Kamruzzaman Bablu :The government has finally approved the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service, which will help cell phone subscribers to switch over to a mobile company from another with same phone number. However, the service will come into effect within the next four to five months, officials of the Telecom Regulator said. They said, the subscribers will be able to retain their existing number, even after they switch from one operator to another.Sources said, the PM Office has already approved the tender invitation file for the MNP system.Md Faizur Rahman Chowdhury, Secretary of the Post and Telecommunication Ministry expects that MNP value added services (VAS) will create competition in the market and push it to maturity. “The telecom regulator BTRC will receive the proposal within few days to take necessary action,” he said.The Telecom Secretary said, the license will be awarded for 15 years, and from the second year of operations, the company will have to share 5.5 percent revenue with the government. “Telecom regulatory body, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), will begin the bidding process. ‘Transparency’ will be ensured in the bidding process,” he said.Mohi-uddin Babar, a telecom consultant, recently told The New Nation, the flexibility of migration of subscribers is definitely a welcome step, which will enable access to quality of services.”Really it will be a great news for mobile companies’ about 11 crore subscribers who have been demanding at for long,” he said.A senior official of the Post and Telecommunication Division said on Sunday that the MNP includes experience in conducting with nine points MNP work and making technical and system designs; global footprint, technical capacity, financial analysis, roll out management, and risk management. However, subscribers will be able to avail the MNP services paying a charge of Tk 30 only. They will be able to opt-in to the service through a text message, website application or retail service outlets.A subscriber will have to wait for 45 days after availing the facility to switch operators. The winning company will pay the government a one-time fee of Taka three crore and annual fees of Tk 50 lakh. The license’s tenure will be for 15 years and from the second year, 5.5 percent of the revenues will have to be shared with the government. A top executive of Grameen Phone telecom operator expressed his reservation on the condition of anonymity and said that the subscribers were not likely to enjoy the facility before early next year. The delay would be for installation and establishment of hi-tech equipment to facilitate the mobile migration.MNP will allow a subscriber to switch from one operator to another without having to change the existing number. “The migration of the mobile phone numbers will conduct tough competition among telecom service providers,” said Babar Ahmed, a former senior executive of a telecom company. “But there is a big challenge with MNP, said Ekram Kabir, Vice-President of Robi Axiata Limited. “The operators will have to brain storm to develop a framework acceptable for the telecom providers, specially the millions of subscribers. The telecom operators have to decide with a customer who is willing to migrate to a fresh package, but has unused talk-time, SMS, MMS and internet. Lots of issues need to be resolved before the MNP is launched,” he said.
