Finally, India to have mobile number portability from 3 July

After several delays in the last four years, India is finally set to have mobile number portability (MNP) starting 3 July.

Rakesh Garg, chairman, telecom commission and secretary, Department of Telecommunications, told the media mobile service providers would roll out MNP on 3 July.

With MNP, mobile subscribers retain their existing mobile phone number even when they change service provider.

Currently, mobile subscribers can switch their service provider only within the same telecom circle. Under pan-India MNP, customers would be able  to keep their existing mobile phone numbers while shifting between states and circles.

The previous 3 May deadline for the roll out was delayed by two months after the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) sought extension from DoT as telecom operators needed to make a number of technical changes to their networks to implement the service.