TRAI data: Over 60 lakh requests for Mobile Number Portability received in March

Key Highlights

• MNP reuqests rise to 6.03 million in March.
• Total MNP requests since 2010 rise to 27.27 crore.
• Karnataka, highest MNP requests of 2.99 crore.

The month of March saw 60.3 lakh new requests for change of telecom operators or commonly known as Mobile Number Portability (MNP).

As on March 31, total MNP requests since 2010 were at 27.27 crore as compared to the previous month 26.63 crore in February, as per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data on Friday.

“Now, the wireless telephone subscribers can retain their mobile numbers when they relocate from one service area to another,” TRAI said.

The state with the highest MNP requests in India was Karnata at 2.99 crore followed by Andhra Pradesh with 2.46 crore.

Image Source: TRAI

"In MNP Zone-II (Southern and Eastern India), the highest number of requests till date have been received in Karnataka (about 29.91 million) followed by Andhra Pradesh (about 24.64 million)," TRAI said.

The Mukesh Ambani backed Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd garnered 9.29% market share creating the fourth largest telecom operator in the country.

Also Read: Reliance Jio added 58 lakh subscribers in March; fourth largest telecom in India

Jio garnered 10.86 crore customers as on March 31 and had added 58 lakh new subscribers in one month.

Bharti Airtel still remained India’s telecom major with 27.3 crore wireless subscribers in March. It added over 29 lakh new subscribers.

Vodafone added 1,834,391 taking its total subscriber base to 20.9 crore.

While Idea Cellular added 20.99 lakh subscribers in the month, taking its total subscriber base to 19.5 crore.

However subscriber base of small time players were seen to decrease from its previous month.

Tata Docomo that had a 4.40% market share dropped to 4.19% in March. Its subscriber base dropped 22,30,840  to 4.8 crore.

Similarly Aircel that had a market share of 7.82% in February dropped to 7.77% in March declining 15,374 to 90,899,868 (9crore).