MNP system to be introduced in Armenia from January 1, 2014

Yerevan/Mediamax/. During today\'s session of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) of Armenia, the principles and schedule of the mobile number portability (MNP) system introduction which is due to be launched from January 1, 2014.

Under the principles, the number portability for subscribers will be realized free of charge within 3 and in future - 1 working day - upon a request to only the receiving operator. The technical model of the system will be established based on the simple call routing (All Call Query) and introduction of a centralized base of phone numbers.

Set-up and control over the base will be ensured by a non-commercial organizations established by the operators and a contest will be organized and held to this end. Besides, non-commercial organizations will work out a contest package, they will announce and approve the contest upon the choice of the provider of the base.

The contest package and results of the contest will be approved by the PSRC leadership and coordinating board established with participation of the operators. The non-commercial organization will protect the database of the mobile subscribers.

VivaCell-MTS, ArmenTel And Orange Armenia CEOs Ralph Yirikian, Igor Klimko and Francis Gelibter who were present at the session gave a positive assessment to the principles and schedule of the system introduction.

Orange Armenia CEO Francis Gelibter noted: \"As the system introduction is linked to a number of technical issues, we would like the contest packages to be presented as soon as possible\".

VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian especially pointed out that the service should be quality and affordable for everyone.

The Head of the Telecommunication Department of the PSRC Gevorg Gevorgyan added that they chose maximum realistic dates and the elaboration of the contest package will be based on the rules. Member of the Commission, Coordinator of Telecommunication Samvel Arabajyan added that the consultants are still working and they are expected to present a part of the contest package within coming days.

\"The operators have always noted that they don\'t have any principal objections and the controversies only concerned the dates. This year, we have worked with the operators and as a result, we made the system approved today acceptable for us. The operators expressed their positive opinion on this occasion\", Samvel Arabajyan told Mediamax.
Commenting on the issue of MNP introduction for landline numbers, he noted:

\"There is a service where the mobile portability number is introduced for landline network as well in many countries, but it\'s not possible for Armenia yet. The practice shows that it only works where the companies operating on geographical numbers have a competitive ambience. As only ArmenTel operates on geographical codes in Armenia, the service introduction in Armenia is senseless yet\", he said.