“No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come.“Remember those words from Victor Hugo? Well, even if you don’t, it doesn’t matter much. What matters though is that Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has suddenly remembered these words and set up a deadline for Mobile number portability (MNP), once again. The telecom regulator said that MNP will be implemented nationwide from Oct 31.
For those who cannot recollect what MNP is, it is a service that allows a mobile user to change his operator while retaining the number. The MNP was to be implemented by December 31, 2009 in all the metro cities as well as in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The deadline was then changed to March 31, 2010 and thereafter to June 30, 2010. The main reason cited for the delay was inability of the Service providers to prepare an infrastructure required for such an Implementation. But, this time the Department of Telecom (Dot) has made it clear to all telecom operators that in case they fail to implement MNP as per the scheduled deadline, they will be barred from launching any new commercial services from Sept 1. Should it ring any alarm to the service providers? Well, it should because service providers – Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone Essar, Tata Tele, Idea, STel and Aircel – are getting ready to launch high-speed 3G services from next month.
We love setting deadlines but we take more pleasure in missing them. So, it remains to be seen how far this new deadline helps in the roll out of much needed MNP. But we should also consider the implications of this MNP roll-out on 3G services. The last thing we want is for 3G to get caught in the vicious cycle of delays and deadlines because of this roll-out.
Really like your opening quote “No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come.“
I am waiting for it since last October, lets see what happened to this October
Thats so correct Ritu. We Indians first get all hyped about the arrival of a new technology and then wait for eternity for it to arrive due to numerous delays. (Some recent examples : 3G, MNP and many more)
I don’t think MNP will happen anytime soon. And I don’t believe that it not happening so far has anything to do with the technical infrastructure not being ready. Plain and simple I think people in govt are being paid lots to keep postponing that deadline. MNP is a big risk for quite a few providers and they will do everything to stall it. And our telecom minister I am sure is more than happy to accomodate them.
The concept is good but how far it will be implemented is the point of concern…
If I remember this is the 3rd or 4th time they are changing the date and setting the deadline……anyways no use of saying them nything :/