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India clocks 3.8M requests to port mobile numbers

Following introduction of nationwide mobile number portability service, telcos in India have received millions of requests to switch to a different mobile operator, reveals government agency.
Written by Liau Yun Qing, Contributor

More than a month after India introduced mobile number portability (MNP), operators in the country have received over 3.8 million requests to port numbers to a competitor, according to the Indian telecom authority.

India commenced a trial of its mobile portability service in Haryana on Nov. 25 last year, which was later extended across the nation on Jan. 20.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) announced that, as of end-February, 3.83 million users asked to port their mobile phone numbers to different operators.

The authority said it is "constantly monitoring" the implementation of the MNP service across the country. It also noted that it has received a large number of rejections from operators that refused to port mobile numbers, as well as complaints from mobile users. TRAI said it is in the process of verifying whether the rejections are valid.

Primary reasons often cited by operators for rejecting an application include incorrect unique porting code, non-completion of 90 days which new subscribers are required to fulfill, existing contractual obligations and outstanding dues.

The Gujarat state saw the most applications with 364,849 requests to port mobile numbers, followed by Haryana--where the MNP was piloted--with 319,850 applications. Karnataka was ranked third with 318,092 applications.

NMP schemes are also available in other Asian economies including Singapore, Malaysia and China.

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