Mobile Number Portability (MNP) a buzz word for quite sometime now and last heard that TRAI would favor the number portability implementation by June 2009.

Now DoT has taken a step further and invited bids from technology players to setup the Mobile Number Portability system in India. For those who dont know Number portability allows subscribers to retain their existing telephone numbers when they switch from one operator to another.

If and when the system rolls out it would work something like this:

• Subscriber contacts new operators and asks his number to be ported
• New operator submits number port request to clearing house
• The clearing house informs the old operator
• In a specific time frame the old operator deactivates and the new operator activates
• Clearing house informs all operators that the number is ported

As its clear from the above flow. The role of the clearing house is critical and hence some guidelines for bidding have been laid down for MNP Service providers who would be managing the clearing house. Simply put Existing telecom players will not be allowed to be an MNP service provider. Companies such as Telcordia, Tekelec, Nortel and Syniverse may bid for the MNP service provider licence.

How is Number Portability a Boon for VAS players?

Well once operator becomes a replaceable carrier and number portability becomes a reality two things would come under focus:

1) Service Quality of Operators

2) Value added services provided by Operators

Think about it.. If you are a football fan and can keep your number but want to download the game which is exclusively available on another operator (other than yours) then number portability would allow you to change the operator and download the same. Which means VAS could actually become a differentiating factor for telecom operators once number portability comes in. I feel this could be a bigger bet for VAS players than 3G. Also Airtel would not have the guts to block a Mytoday after this comes into play as mytoday would plainly ask subscribers to shift from airtel. I can also foresee revenue share’s changing and content gaining power over networks. Also operators would be ready to pay a premium to content players for exclusivity of VAS content. For example movie content like ringtones and downloads would have operators vying for them for exclusivity.

Costs and Time could be deterrent

Though very possible the thing that could reduce the impact of number portability for VAS players is cost of porting one’s number though there is no word yet but if transferring my number from one operator to another costs me as a subscriber then that is a deterrent. Also the other deterrent could be time as in if it take a month for the process of transfer to take place it may stop users from going in for it. Last but not the least if there is a cap on the number of times I can change my operator.

All in all I out of everyone is awaiting the MNP as my operator is Vodafone and I wish to change it! (Ofcourse dont wish to change my number ;))

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