New Delhi— It may take another couple of months to extend the pan-India mobile number portability (MNP). The Department of Telecom in India (DoT) extended the deadline to implement the MNP service fully pan-India. Previously, the Government of India had declared May 03, 2015 as the day when the revolutionary change in MNP policy would have seen the daylight.
However, owing to some dilly dallies, the implementation of fully functional MNP nationwide shall take some time to be realized, a DoT official revealed in a statement.
A 2-month’s delay likely
COAI, a telecom industry body, have taken up the onus to realize nationwide MNP. There are some technical changes that each telecom operator need to bring about in their respective networks, with the changes revolving national numbering plan. The officials have knowledge of the matter say that the entire process shall take at least eight weeks for completion.
The DoT has carried out amendment on NNP, allowing subscribers to dial mobile numbers under the same telecom circle or any other inter circle, without providing any prefix. Calls can be easily made with mere prefixes of ‘+91′ or ‘0′.
DoT approves TRAI’s recommendations
The DoT stated that many operators have already implemented required hardware and software in the systems for implementing MNP fully. The detailed testing is scheduled for commencement shortly.
TRAI has come up with a regulation for implementation of the same. It has revealed a regulation for ready implementation of full MNP, which includes the detailed processes or steps involved regarding porting.
Still in the process
The DoT has conducted detailed discussions at length with stakeholders, addressing evolving concerns and technical complexities pertaining to the implementation of full MNP across networks.
TRAI recommendations were thoroughly approved on November 3, 2014. There was a statement that within the next half a year, the subscribers will begin using the benefits of full MNP, irrespective of place or network within India.
