TRC in talks with operators to secure new service to end users

AMMAN —The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission is in talks with operators to reach a solution to enable mobile number portability (MNP), according to Ghazi Jbour, TRC’s chief commissioner.

Operators have reservations about MNP, which enables mobile telephone users to retain their numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another, said Jbour at a press conference recently.

“We are holding discussions with every operator to reach a consensus on this issue,” he said, adding that the issue has been debated for a very long time and to reach a solution for it, all need to collaborate.

“This issue has not been solved since 2006; we hope we will reach a solution to enable users to use the MNP service. We are very serious in this regard,” he said, adding that a meeting of officials from Zain Jordan, Orange Jordan and Umniah is scheduled for the upcoming period to find a suitable solution.

The experience of other countries in implementing MNP will be taken into account, he added.

MNP is one of many issues the TRC will be working on with the operators to address, as mobile users are calling for speedier measures to enable MNP, said the commissioner.

“Users should have the option to change to any operator but keep their numbers,” Bassam Hajj Abed, a salesman, told The Jordan Times on Monday, adding that dissatisfaction with the services of an operator gives a user the legitimate right to change it, but not necessarily the telephone number that a user may have had for a long time and does not wish to change.

Roqayya Sharif, a housewife, agrees.

“My number is one of my possessions. I should be able to have it regardless of the network I am using. I think telecom companies do not like the idea because they will lose some of their subscribers,” Sharif said on Monday.

Mobile penetration reached 147 per cent at the end of March, with 11.5 million active mobile subscriptions, 10.6 million of them prepaid, according to TRC figures.

Of the total mobile phones in Jordan, around 70 per cent are smartphones, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology.