Switching Barriers and Antecedents to Mobile Number Portability: An Exploratory Study of Switchers vis-a'-vis Stayers

Abstract

Mobile phones emerged as a luxury with costly incoming and outgoing calls, by the time became comfort and have now become necessity. The launch of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in India has shifted the mobile induslly '.1· focus fi·om allracting new customers to retaining the existing ones because MNP seeks to eliminate the most significant barrier of mobile number change. Therefore, the present empirical research work has been carried out to explore the reasons of switching under MNP and to compare the perception of stayers and switchers with respect to switching barriers. For the purpose of analysis, Factorial Analysis has been employed on 15 variables to explore the reasons of switching under MNP Furthe1; Independent Samples T-test and Discriminant Analysis has also been deployed to check/or the significant differences, if any, in the perception, with respect to switching barriers, of stayers and switchers. Moreove1; study also offers strategic implications to mobile operators jar customer retention ajier MNP enforcement.