Telecom Lead India: Bharti Airtel is leading the
port-out options using the Mobile Number Portability.

 

As on March 31, 2012, about 9.61 million Airtel
subscribers requested port-out using MNP while 10.82 million opted to join it,
according to telecom ministry report.

 

India’s second leading operator Vodafone received 8.15
million port-out requests from its subscribers, followed by 5.97 million
port-out request from Idea Cellular.

 

Reliance Communications (GSM) received 3.14 million
port-out requests compared to 1.79 million subscribers wishing to join the
network. On the other hand, its CDMA services received 1.72 million port-out
requests as against 0.24 million port-in requests.

 

(Please see the chart for top operators based on MNP
port-outs)

 

Tata Teleservices received 4.7 million port-out requests
from its subscribers.

 

State-run BSNL (GSM) had 2.45 million port-out requests
compared to 1.68 million port-in applications. MTNL, which operates in Delhi
and Mumbai circles, had 0.13 million port-out requests compared to 0.03 million
applications wishing to join the network.

 

The mobile number portability (MNP) has started changing
the dynamics of the subscriber base of all major service providers in India.

 

Use of MNP and port-out requests from the subscribers are
directly related to the quality-of-service (QoS) offered by these operators.

 

For instance, the Indian telecom services performance
indicators report for October- December 2011 period
showed Vodafone having the most number of disputes over post-paid
bills as opposed to the prescribed limit of 0.1 per cent by TRAI.

 

Likewise, the report showed similar issues with other
major telcos.

 

The report also indicates poor coverage in the different
circles by the leading telcos, which is yet another reason of subscribers
opting-out and looking for other telcos. However, adding to this, subscribers
are facing rejection of their MNP requests by some of the leading operators.

Recenlty, Trai and DoT have received a total 26,325
complaints regarding rejection of MNP requests by mobile companies since its
launch till March 31, 2012.

Meanwhile, the government has issued notices to Bharti Airtel, Idea, Loop,
Reliance and Vodafone for violating compliance of MNP regulations.

 

Top 5 operators based on MNP port-out options till March
31, 2012

Airtel:               9.61 million

Vodafone:        8.15 million

Idea Cellular:   5.97 million

Reliance:         4.86 million

Tata Docomo: 4.7 million

Danish Khan
[email protected]