The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has announced that Mobile Number Portability (MNP), which allows subscribers to retain their mobile telephone number while discarding one service provider for another, shall be implemented from 31 December 2009 in metros and category ‘A’ service areas and by 20 March 2010 in rest of the country. MNP facility shall be available only within a given licensed service area.

According to the TRAI notification, a subscriber holding a mobile number is eligible to make a porting request only after 90 days of the date of activation of his mobile connection. If a number is already ported once, the number can again be ported only after 90 days from the date of the previous porting. The subscriber who wishes to port his mobile number should approach the Recipient operator (the operator to whom the subscriber wants to port his number). The subscriber may be required to Pay porting charges, if any, to the Recipient Operator.

The subscriber making the porting request is required to have cleared all the bills issued prior to the date of porting request. He shall give an undertaking that he has already paid all billed dues to the ‘Donor Operator’ as on the date of the request for porting and that he shall pay dues to the Donor Operator pertaining to the mobile number till its eventual porting and that he understands and agrees that in event of non-payment of any such dues to the Donor Operator, the ported mobile number shall be liable to be disconnected by the Recipient Operator.

A subscriber may withdraw his porting request within 24 hours of its submission to the Recipient Operator. However, the porting charges shall not be refundable.

The regulation envisage a maximum time period of four days for the completion of porting process in all licenced service areas except in the case of J&K, Assam and North East licenced service areas where the maximum time allowed is 12 days. However, efforts will be made to further reduce the porting period. Access providers are required to implement ‘All Call Query’ method. The originating operator shall be responsible to route the call to correct terminating network.

Source:  EFY Times

In present times, human awareness has advanced to the digital world opening up yet another dimension for communication. With the advent of the mobile phone, it has become yet another tool for communication through the digital medium. In the modern cyber age, it is not essential for people to be physically present in front of each other to socialize. So, a physically visible audience is not the priority, since the cyber world allows people to communicate and socialize digitally with each other.

Social Networking has revolutionized the way people socialize with each other. Social networks have sprung up all over the internet so that people with common interests can group together and share their views. In this manner, social networks provide a more impersonal way to socialize with people whom we may be able to communicate with instantly through digital networks, but may still find it difficult to meet personally once in a lifetime.

Mobile phones have given a new definition to social networking in the form of mobile social networking. An extension to accessing the cyber world through computers, the availability of GPRS, WAP, and hopefully 3G, the mobile phone has become an apt tool for avid social net workers around the world. Computers gave folks the world over the ability to define their social lifestyle through a digital medium, but mobile phones have driven this concept further and have provided a new dimension to the social lifestyles of social net workers.

Yet another development on this front is that mobile companies are tying up with a variety of social networking sites so that they can be accessed through mobile phones. So, now it could be possible to access social networking sites like Facebook or twitter through these new age devices so that you can stay in touch with your friends and online acquaintances continuously. These sites are also specially designed so that they can fit your mobile phone’s relatively small screen.

Social networking has also provided a platform for exchanging ideas without restriction on a global basis without fear of suppression or prejudice. Porting this characteristic to your mobile phone makes it easier and more convenient for people to be avid social net workers given the already existing possibilities through personal computers. With the unlocking of the vast potential of social networking through mobile phones, you can access various sites like Fring, Gtalk, Nimbuzz, Skype, Yahoo! and others to experience this newfound charm of social networking.

At the moment, one can be only positive about what the future holds for us, but social networking through mobile phones will also see its heyday in the days to come.

Source:  Mobile India Hub