	50

3. A. Income Wise Distribution of the Sample

Table -5 shows that 84% of customers are getting the incomes of above Rs.20000/month and 14% of customers are getting the incomes in the range of Rs.10001-20000.

TABLE - 5

INCOME /MONTH	No. of customers	% of customers
<5000	1	2
10001-20000	7	14
ABOVE 20001	42	84

B. Relationship between Income and Mobile service providers

TABLE-6

		Ph Brand User			Total
		Vodafone	Airtel	Others
Income	<5000	1			1
	10001-20000	3	4		7
	above 20001	19	11	12	42
Total		23	15	12	50

4.A. Marital Status Wise Distribution of Sample

Table-7 shows that 62% of customers are unmarried/Single whereas 38% of customers are married.

TABLE - 7

MARITAL STATUS	No. of customers	% of customers
SINGLE	31	62
MARRIED	19	38

5.A. Profession Wise Distribution of Sample

Table-8 shows that 78% of customers are in the service industry and 20% of customers are in the business.

TABLE – 8

PROFESSION	No. of customers	% of customers
STUDENT	0	0
SERVICE	39	78
BUSINESSMAN	10	20
SELF EMPLOYED	1	2

Relationship between the Mobile Service Provider and Profession

TABLE-9

		Profession			Total
		Service	Business man	self employed
Service Provider	Vodafone	21	1	1	23
	Airtel	12	3		15
	Others	6	6		12
Total		39	10	1	50

6. Connection Wise Distribution of the Sample

Table-10 shows that 74% of customers are having the post-paid connections whereas 37% of customers are having the pre-paid connections.

TABLE-10

TYPE OF CONNECTION	No. of customers	% of customers
PREPAID	13	26
POST PAID	37	74

7. Distribution of Mobile Users among Different Service Providers

Table-11 shows that 46% of customers are using Vodafone, 30% of customers are using Airtel, 14% of customers are using Tata Indicom and 10% of customers are using BSNL.

TABLE-11

MOBILE SERVICE PROVIDERS USING	No. of customers	% of customers
AIRTEL	15	30
BSNL	5	10
RELIANCE	0	0
VODAFONE	23	46
TATA INDICOM	7	14
AIRCEL	0	0
ANY OTHER	0	0

8. Comparative Analysis of Vodafone and Airtel

Table-12 is prepared by analyzing the data sheet, for the comparison of Vodafone and Airtel services with reference to the different factors.

From the table-12, we can say that 52% of Vodafone customers have given highest rating of 5 whereas the 53% of Airtel customers have given highest ratings of 4 with reference to the C1 factor.

With reference to the C2 factor, 78% of Vodafone customers have given highest rating of 4 whereas 67% of Airtel customers have given the highest rating of 4.

With reference to the C3 factor, 70% of Vodafone customers have given the highest rating of 4 whereas 80% of Airtel customers have given the highest rating of 4.

With reference to the C4 factor, 83% of Vodafone customers rated 4 as compared to 47% of Airtel customers.

With reference to C5 factor, 52% of Vodafone customers rated 4 as compared to 53% of Airtel customers.

9. Comparison of Age Group, Income and Post Paid Connection with Mobile Service Providers

Table-13 shows that in the age group of 30-40, 47% are having Vodafone, 37%are having Airtel, 17% are having BSNL and 5% are having Tata Indicom.

Out of the income group of above Rs.20000, 45% are having Vodafone,26% are having Airtel,17% are having Tata Indicom and 12% are having BSNL.

From the table, it also shows that among the postpaid connections, 43% customers are having Vodafone, 29% of customers are having Airtel ,14% of customers are having BSNL and 14% of customers are having Tata Indicom.

10. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

(A) To test the association between Marital status and types of connection

H₀: There is no association between Marital Status and types of connection

Level of Significance: 0.10

Marital Status * Types of Connection Cross tabulation

		Types of Connection		Total
		Pre-paid	Post-Paid
Marital Status	Single	12	19	31
Marital Status	Married	1	18	19
Total		13	37	50

	Exact Sig. (1-sided)
Fisher's Exact Test		0.008

Conclusion: Null hypothesis is rejected at 10% level of significance. There is association between Types of connection and Marital Status.

(B) To test the association between income and types of connection:

H₀: There is no association between income and types of connection

Level of Significance: 0.10

Income group	Types of Connection
Income group	Pre Paid	Post Paid
Less than Rs 20000	6	2
Above Rs 20000	7	35

	Exact Sig. (1-sided)
Fisher's Exact Test		0.002

Conclusion: Null hypothesis is rejected at 10% level of significance. Therefore, there is association between income and types of connection

(C) To test the association between types of connection and profession

H₀: There is no association between income and types of connection

	Types of Connection		Total
	Pre-paid	Post-Paid
Salaried	10	29	39
Non-salaried	3	8	10
	13	37	50

Fisher’s exact test shows, P = 0.60

Conclusion: Null hypothesis is accepted at 10% level of significance. Therefore there is no association between Profession and types of connection.

(D) To test the association ages of respondents and types of connection.

H₀: There is no association between ages of respondents and types of connection

		Types of Connection		Total
		Pre-paid	Post-Paid	Total
Ages of respondent	less than 30	9	6	15
Ages of respondent	30-40	4	31	35
Total		13	37	50

Using Fisher’s exact test Calculated P < 0.10

Conclusion: We reject the null hypothesis and conclude that there is association between ages of respondents and types of connection.

(E) Multiple correlations:

Predictors: (Constant), Billing Service, Sim Activation, Plan Availability, Customer Care

Dependent Variable: Service Quality

R	R Square	Adjusted R Square
0.747	0.557	0.518

Conclusion: 56% of the variance of Service Quality is explained by the independent variables Billing Service, Sim Activation, Plan Availability and Customer Care.

Null Hypothesis, H₀: R Square = 0

ANOVA

	Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Regression	10.581	4	2.645	14.173	0.000
Residual	8.399	45	.187
Total	18.980	49

a Predictors: (Constant), Billing Service, Sim Activation, Plan Availability, Customer Care

b Dependent Variable: Service Quality

Conclusion: The value of R Square is Significant. There is significant correlation between the dependent variable Service quality and independent variables Billing Service, Sim Activation, Plan Availability and Customer Care.

(F) Discriminant analysis:

Dependent Variable: Types of Connection

Independent Variables: Ages of Respondents and Income of Respondents

Canonical Discriminant Function Coefficients

	Function
	1
Ages of respondents	1.494
Income	1.381
(Constant)	-7.898

Types of connection = - 7.898+ 1.494* Ages of respondents +1.381* Income

Classification Results

		Predicted Group Membership		Total
	Types of Connection	Pre-paid	Post-Paid
Count	Pre-paid	10	3	13
Count	Post-Paid	7	30	37
%	Pre-paid	76.9	23.1	100.0
%	Post-Paid	18.9	81.1	100.0

Conclusion: 80.0% of original grouped cases correctly classified.

CONCLUSION:

The study in hand reveals that consumers prefer a particular mobile phone service provider on the basis of call tariffs, network coverage and value added services. It is concluded from the study that consumers prefer prepaid plans and all most every consumer treat their mobile phone as a necessity. It is concluded from the study that majority of consumers are aware about the services offered by their mobile phone operators. The study also reveals that consumers are satisfied with the services offered by their mobile by their mobile phone operators. Sometimes, consumers face problems of poor clarity, call drop and poor network but overall they are satisfied with the services offered to them. The study says that consumers are satisfied with the process of solution of their problems and queries. Vodafone is providing good service to the customers as compared to the other service providers. With reference to the customer care service, Vodafone provides good services than the other mobile service providers. Vodafone also provides good service in activating the SIM of the customers. Airtel provides good network connectivity as compared to the other service providers. With reference to the availability of the plan options, Vodafone provides lot of options for the customers as compared to the other service providers. Both the service providers namely Airtel and Vodafone, provides good billing services to their customers.

SCOPE FOR FURTHER STUDY:

By taking into account of more samples, we can better understand the attitude of customers towards the mobile service providers with reference to the customer care services, network connectivity, availability of plan options and billing services. This study can further be spread over the whole city of Kolkata.

REFERENCES:

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8607866.stm India's 3G licence bidders bank on big changes

2. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(13 June 2011). "Highlights of Telecom Subscription Data as on 30th April 2011" (PDF). Press release. Retrieved 13 June 2011

3. http://business.mapsofindia.com/india-industry/telecom.htmlTelecom Industry India

4. Gerpott, T. J., Rams, W., and Schindler, A., 2001. Customer retention, loyalty, and satisfaction in the German mobile cellular telecommunications market. Telecommunications Policy 25, 249-269

5. Chaudhuri, A., and Holbrook, M. B., 2002. Product-Class Effects on Brand Commitment and Brand Outcomes: The Role of Brand Trust and Brand Affect. Journal of Brand Management 10 (1), 33-58

6. http://dxm.org/techonomist/news/cellcal.html 5 Years Ago, India made its First Cellular Call on this Date

7. http://www.vikalpa.com/pdf/articles/2008/V33102_019_034.pdf

8. Liu, C.M. (2002). The effects of promotional activities on brand decision in the cellular telephone industry. The Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 42-51.

APPENDIX -1 QUESTIONNAIRE

Instruction : - Please put a tick mark ۷) ) where required.

1. Name-

2. Gender-

3. Age- i. <20 ii.20-30 iii.30-40 iv.40-60 v. Above 60

(in years)

4. Educational Level : i. Upto 10^th ii. + 2 iii. Graduate iv. Post-graduate.

5. Income/Month – i. Below Rs 5000. ii. Rs 5000-10000,

iii. Rs.10001-20000. iv. Above Rs. 20000.

6. Marital status: Single/Married.

7. Occupation : i. Student ii. Service

iii. Businessman iv. Self-employed.

8. What type of connection are you using?

i. Pre-paid ii. Post-paid.

9. Which of the mobile service providers are you using?

i. Airtel ii. BSNL iii. Reliance iv. Vodafone.

v. Tata Indicom. vi. Aircel vii. Any other. (Specify)

10. Rate the following factors from 5 to 1.

Tick the value (from 5 to 1) which you will think appropriate.

a. Customer care is able to handle the customer complaints directly and immediately.-

5 4 3 2 1