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.
”Mobile Number Portability represents a powerful opportunity for operators to drive in-bound porting of high-value subscribers provided they have a good understanding of who is more likely to switch and why,” said Shankari Panchapakesan, Executive Director, Telecom Practice, The Nielsen Company, India.
According to the Nielsen Mobile Consumer Insights 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. Vodafone has the highest postpaid subscriber base in India. (See Chart 1)
“When Mobile Number Portability was introduced in the US, price/promotions were by far the leading drivers of acquisition. Ultimately the operator who leveraged the propensity of subscribers to choose based on price/promotions was successful in riding the Mobile Number Portability wave. In India, Mobile Number Portability can be leveraged by operators through smart, targeted marketing and promotions to coincide with the introduction of the facility,” continued Panchapakesan. (See Chart 2)
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