TheStar.com - 2-year wait for transferable phone numbers

TheStar.com - 2-year wait for transferable phone numbers:

Canada's wireless industry association says it will be two years before mobile phone users are able to keep their phone number when switching service providers, a timeline some industry critics say is unacceptably long.

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association said yesterday that the country's major wireless carriers — Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility — plan to jointly introduce so-called wireless number portability on a national basis in September 2007, following a short service trial.

"This is a reasonable and frankly aggressive schedule," said Peter Barnes, president and chief executive officer of the Ottawa-based wireless association, which is basing the timeline on recommendations from a commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers report.

But John Lawford, a research analyst at the Ottawa-based Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa, which has accused the wireless industry of settling into a comfortable oligopoly, said there's no reason it should take two years to bring number portability to wireless consumers.

"I was expecting six months," said Lawford. "What's the problem? We only have three companies, so this shouldn't be so difficult."

Number portability means businesses that switch service providers don't have to go through the disruption and cost of changing business cards, their letterhead and advertising. It also means individuals don't have to go through the inconvenience of notifying friends and family of their new phone number.

Without it, wireless customers often feel captive to their mobile phone providers. Virgin Mobile Canada said a recent survey it conducted showed that as many as 30 per cent of consumers would switch service providers if the option were available to keep their phone number.

Barnes defended the two-year delay by pointing to a number of regulatory and technical hurdles that need to be worked out, including changes to billing systems and business processes.

He said the system being considered is highly complex. Known as an "intermodal" system, it will also allow consumers to keep their phone number when switching from a landline local phone service to a wireless service — and vice versa.

"When this is launched, Canada is going to be one of three countries in the world to have full intermodal (number portability)," said Barnes.

Andrew Black, president of Virgin Mobile Canada, which resells pre-paid mobile phone services over Bell Mobility's network, said the move is a clear-cut delay tactic for a long overdue service.

"There's no excuse to take this into 2007," said Black, who says he was shut out of the industry's decision-making process.

"Canadians are losing out, and it's not fair. They (the carriers) want to spend the next two years locking customers into long-term contracts so they won't be able to switch."

Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group of companies, said in a release that the big carriers are "dragging their heels." He plans to run an open letter in major newspapers tomorrow urging consumers to protest the delay.

The Canadian industry has resisted number portability, arguing there is low consumer demand and warning of higher handset prices and service fees.

But when Industry Canada urged the federal telephone regulator in February to "move expeditiously" on the issue, the major wireless carriers immediately announced plans to voluntarily introduce the service, resulting in the hiring of PricewaterhouseCoopers to prepare a detailed project plan.

"The fact that the U.S. has done it means the technical problems are resolved and the method of doing it is known," said Ian Angus, president of telecom consultancy Angus TeleManagement Group.