How Operators Are Scuttling MNP

[ravi_patent 28]

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-info-tech/article2142949.ece

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/article2142947.ece

Contract ‘obligations' make cell operator switching difficult

BlackBerry services, a caller ring-back tune, lifetime validity cards, promotional STD or SMS packs could be why your Mobile Number Portability (MNP) request is getting rejected.

In some cases, operators are asking subscribers to deactivate national roaming for the MNP request to go through. And, subscribers are realising these unwritten ‘obligations' the hard way.

According to TRAI data, at the end of April, 8.54 million users had ported operators through the MNP route.

MNP was implemented nation-wide on January 20, and within a month the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) noticed the high rate of rejection and sought explanations from telecom cellular associations.

In a communication to operators on May 24, TRAI specified that rejections should be on the basis of ‘subsisting contractual obligations', post-paid connections with bundled handsets, and corporate connections. It also said that rejections should not be made on the basis of outstanding billed amounts less than Rs 10.

However, online forums are replete with complaints about MNP requests getting rejected because of ‘contractual obligations', across service providers, beyond those stipulated by TRAI.

Business Line verified with customer care of multiple operators to find that several value-added services needed to be de-activated for the porting request to go through. Often, subscribers end up having to apply for a second porting code since each porting code, which costs Rs 19 to generate, is valid for 15 days. “We are seized of the matter and are repeatedly telling the operators to honour all valid requests for MNP. Operators cannot reject MNP requests for reasons other than those notified by TRAI. We will take further action if required,” a top TRAI official said.

RCom's President Corporate & Wireless, Customer Service, Mr Anurag Prashar, said, “While RCom had been diligently following the TRAI guidelines, we have complained to the regulator against the operators who indulge in unfair practices to prevent their subscribers from porting out.”

An Idea Cellular spokesperson said, “Contractual obligations have been defined by TRAI. Any instance of rejection of a porting request is always within the parameters laid down by TRAI.” Vodafone and Bharti Airtel did not comment.

MNP implementation has been far from smooth in the country since its launch. Mr R.K. Verma, President of Chandigarh Telecom District Telephone Subscribers Association (CTSA), said, “We have got 400-500 written complaints with regards to MNP. TRAI officials have told us that rejection rate with regard to MNP is around 25 per cent.”

Mumbai, June 28:

‘Porting' leaves subscriber neither here nor there

“I was thinking to port my number, but after seeing these complaints from so many people from different places I think it's better to stay with the current network and better to go for new connection by buying new SIM,” says a June 26 posting on www.consumercourt.in.

After unsuccessful attempts to exit a network using mobile number portability (MNP), several subscribers seem to have abandoned the idea of porting, with some even willing to sacrifice their old numbers and go in for an entirely new connection, as evident from subscriber posts on online forums.

The grounds on which subscriber requests are being rejected by operators range from TRAI-specified criteria — such as unpaid billed amount of Rs 10 or above, post-paid connection with handset-bundled offers, corporate connections — to other “contractual obligations” such as lifetime validity cards, BlackBerry services, and roaming.

Some service providers say that they are rejecting requests only in adherence to TRAI's guidelines, even as their customer care teams reveal otherwise, as Business Line found out.

What is also prompting subscribers to abstain from porting out is the fear of being inconvenienced by the incumbent service provider. According to a subscriber's online complaint, after porting out of his network, callers on his previous network were unable to reach him on his old number, and were instead greeted with a message that the number was switched off.

Here is another complaint from a subscriber, who had to go through multiple interactions with his service provider over a month before giving up: “I was really fed up with the process of MNP. …all the operators are playing the same game. None of them are releasing their consumers to take the benefits of MNP. …some serious action must be taken or this MNP service needs to be revoked by the government.”

The above mentioned subscriber also claims to have rid himself of the old number and moved to a network of choice.

Consumer Forums Abuzz

Mr R.K. Verma, President of Chandigarh Telecom District Telephone Subscribers Association, said, “We have got around 400 to 500 written complaints with regard to MNP. TRAI officials have told us that rejection rate with regard to MNP is around 25 per cent.”

A Chennai-based consumer group, Consumer Association of India (CAI), has received multiple complaints on MNP implementation from subscribers, and even helped a few consumers successfully resolve their issues.

Mr G. Rajan, Secretary General, CAI, said, “Mainly the problem is that the subscriber, after porting out, is not clear on the status whereby he is left neither with the previous service provider nor the new one. The current service provider is supposed to make sure that the user is given full details on the modalities, including the time required for the change to happen.”

CAI Trustee, Ms Nirmala Desikan, is a member of a TRAI consulting committee. Mr Rajan noted that suggestions would be made to TRAI on the basis of feedback from consumers. Mr J.S. Sarma, Chairman, TRAI, could not be reached for comment.

Mr Rajan acknowledged that there was need for “better communication by the service provider to the subscriber to avoid such confusion”.

According to a senior professional from the telecom industry, the cost of acquisition of subscribers is too high for incumbent operators to let go of, especially the high-value post-paid ones, “without a fight”.

But this doesn't seem to be a fair fight, shrouded as it is in the grey confines of ‘contractual obligations'. The stated purpose of MNP — customer empowerment — stands defeated.

[csmart 472]

reliance is rejecting if you did not port out on your first code. they will not allow you do it till 90 days are passed. they get you sign document that stating you are not willing to port and after that you have to wait for 90 days.

[raccoon 53]

On what basis can they make you sign such a document? What can they do if you don't?

[city02 63]

chirag,

i hate customer care as much as any other subscriber but if anyone MADE you sign anything, its probably limited to the particular branch or office where he is from and not a corporate policy to do something illegal nationwide...

[kshah 452]

Indian consumer is equally at fault. Many of us were waiting to port out - no operator specific comment. Majority of Rimwebian owns more than one connection. How many really ported atleast one number?

We are the kind of people who do not like to do experiments.

There may be some failures on porting but over all porting is hessle free.

[csmart 472]

i had given port request due to network problem. then it sorted out and did not opt for it. reliance call ask that they need sign on document stating that i am not willing to port my number without any pressure from rcom.

my no is in name of my brother and address is of different office. they wen their and i was not aware. my bro signed without consulting me. further i realised this, only when i again send port request and got call from reliance stating i've sign document and cannot port for 90 days. i aksed to send fax of papers that i signed but never received. anyway i am still struggling with reliance network, and there are other issues that are stopping me in porting out.

like my entire staff is on RCDMA and its the cheapest as far is know. i thought of Tata Docomo as their tariff somewhat similar to RCOM. but reviews are not gr8. lets see.

[ni0987 179]

friends, i ported out of idea network about four manths back. it's a prepaid number. idea didn't object (except the last farewell call ;-). i moved to airtel.

last month i moved out of airtel and currently using vodafone. while attempting to generate my UPC code second time, i had send sms to 1900 three times. not sure if airtel was blocking SMSes towards 1900. anyway, after getting my UPC code, airtel couldn't stop me. migration from airtel to vodafone was quite smooth, approx six hours of blackout from noon till midnight. i believe airtel and vodafone share good understanding levels towards each other.

mnp hasn't been a bad experience for me.

one more thing, i have a secondary MTS number which always comes to my rescue and i think, i'll never leave MTS.

[Arun 795]

TRAI teams to conduct check on MNP requests

2 Jul, 2011, 04.42AM IST - The Economic Times

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will send out teams to conduct check on the procedure followed by top mobile phone companies while dealing with mobile number portability (MNP) requests, an official told ET.

The Trai is conducting these checks as the number of MNP rejections has not declined. The MNP allows subscribers to retain their mobile phone number but switch their operator. "We were getting complaints (about porting requests being rejected) and the number of rejections was not reducing even after taking steps," a Trai official said on the condition of anonymity.

The official added that letters were sent on Friday to all major mobile operators informing about the checks and seeking permission to access systems used for port-ins and port-outs. More than a month ago, Trai had directed all telcos not to reject request if a customer's outstanding due is less than Rs 10. Any amount under Rs 10 will be included in the customer's next bill without any penalty.

Earlier, Trai noted that certain requests were rejected by telcos for nonpayment of outstanding bills and non-completion of 90 days from the date of activation of mobile number. The sector regulator added that the service provider could reject a request only if a subscriber has not complied with contractual terms of a corporate connection and post-paid connection with a bundled handset. Certain requests were also being rejected as subscribers had quoted incorrect Unique Porting Codes, a number given to a subscriber who wishes to change his operator.

The government introduced this service this January to provide more power to consumers and increase healthy competition among the 14 service providers in the country including Bharti Airtel , Vodafone and Reliance Communications.

[gyanesh 0]

Can any body guide me?

I am trying to port out from R-GSM to voda. My first request was rejected by Reliance due to some reason. Then I had to escalate the case to R-Nodal officer. After the matter being resolved, I am now unable to get UPC code and even the Nodal team is clueless. They say the matter has been resolved and they have ported -out the number and I should contact to Voda. While the number is active in Reliance and I can make/receive calls as well as SMSs. The Voda SIM card is in non-registered state. The first UPC has expired on 11/July/2011.

[me_saket 73]

it's amazing case with me

MY MNP request to chage existing docomo to tata indicom is not process by MCH?

I am surprised that both belong to tata still request not processed.

it's on verge of rejection.

[lostjournal 7]

Reading all this - I am scared. I am using Airtel ( Thankfully migrated from corporate postpaid to prepaid).

After a series of problems with Airtel's billing and unfair means of charging money I sent a port-out request.

That was some 2 months back. But I chose to stick to it for a while thinking I might change to postpaid later.

Eventually I again requested for UPC a couple of days back. Got the porting code. Went to a Uninor dealer.

Submitted documents. Got an SMS saying Uninor got the port in request.

Now I am wondering - Have I crossed the port out rejection period ( having got the Uninor's message that porting is in progress)?

Please somebody reply.

[mauk 0]

Am trying to move to Airtel from Tata DOCOMO.

The request got rejected saying that "Incorrect UPC has been submitted".

I have verified in the Airtel Showroom and the correct UPC was sent by the Airtel Guys.

Probably, this is one more way the Telcos are using to avoid customers porting out.

[lostjournal 7]

Am trying to move to Airtel from Tata DOCOMO.

The request got rejected saying that "Incorrect UPC has been submitted".

I have verified in the Airtel Showroom and the correct UPC was sent by the Airtel Guys.

Probably, this is one more way the Telcos are using to avoid customers porting out.

How do you get to know if your request was rejected? I mean 4th day, 5th day - when?

In my case I have got a message - Your port in request has been received. Thank you for choosing Uninor.

[srk006 21]

My experience of porting is not great the second time. I gave request at Web World to port out from BSNL to RGSM. Paid Rs.50 for SIM. Waited for 2 weeks !! Received no SMS. Web world people have no clue... *333 tells to contact web world...

Rs.50 gone down the drain... !!

[commonman 228]

most of those i know who tried MNP could not get it successfully and dumped their old no. and took a new no. rather than trying to go through the hassles.

[aalok 442]

My experience of porting is not great the second time. I gave request at Web World to port out from BSNL to RGSM. Paid Rs. 50 for SIM. Waited for 2 weeks !! Received no SMS. Web world people have no clue... *333 tells to contact web world...

Rs. 50 gone down the drain... !!

get in touch with the nodal officer of r-com of your circle.. write a mail to them.. your matter should be resolved..

for the list of nodal officers of r-com, please use search, as parin bhai has posted it somewhere in the forum itself..

[dr.faramroze 703]

I must be the first one to reswap my port-out on RIMweb. Influenced by friends, got port-out from Tata Docomo to Bsnl in March 2011, used 3G bsnl for 89 days. BSNL 3G was mindblowing, but very poor network in Mumbai roaming on Mtnl. Changed back to Tata Docomo and I am happy again.

Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

[lostjournal 7]

My first porting experience seems to be good. Today got a message that tomorrow between 10 and 12 there won't be any services.

AIRTEL - I hate you. Uninor - Here I come.