The National Telecommunications Commission issued the rules allowing mobile phone subscribers to shift to other networks without changing their numbers.
The agency issued the rules and regulations implementing Republic Act No. 11202, or the “Mobile Number Portability Act,” which was passed into law on February 8, 2019.
The rules on Mobile Number Portability Act promotes easy and expedient mobile phone/device usage by allowing the convenient transfer of a mobile postpaid or prepaid subscriber from one service provider to another, or change the type of subscription from postpaid to prepaid or vice-versa, without changing the subscriber’s mobile number.
The rules state that every subscriber applying for Mobile Number Portability should have no any outstanding financial obligation with the mobile provider or donor provider (DP) and the subscriber is the assignee of the mobile number used in a device that is not locked to any Mobile Service Provider (MSP).
The rules takes effect on July 2, 2019.
The rules added that a period of 60 calendar days have lapsed from the date of activation of the ported number; the subscriber has no pending request for transfer of assignment of the mobile number; no prohibition from a court of law for the porting of the mobile number; and the subscriber is not blacklisted by a MSP due to previous fraudulent activities.
A subscriber who intends to avail of the MNP service should first request from DP a 9-digit unique subscriber code, which is valid for 15 days. The subscriber must submit his/her porting application indicating a valid USC to Recipient Provider (RP) in person, or through a duly authorized representation, or online, or through an SMS via a 5-digit access code.
Within 24 hours from the receipt of PA, the DP will transmit the clearance to the RP, or inform the RP through MNPSP that the PA is rejected, or notify the RP through MNPSP that the applicant has outstanding financial obligation.
The porting process will be completed within 48 hours from the time of submission of the PA with the RP, provided the applicant has no outstanding financial obligation or is not rejected.
Postpaid and prepaid subscribers within the same mobile network may avail MNP and should be changed within 24 hours upon submission and acceptance of application and subject to existing policies of the MSP.
No fees and charges should be collected from the applicants for MNP. Furthermore, no interconnection fee or charge will be imposed by any MSP for domestic calls and SMS made by a subscriber.
