Mobile Number Portability (MNP), the most recent, revolutionary, consumer-friendly initiative of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India enables subscribers to change their mobile service provider without the fear of losing their old mobile number. And yes, the service is available to both post-paid and pre-paid customers, on both GSM and CDMA platforms.
As per the regulations, all one has to do is to send out an SMS requesting to port. The service provider is supposed to respond by providing a unique porting code (UPC) and a date within which porting should happen. This unique number should be messaged to the preferred operator. The new operator will check with the existing operator, and if there are no dues pending, porting will be approved. This should happen within a week and the ‘per port transaction charges' would be Rs.19. The Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulations also state that the subscriber must have stayed with the service provider for at least 90 days before he can port his number to another service provider.
Though the regulations provide for a very simple procedure for porting, in practice, consumers face a tough time while opting for the same.
Take, for instance, Suhrith. He had applied for MNP and was provided an UPC along with the date. The existing service provider tried to retain him by giving him various offers. However, he insisted on porting. The service provider denied his porting request citing ‘contractual obligations'. Suhrith had no clue what it meant, and no explanation came his way till the end of the validity date within which porting should happen.
Even later, Suhrith only received an e-mail from the nodal officer, advising him to generate a new UPC for MNP as the old one had expired. He did the same and was given a UPC through two messages with two different expiry dates. Soon, Suhrith's porting request was turned down for the second time due to ‘mismatch'. No further clarification was given. This was when Suhrith approached us. We've taken up the issue with the service provider, and have been assured that the problem would be sorted out at the earliest.
Other frequent complaints with regard to porting include port-out request being rejected by the donor stating as reason less than 90 days of activation, even though the number would have been activated for more than 90 days, non-disconnection of ported-out number, rejection of port-out request by the existing operator under ‘legal reasons', delayed generation/non-generation of UPC and so on, thus complicating issues even further.
In order to give teeth to MNP, which is essentially a consumer-friendly regulation, the regulators should intervene and take steps to ensure that sufficient strictures are brought into the system so that the consumers are benefited to the fullest possible extent.
(The writer works with CAG, which offers free advice on consumer complaints to its members. For membership details/queries, contact 24914358/24460387 or helpdesk@cag.org.in
