Mobile Number Portability deadline extended to Oct

The government on Thursday said it has extended the timeline for implementation of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) to October 31, 2010.

The MNP is a service that allows a mobile user to change his operator while retaining the number.

"Keeping in mind the complexity of testing involved before MNP is implemented and the status of (implementation) various operators in June 2010, the government has extended the timeline to October 31, 2010," Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha. The earlier June 30 deadline for the implementation of MNP was deferred as operators were not ready with the infrastructure to provide the service.

MNP was to be implemented by December 31, 2009 in all the metro cities along with the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The deadline was then changed to March 31, 2010 and then to June 30, 2010. All the networks of the country have been technically upgraded, while the network upgradation of MTNL is in process, he added.

"However, the readiness of networks can be ascertained after comprehensive testing of networks, which is being conducted across all networks," Pilot said. Responding to another question, Pilot said the government has raised a total of Rs 1,06,261.06 crore (Rs 1.06 trillion) from the 3G and BWA auctions.

"The total amount raised by the government through spectrum auctions is Rs 67,718.95 crore (Rs 677.18 billion) from 3G services and Rs 38,542.11 crore from BWA services.

This amount includes the share of MTNL and BSNL (apart from private players)," Pilot said.