India's digital world has witnessed tremendous growth in the past decade.
Will be valid only for the first two months of a customer's joining
The highest number of requests are in Karnataka (39.18 million) and Tamil Nadu (35.56 million).
According to an internal note prepared by DoT, mobile tariffs could fall by over 50 per cent to about 40 paise per minute assuming four new players enter the fray and with the implementation of new norms such as usage of dual technology, number portability and allocation of spectrum to new players.
The MNP service was introduced on a pilot basis in Haryana on November 25, 2010 and later rolled out pan-India from January 20 this year.
According to a study by analyst firm Angel Broking, once the MNP facility is operational, mobile operators' average revenues per user, the benchmark of a telecom operator's financial strength, would get adversely impacted by around 5 per cent. Telecom companies' margins would also drop by 100-150 basis points and even earnings per share estimates would be pruned by 9-21 per cent.
Postpaid users, high spenders and business subscribers are more likely to switch their operator if Mobile Number Portability (MNP) is introduced in the country, while prepaid users may remain loyal to their existing operator, a study on Wednesday said.
The government, which has received flak for delaying the number portability process, said on Thursday that there is no delay in implementation of number portability.
A senior official from the department of telecommunications (DoT) confirmed that Telcordia has been given 'conditional clearance' by the ministry of home affairs and MNP will be launched on January 20.
Ahead of the 3G spectrum allocation process, the government would invite request for proposals for rolling out mobile number portability. Government had recently announced the guidelines for 3G spectrum and MNP, and had allowed foreign players to take part in the next generation telecom space.
This is the second time the launch of MNP has been delayed. Earlier, it was scheduled to start from December 31 last year in metros, which was later extended to March 31 across the country.
According to telcos and analysts, this is due to SIM consolidation happening after the minimum recharge plans were implemented by incumbents.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is slated to flag off the nationwide roll-out of mobile number portability on Friday, a move that will allow users to switch operators without losing their phone numbers and will force telecom providers to improve the quality of their services.
Delhi Police have arrested a 1994-batch Indian Administrative Service officer, posted in the internal security division of the home ministry. Ravi Inder Singh, a deputy secretary of the West Bengal cadre, was under surveillance for over a month by the intelligence agencies.
Subscriber churn costs operators heavily, retailers make Rs 7.7k cr a year.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) expects to finalise the norms for mergers and acquisitions and spectrum sharing by the end of June. It also plans to approve the National Telecom Policy (NTP), 2012, by the end of July.
The nationwide implementation will increase churn of customers, shoot-up the customer acquisition and retention costs, and lower the average revenue per user as competitive tariff plans will have to be offered, the agency said in a note.
Rating agency Fitch Ratings has said mobile number portability (MNP) is unlikely to hit operators, considering the dominant pre-paid nature of the market and high churn rate, and opined that India will not behave too differently from rest of Asia on this matter.
Subscriber needs to pay Rs 19 for the service.
Industry sources say, on an average around 200,000 porting requests were received from across the country.
Even as it selected a franchisee to run its 3G telecom services in Delhi and Mumbai circles, state-run MTNL said it was unlikely to be able to implement mobile number portability by the government deadline of December 31, which is supposed to bind all players.
Airtel tops with 3.7 million new subscribers, Jio adds 2.2 million; Vi lets go of 2.7 million.
Telecom regulator Trai on Monday announced reduction in the national mobile phone roaming charges, but said there will be no free national roaming as of now.
The government on Wednesday notified its decision to permit 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) under automatic route in the telecom services sector. In a press note, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) said foreign investment in telecom services will be subject to the condition of Press Note 3 of 2020. Accordingly, cases requiring prior government approval under the provisions of Press Note 3 will continue to be in place.
Trai is working on regulations and on the charges for mobile number portability service. The DoT issued guidelines for MNP implementation in August last year and in March next, two US companies -- Syniverse and Telcordia -- were selected as technology providers for the implementation.
While Reliance Jio added 3.65 million users in May, both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea continued to lose subscribers.
Agreement between Bharti Airtel and Loop Mobile, which offers mobile services in Mumbai, expired on October 31
The development marks a watershed moment in India's telecom history since fixed-line or landline connections formed the final segment where a State-owned operator was in the top spot.
The total outstanding dues against Bharti Airtel is Rs 11,235.50 crore.
The latest telecom war kicked off after some pictures surfaced, showing Airtel banners among agitating farmers. According to the Jio camp, it was a giveaway that farmers were being enticed to port their phone numbers.
Communications Minister A Raja met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday and briefed him about the developments in the telecom sector including recent policy decision like introduction of number portability and releasing spectrum for third generation (3G) mobile services. The meeting lasted for about 25 minutes, official sources confirmed but did not give details.
The incumbent operators faced the onslaught of free offers and cheaper rates from Jio.
The country's wireless subscriber base fell to 87.05 crore at the end of September, registering the first drop in five months, after Reliance Communications deactivated services of over 1 crore "unprofitable" users.
Vodafone can mitigate risks of money-laundering through M-Pesa by making sure the funds are being traced.
Over the three-month period, Airtel's stock price has rallied from Rs 432 to Rs 540, while Vodafone Idea has risen from Rs 9.2 to Rs 11.8 per share.
It is being suggested that apps, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, should share their APIs with each other to ensure there is interoperability, just as it exists across email services.
Active subscriber base declined by 2.2 million on a month-on-month (MoM) basis to 970.2 million in August 2019, on the back of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea losing customers. Jio was the only operator to add 7.2 million active subscribers in the same month.
BSNL will now offer free roaming from this month onwards.
Telecom subscribers had it good during Rahul Khullar's watch as Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman.
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