Change Your Mobile Phone Network In Just 2 Hours November 30, 2007

Read more Gadgets , Gizmodo UK , Mobile Devices , Mobile phones , Smartphones

Anyone who has ever tried to ditch one mobile phone network for another will have suffered delays in getting their number ported of up to five days. Five days!

Regulator Ofcom, however, has decided that the process should be cranked up from the slow lane to light speed with a porting time of just 2 hours. Now that will be useful. The new rules will come into force on none other than April 1, 2008.

Ofcom is also requiring the industry to co-operate and create a common database to handle calls and to pave the way for more efficient call routing. The new database will also “ensure that consumers are not affected by problems with their old network, after they have ported their number.”

Ofcom Chief Executive, Ed Richards said “Consumers deserve a quick and easy process for switching while retaining their number. These measures will promote competition in the UK mobile market and act directly in the consumers’ interest. Our new rules set tough but achievable deadlines to put new systems in place and I look to the industry to implement them effectively”.

Here here.-Martin Lynch

[Ofcom]

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