According to the Economic Times, India’s long-awaited introduction of mobile number portability (MNP) looks set to face further delays on the back of security concerns raised by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is understood that the ministry’s worries over the MNP proposals have forced the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to defer its earlier approval of MNP Interconnection Solution as one of the two companies selected by the Department of Telecommunications to oversee the introduction of the service. Despite the latest setback, Dow Jones Newswires claims that MNP should still be launched by the first week of May. First scheduled for the end of last year, MNP is currently supposed to be implemented by the end of March this year.

In separate news, Dow Jones Newswires noted yesterday that India’s 3G auction could begin in about 45 days, as the country is likely to invite applications for licenses this week.The auction of the bandwidth, which will help operators offer high-speed voice and data services, has been deferred thrice since first set for Jan. 16, 2009, over issues such as a higher starting price, the number of slots to be sold and availability of bandwidth.