You may soon be able to migrate from postpaid to prepaid by just using OTP

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Soon you will be able to change your connection from prepaid to postpaid and vice versa through an SMS. According to media reports, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has sent this proposal to all leading cellular companies for their feedback.

DoT sources told the media that the final decision will depend on the outcome of the ‘proof of concept’ (PoC) of the service providers. If the telecom operators manage to generate the PoC, the users will be allowed to easily switch from postpaid to prepaid or vice versa only using an OTP.

COAI stand

Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI) first put a proposal before DoT for OTP-based migration. DoT had forwarded it to all service providers Vodafone, Airtel, and Jio for their views.

DoT officials confirmed that proof of concept for conversion from prepaid to postpaid and vice versa would be carried out by the telecom service providers itself. The decision regarding the implementation of this procedure shall be taken after the assessment of the outcome.

COAI officials confirmed that it will take a month or two before a final decision is taken on the matter. Hopefully, by the end of this year itself, customers can migrate from prepaid to postpaid or vice versa only by using an OTP, and the entire process would not take more than half an hour or so.

If the proposal is accepted, it would save a lot of time for those who are planning to switch from prepaid to postpaid and vice versa.

The theory

Nowadays it is quite common to change the service provider. But changing the number is not so common. The question raised by COAI is, if prepaid-postpaid migration is possible, why wouldn’t it be possible to change the nu8mber without changing the SIM card.

That is the point COAI has submitted to DoT. Now DoT has forwarded it to the service providers. The ball is now in the service provider’s court. Let them take the call before it moves forward, remarked a DoT official, requesting anonymity.

DoT and COAI officials agreed that during the pandemic it is really tough for a person to go to the store and change plans.

Moreover, nowadays bank transactions worth lakhs of rupees happen by just using OTPs. Then, what’s the objection to switching between postpaid and prepaid services using OTPs.

Suggested process

Mobile subscribers or users who are willing to change their existing mobile connection from prepaid to postpaid or vice versa will have to send a request to their service provider through SMS, IVRS, website, or authorised app just like they do in case of porting the number.

Upon receiving the request, the subscriber will get a message acknowledging the request for conversion of the mobile account along with a unique transaction ID and an OTP which will be valid for 10 minutes.

Once the subscriber types in the OTP and sends/validate the request, the service provider will process it within 10-15 minutes.