The ‘No Idea-Get Idea’ campaign might have become an instant hit with subscribers helping Idea Cellular to add the most number of net new subscribers under the mobile number portability (MNP) regime, but Bharti Airtel has been voted the most preferred network. About 712,000 users have applied for port-in to Airtel — the highest for any service provider.
However, Bharti Airtel also witnessed the maximum number of requests for port-out at 495,000 subscribers. The net gain for Bharti has been 217,000 users, pushing it to the third position after Idea Cellular and Vodafone Essar.
The companies have submitted their initial estimates to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for the period of January 20-March 2 this year.
MNP, which allows mobile subscribers to change their service providers while retaining their numbers, was launched nationwide on January 20.
Idea Cellular gained 531,000 subscribers and lost 310,000 during the same period with a net gain of 221,000. Vodafone Essar gained 645,000 and lost 426,000 lakh to have a net gain of 219,000 subscribers.
| GAME CHANGERS | |||
| Operator | Port-in | Port-out | Net Gain |
| Idea Cellular | 531,701 | 310,092 | 221609 |
| Vodafone Essar | 645,291 | 426194 | 219097 |
| Bharti Airtel | 712,833 | 495,733 | 217,100 |
| Figures from Jan 20-Mar 2 submitted by operators to TRAI | |||
Mobile subscribers have to pay Rs 19 as the porting fees to take advantage of MNP. A message to 1900 fetches a unique porting code. Then the user has to fill up a form at the outlet of his/her preferred service provider. The entire process is expected to be completed within seven days. However, subsequently, the users cannot avail the MNP service for a period of 90 days.
Industry experts, however, feel that MNP will not be a game changer. Even operators are not expecting the churn through MNP to be more than one per cent, from the current industry average churn rate of 4-5 per cent.
This was also based on their experience in the Haryana circle, where MNP was launched in December last year.
