PREFACE

MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY:

It is the latest technology which had not yet captured the market.
I am lucky to have this project during my training period.
Probably, it will capture the market by the end of this year. In this
report i had tried to cover all the fields whatever I learnt during
the training period.

Mobile Number portability is a circuit-switch network feature that provides

consumers with the ability to change service providers, locations, or service
types without changing their telephone numbers.

In this report I have focussed upon the basic concepts of MNP, implementation
process, functions of various components, benefits and threats of the mobile
number portability.

I have tried my level best to cover all the fields and to give appropriate knowledge
about the project. I expect it to be accepted and admired by all.
 ABSTRACT
The much awaited Telecom project – Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has
got delayed and Department Of Telecommunications (DoT) has set a new
deadline by the end of this year. Mobile Number Portability MNP allows
subscribers to change their mobile service provider while retaining their
existing mobile number. MNP is mandatory for all UASLs/CMSPs and
is applicable within service area only.

The project has already been delayed by over a year because of several
technical and regulatory glitches.

MNP is implemented by dividing the country into two zones namely Zone 1 i.e.
‘North – West' and Zone 2 i.e. ‘South – East’. Zone 1 includes the following
circles : Haryana, Gujarat, Himanchal Pradesh, J&K, Maharashtra, Punjab,
UP(E), UP(W), Rajasthan & Mumbai. Zone 2 involves : Andhra Pradesh, Assam,
Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Tamil Nadu including Chennai, West Bengal,
Kolkata & Kerala.

Central Clearing House (CCH) acts as the intermediate between the operators. All
the communication oe jnformation exchange between the operators takes place via
CCH. It communicates each operator through its local gateway.

In MNP process DONOR Network and RECIPIENT Network plays impoortant

role. The DONOR Network is the network where the number is located before
being ported and the RECIPIENT Network is the network where the number is
located after being ported.

Apart from the two, the NPDB is also important. It stands for Number Portability
Database. It contains all the information about the numbers which is being ported-
in or ported-out.

MNP is implemented by direct solution i.e. ALL CALL QUERY(ACQ). ACQ

routes the call in the desired direction.
 COMPANY OVERVIEW
An offshoot of RELIANCE Group was founded by Shri DHIRUBHAI H
AMBANI(1932-2002) ,ranks among India’s top three private sector business
houses in terms of net worth. The group has business interests that range
from telecommunications (Reliance Communications Limited) to financial
services (Reliance Capital Ltd) and the generation and distribution of power
(Reliance Infrastructure Limited).

Reliance Communications, is India's largest private sector information and

communications company, with over 100 million subscribers. It has
established a pan-India, high-capacity, integrated (wireless and wireline),
convergent (voice, data and video) digital network, to offer services
spanning the entire infocomm value chain.

Other major group companies — Reliance Capital and Reliance

Infrastructure — are widely acknowledged as the market leaders in their
respective areas of operation.

Reliance Consumer Finance Pvt. Ltd.-a member of the Reliance Capital

family, and one of the fastest growing non-banking financial companies-
aims to enable people people fulfill all their ambitions by creating assets for
personal and business requirements.

Reliance communication offers an exhaustive suit of financial solutions-

Mortages Loans,Vehicles Loans,Sme Loans,Loans against ivestments and
Microfinance.

Reliance Consumer Finance has a loan book of Rs. 9,170 crore(US $ 2

billion), with a customer base of over 1,10,000 customers, as on March
31,2010, across the top 16 indian metros. It will also marginally reduce
tariffs in areas where there is insufficient price competition such as
international roaming, value added services etc.

The first segment that new entrants like Uninor, MTS and few others will
target as soon as number portability is launched is the elite set of postpaid
subscribers of existing operators like Bharti, Vodafone, Idea, Aircel, BSNL
and Reliance. It is well known that nearly 95% of all mobile subscribers are
in the pre-paid segment with extremely low ARPUs of below Rs 200. In
contrast, the ARPUs of postpaid subscribers run into thousands of rupees.
 Reliance Communications is India's truly integrated telecommunications service
provider. The Company has a customer base of 105 million including over 2.5
million individual overseas retail customers. It ranks among the Top 5 Telecom
companies in the world by number of customers in a single country. Reliance
Communications corporate clientele includes 2,100 Indian and multinational
corporations, and over 800 global, regional and domestic carriers.

A pan-India, next generation, integrated (wireless and wireline), convergent (voice,

data and video) digital network that is capable of supporting best-of-class services
spanning the entire communications value chain,covering over 24,000 towns and
600,000 villages has been established by Reliance Communications. Reliance
Communications owns and operates the next generation IP enabled connectivity
infrastructure - The world's largest next generation IP enabled connectivity
infrastructure. Retrieved 2010-04-14 comprising over 190,000 kilometers of fiber
optic cable systems in India, USA, Europe, Middle East and the Asia Pacific
region. This project is suppose to drive telecom providers in improving the
quality of service to retain their customers.
 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
Highlights

• Turnover : Rs. 2,00,400 Crore ($ 44,632 million)

• PBDIT : Rs. 33,041 Crore ($ 7,359 million)
• Cash Profit : Rs. 27,933 Crore ($ 6,221 million)
• Net Profit : Rs. 16,236 Crore ($ 3,616 million)
• Net Profit 10 years 21%
CAGR:
Rs. 2,51,006 Crore ($ 55,903 million)
• Total Assets :

Significant contribution to India's economic growth

• 4.5 % of India’s total exports

• 5.6 % of the 1Government of India’s indirect tax revenues
• 5.7 % of the total market capitalisation in India
• Weightage of 12.8 % in the BSE Sensex
• Weightage of 10.6 % in the S&P CNX Nifty index

Growing importance across the globe

• Largest refining capacity at any single location

• Largest producer of Polyester Fibre and Yarn
• 4th largest producer of Paraxylene (PX)
• 5th largest producer of Polypropylene (PP)
• 7th Largest producer of Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) and Mono
Ethylene Glycol (MEG)

Financial performance of the Company has been reported under the following
three business segments:

� Wireless

� Global

� Broadband
Wireless
The Wireless segment functions in a retail mode. Wireless services are offered on
both CDMA and GSM technology platforms.

Global
The global segment provides wholesale and retail voice and data services from
many international locations.

Broadband
All services provided through wireline, LMDS etc. and involving the provision of
IT infrastructure are covered under this segment. Services are provided across
various customer groups including residential, SMEs, and large corporates.
TERMONOLOGY RELATED TO MOBILE NUMBER
PORTABILITY

 PORTING: It means moving of subscriber from one

network to another.

 ORIGINATING NETWORK: It is the network serving the

calling party.

 DONOR NETWORK: The initial network where the

number was located before being ported.

 RECIPIENT NETWORK: The network where the number

is located after being ported.

 ROUTING PREFIX(LRN-LOCATION ROUTING

NUMBER): Routable number to identify the service
provider,technology and service area for the called party. It is of
4 digit uniquely identifying each operator.
 LNPDB(LOCAL NUMBER PORTABILITY
DATABASE): Repository of all ported numbers.

 CCH(CENTRAL CLEARING HOUSE): It acts as

intermediate between two operators.

 CCH INTERFACE-LOCAL GATEWAY: CCH will

communicate with each of the individual operator via its local
gateway.

 CNPDB(CENTRAL NUMBER PORTABILITY

DATABASE): Repository of ported numbers across the
country. It will get updated operators LNPDB via local gateway.

 INTERFACE WITH CCHs: It is used for subscriber

porting and to receive downloads.

 LOCAL GATEWAY: It is used for provisioning

LNPDB,STP,wire lineN and other NFs. Also it will act as interface
for OSS gateway to interact with CCH.

 OSS GATEWAY: It is used to support subscriber port-in

or port-out process.
 QUERY RESPONSE SYSTEM: To support ALL CALL
QUERY(ACQ) mechanism,to route the call to correct destination.

 PORTED IN: Subscriber opted for any network.

 PORTED OUT: Subscriber moved out from any network.

 MIGRATED: Subscriber moved to reliance GSM service

from CDMA or vice-versa.

 NON PORTED: Subscriber not undergone through

porting.
 WHAT IS MOBILE NUMBER
PORTABILITY?
Mobile Number Portability (MNP) is a service which allows mobile users to
retain their current mobile numbers when the subscriber switches from one
operator to another.

OR

“Mobile Number Portability” means the facility which allows a subscriber to retain
his mobile telephone number when he moves from one Access Provider to another
irrespective of the mobile technology or from one cellular mobile technology to
another of the same Access Provider.

Number portability is the ability of end users to change service providers

(SPs),locations, or service types without changing their telephone numbers. Prior
to number portability,changing SPs required end-users to accept a new number or
if available, use a switched based,remote call forwarding. Once number portability
(NP) is implemented in an MSA, the Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) or
the Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) can remove the remote call-
forwarding tariffs. Further, the FCC 1st Order & Report did not require interim NP
measures for wireless service providers (WSPs). The order did require that NP
should be ‘transparent’ to consumers – meaning remote callers are automatically
connected to ported subscribers, requiring no procedural or dialing changes to the
originating caller. Number portability is driven by local-loop competition. A recent
survey indicated that 90 percent of business customers would not change their
service providers if they had to change telephone numbers.

TYPES OF NUMBER
PORTING
There are three kinds of Number Portability:
–Location Portability.
–Service Portability.
–Operator Portability.

•Location Portability
–A Subscriber may move from one location to another without changing
his telephone number.

•Service Portability
–A subscriber may keep the same telephone number when changing the
telecommunication services eg. fixed telephone service and mobile
phone service.

•Operator Portability
–A subscriber may switch operators or service providers without
changing his telephone number.
 HOW THE MOBILE
NUMBER IS PORTED?

MNP would work like the following -

$ A customer contacts the new service provider and request him

to have his number ported

$ The new service provider will submit the request to the

Licensee

$ The Licensed entity informs the old operator regarding this

requests and asks them to take steps

$ With in a short period, the old service provider deactivates the

number and the new service provider activates the number
$ The Licensed entity makes sure that the MNP has been
implemented in the specified time frame and in the best interest
of the customer.

$ The Licensed entity once making sure of MNP informs both the
service providers and the customers.

MNP SOLUTION OVERVIEW

 MNP OVERVIEW
CENTRAL SIDE SOLUTION
To support MNP solution Central side:
 CCH(Central Clearing House):-
-intermediate between operators
-heart of MNP solution
-monitors all SLAs during the
Process
 CCH interfaces local gateway:
CCH will communicate with each of
individual operator via its local gateway
 CNPDB:
-repository of ported numbers
across the country
-get updated by CCH, therefore it
will update operator’s LNPDB
via local gateway
OPERATOR SIDE SOLUTION
To support MNP solution operators
are required:
 Interface with CCH for subscribing
porting & to receive downloads
 Local gateway provision LNPDB, STP,
Wireline IN, other NEs. Also, it will act
as interface for OSS gateway to interact
with CCH.
 OSS Gateway:
-support subscriber port in & port
out process
 LNPDB:
 Query-response system:
Support ACQ mechanism to route call to
correct destination
WORKING OF CENTRAL CLEARING HOUSE
Action by Recipient Operator

Verifies CAF and all specified documents .

Shall record in CAF that all documents are verified with originals and found
them to be in order

Ask the subscriber to send a message through SMS to a specified short

code of the Donor Operator from the subscriber’s mobile number which is
sought to be ported.

Upon receipt of the message from the subscriber, the Donor operator shall
forthwith send back a reply message through an automated system
generated SMS containing a unique porting .

Upon receipt of the unique porting code from the Donor Operator, the
subscriber shall incorporate the same in the porting request form.

The Recipient Operator shall, within a period of twenty four hours, forward
the mobile number, the corresponding unique porting code and the date on
which porting request is made by the subscriber, to the concerned Mobile
Number Portability Service provider

The Recipient Operator shall be liable to pay Per Port Transaction charge
in respect of each porting request forwarded by it to the Mobile Number
Portability Service provider

Action by Donor Operator

Donor Operator shall, within twenty-four hours, verify such details and
communicate to the MNPS Provider .

Where it finds that the porting request is covered under any of the grounds
of rejection requests as specified in regulation, the details of the specific
ground or grounds, as the case may be, on which it has any objection to
the porting of the number from its network; or

Where it finds that the porting request is not covered under any of the
grounds of rejection of porting requests as specified in regulation , it gives
clearance for the porting of the mobile number.

MNP ARCHITECTURE
TRAI RECOMMENDED ROUTING SOLUTION
1. NPDB sends the NPDB Prefix to the NPDB.

2. NPDB returns the routing prefix associated with the dialled called
party number.

3. The originating network re-route the call based on response query:

 Towards HLR for its own non-ported subscriber & ported in

subscriber.

 Towards other operator using outing prefix for ported out

subscriber.
 CALL ROUTING

As mentioned above, a key question to be resolved early in the preparation

for mobile number portability implementation is
the method used for routing of calls from an originating network to the
mobile network associated with a given mobile
number. As with portability of other types of numbers, there are broadly two
methods available for routing of calls in a mobile number portability
environment :

- Routing of a call directly from the originating network to the correct

terminating mobile network, which requires the former to determine what is
the appropriate network for a given number (“ALL CALL
QUERY”); or

- The mobile network that was originally associated with a given number is
involved in the routing of a call to
the correct terminating mobile network.
The second method can be further divided into several different forms:

- The mobile network originally associated with the called number identifies
the correct terminating mobile
network and routes the call onward to that network (“ONWARD
ROUTING”);

- The mobile network originally associated with the called number checks if
the number is ported and, if it is,
releases the call back to the originating network together with information
identifying the correct terminating
network (“CALL DROP BACK”); or

- The mobile network originally associated with the called number identifies
that the number is ported and
returns a message to the originating network indicating that the number has
moved. The originating network then queries a database to obtain
information identifying the correct terminating network (“QUERY ON
RELEASE”).
Onward routing is often regarded as the simplest routing method to
implement and the all call query method as the most
complex, with the other methods lying between these two extremes. This is
also reflected in the costs of establishment, with onward routing regarded
as cheaper to establish than the all call query method. By contrast, the
ongoing costs associated
with the all call query method are usually regarded as less than those of the
onward routing method. Again, the costs
associated with the other two methods lie between those of all call query
and onward routing.
MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY AROUND THE
WORLD
The current state of Mobile Number Portability(MNP)-the ability of a
mobile user to keep his or her number when changing mobile
providers-is highlited in a new report from Telecommunications
Management Group,Inc.(TMG). Mobile Number Portability Around The
World draws together official data to present the first comprehensive
snapshot of the availability and implementation of MNP around the
world. It is an indespensable reference for regulators,operators, MNP
solution providers,consumer groups and reseachers.

Mobile Number Portability Around The World issues related to MNP,

examine the advantages and disadvantages of MNP,and measures the
impact of MNP. TMG researchs finds that the benefits of MNP has
varied depending on the implementation methods employed.

In addition, stastical data are provided for over 40 countriesthat have

implemented MNP, including the date of launch,number of annual
mobile ports,accumulated moblie ports,mobile subscribers, prepaid
and postpaid penetration,churn rates,time to port a mobile number
and the cost to the consumer. Statiatics include annual time series
from 2000 to 2007. Together, the data in Mobile Number Portability
Around The World provide an overview of porting trends since the
tntroduction of MNP

Country Date of implementation

Austria 16 October 2004
Belgium September 2002
Cyprus July 2004
Denmark July 2001
Estonia 1 January 2005
Finland 25 July 2003
France 30 June 2003
Germany November 2002
Greece September 2003
Hungary May 2004
Iceland 1 October 2004
Ireland 25 July 2003
Italy April 2002
Lithuania 1 January 2004
Luxembourg February 2005
Malta 31 July 2005
Netherlands April 1999
Norway November 2001
Portuga l January 2002
Slovak Republic 1May 2004
Spain October 2000
Sweden September 2001
Switzerland March 2000
United Kingdom January 1999

Table 1: Dates of implementation of mobile number portability

 STRENGTHS OF MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY
Mobile Number Portability enables mobile telephone users to
retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one
network operator to another. It is a very important concept that
should be implemented in India where total number of mobile
subscribers cross 45 crore mark at the end of August 2009.
Number portability is also likely to help new entrants into the
Indian mobile-services market,such as the Indian joint ventures of
Telenor and Etisalat. The move to introduce the MNP comes as
the country's mobile subscriber base is expanding fast,
sometimes having an impact on network quality.Presently, MNP is
already existing in many developing and developed countries
across the world.

The MNP option will, however, not lead to a dramatic shift by

subscribers from one operator to another, as quality of service
and network coverage are not significant differentiators in the
Indian market.

The introduction of number portability in other countries did not

lead to a significant shift by subscribers from one operator to
another, and in India too there will be an initial churn of up to 20
percent of subscribers,which will then taper off. Usually,
customers do more likely to shift if new operator will introduce
new services or if another operator introduces an aggressive tariff
plan.

BENEFITS OF MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY

MNP enables customers to keep their mobile number when changing to
another operator. The benefits are usually seen as the savings in not
having to change stationery or inform contacts of the new number. The
retention of the same number will enable some business customers,
especially those on the move such as electricians and salesmen, to
maintain their contacts and flow of business.

However for many customers, especially pre-pay customers, the benefits

may be minimal, especially if they use the mobile phone to keep in touch
only with a small circle of friends and relatives. Indeed, some pre-pay
customers may be quite happy to lose their previous number if they do not
wish to hear from certain acquaintances! In many countries about 20 - 25%
of customers churn each year, but porting rates are well below this level,
suggesting that most customers are happy to change operators without
using MNP.
The main benefit of mobile number portability (MNP) is freedom
of choice. You are free to choose a new mobile service provider
without losing your existing number.

If you are not satisfied with your existing provider, you don't
have to stay just to keep your number. If you are in business,
keeping your number when changing phone companies means
you will avoid missing calls, reprinting stationery and having any
signage redone. For individuals it means avoiding the
inconvenience of having to notify friends and associates that
you've changed your number.

The actual benefits of MNP may be quite limited, and restricted mainly to
corporate customers who use MNP to move more easily between mobile
operators, and thus gain better prices and customer service. The majority
of customers may gain the secondary benefits of lower prices if the
introduction of MNP leads to increased competition between the operators,
as happened in Hong Kong where it was introduced at the same time as
additional competitors entered the wireless market. However whether these
wider benefits materialise depends on other factors - the competitive
dynamics of the market, the amount of publicity given to the availability of
MNP, and the extent to which resellers and service providers are motivated
to push MNP to the customer, for example. In some countries the process
of porting is complicated; service providers receive no additional
commission for porting customers, and so are not motivated to promote the
service.

THE COSTS OF MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY

Operators are well aware of the costs created by MNP - the alteration of
operational and customer support systems, the creation and operation of
databases for ported numbers, the development of new processes for
porting, the administration of the porting process, and the costs of
additional call routing. However many additional costs are not counted in
the equation - the negotiations between operators and the national
regulatory authority over the design of the system and cost sharing, the
need to amend many operating systems that depend on the mobile number
as a reference point, and the costs of training retail staff, for example.
Some of these costs can be reduced by the use of standard systems that
include MNP as a feature, and by learning from the experience of other
companies that have implemented MNP.

The costs involved can be substantial - wireless operators in the USA

estimate that they have spent US$ 1 billion to implement number portability
(which includes fixed to mobile number portability because both fixed and
mobile numbers in the USA are based on area codes). However there are
few other estimates of the full costs of MNP, as operators rarely collect
data on the costs of such schemes.

THE BALANCE OF MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY

Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Although a number of regulators
carried out cost benefit analyses before the introduction of MNP, they have
not initiated any subsequent reviews. Most of the cost benefit analyses
assumed that most customers moving between networks would take their
number with them, and in fact only a minority do. They also underestimated
the speed of growth in the mobile market, and these two errors generally
cancel each other out. The estimates of costs omitted some of the wider
costs mentioned above, and we expect that any subsequent audit would
show that the costs and benefits are evenly balanced.

The actual balance between costs and benefits will differ from country to
country. Below we show the main factors influencing the size of the
different costs and benefits.

Table 1: Drivers of costs and benefits in MNP

Drivers Benefits Costs

Decision to implement Reference database
Number of operators Systems set up costs
Number of ports Customer savings on Porting administration
informing costs
 calling part of number
changes;
business retention
Traffic volumes Calling party savings on lost Costs of re-routing calls
calls and business
Number of mobile Lower prices and increased
customers competition

This table suggests that set up and database costs (which make up most of
the costs) are fixed almost irrespective of the size of the mobile market,
whereas most of the benefits are dependent on market size. Hence
countries with small markets are more likely to find that the costs of MNP
are greater than the benefits. Countries with low penetration rates for
mobile customers, where operators are more likely to focus on expanding
the market than on winning customers from each other, are likely to find the
same.

If the costs of MNP outweigh the benefits, how can the introduction of MNP
be justified? Number portability is now seen as a customer right, enabling
customers to retain their numbers if they so wish, irrespective of the costs
and benefits. Hence MNP becomes an essential feature of a competitive
mobile sector.

With this new logic, the principles governing the implementation of MNP
should become:

• in order to maximise the benefits, the process should be as user-

friendly as possible so that the most churning customers use MNP;
• the costs should be minimised, consistent with a user-friendly
process.
 OPPORTUNITIES IN MOBILE NUMBER
PORTABILITY
MNP is implemented in different ways across the globe. The
international and European standard is for a customer wishing to port
his/her number to contact the new provider (Recipient) who will then
arrange necessary process with the old provider (Donor). This is also
known as 'Recipient-Led' porting. The UK is the only country to not
implement a Recipient-Led system, where a customer wishing to port
his/her number is required to contact the Donor to obtain a Porting
Authorisation Code (PAC) which he/she then has to give to the
Recipient. Once having received the PAC the Recipient continues the
port process by contacting the Donor. This form of porting is also
known as 'Donor-Led' and has been criticised by some industry
analysts as being inefficient. It has also been observed that it may act
as a customer deterrent as well as allowing the Donor an opportunity
of 'winning-back' the customer. This might lead to distortion of
competition, especially in the markets with new entrants that are yet
to achieve scalability of operation.

WEAKNESSES OF MOBILE NUMBER

PORTABILITY
1.Inconvenience: Mobile users may decide not to port their
existing number if it involves significant inconvenience , for
example filling in extra forms,waiting on the end of a phone for
long periods, or needing to contact both their old and new
network.
2.Limitations in the services that can be ported:
Ideally, porting should allow all of a customer’s existing servicesto
be portd to a new network(provided the new network supports
those services). Customers who regularly use videotelephony, for
example, are unlikely to move to a different network if this
service will not function after porting.

3. Problems with access to third party services:

Some third-party services such as, ringtones and logo
downloads,operates on the basis of customer’s mobile number
and could become unreliable after porting,for example if third
parties utilise inadequate validation processes or out-of-date
information.

4. Lack of awareness: While mobile operators and service

providers may be keen to encourage mobile users to switch from
another operator,they will also be keen to minimise the cost of
acquiring new subscribers. Therefore operators may not be keen
to promote the fact that it is possible to retain the mobile number
if MNP adds cost for them. A customer’s current mobile operator
is unlikely to promote MNP in case it encourages churn.

Many existing MNP schemesexhibit some of these obstacles,and

in most countries only a small proportion of churning customers
havechosen to port their numbers. Regulators and operators must
work hard to avoid these barriers if they are deploying MNP for
the first time, and to eliminate them if they already exist in
previous implementations.

THREATS OF MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY

The introduction of Mobile Number Portability is considered good news for
consumers, but presents a looming threat for mobile operators since it
presents consumers with the choice of retaining their current mobile phone
numbers even if they change their operator. And according to a recently
conducted Mobile Consumer Insights study conducted by The Nielsen
Company to gauge consumer attitudes and behavior towards mobile
operators in India, it seems that close to one in five (18%) Indian mobile
phone subscribers would change their mobile operator if Mobile Number
Portability is introduced into the market.

Among the respondents, one in four Reliance and Tata Indicom

subscribers would be keen to change their operator if Mobile Number
Portability is introduced, followed by close to one in five (19%) of BSNL
subscribers.

In the third consecutive round of the Mobile Consumer Insights study by

Nielsen in India, 12,500 mobile subscribers were surveyed across 50
centers in India. Nielsen augments the study with objective measurement
of network performance, with the Consumer Insights part of the study
measuring metrics such as satisfaction, willingness to recommend, reasons
for churn and reasons for operator selection.

According to the study, high spenders, postpaid subscribers and business

subscribers show a greater tendency to switch if Mobile Number Portability
is introduced. Prepaid, low and medium spend users are not motivated to
switch. Postpaid subscribers have almost double the minutes of usage
compared to pre-paid subscribers and the incidence of data application
usage is also higher among postpaid and high spenders.
 FAILURE OF MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY
IN MOST
COUNTRIES

A study has concluded that mobile number portability (MNP) has failed to
take off in most parts of the world despite its important role as an "enabler
of open competition."

UK-based research firm Analysis said that although regulators have

already introduced MNP in many markets in an effort to enhance
competition and improve customer satisfaction, few countries have
implemented MNP well, and there are still many countries that have not yet
introduced it.

'While it is a fundamental enabler of open competition, MNP has essentially

failed so far in many markets, having achieved very limited take-up, due to
critical weaknesses in implementation. These need to be addressed
urgently," said Dr. Mark Heath, a research associate at Analysys.

The report indicated that the full benefits of MNP come only when it is
implemented effectively and taken up by a substantial proportion of
churning customers. The research used a variety of case studies to
illustrate best practices and defined actions that regulators must take to
achieve success with MNP.