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Mobile phone subscribers will soon be able to change their service providers across the country while retaining their phone numbers.
In a reply in the Lok Sabha, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said:"The national mobile number portability (MNP) is likely expected to be implemented by March 31, 2015."
At present, subscribers can change their service providers within a same circle as MNP has not been implemented across the country. It was introduced in India in 2011 and crossed the 100-mn mark within two years.
In its recommendations on MNP to the Department of Telecom (DoT), telecom regulator Trai had said not to make any changes in entry fee and bank guarantee of companies involved in MNP services.
Currently, Syniverse Technologies and MNP Interconnection Telecom Solution operate to provide MNP services but their licences will expire after five years.
The regulator also said telecom operators and MNP service providers should be given six months time to make requisite technical changes to start MNP across the country.