Mobile number portability demand outstrips new users

The much-hyped mobile number portability (MNP) might appear to have been a damp squib but a closer look at the data reveals a different picture. Porting requests are now almost thrice as many as new users, making them the most important determinant of changing market shares for operators.

TRAI's recently released data reveals that in August 2011, the 18.1 million applications for MNP were about two-and-half times the 7.3 million new subscriptions in the same month.

Since January 20 this year, when MNP (which allows users to move from one service provider to another without changing their phone numbers) was first offered to consumers, the number of "porting requests" has steadily risen month after month while the number of new users being added by all networks has fallen.

Courtesy:TOI