From rxpgnews.com
No decision yet on mobile number portability
By IANS,
Mar 14, 2007 - 8:42:46 PM
New Delhi, March 14 - A decision to implement mobile number portability, as proposed by the Indian telecom watchdog Telecom Regulatory Authority of India -, has not yet been taken, the government said Wednesday.
Mobile number portability - allows subscribers to change their operator even as they retain the same mobile number.
'As on date, no decision has been taken in the matter,' Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Shakeel Ahmed told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
'In most countries MNP was introduced at a time when tele-density was around 25 to 30 percent,' the minister added.
Tele-density in India is currently 18 percent, according to the communications and information technology ministry.
Adding that most mobile operators are now more involved in rolling out their networks in semi-urban and rural areas, Ahmed said: 'It is not the right time to introduce MNP as they will have to incur heavy expenditure on upgradation of their networks/switches for MNP.'
'There is enough competition in all the license areas, hence the introduction of MNP will not yield any major benefit to the customer,' he said.
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