Port Your Mobile Number In 3 Days, By Paying Rs 6.46: New MNP Rules Are Live Now (Here Are The Details!)

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has made many a changes this year, followed by improvised and stricter regulations to follow these changes in an ordered procedure.

For instance, effective December 29, 2018 onward, the regulatory body announced new regulations for the television and broadcasting sector, under which consumers choose only those channels which they wished to pay for.

Unfortunately, the whole process didn’t go as smoothly as planned, resulting in been innumerable complaints registered from customers. Notwithstanding, TRAI has been continuously working and devising ways to ease the whole process of channel selection and approvals for customers.

In another such attempt, the regulatory body is seen to be working in the telecom sector too. It has issued new guidelines to ease the procedure for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) and has put the action into force now.

TRAI Makes MNP Procedure Easy

Isn’t it always such a hassle to change your number from one operator to other? Handling one operator is a difficult task and having to juggle two different mobile operators at a time can understandably be a hectic job, which unfortunately has to be done.

However, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued new guidelines as to ease and shorten the steps involved in porting your mobile connection from one mobile service provider to another.

As per the new rules, a number must be ported completely within 3-5 working days, against the initial rule which took almost 15 days, earlier. The new rules will surely make it easier for users to switch between Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea, for instance.

While porting to another operator within the same circle, TRAI says it should ideally be done in 3 working days. However, if you are porting to another operator in another telecom circle, it should take about 5 working days.

Steps to Port Your Mobile Number

In order to port your mobile number, you require to send a request SMS with the word ‘PORT’, followed by space and your ten-digit mobile number that is to be ported, 1900.

On sending the message to 1900, a Unique Porting Code (UPC) will be generated, which will be received through SMS on the same number.

Once you’ve received the port code, you now need to get in touch with the mobile service provider you want to shift to and fill out the necessary Customer Acquisition Form (CAF) and Porting Form. Also, mention the UPC and complete the compulsory Know Your Customer (KYC) process.

On completing all these paper works, the new service provider you are signing up with will provide you with a new SIM card. You will then receive a confirmation saying the porting request process is now active.

Remember, the porting fee as decided by the TRAI is Rs 6.46, every time you wish to port your mobile number to another network.

If You Have a Postpaid Number

You have to be a little bit more careful while dealing with a postpaid mobile number.

In case of a postpaid mobile connection, you will need to clear the bill or outstanding dues towards the existing telecom service provider for the issued bill(s) as per normal billing cycle before this process can be completed.

In case you change your mind and decide against porting your number to another service provider, you need to SMS the word ‘CANCEL’ followed by a space and the ten-digit mobile number that was being ported to 1900. This SMS requesting for the cancellation of the MNP request should be sent within twenty-four hours of submitting the porting request.

When Can you Not Port Your Number?

• In case the postpaid user hasn’t cleared the bill and outstanding amount, he/she will not be able to port until the bill isn’t cleared.
• In case you have been using the existing mobile service provider’s network for less than 90 days, you will have to wait until the completion of 90 days to put in a valid MNP request.
• If your existing mobile service provider has offered services to you as part of a contract, you will need to complete that contract before you can port the number.
• For successful MNP, your number shouldn’t be sub-judiced or prohibited by the court of law against any status change.