Telecom sector has been the talk of the town ever since DOCOMO created a stir with its per second billing. What followed was a continuous barrage of price wars among the competitors with Reliance heading the pack. Eventually TRAI made it mandatory for all telecom operators to restructure the pricing structure and switch to per second billing tariff plans. This sent shockwaves amongst the market players with industry analysts pegging the revenue losses of the telecom operators in billions.
The number portability is another path breaking initiative from TRAI which is going to change the way the telecommunication sector operates. In all its simplicity , number portability will allow customers to switch to any network of their choice without losing out on the phone numbers. Changing phone numbers is a major pain that we all face in today’s time and hence, even if we are not happy with the existing service provider we have to stick to them. Number portability is going to change that putting the customer at ease to choose the best.
One aspect of the number portability scheme subjected to a lot of speculation was the fee to switch service providers. There were talks that the estimated charge to avail number portability could be around Rs. 300 with chances of it going down to Rs. 200. However, TRAI wanted to ensure that the customer is not over burdened by the fee and and should it negatively influence his/her decision , the scheme would not hold any water.
TRAI has laid all the speculation to rest and announced the maximum fee that the subscriber needs to pay in order to avail number portability. Any guesses of what the fee is?
The fee to switch networks has been fixed at a maximum of Rs.19 . Yes, you are reading it right and there is no typing mistake here. TRAI has made it super easy for the subscriber to make a decision on whether to switch to number portability or not.
The subscriber now only needs to make up his mind of which provider is offering the best price and the best tariff plans.The services providers are though free to levy charges below or equal to the maximum prescribed fee.
The marginal fee is a step in the right direction and should raise the bar for service providers. It will be difficult to hold onto to customers until the service providers continue to maintain and impart high quality of service. The fear of losing subscribers should keep the service providers on their toes to continuously better themselves.
The new entrants like TELENOR could benefit hugely by Mobile Number Portability if they can better the existing service providers in quality and pricing.
Are you eagerly awaiting the chance to switch your existing service provider? With the fees to switch virtually nil , Mobile Number Portability might just be a hit with the masses and probably spell doom to companies NOT offering up to the mark services.
Author: Ankit Agarwal
Ankit Agarwal is an ERP Consultant by profession, a wannabe entrepreneur and stock market stalker by passion. You can follow him on twitter @ankit_aRelated posts:
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I hope number portability allows users to shift between CDMA and GSM or Prepaid and Postpaid connections as well.
Yes, Arvind.
You can shift between CDMA as well as GSM services and vice-versa.
Rs. 19 & 4 days is all what it takes…I am actually super excited about this..I think this will help mobile consumers more than anything. Operators will remain on their toes and only the best one will survive.
Really? Rs. 19 is unbelievable. On going price war totally changed the scenario for MNP.
And When its going to be launched finally?
Have a look at the Uninor.in website. Their call charge us Rs 1/min. :)
Ya, even i was shocked at first seeing the 19 rs charge.Thanks for letting me in to Uninor, i neva seemed to have heard bout them before. 1 rs is a tad too much given that there are plans which give 50ps/min and the likes.
More than price wars MNP should hopefully change the level of service that these operators provide
This is the best move for which people are waiting for many days.This provides the increase in flexibility of changing networks & reducing the work thats need to be done after switching to another network(updating our new number to all other contacts).
Right Kirsh!! The best part is that virtually nothing needs to change except the operator:) I cant wait to switch to a different network once the portability happens.
I was waiting for this news. In fact, today only I had a discussion with an IMRB consultant about this. But does the news also mention about the minimum number of days a subscriber has to stay with a particular operator before she switches on to another. There is a minimum window for the switch too.
I think they are planning to put this window probably 60-90 days. This information is from TRAI only.
Thats interesting, there are a lot of details and much more will be clear as and when the implementation is rolled out.As for the switching process, it would take 4 days.
What i am curious to see is how the whole telecom sector copes up with the competition and if we can actually get top quality service
As per TRAI announcement 90 days wait to switch from one to other operator.
@DPI
Could you please share the link for the same!! 90 days might be the min time that the customer should be with an exisiting service provider.
Will find out more and update it.thanks
Before implementing the number portability.all the mobile operators should enhance rationalized charges otherwise the MNP will not be a successful one which will create disputes dispute between operators.