MNP SYSTEM28-2-11.DOCX

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S.No. PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

1 Executive Summary

OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

LITERATURE REVIEW

Feature of Mobile Number Portability System

Procedure for Mobile Number Portability System

TRAI¶s Rules & Regulations For Mobile Number Portability

Portability schemes

All Call Query (ACQ)

Query on Release (QoR)

Call Dropback

Onward Routing (OR)

Criteria for Applying For MNP, 3 Month Rule

Research Proposal

Introduction of MNP

OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS

LIMITATIONS OF STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS/SUGGESTION

Conclusion



MOBILE NUMBER PORTABLITY SYSTEM

Purpose ±to investigate the effect of mobile number por tability (MNP) on mobile

subscribers in INDIA by f ocusing on subscribers' perception and behavior related to MNP.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Mobile number portability means you can keep your existing mobile telephone number when

you change your service pr ovider.

Mobile Number Por tability service pr ovides you the facility to change your service operator

without losing your current number. In 2010 MNP was arrived to few cities of the India, like

"Har yana" but to security reasons government had not given the authority to launch it all over the

India. Af ter one year of consideration finally Indian Government has given the green signal to

"mobile number por tability" service.

Mobile number por tability is simply keeping your mobile phone number when moving fr om

your existing service pr ovider to a new pr ovider. It means you will use the services and features

offered by your new pr ovider and not take your existing service and its features with you

The study was a comparative study, done to know the pr os and cons of Mobile Number

Por tability System (MNPS) fr om both customer'¶ as well as services pr ovider¶s perspective.

Data were obtained thr ough Survey method at Vadodara. Two questionnaires were prepared; one

f or cellular service pr oviders and second f or the customers. Total 135 Samples were taken f or the

study, among them 110 were customer and 25 were service pr oviders. Af ter the Study, it was

f ound that, Customers are eagerly waiting f or such a service, where customer an change service

pr ovider without changing mobile number. Intr oduction of MNPS will lead to number of

advantages to the customers like low tariff, flexibility to change, good network and ore VAS.

Major drawback of MNPS f or customer will be relatively less as compared to that of service

pr ovider. Service pr oviders do not seem to be happy size, if MNPS comes in to action. They will



face pr oblems like losing customer base, cut-thr oat competition, and financial loss and also they

will have to upgrade their network.

Arrival of Mobile Number Portability may affect the business of various service pr oviders. The

service operators who is offering poor quality service to their customers may get affected by

their rivals, who is pr oviding much better service. so, the arrival of this service has changed the

way of competition and now ever y service pr oviders has challenge to pr ovide better and

uninterrupted service to satisf y their customers otherwise they got switched. Now, here apply

f orest rule (I know you all are aware of the f orest rule or Jungle rule: str onger beat the weaker

and weaker have to fight f or their survival.), if you want to survive in the current market beat the

competitor otherwise he may beat you and then you will not get another chance. So, we

prepared to face the challenge.

OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

To Study and Analyze Consumer Perception towards mobile number por tability services

and their intention to avail service pr ovider.

To Study and analyze factors Influencing consumer perception to change their service

pr ovider.

To determine the rate of switching of customers to different service pr oviders

To analyse the most preffered service pr ovider.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Switching costs. Without number por tability a subscriber who wants to change his network

operator has to give up his mobile number. This is a classical example of switching cost in

telecommunications. According to Padila et al. Switching costs can be defined as real or

perceived costs that are incurred when changing supplier but which are not incurred by

remaining with the current supplier. Switching costs is a widely spread phenomenon which



fundamentally changes the way in which firms behave and markets operate. The existence of

such costs leads to economies of scale in repeat purchasing, because a customer who has

previously bought fr om one firm incurs extra cost in purchasing an otherwise identical pr oduct

fr om a new firm, even if that pr oduct is sold at the same unit price. As a consequence, in markets

with consumer switching costs demand is less elastic and consumers have limited incentives to

migrate to cheaper offers which dampens competition.

In telecommunications lack of mobile number por tability is not the only instance of consumer

switching costs. Other f orms of switching costs include simlocking handsets, fines f or breaking

contract and loyalty discounts.

The impact of switching costs on market competition has been analyzed by many researchers.

Surely one of the most impor tant contributions have been made by Klemperer. He discuses the

impact of switching costs on prices, market shares, pr ofits and entr y deterrence. The fundamental

way in which switching costs change firms behavior is that each supplier with an installed base

of customers will have interest in exploiting his customers, because they are locked-in by

previous purchase. This motivation, especially in case of no price discrimination, will cause a

weak interest in competing f or rivals¶ or new customers.

Another consequence of switching costs and lock -in mechanism is that f or each supplier market

share is a fundamental goal of business strategy. Firms will invest in future market shares, since

installed customer base is valuable f or them. In the dynamic market perspective, when firms first

compete f or new customers who later on face switching costs of changing supplier, prices are

lower in the beginning and higher in later periods of competition as compared to identical market

with no switching costs. This is known as bargain then rip-off pricing. Although in this pricing

pattern low prices f or new customers are f ollowed by high prices f or locked-in customers, but

average market prices and pr ofits are still higher than in the absence of switching costs.

Mobile Number Portability. The effect of MNP intr oduction should be consistent with

lowering switching costs. The main expectation is that average market prices should fall down. A



price decrease will affect not only old mobile subscribers but also new customers and this should

positively affect adoption rate. This is however only true if new consumers have rational

expectations. Naive customers do not see the relation between lower prices today and higher

prices tomorr ow, so that reduction of switching costs would actually discourage them fr om

buying today because of less attractive pr omotional offers (weaker ¶bargain¶ par t of pricing

strategy).

There are several types of benefits fr om MNP intr oduction. In a repor t made by Ovum f or

Of tel prior to MNP. In case of business subscribers keeping their number allows to avoid cost of

inf orming clients; cost of updating adver tisements, business cards, cars repainting; cost of losing

and substituting par t of business contacts. On average 10 percent of clients are lost and cost of

substituting one client was estimated f or small and medium enterprisers. Although the results of

cost benefit analysis f or UK market were estimated positive, MNP has not to be always welfare

enhancing, as Buehler. They identif y different types of beneficiaries of MNP intr oduction and

point out on the negative consequences of this functionality on fixed-to-mobile termination

charges resulting fr om network identification pr oblem. The last par t of literature includes few

empirical studies of the impact of MNP on price competition. In this respect there are at least two

notable papers. The first one concerns the market f or 800 toll-free inf o lines and the second

concerns mobile market. There are also many empirical studies concerning the impact of

lowering switching costs on market price indices in other industries, such as airline, banking, and

gasoline.

COUNTRY DATE OF PORTABLITY

AFRICA

Kenya July 1, 2005

AMERICA

Canada March 14, 2007

United States October 31, 2007 Mexico July 5 of 2008

Dominican Republic September 30, 2009

Brazil March, 2009

Ecuador 12. October 2009

ASIA

Hong K ong March 1, 1999



India 20th Januar y 2011

Japan October 24, 2006

Malaysia mid 2008

Saudi Arabia 8 July 2006

Oman 26 August 2006

Pakistan March 23, 2007Singapore 13 June 2008

South K orea Januar y 1, 2004

Sri Lanka August 2007

EUROPE

Austria Oct 2004

Belgium Oct 2002

Cyprus July 12, 2004

Denmark Januar y 1, 2001

Estonia Januar y 1, 2005

Finland July 25, 2003

France June 30, 2003

Germany November 1, 2002

Greece March 1, 2004

Hungar y May 1, 2004

Ireland Jul 2003

Italy April 30, 2002

Luxembourg June 2004

Por tugal June 30, 2001

Slovakia May 2004

Spain October 1, 2000

Sweden September 1, 2001Turkey Nov 2008

OCEANIA

Australia Mid1999

New Zealand 1 April 2007

FEATURE OF MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY SYSTEM

Direct access to Customer Care agent.

Minimum time require f or por ting number fr om one operator to another operator.

Charges f or por ting to another operator is less.

Pay per second on all calls. Even on r oaming. No conditions.

Guaranteed fair billing on postpay.

No charges f or Customer Care Calls.



No charges f or Voice Mail Services.

No congestion on the network.

PROCEDURE FOR MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY SYSTEM

First send an SMS to 1900 fr om your current number -PORT <Your Mobile Number> e.g.

PORT 123456789

You will be assigned a unique por ting code which you have to send to the operator you

want to switch to via SMS. This number will be given thr ough ads or on the operator¶s

website. However, this code is valid only f or a few days. So, you have to act quickly.

The new operator will communicate with your existing operator to ensure you don¶t have

any dues pending. Af ter confirmation, your existing operator will give the appr oval f or

number por ting.

You will have to fit a f orm and submit relevant documents. If you are a post-paid

customer, you will have to submit a copy of your latest bill also.

Af ter completing these f ormalities, you will get an SMS f or the por ting time and date. As

per TRAI regulations, it is compulsor y to complete the entire pr ocess within f our days.

TRAI¶S RULES & REGULATIONS FOR MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY

Price Users will have to pay a por ting charge to the operator to which you are switching. The

price has not been fixed yet and could be anywhere between Rs. 20 to Rs. 200. You will not need

to pay a penny to the operator you are leaving.

- No Dues. The subscriber making the por ting request should clear all the bills issued prior to the

date of por ting request. He shall pr ovide a written under taking that he has already paid all billed



dues as on the date of the request f or por ting and that he shall pay dues to the operator till its

eventual por ting. In the event of non-payment of any such dues to, the por ted mobile number

shall be liable to be disconnected.

- Prepaid Users: Upon por ting of the mobile number, the balance amount of talk time at the

time of por ting shall lapse.

- Legal Criteria. MNP will not be permitted if there is a pending request f or change of

ownership of the mobile number; if it is sub-judice and if the por ting has been pr ohibited by a

cour t. In case a subscriber has not complied with exit clauses in his contractual obligations, the

request can be rejected.

- No Refundable Charges. A subscriber may withdraw his por ting request within 24 hours of its

submission. However, the porting charges are not refundable.

- Routing: Once the donor operator has disconnected the mobile number and the recipient

operator has activated it, the MNP pr ovider allocates the corresponding Location R outing

Number to the por ted number in the Number Por tability Database and br oadcasts the updated

Location R outing Number along with the por ted mobile number to all Access Pr oviders and

International Long Distance Operators who shall update their respective Local Number

Por tability Database.

- Per Port Transaction Charges: Recipient operators have to pay the MNP pr ovider per por t

transaction charges on a monthly basis.

- Interconnect Agreements: All existing interconnect agreements and arrangements between

Access Pr oviders, National Long Distance Operators and

International Long Distance Operators shall stand amended so as to conf orm to the pr ovisions of

these regulations as regards r outing of calls to and fr om por ted mobile numbers.

- How Long Will It Take The por ting pr ocess will take a maximum time period of 4 days in all

licensed service areas except in the case of J&K, Assam and Nor th East where the maximum

time allowed is 12 days.Weekends are excluded fr om this time frame.



- No Service Period: The window period f or disconnection and activation by operators has been

kept at one hour each, so the maximum downtime f or the subscriber will be two hours.

PORTABILITY SCHEMES

All Call Query (ACQ)

Query on Release (QoR)

Call Dropback

Onward Routing (OR)

All Call Query (ACQ):-

The operator that originates the call always checks a centralized database and

obtains the r oute to the call.

Query on Release (QoR):-

The operator that originates the call first checks with the operator to which the

number initially belonged, the donor operator. The donor operator verifies the call and inf orms

that it no longer possesses the number. The operator that originates the call then checks the

centralized database, as is done with ACQ.

Call Dropback :-

Also known as Return to Pivot (R oP). The operator that originates the call first

checks with the donor operator. The donor operator checks its own database and pr ovides a new

r oute. The operator that originates the call then uses this r oute to f orward the call. No central

database is consulted.

Onward Routing (OR) :-

The operator that originates the call checks with the donor operator. The donor

operator checks its own database and obtains a new r oute. The operator to which the number was

designated r outes itself the call to the new operator. This model is called indirect r outing.



Criteria for Applying For MNP, 3 Month Rule

MNP facility shall be available only within a given licensed service area. So if you are

moving to another city and want to retain your mobile number, MNP is not the answer. Mobile

users may only apply f or MNP if they want to switch networks in the same area where their existing mobile number is registered.

- The 3 Month Rule. A subscriber is eligible to make a por ting request only af ter 90 days of the

date of activation of his mobile connection. If a number is already por ted once, the number can

again be por ted only af ter 90 days fr om the date of the previous por ting. TRAI has explained that

this minimum period is required so as to enable the service pr ovider to recover the customer

acquisition cost.

Disconnected: Af ter por ting of a mobile number, if it remains disconnected f or 90 days, it will

be reversed back to the number range holder (original operator).

Whom To Approach? SMS the operator to which you want to switch and ask f or your unique

por ting code, which is an alphanumeric code allocated upon request. Operators have

been directed to set up a mechanism (a shor tcode) to receive the SMSs and respond with the

unique por ting code. Subscribers will also have to give in writing their request to the operator to

which they are switching and fill up a customer acquisition f orm, which the operator will verif y.

Operator¶s Task: Af ter verif ying the por ting code, identity and address of the user, the recipient

operator (which the subscriber is joining) has to f orward details to the mobile number por tability

service pr ovider within 24 hours.The operator has to pay a µper por t transaction¶ charge f or each

request f orwarded by it to the MNP pr ovider. They would have to examine the request carefully

as there is no pr ovision f or refund of por ting charges fr om the MNP pr ovider.

Research Proposal



RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1. To know acceptability of Mobile Number Por tability System to customer.

2. To find out pr os and cons of Mobile Number Por tability System f or mobile users.

3. To find out pr os and cons of Mobile Numbers Por tability System f or Cellular service

pr oviders

RESEARCH DESIGN: Descriptive Research design.

Hear we will use descriptive research design because we want to

identif y and describe the characteristics and the behaviors of the consumers, f or that we have to

do market research. So we use descriptive research design.

SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION:

Primar y Data: Survey

Secondar y Data: Journals,Websites and Research Papers.

Research Instrument: Questionnaire.

INTRODUCTION OF

MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY SYSTEM



Definitions. In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(a) ³Access Provider´ means the holder of a Cellular Mobile Telephone Service licence or

Unified Access Service licence and includes a service pr ovider pr oviding fixed wireline or fixed

wireless service in addition to Cellular Mobile Telephone Service;

(b) "Act" means the Telecom Regulator y Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997);

(c) "Authority" means the Telecom Regulator y Authority of India established under sub-section

(1) of section 3 of the Act;

(d) ³dipping" means use of quer y response system of the Mobile Number Por tability service

pr ovider f or obtaining Location R outing Number f or r outing a message to the called number;

(e) "Donor Operator" ³means a Cellular Mobile Telecom Service pr ovider or Unified Access

Service pr ovider, to whose network the mobile number belongs at the time the subscriber makes

a request f or por ting;

(f) "Local Number Por tability Database´ means the database of all

por ted mobile numbers maintained by an Access Pr ovider and an International Long Distance

Operator;

(g) "Location R outing Number´ means the code assigned to ever y Access Pr ovider f or the

purpose of implementing Mobile Number Por tability;

(h) ³message´ shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (3) of section 3 of the Indian

Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885);

(i) ³Mobile Number Portability´ means the facility which allows a subscriber to retain his

mobile telephone number when he moves fr om one Access Pr ovider to another irrespective of

the mobile technology or fr om one cellular mobile technology to another of the same Access

Pr ovider;

(j) ³Mobile Number Portability Service provider´ means an entity who has been granted a

licence under Section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885) f or pr oviding Mobile

Number Por tability Service;

(k) ³No Service Period´ means the period of time between the disconnection of the mobile

telephone service to the por ting subscriber by the Donor Operator and the activation of mobile

telephone service, on por ting, by the Recipient Operator;



(l) "Number Portability Database´ means the database maintained by each Mobile Number

Por tability Service pr ovider in electr onic f orm, holding the details of all por ted mobile numbers

in its zone, along with the complete histor y of all transactions relating to the por ting of such

numbers;

(m) "Number Range Holder" means an Access Pr ovider who was originally allotted, by the

licensor, that number range to which the por ted number belongs;

(n) ³Per Port Transaction charge´ means the charge payable by the Recipient Operator to the

Mobile Number Por tability Service pr ovider f or pr ocessing the por ting request in respect of a

mobile number;

(o) ³porting´ means the pr ocess of moving, by a subscriber, of his mobile number or numbers,

as the case may be, fr om one Access Pr ovider to another Access Pr ovider or fr om one mobile

technology to another of the same or any other Access Pr ovider;

(p) ³porting charge´ means such charge as may be levied by a Recipient Operator fr om a

subscriber f or por ting his mobile number;

(q) ³Recipient Operator" means an Access Pr ovider who will be pr oviding mobile

telecommunication service to the subscriber af ter por ting and includes his authorized agent;

(r) "regulations" means the Telecommunication Mobile Number Por tability Regulations, 2009;

(s) ³subscriber´ means any person or legal entity that avails the mobile telecommunication

service fr om a licensed telecom Access Pr ovider;

(t) ³unique porting code´ means an alphanumeric code allocated, upon request, by an Access

Pr ovider to its subscriber f or the purpose of facilitation of por ting of his mobile number;

Mobile Number Por tability service pr ovides you the facility to change your service operator

without losing your current number. In 2010 MNP was arrived to few cities of the India, like

"Har yana" but to security reasons government had not given the authority to launch it all over the

India. Af ter one year of consideration finally Indian Government has given the green signal to

"mobile number por tability" service.

It is most sensational news f or the mobile users. This service was widely used in f oreign

countries but now it is also available in India. User will be ver y happy to know about this great

news. The best par t of this service is that a person who is fed up of the poor and interrupted

service of the operators, they can take a sigh of relief. Most of people use a mobile service

thr ough existing operator like Air tel, Reliance, Tata, Idea, Vodaf one. But some of them were

ver y upset due to poor quality service of mobile operator. When anyone call, most of the time it



shows unreachable.When at home the network graph is totally blank. Then people had moved to

other operator and they are ver y happy, but people lost their number. And this the reason why

people doesn't change their service pr oviders. If they change their service pr oviders their contact

will be lost. But Mobile Number Por tability System service has removed all this tensions.

Arrival of Mobile Number Portability may affect the business of various service pr oviders. The

service operators who is offering poor quality service to their customers may get affected by

their rivals, who is pr oviding much better service. so, the arrival of this service has changed the

way of competition and now ever y service pr oviders has challenge to pr ovide better and

uninterrupted service to satisf y their customers otherwise they got switched. Now, here apply

f orest rule (I know you all are aware of the f orest rule or Jungle rule: str onger beat the weaker

and weaker have to fight f or their survival.), if you want to survive in the current market beat the

competitor otherwise he may beat you and then you will not get another chance. So, we

prepared to face the challenge.

The usage of mobile phones is on the increase today in our countr y. Several service pr oviders

are rendering mobile phone service acr oss the countr y. Each service pr ovider is allotted distinct

numbers f or allotment to the subscribers. Migration fr om one service pr ovider to another

service pr ovider with the existing mobile number is not possible at present. Pr omotion of

competition and efficiency requires the facilitation of easy movement of subscribers fr om one

service pr ovider to another or acr oss mobile technologies. Mobile Number Por tability allows

the subscribers to retain their existing telephone number when they move fr om access pr ovider

to another irrespective of the mobile technology or fr om one cellular mobile technology to

another of the same access pr ovider, in a licensed area. The facility of retention of existing

mobile telephone number despite moving to a new telecom service pr ovider helps thesubscriber maintain contact with the friends/clientele.

The Telecom Regulator y Authority of India ('TRAI' f or shor t) made 'Telecommunication

Mobile Number Por tability Regulations, 2009' to regulate the mobile number por tability and

notified the same on 23rd September 2009.

Regulation defines the terms 'Mobile Number Por tability'('MNP' f or shor t) as the facility which

allows a subscriber to retain his mobile telephone number when he moves fr om one Access

Pr ovider to another irrespective of the mobile technology, or fr om one cellular mobile

technology to another of the same Access pr ovider.

INTRODUCTION OF COMPANIES

AIRTEL

Bhar ti Air tel f ormerly known as Bhar ti Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is the largest cellular

service pr ovider in India, with more than 110 million subscribers as of 2009. With this, Bhar ti is

now the world's third-largest, single-countr y mobile operator and sixth-largest integrated



telecom operator. It also offers fixed line services and br oadband services. It offers its

TELECOM services under the Air tel brand and is headed by Sunil Bhar ti Mittal. The company

also pr ovides telephone services and Internet access over DSL in 14 circles. It also acts as a

carrier f or national and international long distance communication services. In 2009 Air tel has

also launched its services in Sri Lanka

RELIANCE

Reliance Communications, f ormerly known as Reliance Inf ocomm, along with Reliance

Telecom and Flag Telecom, is par t of Reliance Communications Ventures. It is the second

largest mobile operator in India, based on number of subscribers. According to National Stock

Exchange data, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani contr ols 66.77 per cent of the company, which accounts

f or more than 1.36 billion shares. It is the flagship company of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai

Ambani Gr oup, comprising of power (Reliance Energy), financial services (Reliance Capital)

and telecom initiatives of the Reliance ADAG.

BSNL

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (known as BSNL, India Communications Corporation Limited)

is a state-owned telecommunication company in India.

BSNL is the f our th largest cellular service pr ovider, with over 53.96 million customers as of

March 31, 2009 and the largest land line telephone pr ovider in India.

BSNL is India's oldest and largest Communication Service Pr ovider. BSNL launched 3G

services in 11 cities of countr y in 2nd march 2009.MTNL which operates in Mumbai and Delhi

first launched 3G services in these cities

VODAFONE



Vodaf one Essar, f ormally known as Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India that covers 23

telecom circles in India based in Mumbai. Vodaf one Essar is owned by Vodaf one 67% and Essar

Gr oup 33%. It is the Third largest mobile phone operator in terms of revenue behind Bhar ti

Air tel, and third largest in terms of customers. As of June 31, 2009, Vodaf one India has 18.8%

customer market share and 20.7% revenue market share.

IDEA

Idea Cellular is owned by Aditya Birla Gr oup. Idea Cellular is a wireless telephony company

operating in all the 22 telecom circles in India based in Mumbai. It is the 5rd largest GSM

company in India behind, Air tel, Reliance, Vodaf one, and BSNL. Idea Cellular won the GSM

Association Award f or "Best Billing and Customer Care Solution" f or 2 consecutive years.

TATA DOCOMO

It is a Tata Teleservices Limited's (TTSL) cellular service pr ovider on the GSM platf orm-arising

out of the Tata Gr oup's strategic joint venture with Japanese telecom giant NTT Docomo in

November 2008. Tata Teleservices has received a pan-India license to operate GSM telecom

services, under the brand "TATA DOCOMO" and has also been allotted spectrum in 18 telecom

Circles. TTSL has already r olled out its services in various circles. It has become ver y popular

with its one second pulse especially in semi-ur ban and rural areas

AIRCEL

Aircel is a mobile phone service pr ovider in India. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM

cellular phone coverage thr oughout India. Aircel is a joint venture between MaxisCommunications of Malaysia and Apollo Hospital Enterprise Ltd of India. Maxis has a 74%

stake in Aircel and the remaining 26% is with Apollo Hospitals. It is India¶s fif th largest GSM

mobile service pr ovider with a subscriber base of over 27.7 million, as of October 31, 2009.

Aircel has won many awards f or its services. Aircel was honored at the World Brand Congress



2009 with three awards, Brand Leadership in Telecom, and Marketing Campaign & Marketing

Pr ofessional of the Year

VIRGIN

Virgin Mobile India Limited is a cellular telephone service pr ovider company which is a joint

venture between Tata Teleservices and Richard Branson's Virgin Gr oup. Currently, the company

uses Tata's CDMA network to offer its services under the brand name Virgin Mobile, and it has

also star ted GSM sevices in some states

TATA INDICOM

Tata Teleservices Limited(TTSL) is a par t of the Tata Gr oup of companies based in Navi

Mumbai, an Indian conglomerate. It operates under the brand name Tata Indicom in various

telecom circles of India. Tata Teleservices spear heads the Gr oup¶s presence in the telecom

sector. Incorporated in 1996, Tata Teleservices was the first to launch CDMA mobile services in

India with the Andhra Pradesh circle.

FRAMEWORK:

The regulations seek to pr ovide a framework governing all relevant aspects of MNP by-

laying down clear eligibility conditions f or por ting of mobile telephone numbers;

defining rights and obligations of various stake holders, i.e., the Donor Operator,

the Recipient Operator, the MNP service pr ovider;

laying down the pr ocedure to be f ollowed by each player in the chain in

pr ocessing number por ting request; specif ying clear time limits f or completion of various steps by each player in the

chain i.e., the Donor Operator, Recipient Operator and the MNP service pr ovider;

envisaging least disruption of service to the consumer.

SALIENT FEATURES:



The salient features of the MNP under these regulations are as f ollows:

MNP facility shall be available only within a given licensed area;

A subscriber holding a mobile number is eligible to make a por ting request only af ter 90

days of the date of activation of his mobile connection. If a number is already por tedonce, the number can again be por ted only af ter 90 days fr om the date of previous

por ting;

The subscriber who wishes to por t his mobile number should appr oach the Recipient

operator. The subscriber may be required to pay por ting charges, if any, to the Recipient

Operator;

The subscriber making the por ting request is required to have cleared all the bills issued

prior to the date of por ting request. He shall give an under taking that he has already paid

all billed dues to the Donor Operator as on the date of the request f or por ting and that he

shall pay dues to the Donor Operator per taining to the mobile number till its eventual

por ting and that he understandings and agrees that in event of non payment of any such

dues to the Donor Operator, the por ted mobile number shall be liable to be disconnected

by the Recipient Operator;

A subscriber may withdraw his por ting request within 24 hours of its submission to the

Recipient Operator. However the por ting charges shall not be refundable;

The regulation envisage a maximum time period of f our days f or the completion of

por ting pr ocess;

Access Pr oviders are required to implement All Call Quer y methods;

The Originating operator shall be responsible to r oute the call to correct terminating

network.

ELIGIBILITY FOR MAKING A REQUEST:

Ever y subscriber shall be eligible to make a request f or por ting(the pr ocess of moving, by a

subscriber, of his mobile number or numbers fr om one Access Pr ovider to another Access

Pr ovider or fr om one mobile technology to another of the same or any other Access Pr ovider)

his mobile number if he satisfies the f ollowing:

A period of ninety days has expired fr om the date of activation of his mobile connection

not por ted earlier or fr om the date of activation of his mobile number af ter its last por ting;



There is no outstanding due to the Donor Operator by way of pending bill or bills issued

as per the normal billing cycle but bef ore the date of application f or por ting;

There is no pending request f or change of ownership of the mobile number;

The mobile number sought to be por ted is not sub-judice;

Por ting of the concerned mobile number has not been pr ohibited by the Cour t of Law;

The request f orm shall be accompanied by all documents applicable to a new subscriber;

a copy of the last bill, in the case of a postpaid subscriber.

CONTENTS OF REQUEST:

The por ting request f orm as specified by the Recipient operator shall, inter alia, incorporate the

f ollowing:

The eligibility criteria;

The gr ounds f or rejection;

In the case of a post paid subscriber, an under taking by the subscriber that he has already

paid all dues as per the last bill to the Donor Operator and that he shall be bound to pay

all dues to the Donor Operator per taining to the mobile number sought to be por ted till its

eventual por ting and that he understands and agrees that in the event of non payment of

any such dues to the Donor Operator, the por ted mobile number shall, without prejudice

to any other remedies available to the Donor Operator under law f or recover y of such

dues, be liable to be disconnected by the Recipient Operator;

In the case of a pre-paid subscriber, an under taking by the subscriber to the effect that he

understands and agrees that, upon por ting of the mobile number, the balance amount of

talk time, if any, at the time of por ting shall lapse;

Such details of the subscriber as mandated by the licensor or by the Authority fr om time

to time;

WITHDRAWAL OF PORTING REQUEST:

A subscriber may, within twenty f our hours of making a request f or por ting, withdraw such

request by inf orming the Recipient operator in writing. He shall not be entitled to any refund

of the por ting charge paid by him to the Recipient operator.Where the Recipient Operator has

not f orwarded the por ting request to the Mobile Number Por tability Service Pr ovider till



receipt of the inf ormation regarding withdrawal of the request, it shall not take any fur ther

action on such por ting request.

In case the Recipient Operator has already f orwarded the por ting request to the Mobile

Number Por tability Service pr ovider, bef ore receipt of the inf ormation regarding withdrawalof the request, it shall f or thwith inf orm the Mobile Number Por tability Service Pr ovider about

the withdrawal of the por ting request and the Mobile Number Por tability Service pr ovider

shall f or thwith inf orm the Donor Operator about the withdrawal of the por ting request. In this

case the Recipient Operator shall be liable to pay the applicable per por t transaction charge to

the Mobile Number Por tability Service pr ovider.

GROUNDS FOR REJECTION OF REQUEST:

The request may be rejected on any of the f ollowing gr ounds:

There are outstanding payments due fr om the subscriber by way of pending bill or bills,

as the case may be, issued as per the normal billing cycle but bef ore the date of

application f or por ting;

The por ting request has been made bef ore the expir y of a period of ninety days fr om the

date of activation of a new connection;

A request f or change of ownership of the mobile number is under pr ocess;

The mobile number sought to be por ted is sub-judice;

Por ting of the mobile number has been pr ohibited by a Cour t of Law;

Subscriber has applied f or inter -service area por ting;

The unique por ting code mentioned in the por ting request does not match with the unique

por ting code allocated by the Donor Operator f or the mobile number sought to be por ted;

There are subsisting contractual obligations in respect of which an exit clause has been

pr ovided in the subscriber agreement but the subscriber has not complied with such exit

clause. Where the Donor Operator rejects a por ting request on the gr ound of subsisting

contractual obligations, he shall indicate the full details of such contractual obligations.

PROCESSING OF NUMBER PORTING REQUEST:

Ever y Access Pr ovider shall facilitate in its entire network, Mobile Number Por tability to all

subscribers, both pre paid and post paid and shall, upon request, pr ovide the same on a non



discriminator y basis. Ever y Access Pr ovider shall, within sixty days fr om the date of these

regulations coming into f orce, set up, in its mobile network, a mechanism f or the purpose of -

Receiving Shor t Message Service (SMS) messages fr om its subscribers requesting f or a

unique por ting code (an alpha numeric code allocated, upon request, by an Accesspr ovider to its subscriber f or the purpose of facilities of por ting of his mobile number);

Allocating a unique por ting code f or each such request and communicating it to the

subscriber f or thwith thr ough Shor t Message Service (SMS) message thr ough an

automated pr ocess; and

Retaining such unique por ting number on its records f or the purpose of verification of the

por ting request of such subscriber to be received eventually by it fr om the Mobile

Number Por tability Service pr ovider.

ACTION BY RECIPIENT OPERATOR:

Recipient operator is an Access Pr ovider who will be pr oviding mobile telecommunication

service to the subscriber af ter por ting and includes his authorized agent. The r ole of Recipient

Operator in the pr ocess is as f ollows:

Ever y subscriber desir ous of por ting his mobile number shall make a request in

writing to the concerned Recipient Operator in such f ormat as may be specified by

such Recipient Operator;

On receipt of request the Recipient Operator shall verif y if the customer

acquisition f orm is accompanied by all documents specified;

He shall record in the f orm that he has seen the subscriber and verified his

documents with their respective originals and f ound them to be in order;

He shall thereupon ask the subscriber to send a message thr ough SMS to a

specified shor t code of the Donor Operator fr om the subscriber's mobile number which

is sought to be por ted;

On receipt of message fr om the subscriber, the Donor Operator shall f or thwith

send back a reply message thr ough an automated system generated SMS containing a

unique por ting code;

The subscriber shall incorporate the unique por ting code in the por ting request

f orm;



The Recipient Operator shall within a period of twenty f our hours f orward the

mobile number, the corresponding unique por ting code and the date on which por ting

request is made by the subscriber, to the concerned Mobile Number Por tability Service

Pr ovider; Sundays and public holidays shall be excluded in calculating twenty f our

hours;

The Recipient Operator shall pay Per Por t Transaction charge in respect of each

por ting request f orwarded by it to the Mobile Number Por tability Service Pr ovider;

ACTION BY MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY SERVICE PROVIDER:

Mobile Number Por tability Service Pr ovider is an entity who has been granted a licence under

Section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act f or pr oviding Mobile Number Por tability Service. Two

MNP operators f or two zones in the countr y were identified and license was issued to them.

The r ole of MNP service pr ovider is as f ollows:

On receipt of request the service pr ovider shall verif y fr om its Number Por tability

Database (the database maintained by each MNP Service Pr ovider in electr onic f orm,

holding the details of all por ted mobile numbers in its zone, along with the complete

histor y of all transactions relating to the por ting of such numbers) whether the mobile

number has been por ted earlier and, if so, whether a period of ninety days has elapsed

fr om the date of its last por ting;

If ninety days has not elapsed he shall not take any action on the request and inf orm the

Recipient Operator accordingly and the Recipient operator shall communicate the same

to the concerned subscriber;

He shall verif y whether any por ting request in respect of the same mobile number is

already pending and, if so, it shall reject the current request f or por ting and communicate

such rejection to the Recipient Operator who f orwarded such request, who shall,

thereupon communicate the same to the concerned subscriber;

If no pending request is there he shall f or thwith f orward the details of such request to the

Donor Operator f or seeking his clearance f or such por ting;

ACTION BY DONOR OPERATOR:

Donor Operator is a Cellular Mobile Telecom Service Pr ovider or Unified Access Service

Pr ovider, to whose network the mobile number belongs at the time the subscriber makes a



request f or por ting. The r ole of Donor Operator on receipt of the details of por ting request

fr om MNP service pr ovider, he shall within twenty f our hours, verif y such details and

communicate to the MNP service pr ovider -

Where it finds that por ting request is covered under any of the gr ounds f or

rejection, the details of specific gr ound on which it has any objection to the por ting of

the number fr om its network; or

Where it finds that por ting request is not covered under any of the gr ounds f or

rejection its clearance f or the por ting of the mobile number.

In calculating twenty f our hours intervening Sundays and public holidays declared under the

Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 shall be excluded.

PORTING OF MOBILE NUMBER:

On receipt of communication fr om the Donor Operator, the MNP service pr ovider shall-

communicate the gr ounds f or rejection f or por ting, if any, to the Recipient operator ;

where the Donor Operator has indicated his clearance to the por ting request or has failed

to communicate either its clearance or its objection f or por ting of the mobile number

within the time specified, f or thwith fix the date and time of por ting of such mobile

number and communicate it, along with details of anticipated number, service period,

simultaneously to the Donor Operator and the Recipient Operator;

He shall fix the date and time of por ting in such manner that the por ting shall be within

six hours fr om the time of receipt of the clearance fr om the Donor Operator or the expir y

of the time limit specified; In respect of Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and Nor th East the

date and time f or por ting shall be within ten days fr om the date of clearance fr om the

Donor Operator or the expir y of the time limit specified;

Where the MNP service pr ovider has communicated the gr ounds f or rejection as

indicated by the Donor Operator to the Recipient Operator, the Recipient operator shall

communicate the same, in writing or thr ough SMS to the concerned subscriber;

Where the MNP service pr ovider has communicated the date and time of por ting of such

mobile number and the anticipated No Service Period (the period of time between the

disconnection of the mobile telephone service to the por ting subscriber by the Donor

Operator and the activation of mobile telephone service, on por ting by the Recipient



Operator) to the Donor Operator and to the Recipient Operator, the Recipient Operator

shall communicate the same to the subscriber telephonically or thr ough SMS or thr ough

an automated voice message;

At the date and time of por ting fixed by the MNP Service Pr ovider, he shall communicate

to the Donor Operator its instructions f or disconnection of the mobile number and the

Donor Operator shall immediately and in any case within one hour of receipt of such

instruction comply with such instructions and repor t compliance of such instructions to

the MNP Service Pr ovider;

On receipt of the compliance or the expir y of one hour whichever is earlier the MNP

Service Pr ovider shall communicate to the Recipient Operator its instructions f or

activation of the mobile number;

On receipt of the instructions the Recipient Operator shall, immediately and in any case

within one hour of receipt of such instructions comply with such instructions and repor t

compliance of such instructions to the MNP Service Pr ovider;

On receipt of compliance, the MNP Service Pr ovider shall allocate the corresponding

Location R outing Number (the code assigned to ever y Access Pr ovider f or the purpose of

implementing Mobile Number Por tability) to the por ted number in the Number

Por tability database and br oadcast the updated Location R outing Number along with the

por ted mobile number to all Access Pr oviders and International Long Distance Operators

who shall update their respective Local Number Por tability Database.

RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF SERVICE PROVIDERS:

Donor Operator:

He shall continue to pr ovide all subscribed telecommunication services to the subscriber

who has sought por ting of his mobile number till the disconnection of the mobile number;

Af ter disconnection he shall refund to the subscriber, with such time frame and in such

manner as specified in the Standards of Quality of Service of Basic Telephone Service

(Wire line) and Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Regulations, 2009 all amounts due to

such subscriber on account of refundable payments or deposits made by such subscriber

to the Donor Operator;



He shall maintain records of all mobile numbers por ted out by it and all mobile numbers

f or which por ting requests have been rejected by it f or a minimum period of twelve

months fr om the date of por ting or the date of rejection of request;

In case of non payment of any outstanding bill af ter the por ting request he shall give a

notice of not less than seven days to the subscriber notif ying him that in case of non

payment within the said notice period, the he shall request the Recipient Operator to

disconnect the por ted number;

If the subscriber fails to make payments as specified in the notice, he shall communicate

the details of such outstanding bills to the Recipient Operator thr ough MNP Service

Pr ovider with an advice to take action f or disconnecting the por ted number.

RECIPIENT OPERATOR:

He shall pay to the MNP Service pr ovider, the Per Por t Transaction charge (the charge

payable by the Recipient Operator the MNP Service pr ovider f or pr ocessing the por ting

request in respect of a mobile number) at the rate specified by TRAI within 15 days of

receipt of the bill or within such other time limit as may be mutually agreed upon;

He shall maintain records in respect of all mobile numbers f or which por ting requests

have been rejected, f or a minimum period of twelve months fr om the date of rejection of

such requests;

On receipt of request fr om the Donor Operator to disconnect the por ting number, he shall

issue a notice to the concerned subscriber, the period of which shall be not less than

seven days and not more than fif teen days about the request received fr om the Donor

Operator and request him to pr oduce evidence of having settled the dues with the Donor

Operator;

If the subscriber pr oduces evidence he shall not take any fur ther action and shall inf orm

the Donor Operator thr ough MNP Service pr ovider;

If the subscriber fails to pr oduce evidence he shall disconnect the mobile number and

inf orm the MNP Service pr ovider and request f or reversal of such number to the Number

Range Holder af ter expir y of ninety days;

If there is disconnection of the mobile number f or any other reason he shall, af ter ninety

days of such disconnection, inf orm the MNP Service pr ovider about such disconnection

with a request f or reversal of such number to the Number Range Holder (an Access



Pr ovider who was originally allotted, by the licensor, that number range to which the

por ted number belongs).

MNP SERVICE PROVIDER:

He shall make all eff or ts to facilitate expeditious por ting of mobile numbers thr ough

effective coordination with the Donor Operator and the Recipient Operator;

He shall use the Number Por tability Database only f or the purpose of por ting and dipping

(use of quer y response system of the MNP Service pr ovider f or obtaining Location

R outing Number f or r outing a message to the called number) and not f or any other

purpose;

He shall generate specific sets of statistics regarding the number of por ting requests

received, the number of por ting carried out successfully and the number of failed por ting

requests with reasons f or such failures;

On receipt of request fr om the Recipient Operator about disconnection of a por ted mobile

number, he shall f or thwith-

y Remove the number fr om its Number Por tability Database;

y Update the Local Number Por tability Databases of all Access Pr oviders and

International Long Distance Operators; and

y Restore the mobile number to the Number Range Holder.

He shall raise bills along with the relevant details in respect of Per Por t Transaction

charges to the concerned Recipient Operators on a monthly basis and shall deliver such

bills bef ore the tenth day of the f ollowing month or at such periodic intervals and within

such time limits as may be mutually agreed upon;

If Recipient Operator fails to pay the bill he shall issue a notice, the period of which shall

not be less than fif teen days to make payment within such period;

He shall in no case discontinue the pr ovision of Mobile Number Por tability Service to

such defaulting Recipient Operator.



ACCESS PROVIDERS, NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE OPERATORS AND

INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE OPERATORS:

All existing interconnect agreements or arrangements between Access Pr oviders,

National Long Distance Operators and International Long Distance Operators shall, upon

the coming into f orce of these regulations, stand amended so as to conf orm to the

pr ovisions of the regulations as regards r outing of calls to and fr om por ted mobile

numbers;

They shall within thir ty days of coming into f orce of these regulations or bef ore

commencement of Access Service or carriage service shall establish fail pr oof

connectivity fr om its Mobile Number Por tability gateway to the main Disaster recover y

sites of the Mobile Number Por tability Service pr oviders at its own cost;

An Access Pr ovider having licences in more than one licensed service area may establish such fail pr oof connectivity to the main and Disaster recover y sites of the Mobile Number

Por tability Service pr oviders common f or all its licensed service areas;

An Access Pr ovider, an International Long Distance Operator pr oviding carriage service

to any Access Pr ovider, may establish such fail pr oof connectivity to the main and

Disaster recover y sites of the MNP service pr oviders common f or all its licensed services

and share its Local Number Por tability Database acr oss its various licensed activities f or

the purpose of implementing Mobile Number Por tability Service;

No Access Pr ovider or International Long Distance Operator pr oviding carriage service

to any Access Pr ovider shall share its Local Number Por tability Database with another

Access Pr ovider or International Long Distance Operator;

A service pr ovider who is sharing its Local Number Por tability Database acr oss its

licensed activities shall ensure that such sharing of Local Number Por tability Database

enables it to directly r oute messages to por ted mobile numbers;

Ever y Access Pr ovider on whose network a message originates shall be responsible f or

the correct r outing of such message;

The International Long Distance Operator carr ying such messages shall be responsible

f or correct r outing of messages;

Ever y Access Pr ovider and International Long Distance Operator shall put in place

suitable mechanism f or safeguarding the data pr ovided by por ting subscribers fr om



unauthorized interception or unauthorized access and shall ensure that such data is used

solely f or the purpose of por ting of mobile numbers and shall not use such data f or any

other purpose;

These regulations shall not prevent such Access Pr oviders fr om pr oviding such data or

access to such data f or monitoring purposes to the designated security agencies.

CHARGES FOR PORTING:

Per Por ting Transaction charge to be payable by the subscriber to the Recipient Operator is

Rs.19/-. In this regard, the Authority while determining the Per Por t Transaction charge

thr ough the Telecommunications Per Por t Transaction Charge and Dipping Charge

Regulations, 2009 ( 9 of 2009), has decided that no compensation shall be payable to the

service pr oviders f or up gradation of their networks to make it MNP compliant and also to the

Donor Operator f or administrative costs incurred in pr ocessing the por ting request as MNP do

not require the Donor Operator to carr yout any significant work. Similarly, when a subscriber

makes a request to por t his mobile number, in so far as Recipient Operator is concerned, it is

similar to acquiring a new subscriber and as such the Recipient Operator does not incur any

additional cost in the MNP pr ocess except f or the Per Por t Transaction charge which is

payable to the MNPSP f or pr ocessing the por ting request. Moreover, MNP gives the Recipient

Operator an oppor tunity to acquire more subscribers. Theref ore, the Authority does not find

any justification f or the Recipient Operator to charge any additional amount fr om the

subscriber over and above what it has to pay to the MNPSP in the f orm of Per Por t

Transaction charge. Accordingly, the Per Por t Transaction charge shall be the ceiling f or the

Por ting charge. It is however open to the Recipient Operator to collect, at his discretion, a

lesser amount fr om the subscriber making a por ting request.

EFFECT:

Initially the TRAI fixed the date f or implementation of mobile number por tability as 31st

December 2009 f or metr o cities and 31st

March, 2010 f or other areas. Since the service

pr oviders requested the Authority to extend the same f or better compliance the Authority

fixed the date as 31st

March, 2010 f or metr o cities and 30th

June 2010 f or other areas. Despite

repeated extension of deadlines over the past one year, as of June only 14 per cent of the

mobile networks acr oss the countr y were ready f or the intr oduction of MNP and 36 per cent



were in pr ogress. The Depar tment of Telecom said that permission to any operator f or

launching services, post September 1, will be given only if their network is ready f or

intr oducing MNP. The latest deadline f or intr oducing the facility has been extended to

October 31.

OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS

Air tel was f ound the most dominating player in Vadodara market, f ollowed by Idea and

Reliance.

78 respondents out of 110 would like to change their service pr ovider with same

mobile number, in spite of being satisfied with current service pr ovider. So if MobileNumber Por tability comes into action, people may cer tainly accept the system.

Out of 78 customers who were willing to change;

26 (33%) customer are willing to change in search of low tariffs of other service pr oviders,

19 (25%) customer want to change because of flexibility to change service pr ovider without

changing mobile number,

18 (23%) customer want to change because of more value added services pr ovided by other services pr ovider and

8 (10%) and 7 (9%) were willing to change due to low switching cost and worst services of

current service pr ovider.

If Mobile Number Por tability comes into action, customers will have benefits like:

Services at low tariffs.

They will be flexible to change services pr ovider without changing the number.

All services pr ovider will tr y to give better services to customer in order to gain market share.

This rise in competition will result in intensive price war among the cellular services pr oviders

and will benefit to customers.



Cut thr oat competition will enable services pr oviders to offer better Value Added

Services at cheaper prices.

Major pr oblem f or customers will be to identif y counterpar t¶s service pr ovider

Network pr oblems will also arise because there will be huge churning rate. Customer will

keep on switching networks which will result in Network related pr oblems.

According to Services pr ovider, they will gain customers due to MNPS if they

pr ovide quality services and customer satisfaction to Users.

On the other services pr ovider also says that if they fail to pr ovide better services, they will lose

their market share.

Customer loyalty and retention ration will affect.

Services pr ovider will also have to update their networks in fight their rivals

LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

As Number Por tability System is yet to be launched, scope was study was limited to the

perception of samples.

Mobile users are not yet fully aware about Number Por tability so administering

questionnaire was a difficult.

Pr oviders were also not aware about Number por tability, so their views were differing to

each pr ovider.

Lack of resources like time, mode of transpor tation to Survey team.

The possibility of biased responses can¶t be ruled out.

Lack of interest of respondents.

The respondents includes only those who are willing to switch their service pr oviders.



RECOMMENDATION/SUGGESTION

TRAI (Telecom Regulator y Authority of India) should take into consideration, the pr os and cons

to services pr oviders bef ore launching Number por tability System in India.

TRAI should tr y and make out some benefits f or the services pr ovider so that they mutually

accept the System.

To remain untouched by the effects of Number Por tability system, service pr ovider should put

their all eff or ts on making customers, brand loyal and concentrate more on customer retention

than on making new customers.

CONCLUSION

In VADODARA market, Air tel is the top player. Idea is on Second f ollowed by Reliance.

Customers at VADODARA are willing to switch Service pr ovider if they are given an

option to switch with same mobile number.

Mobile Number Por tability System will change the scenario of the telecom Industr y.

Earlier the only way a service pr ovider was able to hold their customer was by the mobile

number. But now if MNPS comes in to action customer will have freedom to switch with

same number so customer will rule the market.

In this battle between customers and service pr oviders, service pr ovider will have to

surrender against customers

Service pr ovider pr ovides best service so that existing user do not change the service

pr ovider and also helps in creating new customer.

Service pr ovider also pr ovides the details of the scheme that they pr ovide so that

customer know ver y well to use that service.

Documents

MNP SYSTEM28-2-11.DOCX