Etisalat and du, the country's two telecom operators, are finalising and fine tuning their systems for launch of the mobile number portability service, which will take place soon, according to Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).
“We have finalised the technical tests in cooperation with etisalat and du, where all parties including etisalat and du have conducted intensive testing of the service. They are currently finalising and fine tuning the systems,” a TRA spokesperson told 'Emirates24|7'.
“All the preparations for the start of the service are ongoing and the service will be launched soon.”
Although the exact date of the launch was not revealed, the spokesperson said there would be no further delays.
Asked if services providers will be open to fix the charges for the portability facility, the spokesperson said: “The TRA is required to approve all prices of both operators, for the vast majority of telecommunication services. We do not intervene in the setting of retail prices except in circumstances where we deem prices to be anticompetitive.”
In April, TRA said Mobile Number Portability will be launched in the third quarter in to allow for several performance and functionality enhancements to the number portability system. The service is expected to benefit the consumers as the two operators will compete to hold onto their customers.
Mohammad Nasser Al Ganem, TRA's Director-General, had said earlier: “It will stimulate competition between the two operators because operators will try to hold onto their customers."
According to TRA, the active mobile subscriptions as of June was 11,179,767, of which 1,284,539 are post paid and 9,895,228 are pre-paid users.
It was reported last week that etisalat and du had submitted applications to the TRA to reduce telecom tariff in the country. A joint committee consisting of TRA members and representatives from both the operators are currently discussing the issue extensively.
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