The Hindu Business Line : Govt to usher in number portability in phases

Linking up: The Minister for IT & Communications, Mr A. Raja, flanked by the Department of Telecommunications Secretary, Mr D.S. Mathur (left), and the TRAI Chairman, Mr Nripendra Misra, addressing a press conference in the Capital on Monday. — Ramesh Sharma

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Nov. 12 Mobile subscribers will soon be able to change their operator without having to change the phone number. Despite opposition from the operators, the Minister of Communications, Mr A. Raja, has decided to introduce mobile number portability in phases, starting with the four metros.

“Keeping in view the interest of consumers, the Government has decided to introduce mobile number portability in the four metro cities i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai in the initial phase. This will provide the customer the facility to retain the same number while switching over from one operator to another within the same service area,” Mr Raja said.

This facility is likely to be available to the subscribers by the fourth quarter of 2008.

A recent study pointed out that having to give up their mobile number was the single most reason that subscribers did not want to change their operator despite poor quality of services. The move to introduce mobile number portability will now force cellular operators to offer better quality to keep the churn rate low.

GSM players unhappy

While this is good news for mobile subscribers, GSM operators are not too happy because the Government has asked them to bear the cost of upgrading their network to enable number portability. That apart operators will now be concerned about higher churn rate as new players come into the market.

Reacting to this announcement, Mr T.V. Ramachandran, Director-General, Cellular Operators Association of India, stated that the industry feels that mobile number portability was being introduced to benefit a select operator (Reliance Communications) desirous of entering the GSM segment and thereafter poaching on the subscribers of existing GSM players. “The industry had no objection to the introduction of number portability provided the same was done in a holistic manner covering all operators, both fixed and mobile on an all India basis,” Mr Ramachandran said.

Ambani hails DoT’s move

On the other hand, Mr Anil Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Communications, welcomed DoT’s announcement to introduce mobile number portability.

He said: “This is a forward-looking initiative. It is pro-competition, pro-consumer and above all pro-choice. For the first time in the four metros GSM operators will face real competition”. The Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers, representing CDMA operators, also said that it was a step in the right direction.