Mobile number portability starts with hiccups

Chennai: The Mobile Number Portability (MNP) -- a facility that allows mobile phone users to switch operators without changing their number -- introduced on January 20 has not taken off smoothly in the city. Out of the nearly 90 lakh mobile phone users in Chennai, only a few thousands have used the option to change operators.

Some complained that operators were not allowing number porting, while some others said they were unhappy with the delays. A customer said he was facing problems during the change-over period which stretched to more than a week.

To switch over to another operator, the user has to send an SMS to 1900. Upon doing this the present operator will reply with a unique porting code which is valid for 15 days. The consumer has to use this code and the application form for the company to which he/she wants to shift. Within a week the recipient operator will take over all the service.

All bills after that are paid to the new company, and another porting cannot happen for 50 days. In case of a prepaid connection, any balance left in the present voucher will not be transferred to the new operator. However, postpaid users must not have any dues left with the present company.

"The consumer is supposed to pay the previous months bill before switching over to the new operator. But some private operators are trying to retain the consumers by not clearly mentioning the bill amount to be paid. There have also been complaints about artificial flooding of the SMS routes to prevent users from sending SMSs to 1900," said a telecom industry source.

Mahesh, who works in a BPO had applied for portability last week. Suddenly he found that his incoming calls were barred by the new operator, but his incoming calls were still being operated by the previous one. When he asked the service operators, he didn't get a convincing reply. "They asked for more time, without providing a definite time frame," he said.

In another case, a consumer applied for porting his number from one network to another on January 24. His porting request was set to expire on February 4. He has still not got ported and there is no clear explanation from the service provider on why it was taking so long. He then contacted the call centre as well as the nodal officer, but to no avail.

"We are facing technical glitches. Even Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) acknowledges that these technical problems exist," said an industry source.