Subscribers of telecom operators? whose licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court on February 2, 2012 will no longer be able to opt for mobile number portability (MNP).
A MNP request can be processed only when the subscriber is on an active network.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has directed operators to stop accepting porting request of mobile numbers which were allocated to companies whose licences stand cancelled. The regulatory body has asked existing players to stop accepting porting request from service providers like Tata Teleservices Limited (3 circles), Uninor (formerly Unitech Wireless with 15 circles), Videocon (11 circles), Loop Telecom (13 circles), Etisalat (15 circles), S Tel (5 circles) and Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (10 circles).
The TRAI direction comes over the Supreme Court?s orders dated February 2, 2012 and February 15, 2013 asking operators to close their operations. The apex court judgment dated February 2, 2012 had resulted in the cancellation of 122 2G-licences. However, the court had provided operators an opportunity to continue their operations only if they win fresh spectrum through auctions. Subsequently, following the completion of spectrum auction held in November 2012, the court directed operators who did not win spectrum in the auction to close their operations with immediate effect.
