This is a senseless exercise carried out by the Telephone regulatory Authority of India which allows subscribers to change their mobile companies while retaining the same number. While the Indian telecom market has been envied as being one of the largest in the world due to the huge population, the average income from subscribers is relatively less. Telecom infrastructure is the biggest cost for a telecom firm while actually providing the service is free. With multiple players in the telecom business the rates have plummeted however entering the telecom business and getting licenses for starting the business as well as introducing new technologies is difficult. The lobbying and cartel forming has led to the largest 2G spectrum telecom scam in India.
To distract the dim witted and myopic Indian people, the Indian telecom authority came up with the number portability scheme. Incidentally this scheme is ridiculous as only those subscribers receiving bad service would be inclined to shift to a different operator. However with service across all operators ranging from bad to horrible, and those already receiving horrible service would not wait for this scheme to shift to a bad operator.
All the same this scheme has been implemented and incidentally the telecom operators offering the worst service have advertised the most to gain subscribers who would be fooled by the ads and jingles these firms clog the media and bombard the audiences with. Idea and Docomo are the two operators which have the worst service and advertise the most.
Those gullible subscribers who wanted to change using portability scheme, have a complicated procedure to go through. Clearing their dues with the existing operator, getting a No Objection Certificate from the operator then getting a mobile code which can be given to the new operator and then the final shift. Most of these functions are carried out by different offices of the telecom firms and subscribers have to line up in serpentine queues to get any of this done. Why would someone possibly go through this excruciating process just to keep their phone number?
And then for those that did, the process is not co ordinated, leading to delays and more frustration as shows below in the article by the Times of India
PHONEY CONNECTION
‘Tech goof-ups’ plague number portability
Chittaranjan Tembhekar TNN
Mumbai: Santa Cruz (E) resident Baboo Sri Sunder was elated when he heard that you can retain your cell number after changing the telecom operator, but his enthusiasm did not last for long.
More than three weeks after he applied for a change, Sunder failed to get the new connection as the old operator did not release him ‘technically’ even though he had cleared his bills.
Achintya Mukherjee of the Bombay Telephone Users’ Association (BTUA) said hundreds of Mumbaikars who had applied for the switchover under the number portability scheme faced a ‘‘technical goof-up’’ which failed to accept the unique porting code (UPC) of the old company with the new company. Some people felt it was a ploy by donor companies to create hurdles for consumers to switch over within the stipulated five working days.
“Once taken from the donor company, the UPC code lasts for a few days. If it is not accepted in the system of the new operator, consumers have to get it again and reapply, putting them to hardship and leading to frustration,” said Mukherjee.
BTUA has taken up the issue with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
Sunder, personal assistant to Abraham Mathai, chairman, State Minorities Commission, said he applied for a UPC code to Loop Mobile, but instead of releasing him for the new operator to commence the service, he got calls requesting him to retain the connection, with promises of improved services and sops.
Sunder applied for an Idea
connection but the operator was unable to accept him due to a ‘technical’ problem. “My code expired thrice and each time I had to apply again. What nonsense is this,” he asked.
Loop and Idea officials refused to comment.
Anil Prakash, president, Telecom Users’ Group of India, confirmed that there were thousands of complaints from across the country. “We have requested TRAI to ascertain if they are man-made or genuine. TRAI has decided to set up call centres for consumers to register such complaints.”
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