Mobile Number Portability may stop from next year according to reports

From March next users may find it difficult to retain their number while porting out from one telecom network to the other, as per media reports.

A report in the Economic Times said that two companies –MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions and Syniverse Technologies –that carry out Mobile number portability (MNP) services in India have written to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that they might have to close down services owing to heavy reduction in porting fees.

The reduction in porting fees came after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) ordered to slash charges to from Rs 19 to Rs 4 per transaction.

Under the MNP regime, a subscriber can retain the existing mobile telephone number while switching from one service provider to another or from one technology to another technology of the same service provider. It allows subscribers to retain their mobile number not only within the same Licensed Service Area (LSA) but also pan India in any LSA.

The number of telephone subscribers in India rose from 1,179.83 million at the end of February to 1,206.22 million at the end of March, a monthly growth rate of 2.24 percent, data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said last month.