MNP has been implemented – now its time for a reality check for all the telecom service providers. Good boys will be rewarded and bad boys will be punished. And, for a change, the verdict would come from none other than the king (the customer!) himself.
The initial churn reports with respect to subscribers willing to avail of MNP to switch operators are fast emerging on the horizon. Though, most of such reports are limited to the Haryana circle where MNP was implemented way back in November 2010; analysts are of the opinion that the trend could be more or less similar across the country.
While the initial estimates suggest that hardly 140,000 subscribers, or 0.75%, opted for MNP to ditch their current mobile operators; a Swayam-numvar survey indicates that 58% of the subscribers are more than willing to log on to telcos that provide better services.
This IBN survey finding provides that Airtel was the most preferred operator with 26% respondents voting in its favor, followed closely by Vodafone (21%) and Idea (13%). Idea came at a distant 3rd position despite having launched a big advertising campaign – “No Idea? Get Idea”
Network coverage (34%) and tariff rates (30%) emerged as the top 2 reasons as to why respondents want to avail of MNP while retaining their number. Well, that’s about survey findings. Let’s get back to ground reality.
The early set of numbers from Haryana provides that BSNL and Reliance Communications have emerged as biggest losers in the race of poaching subscribers led by MNP.
[Source: The Hindu]
While the state-owned operator has net lost 20,503 subscribers, the Anil Ambani-led Reliance group finds itself short of a net 13711 subscribers (GSM+CDMA).
In MNP, one’s loss is other’s gain! The subscriber loss recorded by BSNL, Reliance and Idea has proved to be a welcome business opportunity for Vodafone (20,748), Airtel (7,434) and even the late entrant Aircel which net gained by 9,329 subscribers.
For Tatas, the CDMA business has been a net loser. However, its GSM business – Tata Docomo – which has pioneered innovative marketing strategy in Indian telecom market – has been a great leveller for the group under its competitive DoCoMo brand.
What’s more? As the craze for poaching customers sizzle-up, telcos have also started to waive-off MNP port-in charges of Rs. 19 as an extra incentive to the new customers.