Thailand: Number portability impact minimal

Bangkok Post | December 21, 2010 | Srisamorn Phoosuphanusorn
Mobile number portability (MNP) has had a limited impact on local telecom operators as the market is dominated by prepaid users, says the chief of the clearing house the industry has set up to offer the service.
Only 2,400 customers made MNP requests to change networks in the first 10 days after the soft launch on Dec 5, even though the system could handle up to 500 numbers per day at 25 designated service locations in Bangkok, said Premon Pinskul.
Thailand has 69 million mobile phone subscribers, 91% of whom are prepaid users.
Initially, each of the five private and state telecom firms – AIS, DTAC, True Move, TOT and CAT Telecom – are limiting MNP to 100 customers per day at five locations in Bangkok.
MNP allows customers to retain their numbers when changing from one network operator to another. They must stay with the new operator for at least three months before making another change.
Customers are charged 99 baht to transfer their old number to a new operator and the switch should be completed within three working days.
Mr Premon said the impact of MNP in Thailand was likely to be limited due to the dominant prepaid nature of the market and the high churn rate, the rate at which people change operators over a specific period of time.
“Demand in the first 10 days indicates that keeping numbers is no longer the top priority as most local customers already have two SIM cards of different network operators to obtain benefits from tariff promotions,” said Mr Premon, who is also the deputy chief financial officer of DTAC.
But he acknowledged that competition would intensify on the postpaid front, which accounts for only 9% of the 69 million subscribers but produces much higher revenue per user and margins than prepaid.
More than 50% of the 2,400 requests so far have been from postpaid subscribers. The tiny Hutch network recorded the highest number of customers who wanted to change.
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