Japan May Introduce Mobile-Phone Number Portability in FY 2005
Posted on: Thursday, 26 February 2004, 06:00 CST
Feb. 26--TOKYO -- A telecom ministry study panel adopted a draft proposal on Thursday that the ministry introduce a system to enable mobile phone users to retain their numbers when they switch from one service provider to another.
The proposed "number portability system" could be put into practice in fiscal 2005 at the earliest, ministry officials said.
The draft was drawn up by a research panel led by Tadao Saito, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo.
The panel, which comes under the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, will compile a final proposal on the matter in late April after soliciting opinions from the general public, the officials said.
Upon receiving the final report, the ministry will start working with mobile phone companies to make preparations for introducing number portability, which is already in use in some countries in Europe and Asia and in the United States.
Industry analysts said the new system will benefit users but may intensify competition between mobile phone companies to prevent their subscribers switching over to rivals.
NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's largest wireless carrier, has remained reluctant to agree to the new system, saying it would require an estimated 100 billion yen in costs to alter software programs.
In an industry survey last year of mobile phone users, 37 percent of the 2,683 respondents said they would consider changing carriers if they had the ability to take their number with them.
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(c) 2004, Kyodo News International, Tokyo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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