Consumer Behaviour in Telecommunications

This assignment delves into the realm of consumer behavior specifically within the telecommunications industry. It requires you to investigate and analyze the various factors that influence consumers' purchasing decisions in this sector. You'll need to draw upon relevant marketing theories and research methodologies to provide a comprehensive understanding of how consumers perceive, evaluate, and ultimately choose telecommunication services.

Running head: CASE STUDY
The Rise of Reliance Jio and Marketing Strategies of Reliance Communications: A Case Study
Student’s name:
Name of the university:
Author’s note:

1CASE STUDY
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
2. Brief history of Reliance Communications (RCom)...................................................................2
3. Background of the study..............................................................................................................4
4. Tentative structure.......................................................................................................................7
5. Rationale of the study..................................................................................................................8
6. Situational analysis of Reliance Communications....................................................................11
6.1 SWOT analysis....................................................................................................................11
6.2 External Environment (PEST) analysis...............................................................................12
6.3 Porter’s Five Forces.............................................................................................................13
6.4 Industry position of Reliance Communications..................................................................14
7. Recent Challenges of Reliance Communications..................................................................15
8. Marketing strategies of Reliance Communication................................................................16
8.1 Ansoff Matrix......................................................................................................................17
8.2 Marketing Mix.....................................................................................................................18
9. Methodology..............................................................................................................................19
9.1 Types of Investigations:.......................................................................................................19
9.2 Data collection methods:.....................................................................................................20
9.3 Data analysis:.......................................................................................................................20

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9.4 Data sources:........................................................................................................................20
10. Timeline of the study...............................................................................................................21
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................23

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1. Introduction
Reliance Communications has been facing challenges for higher competition in the
telecommunication sector as Reliance Jio entered the market with ‘free packages'. In the second
half of 2016, Reliance Jio created a storm by offering free 4G data services and unlimited free
calls to the users. In the last few years, Reliance Communications has been facing the issues of
reaching new customers and the existent customers left the services. However, Reliance
Communications (RCom) has the ability to provide same 4G service to the customers as they
have pan India spectrum (800MHz). Reliance Communications can tackle the high competition
in the Indian market and the management of RCom is planning to fend off the competition with
marketing strategies to fetch new customers. RCom is presently the sixth largest
telecommunication company according to market position. However, the market share is getting
weak as subscribers of RCom are mostly low-revenue customers. In this case, study, how the
new ascent of Reliance Jio poses threat to Reliance Communications will be discussed with new
marketing strategies of Reliance Communications.
2. Brief history of Reliance Communications (RCom)
Reliance Communications (RCom) is an India based telecommunications company and it
has it's headquartered in Navi Mumbai, India. Reliance Communications mostly provides GSM
services (Voice, SMS, 2G, 3G and 4G) to mobile and it has DTH services and broadband
services also. It also offers fixed-line telephone, IPTV and satellite TV services. In the present
Indian market, RCom has more than 85 million subscribers and it is the sixth largest
telecommunications1. RCom is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries and the owner of the company
1 "Reliance Communications | Online Recharge | Reliance Mobile - India's Premier GSM Service Provider".
2017. Rcom.Co.In. http://www.rcom.co.in/Rcom/personal/home/index.html.

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is Anil Ambani. Reliance Communications was established in the year 2002 and operating
income is US$1.1 billion as of in 2017. In the year 2002, RCom mainly launched CDMA
services and in the year 2008, it started to provide GSM services. In 2010 it brought the spectrum
of 3G services and started to give 3G services in 13 circles and in 2012, RCom reduced the price
of data by almost 50%. In 2013, RCom made a partnership with Lenovo to make co-branded
Smartphone. Later in 2016, RCom announced that it would stop its CDMA services across India
and it would migrate all CDMA connections to GSM. One of the biggest decisions of RCom was
the acquisition of MTS brand and in the year 2016, RCom acquired MTS India and SSTL got
16% share of RCom.
Death of Dhirubhai Ambani had spilt between Anil and Mukesh Ambani. After the
splitting in 2005, Anil Ambani got the companies like Reliance Energy, Reliance Infocomm,
Reliance Natural Sources and Reliance Capital. Till 2003, in India upper middle-class people had
an annual income of $11000 to $13000 and they could afford GSM mobile phones cost $60.
India was that time had low income; however, technology was an important factor for them2. In
order to grow in the market, most of the telecommunication companies target mostly upper
middle class and they charged premium pricing. In this scenario, RCom entered the market and it
named the subsidiary as Infocomm. In addition, RCom mainly targeted the mass people by
offering a lower price in calls and texts. It succeeded to grab the second position by the end of
2006 and the successful strategy of Infocomm made the government take a decision in taking the
similar business model of the telecommunications sector. In a previous time, RCom took the cost
leadership strategy by offering the lowest price in calls and they incurred handset switching cost
2 "Rcom Shares Surge On Extension To Service Debt". 2017. The Economic Times.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/rcom-shares-surge-over-5-on-extension-to-service-debt/
articleshow/58995594.cms.

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and most important infrastructure cost. Of late, RCom lost the position in the market; other
telecommunication companies like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Aircel grab the market share more
than RCom. Recently, Elder brother Mukesh Ambani launched telecommunication company
name Reliance Jio and it affected the growth of RCom and RCom is going to spiral downwards.
3. Background of the study
Reliance Communications has market capitalization of more than 4 billion dollars and
once the company was listed in Asia's top five most valuable telecommunication companies.
RCom Company is India's integrated telecommunication company and it has its customer base of
more than 40 million and in overseas, it is more than 1.4 million. RCom has the corporate
clientele for more than 250 multinational companies and 600 individuals. RCom gives digital
network services to more than 13000 towns and in more than 50,000 villages. RCom has world's
largest next generation IP enabled connectivity infrastructure that contains more than 165000 km
of the fibre optic cable system in India, UAE and Asia Pacific and also in Europe3. However,
these are all the glory of past, in recent time, Anil Ambani faces huge challenges from other
telecommunication providers in India in reaching new users in India. In India, the
telecommunication network is the 2nd largest in the world. As per the statistics on June 2017,
telephone subscribers in the India are 1.2 billion and mobile subscribers are 1.1 billion4. Fixed-
line users in India are 25 million and monthly telephone additions are 7 million. These statistics
show clearly that India has huge potential in the telecommunication industry. RCom wanted to
catch the market and they started with the highest quality of service with low pricing strategy.
3 "Forbes Welcome". 2017. Forbes.Com. https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2017/03/20/vodafone-idea-
cellular-merger-reliance-jio/#589becdc1376.
4 "Challenges Ahead For Anil Ambani As Reliance, Aircel Merger Talks Go On". 2017. Businesstoday.In.
http://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/reliance-aircel-merger-key-challenges-ahead-for-anil-ambani/story/
237356.html.

6CASE STUDY
However, in recent time, Anil Ambani's RCom gross debt in 2017 was ₹45,733 crore. The rating
of RCom is reduced to Caa1 that suggests that it is providing poor services to the customers. Lots
of customers are complaining about call drops and they also suggest about the poor internet
connection. In the previous time, RCom has been given the rating of B2 that suggested about
speculative connection. RCom has been showing the weak performance in the last few years and
it goes to the fragile liquidity position and RCom was told to repay ₹25,000 crore to the lenders5.
RCom has been facing the issue of loosing of customers and it was reported to loss approximate
948 crores in the 4th quarter of 2016. However, in the year of 2015, it acquired a net profit of 79
crores.
The reason behind the huge loss of RCom in the last couple of quarters was the
introduction of Reliance Jio. Elder brother of Anil Ambani, Mukesh Ambani launched new
telecom company Reliance Jio and he spent almost ₹1,50,000 crore including services and
spectrum. Reliance Jio has the debt of total ₹49,000 crore including spectrum liability. Reliance
Jio is trying to grab the data users’ market by giving free unlimited class, data and texts. RIL
aims to become debt-free from the profit of Jio and petrochemical sector. RIL has a debt of
₹194,381 crore through cash, mutual fund, marketable securities, deposits and bank deposits.
Mukesh Ambani invested huge money in last three years and it is almost equal to the investment
of RIL entire 35 year’s history. Mukesh Ambani has taken the huge risk in opening Jio and it
offers huge discounts and free services to the users aiming to grab large market share6. Reliance
Jio is the new factor in the telecommunication sector in India as the free services to the users in
introductory period shook the nation and telecommunication industry in India. Jio has been
5 Jan, Sumaira. "Financial Statements Analysis of Idea Cellular & Reliance Telecommunications: A Comparative
Study." Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research 2, no. 7 (2016).
6 Saez, Lawrence. "From Failed Developmental State Towards Hybrid Market Capitalism." The Oxford Handbook
of Asian Business Systems (2014).

7CASE STUDY
providing threats to Airtel, Vodafone and Idea and the overall expenses of data and calls go
significantly low. In the previous time, an individual used data pack of 1GB for an entire month
and Jio offered 1GB for a user for a single day. This huge changes of users' mentality in using
high-speed $G internet brought huge radical alteration in the telecommunication market7. RCom
has registered in declining the customers' base. The decline is noticed in mainly the data traffic
usage per customer. In 2015, more than 39 million customers used the data connection of RCom,
however, in 2017, it became significantly low estimated to 28 million. Moreover, in a year ago
the data traffic of network used 104,700 million megabits and in 2017, it dropped to 79000
million megabits. On the other side, Reliance Jio introduced the free data and voice calls to the
customers in the introductory period. This ‘freemium' strategy worked and Jio announced 100
crore GB of data traffic per month and almost 200 crore voice with video minutes a day. This
strategy of free data led India to become leading country in terms of mobile data usage. It also
led to use of mobile data usage that is 50% more than China itself8. Jio sets the sigh of India is
becoming a digital country and it is going to be digital Life faster than any other country.
In case of voice users, Jio's entering the market of telecommunication; all the major
players in the Indian telecommunication sector had to cut off the tariff. In tariff wars of voice
pricing, RCom lagged behind as Jio was giving free calls to all mobile connections and telecom
giants Idea, Airtel and Vodafone cut off their prices as well to face Jio. The rise of Jio makes the
worst loser to RCom and RCom failed to retain the customers and the users of RCom started
switching the connection. On the other side, Reliance Jio offers its network almost all the cities
7 Oladipo Adejuwon, Olawale. "Regulation and strategic group dynamics of the Nigerian telecommunications
industry." African Journal of Economic and Management Studies 5, no. 2 (2014): 209-232.
8 Hausman, Jerry, and J. Gregory Sidak. "Telecommunications regulation: Current approaches with the end in
sight." In Economic Regulation and Its Reform: What Have We Learned?, pp. 345-406. University of Chicago Press,
2014.

8CASE STUDY
in India and it is giving the almost double number of $G towers. Mukesh Ambani stated that by
the end of 2017, Jio will be present almost all the villages, cities and places in India.
Nonetheless, RCom business is witnessing steady downfall in each quarter and subscribers fall to
84.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2016 and it was almost 103 million in the previous quarter9.
RCom was losing the average revenues per customer; this figure goes down from ₹108 to ₹83.
On the contrary, Reliance Jio got more than 100 million customers in just 170 days of launching
the business. It made a record of adding 7 new customers in a second. In the commencement of
business in the telecom sector, Mukesh Ambani's Jio made history to fastest achieved customer
base in Indian history.
Amidst the pressure from Reliance Jio and other market players in the telecommunication
sector, RCom has a debt of 30 billion and it shares just 6.25% market share in the
telecommunication sector. RCom is planning to turnaround with marketing strategies. At first,
RCom is trying to grab the customers with lower tariff and in order to reach a large number of
customers; the organisation is planning to advertise in huge scale. Moreover, to keep away from
Jio's threat, the organisation is planning to merge with Aircel. Aircel has a customer base of 89
million and it has market share of 7.5%, slightly better than RCom. If they merge, RCom will
have better market share and they can fight back to Jio. RCom had 14% of market share in 2013
and in 2017, it has just 6.25%10. In order to keep itself afloat, marketing strategy is needed.
RCom is planning to monetise its assets and they want a long-term contract with setting high
infrastructure. RCom will be doing marketing with taking the initiative of IMC. In order to
9 "Forbes Welcome". 2017. Forbes.Com. https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2017/03/20/vodafone-idea-
cellular-merger-reliance-jio/#589becdc1376.
10 Wang, Wei-Kang, Wen-Min Lu, Qian Long Kweh, and Hsiao-Wen Lai. "Does corporate social responsibility
influence the corporate performance of the US telecommunications industry?." Telecommunications Policy 38, no. 7
(2014): 580-591.

9CASE STUDY
marketing, RCom put new four senior executives in their panel and it wants to taste the success
through merging with Aircel. Revenues of RCom were 0.9% between 2013 and 2015 and on the
other side of Aircel reported to facing loss11. Reliance Jio launched its business on 15th August
2016 and RCom announced 4G services just after two days and RCom revised the plans of tariffs
and marketing technique. Aircel and RCom both have a debt of 28000 crore and 14000 crore₹ ₹
respectively. In order to keep afloat in the market, RCom wants to bring down the tariff and
billing of the customers and they could u additional spectrum.
4. Tentative structure
In the first part, the rationale of the study that is problems facing by RCom in recent time
in telecommunication industry will be explained. In the rational part, the justification for
choosing the subject will be described. Moreover, in the later part, the situational analysis in the
market of telecommunication in regards of RCom will be justified. In this section competitive
position, external and as well as internal analysis will be conducted. In the later part, challenges
faced by RCom in recent time will be explained with description. The marketing strategies
adopted by RCom will be narrated. Moreover, in the final section, the methodology of the study
will be delivered and in this section, methods will be justified for taking these for data collection.
Timeline of conducting the study will be provided in the last section
5. Rationale of the study
Reliance Communications shared their views to the Government and regulators about
taking the corrective measures in order to recover the health of Indian telecommunication sector
as this industry has more than ₹7 lakh crore debts. RCom itself has more than ₹44,000 crore
11 Schaarschmidt, Mario, and Thomas Kilian. "Impediments to customer integration into the innovation process: A
case study in the telecommunications industry." European Management Journal32, no. 2 (2014): 350-361.

10CASE STUDY
debts. The share price goes to 20.50 and RCom has fallen behind for the loan obligations to the
more than 10 banks. 10 Indian's top banks showed the red flags to RCom and they decided not to
lend money. The banks marked categorised RCom as SMA (Special Mention Account) to report
the loans. India's rating agencies are continuously giving a lower rating to RCom and it has been
facing complete competition in Indian Telecom Market. RCom will be getting the clearances
from the agencies and regulators in merging of Aircel and MTS and RCom is going to sell 51%
towers to Brookfield12. The reasons behind the loss of RCom are manifolds. One reason is the
rise of Jio and another reason is disruptive pricing model of RCom. The free offers of other
companies are posing a serious threat to RCom. Once, RCom itself took the strategy of cost
leadership strategy in the inception of telecommunication industry in India. Now, Jio has taken
the same strategy to attract more customers and making the situation worse for RCom. RCom
has been facing several disappointing quarters and management is thinking about revamping of
adjustment of gross revenue, levying the license fees and charge in spectrum usage. Management
of RCom is also thinking about financing packaging for the industry. In a past few months, Airtel
net profit has been decreased by 70% and Idea Cellular saw its successive loss of 325 crores13.
The new launching of Jio put threat almost all companies in the telecommunication industry and
Vodafone slipped its revenue to 0.5%. Jio offers free services and the customers are switching
the telecommunication companies and using mostly Jio’s free connection. Moreover, Jio
performed exceptionally well in the December 2016 and RCom stood in the last place among
first five major players in the Indian market.
12 Jain, Pankaj. "Telecommunication Service Quality Assessment: A Comparative Study of Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Limited and Reliance Communications Limited." Asia-Pacific Journal of Management Research and Innovation 9,
no. 1 (2013): 99-106.
13 Yeboah, Solomon Kofi, Emmanuel Tenakwah Junior, and Jennifer Adonteng-Sakyi. "Effect of Brand on
Consumer Purchase Decision in the Mobile Telecommunications Industry." Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary
Research 3, no. 8 (2017).

11CASE STUDY
Figure 1: Internet Speed of major players in Indian Telecommunication Sectors (end of
2016)
(Source: 14)
Figure 2: Download speed of telecommunication operators in India (Average)
14 Internet Speed (2017). https://officechai.com/stories/internet-speeds-indias-top-telecom-operators-ranked/
#sthash.vFdPdOYa.Ev1WD1iK.dpbs.

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(Source: 15)
It is clear that the rise of Jio has posed significant threat to all telecommunication companies and
RCom has been the worst sufferer. The industry is showing buyouts, merging and exists as
Mukesh Ambani's Jio is creating hullaballoo in the Indian market and small players have to quit
the market and large players can be in the market with cutting off the prices. The recent example
of this can be Norwegian multinational company Telenor. Telenor recently quitted India as
intense price war is obvious in the Indian market and consolidate will be hastened as Jio puts a
shock wave with free services. Indian customers have been observing frequent call drops, slow
internet speed, fluctuating speed of internet and for companies, they have been noticing
expensive wireless spectrum. Jio's arrival has been creating a massive shock to RCom and major
tie-ups are taking place and Jio aims to take up almost 50% market share at the end of 202116. Jio
is offering free mobile service and handset to the customers. Only 1500 mobile will be giving $G
speed and with added benefits. Customers will get cash back on the amount, it is clear that Jio is
taking the aggressive marketing technique in Indian market that creates intense competition.
RCom is now one option left that is a marketing strategy to survive in the market. In order to
fend off Mukesh's Ambani's target, RCom has also been responsible to pose threat at the lower
end of the market by announcing the merging to Aircel. It is reportedly in the news that RCom
has a word with Tata Group in starting a Join forces. TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India) warned the government about the payment defaults and free data that can create price war
15 Internet Speed (2017). https://officechai.com/stories/internet-speeds-indias-top-telecom-operators-ranked/
#sthash.vFdPdOYa.Ev1WD1iK.dpbs.
16 "Challenges Ahead For Anil Ambani As Reliance, Aircel Merger Talks Go On". 2017. Businesstoday.In.
http://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/reliance-aircel-merger-key-challenges-ahead-for-anil-ambani/story/
237356.html.

13CASE STUDY
in telecommunication sector17. RCom has decided to merge with Aircel in the wireless business,
in doing so it can make the 4th largest mobile network in India. Aircel and RCom will have 50%
stake in merging entity. However, RCom will control the enterprise segment and they will
perform as a standalone entity. The marketing strategies of RCom are based on empowering the
marketing team through articulate goals through unifying global resources. Moreover, RCom
needs to review the plans and sync the plan with the sales team. Some of the management
decisions are lower costs drive lead generations and retain more customers through customer
satisfaction. Jio's disruption has provided a fatal issue to RCom and they want to fight back
through using social media tools, aggressive advertisements and increasing the productivity of
the employees.
6. Situational analysis of Reliance Communications
In order to be successful in long-term, business must have a vision and vision helps to
improve the future of an organisation. In order to be successful, RCom uses six strategies,
providing future direction, realistic, motivating, express a consumer benefits, fully
communicated and consistently measured and followed. In order to achieve the objectives of the
organisation, RCom has been following complex architecture in functioning, facilities, domains
and coverage of services. RCom has always been using latest technologies and in recent time, it
has been facing the issue of loosing of customers.
6.1 SWOT analysis
Strengths:
17 Subramanian, Dilip. Telecommunications industry in India: State, business and labour in a global economy.
Routledge, 2017.

14CASE STUDY
Strengths are offering flexible plans to the customers and good advertising in the Indian
market. In addition, RCom has a backbone like Reliance ADAG Group that provides financial
stability. RCom uses celebrity faces in advertising that gives a brand image. Website of RCom
gives access to bill payments and recharge.
Weaknesses:
In price competition with Jio and other market players it is lagging behind. Reliance
Communications has limited market share in the industry and customers are moving to other
companies using MNP. RCom has distribution issues and it has lack of competitive strength18.
Opportunities:
RCom shifted its business to CDMA to GSM that provides to grab a large number of
customers. RCom has reached almost 99% of customers all over the India and it provides rural
telephony. It can target new market with horizontal integration and vertical integration. RCom
uses latest and low-cost technologies that can provide benefit to give low-cost services. RCom
has uses the techniques of mergers and partnerships that provide an opportunity to be bigger
telecommunication providers.
Threats:
New entrants offer low prices and customers shift to other operators. The Recent rise of
Jio poses a significant threat to RCom and strict TRAI guidelines are threats to them. IT
development in Indian telecom industry is another threat as RCom needs to update the
technology that creates market demand.
18 Greiner, Martin. "A comparison of lean management in the automotive and telecommunications sectors." (2015).

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6.2 External Environment (PEST) analysis
Political:  Government has opened up the telecommunication sector by
giving permission of FDI by 100%19
 TRAI needs to give permission in starting new marketing or
offers
 Public-private partnership depends on policy
 Licensing scheme is unified in India
Economic:  India’s per capita income is not so high, however, density of
people provides potential market for telecommunication
 Demand for telephony and internet access is getting
significantly high
 Service sector growth brings development in
telecommunication industry
Social:  In India, people like to spend in telephony and new sources of
employment is given by telecommunication
 Internet and telephony opens up the opportunity in education,
healthcare and government
Technological:  Growth of telecommunication in IT sector
 Telecommunication infrastructure is opening up
 Connectivity by optical fibre
 Speed of internet
Table 1: PEST analysis
19 "TRAI Home | Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India | Government Of India". 2017. Trai.Gov.In.
http://www.trai.gov.in/.

16CASE STUDY
6.3 Porter’s Five Forces
Suppliers power  Concentration of suppliers
 High competition in choosing
suppliers
Moderate
Customers’ power  Customers seek low pricing
company and the customers’
bargaining power is rising
 Customers’ want reliable services
and that provide stability
Moderate
Industry rivalry  High switching costs
 Rivalry force is high as there are
large players in the industry,
Airtel, Vodafone, Tata Group, Idea
and Jio
 Low exit barriers
High
Threat of new
entrants
 High initial cost
 Government regulations
High
Substitutes  The substitutes in the market are
optimum and high switching cost
 Mobile Number Portability facility
is available and substitutes provide
low-cost services
High
Table 2: Porter’s Five Forces

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6.4 Industry position of Reliance Communications
Reliance Communications is losing its foothold in the telecom industry of India and it is
going to merge with Aircel. In previous time, cost leadership strategy of RCom overshadowed
other market players; however, the emergence of Jio disrupted all game.
Operator names Subscribers Market share
Vodafone + Idea 210 millions (Vodafone)
194 millions (Idea)
17.75% (Vodafone)
16.35% (Idea)
Bharati Airtel 281.25 millions 23.70%
Jio 128 millions 11%
BSNL Mobile 104.50 millions 8.80%
Aircel 88 million 7.65%
Reliance Communications 81 million 6.85%
Tata DoCoMo 42.43 million 3.55%
Table 3: Market Share of Telecommunication operators in India

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Figure: Market Share of telecommunications operators in India
(Source: 20)
7. Recent Challenges of Reliance Communications
RCom has been facing the huge challenges from the competition in the market as the
emergence of Jio made the industry disruptive with the freebies. Moreover, all the other
companies in the market have to cut off their base tariff as well. RCom also cut down the pricing
and it led to the loss of profitability in the market and the strategy of survival led to massive
disruption in the industry. In addition, most of the companies are giving low-cost sim card
facilities with introductory packages and RCom is busy with merging with Aircel.
In addition, RCom has been facing the issue of lack communication between distributors
and retailers. The operation of RCom lacks the depth of distribution channels. Sales executives
need to work hard and advertisements need to communicate the desires of the customers. RCom
faces the issues in lack of proper executives who can instruct teams to hunt new strategies for the
management to grab the new market. All the retailers do not get claim at right time and they
leave with the option of letting go of distributorship.
TRAI regulations set the target for speed and call drops regulations, in this scenario, the
customers get to know about other companies’ information. There are various factors that are
responsible for increasing the telecommunication sector, technologies like 4G, changing
consumer behaviour, better devices and introduction of cloud technologies21. RCom is not a
20 "TRAI Home | Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India | Government Of India". 2017. Trai.Gov.In.
http://www.trai.gov.in/.
21 Arnold, Jens Matthias, Beata Javorcik, Molly Lipscomb, and Aaditya Mattoo. "Services reform and
manufacturing performance: Evidence from India." The Economic Journal 126, no. 590 (2016): 1-39.

19CASE STUDY
regular visitor of Runner and DSE22. Most importantly, all the retailers do not know about new
scheme and offers of Rcom and they cannot convey it to the customers.
RCom is doing sales promotions and advertisements using new marketing channels and
existent marketing channels that do not boost up new customers and existent customers leave the
company. RCom does not conduct push promotional strategies like convincing the intermediary
channels to push the sales of the items to ultimate consumers through promotions.
8. Marketing strategies of Reliance Communication
Reliance Communications can segregate the market in India by dividing as Tier 1, Tier 2
and Tier 3 cities and set the pricing according to the tiers. The tier will be set by economic
condition and disposable income of the people in these areas. Marketing can be done through
providing best features that meet the needs of all tiers in India. RCom needs to maintain robust
product roadmap that must be approved by the vendors. RCom needs to offer the best service
among the competitors and in tier based operation, all types of services like 4G, 3G, calling and
texting features must be available. RCom can offer flexible products that must ensure lead in the
ability to operate in the market. Best services and low prices will be the sole marketing offering
for Reliance Communications that would benefit the company to entail multi-rating agencies.
8.1 Ansoff Matrix
Market Penetration:
For RCom, this strategy will be least risky as the firms will use the existing capabilities
and resources. India's telecommunications industry is growing the industry and RCom needs to
22 Gupta, Subhashish. "Telecommunications at the crossroads in India." IIMB Management Review 27, no. 3 (2015):
196-208

20CASE STUDY
maintain the market share that would result to growth for the organisation23. When the
competitors in the market will reach the capacity limit, RCom will have the opportunity to
increase market share. RCom has introduced new packs for the customers that allow the users to
have lifetime validity of connection and RCom also offers value pack for post-paid users also.
RCom is trying to grab the market share by handset driven strategy.
Market development:
In order to grab the new market, RCom expands its business to more than 20,000 towns
in India and RCom tied up with Research in Motion (RIM) to provide emails, internet and video
calling services. RCom tries to merge with Aircel and grab new market in South Indian regions.
RCom offers special services to send money and real-time exchange system in Indian customers.
Product Development:
Telecommunication gives the opportunity to develop new services and product to the
customers. RCom launched landline services to the customers. In the last year, it launched 4G
services to the customers, it offers DTH services. Moreover, RCom introduced long-distance
voices through STD with integrated high scalable platform.
Diversification:
Reliance Industries is the backbone of RCom and RCom recently acquired eWave World,
WiMax Operator, based in the UK. RCom is trying to build up WiMax network in more than 50
23 Nayak, Ajit, and Mairi Maclean. "Co-evolution, opportunity seeking and institutional change: Entrepreneurship
and the Indian telecommunications industry, 1923–2009." Business History 55, no. 1 (2013): 29-52.

21CASE STUDY
countries to give high-speed internet24. RCom again wants to provide satellite TV and it launched
IPTV.
8.2 Marketing Mix
Product/Services:
RCom provides the mobile-based services to the customers with data, voice, text and
video call facilities. This company offers quality services in voice and data packs. Moreover,
recently it has introduced DTH, IPTV, Satellite TV and 4G25. RCom has strong optical
broadband services that provide high-speed internet in most of the places in India. It has helpful
customer services team that provides help in any query of the customers' end.
Price:
Indian telecommunications industry is in high competition, RCom has to take low-pricing
strategy in order to be in the market. However, low pricing strategy helps to increase target
market. Introducing new plans with the low price tag can increase the visibility in the market and
increase the customer bases.
Place:
RCom is present in almost all parts of India and customer service centres can be seen in
almost all cities. Customers can contact to the customer support executives any time to resolve
the problems. Reliance Communications offers RCom outlets like Web Worlds, Customer
24 Mander, Jerry. The case against the global economy: and for a turn towards localization. Routledge, 2014.
25 Wu, Weiwei, Tan Li, Bo Yu, and Jiliang Wang. "Technological capability and technology management: Which
dominates the development of China’s telecommunications industry?." Chinese Management Studies 8, no. 2
(2014): 180-200.

22CASE STUDY
Convenience Centres and Broadband centres. In addition, RCom needs to maintain greater
distribution channels to reach more customers in interior sections of India. Channel members are
needed to be given an extra bonus to selling their connections. The members must be competent,
credible and responsible.
Promotions:
Reliance Communications has been using TV advertising using the celebrity faces;
however, it becomes lack in recent time26. RCom can provide large page advertisements in
national newspapers in order to fight back in the market introducing new plans or offers. In case
of social media, they need to maintain a competent PR team that would provide a daily update on
social media pages through offers, discounts, plans, images and short videos that can engage
customers. Social media, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter advertisements are cost-effective and
it helps to reach customers. Moreover, events organisation helps to engage more people and in
the Indian market, sponsorships in IPL or ISL tournaments can enhance the brand visibility. In
addition, being partner of TV programmes can increase brand awareness.
9. Methodology
9.1 Types of Investigations:
In this study, positivism philosophy has been used as data about natural phenomenon
needed to be collected in this study. Positivism philosophy is a scientific process. The collected
data have been interpreted through reason and logic27.
26 Haufler, Virginia. A public role for the private sector: Industry self-regulation in a global economy. Carnegie
Endowment, 2013.
27 Mackey, Alison, and Susan M. Gass. Second language research: Methodology and design. Routledge, 201

23CASE STUDY
Moreover, the deductive approach has been used in order to collect and deductive
approach aims to utilise theories and concepts related to the study. The concepts of marketing
and issues in the telecommunication industry in India have been tested through practical
deductive approach28.
In addition, descriptive research design has been used in order to collect the data as
observations of data are needed with interpretations. In-depth study was required in order to
formulate the descriptive design.
9.2 Data collection methods:
There are mainly two types of data collection methods, first one is primary and second
one is secondary data collection method. Primary data is raw data that is collected from
respondents directly. In secondary data, the data have been collected through secondary sources.
In this study, secondary sources have been used in order to collect the data about Indian
telecommunication sector and about Reliance Communications. In order to collect the data,
books, journals, articles, websites, organisational reports and newspaper articles have been used
mainly. All the data that have been collected tried to be authentic and right.
9.3 Data analysis:
This study is based on mainly secondary data and content analysis technique has been
used to analyse the data. As it is a case study, secondary data have been used with actual
administrative situation of the organisation29. No data has been altered and this study described
as what has been happened to Reliance Communications in recent times.
28 Silverman, David, ed. Qualitative research. Sage, 2016
29 Vaioleti, Timote M. "Talanoa research methodology: A developing position on Pacific research." Waikato
Journal of Education 12, no. 1 (2016).

24CASE STUDY
9.4 Data sources:
In this study mainly data sources are secondary. As the subject of this study is recent
changes in the telecommunication industry in India, sources are mostly newspaper articles and
magazines. Business Today and Financial Times are famous magazines and maximum
information has been taken from these magazine articles. Newspaper sources have been used like
Times of India and The Hindu. Moreover, the website sources like TRAI, Reliance
Communications have been used in order to collect the data. Peer-reviewed journals have been
used in order to analyse the recent conditions of telecommunication sectors in India. Reliance
Communications' media reports have been used to understand recent issues and scenarios. Lastly,
management books and concepts are used for analysing the practical condition and comparing to
this with theoretical perspectives.
10. Timeline of the study
Activities Week 2 Week 4 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week
10
Week
12
Selection of
topic and
identify the
background
of study
✓
Reviewing
the
literature
✓

25CASE STUDY
Identify the
case study
objectives
and
problems
✓
Collection
of
secondary
data
✓
Analysis of
data
✓
Justifying
probable
solutions
✓
Final
submission
s
✓
Table 4: Gantt chart
(Source: Created by author)

26CASE STUDY
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