TRAI imposes seven-day wait time for mobile number portability after SIM swap

NEW DELHI: In a bid to curb the porting of mobile numbers through fraudulent SIM swaps, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) amended mobile number portability rules. These changes, effective from July 1, 2024, aim to make it more difficult for fraudsters to hijack phone numbers.

As per the ninth amendment of the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulations, an additional criterion for rejecting a Unique Porting Code (UPC) request has been introduced. Specifically, a UPC will not be allocated if the request is made within seven days of a SIM replacement. In simpler terms, users cannot port out of their current network operator if they have recently swapped their SIM cards.