mobile number portability service in south, west India

MNP mobile number portability service in south, west India soon

Saturday, May 2, 2009, 11:53 by Tech Correspondent

Mobile users in India will now have an option of switching services without losing their current mobile number.MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions India Pvt. Ltd said that it has received the license, from DOT, to provide mobile number portability services for the next 10 years in the east and south zone.

MNP will implement the mobile number portability service in two phases.

In the first phase, the MNP service will be available from September 20, 2009.

In March 2009, the department of telecommunications granted licenses to Telcordia and Syniverse Technologies Inc, to launch the mobile number portability services across the country.

Users of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kolkata will be able to change their operators without changing their mobile numbers.

Customers can shift from their existing operator to a new operator by placing a request with their current operator.

“The process has to be completed in a maximum of two days and the mobile phone will be under a de-activated stage for just two hours, during the process,” said Ashok Sapra, MD, MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions.

Gurgaon-based MNP, which is a joint venture in which Telcordia Technologies Inc. has a 74% stake, will start testing the services by July 20, 2009.

The company’s data center and clearing house will be based in Bangalore, while its disaster management team will be based in Kolkata.

Mr. Sapra expects at least 4-6% of mobile phone users to avail this service.

However it is not yet decided whether the users availing the mobile number portability service will have to pay for it or not. The decision has to be taken by The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

In the second phase, in 2010, MNP will expand its operations in Kerala, Orissa, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal.

“We will invest USD 10 million in infrastructure for setting up the number portability clearing house and the centralized datacenter,”MNP Interconnection Telecom
Chairman (designate) and President Interconnection Solutions Telcordia Richard Jacowleff, was quoted as saying.