“Number Portability” is officially launched nationwide today! Who will be the next “pain point” to be solved?

Yesterday, the national "number portability" service launch meeting was held in Beijing.

Relevant persons in charge from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Information and Communications Development Department, the Information and Communications Administration, the Cybersecurity Administration, some provincial (municipal) communications administration bureaus, four basic telecommunications companies and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology attended the meeting.

The meeting officially announced that with the concerted efforts of the entire industry, our country completed the provision of "number portability" services one month ahead of the original target.

This also marks a solid step forward for the communications industry towards higher quality and better services.

Let's briefly review the development of the domestic "number portability" service:

• In October 2006, the then Ministry of Information Industry (the predecessor of the current Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) issued Document No. 630 - "Notice of the Ministry of Information Industry on Protecting Mobile Phone Users' Right to Choose Tariff Plans", which mentioned the "number portability" or "number portability" policy for the first time.
• On November 22, 2010, the first batch of number portability pilot projects were launched in Tianjin and Hainan.
• On September 20, 2014, the second batch of number portability pilot projects were launched in Jiangxi, Hubei and Yunnan.
• Starting from December 1, 2018, my country launched the "number portability" service method of SMS inquiry and application, and carried out pilot projects in five provinces and cities, namely Tianjin, Hainan, Jiangxi, Hubei and Yunnan.
• On March 22, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice clarifying the time schedule for the nationwide promotion of number portability.
• On November 11, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Regulations on the Management of Number Portability Services", marking the official entry of the "number portability" services of the three major domestic operators into the trial operation stage.
• On November 27, 2019, the national "number portability" service was officially launched.

There is no doubt that "number portability" is a people-oriented project with broad social influence and significant social benefits, and an important measure to promote fair competition in the information and communication industry.

After the launch of the “number portability” service, we can’t help but wonder:

What is the next service that can bring convenience to users? What are the "pain points" that users still encounter in their daily use of communication services?

According to feedback from many users, "number portability" is a relatively urgent need.

As we all know, the location of our current mobile phone numbers cannot be changed. If you have a Beijing number, after moving to Shanghai, the location of the number is still Beijing.

In fact, our country completely abolished domestic long-distance charges and roaming charges for mobile phones on October 1, 2017, and completely abolished data roaming charges on July 1, 2018.

This means that domestic mobile phone users will receive the same rate for making calls to domestic numbers or surfing the Internet from anywhere in the country, and will not incur expensive roaming charges as before.

Recharge, payment and business inquiries can be made anytime and anywhere in the country.

So why is there still so much demand for the "number portability" service?

There are several reasons for this:

1. The location of the incoming call number is displayed, which affects the normal work and life of the owner.

Because of the widespread harassment calls, every mobile phone user will instinctively reject unfamiliar out-of-town numbers, suspecting that they may be scams or harassment calls. Many users directly refuse to answer calls from unfamiliar out-of-town numbers.

This will cause great trouble to normal calling users and affect the normal business of the caller and the called party.

2. There are obstacles in handling telecommunications services with numbers from other places.

It is very troublesome to apply for telecom services in a local area with a non-local number. For example, if the number is lost and the card is replaced, it is not supported in a non-local area. The owner needs to return to the original place to replace the card. Now the operator has very strict review of the owner and cannot handle it on behalf of the owner, which brings a lot of trouble to the owner.

If you dial a customer service number directly from a different location, such as 10086, you will be connected to the local customer service center. The local customer service center generally cannot solve the problem and needs to add the area code, such as dialing 010-10086 to get back to the customer service center in the region. This method of dialing is charged.

In addition, many broadband packages are now tied to phone numbers. If the location of the number cannot be changed, it is impossible to apply for the bundled broadband locally. This will also have an impact on users.

It is precisely because of these inconveniences that many users have to apply for new mobile phone numbers when they move to a new place due to school, job transfer, etc. This not only brings a lot of inconvenience to users, but also causes losses to operators (who are often high-quality users).

It seems that "number portability" is indeed a business with great market potential, and operators and communications regulatory authorities may want to consider it.