You no longer have to wait for a week to port your mobile number. With the new regulations, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has made the mobile number portability (MNP) system easier than before.
Highlights:
- Trai will decide whether a customer is eligible for mobile number portability or not
- You will have to use an active connection of any mobile operator for at least 90 days
The telecom regulator will generate a Unique Porting Code (UPC) only when a subscriber is eligible to port his/her mobile number. Trai will decide whether a customer is eligible for mobile number portability or not.
Here are a few conditions that Trai has listed:
1) Those who use post-paid service have to clear the ‘outstanding dues’ of the current telecom operator for the issued bill according to the normal billing cycle.
2) User will have to use the active connection of any mobile operator for at least 90 days.
3) Your number will not be eligible for portability if you have already made a request to change the ownership of your mobile number.
4) The porting of the mobile number should not be prohibited by the court of law.
5) If your mobile number is sub-judice, you won’t be able to port it.
6) “There should not be any pending contractual obligations to be fulfilled by the subscriber as per the exit clause provided in the subscriber agreement,” said Trai.
Unique Porting Code or UPC will be valid for four days for all the places except Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East. The UPC will be available for 30 days in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East.
Cost:
The telecom regulator will charge ₹6.46 as a transaction fee for each porting request.
For individual users, the porting request shall not be rejected until the validity of UPC, said Trai. Corporate mobile number of users need to submit a valid authorisation letter issued by the corporate entity for porting a number.
To port a number within the same circle, it will take up to three working days. If the porting is for another circle, it will be executed within five days.
How to port number?
• To port their number to a different operator, users will need UPC, which is Unique Porting Code.
• To generate UPC, SMS the word ‘PORT’ followed by a space and the ten-digit mobile number which is to be ported, to 1900.
• Users will receive UPC through SMS, which will be valid for four days for all LSAs. In Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East LSAs, the UPC will be valid for 30 days.
• Next, users are required to head to the Customer service centre of the operator they want to port their mobile number to.
• Fill the Customer Acquisition Form (CAF) and Porting Form, after which users will need to make the payment and submit KYC document(s).
• Once the documents are submitted, a new SIM will be issued and users will receive a message confirming the submission of porting request.
• The SMS will also have details like the date and time for porting.
Can the porting request be withdrawn?
Yes. Users can withdraw their porting request by either sending SMS – ‘CANCEL’, followed by a space and the ten-digit mobile number, whose porting request is sought to be cancelled to 1900. Do keep in mind that in case users need to withdraw their request for porting, it should be done within 24 hours of submitting the porting request.
