Trai amendments to MNP in effect from Jul 1

Trai amendments to MNP in effect from Jul 1

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Friday said the amendments to mobile number portability (MNP) regulations to curb SIM swap and replacement frauds will come into effect from July 1.

"The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), on 14th March, 2024, issued the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Ninth amendment) Regulations, 2024, which will come into force on 1st July, 2024," TRAI said.

The regulator had notified the amendment in March 2024, after consulting stakeholders. The amendment adds an additional criterion for rejecting generation of the Unique Porting Code (UPC) required to port a SIM card to a different telecom service provider.

"These amendment regulations are aimed at curbing the porting of mobile numbers by way of fraudulent SIM swap/ replacement by unscrupulous elements," the regulator said Friday.

Under the amendment, Trai said a UPC shall not be allocated if the request for the UPC has been made before the expiry of seven days from the date of SIM swap/ replacement.

Stakeholders opined to TRAI that rejecting UPC for mobile numbers that recently underwent SIM swap or replacement will prevent porting of mobile connections soon after swap/replacement by fraudsters, common practice after committing a fraudulent call.

"For implementing the additional criterion for rejection of the request for allocation of UPC introduced through these amendment regulations, modifications would have to be carried out in the telecommunication systems and processes of access providers and MNP service providers, which will be followed by testing of the scenarios before the pan-India implementation," Trai said in its explanatory memo in the March amendment notification.

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