The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has announced it will begin fining telecom operators who do not comply with mobile number portability (MNP) regulations. The fines range from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 10,000 per non-complied request, and will come into effect 60 days from now to give operators a chance to comply.
The above rule is part of the fourth amendment to the Telecommunications Mobile Number Portability Regulations 2009. Specifically, the TRAI amendment reads:
“In order to ensure compliance of MNP regulations by access providers, the authority has decided to amend the regulations to incorporate the provisions for levying financial disincentives where contravention is established in rejection of porting requests and also in the timelines specified in the regulations.”
“In cases where deviation is noticed by TRAI in the specified timelines by a service provider, a financial disincentive of Rs 5,000 will be levied for each contravention whereas in cases where contravention is established in rejection of porting request by a service provider, a financial disincentive of an amount of Rs.10,000 will be levied for each rejection.”
According to TRAI, nearly 60 million subscribers have requested their operators for mobile number porting since January last year, however, a significant portion of these requests have reportedly been rejected the operators on ‘frivolous grounds.’
Source: IBNLive