Customer Preference for Mobile Number Portability - CiteSeerX

International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research (IJMSSR) Volume 1, No. 3, December 2012

ISSN: 2319-4421

Customer Preference for Mobile Number Portability Partiksinh Sureshsinh Vaghela , Assistant Professor, Shree J.D.G. commerce and Shree S.A.S. College of Management, Surat, India

ABSTRACT The total number of subscribers opting for mobile number portability (MNP) has risen to 59.31 million, with Karnataka receiving the maximum number of 7.2 million requests till the end of July, according to official data. MNP allows users to switch operators while retaining their mobile numbers. "By the end of July 2012, about 59.31 million subscribers have submitted their requests to different service providers for porting their mobile number," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in a statement. Karnataka was followed by Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan where 5.7 million and 5.6 million subscribers opted for the service. So it is necessary to understand characteristics and reasons of customer for using mobile number portability. These papers examine the consumer awareness and preference about mobile number portability and try to find out factors that motivate use of MNP. Result suggest respondents are not only aware about the MNP but they also know the procedure of using MNP and network coverage, customer care, quality of service are the main factors to switch over another service provider. Keywords: Mobile number portability, customer loyalty, Mobile service provider customer awareness, preference, factor for MNP.

68.81 billion) by 2012 at a growth rate of over 26 per cent, and generate employment opportunities for about 10 million people during the same period.

Trends in the Industry Rise in Cloud Computing: As improved broadband capacity helps to overcome network bottlenecks, cloudbased offerings from telecom operators and ICT providers will continue to grow. One Nation, One License Policy: With this, there will be no difference between Local and STD Calls. This also means that there will be no roaming charges while in India. New telecom policy is likely to be declared in June 2012. Digitization of Cable TV: This will help the government to pursue India's broadband goals and thereby help to boost economic growth. Smart devices and Digital content: As 3G will be stabilized by 2012 which will fuel 4G, smart devices like tablet, smart phone, smart TV will become a media for video and digital content consumption. Bharti recently set the trend by launching 4G services in India. The growth of Indian telecommunication sector is highly driven by supportive government policies, emerging new technologies and changing consumer behavior. The fact that the industry has made stupendous growth in recent times is reflected in the statistics below:

INTRODUCTION India is today one of the largest telecom markets in the world, with an addition of more than 18 million subscribers every month. Telecom sector has continued to emerge as the prime engine of economic growth, contributing to nearly 2% of the Indian GDP. Indian telecommunication sector has undergone a major transformation through significant policy reforms, particularly under NTP 1999. Driven by various policy initiatives, the Indian telecom sector has achieved a phenomenal growth during the last few years and is poised to take a big leap in the future. The history of telephone services in India found its beginning when a 50-line manual telephone exchange was commissioned in Kolkata in the year 1882 in less than five years after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Today India has the world's second-largest mobile phone users with over 903 million as of January 2012. In recent years, the Telecom sector has been delivering strong returns on investments and steady subscriber additions. This growth has been built on wireless revolution. The industry is expected to reach a size of 344,921 Crore (US$

Key Statistics Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has revealed that the country's mobile subscriber base has increased from 893.84 million in December 2011 to 903.73 million in January 2012. Telecom operators added 9.88 million mobile subscribers in January 2012. The overall tele-density reached 77.57 per cent. Broadband subscriber base increased from 13.30 million at the end of December 2011 to 13.42 million at the end of January 2012. Industry experts believe that Smartphone segment would be the fastest-emerging division that would even outpace the overall handset market. The segment is anticipated to account for 29 per cent of the total handset volume with 97.2 million units by 2017, registering a CAGR of around 40 per cent. Third largest in the world and the second largest among the emerging economies of Asia, the Indian Telecommunication network has emerged as a leader time and again. Owing to this growth, a large number of multinational telecommunication leaders are pouring into the nation and expressing their interest to invest in the telecom industry in India.

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REVIEW OF LITERATURE Stefan BOhler, Ralf Dewenter & Justus Haucap (2005) examines the causes and effects of mobile number portability WMNP) and provides a survey of its implementation in Europe and Wefirst examine the competitive effects and the costs of introducing MNP. Stefan Buehler (2007) examines the consequences of introducing mobile number portability (MNP). As MNP allows consumers to keep their telephone number when switching providers, it reduces consumers’ switching costs. However, MNP may also cause consumer ignorance if telephone numbers no longer identify networks. Surabhi Jain (2010) with current scenario, if a customer is dissatisfied on the service by mobile operator either he has to reluctantly accept the service or switch to another service provider that he wishes. This paper highlights the importance of mobile number portability (MNP) which enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another. And requirements and compatibility for switching the network as mobile number is used for all business and family correspondence. This paper provides an in-depth description of how it affects the switching cost for consumer, it also include various flavors of call routing implementation, mobile messages (SMS, MMS) to a number once it has been ported. Despite of so many networks why user wants to switch to other network will be discussed in this paper. The research paper addressed various arguments related to the pros and cons of mobile number portability such as How Could MNP Disrupt Mobile Service Providers and how can Mobile Service Providers Benefit from MNP? A more pronounced effect of MNP is likely to be an increased focus on improving the customer experience. The research papers also give an insight into the disruptive effect of MNP on Indian Telecom Industry. Dong H. Shin (2007) investigate the effect of mobile number portability (MNP) on mobile subscribers in Korea by focusing on subscribers' perception and behavior related to MNP. Statistical analyses in this study reveal that subscribers perceive the switching barrier still as high, discouraging subscribers from switching carriers. While MNP lowered switching costs considerably, a significant level of switching costs still remains despite MNP. Carriers develop new subscriber lock-in strategies that make them stay with current carriers. In addition, there are hidden costs other than MNP that should burden subscribers with number portaging. Dr.V. Kumaravel (2009) Mobile number portability permits to a mobile subscriber to switch operators without changing his/her telephone number. This research paper describes that Impact of Mobile Number Portability on Mobile Users Switch over Behavior-Indian Mobile Market. Mobile number portability is now a crucial issue for mobile service providers. The most challenging job for the present day is that retain existing mobile customers. The mobile operator’s ability to retain its customer has a direct impact

ISSN: 2319-4421

on its profitability and effectiveness. Losing a customer will affect the mobile operators in terms of cost. Sanjeet Singh (2010) the paper evaluates the customer perception and expectation from MNP. “Mobile Number Portability” means the facility, which allows a subscriber to retain his mobile telephone number when he moves from one cellular service Provider to another irrespective of the mobile technology or from one cellular mobile technology to another of the same Access Provider. The mobile portability is the process to change the mobile company without changing your mobile number. The study mainly concentrates in north India and the companies, which are available and popular in the north India. Tülin Durukan (2009) Mobile number portability is defined as a system that allows consumers to change operator without a necessity of changing the mobile phone number. the aim of this study, the effects of the mobile number portability application are examined theoretically at first. Then, the relationships among “mobile number portability application satisfaction”, “perceived public illumination activities” and “knowledge (information level) about the application” with “the intention to change the operator (switching intention)” are scrutinized and the results are interpreted. Especially nowadays the global crisis is tried to overcome, taking into consideration of results, which is obtained from such scientific studies, is crucial to reach the aimed results of these kinds of consumer centric regulations. A K Talukder (2010) Growth in telecommunications population directly impacts the economy. Advanced economies have discovered that mobile number portability (MNP) helps the economy. Keeping this in mind, this paper proposes a technology solution for SMS data portability in MNP scenario. It provides experimental results to support such a claim. Indian Institute of Science. Dr. V. Mallikarjuna, Dr. G. Krishna Mohan, Dr. D. Pradeep Kumar, The present study employs discriminate function analysis and independent-samples t-test to identify the key differentiating factors that discriminate brand loyal customers from switchers among the mobile users in AP telecom circle of India. Satisfaction of customer with network access, call tariffs, customer care, network coverage and use of mobile for voice calls or MMS are found have strong discriminating power between the loyal customers and switchers. Mobile operators in India have to invest in network and technology to improve the coverage, connectivity and speed. Improvement in the quality of basic service – the voice calls will prove to be an excellent strategy for enhancing customer loyalty.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Objective:  To identify customer awareness about mobile number portability.  To examine customer preference towards mobile number portability.



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International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research (IJMSSR) Volume 1, No. 3, December 2012  To identify factors that motivate customer to switch over service provider.

Table No: 2 table showing currently used mobile service provider. CURRENTLY SERVICE RESPONDENTS % PROVIDER VODAFONE 44 42.30% AIRTEL 13 12.50% RELIANCE 12 11.50% IDEA 12 11.50% AIRCEL 6 5.80% OTHER 17 16.30% TOTAL 104 100%

Research Design: At initial stage, the research design is exploratory because the research statement was developed on the basis of the review of literature that was available on internet, in books and journals. After framing the research statement, the research design becomes descriptive as it now describe. Sampling Design: Here non-probability convenience sampling has been used. 100 customers were selected. The sampling unit comprises the respondents who are living in Surat city that covered different areas under study like Piplod, city light, Parle point, ghoddod road, athvalines, varachha, ring road. Duration of data collection was 15th December 2011 to 31st February 2012. Questionnaire was used for the purpose of the data collection as the research instrument. This Questionnaire consisted of closed ended questions including rating scales. Data Collection Method:  Primary data: Primary data was collected by direct from respondents with help of questionnaire.  Secondary data: Secondary data was collected from books, internet, newspaper & magazine etc. Research Tools Applied:  For analysis of data percentage method, frequencies tables, cross tab, graphs, Charts have been used with help of Microsoft excel.

FINDINGS

Interpretation:From the above table it can be interpreted that 44 respondents are currently using Vodafone, 13 using airtel, 12 reliance, 12 idea, 6 aircel, 17 are using other service provider. Table No: 3 table showing mobile connections prepaid or post-paid. MOBILE RESPONDENTS % CONNECTIONS PRE PAID 79 82.30% POST PAID 17 17.70% TOTAL 96 100% Interpretation:Above table indicate that 79 respondents have pre paid and 17 respondents are post paid service.

Table No: 1 table showing number of mobile service provider connection customer have. No. Of Mobile Connections None One Two > Two TO T AL

RESPONDENTS 6 58 16 16 96

ISSN: 2319-4421

Table No: 4 table showing time been using the service of service provider by respondents

% TIME DURATION MONTHS TOTAL

6 .2 5 % 6 0 .4 1 % 1 6 .6 7 % 1 6 .6 7 % 100%

Interpretation:From the above table 58 respondents are using single service provider and 16 respondents use dual services provider and 16 respondents use more than two service provider.

RESPONDENTS 14 37 45 96

% 14.6 38.5 46.9 100%

Interpretation:From the table it can be interpreted that 14 respondents are use services less than 3 months, 37 respondents are use services 3 to10 months, 45 respondents are use services more than 10 months.



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Table No: 5 table showing monthly expenses towards your subscriptions. MONTHLY RESPONDENTS % EXPENSES UP TO100 19 19.80% 100 TO 300 50 52.10% 300 TO 600 6 18.80% 600 TO 900 18 6.30% > 900 3 3.10% TOTAL 96 100%

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Interpretation:Above table indicate that 50 respondents are know how to shift from one services provider to another services provider , 37 respondents are not know how to shift from one services provider to another services provider and 09 respondents are somewhat know how to shift from one services provider to another services provider.

Table No: 8 table showing awareness about number portability AWARE ABOUT NUMBER RESPONDENTS PORTABILITY YES 69 NO 27 TOTAL 96

Interpretation:From the above chart it is found that 19 respondents monthly expenses is up to 100 Rs., 50 respondents monthly expenses is up to 100 to 300 Rs., 6 respondent up to 300 to 600 Rs.,18 respondents u[ to 600 to 900 Rs., 3 respondents more than 900 Rs. Table No: 6 table showing Satisfaction level towards current subscriber.

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% 71.90% 28.10% 100%

Interpretation:From the above table it is found that 69 respondents were aware about number portability and 27 were unaware. Table No: 9 table showing customer like to change their service provider.

Interpretation:From the above table it can be interpreted that 17 respondents are extremely satisfy, 48 respondents are good satisfy, 27 respondents are average satisfy, 4 respondents are bad satisfy.

LIKE TO CHANGE YES NO TOTAL

RESPONDENTS 38 58 96

& 39.60% 60.40% 100%

Interpretation:From the above table it can be interpreted that 38

Table No: 7 table showing customer awareness about how to shift from one service provider to another

respondents like to change current service provider and 58 people not want to change current service provider.

Table No: 10 table showing in future customer would like to change their service provider.




LIKE TO SWITCH OVER TO ANOTHER YES

RESPONDENTS

%

19

32.80%

NO

30

51.70%

MAY BE

9

15.50%

TOTAL

58

100%

ISSN: 2319-4421

 www.businessreviewindia.in/technology/software /telecom-industry--indias-success-story  www.medianama.com/2012/06/223-45-89mmobile number-portability-requests-in-india-inapril-2012/ gadgets.ndtv.com/telecom/news/over-50-millionopted-for-mobile-number-portability-till-may239941

Interpretation:According to this chart 45 respondents want to change current service provider. out of 45 respondents, 6 respondents want to change due to value added service problem, 10 respondents want to change due to quality problem,11 respondents want to change due to network problem , 8 respondents want to change due to extra bill and 10 respondents want to change due to respondents care service problem.

CONCLUSION Thus after all the above important discussion it can be conclusive that it is important to know customers opinion towards mobile number portability. From the survey found that some of respondents are average satisfied and overall the respondents are good satisfied with current service provider but there is huge competition in this industry. In this competition environment customers well aware about number portability and it procedure. Which shows popularly of number portability information in mind’s of customers. So, service provider should try to convert this threat in to opportunity by providing excellent service to their customers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY  Marketing research, G.C.Berry, 4th edition, in year 2000, published by Mc Graw Hill education private limited.  Marketing Management by Philip Kotler, 13th Edition, in year 2009, Published by Pearson Education, Inc.  www.vodafone.com  www.airtel.com  www.reliance.com  www.idea.com  www.aircel.com

 www.bsnl.com  timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/technews/teleco m/…/16336477.cms



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