Azercell to launch number portability service soon
By Aynur Jafarova
Azercell, one of three cellular operators of Azerbaijan, is ready to launch the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service.
The company reported that the process is in its last testing phase.
Earlier, Azercell said the launch of the MNP service will be available only after the final inspection of the organizations involved in the project. According to Azercell, the MNP service will be available in the nearest future.
Two Azerbaijani cellular operators, Bakcell and Azerfon, have already launched the MNP service.
However, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies told Trend news agency on Tuesday that it does not intend to abandon the judicial proceedings with mobile operators due to the late launch of the MNP service.
According to the ministry, the documents will be submitted to the court next week. Currently, the work on their preparation is underway.
According to the ministry, the cellular operators have not met their obligations on the launch of the MNP service. Since the operators haven't implemented the technical obligations for the launch of the service in their networks, it inflicted financial damage to the ministry.
MNP, which is implemented across the world, enables mobile telephone users to retain their phone numbers when changing a network operator. The two providers in an MNP transaction are called the 'Recipient' (new provider) and the 'Donor' (previous provider).
The MNP system will be coordinated by the data processing center of the ministry. Agreements on the application of the service have been signed with the three operators operating in the domestic market -- Bakcell, Azercell and Azerfon.
Legal documents under the MNP service launching have been adopted and the required equipment has been installed in the operators' networks.
The replacement will take about six days, while returning to the previous operator will be possible in three months if the user has no debt. However, this service is not available for SIM-cards used in Data-cards.
One of the project's important components is the subscriber's transition to another operator without outstanding bills. Otherwise, the service will not be rendered.
Number portability envisions full migration of a subscriber's phone number with the operator's prefix by replacing the SIM card.
Operators have been instructed to use a 10-digit set of subscriber numbers. So, it is necessary to dial the operator's prefix (050, 051, 055, 070 or 077) and the seven-digit phone number.
The introduction of the MNP service will allow the users to choose a provider as well as increase competition, and also prompt operators to provide more advantageous services to attract new customers.