Friday October 20, 2006
MCMC: Number portability next year
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is confident that mobile number portability (MNP) will be available to cellphone users in the country by December next year.
However, several handphone users in a straw poll by In.Tech said they aren’t holding their breath for the service to see the light of day.
MNP was proposed by the Government in 2004 and scheduled to be in use by last year. However, the implementation was delayed, and it was decided that more research needed to be conducted. MCMC started the research in September last year.
It announced last week that it is still looking at how to properly implement MNP. "If all goes well, it will be realised by the end of next year," said Datuk Dr Halim Shafie, who heads the Commission.
MCMC is still in discussions with the local telecommunications companies - Maxis Communications Bhd, Celcom Bhd, and DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd - on the matter. "They are very receptive to the idea," said Halim.
MNP would benefit cellphone users by allowing them to switch service providers without having to give up their existing handphone numbers.
They would also not need to inform all their contacts that they have new numbers, after making the switch.
Halim said MNP would encourage healthy competition within the local telecommunications industry.
He said other countries have already introduced MNP, including Britain, Finland and Austria.
"Telcos in those countries have improved their delivery services since MNP was implemented," he added.
RSS
