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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Nov. 14 War of words between GSM and CDMA operators over the introduction of number portability continued on Wednesday with the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) urging the Government that CDMA operators should be asked to unlock their handsets to fully implement the facility.

Number portability allows subscribers to change their operator without having to give up on the telephone number.

COAI pointed out that the facility will not be beneficial for CDMA subscribers since the operators have locked the handset in such a way that it cannot be used with any other operator.

The GSM industry body also said that number portability should be introduced for fixed line telephone subscribers and not just for mobile users. They also said that the facility should be introduced across the country and not just in the four metros.

The industry body was reacting to allegations made by Reliance Communications on Tuesday that COAI was blocking number portability for fear of losing subscribers to competition.

“DoT and TRAI, in the interests of consumers, could immediately decree that CDMA providers should unlock handsets. This will provide subscribers the freedom to choose between CDMA service providers, as indeed is the case with GSM service providers,” the association said.

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