Mobile Number Portability

It’s no surprise that the Mobile Number Portability services in India will now be in demand like never before, thanks to Supreme Court of India dealing a major blow to the dubious transactions in 2G spectrum allocation. Both small and big names have come under scanner and Idea, biggest MNP gainer till date, is set to loose its advantage due to this move by supreme Court. So what does that mean to you and me?

With many people across the country, especially in buisness and profesional circles, choosing to continue with the same number, MNP will be easily the preferred option. Since many of the major Indian telecom players are not affected by this ruling, those amongst us who are affected will be eyeing the known names for their MNP switch. Keeping this in mind, the bigger operators have started churning out best mobile plans as well as floating attractive deals to the allure new customers. State-owned telecom companies have also joined the race and sudden splurge in telecom advertising can be seen all over.

It is indeed a case of somebody’s loss resulting in another’s gain. While TRAI chairman assures that there wont be a larger impact of this ruling, mainly due to restricted reach of new operators, it’s time for us to reap in the harvest with some real economical deals.

MNP (Mobile Number Portability) was introduced this year by the telecom ministry and has been welcomed with mixed reactions amongst both subscribers and operators. While people in Gujarat have been on forefront of availing this service, their enthusiasm isn’t shared by all.

In order to grab customer’s attention as well as poach other subscribers, all major mobile service providers have been aggressively marketing on the lines of ‘save your bills’ or ‘customer satisfaction’. Some with ability to deliver have been clear winners. Take IDEA for instance. Of around 13 lakhs MNP requests in first 2 months across the country, IDEA grabbed almost 2 lakhs. That’s a huge number for any single provider to gain. Other preferred services include Vodafone and Airtel.

While subscribers in Northern and Western India have clearly shown their resentment towards services which are low on customer satisfaction, customers in Karnataka and Hyderabad have not notched up matching numbers. Kolkata also seems to be quite satisfied with its present mobile cover and hasn’t seen any major swing in requests for MNP despite many advertisers targeting the 4 major metropolitan cities in the country.

It might also be because only a few know that MNP is applicable across all technologies. Again the paperwork and 90-day lock period may prove to be a hindrance. To add to it, one never knows how good the service you are choosing might prove. Hence some choose to stay with trusted service providers. Let’s keep an eye on how it fares in near future.