FREEDOM FETTERS

New Delhi, Sept. 23: Mobile number portability (MNP), which allows cellphone users to switch operators without changing numbers, will be allowed within a specific city and not on a pan-India basis.

So, while an Airtel customer in Calcutta can retain his number when he changes operators, he cannot keep the same number if he moves to another city.

“The MNP facility shall be available only within a given licensed service area,” the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in a report released today.

While there is no restriction on the number of times a subscriber can shift operators, the change can be made only after three months from the date of activation of a number or the date of the previous porting.

“It will take four days for a subscriber to switch between operators and porting charges will be payable by the subscriber to the recipient operator — the operator to whom the subscriber wants to port his number,” said Trai. Porting is the process of moving from one operator to another.

While Trai has not fixed any porting charge, analysts said it could be around Rs 200-300 per change. Officials said number portability was likely to be available by the end of this year in the Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Chennai circles.