Telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have reportedly expressed their disagreement with Reliance Jio’s suggestion to disregard postpaid users’ outstanding dues of up to Rs 100 during the porting process. According to a report in Financial Express, Reliance Jio, owned by Reliance Industries, put forth this proposal during an open house discussion on ‘Draft Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Ninth Amendment) Regulations, 2023’ with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
What the current MNP rules are
At present, telecom companies can halt the mobile number portability process for a postpaid user if their outstanding dues exceed Rs 10. However, Trai’s guidelines state that if the dues are less than Rs 10, telecom operators should overlook them and allow a smooth port out.
What is Reliance Jio proposing and Airtel and Vodafone Idea opposing
Airtel and Vodafone Idea argue that raising the threshold from Rs 10 to Rs 100 would negatively impact their revenues and lead to an increase in bad debts from customers who are porting out. On the other hand, Jio believes that a higher Non-Payment Disconnection (NPD) threshold would benefit consumers as the current process is complex and time-consuming.
Udai Kumar Srivastava, President at Reliance Jio, told FE, “The minimum charge for the postpaid connection is about Rs 200. The NPD threshold of Rs 10 is a small sum. We propose that it should be raised to at least Rs 100. Our analysis shows that this could prevent about 35% of disconnections.”
NPD is a process where the donor operator, the network the consumer is leaving, collects dues from a postpaid customer.
Manoj Mishra, Vice President, Regulatory at Bharti Airtel, raised concern that this could potential lead to increase in bad debt. He told the publication, “This industry has one of the lowest Average Revenue Per User (Arpu) in the world. How can we consider raising the amount to Rs 100 when the industry Arpu is just Rs 175?” He added that Airtel does not agree with Jio’s suggestion.
Ajay Mehta, Vice President, Trai Policy and Operations at Vodafone Idea, suggested, “If the recipient operator is gaining business, it should pay the amount owed by the customer to the donor operator. Why should the donor operator suffer the loss?”
What Trai said
Trai is expected to conduct a separate consultation on the subject before reaching any conclusion. Anil Kumar Lahoti, Chairman, Trai, said, “We have received some useful inputs on the suggestions related to MNP, and we will follow the due process.”
In relation to the amendment to MNP, the government is considering a rule that a mobile connection that has undergone SIM replacement, SIM swap, or upgradation should not be allowed to undergo the process for 10 days. This move is intended to prevent SIM-swap frauds, and telecom operators are in agreement with the government’s initiative.
What the current MNP rules are
At present, telecom companies can halt the mobile number portability process for a postpaid user if their outstanding dues exceed Rs 10. However, Trai’s guidelines state that if the dues are less than Rs 10, telecom operators should overlook them and allow a smooth port out.
What is Reliance Jio proposing and Airtel and Vodafone Idea opposing
Airtel and Vodafone Idea argue that raising the threshold from Rs 10 to Rs 100 would negatively impact their revenues and lead to an increase in bad debts from customers who are porting out. On the other hand, Jio believes that a higher Non-Payment Disconnection (NPD) threshold would benefit consumers as the current process is complex and time-consuming.
Udai Kumar Srivastava, President at Reliance Jio, told FE, “The minimum charge for the postpaid connection is about Rs 200. The NPD threshold of Rs 10 is a small sum. We propose that it should be raised to at least Rs 100. Our analysis shows that this could prevent about 35% of disconnections.”
NPD is a process where the donor operator, the network the consumer is leaving, collects dues from a postpaid customer.
Manoj Mishra, Vice President, Regulatory at Bharti Airtel, raised concern that this could potential lead to increase in bad debt. He told the publication, “This industry has one of the lowest Average Revenue Per User (Arpu) in the world. How can we consider raising the amount to Rs 100 when the industry Arpu is just Rs 175?” He added that Airtel does not agree with Jio’s suggestion.
Ajay Mehta, Vice President, Trai Policy and Operations at Vodafone Idea, suggested, “If the recipient operator is gaining business, it should pay the amount owed by the customer to the donor operator. Why should the donor operator suffer the loss?”
What Trai said
Trai is expected to conduct a separate consultation on the subject before reaching any conclusion. Anil Kumar Lahoti, Chairman, Trai, said, “We have received some useful inputs on the suggestions related to MNP, and we will follow the due process.”
In relation to the amendment to MNP, the government is considering a rule that a mobile connection that has undergone SIM replacement, SIM swap, or upgradation should not be allowed to undergo the process for 10 days. This move is intended to prevent SIM-swap frauds, and telecom operators are in agreement with the government’s initiative.