Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

DiscussionThe key insights from the study of consumers perceptions towards MNP are discussed in the following.These insights are of great value to the marketers as they can frame their marketing strategies on the basisof these results in order to target consumers.There is a very high level of awareness of MNP among students. The main source of awareness wasnewspapers, and to a lesser extent internet and television. However, even with MNP, at 95% confidencelevel, only 15.6%-27.4% of students are considering switching service providers, while 72.6%-84.4% ofstudents are not considering switching service providers. In fact, as had been suggested by many experts,it is the post-paid customers that are utilising MNP.The main reasons for wanting to switch were related to better features offered by competitors, no newschemes or upgradation of existing plan, costly value-added services, improper customer service, high callrates, high internet charges, poor network coverage, high SMS charges, frequent network problems, voicequality issues, and hidden charges, i.e. the Network/Technical Problems, High Charges, and HiddenCharges & Improper Service factors. On the other hand, the main reasons for not wanting to switch wererelated to satisfaction with current service provider, brand loyalty, no added benefits, same service qualityacross service providers, and same user group plan across service providers, i.e. the Brand Loyalty and NoPerceived Differences/Benefits factors. This suggests that service providers are generally seen to offergood quality of service, with not much difference between them. In fact, users of Vodaphone and Airtelwere very satisfied with the quality of service.Thus, the introduction of MNP has increased competition to some extent. Service providers should keepimproving the quality of their service and provide more flexible plans in order to retain their customers,especially if competitors are continuously improving their services. This especially applies to tariffs - forexample, when Tata Docomo came out with call charges of ―one paisa per second,‖ other serviceproviders had to modify their plans (in fact, MTNL subsequently offered a plan with ―half-a-paisa persecond‖). The preferred service providers to switch to were Airtel and Vodaphone, because of theirsuperior service quality and flexible plans.Thus, MNP has made the student segment more price- and quality-sensitive. As a result, service providersmust offer better service at reduced prices in order to retain and expand its customer base. Overall,however, MNP implementation has a limited impact on the industry churn rate and profitability ofoperators. MNP was basically a hype, because all the service providers offer virtually the same quality ofservice.The study has some limitations. The sample size used for the study was relatively small. Also, therespondents were students from professional colleges in Bangalore. Thus, the results of the study may notbe generalisable to the all-India level.There is vast scope for further investigation in the same area. The study can be extended to examining theimpact of MNP on other segments, and in different geographical regions. Also, further research canaddress the interaction of MNP with other factors affecting brand-switching between mobile telephonyservice providers.ReferencesBhatt, M.V. (2008), ―A Study of Mobile Phone Usage among the Post-Graduate Students.‖ Indian Journalof Marketing, 38(4).Debnath, R.M. and Shankar, R. (2008), "Benchmarking telecommunication service in India: Anapplication of data envelopment analysis", Benchmarking: An International Journal, 15(5), pp.584 – 598.