Mobile Number Portability in India [Features, Criteria, Rules, Procedure]
Mobile number Portability (MNP) was in news from long time but TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has finally confirmed that it will come into effect from 1st January 2010. So, it will be a Happy new Year for Mobile users in India.
MNP allows subscribers to retain their existing mobile telephone number when they move from one service provider to another in a licensed service area, irrespective of the mobile technology. It is thus a highly consumer-friendly initiative as it helps increase competition between service providers, catalyzing improved quality of service.
Features of MNP
- MNP facility shall be available only within a given licensed service area.– You cannot retain the same number if you are moving to another City. Really an inconvenient feature and what about the consumers who switch cities when they change a job?
- A subscriber holding a mobile number is eligible to make a porting request only after 90 days of the date of activation of his mobile connection. If a number is already ported once, the number can again be ported only after 90 days from the date of the previous porting.- If a Consumer is dissatisfied in first month after switching to another provider, he still have to suffer for rest of 2 months. But, it has good take too that it will prevent users from running after freebies and constantly switching.
How to apply for porting?
The Subscriber who wishes to port his mobile number should approach the Recipient operator (the operator to whom the subscriber wants to port his number) and obtain unique porting code, which is an alphanumeric code allocated upon request. Subscribers will also have to give in writing their request to the operator to which they are switching and fill up a customer acquisition form, which the operator will verify.
The Subscriber may be required to pay porting charges, if any, to the Recipient Operator. The Prices are not yet fixed however, it is estimated to be between 20 to 100Rs.
Applying Criteria for MNP
For Prepaid users : The Balance amount of talktime will not be carried over to new provider and it will lapse.
For Postpaid subscribers : The subscriber making the porting request is required to have cleared all the bills issued prior to the date of porting request.
Other Rules of MNP
Change of Mind? A subscriber may withdraw his porting request within 24 hours of its submission to the Recipient Operator. However, the porting charges shall not be refundable.
How long will it take? The porting process will take a maximum time period of 4 days in all licensed service areas except in the case of J&K, Assam and North East where the maximum time allowed is 12 days.
Any downtime? Yes, Disconnecting from current network and activation of new Cellular provider will include No service period of 2 hours.
