Number portability to be a reality by Sept

NEW DELHI: Finally mobile number portability is going to be a reality in India and by September 20, the cellphone users in some parts of India will have the facility to switch operators even while retaining their existing number.

The Department of Telecom issued notification in this regard recently. In the first phase mobile number portability will be implemented in Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra and Gujarat service areas of Zone 1 and Calcutta, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Andhra and Karnataka of Zone 2. DoT plans to introduce the facility in the rest of the country by March 20, 2010.

The DoT notification said that in Zone I, Syniverse Technologies will carry out the MNP exercise while in Zone II MNP Interconnection has been granted licence for the same.

The DoT said TRAI will decide on all kinds of tariffs related to MNP like the transaction fee to be charged from the customer for seeking change of number.