UK operators must provide porting codes immediately
Ofcom has stuck with the donor-led process for mobile number portability, but has told operators they must provide a Porting Authorisation Code (PAC) immediately on request, or within two hours by SMS.
As of April 2011 operators will be required to complete the porting proces by the next day, halving the current minimum time operators have to port numbers. Although Ofcom has mandated this reduction must take place in nine months, and pointed out that it will comply with the coming EU Regulatory Framework that has to be implemented by May 2011, it is still a lot longer than other European countries, where porting can take hours, or even minutes.
The UK regulator has been reviewing a consultation into changing the way the industry supports number portability. It considered moving to a recipient-led process, whereby the operator a consumer wants to move to provides the authorisation code. But it seems “several respondents” said that moving to this system would be too expensive, and could also lead to a danger o “slamming”.
There were other respondents who considered that the current process, whereby the consumer must ask the operator he is leaving for a PAC, makes it too easy for the current operator to “win back” a customer, by delaying the process of issuing the PAC.
In the event, because Ofcom has another review underway looking at consumer switching across a range of services, it said decided not to proceed with the recipient-led process in this instance, so as “not to hinder a wider cross-service outcome”.
This appears to leave the door open at a later date for recipient-led porting, if the wider consumer switching review recommends such a process.