Irate over poor network and call drops, Vodafone Idea subscribers choose to port to Jio

A shadow of apathy looms over Vodafone Idea. The once soaring network service provider is either facing heavy penalties, thanks to AGR issues and penalties over call drops, or is facing a loss of valuable and trusted customers, thereby bringing their business to a sorry state. So far, it has been reported that Vodafone Idea pays the highest penalty for call drops among the three top preferred operators. It was known that a total penalty of around Rs 3.2 crore was imposed on telecom operators for call drops between September 2018 and June 2019, with more than half of it being shelled out by Vodafone Idea Ltd.

A quick run on consumer complaints will also show that several distressed subscribers of Vodafone Idea are ranting about the poor network quality or call drops or even billing faults.

TRAI in its release had said that around mobile number porting increased by 20.6% in November 2019 with 4.91 million subscribers applying for a change as compared to 4.07 million porting requests reported in October 2019. This is exactly the time when AGR issues came up and Vodafone Idea was pressed with paying up the dues that ran into many 1000 crore rupees.

Close observers of the market are also indicating that by the first half of 2020, the request numbers will triple from the existing ones.

Jio, on the other hand, in its earnings report revealed that its subscriber base as on 31st December 2019 grew by 30% to 370.0 million. The growth in subscriber volume can be attributed to Jio’s focus on offering increased customer experience with widest LTE coverage, best bouquet of bundled digital content and innovations like JioPhone, VoWiFi, and HelloJio. It was known that the JioPhone Diwali 2019 plan offering the device at ₹699 was extremely well received by customers.

Sources at Jio revealed that, in a day, the call center receives several calls with queries related to porting of their number from other service providers to Jio. Jio in view of helping subscribers of other networks who wish to change its service provider has brought out a few easy steps: 

Jio’s Mobile Number Porting Procedure

• Read the eligibility and other conditions carefully. Please visit trai.gov.in for further details.
• If eligible, Obtain 'Unique Porting Code' by sending an SMS from the mobile number you want to port to the number '1900' with text 'PORT' followed by space followed by your 10-digit mobile number which you want to port.
• Visit the nearest Jio Store and the store representative will assist with KYC and porting process
• Obtain a new SIM card from Jio.

Activation of Ported Number

• Jio will intimate you with the date & time of porting on your mobile phone.
• Replace the old SIM with the new SIM provided by Jio after the specified date and time.

Eligibility and other Conditions for Porting a Mobile Number

• Subscriber is allowed to move to another mobile service provider only after 90 days of the date of the activation of the existing mobile connection or from the date of porting of the mobile number, whichever is applicable.
• If you are a Post-paid subscriber, please ensure that you have paid all the dues as per your last bill (subscriber will have to sign an undertaking in the Porting Form also).
• If you are a Pre-paid subscriber, please note that the balance amount of talk time, if any, at the time of porting will lapse.