Number Portability and Telecommunications Liberalization

1. Number Portability and Telecommunications Liberalization CANTO 2005

2. Agenda • Introduction to Number Portability • National Number Portability Design Issues • Case Studies • Tactics for a Successful Roll-out

3. Introduction to Number Portability Goals and Design Basics

4. Number Portability Goals • Enable customer to keep their phone numbers while switching from one service provider to another • Principle #1 – The customer owns the telephone number • Promote competition through unfettered consumer choice • Principle #2 – Consumers should have minimal inconvenience in porting a number • Encourage investment in local telecommunications infrastructure through level competitive playing field • Principle #3 – Regulations should ensure equal opportunity for network operators • Encourage migration to new technologies with consumer-friendly migration paths • Principle #4 – Number portability mechanics should be available for both inter-operator competition, and for intra-operator service migration

5. National Roll-out Design Basics • Determine call routing mechanics • Predominate method is “Direct Routing” • Terminating network element is determined by the “N-1” operator • Look-up performed in a complete database of all ported numbers • Determine order negotiation method • Consumer must have clear method to indicate intention • Operators must be able to confirm consumer intent • Operator must be able to clearly agree on migration details • Migration data must be executed and published

6. Porting Timeline • There is a timeline of activities that must occur for each port • Target porting time is a major design consideration • Short times  consumer convenience and system complexity • Long times  consumer frustration and system simplicity • Short Timeline Activities • Consumer initiates port request with receiving operator • Receiving operator presents port request with credentials to donating operator • Donating operator confirms credentials and proposed timeframe • Receiving operator presents routing transfer parameters and final timeframe • Donating operator confirms routing data and final timeframe • Receiving operator activates the service • Receiving operator broadcasts routing data to all network operators • All within 3 hours!

7. National Number Portability Design considerations • Implementation Issues: • Method used by consumer to initiate a port request • One Stop or Two Stop • Automated or Manual • Method to Route Calls • Direct/All Calls Query, Indirect Rerouting, variations • Method used to specify routing parameters • Clearinghouse or Bilateral • Method used to broadcast activation information • Real-time or Batch • Method for cost recover • Porting parties pay or All subscribers pay

8. Implementations throughout the World

9. Mobile Number Portability Implementations

10. MNP Case Study 1 - USA • Mobile Number Portability introduced in 2003 • Delayed twice to allow operators additional time to prepare • Used a “mature” system for network porting activities • Used a new system for ordering activities • 8 Million Customers ported their numbers in the first year • Most customers ported to the largest mobile operator (Verizon Wireless) and one of the smallest mobile operator (T-Mobile) • Local Conclusion: Successful • Key Success Factors • Automated porting process • Time taken for porting was small (few hours to a couple of days) • Fixed to mobile, mobile to mobile was introduced nationwide at the same time • Outcome: High port counts, high customer satisfaction

11. MNP Case Study 2 - UK • Mobile Number Portability introduced in 1999 • 3% of the Mobile subscribers ported their numbers • Local Conclusion: Not Successful • Key Causes • Longer porting durations (up to 7 days) • Customers were charged to port away (in some cases 30 GBP, eventually dropped) • Two step porting process impacted customer convenience • Outcome: Low port counts, low adoption rate, little impact on competition

12. Effect on Service Providers – Revenue • Data Source – public financial data for top 100 world-wide telecommunications providers • Conclusion – Number Portability involves investments, but companies in that environment fared better

13. National Preparation Timeline • 15 - 18 Months Prior • Solidify regulations • Organize collaborative organization for evaluating porting model • 12 Months Prior • Determine porting model • Geographic/Jurisdictional scope of valid port requests • Evaluate use of US/Canada NPAC system • Evaluate need for multi-jurisdictional centralized processing systems • 9 Months Prior • Settle on porting standards • 6 Months Prior • Finish central system(s) preparation, begin acceptance testing • 3 Months Prior • Finish local system(s) preparation, begin interoperability testing • Go live • Plan on close monitoring for 6 to 12 months after

14. Number Portability in Caribbean • Will require extensive preparation • Plan on 12 to 18 months lead time • Clarify regulations • Establish a viable implementation model • Involve all operators, regulators, and effected vendors • Will require specialized knowledge & technology • Operating central clearing house • Adapting sub-systems to support portability • Processes • Will require investment • Infrastructure investment • Software investment • People investment • Common Market approach will provide best leverage for the investment

15. Number Portability in Caribbean • Benefits: • Consumer choice • Fair-Playing Field Competition • Improved service levels from operators • Introduction of new, innovative services • Increased motivation for infrastructure investment

16. Evolving Systems’Number Portability History Evolving Systems has an extensive history with Numbering Solutions

17. Thank you! Evolving Systems 9777 Pyramid Court Englewood, Colorado, USA 80112 spf@evolving.com