Bharti Airtel takes top spot in MNP port out options

Last year, the ministry had made it clear that anyone violating the MNP laws will have to face the government’s wrath. The association even went ahead and took Loop Mobiles to court for rejecting MNP requests. Telcos are taking the issues surrounding mobile number portability rather seriously. The telecom ministry report had revealed that MNP, which was announced last year in January was instantly a hit among people and it has now released its latest report revealing that Airtel leads the pack in port out options using Mobile Number Portability.

Opting out...

Up to March 31, 2012, 10.82 million users opted for the services of Bharti Airtel, while 9.6 million Airtel subscribers requested to opt out. Vodafone follows, by having received 8.15 million port-out requests from subsribers and then comes Idea Cellular with 5.97 million port-out requests. About 3.14 million Reliance Communications (GSM) users requested to port out of the network, while 1.79 million subscribers requested to join it. Reliance Communications’ CDMA services witnessed 0.24 million port-in requests, while 1.72 million subscribers opted for porting out of the network. Tata Teleservices got 4.7 million port-out requests, BSNL (GSM) had 2.45 million port-out requests, while 1.68 million subscribers sent port-in applications. MTNL, operating in Delhi and Mumbai circles, received 0.13 million port-out requests and 0.03 million port-in requests.

There are several reasons that compel users to opt out of their existing network, issues with existing network coverage, postpaid bill errors and so on, to name a few. MNP was meant to help people easily switch to the telecom operator of their choice without the hassle of changing the number. Moreover, TRAI had received complaints over telcos rejecting mobile portability options, too. The regulatory body, which is quite vocal about operators’ adherence to the MNP norms, found operators, like Loop Mobile, Airtel and Idea rejecting the porting requests of their subscribers, across various circles like Mumbai, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and others, thereby causing inconvenience. TRAI has issued orders asking telcos not to cancel mobile number portability requests.