QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 11202)
RA 11202 requires mobile service providers to provide nationwide Mobile Number Portability (MNP) so qualified subscribers can retain their mobile numbers when switching providers or changing from postpaid to prepaid (and vice versa), promoting consumer welfare and competition.
MNP is the ability of a mobile postpaid or prepaid subscriber with no existing financial obligation to the donor provider to retain an existing mobile number despite moving to another mobile service provider, or to change the type of subscription from postpaid to prepaid or vice versa.
Donor Provider is the mobile service provider to whose network the mobile number belongs when the subscriber submits the porting application. Recipient Provider is the mobile service provider that will provide service to the subscriber after the porting process.
In no case shall the entire porting process take more than forty-eight (48) hours.
Cutover Period is the date and time when the subscriber who submitted a porting application will have no mobile telecommunications service while the porting process is being completed. For donor providers, the cutover duration shall not exceed four (4) hours.
Yes. Every Public Telecommunications Entity (PTE) must provide nationwide MNP completely free of charge, and benefits must not be delayed, withheld, refused, or otherwise not delivered within the period provided by law.
A PTE must set up a mechanism for implementing MNP, interconnect directly or indirectly with other PTEs’ infrastructure/facilities/systems/equipment, and must not install network features/capabilities that impede nationwide MNP.
Upon demand and completely free of charge, the PTE must unlock the mobile telephone handset of a subscriber who requested and complied with all requirements for MNP.
The recipient provider must transmit the application to the donor provider for clearing. It must activate the subscriber’s ported number under its network within twenty-four (24) hours upon notification that the number has been cleared for porting. If the recipient is a VNO, it transmits to its host PTE first.
If the donor provider notifies that the mobile number to be ported has an existing financial obligation, the donor provider must give the subscriber a period of three (3) working days upon receipt of the notice to settle the outstanding obligation. Upon full payment, the donor must comply with clearance.
Within twenty-four (24) hours upon receipt of the porting application, the donor provider must transmit the notice of clearance to the recipient provider (subject to the no-existing-obligation requirement, and VNOs must first acquire clearance from the host PTE). The donor must also continue to provide all mobile telecommunications services to the subscriber subject to the cutover period, not exceeding four (4) hours.
The donor provider must not impose conditions and procedures for contract termination or completion of a porting application that effectively disincentivize or deter moving to another provider. It must not use information obtained from porting activities to persuade the subscriber to cancel or to delay a porting application.
No. Consistent with consumer welfare, no interconnection fee or charge shall be imposed by any mobile service provider for domestic calls and SMS made by a subscriber after the effectivity of the Act.
NTC may impose: (1) P10,000 for portability not performed within allowed periods (if delivered by complaint filing or as agreed in mediation); (2) at least P40,000 for unjust refusal even after mediation; (3) P100,000 to P300,000 for the second to fourth instance; and (4) P400,000 to P1,000,000 plus possible revocation of the PTE franchise for the fifth and subsequent instances, if unjust refusal continues even after mediation.
The IRR must prescribe a mediation procedure before the one-stop shop of the NTC for complaints of denied or delayed MNP. NTC may mediate between subscribers and providers to facilitate MNP and, after due process, compel or deny MNP.
The NTC is mandated to implement nationwide MNP and promulgate the IRR within ninety (90) days from effectivity, coordinating with other agencies. Providers must comply with the provisions and set up the mechanism within six (6) months from promulgation of the IRR.
Any doubt in interpretation of the Act and its IRR must be liberally interpreted in a manner mindful of the rights and interests of the subscriber availing of MNP.