http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=1413
The system was supposed to have been implemented by the end of 2005 but the operators were given a six month reprieve following the late promulgation of the regulations — these were introduced only on September 30. In terms of legislation, the operators should be fined R500000 each for missing the December 31 deadline. However, these fines — which are trivial anyway — aren’t likely to be issued, given the delays in introducing the necessary regulations.
The three cellular operators jointly filed an “ordering system specification” to Icasa at the end of October. This document defines the agreed industry process for number portability and specifies the procedures by which “recipient” and “donor” service providers and operators exchange information between each other. This information includes the data to be sent, the format of the data, the means of communication, the times when communications may be sent, the time limits for responses and the handling of errors.
Cell C, MTN and Vodacom have established a company — not yet named — that will own a centralised reference number portability database. A tender for this project has been issued and should be awarded in the next couple of months. Hosting and management of the database will be outsourced.
If the operators are to meet the June 30 deadline, the database has to be operational by April for testing purposes. Provided all the target dates are met, the deadline can be met, says Cell C’s manager of regulatory support, Mike Falconer.
“The operators are working well together [on this project],” he says.
Cell C, as the newest and smallest of SA’s mobile operators, is likely to be the biggest beneficiary of number portability.
“It’s a numbers game,” says Falconer. “If we lose 1% it’s not as big a loss as it would be for Vodacom or MTN.”
But Cell C’s bigger rivals aren’t going to let their contract customers slip out of their hands without a fight. MTN and Vodacom are aggressively signing consumers into 24-month contracts and doing special deals with corporate buyers.
Other than the central database project, much work lies ahead for the operators as they rush to get number portability off the ground. The internal systems of the three operators will have to be upgraded. The billing and administration systems of the service providers will also have to be upgraded. (Service providers are distinct from network operators; some are owned by the operators, some by third parties.)
New business processes will have to be designed and implemented between network operators and service providers, between operators and between operators and third parties.
There’s no agreement yet on how to alert customers when they are making a call to another network. Calls between networks attract different tariffs.
Because of high interconnection charges, calls made from operator A to operator A are typically cheaper than calls made between operator A and operator B.
