Ofcom call for 'instant' number porting

Link: Moving mobile numbers should be instant | The Register

Ofcom has issued a second document on number portability, recommending that customers be able to instantly move their fixed and mobile numbers between networks.

Number portability, the ability to take your phone number with you when you change networks, increases churn – and thus competition – wherever it’s been introduced. But while the UK was one of the first places to introduce the capability, it now lags behind many countries in the speed and complexity of the process.

They’re also calling for a central database of ported numbers to speed up the process, and the industry to improve procedures to minimize the risk of so called ‘slamming’ – in which a customer is moved from one network to another without his or her knowledge or permission.