Mobile number portability: Syniverse, Telecordia bag contracts

Mobile number portability has come another step closer as the ministry of telecommunications has selected US firms Syniverse Technologies and Telcordia Technologies to run mobile number portability services in India, a government spokesman said yesterday.

Last month the government had promised to introduce this service within a few months. Available in most developed markets, mobile number portability allows a user to change service providers while retaining the old number.

Syniverse said in a statement released through its India office that it had been awarded a letter of intent by the Department of Telecommunications.

The DoT has already divided the country into two geographic zones for number portability implementation, each of which will be handled by a different MNP provider.

Each zone is further broken down into 11 service areas that represent cities within the zone. Syniverse will operate a clearing house covering northern and western states, while MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions India Pvt Ltd, a joint venture including Telcordia, will administer the services in southern and eastern states.

Syniverse has previously implemented MNP in Singapore, the United States, Canada, and Hong Kong.

Its letter of intent from the government entails providing India's telecommunications operators with number portability clearing-house and centralised database solutions for the next 10 years.