Trai issues revised MNP process notice; new norms effective from Dec 16

Telecom regulator TRAI on Tuesday issued a public notice on the revised mobile number portability process, which is slated to make the porting process fast and simple from December 16.

The new process, which comes with conditions for generation of Unique Porting Code (UPC),entails three working days' timeline for port out requests within a service area, and five working days for requests for port out from one circle to another.

There is no change in the porting timelines for the corporate mobile connections, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said.

"TRAI has revised the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) process...In the revised MNP process, the Unique Porting Code (UPC) will be generated only when the subscriber is eligible to port-out his mobile number," TRAI said.

From December 16, 2019, the revised MNP process will be in place and mobile subscribers can generate the Unique Porting Code and avail the mobile number porting process, it added.

Laying down the rules for the new process, TRAI said a positive validation of various conditions will determine generation of the Unique Porting Code. For instance in case of post-paid mobile connection, the subscriber has to ensure clearance of 'outstanding dues' towards the existing telecom service provider for the issued bills as per normal billing cycle. Other conditions include activation in the present operator's network of not less than 90 days; no pending contractual obligations to be fulfilled by the subscriber as per the exit clause provided in the subscriber agreement.

UPC will be valid for four days for all Licensed Service Areas (LSAs) except the circles of Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East where it will remain valid for 30 days.

"As the existing MNP system shall migrate to new MNP process with effect from 16 December 2019, facility of MNP will not be available during the period from 10 December 2019 to 15 December 2019 and Unique Porting Code will also not be generated during the migration period. However, the porting requests already submitted will continue to be processed," TRAI said.