Number Portability in Finland
Seppo Backman
Suomen Numerot Numpac
January 2011
1
Number porting in Finland - key facts
• In Finland, a centralised number portability database known as the Master
System is used for number porting in the mobile and fixed-line networks.
• To date, a total of 5.6 million mobile phone numbers have been ported
using the Master System.
• In Finland there are more than 8 million mobile phone numbers in use. No
fewer than 0.6 million mobile subscribers changed operators at least once
during 2010.
• The main reasons for the popularity of number porting in Finland are:
–
–
–
–
the simplicity of the process
the fact that it does not cost anything to the end customer
the favourable commercial terms for number porting in the operator business
and the fact that the market is highly competitive.
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Background Information
•
Number portability in the mobile communications networks is provided in accordance with the
Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on universal service and
users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service
Directive). The Directive obligates all member states of the European Union to implement
number portability by the end of the national transition period ending on 25 July 2003.
•
The requirements included in the Universal Service Directive concerning the portability of
telephone numbers are included in the Finnish Telecommunications Market Act (393/2003; Para
51 § and 52 §). Under the said act, the Finnish Telecommunications Authority has issued the
Decree 46C/2005 including the fixed line numbers portability on the portability of telephone
numbers.
•
According the Decree Number portability are implemented in the fixed-wire telephone network
within company numbers such as 010, 020, 029 , 03 and service numbers 0600, 0700, 0800 and 071.
•
According to the decree, telecommunications companies are jointly obligated to ensure that a
“Master System” is created for the purpose of enabling number portability.
Under the new Telecommunications Market Act, number portability applies both to fixed-wire
and mobile telecommunications networks. However, portability between these two types of
networks is not required.
•
The operator relinquishing the number may not charge the customer for porting the number but,
in contrast, the operator receiving the number may require a porting charge from the endcustomer. Additionally, the relinquishing operator may require a one-off lump sum equivalent to
the cost incurred from the receiving operator.
3
Ported mobile numbers / quarter (from 8/2003)
6,000,000
500,000
5,000,000
400,000
4,000,000
Pcs / Q
600,000
300,000
3,000,000
200,000
2,000,000
100,000
1,000,000
0
Quarter
Cumulativ
0
Q
4
0
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
pc./month
Ported fixed numbers (or blocks) / month
10000
18612 pc. (5/2007)
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
5
Suomen Numerot Numpac
• Numpac coordinates number porting serving
as an intermediary.
Operators
• Numpac is a company established for
management and administration purposes. It
seeks only a moderate return on investment.
• Numpac's business concept is to offer telecom
operators, at affordable rates, services that are
intended for inter-operator activities and
based on the statutory obligations imposed on
the operators, and that benefit the telecom
operators.
• All the mobile and fixed telephony operators
in Finland are Numpac's customers.
...
Commercial
Agreement
Numpac
Commercial Agreement
Accenture
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Numpac
• Numpac is owned by three operators:
– TeliaSonera Finland
– Elisa
– DNA
• Numpac's organisation is extremely flat and the cost structure is extremely
light. Numpac purchases all the services it needs from outside suppliers.
• For the construction and maintenance of the Master System, Numpac
signed a commercial agreement with Accenture Finland Corporation
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Numpac number portability services
• At present, Numpac offers operators mobile and fixed number
porting services as well as primary network selection services.
• Additionally, Numpac provides a free information service for
ported numbers intended for end customers required under the
number porting regulation. By means of this information service,
the consumer can identify the operator responsible for any mobile
or fixed-line number. This information helps customers find out
about the rates charged for calls to specific numbers.
• For the construction and maintenance of the MASTER System,
Numpac signed a commercial agreement with Accenture Oy.
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Mobile Number Portability
Store
SIM
Contract
I prefer to keep my old
number
0A0-1234567
Number port order is
entered to Master system
via operator’s customer
care system and process.
Customer
receives a
new SIM-card
via mail or in
a store
Port order is
confirmed
Customer
replaces the
old SIM card
with a new
one.
Customer
receives a
“Welcome” short
message and start
using the new
subscription.
New subscription is
connected
Customer case unit of the receiving operator
Master
system
Number port order
is received
Customer
receives a short
message about
the confirmed
date and time
of the transfer
Master
system
Porting is
confirmed
Master
system
New routing
information is
distributed to all
network
operators
Old subscription is
disconnected
Customer case unit of the donor operator
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Max 5 work days
Max 3 work days
Max 10 min
9
Background Information
•
Description of the process for porting of the end-user's mobile phone number. The
party ordering a new subscription signs a subscription agreement with the mobile
operator confirming that the current number will be transferred from the existing
mobile communications operator to the new operator.
•
The subscriber selects the desired supplementary services from the new operator
because services are not transferred from one operator to another in the process, only
the actual phone number.
•
•
The subscriber receives a new SIM card from the new operator after making and
signing the subscription agreement.
•
The telecommunications company receiving the number checks with the company
relinquishing the number that the number involved is portable and confirms this after
having been informed of the date of transfer. The customer’s old connection will
remain active up until the new connection is activated. Once the new connection has
been activated, the subscriber starts using it by replacing the old SIM card with the
new SIM card provided by the new operator.
•
The Master System exchanges information related to number porting between the
telecommunications companies involved, stores the ported numbers and provides
information on numbers that have been ported.
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Implementation of number porting in Finland
using the Master System
• A government decree stipulated that mobile phone number
portability had to be implemented by 25 July 2003 using the Master
System (Universal Service Directive).
• Subsequently, the operators launched a joint project in February
2003 and it was completed on schedule.
• An external project manager was recruited to oversee the project.
• A Cooperation between the operators has gone smoothly.
• In the spring of 2005 Numpac implemented a similar number
porting project for the fixed-line networks.
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Portable Mobile Numbers
• Only phone numbers can be ported.
• Possible answering, data or fax numbers, that the customer might
have, are not ported.
• Prepaid numbers can be ported only if the customer has a contract
about it with the operator. In practise there are no such contracts in
Finland at the moment. This means that prepaid numbers cannot be
ported.
• Other possible services added to the subscription like short codes
for answering and similar services, etc. are not ported. In most cases
the customers should inform the service provider that their numbers
will be ported in case they prefer to continue using the additional
services.
• Calls, text and MSS messages must be routed directly to the right
network using “direct routing”.
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Master System
Example: A call from Operator C to a number 0A01234567 ported from Operator A to Operator B.
The routing data that the operator has
received from the Master system enables
the operator to route the call to the right
operator and network directly.
Master system
distributes the lastest
routing information
to mobile network
operators.
Master
system
Operator A
Routing
data
Routing
data
Operator C
Call route
Routing
data
Operator B
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Master-system connections
•
•
•
•
The large mobile phone operators have M2Mconnection to the Master system. The connection is a
direct machine-to-machine connection linked directly
between the customer’s own customer service
systems and Master system. Same connection is also
used to send real-time call routing information to
network operators.
Small and medium size mobile operators have Webconnection to Master system. Customer’s customer
service center people use a Web-browser to input
and manage porting information to Master system.
Network operators receive call routing information
in real-time via M2M-connection customers’
connections. Other customers needing information
about to which operator a certain number belongs to,
get it via Reference Data file that the customer can
fetch through a secure connection.
Small operators’
customer service
with Web access to
Master
VPN
VPN
Large operators’
customer service with
direct M2M connection
from own systems to
Master
Master
system
VPN
Information about
ported numbers via
Reference Data file
All connections are VPN-connections to maintain
high security.
14
Master-system application architecture
Master system
browser based
user interface
Operator systems
sending messages
to the Master-system
Operator systems
receiving messages
from the Master-system
Systems of
Reference data
customers
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15
Master system server architecture
• The master system is a
clustered system including
two physically separated
identical server clusters.
• The system is fully duplicated
in order to guarantee high
availability.
• Replication between the
physically separated clusters
guarantees system operation
also in severe error situations.
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16
Number porting prices in Finland
• The point of departure in pricing was that price-setting must be conducive
to competition.
• The pricing system has remained unchanged since 2003. The latest price
adjustments were made in the spring of 2009.
• The regulators have accepted that the operators may cooperate in pricing.
• Numpac offers two types of interfaces to the Master System:
– Machine to machine
Web interface
– Web interface
Web
• All interface types are priced differently.
VPN
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Master
System
M2M
interface
VPN
17
Numpac's number porting price list
• The price consists of four components:
– annual charge
– monthly charge
– number porting charge
– instalment charge
• Operators need separate interfaces for porting mobile and fixed numbers.
• Numpac determines the number porting charge every month. The porting
charge is based on the actual costs incurred by Numpac.
• In 2010 the porting charge was less than one euro.
• Operators are entitled to charge a donor charge from the receiving operator.
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Number porting fees
•
•
•
•
NUMPAC’s customers pay NUMPAC fixed yearly and monthly fees.
The receiving operator pays in addition a fee per ported number.
The receiving operator pays also to the donor operator an administrative fee per ported
number to cover costs associated in closing the subscription. This operator specific fee is
about 10 euros per ported number.
The donor operator does not pay any per number porting fees to NUMPAC or the
receiving operator.
Example: All the fees associated to a number ported
from Operator A to Operator B
Operator B
Administrative fee
Yearly fee
Monthly fee
Fee per ported number
Operator A
Yearly fee
Monthly fee
NUMPAC
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Reasons for the high popularity of number
porting in Finland
• Competition-related factors
– From the beginning of 2004 to this time, competition in the Finnish
mobile subscription market has been extremely intense.
– Price was highlighted in market communications.
– Number porting has had a considerable impact on the competitive
position of companies.
– Price comparison between the operators has been easy for the
consumer.
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Reasons for the high popularity of number porting
in Finland
• The commercial terms for number porting favour number porting
– Handset subsidies for 2G are forbidden in Finland.
• Permitted for 3G subscriptions from 1 April 2006.
– No fixed-term agreements were made with consumers before 2005.
Fixed-term agreements were only used with corporate customers.
– Terminating a customer relationship and making a new subscription
agreement are easy. No charge for number porting is made to the end
customer.
– In Finland, the number of postpaid subscriptions is very high compared
to prepaid subscriptions.
• Convenience of the number porting process
– For customers, number porting is easy and free of charge.
– The standard of knowledge about, and interest in, number porting in
the marketplace is high.
– The number porting process works smoothly. The availability of the
Master System is of the highest standard.
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21
Contact
Managing Director
Seppo Backman
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