By IANS
New Delhi : The telecom watchdog Friday asked the government to implement the mobile number portability (MNP) by June 2009 across the country by granting license for this to an operator through a competitive bidding process.
“The Mobile Number Portability Clearing House Administrator (MCHA) should be licensed through a competitive bidding process,” the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement Friday.
It said MNP, which allows a user to shift operators without having to change the phone number, should be introduced in a phased manner.
TRAI has also recommended a ceiling of 10 percent on stake holding of telecom service providers in the proposed third party operator, which would act as MCHA.
Likewise, the operator should not be allowed to hold 10 percent or more stake in any of the telecom firms.
Implementation of MNP is expected to witness major shift of customers from one operator to another that would lead to better quality of service due to cutthroat competition.
Telecom operators had earlier opposed the move, saying the feature should be implemented for landlines as well.