The Department of Telecommunications announced today that they will be pushing back the availability of mobile number portability services. The reason behind the delay is due to both technical and commercial issues.

“The implementation of MNP is under progress. However, this required customization and upgradation of the existing network to be capable of providing the MNP service,” said the Department of Telecommunications.

MNP will finally be available for India by the end of the year, and will begin service in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamilnadu, including Chennai and Karnataka service areas.

via Total Telecom

MNP - Mobile Number Portablity - is a simple feature that lets mobile subscribers keep the same telephone number when making a change of operators, and according to a report made by TMG - Telecommunications Management Group - there have been 154 million people making use of it.

Location-wise, the use of MNP has been made mostly in Europe, with two Asian countries taking a big piece of the cake - Hong Kong and Korea.

Advantages of using MNP?
- No need to call all friends and family to remind them that you have a new cellphone number.
- Being able to pick the preferred provider and not changing numbers every 6 months.

Disadvantages of using MNP?
- The price.

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