The TRAI MNP New Rules 2024, issued on Mobile Number Portability, will be effective on 1 June. Customers and telecom operators must follow the MNP norms to prevent and reduce SIM swap fraud in the country.
Last week, the Indian telecom regulator TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) announced changes to its Mobile Number Portability (MNP) rules. The latest amendment states that if a SIM card is changed or ported, then the associated mobile number cannot be ported to another telecom operator for seven days. This means that users will have to wait seven days before porting their mobile number.
This is the ninth amendment to the Telecom MNP norms, and these new regulations have been introduced to prevent and reduce SIM swap fraud in the country. The rules will come into effect from July 1.
TRAI has released the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Ninth Amendment) Regulations, 2024, which states that customers cannot port their mobile number to another operator if they have changed or replaced their SIM card within the last seven days.
TRAI has introduced these new rules to curb fraudulent SIM card swapping or porting of mobile numbers through unscrupulous means. The regulator has also added an additional criterion to reject a request for allotment of a Unique Porting Code (UPC) required to transfer a mobile number from one operator to another. TRAI stated that the UPC shall not be allotted if the request for UPC is made seven days before the expiry date of the SIM swap or change of mobile number.
The MNP facility allows users to change their service provider without changing their mobile number. To initiate this process, users can send an SMS to 1900 in PORT format, which will generate UPC. Users will receive the UPC code through SMS, which can be used to make MNP.
These new rules are expected to have a positive impact on cybercrime in the country. The government has introduced these rules to keep citizens safe. The new rules around SIM cards include bulk issuance, who can issue new SIMs and more.