Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) claimed that the mobile network operators (MNOs) did not receive any technical directive regarding number porting yet for the much awaited mobile number portability (MNP) service, a press statement said yesterday.

Mobile network operators  said they are indeed very keen to facilitate their customers in choosing the operator of their choice through availing the MNP service.

"MNOs need to get

confirmation on the porting mechanism of MNP to start the activities, unfortunately

they are yet to be intimated of such prerequisite arrangement," AMTOB Secretary General TIM Nurul Kabir said in the media statement.

He said timeline is necessary for planning, designing and development the internal core, IT and other equipment, platform for MNP and testing.

The mobile operators have all along been stressing on the need to address this issue in order to facilitate smooth implementation of MNP service, added Kabir.

With the aim of introducing MNP in May, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on November 30 last year issued MNP license to joint-venture firm Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited.

The MNP licensee, however, alleged that the MNOs are not extending required cooperation to launch the service on time. Even, BTRC rejected AMTOB's two months more time plea to delay the launch.

But, the AMTOB ruled out such accusation as baseless and uttered: "As a customer-centric industry, MNOs are indeed very keen to facilitate their customers in choosing the operator of their choice through availing the MNP service; just like many other countries of the world, we strongly believe that our customers deserves to enjoy this