From next year, keep your mobile number when you change operator

India's telecom regulator Wednesday issued guidelines on mobile number portability (MNP) that will allow subscribers to change operators


while retaining the original number, but only within a particular circle.


The new facility will become a reality from Dec 31 in metros and by March 20, 2010 in the rest of the country, said a statement from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.



MNP allows subscribers to retain existing mobile telephone number when they move from one access provider to another irrespective of the mobile technology (for instance, from Airtel GSM to Reliance CDMA).



Similarly, a switch can also be made from one cellular mobile technology to another of the same access provider (such as Reliance CDMA to Reliance GSM), in a licensed service area.



A subscriber wishing to change telecom service provider can do so only after 90 days of the date of activation of a mobile connection.



If a number has been ported once, it can only be ported again after 90 days from the date of the previous porting.