Idea, the country's sixth-largest mobile operator was the biggest gainer in the first eight days of mobile number portability (MNP) being launched across the country.
Operators play a wait-and-watch game, as users take well-informed decisions while moving between networks.
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.
Telecom operator Vodafone has been the top gainer of customers through mobile number portability facility while Reliance Communications is the biggest loser.
The group of home-grown handset manufacturers, who had tasted success with dual-SIM phones, had initially put up an opposition to the introduction of number portability, wary of losing out on business under the new regime.
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.
India's digital world has witnessed tremendous growth in the past decade.
Subscriber churn costs operators heavily, retailers make Rs 7.7k cr a year.
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.
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.
As per the data reported by the service providers to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, by the end of February 2011, about 38.33 lakh (3.83 million) subscribers have submitted their requests to different service providers for porting (shifting) their mobile number.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has proposed to simplify the country's telecom landscape. It has suggested one tariff for each licence holder across the country, all-India mobile number portability and doing away with roaming charges.
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.
The Department of Telecom and the Intelligence Bureau are working together on the final MNP guidelines to ensure seamless tracking of mobile numbers by security agencies.
BSNL has been among the top three net losers in terms of subscribers. MTNL, which operates in only the Delhi and Mumbai circles, has lost, too.
The new policy would force the operators to shift focus from acquiring new subscribers to retaining the existing ones.
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.
Three days ahead of the launch of Mobile Number Portability, Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular on Monday started a helpline to guide over 700 million mobile users on various aspects of the service.
MNP allows a subscriber to change his or her service provider without changing the mobile number.
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.
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.
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.
The all India launch date is still not fixed due to differences between the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the GSM mobile industry.
Telcos say tariffs could be cut by up to 20 per cent. While post-paid customers constitute only 5 per cent of the total customer base of 670 million, they make up over 15 per cent of revenues thanks to their relatively higher average revenue per user (Arpu).
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.
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.
As per the service licence, three types of charges, including Per Port Transaction charge, which means the charge payable by the Recipient Operator (the operator, where the subscriber is willing to port his number) to the MNP service provider for processing the request, are applicable in case of MNP. The second charge is porting charge -- the charge payable by the subscriber for porting his number -- and the third is dipping charge.
Further, pan-India readiness is required for the proper implementation of call routing, according to the service providers who had met DoT officials recently. The operators also mentioned that due to delay in completion of various activities, it would be difficult to meet the timelines for MNP implementation.
Industry sources say, on an average around 200,000 porting requests were received from across the country.
Earlier this month, the department of telecommunication had said that MNP that will allow users to switch providers without changing their phone number was likely to be launched by June 30, 2010.
Subscriber needs to pay Rs 19 for the service.
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.
However, portability services, which were earlier expected to be launched by the end of the year in the four metros -- Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai -- as well as Tamil Nadu, have now been delayed till February or March 2009 (the DoT has said that it will start operations six months after the licence is granted).
MNP is expected to help in increasing competition between service providers, besides acting as a catalyst for the providers to improve their quality of service.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has selected NYSE-listed Syniverse Technologies as one of the two companies to implement mobile number portability (MNP) services in the country.
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.
Mobile number portability service allows subscribers switch to another service provider or from one technology to another while retaining their mobile number.
Country's top telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited on Friday welcomed the government decision to introduce mobile number portability saying it would make the sector more competitive. The government, on November 12, announced its decision to allow mobile users in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to switch their service provider while retaining the same number.
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.
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.
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