MNP: COAI says it worked closely with TRAI, DoT

NEW DELHI, INDIA: In response to the directive by TRAI to telecom operators to furnish a compliance report on mobile number portability (MNP) by June 3, Rajan S Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said that they have worked closely with both the DoT and TRAI on this matter from inception.

“After national roll out (of MNP), we have continued to work with TRAI to address issues that impact our customers,” he said during an interaction with CIOL.

Rejection rate in MNP is alarming

As there has been an alarming rejection rate in mobile number portability, telecom regulator TRAI last week issued a strongly-worded communique to operators. The regulatory authority observed that majority of portability requests have been rejected on flimsy grounds that include nominal dues on subscribers’ account and contractual obligations.

Post consultation with industry associations COAI and AUSPI, the authority said while reviewing the implementation status and discussions with association representatives  that operators should facilitate MNP even if the user owes less than Rs 10 to the operator.

COAI has identified the two major reasons that have turned up as trouble points between operators in the MNP porting process. “Balances on accounts and contractual obligation fulfillments are the largest roadblocks for MNP porting. After discussion with TRAI, the new regulation comes to effect says that if a customer owes Rs 10 or less, then request should not be rejected,” said Mathews.

The association informed that TRAI has said contractual obligations may not be used to stop the porting requests of a prepaid customer, but only postpaid customers have certain obligations, and can be refrained from porting, that too only under much defined circumstances.

“In both these instances we worked closely with the TRAI and MNP service providers to discuss the problems and arrive at a mutually satisfactory resolution of the problem that satisfies the needs of the customer,” he said.

COAI also said that it will continue to monitor the situation, along with TRAI to ensure the interests of the customers.

The authority strongly said that the operators should submit the compliance report by June 3. From its inception on January 20, 2011, there have been close to 60 lakh MNP requests. The number of porting requests impacted by these two issues is somewhere between 50 to 60 per cent.