Who Will be totally Benefited from Mobile Number Portability?

Starting Thursday, mobile phone users across India will be able to switch telecom operator or mobile technology without changing phone number.
MNP actually first reached the Indian consumers last November. But that was just for users in the Haryana area – now the service is available to the over 600 million mobile phone users across the country totally.
Switching from one network to another (while keeping the same number) is pretty straightforward: All customers have to do is send an SMS with their mobile number to 1900 (SMS PORT 1900) to get their unique porting code. After this, the process is essentially the same as getting a new connection.
Network providers are eager to lure customers from rival companies but also fearful of losing their own.
Telecom experts say this service is likely to appeal to customers who were previously willing to spend more rather than give up their old numbers.
“MNP will target more high-end to mid-level users as compared to average user who will be concerned about not changing their number but would want to take advantage of better service facilities,” said Kunal Bajaj, director of the telecom consulting firm Analysys Masons India.
This means most users switching numbers are likely to be postpaid users, since this is the type of payment most common among higher-end users.
This makes MNP a bigger risk for larger companies like Vodafone Essar India Ltd. and Bharti Airtel. “They have more postpaid high-end users and thus would want to protect them from going away,” said Mr. Bajaj of Analysys Mason.
Mr. Bajaj said this is a good chance for smaller operators like Idea Cellular Ltd., Tata Communications Ltd. and Reliance Communications to broaden their consumer base through improved offers and customer support.
Others agree. “New operators like Uninor and Videocon will gain because they hardly have anything to lose and can build consumer trust on the new service and offers they can give to customers,” said an official from MNP Interconnection Telecom Solution, a firm that is set to implement the new service across parts of India.
But some bigger players say MNP is an opportunity for them too. Samaresh Parida, strategy director at Vodafone Essar, said the deciding factor will be quality, more than price. “Companies that have a strong brand proposition, superior network quality, innovative and differentiated products and services and greater predictability of quality of customer service will have an edge. High value customers are extremely wary of changing to the new lot of service providers that have limited or untested network coverage and quality,” Mr. Parida said.
Telecom providers have sought to maximize the benefits and limit the damages of MNP by launching often aggressive marketing campaigns.
Vodafone’s Indian unit launched a “Everybody’s welcome” campaign and Idea launched the now-popular “Switch to Idea” campaign.
Idea was among the first to attract the attention of consumers who are thinking of changing operator. In a recent TV advertisement, actor Abhishek Bachchan tells people “No Idea, Get Idea!”. The company has recently set up a helpline consumers can ring up to get guidance on how to change network.
Not all have been so proactive about it. Although a Bharti Airtel spokesperson has described it as “a great opportunity,” the company is yet to launch a media campaign on MNP.
While the service will definitely make the market more competitive, how successful will the service itself be?
Cost and time shouldn’t be a major deterrent, since switching to another network is only 19 rupees ($ 0.40) and it takes about five days.
In Haryana, where the service has been available for a few months, MNP has so far received a positive response from customers.
“In Haryana, even prepaid users have churned, something which we had not thought of earlier. Now prepaid users are also churning in favor of those service providers which give them value for money and better talktime schemes,” said the official from MNP Interconnection Telecom Solution Today.
A recent survey in the Indian newspaper Hindustan Times revealed that one in six mobile phone subscribers want to switch over. It also put Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar as the most likely operators to benefit from the switch.
Globally, Mobile Number Portability(MNP) has a good track record and is today common practice in many countries in Europe. It remains to be seen whether Indian market will follow