(These days, while there’s lots of buzz surrounding MNP i.e. Mobile Number Portability, there’s little awareness about it too. In fact MNP has already been launched in state of Haryana in Nov last year and soon will be launched in other states as well. This article, entirely re-produced here, was originally written by Smt. Vibha Tomar, DGM (ES & IT), BSNL -Jabalpur will explain MNP from layman’s point of view. We are thankful to her for writing such a lucid article covering all aspects of MNP. Readers will surely get enough in-sight on matters related to MNP)
1.1 Introduction:
Mobile Number Portability is the facility which allows a subscriber of a mobile telephone service to retain his mobile telephone number when he moves –
v from one mobile telephone service provider to another, irrespective of the mobile technology or
v from one mobile technology to another of the same mobile telephone service provider, within such limits as may be permitted by the licensor”
Presently, Number portability is permitted only within LSA and not across LSAs, in India.
That means subscriber can change operator say Airtel to BSNL, or technology –GSM to CDMA or vice versa, or both say Reliance CDMA to BSNL GSM,while retaining his mobile number
1.2 Terminologies:
Before getting deep inside the process involved in the mobile number portability let us have a brief idea about the following terminologies, which are very often used in this context.
v Porting means the process of moving mobile number from one Service Provider to another Service Provider or from one mobile technology to another of the same or any other Service Provider.
v Donor Operator means the Service provider, to whose network the mobile number belongs at the time the subscriber makes a request for porting.
v Recipient Operator means the Service Provider who will be providing mobile telecommunication service to the subscriber after porting.
v Number Portability Database means the database maintained by each Mobile Number Portability Service provider in electronic form, holding the details of all ported mobile numbers in its zone, along with the complete history of all transactions related to the porting of such numbers.
v Per Port Transaction charge means the charge payable by the Recipient Operatorto the Mobile Number Portability Service provider for processing the porting request in respect of a mobile number.
v Porting charge means such charge as may be levied by a Recipient Operator from a subscriber for porting his mobile number.
v Local Number Portability Database means the database of all ported mobile numbers maintained by individual Service Provider. For BSNL, the SSTPs will serve this purpose.
v Location Routing Number means the code assigned to every Service Provider for the purpose of implementing Mobile Number Portability. These are 4 digit codes and have been assigned by DOT. They have been assigned LSA wise, Operator wise and technology wise. BSNL has been allocated 42 codes in total – 21 for GSM and 21 for CDMA.
v Dipping means use of query response system of the Mobile Number Portability service provider for obtaining Location Routing Number for routing a message to the called number.
v Unique porting code means an alphanumeric code allocated, upon request, by a donor operator to its subscriber for the purpose of facilitation of porting of his mobile number;
v MCHA means Mobile Number Portability clearing house administrator , which is the agency responsible for maintaining the MNP database and also known as MNP service provider.
1.3 MNP Zones and MCHAs:
For the implementation of Mobile Number Portability, the entire country has been divided into two zones, viz. zone1 and zone2.
Zone 1 consists of Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP (East), UP (West), Himachal Pradesh and J&K LSAs (License service areas).
Zone 2 consists of Kolkata, Tamilnadu including Chennai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, North East and Orrisa LSAs.
MCHA Licensee for Zone 1 is M/s. Syniverse Technologies (India) Private Limited.
MCHA Licensee for Zone 2 is M/s. MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions India Pvt. Limited.
1.4 Porting Process:
1.4.1. Eligibility criteria for making a port request
Every subscriber shall be eligible to make a request for porting his mobile number, provided that
(a) a period of 90 days has expired from the date of activation of his new mobile connection or from last porting
(b) there are no outstanding payments due to the Donor Operator by way of pending bills issued as per the normal billing cycle but before the date of application for porting.
(c) there is no pending request for change of ownership of the mobile number.
(d) the mobile number sought to be ported is not sub-judice.
(e) porting of the concerned mobile number has not been prohibited by a Court of Law.
Note :- In case of Pre – paid, the balance amount of talk time, if any, at the time of porting shall lapse.
1.4.1. Porting process stepwise:
i. Subscriber desirous of porting his mobile number shall make a request in writing to the concerned Recipient Operator in specified format.
ii. The subscriber shall pay the porting charge, if any.
iii. The Recipient Operator, shall treat the customer in the same way as if a new subscriber for checking the authenticity etc.
iv. The Recipient Operator shall thereupon ask the subscriber to send an SMS to Donor Operator using short code 1900 from the mobile number which is sought to be ported.
v. Upon receipt of the SMS, the Donor operator shall send back a reply SMS containing a unique porting code through an automated system.
vi. Subscriber shall intimate the same to the Recipient Operator
vii. Recipient Operator shall, within a period of twenty four hours, forward the mobile number, the corresponding unique porting code and the date on which porting request is made by the subscriber, to the concerned MCHA.
viii. A subscriber may, withdraw porting request by informing the Recipient Operator in writing within twenty four hours of making a request for porting, but he shall not be entitled to any refund of the porting charge paid by him.
ix. The Recipient Operator shall be liable to pay Per Port Transaction charge in respect of each porting request forwarded by it to MCHA.
x. On receipt of the porting request MCHA shall verify whether a period of ninety days has elapsed from the date of its last porting and if any porting request in respect of the same mobile number is already pending
xi. In case the porting request is found eligible MCHA shall forward the details of such request to the Donor Operator for seeking his clearance for such porting.
xii. Donor Operator will verify if the porting is permissible as per the rules like UPC is same, Outstanding dues are paid etc. xiii. Donor Operator will verify the above and communicate to MCHA accordingly within 24 Hrs (excl. Sundays and public holidays)
xiv. MCHA will fix the date and time of porting such that the porting happens within 36 hrs of the clearance from the Donor Operator or on non receipt of any communication from the Donor Operator. In J&K, Assam and North East the date and time for porting shall be within ten days from the date of receipt of the clearance from the Donor Operator.
xv. MCHA will intimate porting date and time to both the operators.
xvi. Recipient Operator shall communicate the same, to the concerned subscriber via SMS.
xvii. The porting will be break before make. Donor Operator. will disconnect the subs at the time specified by MCHA and intimate MCHA. (1 Hr. window). MCHA will then ask Recipient Operator to connect. Recipient Operator will connect and intimate MCHA (1 Hr. window)
xviii. MCHA will broadcast MSISDN and LRN to all Operators. for call routing.
xix. Donor Operator will issue Bill to the ported out Post paid Subscriber for his unbilled usage till the time of porting. Subs. Will have to pay within stipulated period.
xx. In case not paid, Donor Operator will take necessary steps for recovery. Further, Donor Operator will request MCHA to get the subscriber disconnected. MCHA will ask the Recipient Operator for the same who is bound to do so.
xxi. In case, subscriber surrenders his connection or the number gets disconnected, the Mobile number will be returned by the Recipient Operator to the Operator owning the number series.
