Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 21 / Trend, H. Valiyev /
Azerbaijani fixed operators must be ready to introduce Mobile Number Portability (MNP), Azerbaijani Communications and IT Minister Ali Abbasov told media today.
"There are operators who have failed to complete the technical readiness to introduce this service," he said.
Abbasov said that the service will be implemented in mobile networks no later than on April 1. Previously it was planned to launch the service in March.
The number portability service in Azercell and Bakcell networks will be free of charge.
However, this service is not available for SIM-cards used in Data-cards.
One of the project's important components is subscriber's migration to the network of another operator without the accumulated debts, otherwise, this service will not be rendered.
One can use the service once every three months.
One of the aspects envisaged by the service is a notification to subscribers about the network they are calling and the cost of internal calls. Call prices for 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 other operators' networks.
Introducing MNP services will allow mobile users to keep their phone numbers while 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 seven-digit phone number.
Introducing 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.
The MNP service will be launched by all three mobile operators in Azerbaijan, at the same time.