Mobile moves
Ofcom has revealed the conclusions of a surprisingly lengthy review of the process of transferring your mobile phone number from one provider to another.
Currently mobile operators are required to take two days at most to allow the transfer of your mobile number should you switch providers. As of 11 April next year, that time is halved to one day.
Additionally the porting authorisation code (PAC) must now be issued either immediately by phone or within two hours by text of the request being made. Right now, some operators send the PAC by snail mail, which can significantly delay the process, and it has been felt that complicating the number porting process has been used as a way of ensuring customer loyalty.
These measures are being positioned as making it easier for customers to switch and thus making the market more competitive, but the smallest UK operator - 3 - thinks they don't go far enough.
For some reason, nobody at 3 wanted to put their name to the complaint, but a mystery spokesman said: "Ofcom's decision today has failed UK consumers. Fast, easy, recipient-led Mobile Number Porting is the fundamental platform for choice and competition in the mobile market.
"Nowhere else in Europe is a consumer forced to ask permission to take their number with them when they choose a new operator. The donor-led porting system that Ofcom proposes to keep makes it difficult for customers to choose a deal that suits their needs."
Right now you need your current operators' assistance in moving your mobile number - something they have a clear disincentive to do. 3 wants the job of moving your number to be handled by the new operator.
Clearly 3 thinks this would better enable it to take customers from the other four, and those four are keen to keep the donor-led system. Various reasons have been put forward why a move would be bad, including cost, but it's hard not to sympathise with 3 to some extent as it strives to compete in an increasingly consolidated UK mobile phone market.
