Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today launched the much awaited nationwide mobile number portability (MNP) service enabling mobile users to change their operators at their will without losing their phone numbers.

Mobile users will have to pay a meager amount of Rs 19 to an operator to change their network and the new operator has the option to either waive the fee or reduce it. However, mobile users would have to continue with an operator for a minimum period of three months in order to avail the service.

These services were first launched in Haryana in November 2010 but they are now extended to the entire country. The new service is supposed to throw a fierce competition among the mobile operators to retain their customer base. Observers feel that the mobile operators may henceforth provide services of high quality to their customers.