Aircell has grabbed a lot of attention with IRS aggressive promotions and marketing strategies.But will it be able to get subscribers in saturated markets?
Year 20088: Aircel is a regional player with a presence in nice circles and a subscriber base of 16 million.
May 2009: Aircel is an aggressively growing brand with a presence in 17 circles and an aim of becoming a pan-India operator by 2010. Subscribers targeted for 2009: 30 million.
This metamorphosis of aircel is driven by its core objective to become a modern, refreshing and respectful brand while keeping its boy-next-door image intact. The Aircel group is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia and Apollo Hospital Enterprise Ltd of India. It began its operations in 1999 by launching services in Tamil Nadu. Its expansion to other circles began in 2005 and it had quickly established itself as a respectful brand in nine circles in 2008
Today, the operator is present in 18 circles: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Assam, North East, Orissa, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Kolkata, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, UP (West), UP (East), Mumbai and Maharashtra.

Exploring Aircel
In the past few months Aircel’s brand ambassador M.S. Dhoni has been urging people to more on to the operator.
“We have consciously chosen the tag line ‘explore your world of possibilities’,” says Gurdeep Singh chief operating officer, Aircel. “This is because we believe that there is a lot more a person can do beyond voice and this will be our focus, ” he adds.
The operator has tied up with content providers like Make MyTrip, Yahoo.!, cricinfo, etc., to provide Internet-based value added services (VAS) like search and travel information. The pocket Internet service allows Aircel subscribers to connect to the internet with just the click of a button.
Aircel intends to capture the saturated urban markets by offering subscribers services beyond simple voice calls and SMSes, quality networks with dedicated time slots for EDGE and constant augmentation of networks. Sandip Das, CEO, Maxis Communications, Berhad, majority stake holder in Aircel says, “Our fresh networks, simplified tariff plans, refreshing value added and customer services are a powerful package in a market suffering from a lot of sameness, service fatigue and brand agnostic offerings. It is hard to come in seventh or eighth. Our first target is to get on to the consumer;s set of choices as a refreshing option.”
It has also segmented its tariffs and is targeting specialised groups like youth, migrants, small and medium enterprises and dependants.
Says Rahul Sehgal, chief marketing officer. Aircel, “We have positioned ourselves as an exciting brand that represents the modern face of telecoms. We have done this through the multifunctionality that cuts across multiple segments and open a world of possibilities. This multi-functionality is real and relevant for multiple target groups.”
Connecting To Masses
Till 2008 (after nine years of starting operations) the operator was limited to nine circles with maximum suscribers in the Tamil Nadu and Chennai circles.But in 2009 it has aggressively launched itself in eight circles and is also campaigning to connect with the masses in India.
One of the operator’s biggest investments has been the sponsorship of the chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) which has given them great brand recall value.
But the competition in the mobile services segment is intense and with innovative schemes and campaigns being launched everday,competing with already estblished operators is a tough taks.Explains an official from a leading mobile company.
“Aircel has started operating in highly saturated markets and there is no differentiation in their services. Moreover, subscribers don’t change their numbers mainly because they don’t want to lose their original phone numbers. it will not be easy for Aircel to get the desired volumes.”
To this Das responds, “Subscribers in the metros are suffering busy networks and have like the proverbial ‘frog in the boiling water ‘ consigned themselves to those threshold levels. However once they experience the pristine quality of the new networks, they will use it as their second number.youngsters and growing members of the family will also find us attractive as new generation data users. We will also leverage on our experiences in Malaysia for providing leading edge Data and VAS services as a part of our product portfolio”.
The Verdict
Finally, Aircel has taken its first steps towards becoming a pan-India operator. While the operator seems satisfied with the responce, the question is whether the consumer is happy? Chinkhansiam, a software engineer, says, “I had been planning to change my connection for quite some time but couldn’t find anything to match my requirement.With Aircel I got a good network, great value for money, low local and STD call rates and a lot of freebies. I have been using Aircel for some time now and I am happy that I chose it.” Aircel remains the top operator in Tamil Nadu- the first circle in which it was launched will it be able to weave the same magic in other areas? We will have to wait and watch.