It is a known fact that telecom industry opened its doors for the private players in 1994 after globalization. Fourteen years down the line mobile market has grown tremendously and all the organizations are formulating strategies to gain brand equity. This is quite difficult in case of mobile market because the operators are concentrating on price differentiation. But for a customer, price is not the only parameter to be loyal to a particular brand. In future when mobile number portability is introduced, it will be even more difficult for the mobile operators to build brand equity.

The latest study conducted by Nielsen Global Luxury Brand Milan, Italy, dated February 27, 2008, it states that the Indian consumers have listed themselves to be among the top three brand conscious buyers in the world. It indicates that India is in the third place with 35% consumers buying luxury goods. However, Greece stands first and Hong Kong in the second position with a global market of 46% and 38% respectively. This research speaks volumes with regard to the Indians choosing international brands of goods. This is due to the influence of Indians visiting Western countries where they get an access to purchase designer brand products. Here, it is not only designer's name but also the quality and attribute that are spoken through the brand names. The quality and attribute of the goods can be experienced due to the products tangibility. But when it comes to intangible products, the facts are different. Mobile service is one such industry that completely revolves around providing services to the mobile users.

Once upon a time having, a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) landline telephone connection was a matter of pride whereas today it has become a necessity. The credit goes to the globalization policies that transformed the Indian telecom industry into global telecom industry. Sheshadhri, a conventional individual and who is a loyal customer of DoT, is a customer of Airtel today. He uses Airtel mobile service to speak to his daughter in US. All his friends and relatives call him on his cell phone. He displays the same confidence and trust in Airtel as much as he had for DoT. He is all praise for the emotional attachment shown in the Airtel advertisement. This reminds us of the brand image that is built by Airtel through its signature tune and emotional touch in its advertisement. The brand represents a name, symbol, logo or design. It could also be a combination of all these elements. The name or symbol of a company conveys its identity. The service brand is built by a combination of tangible and intangible attributes, benefits and values based on the importance given by the customer. A service product exhibits characteristics like intangibility, heterogeneity, and hence, building a brand for services is challenging. A brand for a company gets built over a period of time. The concept `branding' itself is intangible.

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