1.

INTRODUCTION

TO

TELECOMMUNICATION

INDUSTRY

1.1.1. INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY The Indian Telecommunications has more than with 225 million telecom subscribers. Today, it is the fastest growing market in the world and represents unique opportunities for U.S. companies in the stagnant global scenario. Every month, 6-7 million new subscribers are added. In the last 3 years, two out of every three new telephone subscribers were wireless subscribers. Consequently, wireless now accounts for 54.6% of the total telephone subscriber base, as compared to only 40% in 2003. The wireless technologies currently in use are Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). There are primarily 9 GSM and 5 CDMA operators providing mobile services in 19 telecom circles and 4 metro cities, covering 2000 towns across the country. Total telecom subscribers: 225.21 million (June 2007) Teledensity: 19.86 per cent (June 2007) Addition of new mobile subscribers per month (June 2007): 7.34 million Annual growth rate of telecom subscribers (2006-07):46.82 per cent One of the fastest growing cellular telephony markets in the world Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for GSM: ~ US$ 6.6 per month More GSM subscribers than fixed line subscribers Telecom equipment market (2006-07): US$ 17,100 million Handset market (2006-07): US$ 4,750 million Expected to reach a mobile subscriber base of about 500 million by 2010 (i.e., more than one phone for every household) The Indian telecom market generated revenues of approximately US$ 20 billion in 2006-07. The market witnessed a growth rate of 33 per cent over the last year and recorded a CAGR of 22 per cent for the period 2002-03 to 2006-07. This growth has resulted in doubling the revenues of the telecom segment in the past three years. Further, it is expected that the industry will generate revenues worth US$ 43 billion by 2009-10.

1.1.2. HISTORY OF TELECOM The history of telephone services in India found its beginning when a 50-line manual telephone exchange was commissioned in Kolkata in the year 1882 in less than five years after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. While India became independent in the year 1947, the country had about 82,000 telephone connections, which slowly rose up to 3.05 million by the year 1984. The telecom sector in India was a government monopoly until the year 1994 when liberalization was gradually unrolled. For the first time, cellular services were launched in India in Kolkata in the year 1995. Cellular phones made a commercial debut in the mass market in the early 1990s. In the early days of cellular handsets, phone functionality was limited to dialing, and voice input/output.When the second generation of mobile telecoms (so-called 2G) was introduced in Finland by Radiolinja (now Elisa) on the GSM standard (now the world's most common mobile technology with over 2 billion users) in 1991, the digital technology introduced data services. SMS text messaging was the first such service. The first person-to-person SMS text message was sent in Finland in December 1994. SMS (Short Message Service) gradually began to grow, becoming the largest data service by number of users in the world, currently with 74% of all mobile subscribers or 2.4 billion people active users of SMS in 2007. One advantage of SMS is that while even in conference, users are able to send and receive brief messages unobtrusively, while enjoying privacy. Even in such environments as in a restaurant, caf, bank, travel agency office, and so on, the users can enjoy some privacy by sending/receiving brief text messages in an unobtrusive way. It would take six years from the launch of SMS until the first case of advertising would appear on this new data media channel, when a Finnish news provider offered free news headlines via SMS, sponsored by advertising. This led to rapid experimentation in mobile advertising and mobile marketing, and the world's first conference to discuss mobile advertising was held in London in 2000, sponsored by the Wireless Marketing Association (which later merged into the Mobile Marketing Association). The first books to discuss mobile advertising were Ahonen's MProfits and Haig's Mobile Marketing in 2002. Several major mobile operators around the world launched their own mobile advertising arms, like Aircross in South Korea, owned by the parents

of SK Telecoms the biggest mobile operator, or like D2 Communications in Japan, the joint venture of Japan's largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo and Dentsu, Japan's largest ad agency

1.1.3. AN OVERVIEW OF THE TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY IN INDIA

Talking of telecommunications sector in India today, we can primarily identify two segments namely Fixed Service Provider (FSPs) and Cellular Services. Some of the essential and basic telecom services forming part of Indian telecom industry include telephone, radio, television and Internet. Telecom industry in the country lays a special emphasis on some of the advanced and the latest technical innovations like GSM( Global System for Mobile Communications), CDMA(Code Division Multiple Access), PMRTS(Public Mobile Radio Trunking Services), Fixed Line and WLL(Wireless Local Loop ). Especially, India has a flourishing market in GSM mobile service, while the number of subscribers is on rapid and dramatic increase. The Indian telecommunications industry boasts as being one among the most rapidly growing chunks on the globe. Experts around the world estimate that India holds the promise of emerging as the second largest telecom market of the world. Figures published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), reveal that the number of telecom connection subscribers in India reached 562.21 million in December 2009, marking a 3.5 percent increase over the number 543.20 million reported in November 2009. This figure indicates that the average teledensity (number of telephones per 100 persons) has gone up to 47.89. On account of a dramatic increase in the earnings from mobile and landline connections, the telecom industry in India made revenue of US$ 8.56 billion during the quarter ending on December 31, 2009 thereby witnessing a recovery from the economic downturn. Business Monitor International has stated that at present, India is adding up about 8-10 million mobile subscribers every succeeding month. Estimates have revealed that by June2012, almost half India population will be in possession of a mobile phone. This will result in about 612 million mobile subscribers, making up a teledensity of about 51 per cent by the year 2012.

Over and above, a study undertaken by Nokia has brought out that the communications sector will grow as the single largest chunk of the Indias GDP making up about 15.4 per cent by the year 2014. 1.1.4. RESPONSES TO TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY IN INDIA The Indian telecommunication industry is the worlds fastest growing industry with 791.38 million mobile phone subscribers as of February 2011. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the number of telephone subscriber base in the country reached 653.92 million as on May 31, 2010, an increase of 2.49 per cent from 638.05 million in April 2010 1.1.5. MAJOR PLAYERS IN TELECOM INDUSTRY TOP FIVE COMPANIES: 1. Bharti Airtel Ltd.

2. Reliance Communications Ltd.

3. Vodafone Essar Ltd.

4. BSNL

5. Idea Cellular + Spice

Text messaging
.

Text messaging, or texting, refers to the exchange of brief written text messages between fixedline phone or mobile phone and fixed or portable devices over a network. While the original term (see below) was derived from referring to messages sent using the Short Message Service (SMS) originated from Radio Telegraphy, it has since been extended to include messages containing image, video, and sound content (known as MMS messages). The sender of a text message is known as a texter, while the service itself has different colloquialisms depending on the region: it may simply be referred to as a text in North America, India, Australia, the Philippines and the United Kingdom, an SMS in most of Europe, and a TMS or SMS in the Middle East and Asia. Text messages can be used to interact with automated systems such as ordering products and services for mobile phones or participating in contests. Advertisers and service providers use direct text marketing to notify mobile phone users about promotions, payment due dates and other notifications that can usually be sent by post, e-mail or voicemail.

In a straight and concise definition for the purposes of this English Language article, text messaging by phones or mobile phones should include all 26 letters of the alphabet and 10 numerals, i.e., alpha-numeric messages, or text, to be sent by texter or received by the textee.

Mobile marketing
Mobile marketing can refer to one of two categories of interest. First, and relatively new, is meant to describe marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a cell phone using SMS Marketing. (This is an example of horizontal telecommunication convergence). Second, and a more traditional definition, is meant to describe marketing in a moving fashion - for example technology road shows or moving billboards. Although there are various definitions for the concept of mobile marketing, no commonly accepted definition exists. Mobile marketing is broadly defined as the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing communication or distribution of any kind of promotional or advertising messages to customer through wireless networks. More specific definition is the following: using interactive wireless media to provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas, thereby generating value for all stakeholders". In November 2009, the Mobile Marketing Association updated its definition of Mobile Marketing: Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network. Another definition comes from marketing professor Andreas Kaplan who defines mobile marketing as "any marketing activity conducted through a ubiquitous network to which consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device".[4] Within this definition, Kaplan uses two variables, i.e. the degree of consumer knowledge and the trigger of communication, to differentiate between four types of mobile marketing applications: Strangers, Victims, Groupies, and Patrons.

Mobile marketing is commonly known as wireless marketing. However wireless is not necessarily mobile. For instance, a consumers communications with a Web site from a desktop computer at home, with signals carried over a wireless local area network (WLAN) or over a satellite network, would qualify as wireless but not mobile communications.

Mobile marketing via SMS Marketing

Marketing on a mobile phone known as SMS Marketing has become increasingly popular ever since the rise of SMS (Short Message Service) in the early 2000s in Europe and some parts of Asia when businesses started to collect mobile phone numbers and send off wanted (or unwanted) content. On average, SMS messages are read within four minutes, making them highly convertible.[6] Over the past few years SMS Marketing has become a legitimate advertising channel in some parts of the world. This is because unlike email over the public internet, the carriers who police their own networks have set guidelines and best practices for the mobile media industry (including mobile advertising). The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and the Mobile Marketing Association, as well, have established guidelines and are evangelizing the use of the mobile channel for marketers. While this has been fruitful in developed regions such as North America, Western Europe and some other countries, mobile SPAM messages (SMS sent to mobile subscribers without a legitimate and explicit opt-in by the subscriber) remain an issue in many other parts or the world, partly due to the carriers selling their member databases to third parties. In India, however, government's efforts of creating National Do Not Call Registry have helped cell phone users to stop SMS advertisements by sending a simple SMS or calling 1909. Mobile marketing via SMS has expanded rapidly in Europe and Asia as a new channel to reach the consumer. SMS initially received negative media coverage in many parts of Europe for being a new form of spam as some advertisers purchased lists and sent unsolicited content to consumer's phones; however, as guidelines are put in place by the mobile operators, SMS has become the most popular branch of the Mobile Marketing industry with several 100 million advertising SMS sent out every month in Europe alone.

In Europe the first cross-carrier SMS short code campaign was run by TX bomb in 2001 for an Island Records release, In North America it was the Labatt Brewing Company in 2002. Over the past few years mobile short codes have been increasingly popular as a new channel to communicate to the mobile consumer. Brands have begun to treat the mobile short code as a mobile domain name allowing the consumer to text message the brand at an event, in store and off any traditional media. SMS Marketing services typically run off a short code, but sending text messages to an email address is another methodology. Short codes are 5 or 6 digit numbers that have been assigned by all the mobile operators in a given country for the use of brand campaign and other consumer services. Due to the high price of short codes of $500-$1000 a month, many small businesses opt to share a short code in order to reduce monthly costs. The mobile operators vet every short code application before provisioning and monitor the service to make sure it does not diverge from its original service description. Another alternative to sending messages by short code or email is to do so through one's own dedicated phone number. Besides short codes, inbound SMS is very often based on long numbers (international number format, e.g. +44 7624 805000 or US number format, e.g. 757 772 8555), which can be used in place of short codes or premium-rated short messages for SMS reception in several applications, such as product promotions and campaigns. Long numbers are internationally available, as well as enabling businesses to have their own number, rather than short codes which are usually shared across a number of brands. Additionally, long numbers are non-premium inbound numbers. One key criterion for provisioning is that the consumer opts in to the service. The mobile operators demand a double opt in from the consumer and the ability for the consumer to opt out of the service at any time by sending the word STOP via SMS. These guidelines are established in the MMA Consumer Best Practices Guidelines. Which are followed by all mobile marketers in the United States? In Canada, opt in will be mandatory once the Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act comes in force in mid 2012.

Mobile marketing via MMS

MMS mobile marketing can contain a timed slideshow of images, text, audio and video. This mobile content is delivered via MMS (Multimedia Message Service). Nearly all new phones produced with a color screen are capable of sending and receiving standard MMS message. Brands are able to both send (mobile terminated) and receive (mobile originated) rich content through MMS A2P (application-to-person) mobile networks to mobile subscribers. In some networks, brands are also able to sponsor messages that are sent P2P (person-to-person). Good examples of mobile-originated MMS marketing campaigns are Motorola's ongoing campaigns at House of Blues venues, where the brand allows the consumer to send their mobile photos to the LED board in real-time as well as blog their images online.

1.2. INTRODUCTION TO TOPIC

1.2.2. ADVERTISING Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common. Advertising messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various traditional media; including mass media such as newspaper, magazines, television commercial, radio advertisement, outdoor advertising or direct mail; or new media such as websites and text messages. Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services through "Branding," which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate certain qualities with the brand in the minds of consumers. Non-commercial advertisers who spend money to advertise items other than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental agencies. Nonprofit

organizations may rely on free modes of persuasion, such as a public service announcement (PSA). Definition 1. The non-personal communication of information usually paid for & usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods & services) or ideas by identified sponsor through various media. (Arenes 1996) 2. Any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization, product, service, or idea from an identified sponsor. (Blech & Blech 1998) 3. Paid non-personal communication from an identified sponsor using mass media to persuade influence an audience. (Wells, Burnett, & Moriaty 1998)

ADVERTISING VIA MOBILE DEVICES

Kotler (Kotler, 2003) defines advertising as any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor . Advertising via mobile devices or mobile advertising (in the following abbreviated as advertising via mobile devices) is defined as the usage of interactive wireless media (such as cellular phones and pagers, cordless telephones, personal digital assistants, two-way radios, baby crib monitors, wireless networking systems, GPS-based locators and maps) to transmit advertising messages to consumers in form of time and location sensitive, personalized information with the overall goal to promote goods and services. There are different synonyms for advertising via mobile devices, such as wireless advertising or wireless advertising messaging. Usually, mobile advertising messages are transmitted via short message service (SMS). Mobile advertising allows marketers to exploit the mediums unique features in order to customized their messages to consumers attributes. Good marketing management emphasizes the building of longterm relationships. Mobile advertising can support these goals in various ways because it allows reciprocal communication processes between marketer and consumers. As more wireless bandwidth will be available, content rich advertising involving audio, pictures, and video clips can be produced for individual users with

specific needs, interests, and inclinations. It is therefore assumed that mobile advertising will be also an important revenue source for mobile operators in the future.

EFFECTIVENESS

OF

SHORT

MESSAGE

SERVICE

(SMS)

AND

MULTIMEDIA MESSAGE SERVICE (MMS) AS MARKETING TOOLS

NOW A DAYS mobile phone plays the key role in communication in many countries including Thailand. It seems like the fifth factor that everyone has to have it. Besides the convenience of usage in anywhere or at any time, the user can also listen to music, play games or surf the internet. Another increasingly popular function is the message services in forms of short message service (SMS) and multi-media service (MMS). AIS, which is one of the largest mobile phone service providers in Thailand, indicates that Thai people sent 41 million of SMSs and 7.5 hundred thousand of MMSs in the range of date between 31 of December in 2007 and 1 of January in 2008. Based on the statistics, it emphasizes on the dramatic rate of using SMS and MMS. Because of its popularity, marketers now discover a chance to advertise their products via SMS/MMS. The marketers hope that this new method, also known as wireless advertisement through SMS and MMS, will effectively and efficiently promote their products or services. Identified three consistent success indicators for SMS messaging: (1) the cost-effectiveness and interoperability of the wireless infrastructure; (2) the high penetration of mobile phones (ubiquitous penetration levels of over 80% in some countries); and (3) the relatively low cost of the SMS messaging service. Also, some research believe meaningly interprets that cost of SMS does matter to consumptions. For the case of demographic, some research believe that age, mobile phone users 16 to 45 years old are receptive to experience SMS marketing, and gender, females have more likely to respond SMS ads, play the critical role of response to SMS ads. In addition, there are 6 external factors; simplicity of input method or input language, economic development which substitute for less developed information structure, cultural difference, marketing competition which substitute for pricier voice service in a noncompetitive market, business model which enhance information richness and benefit from positive feedback in value web, and political censorship. However, most of the people still have the negative attitude

toward SMS ads. Besides advertisings, SMS can be the powerful tool for do a survey because it collects information quickly, as the average speed of response (3.3 days) is better than for other survey modes. This paper focuses on examining the factors that influence Thai consumers intentions to accepting SMS advertising. 1.2.3 REASONS FOR DISPLAY ADVERTISING Display ads generate awareness quickly. Unlike search, which requires someone to be aware of a need, display advertising can drive awareness of something new and without previous knowledge. Display works well for direct response. Display is not only used for generating awareness, its used for direct response campaigns that link to a landing page with a clear call to action. 1.2.4 ADVERTISING THEORY It clarifies the objectives of an advertising campaign and for each individual advertisement. The model suggests that there are six steps a consumer or a business buyer moves through when making a purchase. The steps are: 1. Awareness 2. Knowledge 3. Liking 4. Preference 5. Conviction 6. Purchase 1.2.5 ADVERTISING BY TELECOM INDUSTRY ON TV Key Findings: 2007 Telecom sector advertising on TV grew by 61 per cent during 2007 compared to 2006. Telecommunication Services segment had more than 60 per cent share of overall Telecom sector advertising on TV. Telecommunication Services has seen a rise of 108 per cent in TV advertising, whereas Telecommunication Equipments saw a rise of 17 per cent during 2007 over

2006. Bharti Airtel Ltd was the number one advertiser under Telecommunication Services and Nokia Corporation led Telecommunication Equipments advertising on TV during 2007.

2008 TV advertising of Telecom sector saw a rise of 99 per cent during January August 2008 compared to January - August 2007. 'Telecommunication Services' garnered a high share of Telecom sector advertising on TV during January - August 2008. TV advertising of 'Telecommunication Equipments' saw a growth of 45 per cent and that of 'Telecommunication Services' grew by 127 per cent during January - August 2008.

'Nokia Corporation' leads in advertising of 'Telecommunication Equipments' and ' Vodafone Essar Ltd' was number one advertisers for 'Telecommunication Services' on TV during January August 2008. 'R Madhavan' had the maximum ad volumes of Celebrity Endorsement of Telecom sector on TV during January - August 2008. 2009 Telecom sector has seen a decline of 16 per cent in its TV ad volumes during Jan - Mar '09 compared to Jan - Mar '08. High share of 'telecommunication services' advertising on TV during JanMar '09. 'Sony Ericsson (India)' was the top advertisers under 'telecommunication equipments' and 'Bharti Airtel Ltd' leads in 'telecommunication services' advertising on TV during Q1 '09. 'Sony Ericsson W595' and 'Sony Ericsson F305' were top two new brands advertised under 'telecommunication equipments' on TV during Q1 '09. Virgin vGlide Phones (slider) topped the chart of new 'telecommunication services' advertised on TV during Q1 '09. 1.3.1. MOBILE ADVERTISING

The recent evolution of telecommunications technology has paved the way for m-advertising to become an increasingly important element in the marketing mix in the coming years. Despite all the attention paid to m-advertising, only a few academic researchers have provided useful insights into this area. This may derive from the fact that the m-advertising market is in its infancy. Researchers have not even agreed whether the focus should be on internet-based advertising in the wireless devices (PDAs, WAP) or in the telecom sector (ads delivered via telecom networks). In the US the researchers have mainly focused on the wireless internet-based advertising whereas in Europe m-advertising has merely been understood as SMS and MMS based telecommunication (Add2Phone 2003, Enpocket 2002). These two views form very different basis for business models, for instance. This article aims to cast light on the challenges and future directions of m-advertising value chain by evaluating its success factors and developing a model that helps researchers and managers to better understand the critical components of this value chain. The following section provides insights into the conceptual discussion of m-advertising. The subsequent section discusses on the main players and their roles in m-advertising value chain. The final sections outline the main findings and their implications to both theory and practice. 1.3.2. CONCEPTS IN MOBILE ADVERTISING There exists no commonly accepted definition for the concept mobile advertising. For instance, one of the largest professional associations for marketers, the American Marketing Association (2003) does not give any definition for mobile or wireless advertising. The Mobile Marketing Association (2003), the premier global association that strives to stimulate the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technology defines m-marketing as the use of the mobile medium as a communications and entertainment channel between a brand and an end-user. Mobile marketing is the only personal channel enabling spontaneous, direct, interactive and/or targeted communications, at any time, and at any place. Basically, mobile marketing can be seen as the process of planning and execution conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of products and services through the mobile channel (IMAP 2003). However, it is valuable to make a distinction between mobile marketing and mobile advertising.

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

Women are more active than men in their responses to SMS call-to-action campaigns. In addition, the results indicate that mobile advertising is not only for teenagers. For instance, consumers in the 36-45 age groups were most likely to respond to SMS calls-to-action in a television program and participate in SMS sweepstakes and other competitions. However, the youngest consumers most actively ordered mobile services using SMS. In addition, it was found that employment status had a substantial impact on consumers' SMS campaign activity (Leppniemi, Karjaluoto 2008) If the relevance of the advertisement is high it does not on its own make consumers give permission; it needs to be combined with the control over opt-in conditions to assure consumers and gain permission. Regarding brand familiarity, this appears to have little impact on consumers' willingness to give permission to receive SMS advertisements. The opt-in conditions valued the most are: the possibility to withdraw at any time, personal data disclosure only with consent, and mobile phone operators as a primary advertising filter ( Bamba, Barnes 2007).

That consumer' positive attitudes toward firms' advertising disclosures enhance their attitudes toward firms' CSR practices and perceived trust toward firms, whereas consumers' attitudes toward CSR practices mediate the effect of their attitudes toward advertising disclosures on enhancing their perceived trust toward firms. Moreover, consumers' attitudes toward firms mediate the effect of their perceived trust toward firms on enhancing their behavioral intentions (Alex Wang 2011). Convenience and economical reasons influence SMS usage frequency. Social involvement is also found to influence attitudes towards SMS advertising (Phau, Teah 2009). Ad likeability increases if people feel that advertising provides something to talk about. Conversely, people who find advertising annoying have higher ratings of ad dislikeability. Results also show that, a close relationship exists between liking (disliking) television ads and buying more (less) of the advertised products. However, differences exist between Asian cities (Gazley et al. 2011). Shopping behavior of urban consumer at retail stores in response to radio advertisements is highly influenced by the physical, cognitive and economic variables. Radio advertisements propagating promotional messages on sales of products have quick response to the supermarkets and department stores. Listeners of radio commercials are attracted towards advertisements, which are more entertaining while disseminating the message. This study on impact of radio advertisements on consumer behaviour revealed that advantage shopping at retail stores in response to radio advertisements is highly influenced by the physical, cognitive and economic variables (Rajagopal 2011). A mix of differentiated marketing strategies, innovative and diversified product development and increased service quality to defend its position in an era of increased competition with new operators, a high number of pre-paid customers and number portability (Karabag, Berggren, 2011). There is no attempt to gauge the influence of media reports on corporate governance in India, although the largest democracy of the world has experienced the biggest scandals of unethical governance in the last two decades (Dash, 2011). Some of the brands considered did not, at the time the data were gathered, have a clearly defined social media strategy. The

indication is that there are opportunities to use social media as a tool in their marketing strategies; also some threats may exist to these brands should they take a laissez faire approach to social media, particularly when social media are becoming as influential, if not more so than conventional media (Reyneke et al, 2011)competence-enhancing to mobile device vendors. Future work consists mainly of analyzing quantitatively the implications of the new technologies when they become readily available and evaluating the value analysis framework in other applicable cases( Herkimer, Luukkainen,2010). A consumer's perceptions of two of the three innovation attributes tested (relative advantage and compatibility) were significantly associated with their acceptance (or adoption) of marketing messages sent via their mobile phone. However, a slightly weaker relationship between a consumer's level of involvement with their mobile phone and their adoption of mobile phone marketing was found(Roach 2009).The importance of risk acceptance and personal attachment in influencing mobile marketing acceptance, and support the priming effect of regular mobile phone usage on orienting consumers toward accepting mobile marketing initiatives(Gao et.al 2010). The mobile services most (e.g. sending and receiving text and picture messages, checking email) and least used (e.g. gambling, educational services) were similar between both male and female respondents, yet male respondents showed a higher use of mobile services. Among ethnic groups, African Americans were the most engaged users of all mobile services, and European Americans were the least engaged. In certain service categories (e.g. informational services related to business/finance), both gender and ethnicity were shown to have significant effects on consumers' current usages of both the internet and mobile services and intentions to use mobile services (Lee et.al 2010).Consumers are skeptical of DTC advertising and believe that not enough information is provided about these products. Despite the high level of exposure and the opinions that these ads were effective and informative, few respondents believed that the ads motivated them to request these drugs or put them on a more equal footing with their physician (Spake et. al 2007).The consumers' decision to participate in mobile marketing is institutional trust, which is a significant factor in all three countries and across gender. The influence of other antecedent factors are less pronounced. On the whole, it is found that the more experienced consumers become with mobile marketing, the less influence perceived control will have on

permission. There are notable variations across gender, with perceived control being an important determinant of permission for men, while it is not so for women (Jayawardhena et. al 2009). The value barrier is the most intense barrier to mobile banking adoption among both mature and younger consumers. However, aging appears to be related especially to the risk and image barriers; the most significant differences between mature and younger consumers' perceptions of mobile banking were related to input and output mechanisms of information, the battery life of a mobile phone, a fear that the list of PIN codes would be lost and end up in the wrong hands and the usefulness of new technology in general (Laukkanen et. Al 2007).The main factor affecting the consumers' decision to participate in mobile marketing is the company's media presence, which is a significant factor in all three countries( Kautonen et. AL 2007).Perceived value, attitude and affinity towards television (TV) programmes determine SMS acceptance to participate in TV programmes in Spain. In contrast, subjective norm, perceived value and attitude are the key drivers of SMS acceptance in Colombia( Maf et. Al 2010). A categorisation of customer-perceived value sub-elements in a novel technology-intensive business-to-business (b-to-b) service consisting of two outcome-level benefits, three processlevel benefits, and two types of sacrifices, i.e. monetary and non-monetary. Furthermore, the study suggests that the value elements are not of equal importance. Different retailers value different threshold benefits that influence their willingness to use the service. Moreover, the retailers' participation in value co-creation with a service provider influences the value perceived from the service (Komulainen et. Al 2007)

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH To study the consumer perception towards mobile advertising in India. To know the impact of advertisements of telecom industry on customers. To study the effectiveness and response towards advertisements provided by major players. To analyze the growth in ad volumes of telecom sector.

3.2 RESEARCH PROBLEM Advertising of Telecom Industry in India and its impact on customers. 3.3 RESEARCH DESIGN The research design is Descriptive studies. Descriptive studies are well structured, they tend to be rigid and its approach cannot be changed every now and then. Descriptive studies are undertaken in many circumstances: When the researcher is interested in knowing the characteristics of certain groups such as age, profession. When the researcher is interested in knowing the proportion of people in given population who have behaved in a particular manner, making projection of certain things. The objective of this kind of study is to answer the why, who, what, when and how of the subject under consideration. I have taken descriptive because my research includes the knowing the behavior of customer towards advertisement. I have analyzed how people of young age respond to different advertising or their perception towards advertisement. Also my survey is related to companies like Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance communications, BSNL and Idea cellular.

3.4. SAMPLE DESIGN

A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population. It refers to the technique or the procedure that researcher would adopt in selecting items from sample. Sampling plan may as well lay down the member of items to be inched in the sample i.e. the size of sample. Sampling plan is determined before data are collected. Sample Size: 100 respondents, Sample Area Panipat (Haryana) 3.5. DATA COLLECTION METHOD This research consists of primary and secondary research. PRIMARY SOURCES Questionnaire

SECONDARY SOURCES Books Internet Magazines News papers

3.6. TOOLS USED FOR ANALYSIS The data has been collected through a questionnaire and analyzed with the Graphical Techniques of SPSS. 3.7. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Respondents were reluctant to share their experience accurately. Unwillingness of respected personnels of Telecom Companies to provide relevant data for my studies. Time allotted for the project was not sufficient to go for detailed analysis of the research problem.

BIBLOGRAPHY
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QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Name _________________________________________ 2. Gender: (a) Male 3. Age: (a) 15-25 (b) 26-35 (c) 36-45 (d) Above 45 4. Education: (a) Matriculate (b) Intermediate (C) Graduation (d) Postgraduate 5. Who is your current service provider? (a) Airtel (b) Vodafone (c) Reliance (d) BSNL (b) Female

(e) Idea (f) Other 6. For how long you are using this mobile connection? (a) Less than 6 months. (b) 6 to 12 months. (c) Above 12 months. 7. What were the reasons for choosing this mobile connection? (a) Recommended by friends or relatives. (b) Recommended by retailers. (c) Brand image (d) Advertisement 8. While purchasing a connection advertising plays any role? (a) Yes (b) No 9. From where do you watch advertisements the most? (a) Television (b) Radio (c) Newspaper (d) Magazines (e) Other 10. Which telecommunication company has good advertising? (a) Airtel

(b) Vodafone (c) Reliance (d) BSNL (e) Idea (f) Other 11. Do you think that advertisement made by company informs you about their products? (a) Yes (b) No (c) Undecided 12. Based on advertisements made by company, would you like to go for more connections for you or your family in future? (a) Yes. (b) No. (c) Undecided.