Idea Cellular has once again topped
the MNP charts for the second month running, with a 99,888 net gain lead over
Vodafone, and a 189,861 lead over Airtel, according to a TRAI report, dated
July 7, 2011.

 

Till date, in the six months post
MNP launch, 9.35 million customers have opted for MNP, with Idea Cellular now
leading the pack with a total of 19,93,684 new customers through MNP.  Top
circles where Idea is leading in the MNP race include Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

 

As per MNP figures released on May
30 by TRAI, Idea
beat Vodafone for
the first time since MNP launch with a lead of 6,39,060 customers, while
Vodafone registered 6,33,589 new customers as a result of MNP. Idea Cellular
clocked a seven percent growth in revenue in FY 2010-11 at Rs 48989.40 million,
and also leads the Active VLR subscriber numbers with 93.07 percent VLR
subscribers.

 

Idea Cellular also recently
partnered with Huawei to launch India’s first mobile portability solution, one
month ahead of schedule with no service interruptions to customers. By adopting
Huawei’s STP-based (signaling transfer point) MNP solution, IDEA is now able to
provide number portability service to more than 63 million subscribers in 22
regions of the country. The solution optimizes the signaling network and
supports an All-IP network transformation for IDEA.

 

Idea Cellular also reported one
million 3G users within a month of its launch and stands in fourth place in
terms of revenues of top telecom service providers in India. Quality of network
and customer service are said to be the main reasons driving MNP growth and
customer stickiness as well. With TRAI tightening the MNP directive, making it
easier for customers to switch operators with a maximum pending bill of Rs 10,
mobile subscribers are making the most of the opportunity. Looking at the
recent results, it is clear that only VAS or attractive 3G schemes cannot
solely hold subscriber loyalty. Basic voice and data connectivity is of proven paramount
importance to the majority of Indian cellular subscribers.

 

Other top gainers from MNP,
according to latest TRAI data (in order of port-in) are Vodafone, Airtel,
Aircel and Tata Teleservices. The top circles registering maximum MNP customers
till date are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with
Maharashtra now leading the MNP race. Highest losers in the MNP race, according
to fresh TRAI data are Reliance (GSM and CDMA), BSNL, Tata DOCOMO and Datacom.

 

By Beryl M
[email protected]