About 850,000 subscribers from the northern region comprising Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir had given in their requests to different service providers for porting their mobile numbers, by the end of February 2011.
According to insiders, the northern region has responded well to the service since its launch initially in Haryana on November 25 last year, and later in the rest of India on January 20. MNP allows users to change their service provider while retaining the number. In the northern region, Syniverse has been given a licence by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to implement MNP.
According to the data provided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) officials, about 3.8 million mobile subscribers have opted for the facility across India by the end of February 2011, while in the northern region it is about 850,000. According to the data, Haryana is the front-runner with 320,000 requests followed by Rajasthan (314,000), Punjab(194,000), Himachal Pradesh (20,242) and Jammu and Kashmir (1,291). On being asked about the response in the northern region, telecom officials said, “I don’t think there would be much impact in the implementation of MNP in the northern region. However, there are no second thoughts about the consumers being benefitted”.
It is worth mentioning that Punjab has the highest telecom density. The state has telecom density of about 80 per cent as compared to the national average of 65 per cent. Further, Punjab has over 22 million telecom subscribers, Haryana (about 18 million), Rajasthan (31 million), Himachal Pradesh (7.5 million), Jammu and Kashmir (5 million) upto January 2011.
Contrary to telecom officials’ views, experts added the requests will increase significantly in coming months. Further, the service will increase competition between providers to improve their service, they feel. Also, in order to retain the prospective customers the service providers are offering new schemes to retain clients.
Consumer organisation mentioned the service came as a lifeline for dissatisfied customers and will gain popularity in the coming months. Speaking to Business Standard, Chandigarh Telecom Subscribers Association President and Telecom Consumer Education and Protection Fund member Randhir Verma said, “It will further gain momentum in the coming days. We expect more and more dissatisfied customers will opt for MNP. As far as subscriber complaints are concerned, we are going to take up the matter with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TERM) Cells”.
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Also, Trai is constantly monitoring the implementation of MNP in the country. It is observed that the primary reasons for rejection of port requests are Incorrect Porting Code, Non-completion of 90 days, existing contractual obligations and outstanding dues. In view of the large number of rejections and complaints, Trai is in the process of verifying the correctness of the port rejections done by the service providers on sample basis.
To avail of MNP service, a mobile user has to pay a porting fee of Rs 19. The user has to send a message to 1900, following which he gets a unique porting code (UPC). With this code, the user can fill a form of the new service provider. The process is expected to be completed in seven days. However, subsequently, the user cannot avail of the service again for 90 days.