A good piece of news for mobile users. The Telecom Commission has ordered the implementation of nationwide number portability by March 31, according to reports by Press Trust of India (PTI). Mobile phone users will soon be able to change their telecom operators and retain their numbers even if they are shifting to areas outside the service providers' operations.

At present, mobile subscribers have restricted facility of changing their telcos while retaining their number within same service area using mobile number portability (MNP). For example, a subscriber in Delhi NCR can switch operator within Delhi NCR only. The Department of Telecom has set a target date of March 31, 2015 to implement the full mobile number portability (MNP), an official source told PTI.

"The Telecom Commission has accepted TRAI's recommendations on full MNP," PTI quoted the source as saying. The panel decision will now be placed before Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for the final approval. Under the full MNP, for instance, a subscriber in Delhi NCR will be able to switch to a telecom network in Tamil Nadu or in any of the state or place where he is relocating himself/herself while retaining the same number.