TRAI revamps mobile number portability rules; reduces charges, time taken

TRAI revamps mobile number portability rules; reduces charges, time takenThe Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI has revamped mobile number portability (MNP) rules. The new rules are designed to make the process faster and simpler but at the same time, also make it more affordable. According to the new rules by TRAI, the port out requests within a service area will be completed in three working days. At the same time, only five days will be needed to complete the mobile number portability out from one circle to another. The new rules will come into effect from December 16.

The telecom body has also stated that service providers could face a penalty of Rs 10,000 for every wrongful rejection. It said that the Unique Porting Code (UPC), which is generated when the porting process is initiated, will now be generated by the Mobile Number Portability Service Provider (MNPSP). The UPC is generally generated by sending ‘PORT’ to 1900. The validity of UPC has been brought down to four days instead of a fortnight earlier. It will be applicable to all circles except Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East, where the validity of the said code remains unchanged to 30 days.

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"Individual porting requests of Intra-Licensed Service Area (Intra-LSA) nature will be completed in 3 working days; whereas the porting requests of Inter-License Service Area (Inter-LSA) nature and all porting requests under corporate category (including Intra-LSA and Inter-LSA) will be completed in 5 working days," the statement from TRAI reads.

The process has also been made more affordable with portability charges reduced to Rs 5.75. Earlier, the customers had to pay Rs 19 to port their mobile number.  "This shall ensure smooth porting in new framework, thus making the porting process faster and convenient to the mobile subscribers,” TRAI said.

However, due to the change in process, MNP will not be available for mobile subscribers from December 10-15, 2019.