Mobile number portability measure OKd

The bicameral conference committee yesterday approved the bill seeking to allow subscribers to keep their mobile phone numbers for life, in time for the entry of a third telco in the country.

Under the Mobile Number Portability Act (Lifetime Cellphone Number Act) subscribers will be able to keep their mobile phone numbers even if they change providers.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said the bill had been approved. If the third telco would offer lower prices and better services, we would not have a hard time switching to it, he said.

He said the Senate gave the National Telecommunications Commission six months to devise the implementing rules and regulations of the law.

Gatchalian also said the law would deal with the difficulty that the third telco might face in attracting subscribers. —CATHRINE GONZALES, Inquirer.net