Taiyar Report

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Background

India's telecommunication network is the second largest in the world based on the total number

of telephone users (both fixed and mobile phone). It has one of the lowest call tariffs in the world

enabled by the mega telephone networks and hyper-competition among them. It has the world's

third-largest Internet user-base with over 137 million as of June 2012. Major sectors of the

Indian telecommunication industry are telephony, internet and television broadcasting.

The Indian telecom network with 895.51 million telephone connections, including 864.72

million wireless telephone connections, at the end of December 2012 is second largest network

in the world after China. Out of this, 338.59 million telephone connections are in rural areas

and556.92 million are in urban areas of the country. There were 24.01 million Internet

subscribers including 14.68 million Broadband subscribers at the end of September 2012. The

number of Broadband subscribers increased to 14.98 million, end of December 2012. (TRAI,

2013)

Growth in Indias mobile telephone sector has been nothing short of spectacular in the past few

years, aided by higher subscriber volumes, lower tariffs and falling handset prices. India is home

to a number of global mobile operators working with local companies and mobile market has

consistently experienced very high annual growth rates with the continuous decline in tariff.

At present, there are more than 15 players in the telecom operators in India. All of them compete

with each other to grab customers by providing wide range of services. They not only offer basic

services of cell phone but also produce other value added services. Along with the normal

services all of the operators are now offer internet facilities which enable the subscribers to reach

the whole world through internet easily and their services includes prepaid, post-paid, internet,

value added services, roaming and devices. The hasty growth and development in information

technology and mobile devices has made the Indian mobile phone service markets more and

more competitive. It is assumed by all mobile service providers that value added services

increases the customer loyalty. But does value-added services fulfil all the customer needs and is

it the only factor that play a significant role in maintaining and building up the loyalty of the

customers. On the other hand according to Lee et al (2001) the mobile providers should build up

customer commitment by providing good quality service to their customers.

The success of telecommunication industry depends on prudent efforts and feasible investments.

In a competitive market, service providers are expected to compete on both price and quality of

services and also it is necessary for the service providers to meet the consumers requirements

and expectations in price and service quality(Melody, 2001). The positive relationship of service

quality with customer satisfaction (Danaher and Mattson, 1994; Kim et al., 2004), customer

preference (Ranaweera and neely, 2003), profitability (Cornell 1992; Danaher and Rust, 1996),

competitiveness (Rapert and Wren, 1998), is well proven in the academic literature. The

customers now-a-days, are choosing their telecom service providers on the basis of various

factors which include service offerings, their quality, affordability, etc.

1.2 Objectives of the study

As competition has been escalating among the corporations, it is ardently necessary for them to

learn about the consumers perception about the communication quality, call services, facility,

price, customer care, service providers capabilities and other important factors that may have

been playing a vital role in selecting the telecommunication service providers. Therefore, the

major objective of this study is to cautiously examine the factors that have been affecting the

consumers perception to select mobile telecommunication service, particularly in India.

The objectives of the study are:

To find out the factors determining the perception of customers towards telecom service

providers in India.

To find out the effectiveness of various factors in determining the perception of

customers towards telecom service providers in India.

To recommend the telecommunication service providers in order to gain value perception

in the minds of the customers.

Chapter2

Literature Review

2.1 Introduction to Indian Service Sector

The services sector covers a wide array of activities ranging from services provided by the most

sophisticated sectors like telecommunications, satellite mapping, and computer software to

simple services like those performed by the barber, the carpenter, and the plumber; highly

capital-intensive activities like civil aviation and shipping to employment-oriented activities like

tourism, real-estate, and housing; infrastructure-related activities like railways, roadways, and

ports to social sector related activities like health and education. Thus, there is no one-sizefits-

all definition of services resulting in some overlapping and some borderline inclusions. The

National Accounts classification of the services sector incorporates trade, hotels, and restaurants;

transport, storage, and communication; financing, insurance, real estate, and business services;

and community, social, and personal services. In the World Trade Organization (WTO) list of

services and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) classification, construction is also included.

Indias services sector has emerged as prominent sector in terms of its contribution to national

and states incomes, trade flows, FDI inflows, and employment. According to The Economic

Survey (2012-13), growth story overall and services of world and India in the 2000s began from

almost the same level of around 4-5 per cent in 2000. But over the years, Indias overall and

services growth rates have outpaced those of the world. Interestingly, unlike world services

growth, which has been moving in tandem with its overall growth with mild see-saw movements

over the years, Indias services growth has been consistently above its overall growth in the last

decade except for 2003. Thus, for more than a decade, this sector has been pulling up the growth

of the Indian economy with a great amount of stability. The share of services in Indias GDP at

factor cost (at current prices) increased from 33.3 per cent. In 1950-51 to 56.5 per cent in 2012-

13. Including construction, the share would increase to 64.8 per cent in 2012-13. With an18.0 per

cent share, trade, hotels, and restaurants as a group is the largest contributor to GDP among the

various services sub-sectors, followed by financing, insurance, real estate, and business services

with a 16.6 per cent share. Both these services showed perceptible improvement in their shares

over the years. Community, social, and personal services with a share of 14.0 per cent is in third

place. Construction, a borderline services inclusion, is at fourth place with an 8.2 per cent share.

The CAGR of the services sector GDP at 10per cent for the period 2004-5 to 2011-12 has been

higher than the 8.5 per cent CAGR of overall GDP during the same period. However in 2011-12

and2012-13, there has also been a deceleration in growth rate of services sector at 8.2 per cent

and 6.6 percent respectively. Among the major broad categories of services, financing,

insurance, real estate, and business services, which continued to grow robustly both in 2010-11

and 2011-12 decelerated to 8.6 percent in 2012-13. While in 2011-12 growth in trade, hotels,

and restaurants and transport, storage, and communication slowed down to 6.2 per cent and8.4

per cent respectively, in 2012-13 trade, hotels, and restaurants and transport, storage, and

communication combined grew by an estimated 5.2 per cent.

2.2 Telecom Industry in India

Telecommunications has evolved as a basic infrastructure like electricity, roads, water etc. and

has also emerged as one of the critical components of economic growth required for overall

socio economic development of the country. The Indian telecom sector has registered

phenomenal growth during the past few years and has become second largest telephone network

in the world, only after China. A series of reform measures by the Government, the wireless

technology and active participation by private sector played an important role in the exponential

growth of telecom sector in the country. National Telecom Policy-2012 (NTP-2012) has been

announced during the current year with the primary objective of maximizing public good by

making available affordable, reliable and secure telecommunication and broadband services

across the entire country.

In the last ten years, the mobile revolution has truly changed the socio-economic landscape of

India and played pivotal role in the growth and development of the economy.

Todays development of communication technology ignores the global border and makes the

world as global village (McLuhan, 1964). This reform of the communication technology since

been expanded to include the transformation of the traditional voice telecom network into an

expanded and enhanced information infrastructure, which is capable of communicating all forms

of information content(Melody, 2003). The nature of the competition today in the global

telecommunications industry seems to centre on market activities that aim at gaining competitive

advantages through strategic combinations of resources and presences in multiple products and

geographical areas (Chan-Olmsted and Jamison, 2001). The success of telecommunication

industry depends on prudent efforts and feasible investments. In competitive market, service

providers are expected to compete on both price and quality of services and also it is necessary

for the service providers to meet the consumers requirements and expectations in price and

service quality (Melody, 2001). The telecommunication system has been a fastest growing

medium of communication rejuvenating global interface interactions. Since, currently

telecommunication sector is experiencing phenomenal global change with the liberalization and

privatization of the sector (Beard and Hartmann, 1999), which intern, widens a fierce

competition. The system has opened an ocean of opportunities for the potential consumers to

enjoy versatile choices among the service providers. Now days, due to breathtaking competition,

the telecommunication service providers tend to offer innovative services as well as competitive

prices just to attract handful magnitude of customers.

Mobile phones may be categorized as common communication medium for almost 31% of the

global population uses them (Motorola, 2006). Lot of studies has been conducted in the recent

times on mobile phone use and customers satisfaction. This section presents a brief review of

some of the significant studies on this. This is not an elaborate review of studies on this subject.

It is only an attempt to present some of the important recent studies on the subject concerned to

understand the various facets of this area that being researched.

According to Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI), India ranks between the top ten

telecom network in the world and the second largest in Asia. India is also one of the fastest

growing markets in mobile communications. Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indias report on

Telecom Services Performance (TRAI, 2010) indicates cellular mobile subscriber base touching

735.71million in June 2012. Growth in Indias mobile telephone sector has been nothing short of

spectacular in the past few years, aided by higher subscriber volumes, lower tariffs and falling

handset prices. India is home to a number of global mobile operators working with local

companies and mobile market has consistently experienced very high annual growth rates with

the continuous decline in tariff.

2.2.1 History and Evolution

The history of Indian telecom can be started with the introduction of telegraph. The Indian postal

and telecom sectors are one of the worlds oldest. In 1850, the first experimental electric

telegraph line was started between Calcutta and Diamond Harbor. In 1851, it was opened for the

use of the British East India Company. The Posts and Telegraphs department occupied a small

corner of the Public Works Department, at that time.

Subsequently, the construction of 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of telegraph lines connecting Kolkata

(then Calcutta) and Peshawar in the north along with Agra, Mumbai (then Bombay) through

Sindwa Ghats, and Chennai (then Madras) in the south, as well as Ootacamund and Bangalore

was started in November 1853. William O'Shaughnessy, who pioneered the telegraph and

telephone in India, belonged to the Public Works Department, and worked towards the

development of telecom throughout this period. A separate department was opened in 1854 when

telegraph facilities were opened to the public.

In 1890, two telephone companies namely The Oriental Telephone Company Ltd. and The

Anglo-Indian Telephone Company Ltd. approached the Government of India to establish the

telephone exchanges in India. The permission was refused on the grounds that the establishment

of telephones was a Government monopoly and that the Government itself would undertake the

work. In 1881, the Government later reversed its earlier decision and a license was granted to the

Oriental Telephone Company Limited of England for opening telephone exchanges at Calcutta,

Bombay, Madras and Ahmedabad and the first formal telephone service was established in the

country. On 28 January 1882, Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor General of India's

Council declared open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The

exchange in Calcutta named the "Central Exchange" had a total of 93 subscribers in its early

stage. Later that year, Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange.

The Telecommunication Timeline

Pre-1902 Cable telegraph

1902 First wireless telegraph station established between Sagar Island and Sandhead.

1907 First Central Battery of telephones introduced in Kanpur.

19131914 First Automatic Exchange installed in Shimla.

1927 Radio-telegraph system between the UK and India, with Imperial Wireless Chain beam

stations at Khadki and Daund which was inaugurated by Lord Irwin on 23 July by exchanging

greetings with King George V.

1933 Radiotelephone system inaugurated between the UK and India.

1953 12 channel carrier system introduced.

1960 First subscriber trunk dialing route commissioned between Lucknow and Kanpur

1975 First PCM system commissioned between Mumbai City and Andheri telephone

exchanges.

1976 First digital microwave junction.

1979 First optical fibre system for local junction commissioned at Pune.

1980 First satellite earth station for domestic communications established at Sikandarabad,

U.P.

1983 First analogue Stored Program Control exchange for trunk lines commissioned at

Mumbai.

1984 C-DOT established for indigenous development and production of digital exchanges.

1995 First mobile telephone service started on non-commercial basis on 15 August 1995 in

Delhi.

1995 Internet Introduced in India starting with Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai and Pune on

15 August 1995.

2.2.2 Current Scenario

According to the Telecom Industry Annual Report 2012-13, Indian telecom network with 895.51

million telephone connections, including 864.72millionwireless telephone connections, at the

end of December 2012 is second largest network in the world after China. Out of this, 338.59

million telephone connections are in rural areas and 556.92 million are in urban areas of the

country. There were 24.01 million Internet subscribers including 14.68 million Broadband

subscribers at the end of September 2012. The number of Broadband subscribers increased to

14.98 million, end of December 2012.

Present Status of the Telecommunication Sector (as on December 31, 2012)

Indian telecom network is second largest in the world after China.

The country has 895.51 million telephone connections, including 864.72 million wireless

telephone connections

Overall tele-density in the country is 73.34%.

Urban tele-density is 149.55%, whereas rural tele-density is 39.90%.

The share of wireless telephones in total telephones is 96.56%.

The share of private sector in total telephones is 85.51%.

Number of Broadband connections is 14.98 million.

Network status during current financial year (2012-13)

The total number of telephones continued to increase till June 2012 and increased from

951.35million to 965.52 million during the period April to June 2012. Thereafter, number of

telephone connections declined to 895.51 million by the end of December 2012. The decline in

telecom user base after June 2012 has been primarily due to the removal of inactive mobile

telephone connections by the service providers. The rural telephones have increased from 330.83

million to 343.88 million during the period April to June 2012 and declined thereafter to 338.59

million by the end of December 2012. The urban telephones increased from 620.52 million to

621.65million during the period April to June 2012 and then declined to 556.92 million by the

end of December 2012.

The given chart in Fig2.1 shows the variation of Telephone connections during 2012-13 on

monthly basis.

Fig2.1 No. of Telephone Connections (source: Telecom Annual Report 2012-13)

Tele-density Tele-density, which shows the number of telephones per 100 populations, is

an important indicator of telecom penetration in the country. Tele-density, which was

78.66% at the end of March 2012, increased to 79.58% by the end of June 2012 and then

declined to 73.34% by the end of December 2012. Among the service areas, Tamil Nadu

(109.64%) has the highest teledensity followed by Himachal Pradesh (102.76%), Punjab

(101.92%), Kerala (100.76%) and Karnataka (91.26%). Among the three metros, Delhi

tops with 220.00% tele-density, followed by Mumbai (159.57%) and Kolkata (155.10%).

On the other hand, the service areas such as Assam (46.50%), Bihar (46.53%), M.P.

(52.23%), U.P. (56.20%), West Bengal (56.85%) and J&K (58.41%) have comparatively

low tele-density. There has been slight improvement in the rural tele-density during

2012-13 and it increased from 39.26% at the end of March 2012 to 39.90% at the end of

December 2012. However, the urban tele-density decreased from 169.17% to 149.55%

during this period.

860

880

900

920

940

960

980

Number of Telephone Connections

Apr'12

May'12

Jun'12

Jul'12

Aug'12

Sep'12

Oct'12

Nov'12

Fig2.2 Teledensity (source: Telecom Annual Report, 2012-13)

Broadband Increase in Broadband connectivity is being seen as an integral driver of

improved socioeconomic performance. Broadband services empower masses and allow

individuals to access new career and educational opportunities, help businesses reach new

markets and improve efficiency and enhance the Governments capacity to deliver

critical services like health, banking and commerce to all of its citizens. There were 14.98

million Broadband subscribers in the country by the end of December 2012.

2.2.3 Composition of Telephones

Public Vs Private Players

Operator-wise classification, at the end of December 2012, reveals that PSUs still have large

share of nearly 79.57% in the wire line segment. Private operators, on the other hand, have a

share of 87.83% in the wireless segment. Overall, Bharti Group with 20.68% of the total

telephones, both landlines and mobiles taken together, in the country has the largest share

followed by Vodafone Group (16.47%), two PSUs BSNL & MTNL put together

(14.49%),Reliance (13.38%) and Idea (12.72%) etc.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Dec'12

Rural

Urban

Overall

The share of private sector, in terms of number of subscribers, increased from 86.31% to86.64%

during the period from April to June 2012 and thereafter declined to 85.51% by the end of

December 2012. On the other hand, share of public sector declined from 13.69% to13.36%

during the period April to June 2012 and then increased to 14.49% by the end of December

2012.

Wire line Vs Wireless

The preference for use of wireless telephony continues. The share of wireless telephones

increased from 96.62% as on 31.03.2012 to 96.74% by the end of June 2012 and thereafter

slightly declined to 96.56% by the end of December 2012.On the other hand, the share of

landline telephones slightly increased from 3.38% to 3.44%during the period from April to

December 2012.

2.3 Market Players in Indian Telecom Industry

(a) Bharti Airtel Ltd.

Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications

Services Company headquartered at New Delhi, India. It operates in 20 countries across South

Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. Airtel has GSM network in all countries in which it

operates, providing 2G, 3G and 4G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is

the world's third largest mobile telecommunications company with over 261 million subscribers

across 20 countries as of August 2012. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with

183.61 million subscribers as of November 2012. Airtel is the third largest in-country mobile

operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom.

(b) Vodafone

Vodafone Group Plc is a British multinational telecommunications company headquartered in

London and with its registered office in Newbury, Berkshire. It is the world's second-largest

mobile telecommunications company measured by both subscribers and 2012 revenues (in each

case behind China Mobile), and had 439 million subscribers as of December 2012.

(c) Idea Cellular

IDEA Cellular is a publicly listed company, having listed on BSE & NSE in March 2007. It is

the 3rd largest mobile services operator in India with wireless revenue market share at 15 % in

Q1 FY 2013, and subscriber base of over 117 million. Idea has consistently stayed ahead of the

industry in VLR reporting, and has the 3rd highest base of active subscribers. Idea is a pan-India

integrated GSM operator and has its own NLD and ILD operations, and ISP license.

(d) BSNL

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. was incorporated on 15th September, 2000. It took over the business

of providing of telecom services and network management from the erstwhile Central

Government Departments of Telecom Services (DTS) and Telecom Operations (DTO), with

effect from 1st October, 2000 on going concern basis. It is one of the largest & leading public

sector units providing comprehensive range of telecom services in India.

BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country & now focusing on improving it,

expanding the network, introducing new telecom services with ICT applications in villages &

winning customer's confidence. Today, it has about 43.74 million line basic telephone capacity,

8.83 million WLL capacity, 72.60 million GSM capacity, 37,885 fixed exchanges, 68,162 GSM

BTSs, 12,071 CDMA Towers, 197 Satellite Stations, 6,86,644 RKm. of OFC, 50,430 RKm. of

microwave network connecting 623 districts, 7330 cities/towns & 5.8 lakhs villages .

BSNL is the only service provider, making focused efforts & planned initiatives to bridge the

rural-urban digital divide in ICT sector. In fact there is no telecom operator in the country to beat

its reach with its wide network giving services in every nook & corner of the country & operates

across India except New Delhi & Mumbai. Whether it is inaccessible areas of Siachen glacier or

North-Eastern regions of the country, BSNL serves its customers with a wide bouquet of telecom

services namely Wire line, CDMA mobile, GSM mobile, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service,

MPLS-VPN, VSAT, VoIP, IN Services, FTTH, etc.

(e) Aircel

The Aircel Group is a result of alliance between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia

(74% equity) and Sindya Securities & Investments Private Limited (26% equity).

The Aircel Group, formed in 1994, offers affordable and outstanding mobile services to a vast

subscriber base in India. Aircel has a vision of delighting its customers by giving them the

respect they deserve. Its goal is to provide our customers with exemplary service and persistently

look for new ways to surpass their expectations.

(f) Reliance Communications

Reliance Groups flagship company, Reliance Communications, is India's largest private sector

information and communications company, with over 150 million subscribers. It has established

a pan-India, high-capacity, integrated (wireless and wire line), convergent (voice, data and video)

digital network, to offer services spanning the entire infocomm value chain.

(g) Tata Communications

Tata Communications' depth and breadth of reach in emerging markets includes leadership in

Indian enterprise data services, leadership in global international voice, and strategic investments

in South Africa (Neotel), Sri Lanka (Tata Communications Lanka Limited) and Nepal (United

Telecom Limited)

With new players coming in, the intensity of competition in the industry has increased, especially

in last four years. The market share of telecom operators of the telcom companies reflects the

fragmented nature of industry, with as many as 15 players. As of April 30, 2012 Bharti Telecom

led the market with 19.94%, Reliance 16.58%, Vodafone 16.41, Idea 12.40%, BSNL 10.51%,

Tata 8.77%, Aircel 6.93% with the remaining share being held by small operators.

Fig 2.3 Subscriber Market Share of Players (source: A Brief Report on Telecom Sector in India, AS&A)

Subscriber Market Share Bharti Airtel

Vodafone

Reliance

Idea

BSNL

Aircel

Tata

Others

Fig2.4 Revenue Market Share (source: TRAI)

2.4 Telecom Industry Challenges

The services provided by the telecom industry form the foundation of our connected lives in the

Digital World. However, despite the importance of these services, the health of the telecom

industry is threatened by multiple challenges including:

Declining Core Revenue Stream Competitive and regulatory pressures are straining the

telecom industry. Ultra-low cost and free voice services have commoditized

communication service providers' core revenue streams of voice and text message

services. The rise of over the top players is a growing threat. Today, Skype carries nearly

25% of international long distance traffic and services such as Apple's iMessage platform

are further pressuring CSPs. Voice-based tariffs have also declined due to regulatory

interventions. (Malviya and Varma, 2012)

Data Monetization Gap Both fixed and mobile broadband networks are experiencing an

explosion in data traffic due to the adoption of bandwidth-intensive applications such as

video streaming, online gaming and social networking. However, this surge in data traffic

has not translated to an equivalent growth in revenues for CSPs. In fact, the gap between

Revenue Market Share

Airtel

Vodafone

Idea

Tata

Reliance

BSNL+MTNL

Aircel

Others

data traffic and service provider revenues is steadily rising, with data traffic growth

expected to outpace revenue growth3 by a factor of 9 between 2012 and 2016. On the

other hand, investments required to expand capacity and coverage and keep pace with

technology advancements continue to grow, further impacting profitability.(Malviya and

Varma, 2012)

These challenges are compounded by growing consumer expectations for a best-in-class

customer experience. Customers have grown accustomed to the relatively seamless service

experience provided in the retail and financial services sectors. As CSPs venture into providing

more value added services, customers will begin to expect similar levels of customer service.

2.5 Services and Service Quality

In order to achieving higher levels of quality service in service companies should deliver higher

levels of service quality and in the present context customers perceptions are highest (Hossain

and Leo 2009).

According to Agus et. al (2007) there are two perspectives to the ongoing pursuit of service

quality. From the perspective of the service organization, there is a desire to survive and compete

in a global environment. From the perspective of the customer, there is a desire for better quality

services. In fact the private sectors singular focus is on economic efficiency, as it is generally

viewed that profit and/or cost reduction are key ingredients to survival and growth (Cooper,

2004). Agus et al. (2007) also find out that a strong correlation between service quality

dimensions, service performance and customer satisfaction.

They also mentioned that service providers classified as excellent were rated most favorably in

terms of responsiveness, access and credibility. On the other hand Competitive advantage is a

value-creating strategy, simultaneously which is not implemented by any existing or potential

competitors (Barney, 1991). Moreover, according to them, a competitive advantage also

sustained when other companies are able to duplicate the benefits of this strategy. Service is a

form of attitude which is related to satisfaction and also leads to consumer loyalty (Johnson and

Sirikit, 2002) and future purchase. In particular consumers prefer service quality when the price

another cost elements are held constant (Boyer and Hult, 2005). It has become a distinct and

important aspect of the product and service offering (Wal et al., 2002). According to Leisen and

Vance (2001) service quality helps to create the necessary competitive advantage by being an

effective differentiating factor.

Service quality was initiated in the 1980s as the worldwide trend when marketers realized that

only a quality product could not be guaranteed to maintain competitive advantage (Wal et al.,

2002).

Services mainly depend on some factors and customers always try to buy the product which has

many factors or attributes fulfilling their desire. Recently the concept of customer satisfaction

has received much attention. In cellular mobile market, customers bring higher expectations for

communication from its service providers and if companies are not able to meet these

expectations, the customers will take their business elsewhere. The consumers want and

expectations are altering all the time, this directs to a condition where customers create ever

higher benchmarks. Applying customer satisfaction approach means recognizing customers, and

then finding their wants and expectations, and to end with their perceptions. A companys most

important success factor is the ability to deliver better customer value than competitors do and

the objective of a strategy is to deliver value to the customers in order to provide required returns

to the share holders and employees.

Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) conceived that service quality is the difference between

customers expectation and their perceived performance of a service. Based on this concept,

Parasuraman et al. (1988) developed the SERVQUAL model (including five dimensions, namely

tangible, responsiveness, reliability, assurance, and empathy) to measure service quality. This

model has drawn attention from the academic and the practical circles. A Multiple-Item Scale

for Measuring Customer Perceptions of Service Quality study was revolutionary as it didnt

depend on the earlier dimension of goods quality in the manufacturing sector. The initial study

based on the focus groups yielded 10 dimensions of service quality that included tangibles,

reliability, responsiveness, competence, courtesy, credibility, security, access, communication,

and understanding the customer. A 22 item scale, called SERVQUAL which would measure the

service quality based on five dimensions, viz. tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance

and empathy was derived based one further empirical study. The authors defined service quality

as the degree of discrepancy between customers normative expectations for the service and their

perceptions of the service performance.

However, many scholars have questioned about the conceptual framework and measurement

method of this model. For instance, Cronin and Taylor (1992) pointed out that using service

quality performance (SERVPERF, i.e. the perceived service in SERVUQAL) to measure service

quality produces better results of reliability, validity, and predictive power than using

SERVQUAL. Some other studies (Boulding et al., 1993; McAlexander et al., 1994; Parasuraman

et al., 1994; Zeithaml et al., 1996) also maintained that SERVPERF is more accurate than

SERVQUAL in the measurement of service quality, and SERVQUAL can provide better

diagnostic information. In the studies of the information industry, similar findings have been

proposed (Pitt et al., 1997; Van Dyke et al., 1997; Landrum & Prybutok, 2004), and Zeithaml et

al. (2002) proposed that it is not necessary to use customers expectation to measure the service

quality. Transaction records are important to customers as they ensure reliability of the company.

Therefore, this study will directly use perceived service quality to measure the service quality of

telecommunication services.

2.5.1 The Service Quality Gap

In the current scenario, meeting and exceeding expectations of clients and customers is

perspective that has gained most attraction. This concept is all inclusive and cuts across service

domains, but expectations change and experiences with alternate service providers could shape

the customers expectations. The important research gap here is attaining customers expectation

towards a particular service.

A gap is the difference, imbalance or disparity which is determined to exist between customers

perception of firm performance and their prior expectation. Service quality (SQ) perceived by

customers is therefore as a result of a comparison of customers expectation (E) of services that

the organization should offer versus their perception of the performance (P) delivered by the

service organization.

Management of service quality largely focuses on managing the gaps between expectations and

perceptions of customers. The goal of the firm is to minimize the gap between (P) and (E).

2.6 Customers Perceived Value

Customers perceived value can be defined from the perspectives of money, quality, benefit, and

social psychology. The Monetary perspective indicates that values generated when less is paid

(such as by using coupons or promotions) for goods (Bishop, 1984). In other words, it is the

concept of consumer surplus in economics; perceived value is the difference between the highest

price that consumers are willing to pay for a product or a service and the amount practically paid.

According to the quality perspective, value is the difference between the money paid for a certain

product and the quality of the product (Bishop, 1984). In other words, when less money is paid

for a high quality product, positive perceived value will be created. The benefit perspective

indicates that perceived value is customers overall evaluation of the utility of perceived benefits

and perceived sacrifices (Zeithaml, 1988). In other words, consumers may cognitively integrate

their perceptions of what they get and what they have to give up in order to obtaining goods.

However, the sacrifice means more than the money paid for a certain goods. Non-monetary

costs, such as transaction cost, search cost, negotiation cost, and time incurred during the

purchase, should also be included (Zeithaml, 1988; Cronin et al., 1997; Keeney, 1999; Cronin et

al., 2000). The social psychology perspective points out that the generation of value lies in the

meaning of purchasing a certain goods to the buyers community (Sheth et al., 1991). That is,

goods carrying particular meanings (such as social economic status and social culture) can

increase the effect of social self-concept (Sweeney &Soutar, 2001; Wang et al., 2004). In this

study, perceived value is the evaluation of the benefits of a product or a service by customers

based on their advance sacrifices index-post perceived performance when they use

telecommunication services.

In the research of the relationships between service quality and customers perceived value in

conventional retailing and online shopping, most of the empirical studies have pointed out that

service quality will positively influence perceived value (Cronin et al., 1997; Cronin et al., 2000;

Brady et al., 2001; Bauer et al., 2006).

Among the studies of the telecom industry, Wang et al. (2004) and True and Cerenkov (2006)

respectively investigated the mobile services in China and Canada and found out that service

quality is positively related to perceived value.

2.7 Factors Determining Customers Value Perception

In the following section, we would try to find out the determinants of customers choice of

telecom service providers. These factors in turn would develop our hypotheses.

2.7.1 Service Quality of Telecommunication Services

The success of telecommunication industry depends on prudent efforts and feasible investments.

In a competitive market, service providers are expected to compete on both price and quality of

services and also it is necessary for the service providers to meet the consumers requirements

and expectations in price and service quality (Melody, 2001). The positive relationship of service

quality with customer satisfaction (Danaher and Mattson, 1994; Kim et al., 2004), customer

preference (Ranaweera and Neely, 2003), profitability (Fornell, 1992; Danaher and Rust, 1996),

competitiveness (Rapert and Wren, 1998), is well proven in the academic literature.

Service quality is essential and important for a telecommunication service provider company to

ensure the quality service for establishing and maintaining loyal and profitable customer

(Zeithaml, 1988). Conversely, Johnson and Sirikit (2002) state as service delivery systems have

the ability to allow managers of company to identify the real customer feedback and satisfaction

on their telecommunication service. Since, quality reflects the customers expectations about a

product or service. Lovelock (1996) stated that this customer driven quality replaced the

traditional marketing philosophies which was based on products and process. Service quality is

different from the quality of goods. Since, services are intangible, perishable, produced and

consumed simultaneously and heterogeneously (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2000). So, it sounds a

major problem for the telecommunication service providers, especially for the mobile

telecommunication service providers to deliver quality service consistently as changes in market

compositions and competing characteristics have been surfacing incessantly. According to Wang

and Lo (2002), marketing and economics quality often depends on the level of product attributes.

They also state that there are two primary dimensions for quality in operations management. At

first, fitness of use, which refers to product or services that is supposed to do and possess

features to meet the customer needs. The other one is reliability, which represents the product

that is free from deficiencies. Accordingly, it is important for a company to understand how

customers perceive their service quality. Consequently, Rust and Oliver (1994) pointed out that

companies need to measure consumers satisfaction with their products and services. A higher

frequency of errors means worse quality of telecommunication services. Generally, service and

product quality always lies in the minds of the consumers depending on individual buying

capacity, buying behavior, demand, taste, and fashion criteria and obviously the competitive

markets that provide significant differentiation strategies. Therefore, it seems a downright

necessity for the mobile telecommunication service provider to communicate directly with the

potential consumers for measuring possible quality attributes. According to Wal et al., (2002),

quality reflects the extent to which a product or service meets or exceeds consumers

expectations.

Wang and Lo (2002) studied on comprehensive integrated framework for service quality,

customer value, and customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions of customers in Chinas

mobile phone sector. They conceptualized factors with service quality as antecedents to

customers overall evaluation of service quality rather than dimensions or components of the

construct. Herein, they found that the competition between two mobile phone service providers

is more intense than ever. This competition is not only in ensuring network quality by a large

amount of investment in network extension and upgrading but also in customer acquisition and

retention by direct and indirect price reduction efforts.

Government of India - Department of Telecommunications data shows that, both BSNL and

MTNL are losing market share to private operators in the mobile telephony segment. BSNL and

MTNL together are down from a 17% market share at the beginning of March 2008 to 13.6% in

August2009. In contrast, the private sectors share jumped from 83% to 86.4% during the same

period. So the challenge for the mobile service providers in India is to find out the critical factors

that influence the customers preference.

Investigators have also found customer satisfaction from multidimensional nature and view

overall satisfaction as a function of satisfaction with multiple experiences with the service

provider. In general satisfaction is developed on the information from all prior experiences with

the service supplier and is consider as a function of all prior transaction and information

(Parasuraman et al., 2000). Nowadays cellular mobile is a very necessary product for our daily

communication. Customers are mainly purchase this product for instant communication and

various services provided by the companies.

2.7.2 Price of Services

Yin and Paswan (2007) indicate that price volatility is negatively associated with internal

reference price. Consumers price comparison propensity and price knowledge positively

influence external reference price. They also mentioned that price volatility has a significant

negative influence on consumer knowledge. Price is significant indicator of quality across

services categories. It is been find that both consumer price knowledge and advertising exposure

increase the use of the price quality cue, while product complexity was found to have no

significant impact on price-quality cue utilization for financial services (Estelami, 2008).

Draganska and Jain (2003) state that a common strategy for a company extending their product

or service is to differentiate their offerings vertically. In this era of information age, price

competition has become cut throat in mobile telecommunication industry.

Trebing (2001) mentioned that there are three sets of strategies for pricing behavior. The first is

limit entry pricing, which is used for protection of the market position of the firm; second is the

high access charges for new entrants, and the third one is tie-in sales to write off old plant or

standard investment against captive customers. According to the author, limit entry pricing

involves setting low prices in highly elastic markets to attractor retain large customers with

monopolistic buying power, while maintaining high prices in inelastic markets.

Price plays a vital role in telecommunication market especially for the mobile telecommunication

service providers. It includes not only the buying price but also the call and rental charges.

Generally, a price-dominated mass market leads to customers having more choices and

opportunities to compare the pricing structures of diverse service providers. A company that

offers lower charges would be able to attract more customers committing themselves to the

telephone networks, and hence; significant number of call minutes might be achieved. Income

from the number of call minutes determines the basic commercial success for the network

providers. He also added that the success of the telecommunication sector in a market place

largely depends on continuing usage and pricing policies, which need to be considered on several

levels. (Kollmann, 2000)

2.7.3 Promotion of Services

Meanwhile promotion is a tool that can help an organization in the achievement of its objectives

(Alvarez and Casielles; 2005). Promotion is when companies inform, persuade, or remind

customers and the general public of its products (Kotler and Armstrong, 2003). Promotions

impact consumers purchasing behavior and decisions towards that particular brand, especially

during the sales promotion period (Freo, 2005). More specifically, the objectives of any

promotional strategy are: increase sales; maintain or improve market share; create or improve

brand recognition; create favorable climate for future sales; inform and educate the market;

create competitive advantage, relative to competitors products or market position; improve

promotional efficiency (Rowley, 1998). Promotion is one of the medium which is used by

organization to communicate with consumers with respect to their product offerings (Rowley,

1998).

It is an important part for all companies, especially when penetrating new markets and making

more or new customers (Kotler et al., 1999). The authors also state that promotion is the activity

that communicate about the products or services and its potential merits to the target customers

and eventually persuades them to buy.

Generally, promotion is concerned with ensuring that consumers are aware about the

company/firm and its products that the organization makes available to those consumers (Root,

1994).

According to Alvarez and Casielles (2005), promotion is a set of stimuli that are offered

sporadically, and it reinforces publicity actions to promote the purchasing of a certain product.

Promotional offer consists of several different objects to create a better sale impact, for example,

coupons, samples, premiums, discounts, contests, point-of-purchase displays and frequent-buyer

programs. Each of the promotion techniques is intended to have a direct impact on buying

behavior and perception about the company or service providers. The objectives of promotion

will be reached to a greater extent when it is done sporadically, when the consumer does not

expect it. Promotional actions must be well planned, systematically organized, and commonly

integrated into the subject corporations strategic marketing plan.

2.7.4 Brand Image

The image construct appraises the fundamental image of the company. Image applies to the

brand name and the type of association customers get from the product/company (Andreassen

and Lindestad, 1998) indicated that image is an important component of customer satisfaction.

For the companies, image is a result of being reliable, professional and inventive, having

contributions to society, and adding good reputation to its customers. It is expected that image

has a positive effect on customer satisfaction posited that corporate image, through a filtering

effect, impacts a customers evaluation of service quality, value, and satisfaction. In other words,

corporate image creates a halo effect on customer satisfaction. According to Nguyen and Leblanc

(2002), consumers who develop a positive mental scheme with a brand will tend toward high

customer satisfaction through a halo effect where all things associated with the brand are

similarly valued. Corporate image is a result of a customers overall consumption experiences.

The same mechanism is available for overall satisfaction. Since customer satisfaction and

corporate image measures are collected simultaneously, customers consumption experiences,

which can be summarized as satisfaction, naturally affect the evaluations of corporate image. In

this study corporate image can be defined as the image of the company service provider which

that influence the customer perception.

Consciously or unconsciously customers use their preferences to project their own self image.

According tithe Belks theory of extended self, people define themselves by the possessions they

have, manage or create (Belk 1988). Consumers prefer brands with personality traits which are

congruent with the personality traits which represent their self schemas (Aaker, 1999). Brand

loyalty is also influenced by attractiveness of the brand personality (Kim et al., 2001) and the

extent to which it enhances the self image (Tidwell and Horgan, 1993).

Oliver (1999) argues that for fully bonded loyalty the consumable must be part of the consumers

self-identity and his or her social-identity.

According to Morgan and Hunt (1994) brand trust leads to brand loyalty because trust creates

exchange relationships that are highly valued.

Chauduri and Holbrook (2001) found that brand trust is directly related to both purchase and

attitudinal loyalty.

2.7.5 SERVQUAL Dimensions of Service Quality

Dimension Refers to Specific Criteria which

consumers use

Tangibility Your ability to perform the

promised service dependably

and accurately.

Timeliness

Consistency/Regularity

Accuracy

Reliability The knowledge and courtesy

of staff; their ability to inspire

trust and confidence.

Staff competence

Respect for stakeholders

Credibility

Probity and confidentiality

Safety and security

Responsiveness The physical representations

or images of your service.

Physical facilities

Equipment

Technology

Employees

Communication materials

Assurance The caring individualized

attention you provide your

stakeholders.

Access (to staff, services,

information)

Communication (Clear,

appropriate and timely)

Understanding the stakeholder

Services appropriate for

stakeholders needs

Individualized attention

Empathy Your willingness to help

customers and to provide

prompt service.

Willingness to help

Prompt attention to requests,

questions

Problem resolution

Complaint handling

Flexibility

Chapter 3

Research Design

3.1 Introduction

The quality of any project will be enhanced by a good understanding of research design. This

will inform your thinking and lay the foundations for the design of a project. Research is not a

single thing but a process; it is an activity requiring a whole set of different actions. From the

very beginning, identification of the subject to investigate, followed by an organized and creative

journey which will result in the presentation of findings? Each step of the process has its own

outcome and enables to confidently move on next stage of research.

The aim of this study is to gather information and to analyze the customers perception towards

telecom service providers and their services.

A research model is a way of proceeding through the research process. By breaking the process

down into logical step each action can be designed more effectively. A logical step by step

process of the research is given below:

Define Research Objective: Decide very specifically the question that needs to be answered.

Do preliminary research: Collect any information that will help define the objective very

clearly, including existing statistics on that area.

Design the formal research: Develop the data collection instruments (such as questionnaires or

interview protocols), decide on how the target group will be sampled (randomly, by occupation).

Do field work: Collect the data, making sure that the procedure is free of bias as possible.

Analyze the data: Analyze, interpret, and report the result. (Wolf, 1990)

3.2 Research Question: Following are the research questions which led to the objectivity of the

study:

What are the factors determining the perception of customers towards telecom service

providers in India?

What is the effectiveness of various factors in determining the perception of customers

towards telecom service providers in India?

What can be the recommendations for the telecommunication service providers in India?

3.3 Objectives of the Research: There are following objectives of conducting this study:

To find out the factors determining the perception of customers towards telecom service

providers in India.

To find out the effectiveness of various factors in determining the perception of


To find out the recommendations for the telecommunication service providers.

3.4 Research Design: The design of the research is descriptive survey study.

3.5 Research Variables Following variables/factors are identified and analyzed for the purpose

of the study:

Factor Description Supporting Study

Price

It includes not only the buying price but

also the call and rental charges.

Promotions impact consumers

purchasing behavior and decisions

towards that particular brand, especially

during the sales promotion period.

Draganska and Jain

(2003)

Kollmann (2000)

Freo (2005)

Rowley (1998)

Quality of service

It is an aspect related to service quality

of telecommunication services.

Both fixed and mobile broadband

networks are experiencing an explosion

in data traffic due to the adoption of

bandwidth-intensive applications such

as video streaming, online gaming and

social networking.

Malviya and Varma

(2012)

Danaher and Mattson

(1994)

Brand Image

Brand trust is directly related to both

purchase and attitudinal loyalty.

Aaker (1999)

Chauduri and Holbrook

(2001)

Morgan and Hunt (1994)

Tangibility Your ability to perform the promised Parasuraman et al.

service dependably and accurately.

(1985, 1988)

Zeithaml et al. (2002)

Reliability

The knowledge and courtesy of staff; their

ability to inspire trust and confidence

Parasuraman et al.

(1985, 1988)


Assurance

The caring individualized attention you

provide your stakeholders.

Parasuraman et al.

(1985, 1988)


Responsiveness

The physical representations or images of

your service

Landrum & Prybutok

(2004)

Parasuraman et al.

(1985, 1988)


Empathy

Your willingness to help customers and to

provide prompt service.

Parasuraman et al.

(1985, 1988)


Table 3.1: Factors influencing the Consumers Perception

3.6 Research Hypotheses: Following hypotheses have been taken from the literature review

before the questionnaire design:

H1: Price affects the value perception of customers towards telecommunication service

providers.

H2: Quality of service affects the value perception of customers towards

telecommunication service providers.

H3: Brand image affects the value perception of customers towards telecommunication

service providers.

H4: Tangibility affects the value perception of customers towards telecommunication

service providers.

H5: Reliability affects the value perception of customers towards telecommunication

service providers.

H6: Assurance affects the value perception of customers towards telecommunication

service providers.

H7: Responsiveness affects the value perception of customers towards

telecommunication service providers.

H8: Empathy affects the value perception of customers towards telecommunication

service providers.

3.7 Research Methodology: To study the customers perception towards telecommunication

service providers in India, primary data was collected through questionnaire survey. However, to

identify the influencing factors, secondary research was conducted. The second stage comprised

of determining the objective of the study and drafting the questionnaire where a questionnaire

was prepared. The following figure illustrates the steps followed in conducting this research:

3.8 Sampling: Since telecommunication services are used by most of the people, random

sampling has been adopted for the questionnaire survey.

3.9 Questionnaire Design Survey A total of 246 questionnaires were filled by the respondents.

Respondents were from all the sections in terms of gender, income level, occupations, age group.

Problem identification and Definition

Research Design

Sampling and Questionnaire Design

Data Gathering

Data Processing and Analysis

Conclusion and Report

This ensured the responses from the sample to be closer to the actual condition in the

telecommunication services market.

3.10 Questionnaire Design

The questionnaire was designed with 8 broad aspects in mind

i. Respondents Profile

ii. Price related questions

iii. Quality of service related questions

iv. Brand image related questions.

v. Tangibility related questions.

vi. Reliability related questions.

vii. Assurance related questions.

viii. Responsiveness related questions.

ix. Empathy related questions.

x. Value perception related questions

3.10.1 Questionnaire Format

Items No. of questions Remarks

Respondents profile 7 Multiple Choice

Price related questions

3 Likert Scale

Quality of service related questions

2 Likert Scale

Brand image related questions 2 Likert Scale

Tangibility related questions 3 Likert Scale

Reliability related questions 3 Likert Scale

Assurance related questions 2 Likert Scale

Responsiveness related questions 3 Likert Scale

Empathy related questions 2 Likert Scale

Value perception related questions 3 Likert Scale

Chapter 4

Data Analysis & Interpretation

4.1 Introduction

Before processing collected data through survey, raw questionnaire data was entered into SPSS

and coded into a set of 31 different variables. All collected questionnaires were then coded into

SPSS, allowing statistical processing of the samples answers. This chapter presents all produced

results along with their analysis. Different statistical tool are used to analyze the collected data.

Firstly Micro analysis has been done of the respondents demographic profile. Then, the analysis

of factors determining the value perception of customers is done with the help of linear

regression analysis.

4.2 Data Analysis

4.2.1 Macro Analysis of Respondents profile

Gender of the respondents

Fig 4.1: Gender of respondents

Gender of respondents

Male

Female

Analysis: 151 males and 95 females were included in the study as respondents. So, the sample

contained males 61.4% and 38.6 % females.

Age of respondents

Age

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Below

18 11 4.5 4.5 4.5

18-30 166 67.5 67.5 72.0

30-45 55 22.4 22.4 94.3

Above

45 14 5.7 5.7 100.0

Total 246 100.0 100.0

Table 4.1: Age of respondents

Analysis: 67.5% of the respondents were from the age group of 18-30 years, 22.4% from 30-45

years. So, a major part of the respondents belong to 18-45 years of age.

Occupation of Respondents

Fig 4.2: Occupation of Respondents

Occupation

Student

Business

Service

Others

Analysis: 39.4% of respondents are students, businessmen and service contribute around 23 and

28 per cent respectively.

Income of Respondents

Income

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Below 15k 108 43.9 43.9 43.9

15k-30k 55 22.4 22.4 66.3

30-50k 67 27.2 27.2 93.5

50k-100k 8 3.3 3.3 96.7

Above 1lac 8 3.3 3.3 100.0

Total 246 100.0 100.0

Table 4.2 : Income of respondents

Analysis: Most of the respondents (43.9%) belong to the category having income less than Rs.

15k per month followed by 30-50k and 15k- 30k.

Educational Qualification of Respondents

Analysis: Most of the respondents are graduate followed by post graduates and above and

intermediate respectively.

4.3 Reliability Analysis

I have calculated the value of Cronbachs Alfa with the help of SPSS. Those factors whose

Cronbachs Alfa value are greater than or equal to 0.5 are acceptable. It means that the factor is

reliable. If the value of is less than 0.5 than hit and trial method is applied by dropping one of

the items. If even after dropping one of the items the value of Cronbachs Alfa is not greater than

or equal to 0.5 then the same method is applied by dropping 2 items. But it should be taken care

that there should be at least 3 items which are able to predict the variation in the factor. If even

after dropping few of the items the Cronbachs Alfa value is not greater than 0.5 then it shows

that the taken factor is not reliable and it should be dropped.

Item-Total Statistics

Scale Mean if

Item Deleted

Scale

Variance if

Item Deleted

Corrected

Item-Total

Correlation

Squared

Multiple

Correlation

Cronbach's

Alpha if

Item Deleted

Price 27.9492 16.138 .706 . .871

Quality of

service 27.5075 16.995 .626 . .878

Brand image 27.9492 16.138 .706 . .871

Tangibility 27.5711 17.505 .708 . .872

Reliability 27.5318 17.442 .718 . .871

Assurance 27.5102 17.040 .641 . .877

Responsiveness 27.5075 16.995 .626 . .878

empathy 27.5854 17.280 .604 . .881

Table 4.3: Reliability Analysis

Analysis: The following analysis can be made with respect to the reliability of the factors and the

questions and scales formed:

Price: Chronbachs Alpha for the Price factor is 0.871, which makes the factor reliable

with the 3 items.

Quality of Service: Chronbachs Alpha for the Quality of service factor is 0.878, which

makes the factor reliable with the 3 items.

Brand image: Chronbachs Alpha for the Brand image factor is 0.871, which makes

the factor reliable with the 3 items.

Tangibility: Chronbachs Alpha for the Tangibility factor is 0.872, which makes the

factor reliable with the 3 items.

Reliability: Chronbachs Alpha for the Reliability factor is 0.871, which makes the


Assurance: Chronbachs Alpha for the Assurance factor is 0.877, which makes the


Responsiveness: Chronbachs Alpha for the Responsiveness factor is 0.878, which


Empathy: Chronbachs Alpha for the Empathy factor is 0.881, which makes the factor

reliable with the 3 items.

Value Perception: Chronbachs Alpha for the Value Perception factor is 0.889, which


S. No. Factor Items Items Dropped Value

1 Price 3 0 .835

2 Quality of service 2 0 .880

3 Brand image 2 0 .910

4 Tangibility 3 0 .919

5 Reliability 3 0 .543

6 Assurance 2 0 .837

7 Responsiveness 3 0 .897

8 Empathy 2 0 .858

9 Value Perception 3 0 .889

Table 4.4: Reliability Statistics

4.4 Mean Calculation and Regression Analysis

After conducting the Reliability analysis of the 8 factors in the study, the mean for the items in

each factor was calculated, which then served as an input to the Regression analysis.

Regression analysis is a statistical tool for the investigation of relationships between variables.

Regression analysis includes many techniques for modeling and analyzing several variables,

when the focus is on the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent

variables. More specifically, regression analysis helps one understand how the typical value of

the dependent variable changes when any one of the independent variables is varied, while the

other independent variables are held fixed. In this research the Dependent Variable is Value

perception, while the independent variables are Price, Quality of Service, Brand Image,

Tangibility, Reliability, Assurance, Responsiveness and Empathy.

Variables Entered/Removed(b)

Model Variables Entered

Variables

Removed Method

1 Quality_Service,

empathy,

Responsiveness,

brand_img, Price,

Assurance,

Tangibility,

Reliability(a)

. Enter

Table 4.5: Variables Entered/Removed

Model Summary

Mode

l R R Square

Adjusted

R Square

Std. Error

of the

Estimate

1 .800(a) .640 .633 .65346

a Predictors: (Constant), Quality_Service, empathy, Responsiveness, brand_img, Price,

Assurance, Tangibility, Reliability

Table 4.6: Model Summary

ANOVA(b)

Mode

l

Sum of

Squares Df

Mean

Square F Sig.

1 Regressio

n 46.896 8 5.862 28.508 .000(a)

Residual 48.734 237 .206

Total 95.630 245

Table 4.6: ANOVA

Coefficients(a)

Mode

l

Unstandardized

Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients t Sig.

B

Std.

Error Beta B

Std.

Error

1 (Constant) 1.209 .245 4.925 .000

Empathy .191 .049 .237 3.932 .000

Assurance .019 .051 .024 .380 .704

Responsivenes

s .190 .043 .244 4.420 .000

Reliability .159 .069 .166 2.294 .023

Tangibility .135 .067 .141 2.025 .044

Price .000 .052 .000 2.007 .041

Brand image .096 .046 .132 2.097 .037

Quality of

Service .095 .048 -.090 2.661 .048

a Dependent Variable: value_per

Table 4.7: COefficients

4.4.1 Adjusted R Square (Model Fitness Index)

Adjusted R Square is a measure of how well the independent, or predictor, variables predict the

dependent, or outcome, variable. A higher adjusted R-square indicates a better model. Adjusted

R-square is calculated based on the R-square, which denotes the percentage of variation in the

dependent variable that can be explained by the independent variables. The adjusted R-squared

adjusts the R-square for the sample size and the number of variables in the regression model.

Therefore, the adjusted R-square is a better comparison between models with different numbers

of variables and different sample sizes.

Here the adjusted R square is .633, which means that 63.3% of the dependent variable is

explained by independent variable and 36.7% of the dependent variable is not explained by the

independent variables.

4.4.2 Sig value (p-value)

P-value explains that which variables are significant for the dependent variable to be determined.

Sig value for various independent variables can be explained as below:

Price: The sig value of .041 explains that price is a determinant factor in determining the

Value perception of the customers towards telecom service providers.

Quality of service: The sig value of .048 explains that the quality of service is a

determinant factor in determining the Value perception of the customers towards telecom

service providers.

Brand image: The sig value of .037 explains that brand image is a determinant factor in

determining the Value perception of the customers towards telecom service providers.

Tangibility: The sig value of .044 explains that Tangibility is a determinant factor in


Reliability: The sig value of .023 explains that Reliability is a determinant factor in


Responsiveness: The sig value of .000 explains that Responsiveness is a determinant

factor in determining the Value perception of the customers towards telecom service

providers.

Assurance: The sig value of .704 explains that Assurance is not a determinant factor in


Empathy: The sig value of .000 explains that Empathy is a determinant factor in


4.5 Hypotheses Testing: As discussed in chapter 3 8 hypotheses have been developed in the

study. Now, we will test them on the basis of our analysis.

H1: This hypothesis stated that Price affects the value perception of customers towards

telecommunication service providers. From the Regression Analysis, it is clear that this

hypothesis holds true from the study.

H2: This hypothesis stated that Quality of service affects the value perception of

customers towards telecommunication service providers. From the Regression Analysis,

it is clear that this hypothesis holds true from the study.

H3: This hypothesis stated that Brand image affects the value perception of customers

towards telecommunication service providers. From the Regression Analysis, it is clear

that this hypothesis holds true from the study.

H4: This hypothesis stated that Tangibility affects the value perception of customers



H5: This hypothesis stated that Reliability affects the value perception of customers



H6: This hypothesis stated that Assurance affects the value perception of customers


that this hypothesis does not hold true from the study.

H7: This hypothesis stated that Responsiveness affects the value perception of

customers towards telecommunication service providers. From the Regression Analysis,

it is clear that this hypothesis holds true from the study.

H8: This hypothesis stated that Empathy affects the value perception of customers



4.6 Importance of various factors

The Regression analysis gives us the value of sig, from which the significance of each variable

can be determined. From the study, I have found out the following order for the importance of

the factors:

Empathy = Responsiveness > Reliability > Brand Image > Price > Tangibility

> Quality of Service> Assurance

4.7 Conclusion

This chapter dealt with the findings pertaining to factors influencing the Marketing Performance.

Various statistical tools are used and data were analyzed with the help of SPSS. From Reliability

test it was found that all the independent variables are reliable. The regression analysis was also

used to check the relationship between the dependent and independent variables.

Chapter 5

Findings and Recommendations

After the Data analysis, I have found out the various determinant factors which determine the

value perception of customer towards telecom service providers in India. We have also

conducted a Reliability validity analysis of the study which proves the reliability of our studied

factors and the scale.

5.1 Findings

Following factors have been found out suitable for the customers to determine the value

perception of the customers towards telecom service providers in India.

Price is a relevant factor for the customers to determine the value perception of the


Brand image is a relevant factor for the customers to determine the value perception of

the customers towards telecom service providers in India.

Quality of service is a relevant factor for the customers to determine the value perception

of the customers towards telecom service providers in India.

Tangibility is a relevant factor for the customers to determine the value perception of the


Reliability is a relevant factor for the customers to determine the value perception of the


Responsiveness is a relevant factor for the customers to determine the value perception of


Assurance is not a relevant factor for the customers to determine the value perception of


Empathy is a relevant factor for the customers to determine the value perception of the


5.2 Recommendations

From the study, it can be recommended to the telecommunication service providers in India:

Empathy and Responsiveness are the most important factors for the customers. So,

the service providers should focus on these factors in order to be successful and

develop a brand image of a value providing service providers.

Reliability is another factor of importance for the customers. So, the service providers

should focus on these factors in order to be successful and develop a brand image of a

value providing service providers.

Price and quality of service need to be maintained. These factors play a vital role in

customers value perception.

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Taiyar Report

Documents

mobile service providers

mobile providers

quality of services

mobile devices

mobile market

internet subscribers

valueadded services

normal services