Maha 5th in list of requests for no. portability

Mumbai: The number of requests for mobile number portability (MNP) nearly hit the 10 crore mark at the end of July this year.About80lakhof these were from Maharashtra, according to figures submitted to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).      Sincetheintroduction ofthe MNP provision in 2011, the country's service providers have received applicationsfrom 9.8croresubscribersfor porting of mobile number. In July this year alone, 22 lakh requests were made. "Acting on the requests, in most cases, subscribers' service provider was changed without changing their mobile number," a senior bureaucratsaid.      The Centre allowed shifting of a mobile number from one operator to another within a service area in January 2011. It expanded the provision and enabled shifting of a mobile number from one service area to another early this year.      The largest number of applications MNP was received in Karnataka (1.14 crore), followed by Rajasthan (95.8lakh),Andhra Pradesh (89 lakh), Gujarat (83.3 lakh) and Maharashtra (79.5 lakh). "Taken as a whole, there was no major exodus from any one service provider. A service provider that received a large number of MNP requests in one state got new subscribers in a neighbouring state," the bureaucratsaid.      According to Trai, private operators held 88.3% of the wireless market at the end of July, while state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited(BSNL) respectively held a share of 0.5% and 11.2%. "Both MTNL and BSNL will have to improve their performance in the wireless market," thebureaucratsaid.      The total wireless subscriber base rose from 87.3 crore in June to 87.5 crore in July. The share of urban wireless subscribers increased from 59.8% to 60.1% during the period, whereastheshareof ruralwirelesssubscribersdecreasedfrom 40.2% to 39.9%. Wireline subscriber base, meanwhile, declined from 2.97 crore at the end of June to 2.95 crore at the endof July.