Communications and Information Technology Commission Issues Decision Requiring Mobile Service Providers to Facilitate Number Portability Requests

In its keenness to facilitate and expedite number portability procedures and shorten the time required for them, the Communications and Information Technology Commission issued a decision requiring operators to port subscribers' numbers, effective from 15 Rajab 1434H, under new procedures that do not require settlement of outstanding financial dues prior to the transfer. The transfer is carried out after verifying that the ID number of the party requesting the transfer matches the ID number registered with the operator being ported from, with any amounts owed on the number to be settled after the transfer process is complete.

This procedure differs from the previously applied number-portability mechanism, which required subscribers to pay the financial dues on the numbers they wished to port before the transfer took place. Under the new mechanism, once the transfer is complete, the subscriber will be notified of any financial dues owed on the ported number — if any — via SMS, enabling the subscriber to settle them.

According to the Commission's official spokesperson, Sultan Al-Malik, the new approach of not requiring the party requesting the number transfer to pay financial dues before the transfer process is intended to make things easier for the subscriber and speed up transfer requests.

It is worth noting that the Commission launched the number portability service back in 1427H, making the Kingdom one of the first countries in the world to launch such a service. At the time of its launch, the Commission had stated that "the aim is to encourage competition among service providers by facilitating the transfer of a subscriber's number from one service provider to another, thereby giving the subscriber flexibility in choosing between service providers, which contributes to improving service quality, raising operational efficiency, and lowering prices."

At that time, the number of mobile telecommunications subscriptions was estimated at nearly 20 million; however, this figure more than doubled — by over 150% — between 2006 and the end of 2012, jumping from 20 million by the end of 2006 to around 53 million by the end of 2012, with a penetration rate among the population of approximately 181.6%.