TABLE OF CONTENTS The portability of a telecommunications number may be defined as the possibility for the user of that service to retain it after some change to the service. Different classes of number portability refer to different changes through which the number is conserved, for example, a change of the user's physical location, a change in the kind of service, or a change of service provider. Service provider portability is an important factor helping the development of a competitive telecommunications market. Without it many domestic and business customers would encounter a real barrier in moving to another supplier, because of reluctance to accept a change of number and so to have to inform their contacts. Regulators therefore use their powers to establish service provider portability in their national telecommunications markets.
Great care is necessary over the terminology for number portability, because terms such as 'number portability', 'geographical portability' or 'call forwarding' tend to acquire more specific meanings in this context than are intuitively implied by the words themselves. Different countries may choose different words, so it is important first to understand the concepts, and then to identify the terms being used in any particular place.
Location portability, sometimes known as geographic mobility, is number portability with respect to a physical relocation of the service. This has been available for simple telephone service in most countries for many years, so long as the customer remains with the same provider and stays within the same...
