TRAI moves ahead on pan-India mobile number portability
21 Feb 2013
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has begun the process of launching its ambitious nation-wide mobile number portability (MNP) services by rolling out a pre-consultation paper, seeking views from the industry.
Nation-wide MNP or full MNP, if introduced, would allow users to retain their numbers even after they shift from one circle to another.
At present, MNP services, which were launched on 20 January 2011, are available are restricted to within a circle.
"Implementation of full MNP would mean acceptance of porting request by the recipient operator from a mobile number that may belong to other service area also.
Therefore, to implement full mobile number portability, issues relating to processing of porting requests, routing, charging, testing etc. need to be identified and addressed," TRAI said in a statement.
The timelines for completing full MNP process in Jammu and Kashmir, the North East and Assam are 15 working days, and seven days for the rest of the country.