Number portability

Number portability is the option in the area of telephony to keep the number when changing provider . Number portability in Germany is set out in Section 46 of the Telecommunications Act (TKG). However, § 46 TKG does not include the right to port number in the event of contract changes where the old and new telephone providers are identical. Technically, the phone number is decoupled from the old connection and entered on the connection of the new provider . This process on which the number portability is based is called porting and can be subject to porter fees.

Number portability in the fixed network is also known as Local Number Portability (LNP) or fixed network number porting . The local telephone number is retained when switching to a new network provider. Not to be confused with this is the possibility of retaining a phone number when moving within a local network without changing the network provider.

Number portability in cellular networks is also known as Mobile Number Portability ( MNP ). The complete phone number including area code is retained when changing providers.

EU legal framework

On July 13, 2006, the European Court of Justice ruled that the national regulatory authorities may set an upper price limit for the fees to be paid by mobile customers to the old provider. The price must be cost-oriented and must not act as a deterrent.

A reform package for EU telecommunications regulation that came into force on May 25, 2011 stipulates that consumers must be able to change their telephone provider within one day and can take their number with them.

Germany

The legal regulation for number portability in Germany can be found in § 46 TKG. This is the implementation of the Universal Service Directive ( Directive 2002/22 / EC ). Universal Service Directive stands for DIRECTIVE 2002/22 / EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 7 March 2002 on universal service and user rights in electronic communication networks and services . The amendment to the Universal Service Directive through Directive 2009/136 / EC was implemented in national law ( Section 46 TKG) with the amendment to the Telecommunications Act in 2012 . In February 2014, after several months of investigations, the Federal Network Agency imposed fines of 75,000 euros each on three telecommunications providers who had breached their obligations when switching providers. In Art. 30 Para. 4 Universal Service Directive in the version according to Directive 2009/136 / EC stands:

“The transfer of phone numbers and their subsequent activation takes place as quickly as possible. For participants who have signed an agreement to transfer their number to another company, the number will be activated within one working day. "

landline

LNP has been possible in Germany since 1998. The procedure used was worked out in the " Working Group for Numbering and Network Interconnection " (AKNN) by a working group ("Sub-Working Group Administrative and Operational Issues When Changing Subscriber and Connection Network Operator"), which is composed of employees from individual network operators. Details on porting a number in the local network area are regulated in the BMPT Official Gazette 282 of November 19, 1997. In contrast to Mobile Number Portability, it works mostly manually. An electronic procedure is being tested.

procedure

When the contract is terminated, porting requests are either sent by fax (porting request) or via an electronic interface (wholesale portal) from the receiving network operator to the transferring network operator. The contract should not be canceled with some network operators at this point in time (especially with the large providers such as 1 & 1, Vodafone and Telekom, since porting with their systems is otherwise only possible in a complicated manner). The porting date is set by the transferring network operator depending on the contractual commitment or the notice period. On this date, the switchover required by the network is carried out within a specified period (switching window). During this time, the connection cannot be reached for a short period of time. After a successful switchover, the two porting partners report the process to the other German landline operators so that they can adjust their routing to the relevant phone number if necessary. This must happen within a certain period of time, the call diversion time. For this purpose, the telephone number databases of all connected network operators are updated in the process of porting data exchange.

The call diversion time is currently 60 days. During this time, in which the uninvolved network operator may still forward calls to the former network operator, the latter switches call forwarding, i.e. forwards calls to the correct destination network. After the call diversion time has elapsed, he can switch off this call diversion so that misdirected calls no longer necessarily reach their destination. This occasionally leads to the effect that an apparently successfully ported connection can suddenly no longer be reached by some network operators after two months. The reason for this is often that at least one of the two network operators involved failed to publish the corresponding message in the porting data exchange.

costs

A provider may charge a maximum of 11.44 euros (gross) for taking along a landline number. This was decided by Ruling Chamber 2 of the Federal Network Agency in one individual case in 2018.

Cellular

The number portability in the mobile (Mobile Number Portability) was introduced in Germany in the year of 2002. Due to the high interconnection fees charged by the various providers, it was questionable whether it would make sense here. Experience (from other countries) shows that the tariff adapts to the new situation.

In Germany, number portability has been possible in all mobile networks since November 1st, 2002. In the following year, however, only a few customers took their phone number with them when they switched provider, because a large amount of money was billed for it. In 2005 the Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications and Post (RegTP) decided that a maximum of 29.95 euros could be charged for such a change. Since April 2020, a maximum of EUR 6.82 can be estimated for this.

While the transferring provider is legally obliged to port the number, the receiving provider is not obliged to carry out the porting in accordance with Section 46 TKG (no obligation to contract). In practice, however, almost every provider offers this to win new customers.

Early porting during the contract period

The amendment to the Telecommunications Act in 2012, namely the new regulation of Section 46 (4) sentence 3 TKG, gives the end user, in accordance with Article 30 (4) sentences 1 and 2 URL (Universal Service Directive), a public claim from the provider to be able to request the transfer of the assigned phone number at any time for accessible mobile communications services. This possibility exists regardless of the underlying civil law contract with the end user, so that the end user can request porting of his phone number before the end of the contract period. In section 46 (4) sentence 4 TKG it is clarified at the legal level that the existing contract between the end user and the transferring provider of publicly accessible mobile communications services and the resulting claims remain unaffected. According to section 46 (4) sentence 4 TKG, the transferring provider is obliged to provide information about all costs incurred , as was the case with the conclusion of the contract (see section 43 (1) no.8 TKG), including in particular any outstanding monthly charges until the end a term contract. This ensures that the end user can make an informed choice. By § 46 para. 4 sentence 6 TKG the end user receives a claim to get assigned a new phone number for his previous contract with the donor provider. In this way, transitional questions can be avoided when the new regulation in Section 46 (4) sentence 3 TKG comes into force, as there is no need to differentiate between old and new contracts.

In the case of ported numbers, the network affiliation can no longer be recognized from the area code. Since the respective tariff is billed to the actual network and therefore additional costs that are not obvious at first glance, the network operators offer a network query .

Provider query

The following options are available to find out which provider a given number is connected to:

Telecom landline: Call 01805-001133 (14 cents / minute from landline, cell phones maximum 42 cents / minute)
Telekom Mobilfunk: Call 4387 (free of charge within the network; also applies to Congstar ) or SMS with a number to speed dial 4387 (depending on the tariff)
Vodafone : Call 12313 (free within the network), call 0800-5052090 (free / also available for non-Vodafone customers)
O₂ : SMS with "NETZ phone number " to speed dial 4636 (free of charge within the network)

procedure

In accordance with Section 46 (4) TKG, immediate number portability has been possible since 2012. Even after the end of the contract, the previous owner still has the right to take his phone number with him for 30 days, whereby the application should be received by the new provider no later than two to three weeks after the end of the contract due to the times specified in the procedure for processing the application. According to 7mobile, it is sometimes possible to take it with you up to 90 days after the end of the contract.

A technical solution from T-Systems ensures that the number is still valid. The heart of the so-called number portability is a central database in which all mobile phone numbers in Germany are stored. It is located in Munich and is operated by the Deutsche Telekom system house. The exchange of all data is standardized and takes place via defined interfaces.

When porting phone numbers in prepaid tariffs, a waiver is required instead of a contract termination. The prepaid customer cannot choose the porter date himself; it is specified by the old service provider.

costs

The porter fees vary depending on the issuing service provider. From April 20, 2020, a provider may only charge a maximum amount of EUR 6.82 (gross) to take along a mobile phone number. This was decided by Ruling Chamber 2 of the Federal Network Agency on April 20, 2020. In addition, there may be the porting fee from the receiving network operator, which is often waived in practice; In some cases, providers even lure switching customers with bonus payments instead.

Number portability for prepaid contracts

In contrast to term contracts, prepaid contracts are "terminated" with the help of the waiver. With numerous providers, the waiver must be made using a specific form, which includes various data on porting your number:

Number that should be waived or taken with you
SIM card number
Name / date of birth or company name / customer number of the previous provider.

The waiver is submitted with the required data to the previous provider and causes the phone number to be released. Only then can the new provider take over the number.

Austria

Mobile number portability has also existed in Austria since October 16, 2004 and was used by 70,000 mobile phone customers by October 2005.

The porter fees are 10 euros and are charged by the issuing mobile phone provider. The costs consist of 9 euros porter fees and one euro for the so-called NÜV information (the number transfer regulation forms the legal basis for MNP in Austria), this is a fee that the selling operator for the compilation of all on the customer costs incurred by the number portability will be offset. The NÜV information contains information such as B. the basic fees and costs for SIM unlocking of the mobile phone still to be paid due to the contractual commitment.

The costs for porting and NÜV information were set at March 1, 2016 by Rundfunk & Telekom-Regulierungs GmbH at a maximum of € 10.

Some operators assume the porting costs by crediting the fees incurred by the third-party provider on one of the first monthly bills after the contract has been concluded.

Porting in Austria can be carried out as quickly as possible within three working days, prior termination of the mobile phone contract with the transferring operator is not required, but the outstanding basic charges must be paid.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, number portability to other providers has long been possible and is often used. As a result, in many cases it is not possible to draw conclusions about the provider from the area code. Since the providers Swisscom and Sunrise Communications offer different tariffs for "own" mobile numbers than for "third-party numbers", a signal tone can be switched on for both of them to inform the caller if the call does not stay with their own provider.

Other countries

According to the European Commission, 10.3% of customers across the EU had transferred their phone number to another provider by October 2008.

In 1997, Singapore was the first country to introduce mobile number portability.

In the USA , mobile phone number portability has been mandatory since November 24, 2003, but this is considered temporary there, and a network operator may charge fees for long-term use of the phone number (Long-Term Telephone Number Portability End-Use Charge). In addition, it is only required for the heavily populated regions. The FCC briefly presented previously, on November 10, also clear that the number portability also applies to local numbers, which were connected to a mobile phone connection.

Number portability has been in effect in Australia since 2001. Before that, numbers were split up with area codes 04x1, 04x2 and 04x3 for Optus , area codes 04x4, 04x5 and 04x6 for Vodafone and area codes 04x7, 04x8 and 04x9 for Telstra . Number portability is free and usually takes place within a few minutes, in exceptional cases within a few hours. A termination is not necessary. The porting is verified based on the date of birth.

Canada is familiar with number portability in the local area network, but has not yet introduced number portability in mobile communications. The only exception here is Microcell Fido since 2004.

In Belgium , to find out the provider, you can make a free request on 1499.be.

MNP is generally possible in Italy , all network providers support both outgoing and incoming MNP free of charge, usually there are special offers for changing customers who bring their number with them. It is sufficient to apply to the new provider to take the number with you; separate termination is not required. The change usually takes place in up to 3 days. The network query is uniformly free of charge by placing the digits 456 in front of the number when calling. The caller receives information about their network affiliation, then the call is transferred.

Number portability is free in Poland . In 2013, 1.5 million numbers were transferred to another provider, including around 900,000 to Play (P4 sp. Z oo). A year earlier, MNP was at the level of around 1.2 million numbers.