According to the Mobile Number Portability regulations, the timeline for porting a mobile number within the same circle or ‘Intra-Licensed Service Area (Intra-LSA)’ is two days. However, if you are getting your number ported to a different circle or ‘Inter-Licensed Service Area (Inter-LSA)’, the limit is four days. The new regulations also state that if a telecom operator gives any misinformation about portability or wrongfully reject any portability request, it would have to pay a penalty of up to Rs 10,000. The stricter norms should definitely make it easier for users to get their mobile numbers ported. TRAI has been quoted saying, “If any access provider or mobile number portability service provider contravenes the provisions… (it shall) be liable to pay an amount, by way of financial disincentive not exceeding Rs 10,000 for each wrongful rejection of the request for porting.” That’s not all. The regulator has decreased the validity period of Unique Porting Code (UPC) from 15 days to four days. This rule applies to all Licensed Service Areas (LSA) except the ones in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and North-East. In LSAs situated in these states, the validity for UPC still happens to be 15 days. Changes have also been made to regulations regarding corporate porting. Till now, there was a limit of 50 numbers in a single authorization letter. However, now that has been increased to 100 numbers per authorization letter. Speaking further on the matter, TRAI said, “Post implementation of this regulation (amendment), appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) parameters will be devised by the authority to monitor the role of MNPSPs (Mobile Number Portability Service Providers) and Access Providers in the new scenario.” The amendments made by the regulator are surely in favour of the customers, for whom it will now be easier to port numbers. We will have to wait to see how the new regulations are implemented.
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