All in Place for Roll Out Of Number Portability

Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Phillip Paulwell, said that all is in place to facilitate number portability in Jamaica on May 31.

Minister Paulwell, who was addressing a JIS Think Tank on May 12, said all the required infrastructure is in place and there is agreement by all service providers to facilitate the platform.

He informed that licences have been granted and the regulator, the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), is fully up to speed on executing its monitoring role.

Number portability will allow Jamaicans to move from one service provider to another while retaining their telephone number.

“With the new system…that number is yours. It allows the consumer to be in control of the number and gives the consumer power over the provider,” Minister Paulwell noted.

He said that persons wishing to change their service provider can do so at no charge.

“In fact, the law now prohibits a charge by the donor provider to the customer apart from those that govern the service prior to the porting (switching from one provider to another),” he explained.

“The incoming provider has the option, but I suspect it might prove foolhardy on their part to impart charges on new clients,” he argued.

Minister Paulwell pointed out that number portability will lead to greater competition and the lowering of prices to consumers.

Initially, number portability will only be facilitated from mobile to mobile and fixed line to fixed line.

“Eventually, porting will be facilitated across service technologies but we’re not there as yet,” Minister Paulwell said.

He told JIS News that the porting facility being established will be reserved for operation within the country’s borders and by Jamaican service providers.