1M subscribers seen to avail of mobile number porting service

Telecommunications Connectivity Inc. (TCI), the joint venture firm set up by three of the country’s major telco players to implement the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Act, is expecting about one million subscribers to avail of its porting services at the initial stage of the law’s implementation on September 30, 2021.

“Initially, we’re projecting a million. But in other countries we see about 30% of the subscribers porting out, so we will prepare for it,” TCI general manager Melanie Manuel said at a virtual press briefing on Thursday.

“We’re setting it at about a million at the initial stage,” she said.

TCI is the joint venture firm formed by PLDT Inc.’s mobile unit Smart Communications, Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc., and third telco player DITO Telecommunity Corp. to serve as a clearing house for mobile number portability.

It was incorporated in January last year in compliance with the Republic Act No. 11202 or the MNP Act.

The three telcos invested about P120 million to set up the interoperability for the porting in and porting out service.

The telcos tapped Florida-based Syniverse Technology as the mobile number portability service provider.

The law allows mobile phone users to keep their mobile numbers even when they transfer to another service provider, or when they switch their subscription from postpaid to prepaid, or vice-versa.

President Rodrigo Duterte in February signed the law in February 2019, which allows mobile network subscribers to retain their numbers for life despite switching subscription plans or between telecom service providers.

All public telecommunications entities are mandated to provide prepaid and postpaid subscribers the option to keep their mobile phone numbers free of charge.

The option, however, is allowed only if the subscriber has no financial obligation that must be settled with the original service provider—also called the donor provider.

Companies that violate the provisions of RA 11202 may face fines ranging from P10,000 up to P1 million as well as cancellation of the operating franchise. A subscriber can also receive damages but not exceeding P40,000. -MDM, GMA News