On Thursday, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) officially released new sets of rules regarding Mobile Number Portability. The new regulations make way for an easier and simpler switch between service providers since the whole process has been cut short to just two days. At the same time, user-generated port out codes will be functional for a maximum of four days when switching between operator across different circles.
The latest move from TRAI comes as an effort to make shifting more one operator to another more easy and subscriber-friendly. To streamline the process, TRAI will execute a penalty of Rs 10,000 for rejecting a port request on the basis of wrongfulness.
In an official statement released online, TRAI said “Porting timeline of two working days has been provisioned for the requests of Intra-Licensed Service Area (Intra-LSA) numbers except the requests made under the corporate category and the timelines of four working days has been provisioned for all the Porting requests of Inter-Licensed Service Area (Inter-LSA) numbers and corporate category”.
In addition to this new rule, TRAI has also changed the validity of the UPC (Unique Port Code) from 15 days to just 4 days. This valid for MNP requests across all circles except for Assam, North East and Jammu & Kashmir where the unique code still remains valid for a fortnight.
TRAI also added saying “Process for withdrawal of porting requests has been made simpler and quicker through SMS (text message). For the cases of corporate porting, present limit of 50 numbers in single authorisation letter has been enhanced to 100 numbers per authorisation letter. Provisions for the financial disincentives have been broadened upon contravention of the provisions of MNP Regulations”.