Mumbai:  The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Ninth amendment) Regulations, 2024.

Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulations, 2009 (8 of 2009) issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India laid down the regulatory framework for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in the country. Till date eight amendments of the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulations, 2009 have been issued.

In the recent past, DoT, through its various communications to TRAI, made certain suggestions in respect of regulatory framework for Mobile Number Portability. Keeping in view the suggestion of DoT, the Authority on 27 September 2023 issued Draft Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Ninth amendment) Regulations, 2023, for consultation with the stakeholders. Written comments on the issues raised in the draft amendment regulations were invited from the stakeholders by 25 October 2023. Thereafter on the request of stakeholders, the last date for submission of the comments was extended up to 8 November 2023. In response, 13 comments were received from the stakeholders. An Open House Discussion was convened with stakeholders on 22 February 2024 through video conferencing.

These amendment regulations are aimed at curbing the practice of porting of mobile numbers by way of fraudulent SIM swap or replacement by unscrupulous elements. Through these amendment regulations, an additional criterion for rejection of the request for allocation of UPC has been introduced. Specifically, the UPC should not be allocated if the request for UPC has been made before the expiry of seven days from the date of SIM swap or replacement of the mobile number.