Even as the full impact of the Supreme Court order cancelling the licences of eight mobile operators is yet to sink in with subscribers, many were unanimous that they’d migrate to better networks using mobile number portability (MNP).
Customers across networks do not seem worried at this stage. A majority were unaware of the repercussions of the verdict.
"The time period of four months is good enough for me to choose a better service provider," said Anusha Bilgi, 23, an information technology IT engineer from Bangalore who has been using MTS for its faster connectivity and lower rates. In Karnataka, Uninor, MTS and Docomo were gaining customers rapidly, though Airtel rules the market. New entrants like Videocon and Etisalat have a negligible presence.
The customers of Uninor, MTS and Idea were a little disappointed because they feel they may have to pay more for the services of other networks. These companies are popular among young subscribers because of the faster data transfer and lower call charges offered by them. While Idea offers the lowest rate for STD calls, Uninor offers the lowest local call fee and MTS offers a faster data transfer facility.
Ram Ratan, 60, an agriculturist from Gorakhpur, said he’d opted for Uninor as he found their rates to be cheaper than others. He said he’d retain his number for the time being. Ranjit Singh Yadav, 21, a businessman from Barabanki, said he’d retain his MTS connection.
“As of now, I am not going to change. All of a sudden, I saw on TV that Idea will shut shop. I will have no option but to shift to another service provider at the earliest. I don't think that will happen immediately though,” said Rushab Sheoran, a musician, and an Idea subscriber from Kolkata.
Madhusudan, 44, a public relations officer of the Uttarakhand chief minister who has been using Idea mobile services for four years, does not want to change his provider unless there are issues involved with the rates. “Despite all the news about the verdict cancelling licences, I am perfectly okay with Idea,” he said.
Some of the customers that Business Standard spoke to said they would not change immediately. They plan to wait and watch how things evolve in the next four months.
“I might think of quitting Tata Teleservices, based on how this pans out in the long run, but I will try out a provider that gives me better options with Blackberry services. I won’t immediately quit and will also look at how much other services will cost me,” said an Assam-based user.
However, customers not satisfied with existing operators said they’d like to change their networks immediately, using MNP.
A good number of common customers like auto, taxi drivers, carpenters, masons, traders and students were unaware of the judgment in Kerala, where Uninor and MTS have the least number of customers.
Sadath, a Uninor customer, said if the services of the company were to be stalled, he would migrate to the BSNL network.
For 11th standard student Siddharth Shah, the idea of availing 2,000 minutes free with his 15-odd friends lured him to subscribe to Uninor. “This way, I am able to be in touch with all my friends who have also subscribed to Uninor. Plus, it tends to be cheaper than other telecom operators. There is no way that we would switch over to any other operator," says the 17-year-old student of Sharda Higher Secondary School in Ahmedabad.
Of 11 companies hit by the court order, three -- Uninor, Idea and S Tel -- have operations in Orissa. The customers had mostly subscribed to their services to avail cheaper call rates compared to other players in the state such as Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance. They said any changes in rates would certainly affect their loyalty.“I use my Uninor number only to make longer duration calls, which are cheaper. So if the Supreme Court decision would affect the call tariffs (rates), then I will certainly switch to another service provider,” said Sudarshan Sahu, 30, a driver in Bhubaneswar, who uses Uninor as his secondary number.
