Mobile No. Portability only by year end only

The Government may now allow mobile number portability (MNP) by the end of the year 2009, Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura said at a summit organised by the industry body ASSOCHAM. The MNP was slated to come into effect in metros and large states on September 20, and the rest of the country by March 2010. The process for rolling out MNP in India has already started with telecom regulator TRAI inviting industry suggestions on MNP charges. These charges would decide the amount a customer would have to pay to a service provider while switching over to another operator. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has also awarded licences to two companies to implement the rollout of MNP. Once implemented, MNP would allow subscribers to retain their existing mobile number while changing the service provider. Commenting on the auction of third generation (3G) telecom services, Behura said that the issue of the reserve price for 3G spectrum auction would be decided when the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) meets on July 31. The DoT and the Finance Ministry had earlier reached a consensus on the reserve price, but the matter was later referred to a ministerial panel headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Govt unveils number portability, 3G norms

In a major consumer friendly move, Telecom Minister A. Raja announced that the Government will introduce mobile number portability in the four metros in a phased manner. This will provide customers the facility to retain the same number while switching over from one operator to another within the same service area. This facility is likely to be available to the mobile subscribers by the fourth quarter of 2008. Introduction of MNP in A circle will be reviewed in April 2008 and TRAI will issue relevant regulations in this regard.

Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani and AUSPI, the lobby group for CDMA operators, welcomed the move. On the other hand, COAI, which represents GSM mobile players, accused the Government of favouring a particular CDMA company by announcing the launch of number portability. Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal said margins would not be hit by the introduction of number portability. Mittal also said that he favoured extending the facility nationwide.

The Government also announced the guidelines for 3G services and Broadband Wireless Access service. It also said that all radio frequencies offering 3G services would be offered via an auction.

Separately, some members of the COAI said they were willing to go for an open auction of 2G spectrum beyond 10 MHz. Till today, COAI had vehemently opposed auction for 2G spectrum. But, the Telecom Minister ruled out the possibility of selling or auctioning 2G spectrum. He reiterated that the allotment of new telecom licenses will be done on first-come-first-serve basis.

In a related development, GSM operators also said that since RCOM’s request for launching services using dual technology was approved on October 18, its applications for GSM spectrum should be processed only after the ones that came before October 1. The DoT had received 575 applications from about 45 companies before October 1.

India Number Portability wont affect margins

ndia`s top mobile operator Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said introduction of mobile number portability is unlikely to affect the company`s margins as it expects a major churn out of subscribers in favour of GSM operators.

"It (mobile number portability) will not affect our margins... We are hopeful that the margins will increase as Bharti`s network would attract high value customers from CDMA network," Bharti Airtel Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal told reporters on the sidelines of CII knowledge summit.

On November 12, the government announced the introduction of mobile number portability in four metros by next year. It would allow users to change their service providers while retaining their numbers.

Welcoming the move, Mittal said, "it should be introduced in all the circles simultaneously not only in four metros... Fixed line services should also be included in it."

The initial cost of operationalising the number portability would be borne by operators, however, rest of the expenses should be passed on to the customers, he added.

There is less competition in circles other than metros, which calls for a greater need for introduction of number portability, Mittal said, adding Bharti is ready to introduce number portability across the country.

On the issue of auctioning of 3G spectrum, Mittal said, "we are in favour of auctioning of 3G spectrum but there should not be any artificial scarcity of spectrum."