Don’t let “number portability” confuse consumers

According to media reports, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology piloted the mobile phone number portability service in Tianjin, Hainan, Jiangxi, Hubei, and Yunnan in two batches in 2010 and 2013. However, at the beginning of this year, users in the pilot areas still reported that the process was not as smooth as expected, and questioned whether the operators deliberately set up obstacles.

In the era of mobile Internet, almost everyone has one or even multiple mobile phones, and mobile phone numbers have become people's "second ID card" and "another business card", and their importance is self-evident. For privacy, preferences, convenience and other considerations, users may not be willing to change their mobile phone numbers easily in many cases. However, compared with the stability of mobile phone numbers, the rates and services of various operators are often changing, so users sometimes need to change different operators, which is called "network switching". However, since different operators have their own independent number segments, in the past, you had to change your number to switch networks.

Under such circumstances, the introduction of the "number portability" policy can be regarded as good news for those who are "obsessed with beautiful numbers". What is number portability? It means "moving the phone without changing the number", that is, users can change operators while keeping the mobile phone number unchanged and enjoy the corresponding tariff policy of the new operator. In this way, users can not only keep their "old number" but also enjoy their favorite packages and satisfactory tariffs. At the same time, allowing number portability is also a spur to the services of operators and a promotion of competition in the communications market, which is conducive to breaking monopolies and stimulating industrial development.

However, the introduction of this convenient policy, which is welcomed by the majority of users, does not seem to have received a positive response from mobile communication operators. They are not proactive in the pilot promotion, and have even adopted various measures such as reducing the number of acceptance outlets, setting additional conditions, and restricting package bundling. They also use the excuse of "immature technology and risks of switching networks" to do everything possible to prevent users from porting their numbers, so that consumers not only cannot enjoy the convenience of number portability, but are also troubled by it.

Regarding the handling of number portability, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology clearly stipulates that the handling and use of number portability services should follow the principles of convenience for users, openness, fairness, honesty and voluntariness; the porting party shall not refuse to handle number portability for qualified applicants in any way; the time limit from the approval of the application to the completion of number portability is 48 hours. As for the so-called "technical reasons", the competent department also bluntly stated that the current number portability is "no longer a fundamental problem in terms of technology."

It can be seen from this that, as relevant experts have said, technical barriers are not the fundamental reason for the difficulty in number portability. "The key is that operators artificially set up obstacles in order to protect their core interests and customer resources."

For this "anti-market" practice that violates fair competition, harms the interests of users, and is contrary to the relevant national industrial policies, the relevant departments are urgently needed to refine and improve the network portability rules, strictly investigate and punish operators' illegal and infringing behaviors, use standardized systems to break up routine traps, and vigorously promote pilot promotion work. We must never let corporate self-interest and monopoly thinking tie down the hands and feet of convenience for the people and benefits for the market, and hinder the full implementation of the number portability policy.