Telecom minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday  unveiled mobile number portability in Haryana, allowing 18 million cellphone users in the state to retain their number while changing the service provider. Most of the country will have this facility by the New Year, while it will be available throughout the country by March 2011

following are the  to-dos of mobile number portability in six quick steps:

(1)   Send an SMS to 1900 in following format: PORT – eg. PORT 9999999999.

(2)   You will get an SMS reply that contains a unique porting code.

(3)   SMS to the preferred operator quoting the unique code. This code is valid only for a few days, and one must apply again if it expires.

(4)   Your existing operator will check with new operator & if there are no dues then approval will be given for porting.

(5)   You will get an SMS on the time and date when porting will take place. Rules mandate that process be completed within 4 days of applying.

(6)   After porting is complete, wait for an SMS from your new operator confirming the switch. Your phone may be dead for about 2 hours when the porting takes place.