J.S. Sarma, the chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), recently announced that all mobile users in India will have access to mobile number portability (MNP) from October 31.

Sarma said that there will be no further delays in MNP implementation, which has been delayed many times in the past.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

The Department of Telecom (DoT) said operators must ensure that all inter-operator tests for porting the numbers from one service provider to another are completed before September 1, 2010, and in case they fail to meet this deadline, they will be barred from launching any new commercial services from September 1.

The announcement comes as key mobile service providers — Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone Essar, Tata Tele, Idea, STel and Aircel-are getting ready to launch high-speed 3G services from next month.

State-owned telcos Bharat Sanchar Nagar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited have said they are ready with the infrastructure to implement the MNP service.

It is worthwhile to note here that mobile number portability (MNP) is a service allowing a mobile user to change his operator without losing the number.