Come January 20 and get ready to hop, jump and skip your mobile operator in case you’re not happy with the present one. Welcome to the world of MNP or Mobile Number Portability.
While the service was already launched on November 25th at Rohtak, Haryana, the pan-India roll out was delayed by nearly two months to allow all operators enough time to migrate smoothly to the MNP environment.
MNP allows a subscriber to change his/her operator without any hassles. Though you’ll need to shell out one-time fee of Rs. 19 to your new operator and there is a lock-in period of 3 months as well, the latter means you can hop to another operator but not before completing three months with the present one. Simply put, it gives you total freedom of selecting the operator of your choice in case you’re unhappy with the services of your current operator. So, what is the big deal, you may ask. Even now, without MNP also, you can change your operator by simply buying a SIM from the operator of your choice.
The answer is: you don’t need to change your mobile number every time you change operator or switch to your mobile network in an MNP regime. And that is the biggest deal, indeed. Also, technology interoperability issue (between GSM and CDMA) meant that a GSM subscriber needs to change handset if he/she opts for a CDMA operator or vice versa. But it will not be a case once MNP comes into the play (but we need clarity from operators on this point).
While this could be music to the ears of billions of telecom subscribers in India, it could bring headache to the operators who are already struggling with falling revenues due to the falling call rates due to the ongoing cut-throat competition in hyper-competitive Indian market. On the positive, this would force the operators to be on their toes all the time and importantly improve customer service. On the negative, this can unleash another round of price war in the industry.
But we’ll say: it’s time they (companies) practiced what they proclaim: Customer First.
(Note: This Image is meant for illustration purpose only and is not an endorsement)
Image courtesy: Vodafone.in
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