Egypt’s Telecoms Regulator Punishes Operators for Number Porting Abuse

Bravo NTRC Egypt – a regulator who punishes operators financially for abusing customers who want to port their number

Finally, a regulator who takes decisive action to safeguard consumer interests against operator number portability service frustration and abuse tactics.

NTRA Egypt has punished Egyptian mobile operators where it hurts … serious financial penalties totalling over $1 million. Well done!

Egyptian mobile operators engaged in a range of tactics to frustrate customers who wished to port their mobile number and service:

• Unjustified rejection of mobile number porting (MNP) requests
• Lack of response to MNP requests within 24 hours from the date of investigation
• Non-activation of the number on the operator’s network after porting

Regulators around the world should learn and follow the NTRC Egypt lead.

• Operators only respond and stop illegal practices if they risk serious financial penalties
• All MNP services should be underpinned by robust regulations which effectively deliver severe financial penalties for breaching a broad range of defined deliberate offences intended to frustrate the MNP service and consumer rights

Best Practice in Mobile Number Portability

Mobile number portability is a process that allows customers to switch from one mobile carrier to another by transferring their phone numbers and service plans between providers, without having to buy new phones or get new contracts.

Best practice MNP services:

• Ensure quick porting enabling customers to “Walk Out Working”
• Offer a simple and consistent customer experience
• Ensure customers can control whether to complete their port and are updated on the status of their port
• Exchange minimal personal customer data to eliminate data protection risks
• Do not validate against poor quality SIM registration data
• Customers are not blocked from requesting porting due to billing or debt status
• Safeguard customers from fraud by obliging gaining operators to demonstrate constant compliance to correct porting process obligations
• Operate robust procedures to quickly repatriate ported numbers to the legitimate owner where fraud is demonstrated
• Are robustly supported by clear and effective regulations and with strong financial penalties to discourage inappropriate operator behaviours.

We Are Experts in The Implementation of Mobile Number Portability

 Cenerva is a world leader in number portability consultancy.

We are proud to say that we have helped ministries and regulators implement number portability resources for more countries than any other consultancy.

From large, developed markets to small developing economies we’ve been there! In all of these different environments our goal has always remained the same: Helping authorities assess each country’s need for mobile number portability services so they can reach their goals efficiently with maximum impact on consumers’ lives. 

Read more about our services here.