Patent ID: 7254391

Claim:
A method for processing messages associated with prepaid mobile subscribers in a number portability environment, the method comprising: (a) receiving, from a visited mobile switching center (VMSC), a registration message relating to a roaming prepaid mobile subscriber; (b) formulating a registration response message and inserting an ID of a signal transfer point (STP) as a prepaid platform ID for the prepaid subscriber in the registration response message; (c) forwarding the registration response message to the VMSC; (d) at the STP, receiving a query message from the VMSC relating to a call originated by the prepaid mobile subscriber; (e) performing a lookup in at least one database, the at least one database including a number portability database, and locating a routing number corresponding to a called subscriber and a prepaid subscriber database address corresponding to the prepaid mobile subscriber; and (f) inserting the routing number in the query message and routing the query message to a prepaid subscriber database corresponding to the prepaid subscriber database address.