Your number forever?

Posted on | January 24, 2006 |

Business Standard article nicely covers the issues related to number portability in India.

Voices for MNP say:

* Cost per subscriber to introduce MNP in Australia is Rs 675
* Cost per subscriber to introduce MNP in Europe is Rs 900
* Cost per subscriber in India to introduce MNP is expected to be around Rs 300
* Pakistan to introduce MNP despite only 6.9% tele-density
* Netherlands to introduce MNP in spite of only 10% tele-density
* US has over 8.5 million customers who have opted for MNP
* Tariffs have not gone up in any country which have adopted MNP

Voices against MNP argue:

* In the US, only 5% phone subscribers have adopted MNP so it has got a lukewarm response
* Tele-density in India only 11%, so market has not matured
* Churn rates (changing service providers) will increase by 15%-30%
* Additional expenditure will be in the range of Rs 3,000-4,000 crore, hence tariffs to go up
* Indian mobile tariffs are the lowest in the world, hence no justification to use portability as a weapon to ensure competition.

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