Duterte OKs law allowing mobile network subscribers to keep their numbers for life

Stated in RA No. 11202, the mobile number portability (MNP) refers to the ability of a mobile postpaid or prepaid subscriber “to retain an existing mobile number despite having moved from one mobile service provider to another, or to change the type of subscription from postpaid to prepaid or vice versa.” (File photo by Brian Evans/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)

Mobile network subscribers do not have to change their numbers anymore as President Rodrigo Duterte approved a law allowing them to keep it for life even if they choose a different service provider.

Duterte signed Republic Act (RA) No. 11202 or the Mobile Number Portability Act last February 8. A copy of the law was only made public by Malacañang on Tuesday, February 19.

Stated in RA No. 11202, the mobile number portability (MNP) refers to the ability of a mobile postpaid or prepaid subscriber “to retain an existing mobile number despite having moved from one mobile service provider to another, or to change the type of subscription from postpaid to prepaid or vice versa.”

That subscriber, however, should not have any existing financial obligation to his or her current service provider, which the law refers to as the “donor provider.”

Public telecommunications entities (PTEs) are mandated to provide MNP to the mobile phone users “completely free of charge.”

The mobile phone user should submit a “porting application” to avail the MNP. Once submitted, it will undergo a “porting process” wherein the donor provider will transfer the mobile number to the new service provider or the “recipient provider.” The porting process should not exceed beyond 48 hours.

The recipient provider then should activate the subscriber’s mobile number under its network within 24 hours upon notification that the number has been cleared for porting.

Meanwhile, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is mandated to coordinate with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the National Privacy Commission (NPC), the Philippine Competition Commission, and other concerned agencies to promulgate the law’s rules and regulations within 90 days after it takes effect.

The law will be implemented 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation.

“Within six months from the promulgation of the rules and regulations, mobile service providers shall comply with the provisions of this act and set up a mechanism for the purpose of implementing nationwide MNP,” it read.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, the author of the bill, hailed the signing of RA No. 11202, saying that it will “spur competition and efficiency” among telecommunication companies.

The new law, he added, will also “break the duopoly in the telecom industry by removing a potential barrier for subscribers not to patronize the new entrant because they cannot keep the same mobile number.”