Phone numbers may be kept when changing operators

Those who want to change their telephony operators may keep their old numbers after the Communications Regulatory Agency ANRCETI recently approved a set of regulations on number portability, Info-Prim Neo reports. To keep the number, the user needs to submit an application which shall be resolved within five days. Providers are required to keep the portability of numbers in both fixed and mobile networks, regardless of the used technology (PSTN, ISDN, IP, CDMA, GSM, CDMA 2000, UMTS etc.), of the type of the provided service (voice, fax, data transmission etc.), of the payment method (prepaid or subscription), and of whether the user has a written contract signed with the provider or not. The regulations provide that portability shall be provided for the geographical numbers in ranges 2, 3 and 5, for the location-independent numbers in the 3 range and for the non-geographical numbers in ranges 6, 7, 8 and 9 assigned from the National Numbering Plan. The document however does not allow for portability from landline to mobile networks and vice versa.