Mobile number portability is now for real

Prime minister Manmohan Singh today launched mobile number portability (MNP) facility in the country by making an inaugural call to communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal from a ported number.

India is the fastest growing telecom market in the world and MNP will help to further widen human choices in a very important area of nation's economic activity, telecommunications, the prime minister said while launching the facility.

India has now joined a band of select countries like the US, UK, China etc in providing MNP, said telecom minister Kapil Sibal.

Implementation of MNP will not only give wider choices to Indian subscribers but will also compel service providers to offer innovative, affordable and competitive tariff plans for the benefit of the masses, he said.

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) will allow subscribers to retain their existing mobile telephone number even when they switch from one access service provider to another irrespective of mobile technology or from one technology to another technology of the same or any other access service provider within the same service area.

The MNP facility was initially launched in Haryana on 25 November 2010, which served as a pilot and helped resolve all problems in the countrywide implementation. Subsequently, the department of telecom worked out a phase-wise migration plan of networks in all the other service areas in coordination with the service providers.