Wednesday, 22 August 2007

Change Operator Without Changing Number

India, one of the world’s fastest growing telecom market will soon have the number portability scheme where mobile phone user can shift to a new operator without changing number...

India, one of the world’s fastest growing telecom market will soon have the number portability scheme where mobile phone user can shift to a new operator without changing number.

The telecom ministry will soon issue guidelines on number portability. The Department of Telecom feels that number portability will let users enjoy better services while keeping tariffs under control.

Telecom ombudsman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that favoured portability says number portability would improve the quality of service and reduce tariff.

Despite number portability being the norm in most countries across the world, Indian telecom operators have opposed portability arguing that huge investments would be required to implement the scheme on a national scale.

Mobile number portability has already been implemented in Hong Kong, the UK, Australia, the US, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Singapore.