TRAI begins review of number portability

Telecom regulator TRAI on Friday initiated a consultation process to review the current system of mobile number portability in order to make it more subscriber-friendly.

The regulator has sought written comments from stakeholders by May 3, and has set May 17 as the deadline for counter comments.

The regulator said due to recent closure or discontinuation of services by some of the operators, a substantial number of subscribers had been forced to port their mobile number to other service providers. “Due to recent closure of services by some of the operators, new issues … have also emerged.”“TRAI has received large number of complaints related to the difficulties faced by the subscribers of these service providers in porting their mobile numbers,” it said.

Key issues

The major issues, TRAI pointed out, are non-generation of Unique Porting Code (UPC) by the Donor Operator or non-receipt of UPC by the subscriber, rejection of porting requests by donor operators multiple times on various grounds, instances of fraudulent porting, issuance of interim bills for postpaid subscribers, non-refund of the prepaid balance and security deposits of post paid subscribers.

“These issues create inconvenience and dissatisfaction to the mobile subscribers,” TRAI said.