Full portability from May

New Delhi, Feb. 25: Now retain your mobile number with ease when shifting to a new city after May 3.

Trai today allowed pan-India mobile number portability, which will allow you to continue using your cellphone number with any operator of your choice, anywhere in the country.

For instance, a person moving from Delhi to Calcutta will be able to use the same mobile number even when selecting a new service provider.

Till now, number portability was allowed only within the same telecom circle, which in most cases was within a state.

With national MNP you also save on roaming and STD charges as your new city becomes your home base without any change in the phone number. At present, you pay roaming charges if you use your number outside your home city. You are also billed STD rates for making outgoing calls.

“Trai has today issued the sixth amendment to the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulation, 2009 which will facilitate full MNP (pan India portability) in the country from May 3,” the sector regulator said in a statement.

According to the department of telecom (DoT), full MNP needs to be implemented by November 3, 2015.

“Pan-India players will benefit as customers might retain their operator when they move from one circle to another,” said Hemant Joshi, partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells. He added that the smaller telecom players could face a higher customer churn.

Telecom companies had earlier said they would need $ 10 million to create the infrastructure for nationwide number portability.

The move will help companies with a pan-India presence to win subscribers from operators whose users relocate to states they do not offer services.

“The other big issue would be on-the-ground implementation challenges across the country,” said Joshi.

Industry experts are, however, skeptical about the relevance and need of number portability in a dual and triple SIM card environment, where majority of the population still hold pre-paid cell connections.

Mobile number portability, first introduced in 2010 and restricted to within telecom circles, did not attract much attention. Only 15 per cent of the total mobile user base have ported their numbers.

via NorthEast Calling http://ift.tt/1ERAPm5