On August 19, 2022, an amendment to the Rulebook on number portability for services provided via public mobile communications networks, („Official Gazette of RS“, No. 13/22, hereinafter: Rulebook) goes into effect, stipulating the beginning of implementation of the above bylaw as of August 1, 2023, with the applicable Rulebook on number portability for services provided via public mobile communications networks („Official Gazette of RS”, No. 101/14, hereinafter: applicable/ current Rulebook) staying in force until that date.

This in practice means, among other, that until the abovementioned period, the recipient operator will still be able to require from the subscriber to pay the fee for the service of number portability in the amount of 200.00 RSD, while the donor operator will not be entitled to charge the subscriber for the service of number portability. To our knowledge, there have been no cases of charging for the service of number portability by the recipient operator at the expense of the subscriber so far under the above title, especially having in mind that the applicable Rulebook foresees the above provision only as a possibility that has not so far been used by the operators.

As for the Rulebook which is to come into effect next year, an analysis was undertaken, prior to its adoption, to assess the existing practice regarding the application of the current Rulebook, during which a room for improvement regarding the number porting procedure was identified. RATEL has therefore adopted a new Rulebook, in order to better define and speed up the process of number portability and protect users in the event of delayed number porting.

RATEL also carried out an analysis of the process of number portability for fixed telephony users, which revealed yet another possibility for a significant improvement, having in mind that the applicable provisions date back to 2011. Currently, the elaboration of a new rulebook on number portability for the services provided via public communications networks at a fixed location is under way. A simultaneous start of the two rulebooks’ implementation will make it possible for both fixed telephony and mobile telephony users to benefit from the same advantages.

Since the above amendments inevitably entail changes to the operation of the Central Database of Ported Numbers, kept by RATEL, which is key to the functioning of the service of number portability both in fixed and mobile networks, and adjustments of the operators’ systems (4 mobile operators + 26 fixed operators) will be needed, it was vital to set a reasonable deadline for the adaptation of the systems to new requirements and the enabling of the Rulebook implementation. In addition, harmonization of internal procedures with the new rules takes time, especially considering the complexity of the number porting procedure and the necessity not to interrupt the continuity of service provision to users.

https://www.ratel.rs/en/page/number-portability 

http://www.prenesibroj.rs/Uputstvo_NPT_sr_c.pdf