Turkey - MNP

Avea optimistic about number portability

Turkey's third-biggest mobile phone company hopes to win over around 1.5 to 2 million users in one year as the result of a new number portability system expected to be available Nov. 9.

Subscribers' identity information must be accurately kept in order to enable number portability, which allows mobile phone users to keep their number while changing their GSM operator, Avea's managing director, Cüneyt Türktan, told journalist earlier this week.

"We have cleared identification information in our infrastructure network. We have closed 36,000 lines due to the lack of identification confirmation. It is crucial to know the owner of each phone line due to security reasons." The term given to operators to complete identity confirmation will end on Aug. 1, said Türktan, calling on operators to work jointly on the issue.

Under the new system, number transferring transactions will take six days, during which time subscribers will be able to use their phones, he said. Following bureaucratic and administrative transactions, the phone will be closed for use for one hour during the night, he added.

Cost of implementation

The implementation of number portability will be offered at an as-yet-undetermined price between YTL 5 and 20, said Türktan, adding that some campaigns may also be offered rather than the price option.

In cooperation with Vodafone, Avea created an investment into number portability and ceded the system to the Telecommunication Board, Türktan said. "The [number portability] system cost $4 million for us and $4 million for Vodafone, and $2 million for Turkcell. The investment in number portability totaled $10 million."

Türktan also noted that the infrastructure for Third Generation, or 3G, is complete. "We will participate in the 3G tender," he said.

Number portability took effect as of Feb. 1, 2007, with a regulation prepared by the Telecommunication Board. The board had announced that the necessary database for the implementation was complete on May 9, 2008. Number portability implementation would be effective within six months following that date, according to a statement by Telecommunication Board Chairman Tayfun Acarer.