New Rules For Mobile Number Portability: Earlier, after the SIM card was stolen or damaged, you would immediately get a new SIM card from the store of the concerned telecom company. But now users will have to wait for 7 days, only after this they will get a new SIM card. Actually, its locking period has been increased
New Rules For Mobile Number Portability: The government has decided to make changes in the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) rules. Telecom regulatory body Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has said that amendments to the Mobile Number Portability rules will come into effect from July 1, 2024 to curb SIM swap and replacement fraudulent activities. According to TRAI, SIM swap or replacement means a process of getting a new SIM card in place of a stolen or non-working SIM card by an existing customer.
What will change?
In case of SIM card theft, loss or damage, now customers will have to wait a bit. Earlier, after the SIM card was stolen or damaged, you used to get a new SIM card immediately from the store of the concerned telecom company. But now users will have to wait for 7 days, only after that users will get a new SIM card. Actually, its locking period has been increased. You will get this SIM card only after the next seven days which has been implemented after the change in MNP rules. “The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on March 14, 2024 issued the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (9th Amendment) Regulations, 2024, which will come into force from July 1, 2024,” a statement issued by the regulator said.
This is the new rule
According to TRAI rules, users can also choose the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) facility, which allows them to retain their mobile number when they move from one access provider to another. Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulations, 2009 have been amended 8 times before with the aim of improving the MNP process from time to time. TRAI has also decided to introduce an additional criterion for rejecting the request for allocation of Unique Porting Code through these amendment regulations.
Let us tell you that this decision has been taken to prevent fraud and cheating. In many cases it was revealed that once the SIM card was stolen, the number was activated on another SIM card. After this, some other incident is carried out.
The new law has given the right to reject the request for Unique Porting Code. The request for Unique Porting Code may get rejected especially if the port code request is sent within 7 days after SIM swapping or replacement.
It further states that if a request for UPC is made before the expiry of seven days from the date of SIM swap or mobile number replacement, UPC should not be allotted, which was 10 days earlier. “The objective of these amendment regulations is to prevent porting of mobile numbers through fraudulent SIM swaps by unscrupulous elements,” TRAI said.
