Mobile number portability was not, up to a few months ago, in the immediate plans of the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR) but is now a priority issue, as Jamaica prepares to apply to the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for a new batch of codes.

Jamaica was assigned eight million usable numbers in 1997, but is now down to one million, according to Maurice Charvis, OUR deputy director general, due largely to the growth in the mobile market.

"To go to North American Numbering Plan - to say we want new codes - we have to show that we have used the existing ones efficiently, and part of that has to do with number portability, because it increases the efficiency of usage, so we need to investigate the feasibility of that before we go and apply for a new area code."

NANP is administrator of telephone codes in the Caribbean, United States and Canada, founded in 1947. Its numbers are 10-digit numbers, comprising a three-digit area code - in Jamaica's case, 876 - and a seven-digit local number.

Charvis did not say just how long the one million numbers would last, but suggested that Jamaica would need to act within three years.

Market saturated

"The market is saturated at this time, there are new services, new technologies that may come on stream and eat away these numbers, so Jamaica will be seeking additional codes soon," he said, defining the timeline as "near to medium-term".

However, to qualify for another allocation, the regulators must show that the first eight million was utilised efficiently.

Mobile portability "is now on our work plan," said Charvis. "We need to do it before we go there (to NANP)."

Portability is now a controversial issue in Jamaica, gaining and losing support from telecoms as competitive circumstances change in the market.

The system would allow mobile subscribers to switch to a competing network without having to give up their existing cellphonenumbers and without undue hindrance from providers.

But, such a system would require technical systems to facilitate recognition of a switched service, and would need the buy-in and cooperation of telecoms to facilitate its implementation and operation.

"It's an important issue," said OUR director general Ahmad Zia Mian. "You don't really have competition until you have portability."

But, in a market where the number of subscribers is almost equal to Jamaica's 2.7 million population, Digicel, as market leader with about two million subscribers, stands to lose the most if users were to migrate across networks - a position agreed by regulators.

Digicel Jamaica Chief Executive Officer, Mark Linehan, said he would expect nothing less than "extensive consultations" before any new policy emerges.

"As far as we are aware, the OUR has not indicated anything of the sort to us," Linehan said Monday.

"The issue of number portability is a complex one, which will, no doubt, involve extensive consultation with the industry and a detailed analysis of the associated costs and benefits to the sector as a whole."

The OUR's current position has caught Digicel unawares with Linehan noting that it was only six months ago that the regulator signaled that portability was not an immediate consideration.

None of the other two big telecoms, LIME Jamaica and Claro Jamaica, responded to requests for comment.

Extensive research

"... In May of this year, the OUR indicated that, prior to considering the implementation of number portability, it would need to undertake extensive research on the financial viability and that it was nowhere near conducting such research at this time," said the Digicel executive.

"Obviously, if any such consultation is to be undertaken, we would expect to be fully involved."

Linehan, however, did not signal whether, as a principle, he was for or against portability.

The system operates in 33 countries worldwide, including Digicel founder's home country of Ireland; while in the Caribbean, Dominican Republic rolled out the service earlier this year.

A concern to the Jamaican regulator, and providers, is that the cost of the service not outweigh the benefits, and that there be no unfair financial burden on participating networks.

OUR said its market tests indicate that, while there was overwhelming support for portability, subscribers were unwilling to pay.

"Portability is not cheap. Studies have been done and the latest studies show that if you have a market of about nine million you will have a reasonable cost for number portability," said OUR director general Ahmad Zia Mian.

"A market less than that will have to pay."

The high cost relates to mainly maintenance, Charvis explains.

"When you quote a number, someone will have to have a database to notify the network calling you that the number is elsewhere, and someone has to pay each time you dip in that database and utilize it or maintain it."

OUR says it is monitoring recent developments, which suggest that smaller telecoms markets could become competitive as mobile rates reduce.

"Once we see that, if we can implement portability, we will be doing that because this is one of our major focus; not only us but the entire region is now looking at it," said Mian.