DoT may miss portability call

New Delhi, Nov. 6: India is likely to miss the December 31 deadline for starting the mobile number portability (MNP) scheme.

The MNP gives a custo-mer the freedom to change telecom service providers (telecom companies), while retaining the number.

Since the government announced its plan to offer the MNP, the implementation has been postponed thrice. The first deadline was June 2009, which was postponed to September and then December.

According to industry sources, most of the work for the implementation of the number portability is unfinished.

“For offering MNP, the companies have to set up a huge infrastructure but only a small portion of it is ready. It would be a great achievement if the MNP could be rolled out by March 2010,” said sources.

The dwindling revenues of the telecom players, due to the price war, is yet another factor, which is hampering the implementation of the number portability. “The stocks of the telecom companies are crashing and they are finding it difficult to raise funds for MNP,” the sources said.

“Even the Telecom Regu-latory Authority of India (Trai) has not notified the telecom companies about the charges that have to be paid by a consumer for switching his or her service provider,” the sources added.

The ability to switch the telecom operators without changing the telephone number will put intense pressure on the companies to improve their services and offer service at competitive prices.

According to an IDC survey, 30 per cent of the mobile phone subscribers would like to switch their service provider, if they can retain their numbers.

The telecom regulator, Trai, has proposed that a subscriber should be allowed to change his telecom service provider under the mobile number portability only if he has completed 90 days with it.

A subscriber wishing to switch will have to give in writing that he has paid all outstanding bills of the previous operator.

In case, the subscriber fails to pay the old bills, his connection will be terminated by the new telecom service provider. The recipient operator, within five days of receiving a written request, has to carry out subscriber verification.

To implement the MNP, the whole country has been divided into two zones consisting of 11 service areas with two metros in each zone.