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Central Acts and Rules Amended and Updated
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      • 1. Short title and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Obligation of every direct to home operator to give direct to home service
      • 4. Option to provide Direct to Home Customer Premises Equipment on out right purchase or hire purchase or rent
      • 4-A. Obligation of Direct to home operator to provide repair and maintenance of Direct to Home Customer Premises Equipment
      • 5. Procedure for direct to home service connection, disconnection or shifting
      • 6. Discontinuing exhibiting of any channel only after notice
      • 7. Discontinuing direct to home service to any direct to home subscriber
      • 8. Prohibition to disable Direct to Home Set Top Boxes
      • 9. No increase of subscription for direct to home service for six months
      • 9-A. No change in composition of a subscription package during first six months of enrolment or during the period of validity of subscription paid in advance
      • 9-B. Notice before change in composition of a subscription package
      • 10. No charges to be levied during discontinuance of direct to home service
      • 11. Billing for post-paid direct to home subscribers
      • 12. Providing usage details in respect to pre-paid direct to home service
      • 13. Establishment of Call Centre
      • 14. Procedure for handling request or complaint by Call Centres
      • 15. Time limit for redressal of grievance of the direct to home subscriber by Call Centres
      • 16. Appointment or designation of Nodal officer
      • 17. Redressal of Grievances of direct to home subscribers by Nodal officers
      • 18. Handling of grievances of direct to home subscriber by Nodal officers
      • 19. Time limit for redressal of complaints by Nodal officer
      • 20. Complaints forwarded to direct to home operator by Authority
      • 21. Manual of Practice for direct to home subscriber
      • 22. Identification of personnel of direct to home operator
      • 23. Inspection and auditing
      • 24. Intervention by Authority in certain cases
      • 25. Application of other laws not barred
      • 26. Right of direct to home subscriber to seek redressal under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 or any other law for the time being in force
      • 27. Provisions of these regulations to apply to persons availing direct to home service before commencement of these regulations
      • 1. Short title and commencement
      • 2. Applicability
      • 3. Definitions
      • 4. Request for Provision of Domestic Leased Circuits or Local Lead of Domestic Leased Circuit
      • 5. Obligation of the specified service provider, to whom request has been made under regulation 4, to provide Domestic Leased Circuits or Local Lead of Domestic Leased Circuit(s)
      • 6. Maintenance of records in certain cases
      • 7. Tariff for Domestic Leased Circuits or Local Lead of Domestic Leased Circuit
      • 8. Provision for Domestic Leased Circuits or Local Lead of Domestic Leased Circuit on "Rent and Guarantee Terms" or "Special Construction basis" or "Contribution basis" in certain cases
      • 9. Security and monitoring arrangements (including lawful interception) in relation to Domestic Leased Circuits
      • 10. These regulations not to apply in certain cases
      • 11. Application of other laws not barred
      • 12. Inspection and auditing
      • 1. Short title and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Provision for interconnection to all Eligible Service Providers.
      • 4. Prohibition to deny to subscribers access to Intelligent Network.
      • 5. Switches to be capable of resolving the access codes allotted as per National Numbering Plan 2003.
      • 6. Obligation to follow Numbering plan.
      • 7. Intelligent Network Services to be launched after obtaining access code allocation.
      • 8. Network equipment (including circuit or packet switches) to conform to the International Telecommunication Union and Telecommunication Engineering Centre standards and Standards of the industry.
      • 9. Compliance with Quality of Service standards.
      • 10. Intelligent Network Services under commercial and technical arrangements or agreement.
      • 11. Usage Charges under the arrangements or agreement entered under sub-regulation (2) of regulation 10.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Provision of access to cable landing station and related international submarine cable capacity by owner of cable landing station.
      • 4. Application by eligible Indian International Telecommunication Entity for access facilitation to cable landing station and related international submarine cable capacity.
      • 5. Confirmation by the owner of cable landing station after receipt of application under regulation 4.
      • 6. Entering into an agreement for providing Access Facilitation.
      • 7. Demand for access to Reference Capacity.
      • 8. Ensuring provision of backhaul circuit by eligible Indian International Telecommunication Entity.
      • 9. Testing of Reference Capacity proposed to be acquired by eligible Indian International Telecommunication Entity.
      • 10. Access Facilitation Charges and payment terms.
      • 11. Capacity up-gradation and payment for capacity up-gradation charges by eligible Indian International Telecommunication Entity.
      • 12. Cancellation charges.
      • 13. Termination or discontinuance of Access Facilitation by owner of cable landing station.
      • 14. Restoration of Access Facilities.
      • 15. Application by eligible Indian International Telecommunication Entity for provisioning of Co-location space.
      • 16. Co-location charges and payment terms.
      • 17. Allocation of alternative Co-location space.
      • 18. Additional Co-location space and Co-location equipment.
      • 19. Installation of Co-location Equipment by eligible Indian International Telecommunication Entity.
      • 20. Authorization for physical access for Co-location space at cable landing station.
      • 21. Prohibition to sub-lease the Co-location space.
      • 22. The Co-location space to be used for the purpose of accessing submarine cable capacity in the cable landing station by the eligible Indian International Telecommunication Entity.
      • 23. Termination of lease of Co-location space.
      • 24. No obligation of owner of cable landing station to place Co-location equipment of the eligible Indian International Telecommunication Entity adjacent to each other.
      • 25. Period of Co-location agreement.
      • 26. Reporting Requirements.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Access Facilitation Charges on or after 1st January, 2013.
      • 4. Colocation charges on or after 1st January, 2013.
      • 5. Review.
      • 1. (1)
      • 2. (2)
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Purpose of laying down the Code of Practice for metering and billing accuracy
      • 4. Code of Practice for metering and billing accuracy
      • 5. Review
      • 6. Auditing of metering and billing system
      • 7. Explanatory memorandum
      • 8. Interpretation
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Benchmarks for Quality of Service (QoS) Parameters
      • 4. Reporting requirement
      • 5. Registration of Demands for Broadband Connections
      • 6. Auditing
      • 7. Customer Perception of Service
      • 8. Broadband Connection Speed (download)
      • 9. Review
      • 10. Interpretation
      • 11. Explanatory memorandum
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Contents of the Register
      • 4. Confidential portion of the Register
      • 5. Registration of Interconnect Agreement
      • 6.
      • 7.
      • 8. Access to the Register
      • 9.
      • 10.
      • 11.
      • 12. Levy of fees and other charges
      • 13. General
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Criteria for Registration of consumer organisation/NGOs.
      • 3. Rules Governing Registration.
      • 4. Interaction with TRAI.
      • 5. Mode of Data sharing.
      • 6. Review.
      • 7. Explanatory Memorandum.
      • 8. Interpretation.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Purpose of laying down Quality of Service Parameters.
      • 4. Quality Of Service Benchmarks for Dial-up access to the ISP Node.
      • 5. Quality of Service Benchmarks for Leased Line Access Service.
      • 6. Review.
      • 7. Explanatory Memorandum.
      • 8. Over-riding Effect.
      • 9. Interpretation.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Purpose of laying down Quality of Service Parameters.
      • 4. Quality of Service (QoS) Parameters.
      • 5. Review.
      • 6. Explanatory Memorandum.
      • 7. Over-riding Effect.
      • 8. Repeal and Saving.
      • 9. Interpretation.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Procedure for cable service connection, disconnection or shifting.
      • 4. Contents of application formats.
      • 5. Provision of cable service to every person subject to technical and operational feasibility.
      • 6. Response and time limit for providing connection.
      • 7. Communication of technical or operational non-feasibility.
      • 8. Discontinuing cable service to subscriber only after prior notice.
      • 9. Provision of bills and receipts to subscribers.
      • 10. Requirements of billing system.
      • 11. Establishment of help desk.
      • 12. Handling of complaints, etc.
      • 13. Provision of power back-up.
      • 14. Carrying of photo identification and proper behaviour by representatives of the cable operators and multi system operators.
      • 15.
      • 16. Arrangements for repairs or replacement of decoder or set top box supplied by the cable operator or multi system operator.
      • 17. Notice to subscribers before taking off channels from cable television network.
      • 18.
      • 19.
      • 20.
      • 21.
      • 22.
      • 23.
      • 24.
      • 1. Short title, commencement and application.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Quality of Service Parameters in respect of which compliance reports are to be submitted to the Authority.
      • 3A. Consequences for failure of basic service providers to meet the Quality of Service benchmarks.
      • 4. Quality of Service parameters in respect of which compliance is to be monitored by the service provider.
      • 5. Quality of Service parameters in respect of which compliance reports are to be submitted to the Authority.
      • 5A. Consequences for failure of cellular mobile telephone service providers to meet the Quality of Service benchmarks.
      • 6. Quality of Service parameter in respect of which compliance is to be monitored by the service provider.
      • 6A. Duration of alert for the called party.
      • 7. Quality of Service parameters to be reflected in customer perception of service.
      • 8. Record Keeping.
      • 9. Reporting.
      • 9A. Consequences for failure of the service providers to submit compliance report.
      • 10. Publication.
      • 11. Review.
      • 12. Overriding Effect.
      • 13. Repeal and Saving.
      • 14. Interpretation.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Provisions relating to connection, disconnection, transfer and shifting of cable service in CAS areas
      • 4. Provisions relating to complaint handling and redressal in respect of cable services in CAS areas
      • 5. Billing Procedure and billing related complaints in respect of cable services in CAS areas
      • 6. STB related issues and complaints in respect of cable services in CAS areas
      • 7. Change in positioning of channels/Taking the channel off air in respect of cable services in CAS areas
      • 8. Technical Standards
      • 9. Monitoring of performance of quality of service standards in respect of cable services in CAS areas
      • 10. Public awareness campaign in CAS areas
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Amendment and Annulment.
      • 4. Interpretation.
      • 5. Levy of Fees.
      • 6.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Fee and other charges
      • 4. Review
      • 5. Explanatory memorandum
      • 6. Interpretation
      • 1. Title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definition.
      • 3. General.
      • 4. Interpretation.
      • 5. Meetings for transaction of Business and Procedure to be followed.
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      • 16.
      • 1. Short title and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3.
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      • 19.
      • 20.
      • 21.
      • 22. Prescription of fee/ charges by Access Providers.
      • 23.
      • 24. Distributed Ledger(s) for Complaints.
      • 25. Complaint Mechanism.
      • 26. Record keeping and reporting.
      • 27.
      • 28. Consequences for contravention of the provisions of regulations by Access Providers.
      • 29. Examination of telecom resources put under outgoing Usage Cap or having been disconnected.
      • 30.
      • 31.
      • 32.
      • 33. Power to appoint inquiry committee.
      • 34.
      • 35.
      • 36.
      • 37.
      • 38. Repeal and Saving.
      • 1. Short title, commencement and application.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Startup Kit.
      • 4. Vouchers.
      • 5. Colour band on paper vouchers.
      • 6. Information to prepaid consumers on activation of a voucher.
      • 7. Information to prepaid consumers relating to usage.
      • 8. Past Usage details in respect of prepaid mobile connections.
      • 9. Establishment of facility for providing information about the account of the consumer.
      • 10. Premium Rate Service and Value Added Service.
      • 11. Deactivation of cellular mobile telephone connection of prepaid consumer due to nonusage.
      • 12. Automatic Number Retention scheme for prepaid consumers.
      • 13. Safe Custody scheme for postpaid consumers.
      • 14. The grace period for reactivation.
      • 15. Communication of information to the consumer.
      • 17. Default status of international mobile roaming service.
      • 18. Information to consumers on activation of international mobile roaming service.
      • 19. Information to consumers on selection of tariff.
      • 20. Information to consumer as soon as the mobile equipment is switched on by the consumer in the visiting country.
      • 21. Information to consumers at different stages of exhaustion of entitled data usage while roaming internationally as per the selected tariff.
      • 22. Information to the consumer who may initiate use of international mobile roaming service in a country or area not covered by the tariff subscribed or where the applicable tariff differs from the subscribed tariff.
      • 23. Establishment of facility for providing information about the account of the consumer while roaming internationally.
      • 1. Short title, commencement and application
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Establishment of Call Centre
      • 4. Procedure for handling grievances by Call Centres
      • 5. Time limit for redressal of grievance of consumers by Call Centres
      • 6. Appointment of Nodal officer
      • 7. Redressal of Consumer Grievances by Nodal officers
      • 8. Handling of grievances of consumers by Nodal officers
      • 9. Time limit for redressal of complaints by Nodal officer
      • 10. Appointment of appellate authority
      • 11. Appeal to appellate authority of service provider for redressal of consumer grievances
      • 12. Composition of appellate authority for redressal of grievances of the consumers
      • 13. Intimation of appointment of appellate authority
      • 14. Remuneration
      • 15. Secretariat of an appellate authority
      • 16. Disposal of appeal by appellate authority
      • 17. Reporting requirements
      • 18. Status of appeals
      • 19. Complaints referred to service providers by Authority
      • 20. Manual of Practice for handling consumer complaints
      • 21. Providing usage details in respect to pre-paid mobile connections
      • 22. Consumer Grievance Redressal Mechanism by other service provider in certain cases
      • 23. Inspection and auditing
      • 24. Application of other laws not barred
      • 25. Right of consumers to seek redressal under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 or any other law for the time being in force
      • 26. Reckoning of time limit for the purposes of these regulations
      • 27. These regulations not to apply in certain cases
      • 1. Short title and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. The form and verification while filing an appeal
      • 4. Fee for filing an appeal
      • 5. Procedure for service of notices
      • 1. Short title and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Salary, allowances, etc. of the Chairperson.
      • 4. Leave.
      • 5. Contribution to Contributory Provident Fund.
      • 6. Other conditions of service.
      • 7. Applicability of rules.
      • 8. Terms and Conditions of Service of Members.
      • 9. Oath of Office and Secrecy.
      • 10. Declaration of financial or other interest.
      • 11. Residuary provision.
      • 12. Powers to relax.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Request for confidentiality and decision thereon
      • 4. Seeking access to information
      • 5. Rejection of request for disclosure
      • 6. Exemption from disclosure of information
      • 7. Grounds for refusal of access to information
      • 8. Form of information
      • 9. Severability
      • 10. Information required for law enforcement
      • 11. Fee
      • 12. Explanatory memorandum
      • 13. General
      • 1. Short title and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Meeting allowance.
      • 4. Conveyance allowance.
      • 5. Oath of office and secrecy.
      • 6. Residuary matters.
      • 7. Powers to relax.
      • 1. Short title and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Furnishing of returns
      • 4. Preparation and submission of annual report
      • 1. Short title and Commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Constitution of the Fund.
      • 4. Assets of the Fund.
      • 5. Administration of Funds and audit.
      • 6. Management of the Fund.
      • 7. Term of Office of the Board of Trustees.
      • 8. Resignation and cession of Trustee.
      • 9. Disqualification for the Trusteeship and removal.
      • 10. Meetings and Quorum.
      • 11. Minutes of the Meeting.
      • 12. Fees and Allowances.
      • 13. Conditions of eligibility.
      • 14. Nominations.
      • 15. Subscriber's Accounts.
      • 16. Conditions of subscriptions.
      • 17. Rates of subscription.
      • 18. Contribution by Authority.
      • 19. Transfer to Foreign Service or deputation out of India and Realization of subscriptions.
      • 20. Interest.
      • 21. Advances from the Fund.
      • 22. Recovery of Advance.
      • 23. Wrongful use of advance.
      • 24. Withdrawal from the fund.
      • 25. Conditions for withdrawal.
      • 26. Conversion of an advance into a withdrawal.
      • 27. Final withdrawal of accumulations in the Fund.
      • 28. Retirement of Subscriber.
      • 29. Procedure on death of a subscriber.
      • 30. Dismissal, resignation and cessation of service.
      • 31. Deductions.
      • 32. Manner of payment of amount in the Fund.
      • 33. Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme.
      • 34. Relaxation of the provisions of the rules in individual cases.
      • 35. Validation of contribution to the contribution made by the Authority and the subscriber, etc.
      • 1. Short title and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Annual Statement of accounts and other relevant records
      • 4.
      • 5. Authorised signatory
      • 1. Short title and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 2-A.
      • 3.
      • 1. Short title and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Constitution of Officers' Cadre.
      • 4. Initial constitution of the Officers' Cadre.
      • 5. Method of Recruitment.
      • 6. Direct recruitment.
      • 7.
      • 8. Qualifications and age limit.
      • 9. Medical Examination.
      • 10.
      • 10A.
      • 11. Seniority.
      • 12.
      • 13.
      • 14. Constitution of Staff Cadre.
      • 15. Initial constitution of the Staff Cadre.
      • 16. Method of Recruitment.
      • 17. Direct recruitment.
      • 18.
      • 19. Qualifications and age limit.
      • 20. Medical Examination.
      • 21.
      • 21A.
      • 22. Seniority.
      • 23.
      • 24.
      • 25. Probation.
      • 26. Liability for service in or outside India.
      • 27. Discharge of Duties of Higher Grade and Lower Grade in Certain Cases.
      • 28. Pay fixation.
      • 29. Nationality.
      • 30. Superannuation.
      • 31. Disqualification.
      • 32. Power to relax.
      • 33. Interpretation.
      • 34. Removal of difficulties.
      • 1. Short title and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Filing of application
      • 1. Short title and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. The Judge to conduct inquiry
      • 4. Powers of the Judge
      • 1. Short title and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. ( i ) Salaries and allowances
      • 4. Oath of office and Secrecy
      • 5. Interpretation
      • 6. Residuary provision
      • 7. Power to relax
      • 1. Short title and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Categories of Officers and employees of the Authority and pay scales.
      • 4. Conditions of service.
      • 5. Salary and allowances payable to, and other conditions of service of, Consultant.
      • 6. Powers to relax.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Establishment and incorporation of Authority.
      • 4. Qualifications for appointment of Chairperson and other members.
      • 5. Term of office, conditions of service, etc., of Chairperson and other members.
      • 6. Powers of Chairperson and ViceChairperson.
      • 7. Removal and suspension of member from office in certain circumstances.
      • 8. Meetings.
      • 9. Vacancies, etc., not to invalidate proceedings of Authority.
      • 10. Officers and other employees of Authority.
      • 11. Functions of Authority.
      • 12. Powers of Authority to call for information, conduct investigations, etc.
      • 13. Power of Authority to issue directions.
      • 14. Establishment of Appellate Tribunal.
      • 14A. Application for settlement of disputes and appeals to Appellate Tribunal.
      • 14B. Composition of Appellate Tribunal.
      • 14C. Qualifications for appointment of Chairperson and Members.
      • 14D. Term of office.
      • 14E. Terms and conditions of service.
      • 14F. Vacancies.
      • 14G. Removal and resignation.
      • 14GA. Qualifications, terms and conditions of service of Chairperson and Member.
      • 14H. Staff of Appellate Tribunal.
      • 14I. Distribution of business amongst Benches.
      • 14J. Power of Chairperson to transfer cases.
      • 14K. Decision to be by majority.
      • 14L. Members, etc., to be public servants.
      • 14M. Transfer of pending cases.
      • 14N. Transfer of appeals.
      • 15. Civil Court not to have jurisdiction.
      • 16. Procedure and powers of Appellate Tribunal.
      • 17. Right to legal representation.
      • 18. Appeal to Supreme Court.
      • 19. Orders passed by Appellate Tribunal to be executable as a decree.
      • 20. Penalty for wilful failure to comply with orders of Appellate Tribunal.
      • 21. Grants by Central Government.
      • 22. Fund.
      • 23. Accounts and audit.
      • 24. Furnishing of returns, etc., to Central Government.
      • 25. Power of Central Government to issue directions.
      • 26. Members, officers and employees of Authority to be public servants.
      • 27. Bar of jurisdiction.
      • 28. Protection of action taken in good faith.
      • 29. Penalty for contravention of directions of Authority.
      • 30. Offences by companies.
      • 31. Offences by Government Departments.
      • 32. Exemption from tax on wealth and income.
      • 33. Delegation.
      • 34. Cognizance of offences.
      • 35. Power to make rules.
      • 36. Power to make regulations.
      • 37. Rules and regulations to be laid before Parliament.
      • 38. Application of certain laws.
      • 39. Power to remove difficulties.
      • 40. Repeal and saving.
      • 1. Short title and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Setting up of mechanism for registering request of subscribers for not receiving unsolicited calls
      • 4. Setting up the Private Do Not Call List
      • 5. Contents of the Private Do Not Call List
      • 6. Contents of the National Do Not Call Register
      • 7. Registration for not receiving unsolicited commercial communication
      • 8. Procedure for registration of requests for not receiving unsolicited commercial communication
      • 9. Withdrawal of request or option of subscribers relating to unsolicited commercial communication
      • 10. Updation of content in National Do Not Call Register
      • 11. Inclusion or exclusion of class or classes or type or category or categories of unsolicited commercial communication in the Private Do Not Call List and National Do Not Call Register
      • 12. Reporting requirements
      • 13. Registration of Telemarketer
      • 14. Undertaking from the Telemarketer
      • 15. Disconnection of Basic Telephone or Cellular Mobile Telephone connection or service in certain cases
      • 16. Complaint relating to unsolicited commercial communications and its consequences
      • 17. Service Provider not to send unsolicited commercial communications
      • 17-A. Consequences for failure of service providers to stop unsolicited commercial communications
      • 17-B. Factors to be taken into account by the Authority for deciding the amount of financial disincentive
      • 17-C. Power of Authority to order inquiry
      • 17-D. Composition of inquiry committee
      • 17-E. Procedure for holding inquiry for determining contravention of the provisions of regulation 7 or regulation 15 or regulation 16 or regulation 17
      • 17-F. Report of inquiry committee
      • 17-G. Service of notices
      • 17-H. Order for payment of amount by way of financial disincentive by Authority on report of inquiry committee
      • 17-I. Deposit of amount payable by way of financial disincentive under these regulations
      • 18. Confidentiality
      • 1. Short title and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. General Provisions relating to interconnection.
      • 4. General Provisions relating to Reference Interconnection Offer.
      • 5. General Provisions relating to interconnection agreements.
      • 6. Disconnection of signals of TV Channel.
      • 7. Conversion of free to air channel into pay channel or a pay channel into free to air channel.
      • 8. Intervention by the Authority.
      • 9. Reporting Requirements.
      • 10. Composition of bouquet by the broadcasters.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. General provisions relating to non-discrimination in interconnect agreements
      • 4. Disconnection of TV channel signals
      • 4-A. Interconnection Agreements to be in writing
      • 5. Standard Interconnection Agreements
      • 6. Prohibition of minimum guarantee clause
      • 7. Conversion of a Free To Air channel/Pay channel
      • 8. Time period for renewal of existing agreements
      • 9. Finalising Subscriber Base at the time of first agreement
      • 10. Variation of Subscriber Base during validity of agreement
      • 11. Finalising Subscriber Base at the time of Renewal of agreement
      • 12. Monthly Subscriber Base Statement
      • 13. Reference Interconnect offer
      • 14. Explanatory Memorandum
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Manner of offering of channels by broadcasters.
      • 4. Declaration of network capacity fee and manner of offering of channels by distributors of television channels.
      • 5.
      • 6. Reporting requirement by broadcasters.
      • 7. Reporting requirement by distributors of television channels.
      • 8. Designation of compliance officer and his obligations.
      • 9. Power of Authority to intervene.
      • 10. Repeal and Saving.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. General obligations of broadcasters.
      • 4. General obligations of distributors of television channels.
      • 4A. Compliance to requirements of Addressable System by distributors of television channels.
      • 5. General obligations of service providers.
      • 6. Compulsory offering of channels on alacarte basis.
      • 7. Publication of reference interconnection offer by broadcaster for pay channels.
      • 8. Publication of reference interconnection offer by distributor of television channels.
      • 9. General provisions relating to interconnection agreements.
      • 10. Interconnection agreement between broadcaster and distributor of television channels.
      • 11. Territory of interconnection agreement.
      • 12. Interconnection agreement between distributor of television channels and local cable operator.
      • 13. NonApplicability to DTH operator.
      • 14. Subscription report and monthly fee.
      • 15. Audit.
      • 16. Change in the maximum retail price and the nature of a channel.
      • 17. Disconnection of signals of television channels.
      • 18. Listing of channels in electronic programme guide.
      • 19. Details of service providers.
      • 20. Designation of compliance officer and his obligations.
      • 21. Intervention by the Authority.
      • 22. Repeal and saving.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Provision of broadcasting services related to television.
      • 4. Procedure for new connection.
      • 5. Changes in subscription of broadcasting services related to television.
      • 6. Subscription of channels/bouquets.
      • 7. Deactivation of channels/bouquets from subscription.
      • 8. Notice of discontinuation and change in the nature of channel.
      • 9. Non availability of channels on distribution platform.
      • 10. Restriction on discontinuation and modification of subscribed bouquet during its lockin period when all the constituent channels are available on distribution platform.
      • 11. Introduction, discontinuation and modification of bouquets in other cases.
      • 12. Temporary suspension of broadcasting services related to television on request from a subscriber.
      • 13. Disruption of broadcasting services related to television.
      • 14. Relocation of connection.
      • 15. Interruption of broadcasting services related to television due to preventive maintenance.
      • 16. Disconnection of broadcasting services related to television.
      • 17. Price protection to subscribers.
      • 18. Billing.
      • 19. Generation of postpaid bill.
      • 20. Billing cycle for postpaid bill.
      • 21. Details of information in the postpaid bill.
      • 22. Delivery of postpaid bills and payment.
      • 23. Prepaid billing and payment.
      • 24. Supply and installation of the customer premises equipment.
      • 25. Customer care centre.
      • 26. Complaints handling by customer care centre.
      • 27. Time limit for redressal of complaints.
      • 28. Redressal of complaints by nodal officers.
      • 29. Complaints referred to the distributor of television channels by the Authority.
      • 30. Maintenance of records of complaints.
      • 31. Establishment of website.
      • 32. Customer care programming service.
      • 33. Public awareness campaign.
      • 34. Publicity of information by broadcasters.
      • 35. Prohibition of on screen display.
      • 36. Technical standards.
      • 37. Manual of Practice.
      • 38. Display of channels in EPG.
      • 39. Reporting to the Authority.
      • 40. Designation of compliance officer and his obligations.
      • 41. Identification of personnel.
      • 42. Privacy protection.
      • 43. Intervention by Authority.
      • 44. Application of other laws not barred.
      • 45. Repeal and Saving.
      • 1. Short title and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Excess Amount collected by service providers from the subscribers to be transferred to the Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund in certain cases
      • 4. Procedure for depositing the excess amount collected by service providers from the subscribers in the Consumers Education and Protection Fund
      • 5. Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund
      • 6. Utilisation of the Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund
      • 7. Constitution of committee
      • 8. Composition of committee
      • 9. Term of office of the committee
      • 10. Functions of the committee
      • 11. Meetings and quorum
      • 12. Minutes of the meeting
      • 13. Expenses of the committee
      • 14. Maintenance of accounts
      • 15. Audit of accounts and their publication
      • 16. Payment of money for making refund to subscribers
      • 17. Power of Authority to issue directions for utilisation of the Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Interconnection charges
      • 4. Revenue sharing arrangements
      • 5. Reporting requirement
      • 6. Review
      • 7. Explanatory memorandum
      • 8. Interpretation
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement
      • 2.
      • 2-A. Port charges on or after the 1st April, 2007
      • 3. Reporting requirement
      • 4. Review
      • 5. Explanatory memorandum
      • 6. Interpretation
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Interconnection agreement.
      • 4. Procedure for entering into interconnection agreement.
      • 5. Bank guarantees.
      • 6. Seeking ports at POIs.
      • 7. Request for initial provisioning of ports.
      • 8. Request for augmentation of POIs.
      • 9. Framework for provisioning of ports.
      • 9A. Level of interconnection for PSTN to PSTN connectivity.
      • 10. Interconnection charges.
      • 11. Procedure for disconnection of POIs.
      • 12. Consequences for contravention of the provisions of these regulations.
      • 13. Power of the Authority to issue direction.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Interconnection Charges
      • 4. Interconnection Usage Charges (IUC)
      • 5. Reporting requirement
      • 6. Review
      • 7. Explanatory memorandum
      • 8. Interpretation
      • 1. Short title and commencement
      • 2. Definitions
      • 3. Per Port Transaction charge
      • 4. Dipping charge
      • 5. Reporting requirement
      • 6. Intervention and review
      • 1. Short title and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Limits on Portability.
      • 4. Obligation to provide Mobile Number Portability.
      • 5. Obligation to set up mechanism for allocation of unique porting code.
      • 6. Eligibility Criteria for making a porting request.
      • 6A. Process to be performed by Mobile Number Portability Service provider before allocating unique porting code.
      • 7. Request for porting of mobile number.
      • 8. Action by Recipient Operator.
      • 9. Action by Mobile Number Portability Service provider.
      • 10. Action by Donor Operator.
      • 11. Porting of mobile number.
      • 12. Grounds for rejection of porting request by Donor Operator.
      • 13. Withdrawal of porting request.
      • 14. Rights and obligations of Donor Operator.
      • 15. Rights and obligations of Recipient Operator.
      • 16. Rights and obligations of Mobile Number Portability Service provider.
      • 17. Obligations of Access Providers, National Long Distance Operators and International Long Distance Operators.
      • 17A. Consequence for contravention of the provisions of regulation 6A, or regulation 8, or regulation 9 or regulation 10 or regulation 11 or regulation 12.
      • 18. Power of Authority to issue directions for specifying time limits for various activities for implementing number portability.
      • 19. Inspection and Auditing.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2. Definitions.
      • 3. Tariffs.
      • 4. Forbearance.
      • 5. Deposits.
      • 6. Flexibility and Packages.
      • 7. Reporting Requirement.
      • 8. Review of Tariffs.
      • 9. Publication of Tariffs.
      • 10. Non-discrimination.
      • 11. Terms and Conditions of Service.
      • 12. Explanatory Memorandum.
      • 13. Overriding Effect.
      • 14. Interpretation.
      • 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
      • 2.
      • 3. Interconnection Charges.
      • 4. Revenue Sharing Arrangements.
      • 5. Reporting Requirement
      • 6. Review.
      • 7. Explanatory Memorandum.
      • 8. Over-riding.
      • 9. Interpretation.

The Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulations, 2009

Published vide Notification, No. 116-4/2009MN (Vol II), dated September 23, 2009

Last Updated 14th November, 2019 [act1048]

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 36, read with sub-clauses (i), (iii) and (v) of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 11 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India hereby makes the following regulations, namely:-

Chapter I

Preliminary

1. Short title and commencement. - (1) These regulations may be called the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulations, 2009.

[(2) These regulations shall come into force from the 16th December 2019.]

2. Definitions. - In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(a) "Access Provider" means the holder of a Cellular Mobile Telephone Service licence or Unified Access Service license or Unified license (access service) or unified license having authorization to provide access service [or Unified License (Virtual Network Operator) having authorization to provide access service];

(b) "Act" means the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997);

[(ba) "authorised signatory" means the person authorised by a body corporate, firm or any organisation or body to make request in writing for the porting of corporate mobile phone number allotted to such body corporate , firm or organisation or body;]

[(bb) ancillary service charge means the charge paid to the Mobile Number Portability Service provider at the rate specified by the Authority from time to time and includes the charges to be paid by -

(i) the Number Range Holder for facilitating return of the mobile number after disconnection due to any reason including non-payment;

(ii) the Access Provider for downloading the Number Portability database;

(iii) the Donor operator for execution of porting withdrawal request of its subscriber;

(iv) the Recipient Operator for facilitation of reconnection of ported subscriber in its network;

(v) the Donor Operator for facilitation of disconnection of the mobile number of the postpaid subscriber who has not cleared the dues of the Donor Operator after porting his number;]

(c) "Authority" means the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India established under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Act;

[(ca) corporate mobile number means the mobile phone number allotted in the name of a body corporate, firm or any organisation or body.]

(d) "Dipping" means use of query response system of the Mobile Number Portability service provider for obtaining Location Routing Number for routing a message to the called number;

(e) "Donor Operator" "means [an Access Provider], to whose network the mobile number belongs at the time the subscriber makes a request for porting;

(f) "Local Number Portability Database" means the database of all ported mobile numbers maintained by an Access Provider and an International Long Distance Operator;

(g) "Location Routing Number" means the code assigned to every Access Provider for the purpose of implementing Mobile Number Portability;

(h) "message" shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (3) of section 3 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885);

(i) "Mobile Number Portability" means the facility which allows a subscriber to retain his mobile telephone number when he moves from one Access Provider to another irrespective of the mobile technology or from one cellular mobile technology to another of the same Access Provider;

(j) "Mobile Number Portability Service provider" means an entity who has been granted a licence under section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885) for providing Mobile Number Portability Service;

[(ja) "Mobile Number Portability zone" or "MNP zone" means the zones contained in the Annexure-VI of the licence agreement for the Mobile Number Portability Service ;

(jb) "mobile number range" means the number series allocated by the licensor to an Access Provider [for the licensed service area];]

[(jc) "Network Service Operator" means the operator defined under the Unified License (Virtual Network Operator) which owns the telecom core network and provides core network service to the Virtual Network Operator to connect different parts of the access network and gateway to other networks;]

(k) "No Service Period" means the period of time between the disconnection of the mobile telephone service to the porting subscriber by the Donor Operator and the activation of mobile telephone service, on porting, by the Recipient Operator;

(l) "Number Portability Database" means the database maintained by each Mobile Number Portability Service provider in electronic form, holding the details of all ported mobile numbers in its zone, along with the complete history of all transactions relating to the porting of such numbers;

(m) "Number Range Holder" means an Access Provider who was originally allotted, by the licensor, that number range to which the ported number belongs;

(n) "Per Port Transaction charge" means the charge payable by the Recipient Operator to the Mobile Number Portability Service provider for [processing the porting request] in respect of a mobile number;

(o) "Porting" means the process of moving, by a subscriber, of his mobile number or numbers, as the case may be, from one Access Provider to another Access Provider or from one mobile technology to another of the same or any other Access Provider;

(p) "Porting charge" means such charge as may be levied by a Recipient Operator from a subscriber for porting his mobile number;

(q) "Recipient Operator" means an Access Provider who will be providing mobile telecommunication service to the subscriber after porting and includes his authorised agent;

(r) "Regulations" means the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulations, 2009;

(s) "Subscriber" means any person or legal entity that avails the mobile telecommunication service from a licensed telecom Access Provider;

(t) "Unique porting code" means an alphanumeric code allocated, upon request, [by the Mobile Number Portability Service Provider of the Zone to which the mobile number belongs to] its subscriber for the purpose of facilitation of porting of his mobile number;

(u) All other words and expressions used in these regulations but not defined, and defined in the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997) and the rules and other regulations made thereunder, shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in those Acts or the rules or such other regulations, as the case may be.

3. Limits on Portability. - [***]

(2) Mobile Number Portability will be applicable only to cellular mobile telephone numbers which incorporate a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) Access Code.

Chapter II

Mobile Number Portability

4. Obligation to provide Mobile Number Portability. - Every Access Provider shall facilitate in its entire network, Mobile Number Portability to all subscribers, both pre-paid and post-paid and shall, upon request, provide the same on a non-discriminatory basis.

[5. Obligation to set up mechanism for allocation of unique porting code. - (1) Every Access Provider shall set up, in its mobile network, a mechanism for the purpose of receiving Short Message Service (SMS) from its subscribers requesting for a unique porting code and forwarding the same to the Mobile Number Portability zone to which the mobile number belongs;

(2) Every Mobile Number Portability service provider shall set up, in its network, a mechanism for the purpose of -

(a) receiving requests for unique porting code forwarded by the Donor Operator as per sub-regulation (1) of regulation 5;

(b) checking from the database of the Donor Operator through query response mechanism, on the applicable grounds of rejection of request for Unique porting code;

(c) allocating a unique porting code for each such request and communicating it to the subscriber forthwith through Short Message Service; and

(d) retaining such unique porting code on its records for the purpose of verification of the porting request of such subscriber to be received from the Recipient Operator.

Provided that the Mobile Number Portability service provider shall -

(a) identify and allot a distinct identification code denoted with prefix 'C' for the request received from the distinct corporate mobile numbers; and

(b) in case of a request for simultaneous porting of more than one corporate mobile numbers, allocate separate unique porting code for each corporate mobile number.]

6. Eligibility Criteria for making a porting request. - Every subscriber shall be eligible to make a request for porting his mobile number:

Provided that-

(a) a period of ninety days has expired from the date of activation of his mobile connection in the case of a mobile number not ported earlier; or from the date of activation of his mobile number after its last porting, in the case of a mobile number which has been ported earlier, as the case may be;

(b) there are no outstanding payments due to the Donor Operator by way of pending bills or bills, as the case may be, issued as per the normal billing cycle but before the date of application for porting;

(c) there is no pending request for change of ownership of the mobile number ;

(d) the mobile number sought to be ported is not sub-judice;

(e) porting of the concerned mobile number has not been prohibited by a Court of Law.

[(f) no corporate mobile number shall be ported unless the porting request in respect of such number is accompanied by an authorisation letter from the authorised signatory of the subscriber in the format annexed to these regulations ;

(g) the porting request, in case of corporate mobile number, does not seek simultaneous porting of more than fifty mobile numbers;

(h) the porting request, if made for more than one corporate mobile number, such numbers belong to the same Donor Operator.]

[6A. Process to be performed by Mobile Number Portability Service provider before allocating unique porting code. - (1) Upon receipt of the request for unique porting code, the concerned Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall check the following conditions from its database whether: -

(a) the mobile number has been ported earlier and, if so, a period of ninety days has not elapsed from the date of its last porting;

(b) porting request is already in process for the same mobile number; and

(c) unique porting code has already been issued and not expired yet.

(2) Where Mobile Number Portability Service provider finds that the clause (a) or (b) or (c) mentioned in sub-regulation (1) are applicable, the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall not generate unique porting code and shall communicate the reason of non-generation of unique porting code to the subscriber through SMS.

(3) Where Mobile Number Portability Service provider finds that the clause (a) and (b) and (c) mentioned in sub-regulation (1) are not applicable, it shall check immediately on real time basis from the database of Donor Operator whether: -

(a) the number is a Corporate mobile number;

(b) there are outstanding payments due from the post paid subscriber by way of pending bill, issued as per the normal billing cycle but before the date of request for unique porting code;

(c) the porting request has been made before the expiry of a period of ninety days from the date of activation of a new connection;

(d) a request for change of ownership of mobile number is under process;

(e) the mobile number sought to be ported is sub-judice;

(f) porting of the mobile number has been prohibited by a court of law;

(g) there are subsisting contractual obligations in respect of which an exit clause has been provided in the subscriber agreement but the subscriber has not complied with such exit clause;

(4) The Donor Operator shall ensure that its query response mechanism provides the response, as sought by the Mobile Number Portability Service provider under sub-regulation (3) on real time basis.

(5) The Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall retain the information obtained by it under sub-regulation (3) for taking necessary action, on receipt of the porting request of the subscriber, from Recipient Operator.

(6) If the Mobile Number Portability Service provider finds that the request of the subscriber is not covered under the grounds contained in the clauses (b) to (g) of sub-regulation (3), it shall allocate unique porting code to the subscriber and communicate the same to the subscriber through SMS:

Provided that the unique porting code shall be prefixed by 'C' for corporate mobile number.

(7) If the Mobile Number Portability Service provider is not able to check the information from the database of the Donor Operator, as provided in the sub-regulation (3), for any technical reason, it shall send an SMS to the subscriber acknowledging his request for unique porting code informing him that delivery of unique porting code is delayed due to technical reason and the same shall be delivered shortly:

Provided that where Mobile Number Portability Service provider finds that unique porting code cannot be generated due to technical issues, it shall immediately send alert message to the Donor Operator raising the docket for such technical issue and shall again query the database of the Donor Operator immediately on resolution of technical issues.

(8) When any one or more of the conditions contained in clauses (b) to (g), provided under sub-regulation (3) of regulation 6A, are applicable for the mobile number under porting, the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall not issue unique porting code to the subscriber and shall inform the mobile subscriber through SMS, the reasons for non-generation of unique porting code and retain such records for a minimum period of six months.]

7. Request for porting of mobile number. - (1) Every subscriber desirous of porting his mobile number shall make a request in writing to the concerned Recipient Operator in such format as may be specified by such Recipient Operator.

(2) The porting request form as specified by the Recipient Operator shall, inter alia , incorporate-

(a) the eligibility criteria as specified in regulation 6;

(b) the grounds for rejection as specified in regulation 12;

(c) in the case of a post paid subscriber, an undertaking by the subscriber that he has already paid all dues as per the last bill to the Donor Operator and that he shall be bound to pay all dues to the Donor Operator pertaining to the mobile number sought to be ported till its eventual porting and that he understands and agrees that in the event of non-payment of any such dues to the Donor Operator, the ported mobile number shall, without prejudice to any other remedies available to the Donor Operator under law for recovery of such dues, be liable to be disconnected by the Recipient Operator;

(d) in the case of a pre-paid subscriber, an undertaking by the subscriber to the effect that he understands and agrees that, upon porting of the mobile number, the balance amount of talk time, if any, at the time of porting shall lapse;

(e) such details of the subscriber as mandated by the licensor or by the Authority from time to time.

(3) Each porting request shall be accompanied by-

(a) a customer acquisition form as specified by the Recipient Operator accompanied by all documents as applicable to a new subscriber; [***]

(b) a copy of the last bill, in the case of a postpaid subscriber [and];

[(c) in case of corporate mobile number, an authorisation letter from the authorised signatory of the subscriber permitting such porting]

[(4) The subscriber shall, with his request for porting, pay the porting charge, if any, for each mobile number sought to be ported]

[8. Action by Recipient Operator. - (1) The Recipient Operator shall, upon receipt of the porting request from a subscriber, ask him to send a message through SMS to a specified Short Code of the Donor Operator from the mobile number of the subscriber, which is sought to be ported.

(2) Upon receipt of the unique porting code from the Mobile Number Portability Service provider, the subscriber shall incorporate the same in the porting request form.

(3) The Recipient Operator shall, upon receipt of the porting request from the subscriber alongwith unique porting code allocated to the mobile number, verify the Customer Acquisition Form to ensure that it is accompanied by all the documents specified in regulation 7.

(4) The Recipient Operator shall, record in the Customer Acquisition Form that he has seen the subscriber and verified his documents with their respective originals and found them to be in order.

(5) The Recipient Operator shall, within a period of twenty four hours, forward the mobile number, the corresponding unique porting code and the date on which porting request is made by the subscriber, to the Mobile Number Portability Service provider of MNP zone to which the mobile number range holder of number under porting belongs and also send a SMS to the subscriber, as soon as the port request is initiated, informing him about submission of his request for porting.

(6) In case of corporate mobile number, the Recipient Operator shall also forward to the Mobile Number Portability Service provider of MNP zone to which the mobile number range holder of the number under porting belongs, a scanned copy of the authorisation letter issued by the authorized signatory permitting the porting of such mobile number:

Provided that for the corporate mobile number, the time period for forwarding the mobile number etc. to the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall be forty eight hours from the receipt of porting request:

Provided further that forwarding of a copy of authorisation letter permitting porting of more than one and maximum upto hundred mobile numbers, in case of corporate mobile number, shall be sufficient for the purpose of sub- regulation (6):

Provided also that in calculating the period of twenty four hours specified in sub-regulation (6) and forty eight hours specified in second proviso, the intervening Sundays and Public Holidays declared under the Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 (26 of 1881) shall be excluded.

[(7) The Recipient Operator shall be liable to pay Per Port Transaction charge for each porting request of the mobile number to the Mobile Number Portability Service provider as notified by the Authority from time to time.

(8) The Recipient Operator shall be liable to comply with the Quality of Service parameters, as specified by the Authority from time to time.]]

[9. Action by Mobile Number Portability Service provider. - (1) Upon receipt of the request for unique porting code, the concerned Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall check from its database whether: -

(a) the mobile number has been ported earlier and, if so, a period of ninety days has not elapsed from the date of its last porting;

(b) porting request is already in process for the same mobile number;

(c) unique porting code has already been issued and not expired yet.

(2) Where Mobile Number Portability Service provider finds that the conditions (a) or (b) or (c) under sub-regulation (1) are applicable, it shall not generate unique porting code and shall communicate the reason of non-generation of unique porting code to the subscriber through SMS.

(3) Where Mobile Number Portability Service provider finds that the conditions (a) and (b) and (c) under sub-regulation (1) are not applicable, it shall check for the conditions (a) to (g) contained in sub-regulations (3) of regulation 6A.

(4) If the Mobile Number Portability Service provider finds that the request of the subscriber is not covered under the grounds contained in clauses (b) to (g) of sub-regulation (3) of regulation 6A, it shall allocate unique porting code to the subscriber and communicate the same to the subscriber through SMS.

(5) If the Mobile Number Portability Service provider is not able to check the information from the database of the Donor Operator, as provided in the sub-regulation (3) of regulation 6A, for any technical reason, it shall send an SMS to the subscriber acknowledging his request for unique porting code and informing him that delivery of unique porting code is delayed due to technical reason and the same shall be delivered shortly:

Provided that where Mobile Number Portability Service provider finds that unique porting code cannot be generated due to technical issues, it shall immediately send alert message to the Donor Operator raising the docket for such technical issues and shall again query the database of the Donor Operator immediately on resolution of technical issues.

(6) When any of the conditions contained in clause (b) to (g) of sub-regulation (3) of regulation 6A are applicable for the mobile number under porting, the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall not issue unique porting code to the subscriber and shall inform the subscriber through SMS, the reasons for non-generation of unique porting code and retain such records for a minimum period of six months.

(7) Upon receipt of the porting request from the Recipient Operator, the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall verify whether: -

(a) porting request is not in process for the same mobile number;

(b) unique porting code received along with the porting request matches with the unique porting code generated from its database for the mobile number under porting;

(c) unique porting code is valid on the date of receipt of porting request.

(8) Where any of the conditions contained in clauses (a), (b) and (c) under sub-regulation (7), is not affirmative, the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall reject the current request for porting and communicate such rejection to the Recipient Operator and the concerned subscriber along with the reasons of such rejection.

(9) Upon successful validation of the conditions contained in clauses (a), (b) and (c) under sub-regulation (7), the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall: -

(a) in all cases except corporate mobile numbers, schedule and forthwith forward such request to Donor Operator for porting on completion of two working days for intra-licensed service area porting requests and on completion of four working days for all inter-licensed service area porting requests and inform the subscriber, through SMS, the porting schedule and the port withdrawal window available to him for twenty four hours from the time of receipt of porting request;

(b) for the corporate mobile numbers, where the unique porting code is prefixed with 'C', forthwith, forward the details of such request, along with scanned copy of the authorization letter received from the Recipient Operator, to the Donor Operator for clearance of its porting and inform the subscriber through SMS, the port withdrawal window available to him for twenty four hours from the time of receipt of porting request;

(c) upon clearance of the porting request made under the clause (b) of sub-regulation (9) of the regulation by Donor Operator, within the time limits as specified in regulation 10, schedule the porting within the next thirty six hours and inform the subscriber through SMS;

(d) upon non-clearance of the porting request made under the clause (b) of sub-regulation (9) of the regulation by Donor Operator, inform the subscriber through SMS the reasons for rejection of such porting request and retain the records for a minimum period of twelve months;

(e) for the porting request made under the clause (b) under sub-regulation (9) of regulation 9, within the time limits as specified in regulation 10, in case no response is received from Donor Operator on the porting request, schedule the porting within the next thirty six hours and inform the subscriber through SMS:

Provided that while calculating two working days and four working days, respectively, for intra-licensed service area porting requests and inter-licensed service area porting requests, intervening Sundays and public holidays declared under the Negotiable Instrument Act., 1881 (No. 26 of 1881) shall be excluded:

Provided further that for the cases where unique porting code has been generated with prefix 'C' but authorization letter is not forwarded by recipient operator alongwith the porting request and also in the cases wherein the unique porting code is not prefixed with 'C' but the authorization letter is forwarded by recipient operator, no action on such requests shall be taken by Mobile Number Portability Service provider and it shall inform the subscriber and recipient operator accordingly:

Provided also that the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall be liable to comply with the Quality of Service parameters, as specified by the Authority from time to time.]

[10. Action by Donor Operator. - (1) The Donor Operator shall establish a query response mechanism in its network to enable the Mobile Number Portability Service provider to access the database of the Donor Operator on real time basis to query the conditions listed in clauses (a) to (g) under sub-regulation (3) of regulation 6A.

(2) Upon receipt of the details of porting request under the clause (b) of sub-regulation (9) of regulation 9, the Donor Operator shall, within four working days, verify such details and communicate to the Mobile Number Portability Service provider, where it finds that the porting request is covered under the ground (i) specified for corporate mobile number under regulation 12, that -

(a) it has objection to the porting of the mobile number from its network; or

(b) it has no objection for clearance of porting request of the mobile number:

Provided that while calculating four working days as specified in this sub-regulation, intervening Sundays and public holidays declared under the Negotiable Instrument Act., 1881 (No. 26 of 1881) shall be excluded:

Provided further that the Donor Operator shall be liable to comply with the Quality of Service parameters, as specifies by the Authority from time to time.]

11. Porting of mobile number. - (1) Upon receipt of the communication from the Donor Operator under regulation 10, the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall-

[(a) where the Donor Operator has indicated the ground of rejection of the porting request under the clause (a) of sub-regulation (2) of regulation 10, forthwith communicate the ground of rejection to the mobile subscriber through SMS and send a copy for information to the Recipient Operator.]

(b) where the Donor Operator has indicated his clearance to the porting request under clause (b) of regulation 10, or has failed to communicate either its clearance or its objection for the porting of the mobile number, as the case may be within the time specified under regulation 10, forthwith fix the date and time of porting of such mobile number and communicate it, along with details of anticipated No Service Period, simultaneously to the Donor Operator and the Recipient Operator;

(c) The Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall fix the date and time of porting under clause (b) in such manner that the porting shall be within thirty six hours from the time of receipt of the clearance from the Donor Operator under clause (b) [of sub-regulation (2)] of regulation 10 or the expiry of the time limit specified in regulation 10, as the case may be:

Provided that in [case the Recipient Operator belongs to] Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and North East licensed service areas, the date and time for porting to be fixed under clause (c) by the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall be within ten days from the date of receipt of the clearance from the Donor Operator under clause (b) [of sub-regulation (2)] of regulation 10 or the expiry of the time limit specified in regulation 10, as the case may be.

(2) Where the Mobile Number Portability Service provider has communicated the grounds for rejection as indicated by the Donor Operator to the Recipient Operator under clause (a) of sub-regulation (1), the Recipient Operator shall communicate the same, in writing or through SMS, to the concerned subscriber.

(3) Where the Mobile Number Portability Service provider has communicated the date and time of porting of such mobile number and the anticipated No Service Period under clause (b) of sub-regulation (1) to the Donor Operator and to the Recipient Operator, the Recipient Operator shall communicate the same to the subscriber telephonically or through SMS or through an automated voice message.

(4) At the date and time of porting fixed by the Mobile Number Portability Service provider, the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall communicate to the Donor Operator its instructions for disconnection of the mobile number and the Donor Operator shall, immediately and in any case within one hour of receipt of such instructions,-

(a) comply with such instructions; and

(b) report compliance of such instructions to the Mobile Number Portability Service provider.

(5) Upon receipt of the report of compliance under sub-regulation (4) from the Donor Operator or the expiry of one hour as specified in sub-regulation (4), which ever is earlier the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall communicate to the Recipient Operator its instructions for activation of the mobile number;

(6) Upon receipt of the instructions for activation of the mobile number the Recipient Operator shall, immediately and in any case within one hour of receipt of such instructions,-

(a) comply with such instructions; and

(b) report compliance of such instructions to the Mobile Number Portability Service provider;

(7) Upon receipt of the report of compliance under sub-regulation (6) from the Recipient Operator, the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall allocate the corresponding Location Routing Number to the ported number in the Number Portability Database and broadcast the updated Location Routing Number along with the ported mobile number to all Access Providers and International Long Distance Operators who shall update their respective Local Number Portability Database.

[(7a) The Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall, on receipt of request for download of Number Portability Database from Access Providers, other than new operators, permit such downloads from its system and Access Provider shall pay for the charges for such download to the Mobile Number Portability Service provider at the rate specified by the Authority from time to time.]

12. Grounds for rejection of porting request by Donor Operator. - A request for porting of a mobile number shall not be rejected by a Donor Operator on any ground other than the following grounds, namely:-

[***]

[(i) in case of a corporate mobile number, the porting request is not accompanied by authorisation letter from the authorised signatory of the subscriber;

[***]]

[Provided that while rejecting a request for porting, on [ground specified in clause (i)], each corporate mobile number shall be treated separately :

Provided further that if the Donor Operator rejects a porting request on the grounds specified in [clause (i)], he shall indicate the full details of the grounds on which the porting request has been rejected and retain a copy of such records for a minimum period of six months.]

[13. Withdrawal of porting request. - (1) A subscriber may withdraw the porting request by informing the Mobile Number Portability Service Provider through SMS to the specified Short Code, within the twenty four hours of withdrawal window as communicated by Mobile Number Portability Service provider.

(2) Where the Mobile Number Portability Service provider finds that the request for withdrawal has been received from the subscriber within twenty four hours of submitting of porting request to Mobile Number Portability Service provider by the Recipient Operator, it shall terminate the porting, invalidate the unique porting code for future porting, and shall inform Donor Operator, Recipient Operator and subscriber; provided that Donor Operator shall be liable to pay charges for such cancellation to the Mobile Number Portability Service provider at the rate specified by the Authority from time to time.

(3) In case the Mobile Number Portability Service provider receives the request for withdrawal of the porting after twenty four hours of submitting of porting request to Mobile Number Portability Service provider by the Recipient Operator, it shall inform the subscriber through SMS that the time for withdrawal of the porting request has expired and shall proceed with the scheduled date and time of de-activation and activation as per clause (a), (c) and (e) of the sub-regulation (9) of regulation 9.]

CHAPTER III

Rights And Obligations Of Service Providers

14. Rights and obligations of Donor Operator. - (1) The Donor Operator shall continue to provide all subscribed telecommunication services to the subscriber who has sought porting of his mobile number till the disconnection of the mobile number in accordance with the provisions of sub-regulation (4) of regulation 11.

(2) Upon disconnection of a mobile number, the Donor Operator shall refund to the subscriber, within such time frame and in such manner as specified in the Standards of Quality of Service of Basic Telephone Service (wireline) and Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Regulations, 2009 (7 of 2009) as may be amended from time to time, all amounts due to such subscriber on account of refundable payments or deposits made by such subscriber to the Donor Operator.

(3) The Donor Operator shall maintain records of all mobile numbers ported out by it and all mobile numbers for which porting requests have been rejected by it for a minimum period of twelve months from the date of porting or the date of rejection of request, as the case may be.

(4) In case of non-payment of any outstanding bill issued to the subscriber after the porting request, for the services availed till the disconnection of the mobile number from the network of the Donor Operator, within such time as specified in such bill, the Donor Operator shall give a notice of not less than seven days to the subscriber, notifying him that in case of non-payment within the said notice period, the Donor Operator shall request the Recipient Operator to disconnect the ported number.

[Provided that no notice shall be given after thirty days from the last date of payment mentioned in the outstanding bill]

(5) In case after expiry of such period such subscriber fails to make payments as specified in the notice, the Donor Operator shall communicate [within thirty days] the details of such outstanding bills [including date of the bill, last date of payment, date of the notice and period of notice given to the subscriber.] to the Recipient Operator through the Mobile Number Portability Service provider with an advice to take action for disconnecting the ported number.

[Provided that no communication for disconnection of ported number shall be given to the Mobile Number Portability Service Provider after sixty days from the last date of payment mentioned in the outstanding bill]

15. Rights and obligations of Recipient Operator. - (1) The Recipient Operator shall pay to the Mobile Number Portability Service provider, the Per Port Transaction charge [and subscriber reconnection charge] at the rate as specified by the Authority from time to time, within fifteen days of receipt of the bill from the Mobile Number Portability Service provider or within such other time limit as may be mutually agreed upon.

(2) The Recipient Operator shall maintain records in respect of all mobile numbers for which porting requests have been rejected, for a minimum period of twelve months from the date of rejection of such requests.

(3) Where a request is made by the Donor Operator under sub-regulation (5) of regulation 14 for disconnecting the ported number, the Recipient Operator shall issue a notice [of fifteen days] to the concerned subscriber, [***] about the request received from the Donor Operator and calling upon such subscriber to produce evidence of having settled such outstanding dues with the Donor Operator within such notice period and in case the subscriber produces such evidence of having settled such dues, the Recipient Operator shall not take any further action in pursuance of the notice and shall inform the Donor Operator accordingly through Mobile Number Portability Service provider.

[(4) In case, the subscriber fails to provide evidence of having settled the outstanding dues with the Donor Operator within the time so allowed in the notice under sub-regulation (3), the Recipient Operator shall immediately bar all outgoing services on the mobile number of such subscriber except accessibility to emergency services as specified in the licence agreement of the service provider;

Provided that if the subscriber furnishes evidence to the Recipient Operator regarding payment made to the Donor Operator, within fifteen days from the date of barring of outgoing services, the services of the subscriber shall be restored with immediate effect;

Provided further that, in case the subscriber fails to make payment referred to in the first proviso, the Recipient Operator shall disconnect the mobile number of the subscriber and inform the Mobile Number Portability Service Provider of the action taken by it with request for reversal of such number to the Number Range Holder after expiry of sixty days.]

[Provided also that in case subscriber makes the payment, referred in the first proviso, and furnishes evidence of such payment to recipient Operator within sixty days of its disconnection, the services of the subscriber shall be restored immediately and Recipient Operator shall inform the Mobile Number Portability Service provider of such restoration and recall its request for reversal of such mobile number to its Number Range Holder.]

(5) In case, after porting of a mobile number to the Recipient Operator's network, there is disconnection of the mobile number for any reason other than the reason specified in sub-regulation (4), the Recipient Operator shall, after ninety days [sixty days] of such disconnection, inform the Mobile Number Portability Service provider about such disconnection with a request for reversal of such mobile number to the Number Range Holder.

16. Rights and obligations of Mobile Number Portability Service provider. - (1) The Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall make all efforts to facilitate expeditious porting of mobile numbers through effective coordination with the Donor Operator and the Recipient Operator.

(2) The Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall use the Number Portability Database only for the purpose of porting [allocating and verifying the unique porting code] and dipping and not for any other purpose.

(3) The Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall generate specific sets of statistics regarding the number of porting requests received, the number of portings carried out successfully and the number of failed porting requests with reasons for failures.

[(3)(a) The Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall generate reports regarding the number of requests received for unique porting code from the mobile subscribers, the number of unique porting code successfully allocated and the number of requests where no response or delayed response was received from the Donor Operator or any other reports required by the Authority from time to time.]

(4) Upon receipt of a communication under sub-regulation (4) of regulation 15 or under sub-regulation (5) of regulation 15, from the Recipient Operator about disconnection of a ported mobile number, the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall forthwith-

(a) remove the number from its Number Portability Database;

(b) update the Local Number Portability Databases of all the Access providers and International Long Distance Operators; and

(c) restore the mobile number to the Number Range Holder.

(5) The Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall raise bills along with the relevant details in respect of Per Port Transaction charges to the concerned Recipient Operators on a monthly basis and shall deliver such bills to the concerned Recipient Operators for each month before the tenth day of the following month or at such periodic intervals and within such time limits as may be mutually agreed upon.

[(5a) The Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall send bills along with the relevant details of charges for facilitation of reconnection of ported subscriber in its network to the concerned Recipient Operator on a monthly basis and shall deliver such bills to the concerned Recipient Operators for each month before the tenth day of the following month or at such periodic intervals and within such time limits, as may be mutually agreed upon.

(5b) The Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall send bills along with the relevant details of charges for downloading the Number Portability Database to the concerned Access Provider on a monthly basis and shall deliver such bills to the concerned Access Provider for each month before the tenth day of the following month or at such periodic intervals and within such time limits as may be mutually agreed upon.

(5c) The Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall send bills along with the relevant details of charges for execution of porting withdrawal request of its subscriber to the concerned Donor Operator on a monthly basis and shall deliver such bills to the concerned Donor Operator for each month before the tenth day of the following month or at such periodic intervals and within such time limits as may be mutually agreed upon.

(5d) The Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall send bills along with the relevant details of the charges for facilitating return of the mobile number after disconnection due to any reason including non-payment, to the number range holder for each month before the tenth day of the following month or at such periodic intervals and within such time limits as may be mutually agreed upon.]

(6) In case a Recipient Operator fails to pay the bill for Per Port Transaction charges [and subscriber reconnection charges] within the time limit specified in sub-regulation (1) of regulation 15, the Mobile Number Portability Service provider, before taking any action, shall issue a notice to such Recipient Operator, the period of which shall be not less than fifteen days, calling upon such Recipient Operator to make payment of the outstanding dues within such period.

(7) Notwithstanding the issue of notice to the Recipient Operator under sub-regulation (6), the Mobile Number Portability Service provider shall in no case discontinue the provision of Mobile Number Portability Service to such defaulting Recipient Operator.

17. Obligations of Access Providers, National Long Distance Operators and International Long Distance Operators. - (1) All existing interconnect agreements or arrangements between Access Providers, National Long Distance Operators and International Long Distance Operators shall, upon the coming into force of these regulations, stand amended so as to conform to the provisions of these regulations as regards routing of calls to and from ported mobile numbers.

(2) Every Access Provider and every International Long Distance Operator providing carriage service to any Access Provider shall, within thirty days of coming into force of these regulations or before commencement of Access Service or carriage service as the case may be, shall establish fail-proof connectivity from its Mobile Number Portability gateway to the main and Disaster recovery sites of the Mobile Number Portability Service providers at its own cost:

Provided that-

(a) an Access Provider having licenses in more than one licensed service area may establish such fail-proof connectivity to the main and Disaster recovery sites of the Mobile Number Portability Service providers common for all its licensed service areas; and

(b) an Access Provider, who is also an International Long Distance Operator providing carriage service to any Access Provider, may establish such fail-proof connectivity to the main and Disaster recovery sites of the Mobile Number Portability Service providers common for all its licensed services and share its Local Number Portability Database across its various licensed activities for the purpose of implementing Mobile Number Portability Service:

Provided further that no Access Provider or International Long Distance Operator providing carriage service to any Access Provider shall share its Local Number Portability Database with another Access Provider or International Long Distance Operator:

Provided further that a service provider who is sharing its Local Number Portability Database across its licensed activities shall ensure that such sharing of Local Number Portability Database enables it to directly route messages to ported mobile numbers.

(3) Every Access Provider on whose network a message originates shall be responsible for the correct routing of such message.

(4) In case of international incoming messages, the International Long Distance Operator carrying such messages shall be responsible for correct routing of messages.

(5) Every Access Provider and International Long Distance Operator shall put in place suitable mechanism for safeguarding the data provided by porting subscribers from unauthorised interception or unauthorized access and shall ensure that such data is used solely for the purpose of porting of mobile numbers and shall not use such data for any other purpose:

Provided that the provisions of this sub-regulation shall not prevent such Access Providers from providing such data or access to such data for monitoring purposes to the designated security agencies.

[17A. Consequence for contravention of the provisions of regulation 6A, or regulation 8, or regulation 9 or regulation 10 or regulation 11 or regulation 12. - (1) If any Access Provider or Mobile number Portability Service provider contravenes the provisions of sub-regulation (5) of regulation 8, or sub-regulation (9) of regulation 9 or sub-regulation (2) of regulation 10 or sub-regulation (4) of regulation 11 or sub-regulation (6) of regulation 11, it shall, without prejudice to the terms and conditions of its licence or the provisions of the Act or rules or regulations or orders made, or, directions issued, thereunder, be liable to pay an amount, by way of financial disincentive, not exceeding five thousand rupees for each contravention, as the Authority may, by order direct.

(2) If any Access Provider or Mobile number Portability Service provider contravenes the provisions of regulation 6A or sub-regulation (1) of regulation 10 or regulation 12, it shall, without prejudice to the terms and conditions of its license or the provisions of the Act or rules or regulations or orders made, or, direction issued, thereunder, be liable to pay an amount, by way of financial disincentive not exceeding ten thousand rupees for each wrongful rejection of the request for porting, as the Authority may, by order direct.

(3) No order for payment of an amount by way of financial disincentive under sub-regulation (1) and sub-regulation (2) shall be made by the Authority unless the service provider has been given a reasonable opportunity of representing against the contravention of the regulation observed by the Authority.]

Chapter IV

Miscellaneous

18. Power of Authority to issue directions for specifying time limits for various activities for implementing number portability. - (1) Without prejudice to any of the provisions of the Act, or any other regulations made under the Act or directions issued there under, the Authority may, from time to time, issue such directions as it may deem fit to the service providers on any aspect of Mobile Number Portability for which provisions have been made in these regulations.

19. Inspection and Auditing. - (1) The Authority may, if it considers it expedient so to do, and to ensure compliance of the provisions of these regulations, by order, in writing, direct any of its officers or employees or an independent agency appointed by the Authority, to inspect any records maintained by a service provider under these regulations or get such records audited.

(2) The Authority, if it considers it expedient so to do, may require the service provider referred to in sub-regulation (1) to get the records maintained by such service provider audited through an independent agency as may be specified by the Authority and submit the report in respect of such audit to the Authority and the cost of such audit shall be borne by the concerned service provider.

Explanatory Memorandum

Background

1. Promotion of competition and efficiency in the telecom sector, particularly in the areaof mobile telecommunication, requires, inter alia, the facilitation of easy movement of subscribers from one service provider to another or across mobile technologies. Mobile Number Portability (MNP) allows the subscribers to retain their existing mobile telephone number when they move from one Access Provider to another irrespective of the mobile technology or from one cellular mobile technology to another of the same Access Provider, in a licensed service area. The facility of retention of existing mobile telephone number despite moving to a new telecom service provider helps the subscriber maintain contact with his friends/clientele. Introduction of MNP also helps in increasing competition between the service providers and acts as a catalyst for the service providers to improve their quality of service.

2. Based on the recommendations of the Authority, Government issued guidelines for MNP service license on 1st August 2008. It also identified two MNP operators for two zones in the country and issued licenses to them. It has also since been decided that MNP shall be implemented w.e.f. 31st December 2009 in Metros & category "A" service areas and byth March 2010 in rest of the country.

3. Through these regulations, the Authority is laying down the basic business process framework for implementation of MNP in the country. TRAI placed the draft regulations on the subject on its website on 30th June 2009 for consultation with the stakeholders. Comments of stakeholders on the draft regulations were solicited by 14th July 2009. Written comments of stakeholders were posted on TRAI's website, following which Open House Discussions were held with stakeholders in Delhi on 27th July 2009 and the stakeholders were requested to send further comments, if any, by 31st July, 2009. After careful analysis of the views of the stakeholders expressed both through their written comments and in the Open House, the Authority has framed the present regulations.

4. The regulations seek to provide a framework governing all relevant aspects of MNP by

(a) laying down clear eligibility conditions for porting of mobile telephone numbers;

(b) defining rights and obligations of various stake holders, i.e., the Donor Operato, the Recipient Operator, the MNP Service provider;

(c) laying down the procedure to be followed by each player in the chain in processing number porting request;

(d) specifying clear time limits for completion of various steps by each player in the chain, i.e., the Donor Operator, Recipient Operator and the MNP service provider; and

(e) envisaging least disruption of service to the consumer.

Salient Features of The MNP Under These Regulations are as Follows:-

(i) MNP facility shall be available only within a given licensed service area.

(ii) A subscriber holding a mobile number is eligible to make a porting request only after 90 days of the date of activation of his mobile connection. If a number is already ported. once, the number can again be ported only after 90 days from the date of the previousporting.

(iii) The Subscriber who wishes to port his mobile number should approach the Recipient operator (the operator to whom the subscriber wants to port his number). The Subscriber may be required to pay porting charges, if any, to the Recipient Operator.

(iv) The subscriber making the porting request is required to have cleared all the bills issued prior to the date of porting request. He shall give an undertaking that he has already paid all billed dues to the Donor Operator as on the date of the request for porting and that he shall pay dues to the Donor Operator pertaining, to the mobile number till its eventual porting and that he understands and agrees that in event of non-payment of any such dues to the Donor Operator, the ported mobile number shall be liable to be disconnected by the Recipient Operator.

(v) A subscriber may withdraw his porting request within 24 hours of its submission to the Recipient Operator. However, the porting charges shall not be refundable.

(vi) The regulation envisage a maximum time period of four days for the completion of porting process.

(vii) Access Providers are required to implement All Call Query method.

(viii) The Originating operator shall be responsible to route the call to correct terminating network.

Stakeholders' Comments On Key Issues And Its Analysis

1. Definition of Donor operator and.Recipient operator in the context of dual technology provider.-Some stakeholders suggested that the definition must clearly indicate the Donor & the Recipient Operator would be the same in case of porting of a number from. one technology to other technology within the same service provider.

The definition clearly states that the Donor Operator is the one to whom the subscriber belongs before porting his number. Mobile Number Portability includes porting from one technology to another technology of the same service provider. It is immaterial whether the Donor and the Recipient Operator are same or different as the functions of Donor Operator and Recipient Operator are to be carried out independently. In view of the above, it is felt not necessary to state that the Donor & Recipient Operator will be same in case of same service provider providing Mobile Number Portability across the technologies.

2. Levying porting charge where requests cannot be considered. - Suggestions were made by some stakeholders that the porting charges should be levied only in case of a successful. porting except in a case where the subscriber himself withdraws his porting request: There were others who felt that irrespective of whether the porting is carried out or not, porting charge should be payable, since for every processing of porting request, the service provider incurs certain cost.

Having considered the comments, the Authority is of the view that there is a merit in the argument that the customer is being informed in advance about the eligibility criteria. Examination of the request involves work on the part of the Recipient Operator/MNP service provider. Besides, refund of porting charge also involves additional expenditure for the service providers. It is therefore felt that there should be no provision for refund ofporting charges paid to the Recipient Operator.

3. Sharing of Porting charge between Donor, Recipient and MNP Service provider. - Some service providers commented that as the MNPSP, the Donor/Recipient operators have to carry out additional work for porting the subscribers; the porting charge should be sharedamong all these operators. This issue will be dealt at the time of determining the Per-Port transaction charge, Dipping charge and Porting charge.

4. Defining Business Days and Hours. - Some service providers felt that the Business Day and hours/End of Business Day should be defined. They suggested that Business Days should be (Monday to Saturday) and working hours should be 9 am to 6 pm while some were of the opinion that as these terms are already defined under the Negotiable Instrument Act, there is no necessity of defining the same in these regulations.

Defining the business hours is not feasible as the operators presently have their own timings. Therefore, regulations have specified the timelines, wherever required, in terms of number of hours permitted for completion of specified process. Sundays and public holidays declared under the Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 (26 , f 1881) have been excluded wherever required.

5. Eligibility condition for applying for porting. - There were conflicting views on the regulation of 90 days as minimum eligibility for porting. Some stakeholders suggested a clarification that the 90 days period should be applicable for cross technology porting also. Some consumer representatives suggested that no timeframe be defined for porting. However, most of the Service providers were agreeable to the timeframe of 90 days.

This has been examined and Authority is of the view that a minimum period is required to be specified so as to enable the service provider to recover the customer acquisition cost. The Mobile Number Porting definition takes care of scenario of the cross technology porting within same operator too.

6. Recovery of dues by the Donor Operator from the ported subscriber. - In the draft Regulation on MNP, it was proposed that the subscriber shall be eligible for porting his number only if he has paid his last bill (in case of post-paid subscription) and provided he has given an undertaking that he shall continue to pay all future dues to the Donor Operator till its eventual porting. The stakeholders' comments were that

•  it needs to be clearly prescribed in the Regulation that even after disconnection of his mobile number, the subscriber will be liable to pay all the pending dues of the Donor Operator.

•  an extra procedure was suggested wherein the Donor Operator was to raise the bill for the subscriber to pay before his porting requested was accepted.

•  TRAI should prescribe the format of the undertaking to be furnished by MNP customer to Recipient Operator.

The Regulations have adequate provision for recovery of these. The porting request can be valid only if the subscriber has paid his dues as per bills issued before the date of porting request. He will also be liable to pay all the bills issued after the porting request, failing which the Recipient Operator is entitled to disconnect his number, after following the due procedure. The Authority is of the opinion that any extra procedure for the Donor Operator to recover his dues before porting takes place will complicate the procedure for number portability. Porting from an Operator is similar to disconnection for the purpose of recovery of dues. Besides, suitable provisions have been made in the regulations for other legal remedies for recovering dues.

7. Verification of subscriber by Recipient Operator and Authentication by Donor Operator.-The draft regulation proposed that the Recipient Operator, upon receipt of the porting request of a subscriber, within five days of receipt of the porting request, shall carry out subscriber verification in the same manner as required for the acquisition of a new subscriber.

Some stakeholders suggested that Subscriber verification being a security issue, verification should be done before porting. The time period of 5 days may not be sufficient to carry out physical verification of.post-paid subscribers particularly subscribers located in rural and remote areas and also in states like J&K and NE, and as such no time period should be prescribed. On the other hand, those who favoured speedy porting put forwardan argument that unlike new subscriber, the porting subscriber has already been verified by the Donor Operator and also has been on the network for a minimum of 90 days. Therefore, it may be possible to do post verification after the completion of porting.

In its submission, that was also placed on the TRAI website and in the discussions, one of the stakeholders suggested that in order to ensure speedy porting and reduce the chances of rejection by the Donor Operator because of mismatch of the subscriber's details, the pre-paid subscriber applying for porting of his number should be asked by the Recipient Operator to send a SMS from his mobile handset to a designated short code. On receipt of SMS the subscriber will get authenticated and the Donor Operator will also be able to verify that the SMS has originated from a subscriber of his network. This was not opposed by others.

The object of the Regulations is to make the MNP a simple affair. The Authority's concern is that the request of the subscriber should not be rejected merely on account of change of address, difference in use of spelling in the name or address between the data given by the subscriber at the time of porting and that available with the Donor Operator, or non-availability of the original CAF details. In such cases, the probability of either rejection of subscriber's request or delay in grant of clearance by the Donor Operator is very high. Moreover, the subscriber is only getting disconnected from the Donor Operator. Therefore, the Donor Operator needs only to confirm that the mobile number applying for'porting belongs to its network. Additionally, in order to implement the MNP successfully, the key aspect is to make the process simple, easy and speedy for the subscriber. The Authority in its analysis found that the suggestion given above by one of the stakeholders with minor customization can make the porting process simple and speedy and will also take care of unnecessary rejections by the Donor Operator. Accordingly, the regulations have introduced a procedure wherein a unique porting code to be generated by Donor Operator for the authentication of the subscriber requested for porting of his mobile number. The subscriber will have to incorporate this code in the porting form while submitting it with the customer acquisition form to the Recipient Operator.

8. Duration of No service period. - During the consultation, stakeholders were of the view that the time period of 2 hours specified for the "No Service Period" is very short and that more time was required to carry out the disconnection/ activation of the subscriber number. They wanted this time period to be increased to 4-5 hours each.

The Authority felt the window period of one hour each for the disconnection and activation by the Donor operator and the Recipient operator respectively is in accordance with the MNP Service license condition. Moreover, further increasing this time period will cause inconvenience to the subscriber. Therefore, the "No Service Period" is proposed to be maintained as it is.

9. Reasons for rejection due to contractual obligation. - Some of the stakeholders have suggested that any Contractual obligation between the Donor Operator and the subscriber should also be included as a reason for rejection by the Donor operator. After consideration, the Authority found merit in the argument that the subscriber, who is under a subsisting contractual obligation having an exit clause with the Donor operator and has not complied with the exit clause can not be allowed to port the number. Accordingly, provisions have been incorporated in the regulations.

10. Discretion of the Donor Operator to continue ISD and International roaming facilities of the subscriber during the process of porting. - Some stakeholders were of the view that continuation of high exposure services like ISD, International Roaming, and other Value Added facilities for subscribers applying for porting should not be mandated. While the contrary view was that all such services, or facilities, that the subscriber was receiving prior to his porting request, must be allowed to be continued on the subscriber number, while under porting period.

The Authority is of the view that the service providers normally maintain a credit limit beyond which the subscribers are not allowed to use such facilities. Secondly, in view of therevised porting procedure, the period for the entire process has been considerably reduced. Thirdly, subscribers having ISD/International roaming facility are few in number and they may need these facilities on a day to day basis. It is therefore felt that there is no need to make such provision available to the Donor Operator.

11. Notice Period by the Donor Operator and Recipient Operator for the defaulting subscriber who has ported his number to the Recipient Operator. - The draft Regulations provided that in case, a post-paid subscriber fails to pay the outstanding bills to the Donor Operator by the due date as per the bill, the Donor Operator shall issue a notice for such payment. If the subscriber still fails to pay the dues, the Recipient Operator, on intimation by the Donor Operator was required to disconnect the number after issuing a notice. A period of "Not less than 15 days" and "Not less than 7 days" was prescribed to the Donor Operator and Recipient Operator respectively.

Some of the stakeholders suggested that the notice period of 15 days was unduly long as already sufficient time is given to the subscriber to pay his dues, while others felt that the notice period of 7 days should be increased.

The Authority, based on the practical considerations, has decided that the notice period for the defaulter subscriber by the Donor operator be kept as "Not less than 7 days" and by the Recipient Operator as "Not less than 7 days, but not more than 15 days".

12. Establishment of connectivity between the Access Providers/ILDOs and MNP Service providers. - The Access Providers were of the opinion that every new service provider (Seeker) irrespective of the type of service being provided by them, e.g., CMTS/BSO/ UASL/NLDO/ILDO'has to seek interconnection from the existing operators (Provider). The interconnect arrangement between the MNP service provider and every Access Provider/ ILDO should be governed by present RIO provisions notified by TRAI. They may not be forced to establish the Interconnection at their own cost contrary to the provisions of license.

The Authority deliberated in detail on the submission of the stakeholders on this issue. The primary purpose to introduce MNP in the country is to provide freedom to the subscribers to change their service providers while retaining their mobile numbers. MNP service providers have been given licenses to facilitate and help the Access Providers in providing such a facility. Therefore, the issue of seeker/ provider is not relevant in this case. Moreover, this Regulation is in accordance with the clause 31.13 of the Licence agreement of the MNP Service and the instructions of the Government to all the Basic service, CMTS, UAS, NLD and ILD licensees vide Department of Telecommunication's letter no. 20-201/ 2008-AS-I, dated 6th May, 2009. Therefore, the Authority finds no merit in the stakeholders' submission.

Explanatory Memorandum

Notification No. 116-6/2017-NSN-II/(Vol.III), dated 8.11.2019

1. On 13th December 2018, TRAI had issued the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Seventh Amendment) Regulations, 2018 (9 of 2018), to the principal regulations of Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Regulations 2009 (8 of 2009).

2. Considering the preparedness of Telecom Service Providers and Mobile Number Portability Service providers, the timeline for implementation of Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Seventh Amendment) Regulations, 2018, was extended from 13th June 2019 to 30th September 2019 vide Notification dated 12th June 2019 and subsequently from 30th September 2019 to 11th November 2019 vide Notification dated 27th September 2019.

3. However, due to technical issues at the end of Telecom Service Providers and Mobile Number Portability Service providers, Acceptance Testing of the detailed 'Test Schedule and Test Procedure' issued by Telecom Engineering Centre, Department of Telecommunications, could not be completed successfully within the stipulated time. Therefore, the Authority has decided to extend the time for implementation of these regulations from 11th November, 2019 to 16th December 2019.

4. Therefore, sub-regulation (2) of regulation 1 of the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Seventh Amendment) Regulations, 2018 (9 of 2018) has been amended.

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