Mobile number portability
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Mobile number portability (MNP) enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another.
MNP is implemented in different ways across the globe. The international and European standard is for a customer wishing to port his/her number to contact the new provider (Recipient) who will then arrange necessary process with the old provider (Donor). This is also known as 'Recipient-Led' porting. The UK is the only country to not implement a Recipient-Led system, where a customer wishing to port his/her number is required to contact the Donor to obtain a Port Authorisation Code (PAC) which he/she then has to give to the Recipient. Once having received the PAC the Recipient continues the port process by contacting the Donor. This form of porting is also known as 'Donor-Led' and has been criticised by some industry analysts as being inefficient. It has also been observed that it may act as a customer deterrent as well as allowing the Donor an opportunity of 'winning-back' the customer. This might lead to distortion of competition, especially in the markets with new entrants that are yet to achieve scalability of operation.
A significant technical aspect of MNP is related to the routing of calls or mobile messages (SMS, MMS) to a number once it has been ported. There are various flavours of call routing implementation across the globe but the international and European best practice is via the use of a central database (CDB) of ported numbers. Network operators generally hold local copies of CDB and query it to find out which network to send a call to. This is also known as All Call Query (ACQ) and is highly efficient and scalable. Majority of the established and upcoming MNP systems across the world are based on this ACQ/CDB method of call routing. One of the very few countries to not use ACQ/CDB is the UK where calls to a number once it has been ported are still routed via the Donor network. This is also known as 'Indirect Routing' and is highly inefficient as it is wasteful of transmission and switching capacity. Because of its Donor dependent nature, Indirect Routing also means that if the Donor network develops a fault or goes out of business, the customers who have ported out of that network will lose incoming calls to their numbers. The UK telecoms regulator Ofcom completed its extended review of the UK MNP process on 29 November 2007 and mandated that ACQ/CDB be implemented for mobile to mobile ported calls by no later than 1 September 2009, and for all other (fixed and mobile) ported calls by no later than 31 December 2012.
Prior to March 2008 it took a minimum of 5 working days to port a number in the UK compared to 2 hours only in USA, as low as 20 minutes in the Republic of Ireland and even a remarkable 3 minutes in Australia. On 17 July 2007, Ofcom released its conclusions from the review of UK MNP and mandated reduction of porting time to 2 working days with effect from 1 April 2008. On 29 November 2007, Ofcom completed its consultation on further reduction to porting time to 2 hours along with recipient led porting and mandated that near-instant (no more than 2 hours) recipient led porting be implemented by no later than 1 September 2009.
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[edit] Mobile number portability in the Internet telephony / VOIP environment
Mobile Number Portability also impacts the internet telephony, or VOIP (Voice over IP) business. A voice call originated in the VOIP environment which is routed to a mobile phone number of a traditional mobile carrier also face challenges to reach its destination in case the mobile phone number is ported.
VOIP is clearly identified as a Least Cost Routing (LCR) voice routing system, which is based on checking the destination of each telephone call as it is made, and then sending the call via the network that will cost the customer the least. With GSM number portability now in place, LCR providers can no longer rely on using the network root prefix to determine how to route a call. Instead, they now need to know the actual current network of every number before routing the call.
Therefore, VOIP solutions also need to handle MNP when routing a voice call. In countries without a central database like UK it might be necessary to query the GSM network about the home network a mobile phone number belongs to. As VOIP starts to take off in the enterprise markets because of least cost routing options, it needs to provide a certain level of reliability when handling calls.
MNP checks are important to assure that this quality of service is met; by handling MNP lookups before routing a call and assuring that the voice call will actually work, VOIP companies give businesses the necessary reliability they look for in an internet telephony provider. Some messaging operators provide a Voice/Network Query service, which helps not only traditional voice carriers but also VOIP providers to query the GSM network (HLR Lookup) to find out the home network of a ported number.
In countries such as Singapore, the most recent Mobile Number Portability solution is expected to open the doors to new business opportunities for non-traditional telecommunication service providers like wireless broadband providers and voice over IP (VOIP) providers.
Last but not least, in November 2008 the North American FCC (Federal Communications Commission) released an order extending number portability obligations to interconnected VOIP providers and carriers that support VOIP providers.
[edit] Portability by country
[edit] Americas
| Country | MNP implementation date | Price | Notes | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | September 2008 | Free | The plan started in March 2007 | |
| Ecuador | February 2009 | Query on Origin scenario | ||
| Dominican Republic | September 2009 | |||
| Mexico | 5 July 2008 | Service handled by Telcordia Technologies and Neoris | [1] | |
| Peru | 1 Jan 2010 |
[edit] Asia Pacific
| Country | MNP implementation date | Price | Notes | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 2001 | free | Previously prefixes 04x1, 04x2, 04x3 referred to Optus 04x4, 04x5 and 04x6 referred to Vodafone 043x, referred to 3 Australia 04x7, 04x8, 04x9 and 0410x referred to Telstra |
|
| Hong Kong | 1 March 1999 | Service handled by Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) | [2] | |
| India | Expected Date of Implementation: 20th September 2009 | To be implemented in the four metros and category-A circles first and later to be rolled out in rest of the country by 20th March 2009.Not yet implemented.The regulator-DOT-has issued Letter Of Intent(LOI) to Syniverse Technologies and Telcordia Technologies on March-5'th 2009. As per LOI, these companies should start the services with in six month s of getting LOI(i.e Sep-2009). [1] | ||
| Malaysia | 29 August 2008 | Maximum MYR 25.00 | The nationwide launch of the service in October 2008
Previous prefixes DiGi - 016, 014-32, 014-35, 014-30, 014-31 and 014-6; maxis - 012, 017 and 014-2; celcom - 013, 019 and 014-8; u mobile - 018. |
[3] |
| New Zealand | 1 April 2007, implemented 2008 for mobile. | Can port numbers between 021, 027, 029 and the new 022 mobile networks. Customers can port between prepay and post pay options. Mobile numbers are in blocks associated with the service provider. Some mobile plans include credit minutes for calls within the network, you may be charged unexpectedly for a call to a mobile that has been ported form a different network. | [4] [5] | |
| Pakistan | 26 March 2007 | |||
| Singapore | 13 June 2008 | Vendor for database installation is Syniverse | ||
| Taiwan | October 2005 |
[edit] Europe
| Country | MNP implementation date | Price | Notes | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | October 2002 | free | The central solution CRDC has been re-implemented several times. First time it was implemented by Telcordia US, second time by Cap Gemini Sweden and Belgium, third time by Porthus Belgium | Access to DB: setup fee : €11 000, annual fee: € 3000 |
| Bulgaria | April 2008 | € 2.56 (5 BGN) | ||
| Cyprus | ||||
| Denmark | 2001 | The central solutions is called OCH - Operators Clearing House | ||
| Estonia | 1 January 2005 | |||
| Germany | 1 November 2002 | The average price charged is about € 25. The exact amount depends on the old provider. A price limit of € 30.72 was set by the Bundesnetzagentur. | [6] | |
| Ireland | 2003 | free | ||
| Italy | 15 January 2002 | |||
| Luxembourg | June 2004 | Managed by the G.I.E Telcom E.I.G. operator group and developed, installed and operated by Systor Trondheim AS. | ||
| Macedonia | 1 September 2008 | The reference database was developed, installed and is presently operated by Seavus Group. | ||
| Norway | 2001 | Administrated by the National Reference Database (NRDB). The reference database was developed, installed and is presently operated by Systor Trondheim AS. | ||
| Portugal | January 2002 | Operated by Portabil S.A. Solution implemented by Systor Trondheim AS of Norway. | ||
| Romania | 21 October 2008 | free | Developped by UTI Systems based on the Porthus implementation | [www.portabilitate.ro] |
| Sweden | Autumn 2001 | free | The largest operators formed independent company, SNPAC AB, to procure central database (CRDB) solution. Implementation of CRDB is carried out by Cap Gemini & Oracle. | |
| Spain | 2000 | |||
| Turkey | November 2008 | free | AVEA and Vodafone hired Gantek to implement central database (CRDB) solution and donated it to Turkish Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. | |
| United Kingdom | free |
[edit] Middle East and Africa
| Country | MNP implementation date | Price | Notes | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Egypt | April 2008 | NPC serves the centralized administrative and provisioning role of MNP. Giza Systems is the system integrator. | ||
| Israel | 3 December 2007 | free | ||
| Nigeria | 2007 | |||
| Oman | 26 August 2006 | Implemented as a decentralized solution by Porthus for Nawras, and by Gulf Business Machines/Telcordia for Oman Mobile. | ||
| Saudi Arabia | 8 July 2006 | Managed by the Centralized Clearinghouse Approach, through the NPC (Number Portability Clearinghouse), a product of Telcordia. The implementer and system integrator is Giza Arabia. | ||
| South Africa | 10 November 2006 | The three operators, Vodacom SA, MTN SA, and Cell C, formed an independent company for the implementation and management of the central solution. After delays, the implementation of this solution was awarded to local company Saab Grintek teamed up with Telcordia. |
[edit] Number Lookup Services
Service providers and carriers who route messages and voice calls to MNP-enabled countries might use HLR query services to find out the correct network of a mobile phone number. A number of such services exist, which query the operator's home location register (HLR) over the SS7 signalling network in order to determine the current network of a specified mobile phone number prior to attempted routing of messaging or voice traffic.
