Portability hits network hurdle, postponed to June 30

NEW DELHI: The implementation of mobile number portability (MNP) — which allows customers to retain their cellphone numbers, but change operators — has been postponed by three months to June 30, the government said in a statement. ET first reported the possibility of missing the deadline in the edition dated March 12.

This will be the third time that the country will miss the deadline for implementing this facility. The earlier date for introducing MNP was December 2009 in the metros and the category A circles, while March 31 was set as the launch date for the rest of the country.

But with the department of telecom (DoT) being unable to meet this deadline, it decided to roll out the service across the country by March 31. “Since all the networks are not likely to be completely ready by March 31, 2010, this deadline is not likely to be met,” minister of state for telecom, Gurudas Kamat had told parliament earlier this year.

The state-run telcos — BSNL and MTNL — also played the dampener for MNP launch. The telcos had informed the government that they will not be able to implement the system before April for a variety of reasons like lack of time to tweak the technology, tariff plans and billing, among others.

The government, in a statement, has urged the operators — including BSNL, MTNL and Uninor, who are yet to install the MNP gateways — to be ready to implement the service by May 15.