BSNL is planning to invest Rs 12.5 billion to upgrade its mobile net-work for the upcoming mobile number portability (MNP) services. Of the total expenditure, Rs 10.65 billion will be on making the company’s basic and mobile networks MNP-compliant, while the remaining Rs 1.85 billion has been set aside as annual operating expenditure for rolling out MNP services. Meanwhile, BSNL has asked TRAI to ensure that the donor operator, recipient operator as well as the MNP service provider, all get a share of the porting charges paid by customers switching their operator. If BSNL’s suggestions are implemented, it will cost the customer over Rs 500 to switch operators, as opposed to a charge of Rs 200 being proposed by the regulator.
