TRAI cuts mobile number portability fee to Rs 4 from Rs 19

New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday slashed the charges of mobile number portability by around 79 per cent to a maximum Rs 4 from earlier prescribed rate of Rs 19.

This would mean that the subscribers cannot be charged more than Rs 4 for their network port out requests by the operator. But the recipient operators (from where the number is to be shifted) are ‘free to charge’ a lesser amount from them for mobile number portability (MNP), the regulator said.

Under the MNP regime, a subscriber can retain the existing mobile telephone number while switching from one service provider to another or from one technology to another technology of the same service provider. It allows subscribers to retain their mobile number not only within the same licensed service area (LSA) but also pan India in any LSA.“

It is decided that the per port transaction charge may be reduced as the costs of operations of Mobile Number Portability Service Providers (MNPSPs) have substantially gone down and the volume of MNP traffic has increased,” it said.