By Bandan P Singh : MNP (Mobile Number Portability) came into effect all over India on the 20th of January, 2010. With MNP, you can easily switch between Service providers of your choice. Firstly, to initiate the MNP process, you need to get what is called a UPC (Unique Porting code). The following section gives you the details of what a UPC is and how to obtain it.
The UPC code consists of 8 characters of which the first character specifies the code for the service provider and the second digit specifies the code for the respective Service provider Area. For example, if the first two characters of the UPC is AX, then the first character specifies that the service provider is Bharti Airtel and the second character specifies that the service provider area is Karnataka. The remaining six characters will be occupied by any number from 1-9, any alphabet from A-N and P-Z only and small letters and the alphabet O will never be a part of the UPC.
To obtain the UPC for initiating the MNP process, you should just send a SMS, PORT (Mobile number) to 1900. After you send the SMS, you will receive your UPC from the number 1901.
Important: when you request for the UPC, the SMS should be sent as PORT followed by a single space and then followed by your 10 digit mobile number.