Indian Institute of Management

Bangalore

Date: 24th December 2020

Group Project – Industry and Firm Analysis

Industry - Telecommunications Industry

Firm – Bharti Airtel

Submitted to:

Professor Sai Chittaranjan Kalubandi

Competition and Strategy

PGP 2020-22 Term 2

Submitted by:

Group 10
Amey Dhumal 2011238
Ashutosh Sharma 2011279
Harsh Gupta 2011246
Nihal V Latheef 2011286
Surbhi Sahu 2011272

Section D | PGP 2020-22

Executive Summary

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The Indian Telecommunication Industry recently experienced consolidation with only 3 major
players remaining, namely Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea. The entry of Reliance
Jio triggered intense price competition with the profitability of the players severely getting
affected.
The key growth drivers of industry are growing population, government policy support, 5G and
network infrastructure. Government highly regulates the Telecom sector through policy
frameworks. With the increasing population and internet penetration, the industry stands to grow
at a good pace in future. New technologies like 4G LTE & 5G are becoming a worldwide reality
now and are set to offer consumers high quality, and a wider range of services.
Despite a fewer number of players, due to low switching cost and limited scope for product
differentiation, buyers' power is high. For a new player to enter this industry, building the entire
network of infrastructure, customers, and achieving economies of scale makes it extremely
tough. This makes the industry slightly unattractive. Currently, the data rates in India are also
one of the cheapest in the world leading to a consumer surplus as consumers are paying less than
their willingness to pay. However, price competition is expected to reduce in the future and
margins will stabilise, which in turn will reduce bargaining power of buyer and rivalry among
players going ahead and thus increasing the attractiveness of the industry.
After the entry of Jio, Airtel received a strong setback, survival was becoming difficult and the
market was moving towards Jio dominance. The core service of telecommunication industry was
standardized. Thus, differentiation solely based on service was not feasible. Therefore, Airtel
went on to create a holistic digital ecosystem by offering a whole host of complementary
services to increase value of their main offering. They achieved it through 3 key focus areas –
Innovation, Consumer obsession and strategic partnerships.
Airtel is among the top 100 most innovative companies globally and always acts as change
leader in telecom industry thus harnessing the first mover advantage. Airtel is striving towards
providing best consumer experience through initiatives like ZERO question, industry first loyalty
program, next-generation digital stores, bundled value plans and so on. Airtel follows a
partnership model and is working towards building a digital layer to create a high growth
ecosystem with partners via easier and faster integration. Strong brand equity and exceptional
brand management gives Airtel a sustained competitive advantage.
The following recommendation are made based on the overall industry and firm analysis – Airtel
can leverage its vast data to build a customer-focussed digital platform in partnership model with
other companies and monetise it through advertisements and target selling of its partners'
products. A highly subsidised low-cost smartphone can be developed to ensure that its customers
using 2G upgrade to its 4G network rather than migrating to Jio. Airtel should make investments
to deploy innovative technology, automation & digitisation for superior service in the 5G
ecosystem. Airtel should focus on cost-effective and innovative strategies to expand to the rural
markets.

2
Contents
A. Industry Analysis..................................................................................................................4
I. Industry Overview................................................................................................................4
II. Key drivers of growth...........................................................................................................5
III. External forces analysis: PEST.........................................................................................5
IV. Porter’s 5 Force Analysis..................................................................................................7
V. Expected change in industry structure..................................................................................9
B. Firm Analysis......................................................................................................................10
I. Airtel Overview..................................................................................................................10
II. Evolution of strategy...........................................................................................................10
III. Current strategies............................................................................................................10
IV. Resources and Capabilities (VRIN Analysis).................................................................12
V. Recommendations...............................................................................................................14
C. Bibliography.......................................................................................................................16

3
Industry Analysis

I. Industry Overview

The Indian telecommunications industry started in late 1995. Since then, the industry went on to
become the world's 2nd largest total subscriber base of 1.16 billion with a tele-density of 87.37%.
India also has the 2nd largest total internet users in the world with the rural population comprising
44.27% of the total telephone subscribers in the country. With 1 GB of mobile data costing just
USD 0.26 compared to USD 12.37 in US and USD 6.66 in UK, Indian market has the cheapest
telecom tariffs in the world.
The industry is dominated by 3 major players, namely Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone
Idea. Jio has quickly emerged as the market leader by capturing nearly 32.14% of the market
share with a total of 370.2 million subscribers. The entry of Jio initiated a price war in the sector
with profitability of all the players suffering. However, ARPU of the industry players is now
recovering and stabilizing.

Market Share
11%

35%
26%

28%

Reliance Jio Airtel Vodafone Idea Others

Current Market Share in the Telecom Industry

II. Key drivers of growth

 Growing population - Growing per capita income and young population coupled with
changing lifestyles are likely to further increase the demand going forward. GDP per capita is
growing at a CAGR of 7.47% and is expected to increase to USD 3,273.85 by 2023.

 Government Policy Support - The sector has also received policy support from the
government with respect to reduction in license fees and relaxation of FDI norms

4
 5G and network infrastructure serve as the base to promote high-speed data, greater
network efficiency and differentiated services.

 Internet of Things – expected to hit 25 billion connected devices by 2021 i, thus presenting a
substantial growth opportunity.

 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) – Ability of service providers to
utilize AI and ML will enable them to predict, identify and mitigate data security risks in
real-time.

III. External forces analysis: PEST

Political
The Central Government highly regulates the telecommunication industry through policy
frameworks with the two key departments being:

- Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) - make decisions on various subjects,

including tariff, interconnection, quality of service, and ensuring compliance by service
providers.
- Department of Telecommunication (DoT) - control over a critical telecommunication
resource, i.e., electromagnetic spectrum.

The recent AGR payout issues to the Government has severely hurt the already struggling
service providers. Also, the Government exerts significant control in matters relating to national
security concerns.

The players also exert political influence by lobbying with the Government to get various
decision passed in their favor.

Economic
Currently, the Indian telecom sector is the second largest in the world, with the total number of
subscribers at more than 1.16 billionii. It contributes 6.5% to Indian GDP and is expected to
reach 8.2% after the introduction of 5G servicesiii. It is expected to have 7% revenue growth in
fiscal 2020iv. With the incoming latest technologies like 5G and increase in FDI limits from 74%
to 100% have reduced trade barriers, and the telecommunication sector stands to grow
significantlyv.
Social Factors
The telecommunication network of India is the 2nd largest in the world. With a population of
130 crore people growing at a rapid rate, 121 crore mobile phones are existing in the market (tele
density > 92%)vi.

5
India is expected to lead the growth of smartphone adoption with an estimated net addition of
350 million by 2020. Total number of SIM connections is expected to reach 1.4 billion by 2020
from 1.1 billion in 2017.
After having all these factors in place, population growth plays a critical role in making the
telecom industry more than attractive for a country like India.

Source: Economic Research Unit–Statistics, DoT, Ministry of Communications, Govt. Of India

Technological
Telecom industry is converging towards IT and technology, which needs a huge amount of
capital expenditure. Therefore, the product must stay for longer period in the market to break-
even also. However, rapidly changing technology creates a lot of pressure on operators. The
revenues of the firm generally tend to decline whenever there is a change in technology.
New technologies like 4G LTE & 5G are becoming a worldwide reality now in order to offer its
consumers quality, and a wider range of services.

IV. Porter's 5 Force Analysis

Bargaining Power of Buyers (High)

- Large number of buyers reduces the ability of an individual buyer to impact the revenue of
the telecom companies.

- However, large corporate buyers accounting for high revenue shares can exert financial
muscle when negotiating price, thus increasing their bargaining power.

6
- There is limited scope for product differentiation and high price sensitivity due to low
switching costs. The time period for mobile number portability process has reduced from 15
to 5 working days and charges also reduced to only Rs. 6.46. As a result, companies compete
on quality and customer services to increase their customer base and retain existing
customers.

- Lastly, it is almost impossible for a buyer to integrate backwards and start providing telecom
services because of the huge set up costs involved.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers (Low to Moderate)

The key suppliers for this industry are the mobile tower companies, SIM cards manufacturers,
and the Government.
Mobile Tower Companies - The quality of the service relies heavily on the towers. But the
major players have their own network infrastructure companies. The government project MOST
(Mobile operators shared towers) allows mutual sharing of towers resulting in low switching cost
to the industry player. Thus, the bargaining power of tower suppliers is low.
Sim Card Manufacturers - Low switching costs in case of the Sim Card Manufacturers enables
companies to switch their suppliers for better prices, thus reducing their bargaining power.

Government (Bandwidth allocation) - The Government allocates licenses to the service

providers to use the electromagnetic spectrum bandwidth through auctions. Auctions lead to
competition among the bidders resulting in high license fees, thus raising the bargaining power
of the Government.

Threat of Substitutes (Low-Moderate)

- The major substitutes to wireless telecommunication services are fixed line services,
communication through internet such as emails, WhatsApp calling etc.

- After the entry of Jio and subsequent emergence of 4G, data rates have reduced significantly
while internet speed has increased. Roughly 700 million users in India have access to
internet.

- But the companies have started bundling both calling and internet services. This means that
players offer substitutes themselves thus leading to higher dependency of users on telecom
companies and lower threat of substitutes.

Threat of New Entrants (Low)

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- The fixed costs are very high due to heavy investment in infrastructure, setting up billing and
operational support systems.
- Building the entire network of infrastructure, customers, and achieving economies of scale
coupled with the recent rate of consolidation in the industry makes it harder for new players
to enter and operate.
Degree of Rivalry (High)
- The industry is dominated by three players with a collective market share of 83.3% vii, which
benefit from diversification and economies of scale.

- Price competition has led to declining revenue growth, even with a growth in the subscribers.
Currently, the mobile data rates in India are the lowest in the world. This has led to a huge
consumer surplus since the prices are way below what customers are willing to pay.
However, such low prices are not sustainable if the players have to make continuous
investments in technology, network coverage and service quality. Thus, the prices are
expected to increase in future which will ensure better profitability and sustainability of
players.

- To acquire and retain customers due to low level of differentiation, companies are focusing
more on value pricing, service quality and marketing. Due to low switching costs, firms are
offering incentives to customers and bundling data plans of better size and quantity.

- Firms are entering converging markets like consumer electronics, technology, and media due
to growth prospects, leading to further competition.

Conclusion
Even though the low threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes and the bargaining power of
buyers makes the industry attractive, the intense price competition due to low product
differentiation and the resultant high bargaining power of buyers more than compensates for the
for the advantages. This makes the industry slightly unattractive.
However, price competition is expected to reduce, and margins stabilise, thus reduce bargaining
power of buyer and rivalry among players. This might increase the attractiveness of the industry
going ahead.

V. Expected change in industry structure

The industry structure is expected to remain the same in future. The impact of various forces,
however, may slightly change. With the end of price war between the existing players, prices are
expected to stabilize. At the same time, number of internet users is expected to reach 974 million

8
by 2025. An increase in number of users would further dilute individual buyer' power. Since
most of the substitutes is expected to be provided by telecom companies in future as well, the
threat of substitute would also remain low. Low profitability of incumbent players, huge heavy
capital investment and legal barriers will continue restrict the entry of new players.

Firm Analysis

I. Airtel Overview

Bharti Airtel is a leading global telecommunications company with operations spread across 18
countries.  It is India's 2nd largest mobile telecom operator and the 4th largest mobile network
operator in the world, with over 440 million subscribers.

II. Evolution of strategy

With the entry of Jio, Bharti Airtel, which was the leading telecom provider, received a strong
setback. Their profits were reduced due to falling competitive prices, survival was becoming
difficult, and the market was moving towards the Reliance Jio dominance.
The core service of the telecommunication industry is standardized; thus, differentiation solely
based on service is not feasible. Therefore, Airtel went on to create a holistic digital ecosystem
by offering a whole host of complementary services to increase the value of their primary
offering.
The offerings include on-demand content via a partnership with major OTT players, Airtel
payments bank, music streaming app 'Wync,' DTH, enterprise digital services, and so on. A
move towards consumer-centric strategies and innovative solutions through initiatives like a
loyalty program, Project Next, ZERO questions, enterprise hub, wifi calling, Xstream Fibre,
Wync Tube, Airtel IQ helped Airtel endure in the turbulent times post the entry of Jio.

III. Current strategies

1. Innovation core:
Airtel is among the only 5 Indian companies in the list of "Top 100 most innovative companies
globally"viii(Forbes 2017). Airtel has always acted as a change leader in telecommunication,

9
which provides them with a 'first-mover advantage' and gives a competitive advantage over other
firms.
- The company's Telecom Infra Project (TIP) Community Lab offers innovative network
infrastructure solutions, Airtel security Intelligence Centre in Delhi (investment worth 100
crores) for rising data security concerns

- The key innovative products include Wifi calling for better indoor coverage, Xtreme fibre for
converging digital entertainment needs, Airtel homes a digital quad play platform with
bundled plans of broadband, post-paid and DTH service, Airtel IQ for cloud communication
amid rising work from home.

- They adopted a partner-based approach alongside investments in the development of

narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) ecosystem. It collaborated with MG Motors to launch internet-
connected cars and Apollo Hospitals to help connect remote healthcare centres.

- Airtel Business announced the launch of the Customer Advisory Board to foster open
innovation by collaborating with its enterprise customers to accelerate product innovation.

2. Consumer-centric strategy:
Airtel continues to be the leader in providing quality data and voice services through an excellent
network infrastructure. It is taking it a notch further by toiling to deliver the best consumer
experience.
- Launched an ambitious 'ZERO question' campaign promising to resolve the queries in a
quick and transparent manner, thus building greater trust among the consumers.

- Introduced loyalty program 'Airtel Thanks' to delight it's valued customers by giving access
to premium digital content (like Netflix, Prime), offers on smartphones, online shopping
vouchers, priority service.

- Commenced Project' Next' to improve customer engagement through the expansion of

Airtel's next-generation digital stores.
The result of this is reflected in the fact that Airtel added 13.9 million customers and churn was
at an all-time low of 1.7% (2nd Quarter FY 21). In contrast, the competitor Jio could add 7
million and VodaIdea's declined by 8 million. ix

3. Strategic Alliances and Partnerships:

- Airtel is adopting a partnership model for driving collaboration and digital transformation in
India. Some of the noteworthy alliances include AWS for cloud services, Radware for
cybersecurity solutions, OTTs for digital content, Cisco, and so on.

10
- Airtel has also acquired a strategic stake in a lot of startups under various sectors like health,
fitness, AI, etc. They intend to invest in building a digital layer to create a high growth
ecosystem with partners via easier and faster integration. This will serve as a rare resource
for Airtel going ahead and even become a source of a competitive advantage, given the
increasing impact of digital and technology.

IV. Resources and Capabilities (VRIN Analysis)

Digital Innovation, Strategic Partnerships and maintaining strong customer relationships are the
prime strategies that Airtel follows to distinguish itself from other market players.
Building a strong customer relationship is something that is not only valuable and rare but also
inimitable and non-substitutable, thus becoming a source of sustained competitive advantage to
airtel.

1. Brand Equity
Another intangible asset that has given Airtel a sustained competitive advantage is the strong
brand equity that it has built over the years.

11
 Airtel was ranked 4th among the "The top 10 most valuable Indian brands 2019" as per WPP
Kantar Survey. Due to huge scale of operations, best video and download experience and
presence in a wide variety of segments, Airtel has emerged as one of the strongest and most
reputed brands in the telecom sector.

2. Brand Management
Airtel exceptional brand management has enabled it to sustain the competitive advantage and
limit the influence of buyers' high bargaining power.
It has always focussed on creating strong word-of-mouth publicity with incredible marketing
campaigns, which has been a strong point of differentiation for it.
In early 2000s, all the jingles for Airtel were composed by legend AR Rahman with Sachin
Tendulkar being the brand ambassador. This duo of India's most revered personalities enabled
Airtel to leave a lasting mark on the consumers.
The ad campaign "Har ek friend, zaroori hota hai" was a big hit. It helped Airtel reposition itself
from a "Dad’s brand” to one that was focussed on youth. Along with this, sponsoring Indian
Formula 1 and partnering with Manchester United further increased youth appeal.

3. Robust Infrastructure

Enhancing network capabilities through robust infrastructure along with broad coverage
capabilities enables Airtel to serve its customer base effectively. In FY2019, the company’s
infrastructure consisted of 417,613 mobile broadband base stations; 403.6 million customer base
and 181,079 network towers. Indus tower ltd., world’s largest tower company formed by the
merger of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers would aid in Airtel’s nationwide penetration.
Recently, Airtel has also acquired 4.9% stake in Bharti Infratel due to attractive valuations and a
strong dividend yield.

Resource/Capabilities Valuable Rare Inimitable Non-Substitutable Competitive

Advantage
Digital Innovation Yes Yes No Yes Temporary
Network Quality Yes Yes No Yes Temporary
Brand Equity Yes Yes Yes Yes Sustained
Strong Customer Relationship Yes Yes Yes Yes Sustained
Company’s Borrowing Capacity Yes Yes No No Temporary
Brand Management Yes Yes Yes Yes Sustained
Strategic Alliance and Partnership Yes Yes No Yes Temporary

12
Robust Infrastructure Yes Yes No Yes Temporary

Financial Analysis
A financial analysis of the top 3 players is shown below. The following information has been
taken from the respective companies’ annual reports.
Key Metric Units Bharti Airtel Reliance Jio Vodafone Idea
Average revenue per user (ARPU) ₹ 162 145 119
No. of wireless subscribers Mn 326.6 404.1 295.5
Market Share (volume) % 28.4 35.1 25.7
Total Revenue ₹ Mn 875,390 639,830 459,968
EBITDA Margin % 42.39 44.7 34.68
Net Profit Margin % -36.8 8.69 -161
Net Debt to EBITDA Times 3.20 ~0 6.09
Return on Capital Employed % -9.75 - -6.11
Current Ratio Times 0.58 - 0.23
Debt-equity Ratio Times 1.53 - 19.44

A financial analysis reveals that Reliance Jio is the leader on almost all the key metrics.
However, when compared to Vodafone Idea, Airtel has a significantly strong balance sheet with
the EBITDA margins as high as 42.4% as against only ~35% for Vodafone Idea. Due to recovery
in tariffs, Airtel has been able to achieve the highest ARPU of ₹162. This will contribute
positively to the company’s bottom line as well as ensure long term sustainability.

4. Efficient Debt Management and Strong Borrowing Capacity

- The debt-equity ratio of Airtel stands at a modest 1.53 as compared to 19.44 of Vodafone
Idea. This means that Airtel has been managing its capital structure much more efficiently as
compared to Vodafone Idea. This is solidified by the fact that the Net Debt to EBITDA ratio
of Airtel is only 3.2 which is almost half of that of Vodafone.

- With the AGR dues causing immense distress in the sustainability of industry players, Airtel
has been able to strongly protect its balance sheet. It managed to raise more than USD 8
billion through various instruments, giving it a competitive parity.

- However, the poor current ratio of Airtel can be a cause of concern since it may restrict its
ability to meet short term obligations.

13
V. Recommendations

1. Leverage growing data and distribution network through partnerships

Bharti Airtel has access to more than 400 million customersx, 2,000 large enterprises and more
than a million SMEsxi. They can use this data and distribution network to build a customer-
focussed digital platform in partnership model with other companies and monetise it through
advertisements and target selling of its partners’ products. They can venture into education,
content and lending areas and earn from the transaction commission.
2. Developing a low-cost smartphone
A highly subsidised low-cost smartphone can be developed to ensure that its customers using 2G
upgrade to its 4G network rather than migrating to Jio. Like US telecom companies (A&T and
Verizon), a razor-razorblade model can be followed in which a mobile phone is given at a
subsidised price with the condition of locking in the customer for a period of 2 years, which will
help in generating recurring income.
3. 5G and new opportunities
The number of users is estimated to grow by ten timesxii the current number with 5G enabled
high speed wireless broadband, Industry4.0 and IOT. Airtel should make investments to deploy
innovative technology, automation & digitisation for the 5G ecosystem to work together. Since
the infrastructure requirement can be 8-10 timesxiii the current deployment, they should get into
strategic partnerships with other tower companies and the government to build shared
infrastructure.
4. Tapping the rural markets
The tele-density of rural markets is merely 57.7% (172.98% in Urban markets)xiv. Reducing
tariffs & smartphone prices have increased the demand for high-quality service from the rural
markets. However, due to low ARPU from rural markets (₹ 98 as compared to ₹165 in urban
areasxv) capital-intensive urban model will not work in rural markets. Airtel should focus on cost-
effective and innovative strategies to expand to the rural markets. For instance, to solve the
unavailability of power grids in rural areas they can install cell-sites, which consume less power
or base stations running on solar energy and requiring low maintenance.

14
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https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/telecom-indistry-may-contribute-8-2-to-gdp-by-2020-by-
leveraging5g/70071825#:~:text=x,Telecom%20industry%20may%20contribute%208.2%25%20to%20GDP%20by
%202020%20by,collated%20by%20London%2Dbased%20GSMA.

iv
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257303449_PEST_analysis

v
https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/paper3/telecom-sector-issues-and-challenges

vi
https://dot.gov.in/sites/default/files/statistical%20Bulletin-2018.pdf

vii
MarketLine, 2020. Wireless Telecommunication Services in India. Telecommunication Services in India. MarketLine.

viii
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/three-indian-firms-among-forbes-most-
innovative-companies/articleshow/59990255.cms?from=mdr

ix
https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/airtel-tops-q2-customer-additions-beat-jio-first-time-in-12-
months-120110100572_1.html

x
https://www.airtel.in/press-release/07-2019/joint-press-statement-from-bharti-airtel-and-tata-teleservices

xi
https://www.businesstoday.in/sectors/telecom/bharti-airtel-champion-against-jio-facebook-alliance-a-digital-platform-
of-its-own/story/404370.html

xii
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/5g-is-very-much-dependent-on-fiberization-airtel-cto-randeep-
sekhon/78444072

xiii
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tele-talk/5g-massive-opportunity-and-challenges/3163

xiv
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tele-talk/telcos-need-smart-work-for-effective-rural-network-
strategy/2582

xv
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tele-talk/telcos-need-smart-work-for-effective-rural-network-
strategy/2582