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Follow UsBhaskar Hazarika
NEW DELHI: In a move to bring about more competition among the mobile operators, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today recommended number portability for mobile subscribers.
The number portability service is likely to be implemented within a year according to the regulator's recommendations. “Mobile number portability implementation process should be initiated in our country. A time frame of 12 months between the acceptance of recommendation by the Government and launch of this facility is recommended. It is recommended that this facility should be available to mobile subscribers tentatively by 1st April 2007,” the regulator said.
TRAI stated that considering the present status of telecom services in India, it is an appropriate time to initiate process for implementing mobile number portability to increase customer convenience, quality of service and further enhance competition among service providers in the mobile sector.
Stating about the issue of cost of implementation and therefore cost to the customer, the regulator has estimated that even if the entire cost is transferred to the porting customer, it works out to a one time payment of around Rs.200 which will enable the operator to recover his investment cost in 3 to 5 years.
The recommendations of the regulator will now be submitted to the Department of Telecom (DoT) for rectification.
The regulator after examining the issue of fixed number portability concluded that the time is not yet conducive for introducing fixed number portability.