DoT’s relief to telcos, extends MNP deadline by another 2 months

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has extended the deadline to fully implement the mobile number portability (MNP) across the country by another two months. According the present rules, the full MNP was to be implemented by today, 3rd May so that all Indians across the length and breadth of India could port their mobiles across the service providers without any problems.

The full MNP will allow subscribers to retain their mobile number in any part of the country even when they change their operator or state. As per present rules, MNP allows subscribers to change mobile network while retaining their number in the same telecom circle.

However DoT has now issued new orders that extend the date of implementation of full MNP by 2 months, “The government has decided to extend the date of implementation of the full MNP in the networks by two months,” an official statement said.

The Telco’s and their association, COAI had been seeking extension for implementing nationwide MNP sighting technical difficulties.  The telcos stated that they would have to upgrade their networks to support the full MNP and national numbering plan (NNP) and this could take up to 8 weeks.

NNP allows subscribers to dial on to mobile numbers within the same circle as well as inter circle without any prefix. Calls can also be made using the prefix ‘0’ and/or ‘+91’.

“Internal testing by these operators is in advanced stage. The detailed final testing is schedule to commence shortly and is likely to be completed in two months for most of the operators,” the statement added.

The DoT had approved the recommendations of Trai on November 3 last year and the same was to be implemented within a period of six months.