Zong leading the MNP race

As cellular market in Pakistan has become increasingly saturated - there are lesser numbers of first-timers in the market than there were 4-5 years ago - the existing mobile network operators have been looking to get more out of the subscription pie. The Mobile Number Portability service (or MNP) is what helps cellular customers to opt for a particular operator over others, through a seemingly easy process.
The MNP service was allowed in Pakistan in early 2007. This service lets customers switch their operator without changing their mobile number. It provides them with the flexibility to avail services of any MNO they want, without buying a new sim connection - certain limitations, terms and conditions do apply though.
The latest MNP statistics released by the PTA show that a total of 1.74 million MNP requests were initiated by Pakistani cellular subscribers between June and September, 2012. Nine out of every 10 subscribers desiring MNP (1.57 million) were able to successfully port their numbers to other operators.
The rejected MNP requests were mostly due to issues like insufficient balance, name and CNIC mismatch and non-usage of the prescribed message (sms) service.
Zong is leading the MNP tally, too. This comes as little surprise, given the Chinese-sponsored MNO has been consistently producing the highest growth rate of net subscriber acquisition in recent years. This stellar performance elevated Zong one notch above earlier this year, replacing Warid as the number four player in terms of market share.
Between June and September 2012, net MNP subscribers acquisition for Zong has been nearly 230,000 customers. Telenor comes at a distant second, with a positive addition of 87,510 MNP customers. Rest of the operators shed a considerable number of subscribers to the MNP service. During this period, Ufone had a net loss of 184,362 customers to MNP, Warid 68,470 customers and Mobilink 63,975 customers.
Though Zong is leading the overall tally, the statistics for the month of September seem like a bit of an aberration. It was Telenor, not Zong, which transported the highest net customers to its network in September via MNP service. Compared to Telenors net acquisition of almost 44,000 customers, Zongs net MNP score was an addition of just above 16,000 subscribers during the month.
When MNP service was launched, many thought it would change the nature of competition among local MNOs, though MNP is effectively a zero sum game in terms of total subscription tally. Yet five years later, MNP transfers are modest at best. If subscribers are well aware of this service, could it be that they are fairly satisfied with their operators? Or they just go buy a new subscription? There is no clear answer, yet.