Thursday, January 20, 2011

MNP may improve mobile service quality


Are you one of those who's desperate to dump your mobile operator because of the large number of call drops, but wary because a number change will create complications?

Well then, here's your chance. The much awaited mobile number portability (MNP) is here, starting today.

It allows customers to keep their mobile number irrespective of who their cellular network operator is. It means, if you switch operators, you need not have to send those "hange of contact" mailers to hundreds of your friends, family and workmates.

This freedom for consumers is also expected to enhance the quality of service providers as retaining this highly floating subscriber base would become challenging for providers.
Anupama Ahluwalia, senior vice president (marketing), Idea Cellular says, "We realise that a large number of subscribers are waiting to switch to a network that offers seamless connectivity across the length and breadth of the country.''

Suresh S Kumar, COO (Karnataka & Andra Pradesh) MTS, says MNP opens up a good opportunity for customers and mobile service operators to redefine their relationships based on quality of customer service and network performance. ``MNP is bound to add to competition within the various mobile service operators,'' he says.

Venkatesh V, CEO for mobile services in Bharti Airtel Karnataka, plugs for his service: "Joining the first family in mobile service will be rewarding."

Most research finds that the churn on account of MNP would be less than 1%. But all service providers are gearing up. Idea Cellular, Tata Docomo, Vodafone, Aircel have all rolled out new TV commercials and other campaigns to lure customers under MNP.

MTS is in the process of rolling out a slew of offers, including subsidizing handsets for migrating GSM and CDMA customers. Many others are rolling out new tariff plans which would involve customers benefiting from getting free local calls, free SMSs and free data.source

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