Less than 5 percent of mobile subscribers may port

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Less than 5 percent of mobile subscribers may port
Bangalore: Less than five percent of the total mobile subscriber base may port in the first five years. Syniverse Technologies and Telcordia Technologies, which have been given licenses to set up MNP (Mobile Number Portability) in India, have told TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) that around 2 to 4.3 percent of the total mobile subscriber base may opt for portability. Business Line reported that around 25-50 million subscribers are likely to change their operators and retain their mobile number by 2013. TRAI has pointed out that though MNP has been implemented in more than 50 countries, only 154 million people had ported their numbers by January 2008, which equals to only four percent of global mobile subscribers and 13 percent of those in countries that have launched MNP. The country's telecom watchdog has sought the views of the industry stakeholders on mobile number portability (MNP) charges that will help decide what service providers and a customer should pay for switching operators. MNP once implemented will allow subscribers to retain their existing mobile number when they switch from one service provider to another or from one technology to another of the same service provider. In India, already 40 percent of mobile users change their operators every year without worrying too much about their phone number. This could be a reason for the minimal impact of MNP. The other reason could be the life-time pre-paid cards issued by most operators, which offers low-cost connectivity to subscribers and, at the same time, locks them on their network. "However, the other argument could be that if the porting charge is minimal or if the recipient operator is willing to absorb the porting charge, a substantial number of these subscribers may opt for porting of their mobile numbers," said TRAI.