A study of mobile number portability effects in the United States

Drawing on a sample of 684 mobile subscribers in the US, this study investigates the effect of mobile number portability (MNP) by focusing on subscribers’ perceptions and behaviors on MNP. The FCC mandated number portability to wireless carriers for customer benefits through increased competition in the industry. Statistical analyses in this study reveal, however, subscribers perceive switching barrier is still high, discouraging subscribers from switching carriers. Carriers develop new subscriber lock-in strategies that make subscribers stay with current carriers. In addition, there are other hidden costs despite MNP that subscribers should burden with number portaling. In all, MNP is upheld by subscribers’ burden not carriers and not regulators, which partly explains the low number of switching subscribers under MNP. The findings imply that MNP has more directly affected the industries to a greater extent than subscribers, which suggests implications for both regulators and industries; how to effectively enforce MNP to achieve the intended goals and how to achieve competitive advantage with MNP.