Chile Plans Number Portability by 2010

The Chilean government should have number portability implemented by 2010, local newspaper El Mercurio quoted Chilean telecoms regulator Subtel head, Pablo Bello, as saying.

Subtel is currently finishing the technical and economic feasibility studies to determine the implementation process.

"We expect this process, which globally [on average in different countries] has taken 2-2.5 years, to start next year. We need to take regulatory decisions in 2008 and make some modifications [in the current law] in order to allow portability," Bello said in the report.

Subtel expects to create an independent entity that would gather all the information related to the mobile numbers from all companies. This entity would be responsible for rerouting calls to numbers that have been ported to new operators.

Commenting on the costs of implementing number portability in Chile, Bello said Subtel is currently analyzing the alternatives in order to define the best model for Chile.

One of the key questions regulators have to answer regarding number portability is who pays for the implementation of the technology that facilitates it. In many countries around the world a shared cost model between the operator and user has been applied, with users paying a small fee for the right to port as well as a fee for actually porting.

In Latin America, Panama and Puerto Rico already have number portability in place. Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Mexico have published regulations for its implementation, while Peru, Colombia and Chile plan to have it operating by 2010.

Posted to the site on 11th December 2007