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Number portability closer to reality in India
By Benny Thomas   |   Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 18:04 IST   |    11 Comments
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Number portability closer to reality in India
Bangalore: Following the decision by the Department of Telecom (DOT) to grant the 10 years license for providing mobile number portability service in India, the tenders were floated last year. And in March this year, Syniverse Technologies and MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions, a joint venture company by Telcordia Technologies, were awarded this license. This was the first step towards making India a member in the league of countries that have already implemented mobile number portability service. For six months, the selected companies will be testing the solutions and by September this year, number portability can be a reality. This comes as good news for all those who wanted to change their mobile operator to get better quality and service, without having to change their number. "It will be a very strong weapon for the subscribers", says Sanjay Kasturia, Country Manager of Syniverse. According to Kasturia, the subscribers will benefit from the improvised service offered by the operators to retain their subscribers. To provide efficient service across the country which has 370 million mobile subscribers, India has been divided into two zones and a clearinghouse will be established in each zone. Syniverse will be managing zone one that covers states in north and west, while MNP Interconnection will be responsible for zone two comprising of south and east. With more competition among the operators, Indian telecom industry will undergo a makeover. "This is going to have a dramatic impact on the telecom scene in India", says Richard Jacowleff, Chairman, MNP Interconnection and President, Interconnection Solutions, Telcordia. If everything goes as per plan, number portability will be implemented in by March next year. Ashok Sapra, Managing Director, MNP Interconnection said, "The 11 circles in zone two will be covered in two phases of six months each. In the first phase, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kolkata will be covered and the next phase will include the other seven circles." According to Kasturia, in zone one, the service will be implemented in six months in New Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat and the Maharashtra circles, which is the first phase. The rest of the seven circles will be covered in the second phase. "If everything goes well, the first phase should be implemented by September this year", said Kasturia. As per the DOT's orders, the entire process of shifting from one network to another should be completed in two days. The time for de-activation from the previous operator to the activation of the new operator of the subscriber should be completed within two hours. The rate for porting the number is yet to be decided by DOT and that decision is expected in the coming days. The solution would be tested for six months, before it is implemented. "We would be testing the solution for four months and by July we would start testing the operators", says Kasturia. Both the service providers are very confident that by six months the first phase will be implemented. "Sometimes the implementation may slow down if there are some discrepancies among the operators, but we don't see that as a possibility here," adds Kasturia. Both Syniverse and Telcordia, who are competitors in the global scenario, see each other as partners in the Indian market.

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