Indian telecom operator Idea Cellular has picked up the most subscribers from other companies through the mobile number portability facility launched by the government a few months ago.
In a statement, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal told the Indian Parliament that Idea Cellular had gained 1.6 million users as of Nov. 15. Idea was followed by Vodafone, and Airtel, which gained 1.2 million and 290,000 million users, respectively.
Airtel, Idea, Loop, Reliance Communications and Vodafone have been issued show-cause notices for failing to honor porting requests, said Sibal, adding that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is considering legal action against the firms for alleged violations of MNP provisions.
“The replies received from the service providers have been examined, and in the cases where TRAI concluded that the service providers have violated the provisions of MNP regulations and directions, it is in the process of taking legal action,” he said.
About 41,000 telecom subscribers filed complaints about poor network quality or problems with other services with the Department of Telecom and TRAI against some telecom operators in the first half of 2011-12, said Milind Deora, India’s junior minister for telecommunications. Most of the complaints received by the telecom department were against state-run MTNL (24,000 complaints) and BSNL (11,000 complaints), Deora said.
