Mobile number portability benefited Idea the most; 17 million users added in 5 years

Mobile number portability, which lets users change their service providers without changing their numbers, has clearly favored Idea Cellular the most. Idea has managed to pull almost as many subscribers as the combined number of Vodafone and Airtel.

As per the Kotak Institutional Equities report, ever since MNP started in January 2011, Idea has gained 17 million users on a net basis, in comparison to 11.1 million for Vodafone and 7.3 million for Airtel.

Talking of the biggest losers, Reliance Communications lost a net 10.8 million subscribers, while Aircel lost 6.6 million and Tata Teleservices lost 6.4 million subscribers, thanks to the tough competition.

The competition between the service providers is expected to intensify when Reliance Jio launches 4G services.

Another major reason for porting within the top providers are the differences in their hi-speed 3G or 4G data networks.

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