The Centre has set a deadline of May 3 to start full MNP service, and TRAI has amended the MNP regulation on February 25.

Telecom subscribers may have to wait till July to avail nation-wide mobile number portability service as the DoT (Department of Telecommunications) has asked operators to make some technical changes which could take about eight weeks, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said on Monday.

“The DoT has issued new amendment in national numbering plan (NNP). To make these, telcos will need to configure mobile switches across country and route them properly. This would take about eight weeks and then it has to be tested,” COAI Director General Rajan S. Mathews told PTI.

“In a nutshell, it seems very difficult to roll-out full MNP by May 3. We are planning to write to the DoT on this,” Mr. Mathews said. Under NNP, each telecom circle and mobile operators are allocated mobile numbers. The first few digits of a mobile number indicate the telecom circle. The Government has set a deadline of May 3 to start full MNP service, and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has amended the MNP regulation on February 25. The full MNP will allow subscribers to retain their mobile number in any part of the country even when they change their operator or State.

At present, MNP allows subscribers to change mobile network while retaining their number in the same telecom circle. In an order dated April 13, the DoT has amended NNP asking telecom operators to allow their subscribers to dial on to mobile numbers within the same circle as well as inter-circle without any prefix. Calls can also be made using the prefix ‘0’ and/or ‘+91’.

This means customers will be able to make calls to any other telecom circle or state without using any prefix.

“We got this order a couple of days back by sub-committee formed to look in to implementation of full MNP. Testing will be done simultaneously as we make changes in networks. We have asked our members to give us clear timelines by when they will comply with the new order,” Mr. Mathews said.

He added that Indian telecom network had one of the largest mobile switches which needed to be reconfigured across all 22 telecom circles by all telecom operators.