Number portability engages deed talks

By RICHARD BRADELL

A cost-benefit analysis to determine if telephone number portability should be introduced has been deferred after a meeting this week between signatories to the telephone numbers administration deed (Nad).

The meeting followed what Nad chairwoman Liz Longford termed last week's "industry initiative."

On Friday, nine dissenting signatories decided to establish full number portability within a year, with or without Telecom and Vodafone, who remain committed to the process set up under the administration deed.

An unnamed consultant has been commissioned to undertake the analysis, but Ms Longford said that a "full house" of signatories had agreed to put the cost-benefit analysis in abeyance.

She hoped further discussions between the parties during the next four weeks - when she is overseas - would resolve the impasse.

The dissenting signatories object to the cost of the six-month study and the fact that implementation could be further delayed by disputes over cost allocation even if the study comes down in favour of portability.

The "industry initiative" agreed that costs, for the most part, should be met where they fall.