Telcos See “Positive” Initial Tests for Number Portability

Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, and DITO Telecommunity recently accomplished their “initial” interoperability tests over the previous week. This will allow mobile subscribers to transition between telcos and plans without the need to change their mobile numbers.

The tests were in preparation for the actual launch of number portability scheduled on September 30, which will fulfill the requirements under Republic Act No. 11202.

On Friday, the country’s three major telco companies issued a joint statement through their joint venture company Telecommunications Connectivity Inc.

“By conducting a successful actual porting test, Dito, Globe, and Smart secured initial insights and details on how to address remaining concerns and possible challenges, before making the service available to all customers,” explained the joint statement.

The results were regarded as “positive” while the following steps will be looking deeper into optimizing the external porting process, implementing fraud and security safeguards, and preparing their back-end operations.

According to the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) rules, services for number portability should be free of charge and take no longer than 48 hours to process. Under RA 11202, all interconnection fees for local calls and texts have also been removed.

“With the Mobile Number Portability Act, we have broken down barriers and have given the Filipinos the power of convenience to finally switch to their preferred service provider,” said DITO chief administrative officer Adel Tamano.

Smart, on the other hand, has been working on ways to make the process “simple and easy for our customers,” elaborated the company’s senior vice president and head of consumer wireless business Jane Basas.

Source: Inquirer