Number portability is officially launched, three types of problems need to be "eliminated"

On November 27, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a launching ceremony for number portability. After half a month of trial operation, number portability was officially launched nationwide. "Number portability" is also called "number portability", which means that users can change operators while keeping their mobile phone numbers unchanged and enjoy the corresponding tariff policies. It is worth noting that after the number portability service is officially launched, whether the operators can solve the problems exposed during the trial operation, such as the chaos of good numbers, disputes over long contracts, and excessive compensation for early termination of contracts, has also attracted attention from the outside world.

Chaos of good numbers

Recently, many users have reported on social media that their phone numbers are premium numbers with contract periods of up to 50 years, and they cannot easily switch networks. They either have to wait until the end of the contract or pay a high penalty.

In fact, the long contract period is a common problem faced by almost all users of premium numbers. According to Article 40, Paragraph 3 of the "Management Measures for Telecommunications Network Number Resources", "those who charge users for number selection or occupancy fees will be ordered to correct their behavior, and may be given a warning and fined between RMB 5,000 and RMB 30,000 depending on the severity of the case."

Since numbers cannot be bought and sold directly, operators sell the right to use premium numbers in disguised form by offering a "pre-deposit + monthly promised communication fee". Beijing Business Daily reporters visited several China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom business offices in Beijing and learned that the better the premium number, the higher the "minimum consumption" standard, and the minimum contract period for premium numbers is generally 24 months.

Industry insiders said that operators setting a certain contract period for good numbers can curb the occurrence of "number speculation" and other behaviors, and can also make good numbers with intangible value bring greater economic benefits. However, operators should formulate clearer rules for good number transfers and provide more convenience for users who are willing to transfer.

In addition to the long contract period, different operators have different standards for identifying good numbers, which may also affect the portability of good numbers. It is understood that some users' numbers are not good numbers in the original operator, but once they are ported to another operator, they will be classified as good numbers, requiring not only prepayment of phone bills, but also a commitment to a minimum consumption.

Independent telecom analyst Fu Liang said that the range of good numbers of the three major operators are inconsistent, and the good number regulations of the same operator are obviously different in different periods. To solve the problem of "non-good numbers becoming good numbers after transfer", operators need to formulate clear rules. According to the requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, telecom business operators should formulate detailed rules for number portability services and announce them to the public in a timely manner, and report to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology at the same time.

Some operators have already recognized the problem of number portability. Wang Lei, deputy general manager of China Telecom's marketing department, said, "We need to provide this service from the perspective of consumers. On the basis of complying with the overall rules, the porting out of numbers is carried out in accordance with the agreement specifications, and the porting in ensures that new and old users have the same rights."

However, Ma Jihua, a senior telecom analyst, also suggested that people should be cautious when switching to a premium number. "Premium number users usually sign additional agreements and must use a certain package for a certain period of time. If users can switch networks at will, they may get a premium number from a certain operator and then transfer the number to another operator that can use the premium number at a lower rate. This behavior may become a new way for number dealers to sell numbers."

Contract Disputes

It is worth noting that problems such as long contracts not only trouble users of premium numbers, but are also common obstacles faced by all users when switching networks. According to the procedures of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, a Beijing Business Daily reporter edited a text message "CXXZ#username#ID number" and sent it to 10086 (China Mobile) to check whether the number was eligible for porting. The result showed that a new network promotion service handled by the number had not expired, which would affect the number portability.

"If you want to terminate the contract early, you need to compensate the operator." A China Mobile user reported that because he wanted to apply for a 5G package, he wanted to cancel the "2019 Unlimited Data Contract" and "Broadband Speed ​​​​Up Special Offer", two services that had not yet expired, but the business hall informed him that he would need to pay a penalty of more than 400 yuan if he terminated the contract early.

However, Lu Chuncong, deputy director of the Information and Communications Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that during the trial operation of number portability, some companies were found to have artificially set up system barriers, illegally added portability conditions, some agreements were too long, and the compensation standards for early termination were too high. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has supervised telecom operators to make key rectifications and will continue to supervise and inspect to ensure user experience.

Relevant persons in charge of the three operators also stated at the launch ceremony that the issue of the validity period of the agreement has been adjusted, the "on-line agreement" will be more transparent and open, and the specific reasons for not being able to switch networks will be explained to users in a timely manner, providing a convenient way to handle the matter.

A relevant person in charge of China Telecom also told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that China Telecom will earnestly implement the various regulatory policy requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and in accordance with the principles of "convenience for users, fairness, honesty and trustworthiness, and coordination and cooperation", will make every effort to ensure the level of number portability services.

In Fu Liang's opinion, different packages can have different contract periods, but "100-year contract" is definitely not appropriate. He suggested that the contract period of basic packages should not exceed two years, and the longest contract period should not exceed ten years. The "contract period" of gifts and concessions should not exceed the "concession period" and should be related to the investment of users and operators. For example, "0 yuan gift ××, 24 months" means 24 months of gifts, not a 24-month contract. Users should be able to terminate the gift in advance without being considered a breach of contract.

Hidden barriers

In addition to obvious problems such as the chaos of good numbers and contract disputes, some users also encountered some hidden obstacles during the trial operation of the number portability service. According to the relevant regulations on number portability, if users want to handle the number portability service, they need to send a text message in advance to check their qualifications and apply for an authorization code, and then go to the business hall of the porting party with the authorization code and valid documents to handle it.

However, many users have found that there are few offline business halls that can handle number portability services. Fu Liang said that this is not a problem. The purpose of the trial run is to find and solve various problems. It is not a real launch. Therefore, it is understandable that operators choose some business halls to provide number portability services during the trial run. After the number portability service is officially launched, most of the operators' own business halls should provide the service, and some qualified cooperative halls may also provide it.

At the same time, some users reported that after the number was transferred, the bank cards and Alipay accounts that were originally bound could not receive text messages normally. In this regard, Lu Chuncong said that the trial operation found that the imperfect system operation and maintenance affected the user experience of the transferred network. Some users reported that they could not access the Internet or recharge normally after the number was transferred. The number portability working group established by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology collects feedback information related to number portability from various channels every day and provides it to operators for timely technical processing and process adjustments to avoid affecting user use.

In addition, although the number portability service has been officially launched, some users are still unable to enjoy it temporarily. According to the "Number Portability Service Management Regulations" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the number portability service is not provided for four types of numbers at this stage. The first is satellite mobile service numbers (network numbers are 1349, 174, etc.), the second is mobile communication resale numbers (network numbers are 170, 171, 162, 165, 167, etc.), and the third is the Internet of Things numbers (dedicated network numbers are 146, 148, 149, 140, 144, 1064, etc.) and other ordinary public mobile communication network numbers used for Internet of Things applications.

According to the forecast of China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, after the service is launched nationwide, the annual number portability rate is expected to be between 0.3% and 0.5%. As user awareness increases and various number portability issues are resolved, the number portability rate is expected to rise further.