Though over 20 million new subscribers were added up by wireless telecom service providers during the June 2012 quarter, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy has warned that the mobile number portability (MNP) scheme could impact new additions in the coming years.
MNP option
The MNP option, which enables users to carry their phone number from one operator to the other, was rolled out in January 2011, and quickly reached over 50 million requests by the end of June 2012.
“We expect wireless service providers to add a significantly lower number of additions during 2012-13, around 92 million. As a result, the growth in subscriber base in 2012-13 is expected to slow down, growing only by 9.5 per cent,” said the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, in its latest monthly review.
Lower additions
“The lower subscriber additions would be partly on account of the implementation of the MNP scheme. As we expect the number of subscribers opting for MNP to rise further in the coming months, it would, in turn, impact new subscriber additions,” the CMIE said. in its report.
Keywords: mobile number portability scheme
