KARACHI, Jan 23: The implementation of mobile number portability (MNP) continues to face delays and now the cellphone operators extended the final launching time to March end against end January this year.

On the contrary Federal IT and Telecom Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari had been trumpeting at various forums that the MNP would be functional by end January under which a mobile subscriber will be able to change his service provider while keeping the same phone number and service code.

The MNP implementation has suffered as many as six delays in terms of final launching time since November 2005 due to various reasons given by the cellphone operators to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

“The new date that the cellphone operators have agreed with the PTA is end March,” chairman of the MNP board of directors Tore Johnsen told Dawn from Islamabad on Tuesday.

Giving reasons of frequent change in launching time in the last over one year, he said that the complex issues take time to resolve. “At present the central database is in place and the mobile phone operators are testing their systems for complete integration with it,” he added.

He hoped that the MNP service will be delivered by the date if all the operators keep working to fulfill their current commitments of system up-gradation and integration. All operators are in agreement that they will be ready to fulfill their procedural and technical requirements for the implementation of MNP by March end.

When asked if the MNP service will be free of charge, Tore Johnsen said that the purpose of the MNP was to allow customers the flexibility to move from one operator to another without having to change his/her number including the code. Setting up fees/processes that are exorbitant or complicated will defeat the purpose. Therefore, he said, there is a consensus among operators that all steps will be taken to facilitate the customers. Modalities will be worked out as operators move ahead, he added.

Mr. Tore, who is also the chief executive officer of Telenor Pakistan, did not comment as to how much investment was being made by all the cell phone operators in implementing the MNP by saying that expenses on the MNP by the operators depend on many factors. He, however, said that Telenor has invested $8 million for this new service.

To a query about losing of customers by two leading players -- Mobilink and Ufone -- after the MNP launch, he said it depends on the customers.

MNP will basically give customers the flexibility to move from one operator to another. If a mobile phone operator is not able to satisfy its customers with its services but has been able to retain them due to a lack of this flexibility, then there will be an impact on its customer base, especially right after the MNP implementation, he added.

He further said that in the long run things should normalise with lesser movement among the operators once the customers gain experience of what the whole market has to offer.