Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India (TRAI) has set a fee of Rs 5.74 for Mobile Number Portability (MNP). The rule will be effective from 30, September 2019.
The new cost was computed on the basis of cost reimbursement following the change in architecture.
The new per port transaction charge (PPTC) is reduced almost by 70 percent and will benefit recipient telecom operators.
TRAI chairman RS Sharma said:
“The mobile portability charges are based on a cost reimbursement principle and computed accordingly to arrive at a Rs 5.74 pricing to be effective from September 30.”
“We have changed the architecture of MNP earlier it was a Unique Porting Code (UPC) being generated by donor operators that have a legitimate interest to retain their subscribers and have more rejections.”
Benefit To Telecom Companies:
Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Jio can now easily save nearly Rs 75 crore annually.
Earlier the Telecom companies have to pay Rs 19 for acquiring MNP customers and they charge consumers between Rs 3 and Rs 5 only for SMS that produces porting code.
Mobile number portability or MNP is a facility that allows telecom subscribers to switch to another telecom operator without changing their mobile number. The porting charge was reduced to Rs 4 from Rs 19 by telecom regulator in January last year.
Telecom executives say that the volume of porting customer requests have increased substantially. The new regime will help these companies save some cost.
However, Syniverse Technologies in March filed a case which was quashed by the Delhi High Court. In July, Reliance Jio field a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court challenging the verdict by Delhi High Court.
The new announcement has reportedly shattered the hopes of MNP solution providers. They aimed to recover close to Rs 120 crore of combined porting fee arrears retrospectively from telcos since February 2018.