MNP

MNP is implemented in different ways across the globe. The international and European
standard is for a customer wishing to port his/her number to contact the new provider (Recipient)
who will then arrange necessary process with the old provider (Donor). This is also known as
'Recipient-Led' porting. The UK is the only country to not implement a Recipient-Led system,
where a customer wishing to port his/her number is required to contact the Donor to obtain a
Porting Authorization Code (PAC) which he/she then has to give to the Recipient. Once having
received the PAC the Recipient continues the port process by contacting the Donor. This form of
porting is also known as 'Donor-Led' and has been criticized by some industry analysts as being
inefficient. It has also been observed that it may act as a customer deterrent as well as allowing
the Donor an opportunity of 'winning-back' the customer. This might lead to distortion of
competition, especially in the markets with new entrants that are yet to achieve scalability of
operation.

In India MNP launched recently which is Donor Led. Only the terminology is changed from
PAC to UPC (Unique Porting Code).

A significant technical aspect of MNP (Mobile Number Portability) is related to the routing of
calls or mobile messages (SMS, MMS) to a number once it has been ported. There are various
flavors of call routing implementation across the globe but the international and European best
practice is via the use of a central database (CDB) of ported numbers. Network operator makes
copies of CDB and queries it to find out which network to send a call to. This is also known as
All Call Query (ACQ) and is highly efficient and scalable. Majority of the established and
upcoming MNP systems across the world are based on this ACQ/CDB method of call routing.
One of the very few countries to not use ACQ/CDB is the UK where calls to a number once it
has been ported are still routed via the Donor network. This is also known as 'Indirect Routing'
and is highly inefficient as it is wasteful of transmission and switching capacity. Because of its
Donor dependent nature, Indirect Routing also means that if the Donor network develops a fault
or goes out of business, the customers who have ported out of that network will lose incoming
calls to their numbers. The UK telecoms regulator Ofcom completed its extended review of the
UK MNP process on 29 November 2007 and mandated that ACQ/CDB be implemented for
mobile to mobile ported calls by no later than 1 September 2009[dated info],

Prior to March 2008 it took a minimum of 5 working days to port a number in the UK compared
to 2 hours only in USA, as low as 20 minutes in the Republic of Ireland, 3 minutes in Australia
and even a matter of seconds in New Zealand. On 17 July 2007, of com released its conclusions
from the review of UK MNP and mandated reduction of porting time to 2 working days with
effect from 1 April 2008. On 29 November 2007, Ofcom completed its consultation on further
reduction to porting time to 2 hours along with recipient led porting and mandated that near-
instant (no more than 2 hours) recipient led porting be implemented by no later than 1 September
2009.
In a decentralized model of MNP, a FNR (Flexible Number Register) may be used to manage a
database of ported out/ported in numbers for call routing

In India as MNP is recently launched Number Port process takes 7 Days as of now, which is the
Highest Turn around Time across World?