Mobile NUmber Portablity

Amidst all the hype about mobile number portability (MNP), which allows customers to change their operator and retain their number, this facility may not be a significant game changer in India and erode telcos’ subscriber numbers. The two companies chosen to implement MNP in India -- Syniverse Technologies and MNP Interconnection Teleco Solutions -- have told the telecom regulator Trai that less than 3 per cent of the country’s projected 550 million-plus mobile users will go in for MNP by 2010 (based on their surveys). MNP is slated to come into effect in metros and large states in September 20, 2009 and the rest of the country from March 2010. Syniverse & MNP Interconnection in their presentations to Trai have said that India is likely to have over 800 million subscribers by 2013, off which less than 30 million were likely to change their operators using the MNP provision. Syniverse will implement MNP in Northern and Western India while MNP Interconnection will provision this facility in the South and East zones of the country. Importantly, these two companies have proposed to charge customers between Rs 75 - 200 everytime they want to change their operator.Syniverse Technologies and MNP Interconnection’s analysis comes even as data from cellular industry associations reveal that Indian operators are confronted with whooping 40 per cent annual churn rates. Telecom regulator Trai too shares the view that churn may not translate to customers opting to port their operator:

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