Overview of

Mobile Number Portability

- Randeep Kumar, SDE

MNP Definition
"Mobile Number Portability" means the
facility which allows a subscriber of a mobile
telephone service to retain his mobile telephone
number when he moves

from one mobile telephone service provider to

another, irrespective of the mobile technology
or

from one mobile technology to another of the

same mobile telephone service provider, within
such limits as may be permitted by the licensor

MNP Definition
Presently, Number portability is permitted only
within LSA and not across LSAs, in India.
That means subscriber can change
Operator say Airtel to Idea,

or

Technology GSM to CDMA or vice versa,

or

both say Reliance CDMA to Vodafone GSM

While retaining his mobile number

MNP Aspects
There are basically 3 aspects to be taken care of
by operators while implementing MNP :-

i. Commercial Provisioning of Port in and

De provisioning of Port Out subscribers.

ii. Call Routing in MNP Scenario

iii.Charging / Billing of subscribers for their
usage.

Other aspects like strategies for preventing port

out and promoting port IN customers are
vital but not not in the scope of this session.

TERMINOLOGY
"Donor Operator" means a operator from whose network the
subscriber is porting out.
Recipient Operator"
means an Operator who will be providing mobile
service to the subscriber after porting

TERMINOLOGY from BSNL

point of view
Not Ported Mobile Numbers belonging to BSNL.
( subscribers of 94 Series belonging to BSNL )

Port IN or Imported Number ported into BSNL

from another network. (98 series BSNL subs.)

Ported Out Number Ported out to another N/w

from BSNL. (94 series subscriber of Operator X )

TERMINOLOGY from BSNL

point of view

Foreign Number Other Operator subscriber not

known to be ported.
( say subscriber of Idea who may or may not have
ported to say Airtel )

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

These are 4 digit codes and have been assigned

by DOT.
They have been assigned LSA wise, Operator wise
and technology wise
BSNL has been allocated 42 codes in total 21 for
GSM and 21 for CDMA.

TERMINOLOGY
Example of allocated Location Routing Numbers

Sl. Name of Licensee Company

No.
1 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
2 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
3 Bharti Airtel Limited
4 Bharti Airtel Limited
5 BPL Mobile Comm. Ltd.

Service Area

Type of Mobile LRN

Licence Network

Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Assam
Mumbai

CMTS
CMTS
UAS
UAS
CMTS

GSM
CDMA
GSM
GSM
GSM

2392
2543
2724
2725
3026

MNP Zones & MCHAs

MCHA Licensee for Zone 1 :- M/s. Syniverse
Technologies (India) Private Limited.

MCHA Licensee for Zone 2 :- M/s. MNP

Interconnection Telecom Solutions India Pvt.

Limited.

MNP Zones & MCHAs

Zone 1 - STIPL

Zone II - MITS

Delhi

Kolkata

Mumbai

T.N including Chennai

Maharashtra

Andhra Pradesh

Gujarat

Karnataka

Haryana

Kerala

Punjab

Madhya Pradesh

Rajasthan

West Bengal

Uttar Pradesh (E)

Assam

Uttar Pradesh(W)

Bihar

Himachal Pradesh

North East

Jammu & Kashmir

Orissa

Porting Process
Eligibility Criteria for making a port request.
Every subscriber shall be eligible to make a
request for porting his mobile number. provided
that
(a) a period of 90 days has expired from the date of
activation of his new mobile connection / 90
days from last porting
(b) there are no outstanding payments due to the
Donor Operator by way of pending bills issued as
per the normal billing cycle but before the date
of application for porting;

Porting Process
(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.
Note :- In case of Pre paid :- the balance
amount of talk time, if any, at the time of porting
shall lapse

Porting Process
Subscriber desirous of porting his mobile number
shall make a request in writing to the concerned
Recipient Operator in specified format
The subscriber shall pay the porting charge, if
any.

The Recipient Operator, shall the customer in the

same way as that for a new subscriber
The Recipient Operator shall thereupon ask the
subscriber to send a SMS to Donor Operator using
short code 1900 from the mobile number which
is sought to be ported.

Porting Process
The SMS text for requesting UPC by a subscriber
shall be the word PORT followed by a space
followed by the ten digit mobile number which is to
be ported which shall be case insensitive. (i.e. it
can be port or Port etc.)
In case the subscribers CLI does not match with
the ten digit mobile number, UPC shall not be
allotted but a message shall be generated to inform
such subscriber that the CLI does not match with
the mobile number.

Porting Process
Upon receipt of the SMS, the Donor operator shall
forthwith send back a reply SMS containing a
unique porting code through an automated
system.

Directive of TRAI on UPC is dated 10.2.2010

Porting Process
Unique Porting Code will be of 8 characters
ABCDEFGH; where
A = Service provider code
B= Service area code
C to H = will be assigned by the donor operator
and will consist of 1 to 9, A-N & P-Z only, and small
letters and the alphabet O shall not be allowed;

Porting Process
UPC allocated to a subscriber shall be valid for a
period of fifteen days from the date of request or
such time till the number is ported out, whichever
is earlier, for all service areas

except Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East

licensed areas the validity for the UPC shall be for a
period of thirty days from the date of request or till
such time the number is ported out, which ever is
earlier,
irrespective of. number of requests the subscriber
makes;

Porting Process
Subscriber shall intimate the UPC to the Recipient
Operator
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 concerned MCHA.

Porting Process
A subscriber may, withdraw porting request by
informing the Recipient Operator in writing
within twenty four hours of making a request for
porting, but he shall not be entitled to any refund
of the porting charge paid by him.
The Recipient Operator shall be liable to pay Per
Port Transaction charge in respect of each
porting request forwarded by it to MCHA.

SIM card is required to be changed.

Porting Process
On receipt of the porting request MCHA shall
verify whether a period of ninety days has elapsed
from the date of its last porting and if any porting
request in respect of the same mobile number is
already pending
In case the porting request is found eligible MCHA
shall forthwith forward the details of such request
to the Donor Operator for seeking his clearance
for such porting.

Porting Process
Donor Operator will verify if the porting

is permissible as per the rules defined in the

TRAI regulation dated 23.9.09 like UPC is same,
Outstanding dues are paid etc.
Donor Operator will verify the above and
communicate to MCHA accordingly
within 24 Hrs (excl. Sundays and public holidays)

Porting Process
MCHA will fix the date and time of porting such
that the porting happens within 36 hrs of the
clearance from the Donor Operator or on non
receipt of any communication from the Donor
Opr.
MCHA will intimate porting date and time to both
the operators.
In J&K, Assam and North East the date and time
for porting shall be within ten days from the date
of receipt of the clearance from the Donor
Operator.

Porting Process
Recipient Operator shall communicate the
same, to the concerned subscriber via SMS.
The porting will be break before make.
Donor Opr. will disconnect the subs at the time
specified by MCHA and intimate MCHA. (1 Hr.
window)
MCHA will then ask Recipient Opr. to connect.
Recipient Opr. will connect and intimate MCHA
(1 Hr. window)

Porting Process
MCHA will broadcast MSISDN and LRN to all Oprs.
for call routing.
Donor Operator will issue Bill to the ported out Post
paid Subscriber for his unbilled usage till the time
of porting. Subs. Will have to pay within stipulated
period.
In case not paid, Donor Opr. Will take necessary
steps for recovery. Further, Donor Opr. Will request
MCHA to get the subs disconnected. MCHA will ask
the Recipient Opr. For the same who is bound to do
so.

Porting Process
In case, subscriber surrenders his connection
or the number gets disconnected, the Mobile
number will be returned by the Recipient Opr.
to the Operator owning the number series.
Cases under Lawful Interception !!!

Number Portability Business Process

2. Request
to port

1. Request to
switch to Telco A
(Porting Number)
Telco A
( Donor)

3. Verify the
request

4. Forward Request
to MCHA

Telco B
(Recipient)

5. Approve or
Reject, if
approved
forward request
to Donor
Operator

Voice

7. MCHA fix
the porting
window and
convey it to
Donor and
Recipient
Operator

Customer
Mobile
Clearing
House(MCH
A)

8. Number is
disconnected from
Donor operator and
provisioned in
Recipient Operators
Network

10. New LRN is

updated by all
Operators

Telco C

6. Approve or
Reject, if
approved
forward
approval to
MCHA

Telco D

9. LRN of
Recipient
Operator is
defined against
the Mobile
Number

Technical Implementation

DONOR

G
A
T
E
W
A
Y

MCHA

G
A
T
E
W
A
Y

R
E
C
I
P
I
E
N
T

Porting Process
MCHA Gateways sites

MCHA-1 at Delhi and DR at Mumbai.

MCHA-2 at Banglore and DR at Kolkata.

Porting Process
BSNL MNP Gateways

MNP Gateways at Chandigarh and Kolkatta

with DR.
Chandigarh to cater for North and West Zones.
Kol to cater for East and South Zones.

Technical Implementation

M
C
H
A
DB

SSTP
L
S
M
S

SSTP

LSMS : Localized Service Management System

MNP Functional DIAGRAM

MCHA

Gateway

Gateway

Opr. B

NPDB

Opr. A

MNP Licensee
B&CCS
Opr A

LPDB Opr A

LPDB Opr B
B&CCS

N/ W Elements
Opr A.

Opr B

Abbreviations
NPDB :- national Number Portability database

LPDB :- Local portability database

B&CCS :- Billing and Customer Care System
MCHA :- Mobile Clearing House Administrator

SSTP at
Delhi

MNP Gateway
at
Chandigarh

DR at
Chandigarh for
MNP Gateway
at Kolkata

Main site of
MCHA-1 at
Delhi
Main site of
MCHA-2 at
Banglore

SSTP at
Mumbai
Banglore

SSTP at
Chennai

DR site of
MCHA-1 at
Mumbai &
MCHA-2 at
Kolkata

MPLS
Back-bone

SSTP at
Patna

B&CCS at
Kolkata

Of
BSNL

SSTP at
Jalandhar

B&CCS at
Trichy

SSTP at
Hyderabad

B&CCS at
Pune

SSTP at
Kolkata

MNP Gateway
at
Kolkata

DR at Kolkata
for MNP
Gateway at
Chandigarh

B&CCS at
Chandigarh

MNP BLOCK DIAGRAM

SDCC
TANDEM

PSTN

TAX

MNP
PLMN
GSM

G
MSC

SSTP

T
E

SMSC

HLR

W
SSTP

HLR

SMSC

MSC

BSNL - CDMA

C
M

A-I

L
S

C
H
A - II

B&CCS

Commn. with MCHA & its NPDB

Regulator (TRAI) defines
MCHA Specification

MCHA
CRDB

PUBLIC
WAN

Operators
Provisioning
Systems

LSMS

LSMS

SOA
LSMS
LSMS
Cluster

LSMS
Cluster

LSMS

Operators
WAN

Operators
WAN

NPDB

NPDB

BSNL

SOA

Operators
Provisioning
Systems

Operator B

36 |

Call Routing
1. All call query to be done for routing mobile
terminated calls originated from any network.

2. Every Access Provider on whose network a call

originates shall be responsible for the correct
routing of such call in accordance with the

Location Routing Number (LRN).

Call Routing
10- 15 % impact on BHCA handling capacity.
All network elements to be upgraded HLR,
MSC, MSC Server, MGW, IN, SMSC, MMSC, SDP,
OTA, B&CCS, etc.
Content Service Providers to also make
changes.
Cost of up-gradation of network to be borne
by respective service Providers.

Charging / Billing
Billing for Mobile terminated calls to be done
based on LRN. ALL CDRs, INs and Billing
platforms to be changed accordingly.
In view of Differential charging Off Net /
On Net calls, originating Switch to know
terminating network. As such each SSTP to

contain NPDB of entire country

THANK YOU