1. MNP is implemented in different ways across the globe. The international and European
standard is for a customer wishing to port his/her number to contact the new provider
(Recipient) who will then arrange necessary process with the old provider (Donor). This
is also known as 'Recipient-Led' porting. The UK is the only country to not implement a
Recipient-Led system, where a customer wishing to port his/her number is required to
contact the Donor to obtain a Porting Authorisation Code (PAC) which he/she then has to
give to the Recipient. Once having received the PAC the Recipient continues the port
process by contacting the Donor. This form of porting is also known as 'Donor-Led' and
has been criticised by some industry analysts as being inefficient. It has also been
observed that it may act as a customer deterrent as well as allowing the Donor an
opportunity of 'winning-back' the customer. This might lead to distortion of competition,
especially in the markets with new entrants that are yet to achieve scalability of
operation.
In India MNP launched recently which is Donor Led. Only the terminology is changed
from PAC to UPC (Unique Porting Code).
[edit] Technical details
A significant technical aspect of MNP (Mobile Number Portability) is related to the
routing of calls or mobile messages (SMS, MMS) to a number once it has been ported.
There are various flavours of call routing implementation across the globe but the
international and European best practice is via the use of a central database (CDB) of
ported numbers. Network operator makes copies of CDB and queries it to find out which
network to send a call to. This is also known as All Call Query (ACQ) and is highly
efficient and scalable. Majority of the established and upcoming MNP systems across the
world are based on this ACQ/CDB method of call routing. One of the very few countries
to not use ACQ/CDB is the UK where calls to a number once it has been ported are still
routed via the Donor network. This is also known as 'Indirect Routing' and is highly
inefficient as it is wasteful of transmission and switching capacity. Because of its Donor
dependent nature, Indirect Routing also means that if the Donor network develops a fault
or goes out of business, the customers who have ported out of that network will lose
incoming calls to their numbers. The UK telecoms regulator Ofcom completed its
extended review of the UK MNP process on 29 November 2007 and mandated that ACQ/
CDB be implemented for mobile to mobile ported calls by no later than 1 September
2009[dated info],
Prior to March 2008 it took a minimum of 5 working days to port a number in the UK
compared to 2 hours only in USA, as low as 20 minutes in the Republic of Ireland, 3
minutes in Australia and even a matter of seconds in New Zealand. On 17 July 2007,
Ofcom released its conclusions from the review of UK MNP and mandated reduction of
porting time to 2 working days with effect from 1 April 2008. On 29 November 2007,
Ofcom completed its consultation on further reduction to porting time to 2 hours along
with recipient led porting and mandated that near-instant (no more than 2 hours) recipient
led porting be implemented by no later than 1 September 2009.

2. In a decentralised model of MNP, a FNR (Flexible Number Register) may be used to
manage a database of ported out/ported in numbers for call routing
In India as MNP is recently launched Number Port process takes 7 Days as of now.
Which is the Highest Turn Around Time across World.
[edit] Number Lookup Services
Service providers and carriers who route messages and voice calls to MNP-enabled
countries might use HLR query services to find out the correct network of a mobile
phone number. A number of such services exist, which query the operator's home
location register (HLR) over the SS7 signalling network in order to determine the current
network of a specified mobile phone number prior to attempted routing of messaging or
voice traffic.
[edit] Mobile number portability by country
[edit] Americas
Time
Implementation
to
Country date Price Short notes References
port
yyyy.mm.dd
days
[1]
Brazil 2008.09.01 3 BRL 4 The plan started in March 2007
MNP procedure takes 10-20
Canada 2007.03.14 0 free
minutes.
Dominican [2]
2009.09.30 3–10 free
Republic
ASCP handled by Systor,
Ecuador 2009.10.12 4 free
Telconet and JR Electric Supply
Service handled by Telcordia [3]
Mexico 2008.07.05
Technologies and Neoris
The user will assume the cost of
the new sim card of the new
Peru 2010.01.01 7-9 free
mobile company that will cost
around 15 PEN
USA 2003.11.24 0 free MNP procedure takes 2 hours.
[edit] Asia Pacific
Time
Implementation
to
Country date Price Short notes References
port
yyyy.mm.dd
days

3. Previously prefixes
04x1, 04x2, 04x3 referred to
Optus
04x4, 04x5 and 04x6 referred to
Vodafone
[4]
Australia 2001.09.25 1 free 043x, referred to Vodafone
Hutchison Australia formally
known as Hutchison 3G
Australia.
04x7, 04x8, 04x9 and 0410x
referred to Telstra
Service handled by Office of the
Telecommunications Authority
(OFTA). In the network, you
Hong
1999.03.01 2 free may be charged unexpectedly [5][6][7]
Kong
for a call to a mobile that has
been ported form a different
network.
Customers can port between
prepay and post pay options.
INR 19
The master database will be
(free
managed by a third party firm. [8] [9] [10]
India 2011.01.20 7 in-case
For zone I, Syniverse has been
of
appointed with the MNP and
BSNL)
related issues while for zone II,
it is Telcordia.
1 day is a minimum time [11][12][13][14]
Malaysia 2008.10.?? 1 free
necessary for porting
Customers can port between
prepay and post pay options. On
port-In, the Donor company
Pakistan 2007.03.23 4 provides, free balance and on-
net free minutes. Service
handled by Pakistan MNP
Database (Guarantee) Limited[15]
Customers are not able to port
between prepay and post pay
[16]
Singapore 2008.06.13 options. Vendor for database
installation is Syniverse
Technologies
Taiwan 2005.10.??
Number Portability
THB Clearinghouse service is handled
Thailand 2010.12.15 3
99 by Telcordia Technologies. 3
days can be just working days.

4. [edit] Europe
Implementation Time to
Country date port Price Short notes References
yyyy.mm.dd days
Agreement signed on 22-
Dec-2010 between AKEP
(Authority of Electronic and
Postal Communications) and [17]
Albania 2010.12.22 TBA TBA
the service handling
company "INFOSOFT
SYSTEMS sh.a.". Service
not implemented yet.
Austria 2004.10.16 3
Czech [18]
2006.01.15
Republic
The central solution CRDC
has been re-implemented
several times. First time it
was implemented by
Telcordia Technologies US,
Belgium 2002.10.01 2 Free
second time by Cap Gemini
Sweden and Belgium, third
time by Porthus Belgium.
Access to DB: setup fee : €11
000, annual fee: € 3000.
EUR
Bulgaria 2008.04.11
2.56
5 days is maximum possible
period necessary for porting
Croatia 2006.10.01 5
a number. Service handled
by HAKOM.
Cyprus 2004.07.?? 14
The central solutions is
DKK [19][20]
Denmark 2001.07.?? 30-60 called OCH - Operators
0-29
Clearing House
Estonia 2005.01.01 7
Handled by the company [21]
Finland 2003.07.25 5 Free
Numpac
Heavily improved since May
2007 with a 10-days
France 2003.06.30 10 Free maximum lead time (was
taking 2 months in most
cases before then)
Georgia 2011.02.15 TBA TBA

5. The average price charged is
4
about € 25. The exact amount
working
EUR depends on the old provider. [22][23]
Germany 2002.11.01 days + 2
25 A price limit of € 30.72 was
further
set by the
days
Bundesnetzagentur.
Service handled by Telcordia
Greece 2003.09.??
Technologies
Hungary 2004.05.01 8 Free
10 days is maximum possible
Iceland 2004.10.01 10 Free period. Service handled by
Telcordia Technologies
Ireland 2003.07.25 0 Free
Italy 2002.04.01 3
Latvia 2007.??.?? 10 Free
28 days is a
Service handled by Telcordia maximum
Lithuania 2004.01.01 28
Technologies possible
period
Managed by the G.I.E
Telcom E.I.G. operator group
Luxembourg 2005.02.01 1 and developed, installed and
operated by Systor
Trondheim AS.
The reference database was
developed, installed and is
Macedonia 2008.09.01
presently operated by Seavus
Group.
4 hours is a period necessary
Malta 2005.07.31 0
to port a number.
[24]
Netherlands 1999.04.?? 3
Administrated by the
National Reference Database
(NRDB). The reference
NOK 0
Norway 2001.04.01 14 database was developed,
- 200
installed and is presently
operated by Systor
Trondheim AS.
To be administrated by the
National Central Database
(PLI-CBD) run by Office of
Poland 2006.02.?? Free Electronic Communications
(UKE). 30-day max porting
time is to be reduced to 1
day.

6. Operated by Portabil S.A.
Solution implemented by
Portugal 2002.01.01 5-10
Systor Trondheim AS of
Norway.
Developed by UTI Systems
[25]
Romania 2008.10.21 7-30 Free based on the Porthus
implementation
Slovakia 2004.05.01
5 EUR is a maximum
Slovenia 2005.12.31 5 EUR 5
possible price
Spain 2000.10.??
The largest operators formed
independent company,
SNPAC AB, to procure
Sweden 2001.09.01 21 Free central database (CRDB)
solution. Implementation of
CRDB is carried out by Cap
Gemini & Oracle.
Switzerland 2000.03.?? 5
AVEA and Vodafone hired
Gantek to implement central
database (CRDB) solution
and donated it to Turkish
Telecommunications
Turkey 2008.11.09 6 Free
Regulatory Authority.
Number Portability
Clearinghouse service
handled by Telcordia
Technologies
Telecommunications service
is regulated in the UK by
Ofcom. On 25 July 2003,
2 Ofcom introduced the
United [26]
1999.01.?? working Free General Conditions of
Kingdom
days Entitlement which apply to
all communications networks
and service providers in the
UK.
[edit] Middle East and Africa
Time
Implementation
to
Country date Price Short notes References
port
yyyy.mm.dd
days

7. NPC serves the centralized
administrative and provisioning
role of MNP. Number
Egypt 2008.04.?? Portability Clearhouse is
handled by Telcordia
Technologies, where Giza
Systems is the system integrator.
3–4 Service includes landline as well [27]
Israel 2007.12.03 Free
hours as mobile numbers
Service is not implemented, but
is still planned. TRC started the
process in 2005 and released the [28]
Jordan 2010.06.01 1 7 JOD
official bid to implement and
operate MNP during September
2009.
The Minister of
Telecommunications has stated
that the service should be
Kuwait 2010.12.31?
available before the end of 2010.
However a number of delays
have been reported in the media.
Nigeria 2007.??.??
Implemented as a decentralized
solution by Porthus for Nawras,
Oman 2006.08.26
and by Gulf Business Machines/
Telcordia for Oman Mobile.
Managed by the Centralized
Clearinghouse Approach,
through the NPC (Number
Saudi Portability Clearinghouse), a
2006.07.08
Arabia product of Telcordia
Technologies. The implementer
and system integrator is Giza
Arabia.
South
2006.11.10
Africa