Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.2 / Trend H.Valiyev /
Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service will be free in the network of Bakcell mobile operator, the Head of Bakcell Public Relations Department Suheyla Jafarova told journalists.
In her words, the period of migration from one operator to another will take six days.
"One of the aspects provided by the service is a notification of subscriber about the network he is calling as the cost of on-net calls and calls to the networks of other operators varies. The main purpose of these notifications is to warn the subscribers about the costs of calls to networks of other operators, " Jafarova said.
The advantage of using number portability service is the fact that the user gets the right to choose, which, accordingly, leads to an increase in service quality.
According to, a member of the working group on MNP service, Emin Askersoy, migration to other operators' networks will require a SIM-card replacement.
"However, this service is not available for SIM-cards used in Data-cards," Askersoy said.
According to the rules, the service can repeatedly be used after three months time.
"Thus, one of the project's important components is provision of subscriber's migration to the network of another operator without the accumulated debts, otherwise, provision of this service will be denied, "Askersoy said.
The introduction of MNP services will allow mobile users to keep their phone numbers when changing mobile operator. Number portability means full migration of a subscriber phone number with the operator's prefix.
Operators have been instructed to use a 10-digit set of subscriber numbers. So, it is necessary to dial operator's prefix ("050", "051", "055", "070" and "077") and a seven-digit phone number.
MNP service will be launched simultaneously by all three mobile operators in Azerbaijan.
"Testing of the system is currently underway. The date of service launch depends on the success of testing. If the system is not launched by late this year, it will be available in January-February 2013," Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Iltimas Mammadov said.
The introduction of the MNP service increases competition and forces operators to take extra efforts to retain former customers while providing more attractive services to attract new ones.