The original 2024 launch time for introducing the mobile number portability facility in Sri Lanka is likely to face delays due to the technical selection process, State Minister of Technology Kanaka Herath said.
According to The Morning newspaper, State Minister Kanaka Herath said the original target for introducing number portability was by the end of 2024.
He said, however, delays in the operator consortium’s, Lanka Number Portability Services (Guarantee) Ltd. (LPNS), technical solution selection process might make meeting this deadline challenging.
The State Minister further revealed that the operator consortium is nearing the final stages of selecting a technical solution and with financial evaluations, it is expected to be completed by the end of August.
The operator consortium, established to introduce the number portability facility, will not include the ministry and TRCSL as members, but will see the entities acting as regulators overseeing the implementation and operation of number portability, he added.
On the legal framework for introducing number portability, he said the legal framework was in place with the enactment of the Sri Lanka Telecommunications (Amendment) Act No.39 of 2024.
He explained that this Act empowers the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka to implement the number portability facility.
State Minister of Technology Kanaka Herath also revealed that the TRCSL had already prepared the necessary guidelines and rules for the implementation of the mobile number portability facility in Sri Lanka.
He further said that the necessary guidelines were currently awaiting final approval from the Attorney General’s Department.
In August 2020, the TRCSL took preliminary measures to introduce the number portability service to Sri Lanka, a service that enables consumers to switch to service providers of their choice without having to change their existing numbers.
The company named ‘Lanka Portability’ was formed to include all telecommunication companies and TRCSL approval for mobile number portability was granted in October 2021.
The TRCSL also laid the framework for implementing number portability and full portability, which includes fixed services, in Sri Lanka in 2022, while in 2023 it also announced legal clearance for telecommunication service providers to implement number portability in Sri Lanka. (Newswire)
