MNP Service Will Temporarily Shut Down Between November 4 To 10

Telecom regulator TRAI on Thursday said customers will not be able to submit requests for mobile number portability between November 4-10, during the switch-over period to the new and simpler port-out regime which comes into effect from November 11. Under mobile number portability (MNP) subscribers can switch operators without changing their mobile numbers.

Under the new revamped regime, the individual porting request within a particular service area will be completed in two working days; whereas the requests for port out from one circle to another will be completed in five working days, a Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) official said.

The revamped mobile number portability (MNP) or port out rules aim to makes the entire process faster and simpler, cutting the migration process from current seven days. TRAI has also laid out the modalities for the switchover to the new regime, which will come into effect from November 11.

“There will be ‘no service period’ of six days for mobile number portability starting from 18:00:00 hours of 04.11.2019 till 23:59:59 hours of 10.11.2019 for all licensed service area (LSAs),” TRAI said in a statement.

The cut-over to the new regulations will be effective from midnight hours of November 11, 2019.

“In the current MNP process, mobile subscribers can generate the Unique Porting Code (UPC) and submit their port request to the recipient operator of their choice till 17:59:59 hours of November 4, 2019,” Trai said.

Mobile number portability or MNP is a facility that allows telecom subscribers to switch to another telecom operator without changing their mobile number. The porting charge was reduced to Rs 4 from Rs 19 by telecom regulator in January 2018.

Last month, TRAI has announced that the new fee of Rs 5.74 for mobile number portability will be effective from September 30, 2019. The telecom regular added that the new cost was computed on the basis of cost reimbursement following the change in architecture. The new per port transaction charge (PPTC), reduced by almost 70 percent, will benefit recipient telecom operators.―BGR