Govt yet to agree on extending full MNP deadline: Prasad

He said the DoT will soon call a meeting of all service providers to look into the issue of frequent call drops being faced by subscribers

The government has not agreed to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)’s request to extend the May 3 deadline for implementing full mobile number portability (MNP) across the country.

COAI had requested the department of telecommunications to set up a coordination committee and to extend the deadline. “In consideration of the same, the department has constituted a committee but the request to extend the deadline has yet not been agreed,” Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Currently, MNP is allowed only in the same telecom circle; the country has 22.

"The deadline for rolling out full MNP is yet to be reached and further course of action shall be decided thereafter," Prasad added, to a query on whether action would be taken against operators failing to meet the May 3 date.

In another development, Prasad said DoT would soon call a meeting of all service providers to look into the issue of 'call drops' (telephone calls which get cut while the two parties are still talking) faced by subscribers. A group of MPs have also complained on excess billing and non-transparency in operations by some private operators.

A group of BJP MPs have also complained to the Minister regarding frequent 'call dropping', excess billing and non-transparency by some private telecom operators.

In another Parliament question, Prasad said there is no proposal to monitor social media on the Internet and it has not deputed any team to track the new-age platform.

However, Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011 under Section 79 of the IT Act requires that the intermediaries shall observe due diligence while discharging their duties. It stipulates that intermediaries shall inform users of computer resources not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information that is harmful, objectionable, affect minors and unlawful in any way, he said.

The government has formulated a framework and other related guidelines for use of social media by government agencies to increase its own presence in the medium. A new media wing has been set up in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to disseminate information through newly emergent social and concurrent media, Prasad said.