Telecommunication service liberalized in 1992 to bridge the gap in India to make available of telecom in nation as an additional resource. In 1993 Rs 20.6 million got by the telecom industry as yearly foreign investment. In 1994 Government of India granted license to operate mobile cellular service in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. In 1995 the first mobile network service is inaugurated by Modi Telstra's Mobile Net service in Calcutta. The mobile network service. In the global interaction the communication technology plays an important role. India also plays the vital role in network communication by the subscriber’s growth from 1million to 881million as on October 2011. The growth of network communication increased by dropping the call tariff rates form Rs 14 to Re1. The 70 billion universal service obligation funds are utilized by the government to make innovative policy to manufacture equipments by spectrum operators. The 3^rd generation, value added service, mobile number portability created the tougher competition between the different networks service providers and mean time the competition created a health benefit to the subscribers by getting maximum advanced features and facilities from the service providers.

Mobile Telecom Companies in India Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

Bharat Sanchar Nigam is established in the year 2000 to provide the telecom service in India. The policy of telecommunication is framed and implemented by BSNL and its functioning under the security of ministry of communication and department of telecommunication government of India. In the telecom sector it place the 7^th largest place in the world.

BHARTI AIRTEL

In 1995 bharti televentures incorporated the network service and commenced the business in the year 18th July 1996 and launched the network service in Delhi in the Brand name Airtel. The Business week magazine ranked the performance as best company in 2007. In its operation 200million customers crossed by this network.

RELIANCE COMMUNICATION

In December 2002 the reliance communication is incorporated in Delhi. A major role in telecommunication played by the reliance. In 2006 the reliance commenced the one nation one tariff plan in India.

VODAFONE

Joint venture between Racal Electronics plc's subsidiary Racal Strategic Radio Ltd along with Millicom and the Hambros Technology incorporated Vodafone in 1982. The Racal electronics, Millicom, Hambros owned the joint venture in the ratio 80%, 15% and 5%. In 2007 the company owned 11.1 billion stakes in Hutchison Essar and renamed as Vodafone Essar.

VARIOUS MOBILE NETWORK SERVICE PROVIDERS IN SALEM CITY

BSNL, Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance communication, etc.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Ja-Shen Chen, Russell K.H. Ching (2007) the mobile commerce holds opportunities for mobile service providers. The loyal customer base is build by the mobile service provider by differentiating its service by appealing the customer individuality through CRM, mobile service and brand image. The all add the customer loyalty. The customer loyalty is achieved by directing CRM and mobile service. On the other hand the brand image holds back the customer loyalty by the effect of customer service, customization and mobile usage.

Zulfqar Ahmad et al., (2010) with the help of the Questionnaire 331 respondents were surveyed. The study only focuses on sms service provided by the telecom organization. The service quality and customer retention is measured by using 5 dimensions tangibles, empathy, assurance, responsiveness and reliability. The result of the shows to some extent the customers are satisfied from the SMS service provider. The tangible and assurance scored highest and the empathy scored lowest than other dimensions. The correlation shows related with satisfaction the empathy is negative and remaining dimensions tangibles, assurance, responsiveness and reliability are positive. The regression point out 15% change in retention expected by service quality mean time the 5 dimensions tangibles, empathy, assurance, responsiveness and reliability have important relation with customer satisfaction.

Mohammad Aamir et al,(2010) with the help of structured questionnaire the 292 students were selected randomly from the university between the age category 18-25 years to know the loyalty and satisfaction level of five major mobile service provider in Pakistan. The study reveals customers are number one so the companies practically exercise customer relationship management. The evaluation of major thing creates benefit from the fashionable feature to act as main relationship with customers for long period. The companies by giving a special promise build a customer trust and increasing the switching cost limits the boundary of the customers.

D. J. Petzer, et al (2011) In his research by using Non probability convenience sampling 2339 respondents who hold cell phone in Gauteng province of south Africa were younger or age of 64 years are examined for the study. The study resulted the young generation awareness about service quality towards existing service offered by network service providers is considerably lower than other generation and towards network service providers the generation’s behavioral intention is very low and creating risk in customer loyalty. It shows the major existing relationship identifying service quality level, satisfaction level and behavioral intention between dissimilar generations. The study point outs the cell phone network service providers in South Africa by using different marketing strategies must provide service quality level beyond customer expectation for different generation to stay away from service failure.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES

To study the factors expected while purchasing mobile network.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES

To study the fulfillment of expected factors.

To study the time consumption to connect customer care.

To analyze the response of customer care staff.

To know the additional service expected.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Redman et al (1923) defines by regulates attempt the new information are gathered. 200 mobile network subscribers were selected as samples. It includes both male and female, respondents from different occupation. The Primary data and secondary was used to collect the information. The primary data is collected from mobile network subscribers in Salem city and the secondary data is collected by referring related books, journals, magazines and websites. The non probability convenient sampling is used to collect the primary data.

HYPOTHESIS

The following hypothesis is created to test the variables

H1: There is no significant relationship between Factors expected while purchasing and fulfilling expectation

H2: There is no significant relationship between expected additional service and satisfaction level of additional service

TOOLS FOR ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

The data were analyzed with help of statistical tools like Percentage analysis, and weighted average method

The above table shows 33% of them the age group of 20-30, 26% of them in the age group of <20, 25.5% of them from the age group of 30-40, 15.5% of them from above 40. 59% of the respondents are males and 41% of them are females. The income is offered by occupation.34% of them running their own business, 27%of them occupied in private sector, 15% of them are scholars, 13% of them occupied in government, 11% of them are retired persons. 61% of them using prepaid connection, 39%of them using postpaid connection. In creating awareness advertisement plays a major part i.e. 29%, 26% of them got the awareness through friends, 24% of them through relatives, 21% of them got the awareness through dealers suggestions. 26.5% of them prefer airtel network, 19% of hem prefer reliance, 18.5% of them prefer Vodafone, 14% of them prefer Tata, 11.5% of them prefer BSNL, and 10.5% of them prefer other networks.

Table 1- Demographic Data

Particulars		No of Respondents	Percentage
Age	<20	52	26
	20- 30	66	33
	30-40	51	25.5
	Above 40	31	15.5
Gender	Male	118	59
Gender	Female	82	41
Occupation	Government	26	13
	Private	54	27
	Business	68	34
	Retired persons	22	11
	scholars	30	15
Type of connection	Post paid	78	39
Type of connection	Prepaid	122	61
Sources of awareness	Friends	52	26
	Relatives	48	24
	Advertisement	58	29
	Dealers suggestions	42	21
Preference of mobile network company service	BSNL	23	11.5
	Vodafone	37	18.5
	Airtel	53	26.5
	Reliance	38	19
	Tata	28	14
	Others	21	10.5

Table 2 - Factors Expected While Purchasing and Fulfilling Expectation

Particulars		No of Respondents	Percent-age
Factors expected while purchasing	Network coverage	41	20.5
	Low tariff	26	13
	Brand image	42	21
	Customer service	30	15
	Offering new schemes	61	30.5
Fulfillment of expectation	Poor than expected	47	23.5
	Fulfilling is up to the level	82	41
	Fulfilling more than expected	71	35.5

The table shows the factors expected while purchasing. 30.5% of them expecting offering new schemes, 21% of them expect Brand image, 20.5% of them expect Network coverage, 15% of them expect customer service, and 13% of them expect Low tariff rates. In fulfilling the expectation 41% of them says the expectation fulfillment is up to the level, 35.5 % of them says the expectation is fulfilled more than expected by them,23.5% of them says the fulfillment is poor than expected by network service provider.

Table3 – Time Consuming to Connect with Customer Care and Response of Customer Care Staff

Particulars		No of Respondents	Percent-age
Connection with customer care	Less than 1 minute	50	25
	2 minutes	58	29
	5 minutes	61	30.5
	More than 5 minutes	31	15.5
Response of customer care staff	Highly Satisfied	28	14
	Satisfied	69	34.5
	Netural	53	26.5
	Dissatisfied	33	16.5
	Highly dissatisfied	17	8.5

The above table shows the time consuming to connect with customer care to get the customer care service and the response of customer care staff. 30.5% of them feels time consuming is 5minutes, 29% of them feels the time consuming is 2minutes, 25% of them feels time consuming is Less than 1 minutes, 15.5% of them feels time consuming is more than five minutes to connect with customer care. 34.5% of them feels highly satisfied, 26.5% of them feels Neutral, 16.5 % of them feels dissatisfied, 8.5% of them feels highly dissatisfied about the response of customer care staff.

Table 4 – Expected Additional Service And Satisfaction Level Of Additional Service

Particulars		No of Respondents	Percentage
Expected additional service	Internet services	63	31.5
	Innovation of service	70	35
	Time frequency	42	21
	Others	25	12.5
Satisfaction level of additional service	Highly satisfied	37	18.5
	Satisfied	67	33.5
	Netural	36	18
	Dissatisfied	35	17.5
	Highly dissatisfied	25	12.5

The above table shows the additional service expected and the satisfaction level of the additional service provided. 35% of them expect innovation in service, 31.5% of them expect internet service, 21% of them expect time frequency, 12.5% of them expect other service. In the level of satisfaction 33.5% of them satisfied, 18.5% of them highly satisfied, 18% of them neutrally satisfied, 17.5% of them dissatisfied and remaining 12.5% of them are highly dissatisfied.

Table 5: H1: There is no Significant Relationship Between Factors Expected While Purchasing and Fulfilling Expectation

Factors expected while purchasing/Fulfilling expectation		Poor than expected		Fulfilling is up to the level		Fulfilling more than expected		Total
Network coverage		10		12		23		45
Low tariff		11		23		11		45
Brand image		8		21		9		38
Customer service		7		8		10		25
Offering new schemes		11		18		18		47
Total		47		82		71		200
Factor	Calculated chi square value		Table value		Degree of freedom		Remarks
Chi square	12.564		15.507		8		Significance at 5% level

Table 6: H2: There is no Significant Relationship Between Expected Additional Service And Satisfaction Level of Additional Service

Expected additional service/ Satisfaction level of additional service		Highly satisfied		Satisfied	Neutral	Dissatisfied		Highly Dissatisfied		Total
Internet services		12		23	9	7		9		60
Frequency of service		11		16	11	6		12		56
Time frequency		8		13	7	7		6		41
Others		6		15	9	5		8		43
Total		37		67	36	25		35		200
Factor	Calculated chi square value		Table value				Degree of freedom		Remarks
Chi square	4.15		21.026				12		Significance at 5% level

Table 7: Most Important Factor And Least Important Factor Considered By Respondents During Purchase Weighted average

Sl. No.	Factors	Weight [x]	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	Total	Weighted Average ∑fx / ∑x	Rank
1.	Network coverage	Frequency [f]	20	38	34	23	28	15	42	200	28.07	II
1.	Network coverage	fx	140	228	170	92	84	30	42	786	28.07	II
2.	Low tariff	Frequency [f]	12	28	22	26	18	29	65	200	22.96	IV
2.	Low tariff	fx	84	168	110	104	54	58	65	643	22.96	IV
3.	Brand image	Frequency [f]	17	21	25	23	28	35	51	200	23.82	III
3.	Brand image	fx	119	126	125	92	84	70	51	667	23.82	III
4.	Customer service	Frequency [f]	12	17	21	23	32	20	75	200	21.21	V
4.	Customer service	fx	84	102	105	92	96	40	75	594	21.21	V
5.	Offering new schemes	Frequency [f]	28	38	23	25	19	31	36	200	28.35	I
5.	Offering new schemes	fx	196	228	115	100	57	62	36	794	28.35	I

The calculated value (12.564) is less than tabulated value (15.507) therefore Null hypothesis is accepted and there is no significant difference between Factors expected while purchasing and fulfilling expectation The calculated value (4.15) is less than tabulated value (21.026) therefore Null hypothesis is accepted and there is no significant difference between Expected additional service and Satisfaction level of additional service. The above table shows that the respondents consider offering new schemes (28.35) as a most important factor and customer service (21.21) as a least important one.

FINDINGS

Ø 25.5% of the respondents are from the age group of 30 – 40.

Ø 59% of the respondents are male.

Ø Majority of the respondents i.e. (34%) of the running the business prefer more usage of network service.

Ø 61% of the respondents prefer paid connection because of convenient to recharge anywhere else.

Ø Majority of the respondents got awareness through advertisement i.e. 29%.

Ø 26.5% of the respondents using Airtel.

Ø 30.5% of the respondents expect mew scheme offers.

Ø 41% of the respondents say fulfilling the expectation is up to the level.

Ø Majority of the respondents say (30.5%) 5 minutes consumed to connect with customer care.

Ø 34.5% of the respondents satisfied with customer care staff.

Ø 35% of the respondents additionally expect innovation service.

Ø 33.5% of the respondents satisfied with the additional service.

SUGGESTIONS

Ø The majority of the users are from the age category 20-30 the network service provider must concentrate on all age category to increase the usage of all aged category by introducing new offers.

Ø The male subscribers are the majority users by giving special service package to females the service provider increase the usage of the network service.

Ø The occupation leads to the usage. The business peoples get more income through their business and it leads to more usage of network. The service providers by giving business offer package can promote the usage of network service.

Ø Most of the customers prefer prepaid. So the service provider must implement easiest method to recharge and by charging low service charge and activation charge increase the usage of network.

Ø The advertisement attracts the customers very easily. The wide area is covered by advertisement by giving innovative and creativity advertisement the service provider can increase the usage.

Ø Most of the customers prefer airtel network. The network service must take necessary steps to retain the customers by acceptable service quality.

Ø The new schemes offered by the service provider is expected by the majority of the customers by fulfilling the expectation level more than expected the service provider can retain existing customer and get new customers.

Ø The time consuming to connect with customer care must be reduced by the service provider by operating more service care lines and the way of handling the customer with good enthusiasm and responding to the complaints and quires promote the good will between the customers and even make the highly dissatisfied customer as highly satisfied.

Ø Innovation in service expected by most of the customers even the service provider offering many services. So the service provider must offer innovation in service by considering feature needs make majority customers to feel the satisfaction level is high and the service provider can get continuous support from customers.

CONCLUSION:

The study indicates the network service providers facing tight competition so it is very essential for the entire network service provider to study the consumer buying preference. The network service providers by offering attractive schemes, value added service at cheapest cost assist the network provider to generate the profit. The entire service providers offering attractive schemes at cheapest cost making the consumers feel difficult to select the network service provider and creating unstable situation to use the same network service for long time so some network service providers getting benefit and some of them losing their business. The network service providers can retain their consumer by mutual agreement between them by introducing and implementing same sort of schemes, value added service and by avoiding new services to the switching consumer from other network service promote the equal consumers network subscribing to the entire network service providers and it is more benefit able to retain their consumers with them by the network service providers.

REFERENCES:

(1) Ja-Shen Chen, Russell K.H. Ching (2007) The Effects of Mobile Customer Relationship Management on Customer loyalty: Brand Image Does Matter, Proceedings of the 40th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2007 ISBN:0-7695-2755-8, pages 151.

(2) Mohammad Aamir, Waseem Ikram, Khalid Zaman, (2010) “Customers’ Switching in Mobile Phone Service Providers in Pakistan”, Int.J.Buss.Mgt.Eco.Res. Vol 1(1), 2010, 34-40.

(3) Moon-KooKima, Myeong-Cheol Park, Dong-Heon Jeonga, (2004) “The effects of customer Satisfaction and switching barrier on customer loyalty in Korean mobile telecommunication services”, Telecommunications Policy 28, pp 145–159.

(4) Naman shah, (2008) “Critically analyze the customer preference and satisfaction measurement in Indian Telecom Industry”, The Indian institute of planning and management – Ahmadabad, 2008, pp 117- 118.

(5) D. J. Petzer and C. F. De Meyer, (2011) “The perceived service quality, satisfaction and behavioural intent towards cell phone network service providers: A generational perspective”, African Journal of Business Management Vol. 5(17), pp. 7461-7473, 4 September, 2011, ISSN 1993-8233 ©2011 Academic Journals.

(6) Sukumar, “A study of consumer’s preference and satisfaction towards various cell phone Service provides” http://www.scribd.com/doc/13489869/.

(7) Zulfqar Ahmad, Ishfaq Ahmed, Muhammad Musarrat Nawaz, Ahmad Usman, Muhammad Zeeshan Shaukat, Naveed Ahmad, (2010) Impact of Service Quality of Short Messaging Service on Customers Retention; an Empirical Study of Cellular Companies of Pakistan, International Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 5, No. 6; June 2010, pp 154-160.

WEBSITES

Communications in India in Wikipedia, The free encyclopedia, Retrieved Feb 15, 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Communications_in_India.

Dion Global Solutions Limited, Retrieved Feb 15, 2012 from http:// www.money control.com/company-facts/bhartiairtel / history/BA08.

Dion Global Solutions Limited, Retrieved Feb 15, 2012 from http:// www.money control .com/company-facts/idea cellular/ history/IC8.

DusanBelic, Into Mobile, India’s Bharti Airtel rebrands, crosses 200 million customers Sunday, January 2nd, 2011, Retrieved Feb 15, 2012 from http://www.intomobile.com/2011/01/02/bharti-airtel-rebrands/.

Telecom Industry in India, updated on Aug, 28, 2010, Retireved Feb 14, 2012 from http://www.iloveindia.com/economy-of-india/telecom-industry.html.

Received on 27.07.2012 Accepted on 22.08.2012

Asian J. Management 3(3): July-Sept., 2012 page 158-162