Surge in Porting Requests in December 2024
Mobile Number Portability (MNP) requests saw a significant surge in December 2024, highlighting robust churn in India’s mobile sector. In the month of December alone, 13.85 million subscribers submitted porting requests to switch their mobile service provider while retaining their number.
This is one of the highest monthly MNP volumes on record, indicating that roughly 1.2% of India’s mobile users sought a new carrier in just one month. The cumulative number of MNP requests processed since the feature’s inception reached a staggering 1,079.19 million by the end of December 2024.
In other words, over 1.079 billion porting requests have been made in India over the past decade – a figure nearly equal to the total wireless subscriber base, underscoring how commonplace switching has become in a competitive market.
To put December’s spike in perspective, the cumulative porting requests were 1,065.35 million at the end of November 2024, rising to 1,079.19 million by end-December.
The net addition of 13.85 million porting requests in one month is well above the usual monthly averages. This jump could be due to year-end plan changes or network issues prompting users to change operators. Notably, MNP has been available in India since 2010-2011 (first launched within Haryana circle in Nov 2010, then nationwide by Jan 2011, and extended to inter-circle portability by mid-2015).
The service empowers users to change providers freely, which December’s data shows they are doing in droves.
Zone-Wise Portability Patterns
TRAI categorizes MNP requests into two zones: Zone-I (Northern & Western India) and Zone-II (Southern & Eastern India). In December 2024, Zone-I accounted for 7.78 million porting requests, while Zone-II contributed 6.07 million.
The higher share of Zone-I suggests slightly more churn in the northern and western circles, though both zones saw heavy activity. The table below breaks down MNP requests by zone and the cumulative totals:
| Category | New MNP Requests in Dec 2024 | Cumulative MNP Requests (since 2011) |
| Zone-I (N & W) | 7.78 million | 583.96 million |
| Zone-II (S & E) | 6.07 million | 495.23 million |
| Total | 13.85 million | 1,079.19 million |
By the end of December, Zone-I had about 583.96 million cumulative porting requests while Zone-II had 495.23 million.
The near-equal split (52% vs 48%) indicates that mobile users across both urbanized and less urbanized regions are actively porting. Zone-I includes major markets like Delhi, Maharashtra, and UP, whereas Zone-II covers large states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and West Bengal.
State Leaders in Portability
Drilling down further, certain service areas (telecom circles) stand out for having the highest number of MNP requests to date. In Zone-I, Uttar Pradesh (East) has seen the most cumulative porting activity – about 106.35 million requests till date – followed by Maharashtra with around 87.99 million.
This means UP-East alone accounts for nearly 10% of all porting requests in India, a testament to its large subscriber base and possibly higher incidence of users switching providers, perhaps due to network quality issues or competitive pricing. In Zone-II, Madhya Pradesh leads with approximately 84.71 million requests, followed by Karnataka at 71.94 million.
Other circles with high porting figures include Andhra Pradesh (~70.86m), Rajasthan (~72.5m), Gujarat (~73.42m), and Tamil Nadu (~67.56m). Even smaller circles like Northeast (2.48m) and Jammu & Kashmir (3.03m) see steady MNP activity, though on a much smaller scale.
The dominance of states like UP-East, Maharashtra, MP, and Karnataka in MNP volumes can be attributed to their large population of mobile users. However, it may also reflect service disparities – for instance, if a particular operator has poorer coverage or limited 4G/5G services in a region, customers there may be more inclined to port out. UP-East’s top rank could be due to intense competition among operators in that circle and customers frequently switching to get better deals or connectivity.
Why Are Millions Switching?
Several factors are driving this high demand for portability. Network quality and coverage remain primary reasons – users often switch from an operator with frequent call drops or slow data to one with better service in their area. In late 2024, the ongoing rollout of 5G services by Jio and Airtel may have spurred customers of other carriers (especially Vodafone Idea and BSNL, which lag in 4G/5G) to port out in order to access faster networks.
Additionally, tariff changes can prompt churn; December followed a period of tariff hikes and plan revisions by major telcos, leading cost-sensitive users to seek better value elsewhere. The data indeed shows that while Jio and Airtel gained subscribers in December, Vodafone Idea lost over 1.7 million users and BSNL’s base shrank by ~0.32 million – suggesting many of those losses came via MNP. These customers likely ported to the private incumbents offering more attractive packages or network reliability.
Another factor is the expiry of promotional offers. Telecom companies often provide introductory discounts or bundled content (data, OTT apps, etc.) for a limited period. Once those end, some customers switch to a rival provider offering a new deal. Moreover, India’s dual-SIM phenomenon means users can easily juggle two networks; MNP allows them to drop the secondary SIM or swap primary providers without changing their number, facilitating fluid movement.
Implications for Operators and Policy
The elevated MNP figures signify an intensely competitive market where customer retention is as crucial as acquisition. Telecom operators are under pressure to continuously improve service quality and customer satisfaction to reduce churn. High port-out numbers for a provider like Vodafone Idea indicate customer dissatisfaction that rivals are exploiting. For Jio and Airtel, the influx of port-in customers (many likely coming from Vi or BSNL) is an opportunity to increase their market share, but also a challenge to seamlessly onboard and serve these new users.
From a regulatory standpoint, the ease of porting is a success – the MNP process in India is relatively quick and user-friendly due to TRAI’s regulations, which is evident from the huge volumes. Policymakers, however, might view excessive churn as a sign of underlying issues, such as pricing instability or unmet quality benchmarks. They may push initiatives like stricter quality of service norms or encourage struggling operators to share networks, in order to stabilize customer experience across the board. Additionally, the data could inform spectrum policy – if certain regions (like UP-East or MP) consistently see high switching, regulators might investigate if spectrum holdings or network rollout in those areas are adequate.
In summary, December 2024’s MNP surge underscores a dynamic mobile telecom environment in India. With over 13.8 million people changing providers in one month, it sends a clear message to operators: competitive pricing, superior network coverage, and innovative services are key to retaining subscribers in the face of easy portability. The trend empowers consumers but also forces telcos to stay on their toes in delivering value.