30,000 mobile phone users switch providers in just under two years

About 30,000 mobile phone ­subscribers have switched service providers since number portability was introduced in April 2006, according to the Malta Communications Authority.

Number portability refers to the facility to switch providers while retaining one's mobile phone number.

Replying to questions by The Times, an MCA spokesman said the figure does not include port-backs, which is when a customer returns to his or her original mobile operator.

The Times has learnt of cases of delay in the processing of applications to switch operators over the Christmas period but the spokesman said the number of complaints received by the MCA in this regard was negligible.The authority has laid down that mobile portings, as they are called, should be carried out within one working day, the shortest period in the whole of the EU. However, exceptions may apply.

"It is very important that customers requesting porting are aware of all the terms and conditions that are present in the application form," the spokesman said. "Whenever the MCA receives a complaint, our consumer affairs officer always follows it up with the operator and customer in question. Over the past month, it transpires that the operators were experiencing a slight backlog due to a surge in requests for porting during the ­festive season.

"One also needs to keep in mind that some of these delays were a result of incomplete porting applications by the customer.

"Since its inception, number portability has come a long way in providing the customer with a ­service which facilitates the move from one operator to another with ease, notwithstanding the few complaints we received. The total number of successful portings speak for themselves," the spokesman said.

Contacted for their reactions, spokesmen for both the two service providers, Go and Vodafone, said they did their utmost to release the number within the stipulated time frames as established by the MCA.