While Mobile Number Portability (MNP) across the country was expected to be executed by May 03, the government has now extended the deadline.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has extended the deadline for full implementation of MNP across the country by another two months. The department revealed that even though the operators had already put in place hardware and software in their system required for implementation of full MNP but was still delayed due to the technical changes needed to be made to their networks due to the national numbering plan (NNP).
The changes to support the new NMP would require the operators to make further changes to their networks, which is estimated to take another 8 weeks. the DoT has asked operators to allow their subscribers to dial on to mobile numbers within the same circle as well as inter circle without any prefix like ‘0’ or ‘+91’. As such the department has extended the deadline by another two months.
Commenting about the delay, the Department of Telecom said, “The government has decided to extend the date of implementation of the full MNP in the networks by two months. Internal testing by these operators is in advanced stage. The detailed final testing is schedule to commence shortly and is likely to be completed in two months for most of the operators.”
