Number portability between Fixed Telephone Service operators will be available, on schedule, by June 30th. The terms of the agreement to be signed by Instituto das Comunicações de Portugal (ICP), the telecommunications operators involved and the chosen supplier - a joint-stock limited liability company to be set up by CASE and by PORT IT - have already been settled by the representatives of the parties. The ICP Board of Directors has approved these terms, and approval is now awaited by the boards of the other interested parties.
Operator portability is understood to be the function allowing end users to retain their fixed network or ISDN number on changing to another operator. For this to be done quickly and automatically a neutral entity has to be instituted, whose duties will be to develop and manage a reference database listing the telephone numbers transferred and acting as intermediary for the various operators.
Selection of the company that is to act as the neutral entity involved market consultations. The offer presented by CASE and by PORT IT was successful, as stated above.
Since ICP considers that the existence of such a service is essential to fostering competition, as it eliminates one of the factors of dissuasion from changing operator, it was decided that the service will be provided on an interim basis during four or five months as from July 1st, until such time as the proper information systems are up and running at the operators and at the new entity.
This means that portability will be undertaken on a non-automatic basis, though ensuring that the service is available to end users. Since there was no consensus among the operators as to this point, and to safeguard user interests, ICP decided to bear the development and implementation costs inherent in this interim stage, to be undertaken by the new entity, in the sum of 80,000 euros plus VAT.
Consult:
- Launch of a restricted consultation https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=417835
- Order no. 12809/2000, of 23 of June https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=981664
