DoT may hang up on number portability

The department of telecommunications (DoT) is likely to reject the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) recommendation for mobile number portability (MNP), which would allow a mobile user to retain the same number even when they switch to another service provider.

DoT officials said though a final decision was yet to be taken, the recommendation could be rejected on account of some technical issues and the implementation cost of over Rs 950 crore.

"There are limited handsets in the market that support both GSM and CDMA technologies, hence it will discriminate between the two technologies. Also, the implementation of MNP will entail around Rs 950 crore, which operators can better utilise to penetrate in to rural areas," officials said.

The DoT's concern is shared by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

"The priority is to spread the reach of mobile services to rural areas and the MNP initiative will divert the fund, thus broadening the rural-urban digital divide," said TV Ramachandran, president, COAI.

The concept of MNP was to enhance competition, as there were around 7-8 telecom operators, against 2-3 in the developed countries, he added.

Trai officials, however, say operators are not keen on the initiative for fear of losing existing customers.

The recommendation says in absolute numbers, the mobile subscriber base in India, which is around 100 million with an addition of 3-4 million every month, is higher than in those countries that have implemented MNP.

The April 1, 2007 deadline set by TRAI to make the facility available is also likely to be missed, since the regulator had set a time frame of 12 months between the acceptance of the recommendation by the government and the launch of the facility.

Trai had sent its recommendation to the DoT for implementation of MNP in March, after discussion with operators.