Regulator to rein in fees for telephone number portability

Cellular operators will have to slash their Bt99 phone number portability fee and allow more numbers to be transferred. 

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will meet with all five mobile phone operators today to order them to improve their number-porting service, which allows users to switch to another network while retaining the same phone number.

NBTC member Pravit Leesatapornwongsa said yesterday that telecom operators would be asked about the actual cost of porting and if it is possible to reduce the fee. According to the NBTC’s preliminary estimate, the actual cost is Bt60 per transfer.

The watchdog will also order them to expand their transfer capacity to 40,000 numbers per day for greater convenience to customers. 

Currently major operators cap porting at about 2,000 requests each per day, while smaller operators cap it at 500 requests each. This causes a long queue for number transfers.

The five operators are Advanced Info Service, Total Access Communication, TrueMove, TOT and CAT Telecom. They launched Clearinghouse Co more than a year ago to manage the number-portability service for all of them.

Pravit said Clearinghouse already had a maximum porting capacity of 40,000 mobile-phone numbers per day.

All telecom operators will be asked to extend their number-portability service nationwide, as some have limited the service to 20 provinces.

The plan to augment number-transfer capacity is to prepare for the imminent end of the concessions of some telecom operators.

Once a concession expires, the operator will have to transfer its network and assets to the state enterprise that granted its concession. Customers will need to switch easily from the expiring concessions to those with longer concession terms or even to the upcoming third-generation operators. It is inappropriate to wait until the concession draws to a close and then enhance porting capacity, Pravit said.

Mobile-phone users are also supposed to be able switch to another network any time, instead of having to wait for 90 days after the first number transfer before they can transfer their number again.

The NBTC’s regulations never required subscribers to use a service for 90 days before re-transfer, Pravit said. It is the five telecom operators that jointly set this condition of 90 days.