MNP may impact mobile operators

Mobile Number Portability Government's move to allow Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in 2009 may cost very dearly to various telecom service providers as people are said to be waiting for shifting operators after the roll out of MNP. The MNP facility will enable customers to retain their number even if they shift their telecom operator.

Shankari Panchapakesan, Executive Director, Telecom Practice, Nielsen Company, said, ''MNP represents a powerful opportunity for operators to drive in-bound porting of high-value subscribers provided they have a good understanding of who is more likely to switch and why.''

A recently concluded study by the Nielson Company revealed that every fourth subscriber of Reliance and Tata Indicom wants to change their operator followed by every fifth subscriber of state run telecom giant BSNL.

Nearly, 55 per cent customers are happy with their existing service provider while 48 per cent complained about the quality of service. On satisfaction score front, almost all companies register drop led by Airtel, BSNL and Reliance.

In its earlier study, the company found that operator choice was mainly dependent on network quality provided by the service provider on GSM network while CDMA subscribers considers price as a major factor to retain and shift an operator.