Mobile number portability deadline likely to be met

Mobile customers should be able to switch networks without changing their number from March 31, with both Vodafone and Go Mobile saying they are on target to meet the end of month deadline imposed by the Malta Communications Authority.

Neither operator is envisaging there will be any cost for a customer wishing to switch to the other - known as full number portability - though Go Mobile said it would charge the standard connection fee. And it added: "The situation is still fluid in this regard, and things might change".

According to the EU, the regulatory authority, in this case MCA, must ensure that any costs imposed by an operator to switch network are not a disincentive to consumers.

Go Mobile was the more definite of the two about meeting the deadline, though Vodafone said it should make that date unless there were any unforeseen circumstances.

When contacted, the MCA said it was satisfied with the progress and was confident that the implementation deadline would be reached by both the mobile and fixed operators.

The MCA has been insisting for several months that full number portability - a requirement imposed by the EU - must be implemented in Malta by mobile and fixed line operators by March 31.

Although in their original response to the consultative document on number portability published in October 2003, both mobile operators objected, the MCA said they have since co-operated and actively contributed towards the Number Portability Steering Group set up by the authority to oversee the introduction of full number portability.

Partial number portability - enabling a large number of subscribers to retain the last six digits of their mobile number - has been in place for some time.

Achieving full number portability involves modifications to network switching, billing and other systems as well as a cost factor, the MCA said.