Dominican Republic Experience in the Implementation of Number Portability

Transcription

1 Dominican Republic Experience in the Implementation of Number Portability INTRODUCING NUMBER PORTABILITY TO TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO ICT OPEN FORUM Bryan Guzmán INDOTEL Trinidad and Tobago, September 18,

2 Market overview Background Costs of Number Portability NP Process Expected Effects Statistical Data Success Factors Regulation Changes 2

3 Sector Structure INDOTEL has approved more than 30 authorizations for telephony and Internet access services, however, to date we have primarily: 5 Fixed Service Providers (Mix) 4 Mobile Service Providers 8 Internet Service Providers (ADSL, Cable Modem, Wimax, 3G, 4G) 3

4 10,000,000 9,000,000 8,000,000 7,000,000 6,000,000 5,000,000 4,000,000 Mobile lines Fixed lines 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000, Jun-13 4

5 18% 82% Prepaid lines Postpaid lines 5

6 August 2, The Free Trade Agreement signed between Dominican Republic, Central-America and United States (DR-CAFTA) provides in Article , that different signatory countries should guarantee and provide number portability. June 20, The Council of Directors of INDOTEL issued Resolution No , which ordered the beginning of the Public Consultation of the "General Regulation of Number Portability, which establishes a general framework for the implementation of number portability. 6

7 August 30, Resolution No issued by INDOTEL which adopted the "General Regulation of Number Portability" February 28, The council of Directors of INDOTEL issued Resolution No which began the process of public consultation to amend article 4.2 and 5.3 of the General Regulation of Number Portability and also dictates the Technical and Administrative Specifications for the NP process in DR. Also, this resolution establishes a Number Portability Technical Committee represented by each of the operators. 7

8 NP starts on September 30, 2009 The number portability system is "All Call Query" (reliability / availability, security, quality) It applies to both mobile and fixed (inside the same numbering area). The user starts the NP process at the Receiver Operator. The administrator of the Portability Central System in the Dominican Republic is INFORMATICA EL CORTE INGLES, which is neutral to all operators and was selected by an international bid 8

9 Each provider must consult the centralized database of the Portability Central System (IECI, currently) to determine which number is ported or not, updates their internal DB and properly routes the calls to the new network where the number has been ported. 9

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11 NP has two types of costs: Costos de red SKYMAX: Costos de Red CODETEL: Costos de red ONEMAX: Adjustment costs of each network providerforportability Installation Costs for the Portability Central System Costos de Red WIND TELECOM: Sistema Central de Portabilidad Costos de red ORANGE: Costos de Red TRICOM: Costos de Red TRILOGY: Costos de Red DGTEC: 11

12 Investment in systems and network adaptations of the operators to enable portability: U.S. $ 20.5 million. These US$20.5 million were recovered through a regulatory fee applied to all users after the effective date of portability. The regulatory fee per user was RD$80 Dominican pesos (one and only payment, paid by telephone line also), and in practice the portability resulted to be free for the majority of users (many operators decided not to charge their clients). Costs for the Number Portability Central System Capex: US$ 2.8 million (fixed payments for the operators) Opex: US$ 5 million recovered through transaction fees in 5 years (USD $ 4.35 / transaction by the recipient) Economic conditions in the provision carry a monthly maintenance payment of US$ 48k divided among providers 12

13 The Number Portability in Dominican Republic applies for the following cases: Changing fixed telephone service provider, inside the same numbering area. Changing mobile phone service provider. For the user to exercise the right to port shall comply with all lawful contractual obligations assumed with the service provider, especially those relating to: Payment for services consumed Penalties 13

14 Duration of the process of porting a number: There is provided a maximum of 10 days for the entire process No distinction is made between the type of service to carry (prepaid, postpaid) 4 hours for Window of Change (from 2:00 to 6:00 am) Specific causes for which the donor operator may reject or deny any request of number portability (pending debt, user identification, form, number is not applicable) In case of rejection of a request for any of the reasons specified, the process is closed and a new application is started. 14

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16 Importance for Competition depending on each country or region: The European Commission in Directive 98/61/EC introduces it as a method to strengthen competition. American law regards it as a requirement for the existence of competition. In Denmark, the NP was planned before the existence of competition. 16

17 Benefits to the users: Provides users the freedom to choose the service provider of their convenience. Reduces"switching costs" or costs of changing service provider. Improved consumer prices regardless of making or not the use of their right to port. 17

18 Rejected Requests 22% Accepted Requests 78% Ported numbers in First quarter Numbers Ported in august ,974 18

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21 Clear Rules for Users and Operators A Fast and Simple Process to port numbers Low cost for users Transparency in the management of number portability process Mass education intended for users to know how to use their right to port their number and know the benefits and costs of the project. 21

22 We should not measure the success of number portability by the number of transactions (ported numbers) made by users, but by the effects that are expected to occur in the market resulting from increased competition. 22

23 On the other hand, General Regulation of Telephone Service was amended and establishes the criteria that govern the SIM lock or Network lock on mobiles by the providers. The service provider shall, upon request of the user and after the expiration of the contract, remove, free of charge, any network lock applied to the mobile equipment. Not being tied to a contract in case of users bringing their own mobile equipment. 23

24 INDOTEL initiated a process to amend the Number Portability General Regulation and the Technical and Administrative Specifications of number portability in the need of making the process more comfortable and fluid for users and service providers. INDOTEL is working on proposed improvements to the porting process, which seeks: Reduce the maximum period of 10 days to 2 days for mobile (This involves modifying the table of timers defined in specifications) User Debts to the donor provider shall not be a rejection cause for portability. NP process is not denied for lack of response from the donor provider. It sets out a procedure to route international SMS correctly to ported numbers. Guidelines are established for access by interested parties in the database of ported numbers. Redefine the functions of the Technical Committee and the Companies subject to obligations. Changes in the funding of the Portability Central System. 24

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