Mobile Number Portability Kicks Off In India; But Think Before You Switch

I have a friend of mine who owns a BSNL SIM card since a decade I guess. I have been seeing him banging his head over the calling plans those never suited him. Same thing was there with a cousin of mine owning Vodafone. They could never change the SIM card just because it was difficult to change the number and hence kept on yelling on their service providers. This is not the case with these two; it is the thing which affected 90% of the Indians. Everybody has their number linked with their Internet banking, online portals, personal and professional contacts and it gets really hard when u change your number. It gets really tough to update your mobile phone number everywhere, practically!

With mobile number portability ( MNP ) becoming operational from today, telecom consumers now have the choice of switching their operator without having to change their mobile number. This facility is available to both postpaid and prepaid customers and subscribers of GSM as well as CDMA service.

You can call today as the Independence Day for all those frustrated with their mobile phone networks. They can dump their operator for a better one just for Rs 19. And to add, it is for both post-paid and pre-paid customers.

What is Mobile Number Portability (MNP)?

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) is a service that allows mobile users to change their service provider while retaining the number. Thus if you are a customer of operator X and want to move to operator Y, you can do so without losing your original mobile number.

The only restriction is that you can change your operator without changing your number only within your current service area. Which means subscribers cannot take their Delhi number to an operator in Mumbai . They can only change their operator within Delhi

So it doesn’t really help people who are moving cities. You can’t retain the number you had in Kolkata if you shift base to Chennai. But that apart, this service is sure to soothe a few frazzled nerves. Also, analysts believe that number portability might spur a price war again and the profitability of Indian cellular service providers is likely to be squeezed.

On the up side, some consumers who are frequent callers, an equivalent of closed user group—or family members who are currently on different networks could now move to single network to take advantage of attractive tariff packages, including free calls within the same network, etc.But before you make any switch check whether your operator is providing a similar option.

How To Switch Your Mobile Number Using Mobile Number Portability?

1. SMS PORT <your 10 digit mobile number> to 1900.

2. You’ll receive a unique alphanumeric porting id from your present operator. This id will be valid for a few days.

3. Using this unique id you’ll have to fill a form provided by the operator you want to switch to.

4. Within 48 hours your new operator will take over all your mobile services.

Though studies reveal that MNP will make a negligible difference to subscriber base of operators and therefore to service as a whole, it’ll be worth tracking the customer enthusiasm and reaction to the much-hyped service that’s finally being launched, three years late.