Number portability is six month away from reality US based Telcordia which is rolling out the service in the Southern part of India on the first phase of roll out is highly dependent on how keenly mobile operators support this venture.

Ashok Sapra, MD, MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions said, to some extent we are dependent on the deliverable by the operators, DOT and TRAI. While I know all of the operators are working in the respective ends and jointly with us to make sure that it happens.

In Phase 1 upto September  number portability is likely to be available in the city of Kolkata and states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh.

In phase 2, the remaining 7 circles under the rollout plan will be covered. The company said number portability will take time to grow and sees only 1% of the mobile subscriber base using this service in the first year.

If number portability gets a facelift it would mean you can have the same number and change to another carrier. So many people I know want to change their operators but it’s the number retention which prevents them for doing it. It is believed that initially the service will be free.