Press Releases

Can a subscription-based number be ported onto a prepaid card?

05.05.2016

 

The National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) points out that mobile telephony users have the right to port their telephone numbers from one network to another, even when the porting involves switching from a subscription (in the donor network) to a prepaid card (in the acceptor network). The porting terms are established by ANCOM. The Authority may sanction operators that reject a porting request saying that this process is valid only if the respective user chooses a subscription. Such an instance occurred in April 2016, when ANCOM fined RCS & RDS.
The porting process
The fixed and mobile number portability, regulated by ANCOM, enables users to transfer their telephone numbers from one network to another within 3 working days from the date of sending the porting request, accepted both by the acceptor and by the donor provider.
ANCOM reminds the interested persons the terms under which the porting process is achieved:
  • any telephone number may be ported, to the extent that the network type is preserved: fixed-to-fixed, mobile-to-mobile;
  • concerning mobile telephony numbers, any user may keep his/her number while switching operators, irrespective of the payment method (postpaid or prepaid) – thus, a number may be ported both from a subscription to a prepaid card and vice-versa;
  • when porting a number from a prepaid card, the unused credit cannot be transferred to the acceptor network;
  • during provider’s processing the porting request, the telephony service may be interrupted for 3 or 4 hours – an interval in which the user cannot originate or receive calls;
  • the porting may be cancelled by submitting a request to the operator’s work point where the porting was initiated, not later than 24 hours before the date established for the porting completion.
Porting is not initiated and different conditions apply when a user wishes to switch from a subscription-based tariff-plan to a prepaid card while keeping on the same telephony provider’s network.
ANCOM steps in where such a porting request has been rejected
In April 2016, the Authority sanctioned RCS & RDS by contravention fine amounting to RON 10,000, after objecting to accept in its network - on a prepaid card - a subscription-based mobile telephony number from another network. ”Following complaints registered with ANCOM, the Authority’s inspectors initiated a control action and found that the operator rejected porting onto its network, based on a prepaid card, a number that had been subscription-based on another network – which is a violation of the users’ rights and is sanctioned as a contravention”, declared Cristin POPA, executive director of ANCOM.
About what, how and where you can complain
Should you encounter difficulties during the porting process, you may submit a complaint to ANCOM, following the steps detailed here.
Portability statistics
According to www.portabilitate.ro, a website made available to the users by ANCOM, in April 2016 a total of 65,173 mobile telephony numbers were ported, of which: 14,511 onto Orange’s network, 31,467 onto RCS & RDS’s network, 4,856 onto the network of Telekom Romania Mobile Communications, 2,076 onto the network of Telekom Romania Communications and 12,260 onto Vodafone’s network.
Since the launch of the portability service, in 2008, 2,309,371 mobile telephony numbers have been ported in Romania, i.e. approximately 80% of the 2,916,001 numbers ported on the overall.  

To find the network of a telephone number in Romania and whether it has been ported, the users may access www.portabilitate.ro. The website offers details on the steps to be followed for porting a telephone number, answers to frequently asked questions on number portability, as well as advice in order to avoid certain inconveniences that may occur during the porting process, based on real facts brought in front of the Authority by the users. 

 

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