Mobile Number Portability | Electronics Seminar Topic
Mobile Number Portability
Mobile Number Portability (MNP) requires that mobile
telephone customers can keep their telephone number-including the prefix-when
switching from one provider of mobile telecommunications services to another.
In the absence of MNP, customers have to give up their number and must adopt a
new one when they switch operators.
As a result, customers face switching costs
associated with informing people about changing their number, printing new
business cards, missing valuable calls from people that do not have the new
number, etc. Based on these considerations, many regulatory authorities have
imposed mandatory MNP-or are about to require its introduction-so as to reduce
customers' switching costs, attempting to make mobile telecommunications more
competitive.
Number Portability will allow subscribers to change their
service provider while retaining their old mobile number. Portability benefits
subscribers and increases the level of competition between service providers,
rewarding service providers with the best customer service, network coverage,
and service quality.
Number portability is a circuit-switch telecommunications
network feature that enables end users to retain their telephone numbers when
changing service providers, service types, and/or locations.
When fully
implemented nation wide by wireline and wireless providers, portability will
remove one of the most significant deterrents to changing service, providing
unprecedented convenience for consumers, and encouraging unrestrained
competition in the telecommunications industry.
