Implementing even the simplest form of portability is anything but simple, but some steps do help

One of the most frequent definitions that prevails in the telecom circles for number portability is. "Number portability is a circuit-switch telecommunications network feature that enables end users to retain their telephone numbers when changing service providers, service types, and or locations."

Why wireless number portability (WNP)? When fully implemented nation wide by both wire line less providers portability will remove one of the most significant deterrents to changing service providing unprecedented convince for consumers and encouraging unrestrained competition in the telecommunications industry. In short this is the best method to increase the efficiency of the competition there by ensuring better service in all respects.

From the subscribers' perspective this is a decipectively simply and very welcome change because they can change wireless service providers without worrying about notifying friends, family and business contacts that their wireless number is changing. In addition being able to 'port a number from one provider to an other eliminates the hassle and expenses of changing business cards stationery, invoice and other materials for business.

From the wireless carrier's perspective the change is anything but simple virtually all of wireless carriers' systems are affected especially any systems that relies on mobile identity numbers (MINs) or mobile directory numbers (MDNs) will be affected Examples of critical systems and process that would be affected are :billing customer service order activation call delivery roamer registration and support short messages service center directory assistance caller ID calling name presentation switches maintenance and CSC systems home location register (HLRs) and visiting location registers (VLRs).

The Inhibitors

Huge costs: One of the most common barriers in WNP implementation within any country has been the implementation cost. Service providers have been constantly bargaining for time, based on the cost factor from their respective governments Referring to the recent example the US, where each of the large carriers would need to spend $50-60 million to institute the service and an equivalent sum to maintain it the FCC in this plea gave wireless carriers in the US another year I.e. till November 2003 for resolving implementation issues. The experience of developed countries exhibits that local number portability for fixed wire line was introduced within two to three year of introduction of competition to incumbent state telcos the cost estimate for the implementation. of WNP in developed nations like the US can be very helpful for the other countries who wish to think on the lines of number portability TO add on increased marketing costs are to be realized as the carriers look to lock up their current base before number portability is implemented and then aggressively pursue the customers of other carriers there after.

Customer Retention/Increased Competition: Every subscriber in a race to retain its customer would like to retain to offers its customer's best service so as to save them from porting. It's like a blessing in disguise for the customers, as they would get better service irrespective of the carrier, albeit with the same number:

Infrastructure Upgrade: To support WNP, a company has to upgrade both its hardware and software capabilities which will amount to some cost. Software need to be upgrade to provide proper routing of calls. The carriers need to upgrade their network to handle portability requests. The provider, which has its portability compatible would be expected to attract maximum customers and will emerge the winner.

Cost Recovery and Bill Reconciliation/Query Processing: when a customer plans to shift, the old service provider (OSP) has to perform a query to identify if there are any billing amounts pending, which they need to recover before the subscriber to the new service provider (NSP).

Implementing NP
Let us look at some of the basic terminologies used in any porting process:

NSP: It is the recipient carrier I. e., the new service provider to which the subscriber wishes to subscribe to

OSP: And the donor carrier is the old service provider, which the subscriber wishes to leave.

NPAC: Number portability Administrator center (NPAC), the authority responsible for maintaining NP solutions in different regions.

Both the OSP and NSP carriers will have access to their own wireless network order entry and point of sale terminals. Further, the two competing carriers 'WNP architectures will be connected at two points:

. Intercarrier communications process (ICP)

. Number portability Administration center (NPAC), Let us look at the steps of the porting process.

. When the NSP wins the business of the subscribers of one of the subscribers of any other service provider it enters porting information into its operations support system (OSS), at the point of sale (POS like retail store affiliate retailer Web, etc),

. Next a wire less port request (WPR) is sent from the NSP to the OSP via the inter carrier communications process (ICP).

. A wireless port request response (WPRR) is returned from the OSP to the NSP via the ICP the OSP can use the WPRR to delay the port request further information from the NSP, or confirm the port request's details. Note that the NSP should not port the number if it does not receive a wireless port response from the OSP. Also note that the OSP doesn't approve' the port they have no right to deny the port if it is properly formatted and contains the right data they can merely tell the NSP that some thing is wrong with the request.

. The NSP' s OSS provisioning system feeds the porting information to a LSOA system Ideally, the ICC process and LSOA process should be integrated with the POS system so data does not have to be re-keyed at various stages in the porting process. This will save money and increase accuracy.

. The NSP's LSOA forwards porting subscription Create Request to the NPAC, specifying the date and time when porting should occur.

. The NPAC sends a notification of the porting request to the OSP's LSOA this starts a two - hour timer at the NPAC. The OSP has one hour to respond. Then the NSP has another hour to activate the subscription request.

. The OSP's LSOA informs its OSS of the porting request including the date/time to stop billing the number.

. The OSP's LSOA notifies the NPAC that it has received the porting request and confirm the date and time of the change.

. The NPAC notifies the NSP that the OSP has acknowledged the request and confirmed the date and time and other arrangements. If the OSP does not respond, the NPAC assume the OSP is agreeing to the porting request.

. The NSP sends a porting activation request to the NPAC.

. The NPAC's LSOA then sends the information to its SMS, which broadcasts it to all of the LSMSs operating in the region so the number and the LRN of the NSP is available the next time the number is dialed. The number is now ported!


Indian Telecom Scenario
Indian has one of the fasted growing telecommunication systems in the world with a huge systems size in terms of total connection. The whole telecommunication systems has grown largely in last five years and is expected to grow further at record combined annual growth rate of 13.42 percent in the next year.

This growth is despite the fact that there is an overall slowdown in the world telecom market.
During the next five years, the teledenisty (telephone per 100 populations) in India is expected to cross 10 percent with the on going aggressive push of communication facilities by both private and incumbent operators. The overall Indian telecom industry is expected to touch $24 billion by 2006 several countries have just one single technologies, but our Indian telecom system currently offers multiple technologies, i. e GSM and CDMA. There are technologies pouring like software radio, which permits a handset to switch across GSM, CDMA but till date it is not a very mature stuff.

The Department of Telecommunication (Dot) until 1994 was the only telecom provider in the country. With the deregulation of this sector, various private players have come in and improved not only the service but also cut down on costs Telecom bandwidth issue have also been addressed Many private ISPs have come in this sector and telecom costs have dropped by 85 percent in three years. Reliance Infocomm's entry to Indian telecom map is expected to increase the country's teledenisty from 4percent to 4.5-7 percent within a year of its launch. The $5.2 billion telecom project is based on the idea of making services affordable and accessible to all.

US AFTER WNP The US is going thorough a phase of change in the telecom circle after the Implementation Of WNP. Subscribers are shifting providers to gain maximum benefits. But the current Friends show slow shifting by customers. The infrastructure availability both in terms of Hardware and software for WNP is coming in slowly. A few problems were reported Because of heavy load when NP came into effect. This is now changing and the US might Have a complete portable environment in 2004. The FCC mandate for number portability includes a few restrictions and a time-line for Implementation. Briefly, subscribers with billing addresses in the top 100 US population Centers (called MSAs) were to be able to take their number with them after 24 November 2003 people in them after 24 may 2004 since wireless carriers are not required to wait Until the deadline, many will allow number portability even before the deadline.

WNP in India: TRAI'S Role
Experiences from various countries confirm the fact
that local number portability for fixed wire line should be introduced first within a span of next two to three years WNP should be implemented in different regions by different telecom companies.curently; we do not have number portability for fixed line subscribers in India Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) needs to give serious thought to it if it has to think largely in the customer interest. If we study minutely, BSNL and MTNL offer location portability through universal number service but due to heavy tariffs associated with it normal customers benefits from it
The growth in the Indian telecom market suggests that to ensure a healthy competition number portability regulation are a must for maximum customer benefits. In short TRAI needs to take up such activities largely in the customer interest.
One of the very crucial factors for the Indian scenario is that we do not have a single agency, like NPAC to Administer complete phone numbers centrally which might be a major issue for WNP implementation in India A critical lesson about the time taken should be learnt from the US implementation of WNP- it took them seven years to have WNP into action. We in India should move slowly and plan well and commence with bringing landline portability first.