The government has asked the telecom operators to complete the implementation of nationwide mobile number portability (MNP) facility by May 3, 2015. The move will facilitate retention of mobile phone numbers by the subscribers when they shift to another licensed service area. Under the full MNP regime, the subscriber will be able to switch to the network of either the same or any other operator in a different circle while keeping the same mobile number.

Earlier, the intra-circle MNP service was implemented in 2010-11 which allowed the customers to switch to network of another operator within the same circle. To extend this service, the government had set a deadline of April 14, 2014 for implementing nationwide mobile number portability (MNP). However, the facility could not be implemented on account of the Department of Telecommunications’ (DOT) inability to decide on the agency which will be responsible for managing the MNP system on a pan-India basis. After having discussions, the telecom department allowed two the existing MNP licencees, Syniverse and Telcordia, to act as the nationwide MNP operators, while the entire country has been divided into two zones managed by each. As a result, DoT has fixed a new deadline of May 3, 2015 for implementation of MNP facility.