The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released directives to mobile operators Airtel, Vodafone India, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, and Tata Teleservices, directing them to discontinue all mobile numbers ported out from Loop Telecom Limited within the next 48 hours. The regulator stated that the above mentioned operators should provide a suitable notice to the concerned subscriber, disconnect the number and return the mobile number to the number range holder (the original operator). It added that the operators should also provide a compliance report to the authority in the next fifteen days. Loop Telecom Complaint: This directive follows a complaint from Loop Telecom in July 2012, which had stated that 5923 premium numbers had been illegally ported out of its network to other networks in various service areas, including areas where Loop Telecom had not even launched its commercial operations. The operator had also added that out of 5923 premium numbers, around 5580 numbers were ported out three non-commercially launched service areas and around 343 numbers were ported out of six service areas, where the operator had launched its commercial operations. Earlier in April, Loop Telecom had stated its plans to shut down its operations in the country, after its licenses were cancelled by the Supreme Court in its 2G Spectrum scam verdict. The operator had then asked its existing subscribers in 13 circles in the country through several text messages and newspaper ads, to port out to other available operators using Mobile Number Portability (MNP) before April 30. Circle-wise Breakup of Illegally ported…
