The Public Relation center of ICT reports that during a ceremony attended by the ICT Minister, deputy ministers, and managers and directors of affiliated organizations and companies, Ali Asghar Amidian, President of the CRA, stated that: “Mobile Number Portability is a capability that enables users to use the services of different mobile phone operators by a single SIM card, and change their operator without any need to change their number.”
The head of CRA added that: “Implementation of Mobile Number Portability service results in increasing competitiveness among operators and therefore, improved service provision.”
Mentioning the participation of operator representatives, Telecommunication Infrastructure Co. and Iranian Telecommunication Company in the meetings for establishment and startup of the Center for Management of Mobile Number Portability, he included that: “The local contractor of this project is accompanied by a foreign counterpart, a company which has in its portfolio the experience of implementing MNP in 14 countries around the globe.”
Amidian added that: “Because of the importance of this subject and also accurate and appropriate supervision on the implementation of the project, a supervising consultant company has also been chosen whose responsibilities cover supervision of the design and implementation of the project at both ends of the regulators and the operators, supervision on support and maintenance, provision of commercial regulations and the utilization of a foreign consultant.”
The ICT Deputy Minister further elaborated about the objective of signing an memorandum about MNP, by adding that: “This project, in addition to requiring a MNP management center in the CRA, calls for implementing changes and upgrading software and hardware, and if necessary, establishing connection gateways for linking each operator to the management center; something which is not only costly but will also require great work and commitment on the part of the operators.”
He included that: “The whole project must progress with coordination and concurrence and the mobile network operators should also proceed with their side of the tasks and responsibilities simultaneously and in coordination with the completion of each stage of the project; therefore, it is based on these requirements that this MOU is being exchanged between the regulator and the mobile operators.”
In regard to the startup and the operational stage of the MNP project, Amidian concluded that: “After this MOU, the MNP project will precede based on an integrated and coordinated program, and within the designated timetable, beginning from now, it will reach operational stage in 10 months’ time.”