Cell number will be portable

Consumers Can Change Service Provider, Yet Retain The Number

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Here’s good news for India’s 210 million mobile consumers. After sitting on the decision for over two years, the telecom ministry on Monday finally decided to introduce number portability for mobile services. This means if you are unhappy with your mobile phone service provider but have been unable to shift to another because it would mean changing your phone number, you will now be able to switch while retaining the exactly same number.
The move, long demanded by those who wanted a truly competitive telecom market, should see service providers going the extra mile to ensure their customers stay satisfied and hence loyal to them. According to telecom minister A. Raja, the facility will be launched in the four metros — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai — to begin with. However, he did not specify exactly when this would happen.
Full number portability allows users to retain their telephone numbers not just when they change service providers. They can also retain the number when they are switching service types — say, from mobile to fixed line — or when changing locations — say, from Delhi to Mumbai or vice versa. The portability envisaged by Raja, however, will only allow wireless number portability. The lack of number portability between mobile providers in India has kept many consumers from changing services because of the inconvenience of changing their phone number on business cards and other documents, and informing all their contacts of the new number. Its introduction — that is, when it happens — will get rid of these hassles.
Not surprisingly, GSM operators are not happy about the development. T V Ramachandran of the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) alleged that mobile number portability was being introduced to benefit a select operator who is seeking to enter the GSM segment — a thinly-disguised reference to Reliance.
Reliance Communications boss Anil Ambani said, “This is a forward-looking initiative. It is pro-competition, pro-consumer and above all pro-choice. For the first time, in the four metros GSM operators will face real competition”.
Expectedly, CDMA association Auspi, also welcomed the move. “It is an important and effective tool for ensuring effective competition and improved quality of service in the mobile telecom service sector which will ultimately benefit the subscribers at large,” said S.C. Khanna of Auspi.