MNP–Mobile Number Portability

INTRODUCTION

Mobile Number portability (MNP) enables mobile subscribers to change their service providers or their location without having to change their existing phone numbers. If the subscribers are not satisfied with the services of their service provider, they can change their service provider while retaining the existing phone number. This infuses competition among service providers and forces them to improve their service standards to check subscriber churn. Many countries have made number portability mandatory to liberalize competition. Many others are in the process of implementing it. A significant technical aspect of implementing number portability is related to the routing of calls or mobile messages (SMS, MMS) to a number once it is ported to some other network. This paper discusses:. types of number portability. various call routing schemes for service provider number portability. comparisons among various routing schemes. challenges of implementing number portability. best solution in terms of complexity of implementation, use of network resources, and scalability

TYPES OF NUMBER PORTABILITY

The various types of number portability are:.

Service Provider Number Portability: Subscribers can change the service provider while retaining the same phone number. It is also called operator portability.

Location Number Portability: Subscribers can change their service location while keeping the same telephone number.

Service Portability: Subscribers can change the subscribed services while retaining the same telephone number. Service portability allows the subscribers to enjoy the subscribed services in the same way when they roam outside their home networks