After more than a year of testing, the communications regulator has implemented geographic number portability (GNP).
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) announced earlier this week that the fixed-line number porting option is now available to customers. Geographic portability means customers are able to switch fixed-line providers without changing phone numbers.
Testing of number portability started between Telkom and Neotel in March last year. Neotel was excited by the implementation, because it could provide it access to Telkom customers who did not want to change their existing business numbers.
At the time, Rajeev Sinha, Neotel's products senior manager, said Neotel had been approached by customers eager to port from Telkom, but would not change telephone numbers. “The primary interest is that customers are looking at a better price point, which we can offer. They are also hoping to keep the current business contact details they have.”
ICASA says the implementation of GNP will be phased, with the first aspect only dealing with blocks of 1 000 and 10 000 numbers, which are numbers stipulated for enterprise customers. The regulator says the second phase of the roll-out will include the consumer.
“Individual customers will, therefore, not be able to port their individual numbers during the first phase. Residential customers will only be able to port during the second phase - the date of which is to be announced.”
ICASA expects residential porting will happen within 10 months of phase one. For business customers looking to migrate providers, the regulator suggests contacting Neotel or Telkom for more information.
Fixed-line porting follows almost three years after the same process was implemented for the mobile networks. Analysts have been sceptical about the success of GNP, following the low success of mobile number portability.
However, Neotel says it is likely GNP will be more successful than its mobile counterpart. The company believes that porting in a fixed-line environment can be better controlled than in the mobile space, adding that fixed-line number changes could have a heftier impact on business operations.
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