Azerbaijan to apply MNP service in early 2012

Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Communications and IT Iltimas Mammadov said the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service will be applied in the country by late first quarter of 2012.

Mammadov said all documents on this process will be prepared and agreed by late 2011. Introducing MNP services will allow subscribers to reserve their phone number in case of a change in operators. This will free them from notifying their relatives and business partners in case their number changes.

The Communications and IT Ministry has prepared rules to introduce MNP services. It has developed relevant rules to form a legal framework, reflecting the experience of countries already using this service.

The operators have to address some technical issues to prepare the infrastructure for the use of this service. Number Portability implies a full migration of phone numbers along with the selected operator prefix (050, 051, 055, 070 and 077).

The introduction of the MNP service increases competition and forces operators to take extra efforts to retain former customers while providing more attractive services to attract new ones.

---