Telcos warned: Implement mobile number portability or face franchise revocation

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Sherwin Gatchalian warned telecommunication companies of possible revocation of their franchise to operate should they  further delay the implementation of the Mobile Number Portability Act, which allows users to keep their mobile phone even after switching from one network provider to another.

Gatchalian said telecommunication companies may face up to P1 million fine and revocation of their franchises to operate “if they would repeatedly and unjustly refuse to implement the portability within the period allowed under the said law.”

“The current situation should enable our consumers to easily shift without much of a fuss to another network that offers better services especially since our daily grind is practically dependent nowadays on telcos’ services,” Gatchalian said in a statement on Friday.

“Hindi pa tayo tinatamaan ng pandemya nung naisabatas ito. Ngayon, inabutan na tayo ng COVID-19 at may ibang variant na. The National Telecommunications Commission should see to it that telcos strictly follow the law,” he added.

(We did not have a pandemic when this was signed into law. Now, COVID-19 is here and there is even a new variant. The National Telecommunications Commission should see to it that telcos strictly follow the law.)

Republic Act No. 11202 or the “Act Requiring Mobile Service Providers To Provide Nationwide Mobile Number Portability To Subscribers” was signed in February 2019.

Gatchalian said “the law should have been carried out as early as January 2020.”

But in December 2019, Globe Telecom, Smart Communications and Dito Telecommunity estimated that the mobile number portability would be implemented by late 2021.

The three telcos said they tapped US-based Syniverse to act as the mobile number portability service provider that will ensure interoperability.

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