STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY (MNP) IN NAGPUR CITY

A PROJECT REPORT

ON

“STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY (MNP) IN NAGPUR CITY”

     

AT
RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS LTD.

List of Abbreviations

RIL USA CEO WIEF BSNL MTNL MTS DAKC MNP LNP FMNP LEC WLNP FCC MSAs CLECs ILECs GSM CDMA SIM DO RO MCH AON UPC UID LNPA NANPA ATIS NANC LRN LSR FOC SOA NPAC LLU STD ARPU SMS EMI HP UP UK GOI 3G NRP BF HCR PCC PAIF RRP CSP RVNA GN GTP IU ISP GCC GOS BBS RVA S3G GCN FCSN SIP

Reliance Industries Ltd. United States of America Chief Executive Officer Wharton India Economic Forum Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. Manitoba Telecom Services Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (Navi Mumbai) Mobile Number Portability Local Number Portability Full Mobile Number Portability Local Exchange Carrier Wireless Local Number Portability Federal Communications Commission Metropolitan Statistical Areas Competitive Local Exchange Carriers Incumbent Line Exchange Carriers Global System for Mobile communications Code Division Multiple Access Subscriber Identification Module Donor Operator Recipient Operator Mobile Number Portability Clearing House Activation of Number Unique Porting Code Unique Identification Local National Portability Administration National Association of Number Portability Administration American Telecom Installation Society North American Numbering Council Local Routing Number Local Service Request Firm Order Confirmation Service Order Activator Number Portability Administration Center Local Loop Unbundling States Trunk Dialling Average Revenue Per User Short Message Service Equal Monthly Instalments Himachal Pradesh Uttar Pradesh United Kingdom Government Of India Third Generation Network Related Problems Billing Fluctuations Higher Calling  Rates Poor Customer Care Poor Access of Internet Facility Roaming Related Problems Costly SMS Pack Recharge Vouchers Not Available Good Network Good Tariff Plans Internet Usage Inteligent SMS Pack Good Customer Care Good Offers & Schemes Black Berry Service Recharge Vouchers Availability Start of 3G Service Good and Clear Network Free Calling on Same Network Smart Internet Plan

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The main purpose of this study is to understand the customers’ behavior towards the choice of changing their existing service provider and the strategies used by the telecom companies to pull the customers towards themselves and to retain their existing customers. The regulatory bodies like Department of Telecommunications (DOT) and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have  facilitated the cell phone users to freely roam among desirable services by retaining their existing mobile numbers and also to avail different technologies like 2g, 3g, CDMA and GSM or post- paid and pre-paid. MNP has brought many new prospects in the telecom sectors which for sure are going to intensify the competition in market to pull each other’s customers and retain their existing customers as well as it would end the existing monopoly of several big players in the telecom sector and would be a leverage to ascertain the best possible services to the common mobile users in the country. This competition has emerged into the better services provided by the telecom operators as well as introduction of newer technologies like 3G, Blackberry services, etc to attract the customers. 

This study reveals what the technology of MNP is, its background history and the its effect on the telecom companies in India. This study is done with Reliance Communications Ltd., India where customers were demonstrated with the MNP scheme of Reliance Communications and the feedback of customers regarding their complaints and service expectations were noted. The study is carried out with the help of a well designed questionnaire which included all the queries regarding customer’s preferences to all the services of telecom companies. The data analysis and its graphical representation help to study different parameters in a systematic manner. The conclusions and the recommendations are given at the end of this report.

Introduction

What is MNP?

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) allows the Mobile service subscribers to retain their existing mobile number when they move from one Service Provider to another Service Provider with in a same licensed service area. This move is irrespective of the mobile technology or from one cellular mobile technology to another of the same access provider, in a licensed service area. In other words, the Mobile Service Subscriber can switch from one operator to other. Using Mobile Number Portability, you can change the operator without having to change your number. So if you are using a mobile number (say) 9876543210 for and are using the service from some operator (say Reliance) and you want to switch over to another operator, say BSNL, then you will not have the need to change the number. So when Mobile Number Portability in India comes to effect, you will have the ease of having the same number while using any operator's service you want. Mobile Number Portability in India will offer you the freedom to select the operator whose network and the features you like without having to think 100 times about informing the change in your mobile number to your hundreds of friends and contacts! While this seems to be a dream for some people, it will be reality in the coming days in India.

Local number portability (LNP) for fixed lines, and full mobile number portability (FMNP) for mobile phone lines, refers to the ability to transfer either an existing fixed-line or mobile telephone number assigned by a local exchange carrier (LEC) and reassign it to another carrier. In most cases, there are limitations to transferability with regards to geography, service area coverage and technology. In the United States and Canada, mobile number portability is referred to simply as WNP or WLNP (Wireless LNP). In Japan and Pakistan it is referred to as mobile number portability, (MNP). Wireless Number Portability is available in some parts of Africa, Asia, Australia, and most European countries including Britain; however, this relates to transferability between mobile phone lines only. Iceland, Canada, and the United States are the only three countries in the world that offer full number portability transfers between both fixed lines and mobile phone lines  because mobile and fixed line numbers are mixed in the same area codes, and billing wise are identical for the calling party, the mobile user usually pays for incoming calls; in other countries all mobile numbers are placed in higher priced mobile-dedicated area codes and the originator of the call to the mobile phone pays for the call. Hong Kong also fulfils the criteria listed above (no area code in Hong Kong, call billings are identical no matter for calling to fixed or mobile, and mobile user pays for incoming calls). Although Hong Kong government approved for fixed-mobile number portability, this service is still not available (see below for details). The facility of retention of existing mobile number despite moving to a new telecom/Mobile service provider helps in increasing competition between the service providers and acts as a catalyst for the service providers to improve their quality of service. Some cellular telephone companies will charge for this conversion as a regulatory cost recovery fee.

History of MNP

Though it was introduced as a tool to promote competition in the heavily monopolized wire line telecommunications industry, number portability became popular with the advent of mobile telephones, since in most countries different mobile operators are provided with different area codes and, without portability, changing one's operator would require changing one's number. Some operators, especially incumbent operators with large existing subscriber bases, have argued against portability on the grounds that providing this service incurs considerable overhead, while others argue that it prevents vendor lock-in and allows them to compete fairly on price and service.

Due to this conflict of interest, number portability is usually mandated for all operators by telecommunications regulatory authorities. In the US, LNP was mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1996 with the First Report and Order on LNP and Number Pooling. The mandate required all carriers in the top 100 MSAs (metropolitan statistical areas) to be "LNP-capable" and port numbers to any carriers sending a BFR (bona fide request). The ability to keep a number while switching providers is thought to be attractive to consumers. It was also a major point made by CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers) preventing customers from leaving ILECs (Incumbent Line Exchange Carriers), thus hindering competition. Details regarding the reasons for LNP and how it is to be implemented can be found in the First Report and Order referenced above.

Salient Features of MNP

1.      No need to change the mobile number while changing operator.

2.      Applicable for Mobile numbers only

3.      Customer willing to port should approach Recipient operator only

4.      Customer can migrate between prepaid to post-paid and vice versa at the time of porting

5.      MNP is applicable to numbers within same circle

6.      Customer can migrate between GSM to CDMA and vice versa

7.      T24 & Tata Docomo customers cannot port out and port in among themselves.

8.      Customer needs to pay Rs. 19/- porting chares to RO + Rs. 49 for prepaid or Rs. 300 for post-paid SIM

9.      Customer can withdraw the port in request within 24 hrs of initial porting request
10. No direct interaction would happen between RO & DO. All communication would happen through MCH.

11.   In case of prepaid customers, balance left will not be carried forward

12.   Number should not be in Safe custody or temporarily disconnected

13.   End to End MNP process needs to be closed in 7 days

 Eligibility Criteria

1.       No Billed Outstanding

2.       AON >90 days and last porting date should be more than 90 days

3.       No. should not be prohibited by court of law

4.       No existing contractual obligation

5.       Mismatch in UPC code will be rejected

6.       Any Transfer of ownership request should not be pending

7.       The mobile number to be ported is sub-juiced

Types of Mobile Number Portability

1.      Wireless number portability- relates to transferability between wireless mobile lines only and not between fixed lines. In most of the country this type of mobile network portability is existing.

2.      Full number portability- allows transfers between both fixed lines and mobile phone lines. Iceland, Canada and United States are the only country in the world that offers this type of services.

Unique ID is likely to replace Mobile number

After implementation of the MNP, ones mobile number can be recognized as a unique identification number. As per the announcement by government of India to introduce Unique identification Number, MNP will improve the system by allocating mobile number as a unique Identification. MNP and UID will make other identification process easy and convenient to end user as well as authority.

Technical Issues

Complexity for number portability can come from many sources. Historically, numbers were assigned to various operators in blocks. The operators, who were often service providers, then provided these numbers to the subscribers of telephone services. Numbers were also recycled in blocks. With number portability, it is envisioned that the size of these blocks may grow smaller or even to single numbers. Once this occurs the granularity of such operations will represent a greater workload for the telecommunications provider. With phone numbers assigned to various operators in blocks, the system worked quite well in a fixed line environment since everyone was attached to the same infrastructure. The situation becomes somewhat core complex in a wireless environment such as that created by cellular communications.

In number portability the “donor network” provides the number and the “recipient network” accepts the number. The operation of donating a number requires that a number is “snapped out” from a network and “snapped into” the receiving network. If the subscriber ceases to need the number then it is normal that the original donor receives the number back and “snaps back” the number to its network. The situation is slightly more complex if the user leaves the first operator for a second and then subsequently elects to use a third operator. In this case the second operator will return the number to the first and then it is assigned to the third.

In cellular communications the concept of a location registry exists to tie a “mobile station” (such as a cellular phone) to the number. If a number is dialled it is necessary to be able to determine where in the network the mobile station exists. Some mechanism for such forwarding must exist. 

In the US, there are standards for portability defined by the FCC Federal commission of communication) and the LNPA(Local National Portability Administration), as well as NANPA (National Association of Number Portability Administration) and the ATIS (American Telecom Installation society) which are agreed upon by all member providers to help make LNP as cost-efficient and expedient as possible while still retaining a healthy level security for all providers and in respect of the highest level of customer service. These rules, first defined in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Reports and Orders by the FCC (publicly available at fcc.gov), are further detailed by the LNPA in order to ensure any provider can successfully port numbers to any other provider. NeuStar provides a national database called the NPAC (National Portability Administration Center) which contains the correct routing information for all ported and pooled numbers in the US and Canada. The NANC maintains detailed documentation of the procedure common among US carriers to port numbers as described here.

The routing information necessary to complete these calls is known as an LRN (Local Routing Number). The LRN is no more than a simple 10-digit telephone number that resides in the switch of the service provider currently providing service for the ported telephone number.

When a provider receives a request to port a telephone number from a new customer, that provider sends an industry-standard LSR (Local Service Request) to the existing (or "old") provider. When the Old Provider receives this request, it sends back FOC (Firm Order Confirmation) and the process of porting the number(s) begins. Either provider can initiate the port using a SOA (Service Order Activator) which directly edits the NPAC database mentioned before. Providers can also make these requests within the NPAC database directly. If the new provider initiates the port, it is called a "pull," and if the old provider initiates, it is a "push." Once the number is pulled or pushed, the providers must concur the request and the new provider must "activate" the number using the LRN of the switch serving the customer on the agreed due date. At the point this is completed, the number is ported.

Much of this process is duplicated in intermodal portability (porting between wire line and wireless providers). There are a few technical differences, however, in WLNP—especially with concern to the time intervals allowed.

Technology behind MNP

Admittedly, porting mobile numbers is not as simple as pushing a button. There is a lot that has to happen behind the scenes to allow for it. Expensive equipment, logistics on a mind-blowing scale, and ensuring checks and balances by appointing a third-party company to carry out these operations on behalf of both (originating and destination) operators.

Operator Fear

The so-called "incumbent" mobile telephony operators have been in the space for a long time. The numbers of dissatisfied users are inevitably in direct proportion. When new companies enter the mobile operator space, they have nothing to lose (at least at first) with MNP. Those operators who have been around longer, fear losing existing customers, with good reason. Besides, prized phone number sequences (98484 84848 for example) can be lost to other operators, instead of returning to an operator's own pool of available numbers to hand-out.

Logistics, Verifying User Identity

Changing your telephone/mobile/internet provider has always been a "moving" experience. Ask LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) customers in UK and New Zealand about the horrors! Would you have to apply at your prospective mobile operator first, or request porting a number from your existing operator first? Would you have to submit your Proof of Identity documents thrice (old operator, new operator, portability agency)? Despite rules that say the process should complete in 4 days, how long will the porting process take? If there is an interim period when you are effectively a customer of both operators, do you have to pay monthly rental to both?

Lock in Period, Inter-circle Issues

After porting your phone number, you are locked in to the new provider for 90 days (three months). If you want to change again, you have no option but to wait out that period. Currently, the Indian government only mentions number portability within a circle (meaning a state in most cases). So you cannot retain the same phone number if you move from Bombay to Delhi.

How to identify a Phone Number?

With landline telephones, all you have to do is look at the STD code, the initial few digits and you can immediately identify a phone number's attributes (physical location and telecom operator). Until MNP comes into effect, you can still do something similar with mobile numbers too. But after implementation, identifying operator, approximate area and age of a number will become that much harder.

Mobile Number Portability in India

As of today, if you are in India, and you are having problems with your new Mobile phone service operator and want to change to another operator, you will have to change the mobile number as well! Changing the mobile number is a problem when you have a lot of contacts. You will have to inform all the people in your phonebook about your new number. In addition to this, since the person who you have sent the information may or may not have noted the change in your number, it would create a problem for him as well as you again! Mobile Number Portability is a technique to solve this problem. After 4 times of just announcements, Mobile Number Portability (MNP) finally arrived and it is starting from Haryana state from 25th November 2010.Mobile number portability (MNP) enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another. The much awaited Mobile Number Portability (MNP) finally launched in Haryana. The MNP service inaugurate by the Union Minister of Communications & IT Mr. Kapil Sibal by making the inaugural call to Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the Chief Minister of Haryana from a ported mobile number in function held at Rohtak city.

Speaking on the launch of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Mr. Kapil Sibal said that first phase of the MNP has been launched today in Haryana and customers in the state now have the option of changing their service provider without changing their mobile numbers. He said the choice based services initiate healthy competition among service providers which ultimately benefits ‘Aam Aadmi’. The mobile number portability (MNP) will be launched across India by January 20, 2011. For orderly technical migration of complex interconnected networks, each of the remaining service areas will be migrated one by one on alternate days. This will enable simultaneous validation of technical parameters and removal of any problems arising from migration activity to ensure successful and smooth migration of a service area. Migration activities will not take place during the festival season at the end of December, 2010. The MNP soon to be available in other states, in first phase of MNP, the service will be available in 11 circles out of 22 telecom circles. In first phase, the service will be available in Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat and some south India states.

The operators focus is to retain their high- Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) post-paid customers, who contribute about 15-20 per cent to their revenue. They are also going out in a big way to retain their prepaid high-ARPU users.

Vodafone Essar, for instance, is already studying the records of their high-paying post-paid customers to see whether there has been a sudden drop in their ARPUs, as that is a clear reflection that he is using another alternate service.

"Our approach is to go to the consumer even before he registers to understand the reason –       whether is it networks problem, service or something else. Giving freebies or discounts is only a small part of the game," said a Vodafone official.

Going by its record in Haryana (where the service was launched on an experimental basis last December), the company says it has been able to retain 60 per cent of the customers who might have shifted services.

State-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), which provide services in Delhi and Mumbai, also echoed similar views.

"We have asked our marketing and customer care people to address the issues of our subscribers, who are likely to shift. MTNL also offers BlackBerry services, which has picked up very well. So, there will be a focus on high-end customers."

New players like Sistema Shyam, which offer CDMA services, are looking at wooing customers to their fold. The company is planning to offer subsidised mobile phones under a two way scheme - one you pay for the phone upfront but get reimbursed for the money you have spend through free talk time, downloads and even SMSs. The second offer is to buy it under a long term EMI scheme.

Process of MNP

1.      First, send your mobile no. to 1900 via SMS in the format:

a.       PORT <99XXXXXXXX>this SMS will be charged as per your SMS plan. 1901 will send you a reply SMS, you will receive a UPC (Unique Porting Code). The UPC will be an 8 digit alpha-numeric code. You will also receive the date till when the UPC will remain valid.

b.      Visit the nearest outlet of the operator you want switch over to with your UPC.

2.    You have to fill and submit the prescribed Mobile Number Portability form to the new operator at the operator outlet and you will get the pre-provision SIM card of the new operator. You may be asked to submit photo ID and address proof and processing fee.

3.      Post-paid subscribers will be asked to submit a copy of their latest bill too.

4.    The number portability has to be completed within 7 working days as said by telecom ministry. If it doesn’t happen, you can again visit the operator outlet.

5.     You will receive an SMS mentioning the time and date of porting.

6.     You will run the new pre-provision SIM card. Once the porting process is complete, you will receive another SMS from the new operator.

7.     Your mobile phone will be switched off at the time of porting, nearly about 1-2 hrs.

8.     You can change your operator only once in 3months. So, use the service carefully.

How fast is the MNP Service?

TRAI has said that operators should get it done within 4 days, it may vary due to many factors and the use of the old or new SIM is an issue as of now! For example, if both the old and the new operators are fast enough, it would be a matter of minutes. But if they work slowly at their offices, Mobile Number Portability may take 7 to 10 days to please the customer.

Important Terms

1.      Unique Porting code (UPC)                                                            

It is the code generated by customer which is required at the time of porting to new      network. 

2.      Port Out                                               

When a customer goes to different operator from your network, it is called Port Out.

Ex. Airtel user goes to Reliance without changing his mobile number.

3.      Port In                         
      When a customer comes from a different operator to your network                       

4.      Donor Operator (DO)                                    

       Donor Operator is the Original Operator of the customer or the operator from whom          the customer is porting out.

5.      Recipient Operator (RO)                              
      The new operator to which the customer is going to/porting to is the Recipient Operator.

6.      Mobile No. Portability Clearing house (MCH)         
      Any interaction between the Donor and Recipient operator happens through MCH.                                      

Ø      Syniverse for Zone-I will serve circles– Haryana, Punjab, HP, Mumbai, Rest of Maharashtra, UP East, UP West, Gujarat, Rajasthan.

Ø  Telecordia for Zone-II will serve circles– Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Kolkata, Rest of Bengal, and Bihar.

Benefits

Benefits of Mobile Number Portability in India to users

Following are the benefits that Indian people will get after Mobile Number Portability is implemented in India:

1. People will not have to change the number for changing the operator: This is the core theme of this service and I hope I do not need to say much here.
2. One will not have to inform all the people in their phonebook about the operator change because this will not change the number anymore: When you change the operator, it is your personal matter from now and you need not tell anyone or let anyone know which telecom operator you are taking service from!
3. You can save money by having the best plan you like: while some people hardly leave the city they live in and want more features, others might travel a lot and need better signal reception. Mobile Number Portability allows both types of users to have the same number without having the additional headache.

4.      Due to operators offering free talk time and data usage, there will also be monetary benefits to the users for short time: While there has been news that BSNL is offering talk time for free to those customers, people are waiting for the same or similar goodies from other operators.

Benefits of Mobile Number Portability in India to operators

1.      Users can now change the operators more easily

Users do not change the operators due to the problem that they will have to change the number as well. With Mobile Number Portability in India, this will no longer be the reason for pulling back the new operators in a telecom circle.

2.      Savings in expenses for reserving a number-series

Operators pay some price to reserve the number series in a telecom circle so that they can use the number series to create new mobile phone numbers. Due to the Mobile Number Portability, operators will no longer have to pay the price to reserve a specific number series in a particular zone, even if there are very few users using that series. This would mean cost savings.

3.      Less struggle for newcomers

If an operator is entering a new telecom zone, he will not have to struggle for a (relatively) long time for getting enough number of users to keep itself in business. Usually, new telecom operators offer better price to value ratio for the customers. Before Mobile Number Portability, they had to wait for a significant time     before they could get sufficient number of users to sustain their business. Since Mobile Number Portability offers users a relatively faster and easier way to change operator, it is expected that it will play a significant role in getting new operators a good number of customers.

Benefits of Mobile Number Portability in India to the Government

1. More competition means more revenue: Mobile Number Portability will attract a lot of competition and that will invite even more companies from the outside than what already are. More competition will make the government hike the prices for the different series they offer to the telecom companies. Government is sure to get more duty from there!        
2. More investment in market: Mobile Number Portability is sure to make the market more competitive. More competition will mean more trade on the shares and a better economy. It invites new opportunities of investment in different sectors especially technological sectors by the companies.

3. Direct benefit to BSNL: BSNL, a government company has been under loss due to the inability to change operators under many cases. Mobile Number Portability is expected to get a nice amount of revenue to BSNL due to the cheap rates and more coverage in all aspects from creating new Transceivers to offering the 3G services before any other operator, when compared to other companies. This is one the biggest points where GOI is expected to get more benefit compared to other private ventures.

Problems

Problems of Mobile Number Portability in India to users

Although the Mobile Number Portability is a great technology, it may cause a few problems to the users. They might be as follows:

1. The switching from one operator to another requires you to pay Rs. 19: Just like some say it, "Nothing comes for free". So you have to pay some charge to the new operator for using their service. It is expected that operators would ask you the maximum amount, Rs. 19 for changing to their service. While this is not certain, even the possibility of the same is a disadvantage.
2. You still have to follow the same old procedure of going to a shop, getting a new SIM and so on: If you thought that you would just send a SMS and you will change your operator which you are in the train, you are wrong. You still have to go to the shop and get a new SIM. So you cannot retain your old SIM (and all the phone numbers and messages stored in it).
3. It takes time for the switch to take place: So if you want it to happen immediately, you cannot do it. Nothing is in your hands after you have started the process of changing the operator. One would have to wait for about 4 days for the switch to happen in the worst case. In the best case, it would still take about an hour.
4. Since it has not been made clear that when can a person use his new SIM card after applying to the new operator, it may cause problems to the users in some scenarios: Today you get a new SIM and start using the moment you buy it. This will not be possible since the new SIM you buy will not be active unless the number is transferred to the new operator, which may take time of the old operator is snail paced.
5. We cannot use this service to change the operators across telecom circles: Say you are a student who is going outside the state (and possibly the telecom circle as well), then you cannot keep the same number in the new state. In simpler words, assume that if a person living in Karnataka is shifting to Madhya Pradesh wants to retain his number; he will not be able to.

Problems of Mobile Number Portability in India to operators

While the operators gain the most out of this service, they also lose it the most! Following are some of the things which make the matter complicated for the operators:

1. Technology change: Since Mobile Number Portability in India will ask the telecom operators to use a slightly different technique that what is already in use, they will have to invest in a newer (and perhaps even more costly) equipment to support Mobile Number Portability.
2. More competition with other companies: The competition between operators will become fierce as they can lose the customers anytime.
3. Underlying network changes: Changing the current call routing scheme (that is technical) needs some readjustments in the networking within the operator's own network. This is challenging especially when they do not want the service to be disrupted which the technology is being changed under the hood. It would be like changing the engine of the car while it's running! This is certainly going to be a problem for the backend team of engineers who will do the real technical job here.

Problems of Mobile Number Portability in India for Government

1. More competition to BSNL: BSNL has always been infamous for providing poor quality service in India, especially in fields of reliability and speed. BSNL will face fierce competition in those places where new companies have come lately because in most cases, users are more comfortable with the private ventures, rather than BSNL.
2. Loss due to dropdown in number of mobile numbers: Implementation of Mobile Number Portability in short, reduces the total number of mobile phone numbers from India and hence the revenues from the companies will drop.
3. No more number series reservations: Since numbers can be reused and the 'mobile number series' aspect will be removed after Mobile Number Portability in India is implemented, government is sure to lose the revenue that came to it for the maintenance of those number series.

COMPANY PROFILE

The History

The Late Shri Dhirubhai Ambani dreamt of a digital India — an India where the common man would have access to affordable means of information and communication.  Dhirubhai, who single-handedly built India’s largest private sector company virtually from scratch, had stated as early as 1999: “Make the tools of information and communication available to people at an affordable cost. They will overcome the handicaps of illiteracy and lack of mobility.”

It was with this belief in mind that Reliance Communications (formerly Reliance Infocomm) started laying 60,000 route kilometres of a pan-India fibre optic backbone. This backbone was commissioned on 28 December 2002, the auspicious occasion of Dhirubhai’s 70th birthday, though sadly after his unexpected demise on 6 July 2002.

Reliance Mobile (formerly Reliance India Mobile), launched on 28 December 2002, coinciding with the joyous occasion of the late Dhirubhai Ambani’s 70th birthday, was among the initial initiatives of Reliance Communications. It marked the auspicious beginning of Dhirubhai’s dream of ushering in a digital revolution in India. Today, we can proudly claim that we were instrumental in harnessing the true power of information and communication, by bestowing it in the hands of the common man at affordable rates.

Reliance Communications has a reliable, high-capacity, integrated (both wireless and wireline) and convergent (voice, data and video) digital network.

It is capable of delivering a range of services spanning the entire infocomm (information and communication) value chain, including infrastructure and services

The company is part of the Reliance - Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, controlled by chairman Anil Ambani.

Reliance – Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, an offshoot of the Reliance Group 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 Ltd. is one of India's largest providers of integrated communications services founded in 2004. With more than 90 million customers, the company serves consumers and enterprises with a digital network supporting data, voice, and video. While Reliance's core wireless communications services business (Reliance Telecom) is its largest segment, the company also provides fixed line domestic and international voice services, Internet access, messaging, and videoconferencing. It provides wholesale capacity, infrastructure, and managed enterprise services through its Reliance Globalcom division.

Vision

Leveraging the strengths to execute complex global-scale projects to facilitate leading-edge information and communication services affordable to all individual consumers and businesses in India and offering unparalleled value to create customer delight and enhance business productivity. Also, generate value for capabilities beyond Indian borders and enable millions of India's knowledge workers to deliver their services globally.

Mission

ü  To attain global best practices and become a world-class communication service provider-guided by its purpose to move towards greater degree of sophistication and maturity.

ü  To work with vigour, dedication and innovation to achieve excellence in service quality, reliability, safety and customer care as the ultimate goal.

ü  To consistently achieve high growth with the highest levels of productivity.

Chairman’s Profile

Mr. Anil D. Ambani

Regarded as one of the foremost corporate leaders of contemporary India, Shri Anil DAmbani, 48, is the chairman of all listed companies of the Reliance ADA Group, namely, Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Energy and Reliance Natural Resources limited. He is also Chairman of the Board of Governors of Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat. Till recently, he also held the post of Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), India’s largest private sector enterprise.

Mr. Anil D. Ambani joined Reliance in 1983 as Co-Chief Executive Officer, and was centrally involved in every aspect of the company’s management over the next 22 years. He is credited with having pioneered a number of path-breaking financial innovations in the Indian capital markets. He spearheaded the country’s first forays into the overseas capital markets with international public offerings of global depositary receipts, convertibles and bonds. Starting in 1991 he directed Reliance Industries in its efforts to raise over US$ 2 billion. He also steered the 100-yearYankee bond issue for the company in January 1997.

He is a member of-

·         Wharton Board of Overseers, The Wharton School, USA

·         Central Advisory Committee, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission

·         Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad

·         Board of Governors Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

·         In June 2004, he was elected for a six-year term as an independent member of the Rajya Sabha, Upper House of India’s Parliament a position; he chose to resign voluntarily on March 25, 2006.

Awards and Achievements-

·       Conferred the ‘CEO of the Year 2004’ in the Platt’s Global Energy Awards

·       Rated as one of ‘India’s Most Admired CEOs for the sixth consecutive year in the Business

·   Conferred ‘The Entrepreneur of the Decade Award’ by the Bombay Management Association, October 2002

·         Awarded the First Wharton Indian Alumni Award by the Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) in recognition of his contribution to the establishment of Reliance as a global leader in many of its business areas, December 2001.

Headquarter- DAKC, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

CEO (Wireless Networks)- Mr. Sayed Safawi

Products

Wireless                                             Telephone

Internet                                               Televison

Datacards                                           Recharge Vouchers

Subsidiaries

Reliance Telecom Ltd.                        Reliance Globalcom Ltd.

Reliance Tech Srevices                       Reliance Communications Infrastructure Ltd.

Reliance Big TV Ltd.                          Reliance Infratel Ltd.

Competitors

Aircel                                                  Airtel                                       Vodafone       

BSNL                                                  Loop Mobile                           MTNL

MTS                                                    Ping Mobile                             S Tel   

Tata DoCoMo                                     Tata Indicom                           Uninor

Videocon                                            Virgin Mobile 

Current market share

The current market share of the company is around 18% of the all other players in the market.

Revenues

Total revenues were measured at Rs. 25000 Cr for the quarter ending March 2011.

OBJECTIVES

Objectives of the study are-

1.      To study the MNP awareness level in mobile phone users.

2.      To find out whether mobile phone customers are satisfied with their telecom service providers or not.

3.      To identify the expectations of the mobile phone users from their service providers.

4.    To study the effect of cost efficiency, technological advancement and customer care services on customer buying behaviour.

5.   To understand the strategies used by the telecom companies to attract new customers and to retain the existing customers.

6.      To study the effect of MNP on Reliance Telecommunications Ltd.

7.      To identify the opportunities and suggest the strategic measures to sustain in the cut-throat competition due to MNP.

8.      To identify the suitable media for advertising and promotions of MNP.

HYPOTHESIS

MNP is not fully successful in India due to large number of low end prepaid users.

The basic issue in this study is that low end customer is not fully aware of all the aspects of MNP. So study of customer behaviour towards MNP is the necessary thing to be done so that MNP can be satisfactorily implemented by the telecom companies and availed by the customers. The study also aims at telecom companies to improve their services as per the customers’ demands.

Research objectives

Ø  The primary aim of this study is to create an understanding about the key important features of the Mobile Number Portability aspect of Marketing Management and how Mobile Number Portability helps managers to design marketing strategies and to build the Brand.

Ø  The study also aims to create an insight using one sample survey questionnaire about how the actual customer’s as well as marketing managers are utilising the various features of mobile number portability.

Ø  This study primarily identifies the significant features that cause the mobile number portability phenomenon to culminate into a preferable buying behavior by the consumer.

Ø  The single point purpose of running one surveys was to assess the thinking of the consumers and derive key inputs which are linked to their brand of network service provider.

Research Design

Types of Research

In business research the nature of the problem determine whether the research is

1.      Exploratory research

Exploratory research is conducted to clarify ambiguous problem. It is initial research conducted to clarify and define the nature of a problem.

2.      Descriptive Research

The major purpose of descriptive research, as term implies, is to describe characteristic of a population or phenomenon. Descriptive research seeks to determine the answer to who, what, when, where, and how questions.

3.      Experimental Research or Causal Research
      Experimental research or causal research is a research conducted to identify cause and effect relation among variables when research problem has already been narrowly defined.

This study is based on Descriptive Research since the objective is to understand an underlying consumer behaviour that effects decision making of marketing managers.

Primary data

The primary data was collected by the survey method. For this, survey based on the well designed questionnaire was carried out. This questionnaire was based on the general information of the customers about their mobile phone uses, their likes and dislikes as well as their expectations from their service operators. This questionnaire mainly focused on the satisfaction level of customers and their views about MNP. This survey also pointed towards the drawbacks of the services. This questionnaire was filled up at different Retailers’ outlets using personal interview method with customers.

Secondary data

The secondary data was collected different means such as from Retailers’ records, company’s office records, promotional flexes and hoardings showing different offers and schemes of different telecom companies.

The secondary data was also collected from Internet, Television Channels, Newspapers, Magazines and Journals.

Sample Design

Sampling Unit

Sample units are the individual customers from the age groups of students, middle age persons and old age persons. The sample units were taken from the Retailer points of high customers walk-ins such as Mobile Care, Dharampeth, Swad Provisions, Bajaj Nagar, Heer-Raanza Mobile Shoppe, Dhantoli, Prasad Mobiles, Gopal Nagar, G.K. Mobiles, Ramdaspeth and many other Retailers’ points in the Sita-Buldi market and Dharampeth market of Nagpur City. Customers at these outlets were personally interviewed in reference to the MNP awareness and they were explained about the MNP schemes of Reliance Communications Ltd. The responses of customers were taken on the basis of well designed questionnaire.

Sampling Method

In this study the researcher has tried to use Simple Random Sampling method.

Sample Size

The sample size for this study purpose was 100 and the responses were generated from across demographic profiles of various categories ranging from College going Students to middle-aged and old-aged customers visiting the Retailer points.

The final sample size of 100 respondents was obtained with a total response rate of 100% based on the no. of valid questionnaires returned. An analysis of the sample characteristics indicated that the sample was representative of a Young and Middle-aged Indian population.

Data Collection Method

Research Instrument used in this research was Survey Questionnaire.                                              A questionnaire is a formalized set of questions for eliciting information. It is one of the most common instruments used for primary data collection. The questionnaire can be administered in various ways. It can be administered by means of a personal interview as well as by the telephone or email.

The survey had various types of questions to elicit the different emotions related to an individual’s favourite brand of telecom service and the key features of the service. There were up to twelve questions of this kind with the options varying from the extreme ends of service bases.

Tools of Analysis

For the proper analysis of data, Microsoft Excel was used for filtering information & preparing charts for deducing inferences.

Limitations
Limitations in Study

Ø  Samples are the representative of only two age groups, students and middle-age group; it doesn’t represent the old-age group clearly.

Ø  Study is carried out in the Nagpur city only, hence the results cannot be considered for other cities or states.

Ø  The responses obtained from the customers cannot be considered to be genuine, they may be fake or biased or represented in distorted manner (same customer selecting more than the required alternatives in the questionnaire).

Limitations in the process of MNP

Ø  The only restriction is that you cannot switch over to another service provider in roaming area i.e. MNP is available only within local network area. That means a Gujarat subscriber cannot take his Gujarat number to Kerala and then apply to change operator.

Ø  Normally it would take 1 day to port your no. to different operator but the maximum porting time can also get as late as 7 working days.

Ø  In Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and North East service areas, it takes 15 working days to port your number to different service provider.

Ø  Once you have changed your operator, you will have to remain with the new operator for three months either you like it or not, after 3 months only you will be able to move on to another operator.

                                                                  

FINDINGS

The findings which came to know after systematic data analysis are surely helpful for both customers as well as telecom companies. Customers will get comparative insight of the services of different companies so that they can easily choose the best service provider out of the available ones using MNP. Similarly, telecom companies will come to know about their strengths and loop holes and will be able to plan new strategies accordingly.

The findings are as follows-

Ø  From the above study and analysis, it is found that 92% of total customers studied under questionnaire survey, were aware of Mobile Number Portability (MNP).

Ø  Out of 100 mobile phone users surveyed, Vodafone has the maximum number of users counted as 25% where as Reliance stood second with 21% of total number users and Airtel stood third with 15% of total number of users.

Ø  Out of the 100 customers studied in this survey, 91% of the total customers think that MNP is beneficial where as rest of the customers think that MNP is not beneficial.

Ø  Out of the total number of customers studied, 27% customers are interested in changing their service i.e. MNP to avail new services, whereas 73% of customers are not interested in MNP as they are satisfied with their existing service providers.

Ø  Out of the total number of customers who have shown interest in MNP, 40% of the customers are interested in switching to Idea, whereas 20% customers are interested in switching to Airtel, and 10% customers are interested in switching to Reliance as well as 10% to Uninor.

Ø  Out of the total number of customers willing for MNP, 51% of customers have given Network Related Problems as the first rank (R1) reason for MNP, whereas 24% of customers have given Network Related Problems as the second rank (R2) reason for MNP and 16% of customers have given Network Related Problems as the third (R3) rank reason for MNP.

Ø  Out of the total number of customers willing for MNP, 50% of customers have Good Network as their first rank (R1) expectation from their new service provider, 30% of customers have Good Tariff Plans as their second rank (R2) expectation from their new service provider and 27% of customers have availability of 3G service as their third rank (R3) expectation from their new service provider.

Ø  In case of the most preferred calling rates, 69% of the total customers surveyed have preferred 1p/sec whereas 29% of the total customers have preferred free calling on   the similar ($-$) network.

Ø  Out of the 100 customers surveyed, 98% of the customers have preferred Free SMS plans, whereas 2% of the customers have preferred 1p/SMS plan.

Ø  The main means of motivation for MNP to customers was found to be Newspapers by which 38% of customers got motivated where as 37% customers got motivated through the Retailer.

Ø  Out of the total number of customers, 64% customers think that start of 3G service is the best strategy used by companies for MNP, whereas 16% of customers think that Smart Internet Plans is the best strategy used by companies for MNP.

Ø  Finally, 86% of the total customers think that MNP is useful where as 14% customers think that MNP is misleading.

For effect on Reliance Communications Ltd.-

Ø  Out of 100 mobile phone users, 21% users were found to use Reliance as their service provider which is second after Vodafone as the first with 25% users.

Ø  From total number of users of Reliance, 76% users were found to be willing to port-out of the Reliance where 40% users said that Network Related Problems is their main reason for porting-out of Reliance, whereas 20% customers said Billing Fluctuations like unwanted balance deduction is the main reason behind porting out of Reliance and 17% users said that Poor Customer Care service is the main reason behind porting out of Reliance.

Ø  Out of 100 customers, 9% customers wanted to port into Reliance out of which 62.5% customers have given Good Tariff Plans as the main reason for porting-in to Reliance whereas 37.5% customers have given Good Offers and Schemes as the main reason for porting-in to Reliance.

CONCLUSIONS

Although MNP is beneficial for customers and telecom companies in India, existing market structures in India may not be as suited to MNP because of the large numbers of prepaid or low-end users. Their phone use patterns and requirements are rather distinctive, compared to high-end post-paid subscribers, commonly found in the developed western markets.           This is because Indian markets are yet to achieve universal service provision and access, and lack the necessary factors that will ensure the success of MNP.

As per this study, we can conclude that the telecom companies like Airtel, Idea, Vodafone and Reliance are statically going to compete and co-operate with each other under the regulated policies of the government.

Surely, MNP has given the legal way to the telecom companies to compete by drawing    each-others’ customers but this is not going to affect a lot because the average customer in India is not more interested because of distinctive pattern of use.

As per this study, the Mobile Number Portability observed in the Indian telecom market is due to the network issues observed for few operators like Reliance Communications, TATA Indicom, Aircel etc, it may be due to poor network or may be the absence of the network in some areas. Similarly, the strategies used by the telecom operators also had impacted on the MNP in India. These strategies are providing 3G services, Blackberry Services, exciting Internet packages and free SMS.

Hence, MNP has only given the choice to freely roam around the network of their choice availing the exciting plans of different operators for MNP without changing their existing mobile number.

RECOMMENDATIONS

From Research

Ø  Customers are not interested to port-in to Reliance because of the Network Related Problems, Billing Fluctuations like unwanted balance deductions and Poor Customer Care Services. Hence it is recommended that above issues should be worked-upon to increase customer satisfaction level.

Ø  Technical issues in the MNP process like delay in UPC generation, failure in the porting process should be solved.

Ø  Internet, Flexes and Tele-calling have not been mostly used mostly as the media for promoting MNP, these media can be used better for this purpose.

Ø  The promotional strategies for MNP should include 3G service, attractive Internet Plans, SMS Plans and Black Berry Plans to pull the young and technocrat customer base towards Reliance.

Other Recommendations

            It was observed that customers have never seen any ground-level promotional activities for MNP, hence it is recommended that-

Ø  Along with Internet, Flexes and Tele-calling, exhaustive ground advertising and promotions should be carried out.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Most of the information in this study was collected by the use of internet from the following web-sites:

www.rcom.co.in

www.businessweek.com

www.indiainfoline.com

www.zimbio.com

www.mnpindia.in

www.ndtv.com

www.wikipedia.org

www.myiris.com

www.trai.gov.in

www.dot.in

Ø  Research design and Sample Design was studied with the help of text book of Research Methodology by C.R. Kothari

Ø  The questionnaire was designed with the help of www.my3q.com

Ø  For images Google images and other web images were used.

Annexure

QUESTIONNAIRE REGARDING MNP AWARENESS AND SREVICE EXPECTATIONS OF CELLPHONE USERS

Date:                                                                                    Contact No.

Name:

Gender: [M (          ) / F (          )]                      Age: ________

Occupation:                                                              Company/Institution:

Email address:                                                  Location:

Average Expenses on Mobile in a Month:-

               

1.     Are you aware of MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY launched by Telecom companies in INDIA?                                                                                    

            a)  Yes (              )                             b) no (             )        

     

2.     Which telecom network do you use?  

a)  AIRTEL               (        )        b) VODAFONE      (        )       c) RELIANCE            (         )      d) BSNL (         

e) TATA DOCOMO (        )        f) IDEA                   (         )      g) TATA INDICOM   (          )            

h) UNINOR               (         )       i) AIRCEL              (         )

3.     Do you think MNP is beneficial?

a)     Yes (    )

b)    No (    )

4.     Would you like to change your current network service provider?  

            a)  Yes (         )                             b) no (         )

5.     If you are not satisfied with your current mobile service provider which other network would you go for without changing your number with the help of MNP? 

a) AIRTEL       (          )             b) VODAFONE (          )      c) RELIANCE        (         )        d) BSNL       (          )

e) TATA DOCOMO (         )    f) IDEA    (          )               g) TATA INDICOM (         )      h) UNINOR (          )

i) AIRCEL (         )

6.     Why do you want to change your network service provider state any three reasons?   

a)  NETWORK RELATED PROBLEMS                           b) BILLING FLUCTUATIONS       

 c) HIGHER CALLING RATES                                          d) COSTLY SMS PACKS              

e) POOR CUSTOMER CARE                                              f) POOR ACCESS OF INTERNET FACILITY

g)  ROAMING RELATED PROBLEMS                                h) NO 3G SERVICE                         

 i) RECHARGE VOUCHER’S NOT

 AVAILABLE   

7.     What are your expectations from your new service provider state any three which you expect the most?  

 a) GOOD NETWORK                      b) GOOD TARIFF PLANS                   c) INTERNET USAGE   

d) INTELLIGENT SMS PACK                              e) GOOD CUSTOMER CARE             

f) GOOD OFFERS AND SCHEMES                     g) BLACK BERRY SERVICE           

h) 3G SERVICE                                                        i) RECHARGE VOUCHERS’ AVAILABILITY

8.     What is the most preferred calling rate that you will opt for?

a) 1PAISE/SEC (          )                                                             

b) 45PAISE/MIN (          )

c) FREE CALLING FOR SAME $---$ NETWORK (          )

d)  10PAISE/MIN AT HAPPY HOURS (          )

e)   PRE-PAID BALANCE IN SEC/MIN FOR A MONTH (          )

f)   OTHERS, PLEASE MENTION:-

9.     What would be the best SMS plan which would suit you according to your messaging habits?    

                                                                                                                                                               

a)  1PAISE/SMS BOTH LOCAL & NATIONAL (          )     b) FREE SMS (           )

10.                         Which source or medium motivated you to switch your service to other network through MNP?

a) T.V COMMERCIAL           (          )                              b) NEWS PAPER         (          )  

c) THROUGH A FRIEND       (          )                              d) RETAILER               (          )       

e) FLEX OR HOARDING       (          )                               f) TELE CALLING      (          )                                        

g) INTERNET                           (          )      

11.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Which is the best plan or strategy used by the telecom sector companies launched to pull you to their service? 

a)  START OF 3G SERVICE                               (         )     b)   GOOD AND CLEAR NETWORK   (        ) c)  FREE CALLING ON SAME NETWORK       (         )     d)   INTELLIGENT SMS PACK             (        )  e)  SMART  INTERNET PLAN                           (         )     f)   BLACK BERRY SERVICE                 (        )

12.                         How do you think the facility of MNP is?

a)       USEFUL (        )

b)       MISLEADING (        )

MNP Port-in Plan by Reliance Communications Ltd. (May-June 2011)

Processing Fees	Nil
FRC (First Recharge)	Rs. 1
Talk-time	Rs. 10
Validity	Lifetime
Calling @	1 paisa/2 sec on any network (Up to first 3 months)
SMS	Rs. 1
Recharges up to first 3 months	Full talk-time above the recharge of Rs. 55
Free internet usage	Up to 1GB