mobile number portability (mnp) launch

Keeping up to everyones expectation, The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said today that MNP will commence roll out from November 25, instead of November 1, as was previously scheduled. This is a phased rollout and will start with the Haryana circle. Other circles will gradually get MNP.

According to the DoT, India has a mobile subscriber base of 650 million and that involves logistics at a very large scale that may be reason enough to be the cause of the frequent delay in implementation of MNP.

To use MNP facility, the subscriber will have to pay a non-refundable fixed charge of Rs.19, while the dipping charge is left to mutual negotiation between the telecom service providers and the MNP service providers. The porting charge shall not exceed the per port transaction charge of Rs.19, according to TRAI directive.

The porting process would involve a break in service when a number is detached from the donor and added to the recipient, which should not take more than two hours during which no mobile service will be available. After this, the recipient operator has to carry out subscriber verification according to guidelines for acquiring a new user, within five days of receiving a written request. Once verified, the request is forwarded to the donor, seeking its clearance. The donor then has to verify and get back to the recipient with details within two days. MNP is then implemented.

To be able to cope up with the enormous logistics involved, mobile number portability will be carried out by dividing the country into two zones for the purpose of security and reliability. The zones are as shown in the map.

map of MNP Zones (source: igyaan.in)