LIME could cause further delays in number portability
Published:Friday | June 13, 2014 | 12:00 AM
Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter
THE INABILITY of LIME to indicate when it will be ready to implement full number portability could further slow the planned implementation of the policy. This is aimed at allowing customers to move from one telephone network to another while keeping their numbers.
Julian Robinson, state minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, said in the House of Represent-atives on Wednesday that while Digicel and Flow have received the necessary internal approvals and budget to allow them to be ready for number portability by next May, LIME said it could only give a commitment in relation to its mobile network.
The issue, Robinson said, is now cause for concern as Flow and Digicel have said they are unwilling to move forward with number portability unless it is full.
"You have mobile, which allows you to move from one of the two carriers to the other, and you also have fixed portability, which allows you to move your fixed-line phone from one provider to the other. LIME has not been able to indicate to us when they would be ready for full portability, and it has indicated that, because of its legacy systems, it is more challenging for them to implement number portability," the minister said.
The policy should have been implemented last month, but Robinson announced that it will instead be launched next May.
"The Government and the OUR, we are now, based on this scenario … examining the option to ensure that we have a timely implementation of number portability," the minister said.
Robinson said the Government is set to gazette number portability rules next month, and by September, engage in the licensing of a central database and order handling service provider. Testing of the system is expected to take place next January before implementation next May.